The sun had set when Lord Jaxom and Saska set off for the co-ordinates of the future Base. Consultations on large scale maps and overviews of the area had allowed Saska to pinpoint an area that had always been farmed, but which also had several easily recognisable features, separated from the main courtyard, and the site of any future buildings. Saska's worry that the Base might contain contagion had been relieved by a study of her notes; she had assured Lord Jaxom only recovering dragons and their riders utilised the Base.
Ruth took them between to the co ordinates, wheeling down to land where he had already marked out a place, by the look of the scraped earth and trampled grass.
"What about felines? I never asked about that," Saska said worriedly, looking around from her perch on Ruth's back, securely harnessed both to him and his rider.
"None have ever been sighted over here, for some reason," Lord Jaxom said reassuringly. "Now then - I've the charts here - you won't mind if I'm Ruth's only contact?"
"Not in the least. I don't want to confuse him."
"Thank you. Air tanks - masks - food and drink - your case is secure?"
"Tai made me a sling, and I've managed to put it inside my suit as well."
"You spent a long time writing out your notes, Tyron told me."
"Yes, in case anything goes wrong. I can also access those records on AIVAS, if the disk backup is going to go ahead."
Lord Jaxom nodded as he looked around in the fading light. Saska had already made him a present of her small emergency self-generated torch, and now he consulted the map. Saska closed her eyes and closed down that part of her mind that could hear dragons. Ruth had told her he "heard" her voice as a buzz when she did that, and she concentrated on his reassurances as he bunched his muscles and flew upwards, orientated himself and then took a set of co ordinates of the night sky.
Black, blacker, blackest...25 turns forward
The trio popped out into the aftermath of a rainstorm, and Ruth quickly took them to ground. The rain had passed over, and the cloud cover had broken up, but the air was damp and humid, the ground smelled of wet earth and the faint trace of ozone from a lightning strike somewhere in the vicinity.
"Weather is something we'll have to put up with," Lord Jaxom said as they ate and drank sparingly, and checked Ruth's hide.
"I didn't think about that," Saska admitted, and he laughed as they mounted again and gathered the harness straps about themselves.
Black, blacker, blackest...50 turns forward
The moons were shining as mere crescents and a shooting star bloomed on the far horizon. Something had been making a nest in the area, they could smell the blood of a fresh kill, but the sudden arrival of a dragon had scared the predator away from them.
"Not a feline, something smaller but just as deadly."
"There's no sign anyone's prospected this area yet."
They oiled some of Ruth's hide where the straps went around his body, checked each other and ate and drank again.
"I can smell water, but I don't want to risk trying to find it in the dark," Lord Jaxom said as he gave Ruth a drink. The small dragon took dainty sips and then indicated he was ready again, and they came to his back, Saska looking around at the emptiness and hoping all their stops would be as tranquil.
Black, blacker, blackest...75 turns forward
The sky overhead was threatening, with long banners of cloud obscuring some of the stars, a harsh wind blowing dust and dirt into their faces, a dry wind, and by the torchlight they could see the grasses were brown and sere as if the area had suffered drought for a long season.
"Still so sign of men," Lord Jaxom mused. "Strange, when this is an advantageous position, easily reached from the sea."
"It's a long way around the coast, perhaps, even in these settled times?"
"That could be right. I would expect the dragon riders and their descendants to start from known points and spread out."
"There might be fishermen who know of the cove, but why bother with such a remote place until you need it?"
"And we don't know the population density either."
Black, blacker, blackest...100 turns forward
The ground was churned up as if something on wheels had been through. Trees had been cut down, and they could see the ghostly shine of stripped logs. No cabins or fires had been built, but the area had been surveyed from the look of the posts with coloured flags.
"We'll have to be careful on the next jump, in case of any buildings. Have to come in at a higher level, I think."
"Will that disturb the calculations?"
"No. Look over there - you can still just see it in that constellation. Precisely where it ought to be."
"At least they've found this place - they must be getting ready to build."
Lord Jaxom leaned against Ruth and looked around the dimly seen area.
"I wonder if that's good or bad. You've no idea how old the Base was, in your time?"
"None at all, I'm afraid. It had obviously been here for some time, it was settled land."
"Yes. As we get closer - we might risk a longer jump. We'll see how Ruth feel about it."
He stared at his dragon then looked at Saska.
"He says he hears no other dragons near at hand. Nor fire lizards, but they would be safely in their nests, I'd imagine. Those rocky outcrops would suit them, small fissures and caves would be their natural home."
"Yes, I'd suppose so. How beautiful the night sky is."
Lord Jaxom glanced up and nodded, and then they were strapping in again, securing scarves gloves and hats. Saska touched the bulge under her suit where the case rested.
Black, blacker, blackest...125 turns forward
Ruth hovered over buildings. Two long low buildings, and a road curving out of sight towards the coast. More trees had been cut down, and they could see the beginnings of a feline fence.
"You said that was in place," Lord Jaxom commented.
"Yes it was. This is the beginning, I would suppose. At first it was just for recovering riders, and then it became a Weyr in its own right. This set up - they might use it now and again - you can see they've not made it permanent."
"Those buildings look flimsy, and they don't look occupied."
"I'd say they're empty?"
"We'll go down."
They landed and Saska took the chance to run a circuit around Ruth to loosen up her muscles and get the blood pumping again. Lord Jaxom fed Ruth with dried meat strips and water, and then ran a little himself, coming back to take a share of the food.
"This place must get as hot as Southern in the summer," he said. "It's more open to high winds as well, I would think."
Saska nodded as she looked around, hearing the call of a night hunter, but nothing tried to get through the fence whether it was switched on or not.
"Right. This is going to get interesting, if the place is occupied. In 25 turns, we might suppose it to be fully functioning."
"You don't seem worried," Saska said as she checked and rechecked the straps of her harness.
"I'm not. We can flip back, don't forget, to a previous stop."
"Oh yes. I'm sorry, I keep forgetting - I'll put that blind spot in my report."
"Do that," he replied with a laugh, and Ruth took off smoothly to face the part of the sky they were using as a reference point.
Black, blacker, blackest...150 turns forward
Once again, a storm had just passed through, the air was heavy with moisture and the wind buffeted Ruth, tipping him at a crazy angle before he righted himself, bugling his indignation.
He was answered by another dragon, and lights flared below them in the buildings.
Saska cried out in alarm, barely glimpsing the land below before they had flashed back into between.
Black, blacker, blackest...175 turns forward
The buildings were dark. There were no dragons in sight or hearing. Ruth landed with a thump that nearly jarred Saska from her hold. She clutched at thin air as Lord Jaxom slid from Ruth's back and ran to the dragon's head, enfolding him in a hard embrace. Saska peered through the darkness, seeing the glitter of the feline fence, but no sound or movement from the buildings.
She came down to the ground, feeling it as hard packed gravel, the gravel she remembered from Respite Weyr's huge courtyard.
Lord Jaxom turned to look at her.
"Are you all right? That last jump - Ruth was so alarmed he took it himself - I think we're at the right time still."
"This surface is there in my time," she replied, glancing around. "Why would they have left it? If they have? They might be hiding in any of the buildings."
"Ruth can't hear any dragons."
"Is he all right?"
Saska leaned against Ruth's hide, in the soft part under his wing, still cold from the effects of between, feeling his pulse under her cheek.
"He says so. We must be half way there."
"Yes."
"Would it be better to go in smaller jumps? Try and find people?"
Saska considered that as she rested, warming up from the terrible cold of between.
"I don't know the answer to that," she replied at last. "What would be the effect of such close calculations? No, you've the charts firmly fixed, I don't think we should deviate from them."
"25 turns - those are the jumps the Old Timers made, when Lessa came forward," Lord Jaxom said slowly. "If anyone wants to time it, because of - of - bereavement - or anything - it's always 25 turns."
"Yes, I understand that."
"Will they know, in the future, that we're coming?"
"I don't know. There was never a hint when I was at Respite that anything awful was going to happen, of course, because it was in the future, but I never saw any records of white dragons time-hopping."
Lord Jaxom gave a stutter of laughter and rubbed Ruth's eye ridges.
"He says he is ready."
Black, blacker, blackest...200 turns forward
Ruth circled the area, and Saska shut her eyes as the stars whirled and danced in her vision. She felt sick, she realised, and clutched harder at Lord Jaxom, who was peering down over Ruth's shoulder.
The white dragon angled downwards and landed in the courtyard. The buildings were empty, Saska realised, as she tore her mask off and took deep gulps of fresh air. There was a terrible buzzing in her head, she felt as if her mind was going to explode, as she slid off Ruth into Lord Jaxom's grip.
"Hold on - here - sit down here - water - "
Saska fumbled with the water bottle and took small sips, resting against Ruth's foreleg. She could still hear that buzzing, but the world had righted itself and she was able to see the stars fixed in their places, glittering coldly.
Lord Jaxom had run across to a different part of the courtyard, and was studying whatever he had found there. Saska found she was not interested. She wanted to sleep, but she did not dare, levering herself upright and walking slowly to join him, aware of all her joints aching and paining. Lord Jaxom looked up and held out a hand, and she took it, grateful for that human contact.
"They know we're coming," he said quietly. "This is a message. Somehow they've guessed it was a 25 turn jump. They ask us to leave them co ordinates."
"They came back 100 turns?"
"So it seems. This box - leave it in this box, they say."
Saska looked at the case in the torchlight, examining it as Lord Jaxom wound the torch vigorously.
"Yes, that's come from my time, it's the same composition as my case," she said. "You open it like this - it's empty - why didn't they leave their own co ordinates?"
"Because they guessed it would confuse me, I would suppose," Lord Jaxom replied. "To be so near! But - if we jump now - it will be the same length of time - will they have time to come and fetch it and meet us?"
"I would guess so," Saska replied. "Let's look at this as a puzzle. We know they started on the buildings, came and went presumably, before making it permanent. 50 turns ago it was fully occupied, but we flashed in and out so quickly they couldn't have established anything concrete from our arrival. Then 25 turns ago, they left the area empty in case we came through."
"Yes. And then at some point they left the case for us. What a chance they took!"
"No greater than we're taking," Saska said. Do you have a copy of your maps and calculations?"
"There's one in the panniers. I wasn't going to bring it, but your young journeyman Tyron insisted on a copy."
"Tyron - "
Lord Jaxom gave her a rueful smile. "Yes, my dear Saska, and he is probably dead by now, and so am I. And Ruth. But we are operating a time loop that will bring us safely back to our own places, I hope."
"Yes. I hope you'll look to his interests when you return?"
"I will do so, never fear. Now then - a good meal and the last of the water, I think, because I am hoping this will be the last jump. I'll feed Ruth as well."
Saska nodded and they rested against Ruth as they ate and drank, staring out into the darkness. Saska could see the beginnings of the buildings she had known, and the buzz in her mind told her there were dragons in this time, but Ruth had said none were near at hand again.
"All right. One last jump, Ruth, and you should see the last of the future."
- it has been interesting
"He always claims everything is interesting. Downright nosy, for a dragon."
Saska hugged Ruth, and then climbed to her place, checked the panniers were fastened properly, the air mask hose secure. She fitted the mask, rolled her mittens down and wound her hands into the strap around Lord Jaxom's waist as Ruth crouched, flapped, and then propelled them upwards to swing around and look for the patch of sky that now hid the Red Star except as a single twinkle amongst many, and then Saska felt them go between.