"Partly."
"I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. What do you mean partly?"
"You move in dangerous company."
"Paul? How so?"
"He once took a woman into that same wild area he is heading for now. She did not come back."
"He told me all about that. There was an accident."
"And no witnesses."
"What are you trying to say?"
"It is suspicious. That is all."
She begins moving again, toward the administrative building. Aldon switches to another speaker, within its entrance.
"I accuse him of nothing. If you choose to trust him, fine. But don't trust the weather. It would be best for you to return to the hotel."
"Thanks but no thanks," she says, entering the building.
He follows her as she explores, is aware of her quickening pulse when she halts beside the cold bunkers.
"These are the sleepers?"
"Yes. Paul held such a position once, as did the unfortunate woman."
"I know. Look, I'm going to follow him whether you approve or not. So why not just tell me where those sleds are kept?"
"Very well. I will do even more than that. I will guide you."
"What do you mean?"
"I request a favor—one that will actually benefit you."
"Name it."
"In the equipment locker behind you, you will find a remote-sensor bracelet. It is also a two-way communication link. Wear it. I can be with you then. To assist you. Perhaps even to protect you."
"You can help me to follow him?"
"Yes."
"All right. I can buy that."
She moves to the locker, opens it.
"Here's something that looks like a bracelet, with doodads."
"Yes. Depress the red stud."
She does. His voice now emerges clearly from the unit.
"Put it on, and I'll show you the way."
"Right."
SNOWSCAPE. Sheets and hills of white, tufts of evergreen shrubbery, protruding joints of rock, snowdevils twirled like tops beneath wind's lash ... light and shade. Cracking sky. Tracks in sheltered areas, smoothness beyond.
She follows, masked and bundled.
"I've lost him," she mutters, hunched behind the curved windscreen of her yellow, bullet-shaped vehicle.
"Straight ahead, past those two rocks. Stay in the lee of the ridge. I'll tell you when to turn. I've a satellite overhead. If the clouds stay parted—strangely parted ..."
"What do you mean?"
"He seems to be enjoying light from the only break in the cloud cover over the entire area."
"Coincidence."
"I wonder."
"What else could it be?"
"It is almost as if something had opened a door for him."
"Mysticism from a computer?"
"I am not a computer."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Aldon. I know that you were once a man... ."
"I am still a man."
"Sorry."
"There are many things I would like to know. Your arrival comes at an unusual time of year. Paul took some prospecting equipment with him. ..."
"Yes. It's not against the law. In fact, it is one of the vacation features here, isn't it?"
"Yes. There are many interesting minerals about, some of them precious."
"Well, Paul wants some more, and he didn't want a crowd around while he was looking."