"The second will start at the northern end of the Nerat peninsula and proceed across it, over the east coast of Keroon and the east tip of Igen, and end just offsh.o.r.e from Igen. This also would normally be a joint Fall, flown by Benden over Nerat, Igen over the northern part of Keroon, and Ista over the southern part of Keroon.

"We really do know what Falls we fly, S'nan," M'shall said.

"Yes, yes, of course," and S'nan cleared his throat again.

"However," and his glance went to the Lord Holders seated around the table, "it was decided at the last meeting of the Weyrleaders that, since any of these would be the first Fall in our experience, every Weyr would supply a double-wing at the initial engagement. Thus each Weyr would have first-hand experience."

"I still think we could all get that by hitting those first Southern Falls," B'nurrin began. If the dragons miss, it's not going to fall on anyone's head or ruin any farmland."

"B'nurrin!" M'shall said sternly before the startled S'nan could open his mouth.

K'vin privately thought B'nurrin had a good idea and had backed him, but they had been overruled by the older Weyrleaders. K'vin suspected that if he were to take some wings down South for that first Fall there, he'd be likely to find B'nurrin practicing there, too.

"I still think it's a good idea," the Igen leader said, shrugging.

Pretending such an interruption hadn't even occurred, S'nan went on. "As was customary in the First Pa.s.s, Lord Holders will supply adequate ground crews and have them a.s.sembled as directed by the Weyrleaders. In this case, Weyrleader M'shall." He inclined slightly towards the Benden bronze rider.

"Master Kalvi," and he bowed courteously to the Head Engineer, "has a.s.sured me that his foundry has turned out sufficient HNO3 cylinders to equip the ground crews, but the HNO3 must be made up on site. As in the First Pa.s.s, the labor and material are supplied by the engineer corps as part of their public duty. You all should have received your full allotment of tanks by Year's End." S'nan paused and peered at Kalvi who rose to his feet.

The Fort Weyrleader was precise in his language, scorning to use the term Turn for a year which was coming into use among the younger generation.

"I've scheduled every major Hold with three days of training in the maintenance and repair of the flame-throwers and a practice session which, I think," and Kalvi grinned, "you will find comprehensive as well as interesting." He shifted his stance and would have gone on, but S'nan held up his hand and gestured Kalvi to sit.

With a bit of a snort and a grin, Kalvi complied.

Now the Fort Weyrleader turned his glance to Corey. "I believe you also plan a three-day seminar to instruct major and minor hold personnel in burn control and Thread --- ah first aid. "

Corey did not rise but nodded.

"Lords Holder must a.s.sign suitable medics with every ground control unit, or have one member of each trained in first aid and supplied with kits containing numbweed fellis juice and other first-aid medications," S'nan continued.

"Now," and he flipped over the top sheet, "I have done pre-Pa.s.s inspections of all Weyrs and find them well up to strength, with sufficient cadet riders to supply the wings with phosphine rock during the Pa.s.s. I have discussed all aspects of flight tactics and Weyr maintenance with the respective Weyrleaders."

K'vin writhed a bit on his chair, remembering the exhaustive inspection carried out by S'nan and Sarai: they'd even inspected the recycling plant! Then he noticed that G'don, the oldest Weyrleader, was also squirming. So, the Fort pair had spared no-one in their officious search for perfection.

Well, they were heading into a Pa.s.s and the Fort Weyrleaders were correct to want every aspect of dragon riding at the highest possible standard and readiness. In the propagation of dragons, the pair had found no fault with Telgar Weyr: it had had the largest clutches of all the Weyrs in the last three years as the dragons themselves answered the tide of preparations for the coming struggle.

K'vin was hoping that Charanth's first clutch would be larger than any that B'ner's Miginth had sired; maybe then Zulaya would warm to him.

The two junior queens had done well in their latest clutches, producing more of the useful greens and blues. Telgar Weyr would soon be full! They might have to shift out some of the excess population to other Weyrs, but that could wait until the yearly review.

"And, in conclusion, let me state that we are as ready as we can be." Far more ready than the First Riders were," G'don remarked in his dry fashion.

"Indeed," echoed Irene of Benden.

K'vin contented himself with a smile. Unbidden, a little wiggle of fear shot up from his belly to chill him and he gave himself a shake. He came from a Blood that had produced First Riders and contributed many sons and daughters to the Weyrs.

And you ride me, Charanth said firmly. I shall be formidable in the air. Thread will fly in the other direction when it sees my flame.

And that was not all draconic boast, for Charanth had racked up the Weyr Record for the length he achieved in flaming practice. Together we meet Thread, not just you on your own. I shall be with you and we shall overcome.

Thanks, Charrie.

You re welcome, Kev.

"You've got that look in your eye, K'vin," Zulaya murmured for his ear alone. "What's Charanth's opinion of all this?"

"He's raring to go," K'vin whispered back, and grinned.

Charanth was right to remind him that he did not fly alone: they were together as they had been from the moment the bronze had broken his sh.e.l.l in half and stepped directly towards a fourteen year old Kevin of the Hanrahans waiting on the hot sands of Hatching Ground. And Kevin had realized that that was the moment all his life had been aimed at Impression. He'd seen his older brother Impress, and his second oldest sister, and three of the four cousins currently riders. From the moment he was Searched out, part of him had been sure-sure-sure, with all the fervor of an adolescent that he would Impress favorably.

The negative side of his personality had perversely suggested that he'd be left standing on the hot sands and he'd never live down such a humiliating experience.

"In conclusion," S'nan said, "let me a.s.sure this Gathering that the Weyrs are ready."

With that, he sat down to an approving applause. "I hope that the Holds are too" Not his voice end on an up-note but he raised". Only did his thick brows questioningly at the Fort Holder.

Paulin stood up again, shuffling until he found the right clipboard and cleared his throat. "I have readiness reports in from all but two major Holds," and he glanced first at Franco, Lord Holder of Nerat, and then tilted his head towards Chalkin. "I know you received the forms to fill in."

The tall, thin bronze-skinned Neratian raised his hand. "I told you the problem we have with vegetation, Paulin, and we're still trying to keep it under control" he grimace.

"Not easy with the excellent weather we've been having and the restriction against chemical deterrents. But I can a.s.sure you that we'll keep at it. Otherwise, we have emergency roofing for the seedling nurseries and sufficient stores of viable seeds to replant when that's feasible. We're also continuing our research into dwarfing plants for indoor propagation. All minor holders are fully aware of the problems and are complying. Everyone's signed up for the ground-crew course. "

Paulin made a notation, nodding. "Agriculture's still working on the problem of an inhibitor for your tropical weed types, Fran."

"I hope so. Stuff grows out of pure sand without any cultivation at all. "

Then Paulin turned to Chalkin who had been polishing his rings with every evidence of boredom.

"I've had nothing at all from you, Lord Chalkin of Bitra," Paulin said.

"Oh, there's plenty of time."

"A report was required by this date, Chalkin," Paulin reminded, pushing the issue.

Chalkin shrugged. "You all can play that game if you wish, but I do not believe that Thread is going to fall next spring, so why should I bother my people with unnecessary tasks..." He wasn't able to finish his sentence for the acrimonious reactions from everyone at the table.

"Now see here, Chalkin - -."

"Hey, wait a bleeding minute"

"Just where do you get off. "

Bastom was on his feet with indignation.

Chalkin pointed one thick be ringed finger at the Tillek Holder.

"The Holds are autonomous, are they not? Is that not guaranteed in the Charter?" Chalkin demanded, rounding on Paulin.

"In ordinary times, yes," Paulin answered, waving a hand to the others to be quiet. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the angry remarks and protests. However, with..."

"This Thread of yours coming. So you say, but there's no proof" Chalkin said, grinning smugly.

"Proof? What more proof do you need?" Paulin demanded. "This planet is already feeling the perturbation of the rogue planet. "

Chalkin dismissed that with a shrug. "Winter brings bad storms, volcanoes do erupt."

"You can't so easily dismiss the fact that the planet is becoming more visible... "

"Pooh. That doesn't mean anything. "

"So," and Paulin again had to quell angry murmurs to be heard, "you discount entirely the advice of our forebears? The ma.s.sive evidence that they left for our guidance?"

"They left hysterical."

"They were scarcely hysterical" Tashvi bellowed, "And they coped with the emergency, and gave us specific guidelines to follow when the planet came back. And how to calculate a Pa.s.s. "

"Hold it, hold it," Paulin shouted, raising both arms to restore order. "I'm Chair, I'll remind you," and he glared at Tashvi until the Telgar Lord resumed his seat and the others had quietened down.

"What kind of proof do you require, Lord Chalkin?" he asked in a very reasonable tone of voice.

"Thread falling..." someone muttered, and subsided before he could be identified.

"Well, Chalkin?" said Paulin.

"Some proof that Thread will fall. A report from this AIVAS we've all heard about Landing is under tons of volcanic ash," Paulin said, and then recognized S'nan's urgent signal to speak.

"Nine expeditions have been mounted to investigate the installation at Landing and retrieve information from the AIVAS" S'nan said in his usual measured tones. As he spoke he searched for and found a sheaf of plastic and held it up.

"These are the reports. And?" Chalkin demanded, obviously enjoying the agitation he had aroused.

"We have been unable to locate the administration building in which the AIVAS was located. "

Why not?" Chalkin insisted. I remember seeing tapes of Landing prior to the first Threadfall. "

"Then you will appreciate the size of the task," said S'nan, "especially since the blanket of volcanic ash covers the entire plateau and we have not been able to locate any landmark by which we could judge the position of the administration building. And since the housing was similar, it's difficult to establish where we are when we have dug one out of twenty feet of ash and debris. Therefore we have not been able to establish the location of the building."

"Try again," Chalkin said, turning his back to S'nan.

"So you have done nothing at all to prepare your Hold for the onslaught?" Paulin asked calmly, reasonably.

Chalkin shrugged. "I don't perceive a need to waste time and effort.. "

"And money" murmured the original heckler.

"Precisely. Marks are hard enough to come by to waste them on the off-chance... "

"OFF-CHANCE?" Tashvi erupted out of his chair. "You'll have a revolt on your hands. "

"I doubt that," Chalkin said with a sly smile.

"Because you haven't b.l.o.o.d.y seen fit to warn your holders?" Tashvi demanded.

"Lord Telgar," Paulin said repressively, I'm Chair." He turned back to Chalkin. "If the rest of us, however misguidedly, do believe in the forewarnings - backed by irrefutable astronomical evidence of an imminent Pa.s.s - how can you deny them?" Chalkin's grin was patronizing.

"A s.p.a.ce-borne organism? That drops on a large planet and eats everything it touches? Why wasn't Pern totally destroyed during previous visitations? Why is it every two hundred years? How come the Exploration Team which did a survey of the planet before it was released to our ancestors to colonize... how come they didn't see any evidence? Ah, no," Chalkin said, flicking the notion away from him with his be ringed hands, "ridiculous!"

"My calculations were confirmed by -" Clisser said, feeling that he was being maligned.

"There was evidence of Threadfall," Tashvi said, bouncing once more to his feet. "I've read the report. There were hundreds of circles where vegetation was just starting to grow... "

"Inconclusive," Chalkin said with another flap of a hand. "Could have been caused by one of the many fungus growths. "

"Well then, when this inconclusive evidence comes dropping out of the skies onto your Hold, don't bother us," Bastom said.

"Or come crying to my Hold for help," added Bridgely, completely disgusted by Chalkin's att.i.tude.

"You may be sure of that," Chalkin said and, with a mocking bow to Paulin, he left the Hall with no further word.

"What are we going to do about him?" Bridgely asked, "because sure as night follows day, he will come running for aid to Franco and me. "

"There is provision in the Charter," Paulin began.

Jamson of the High Reaches stared with wide and disbelieving eyes at Paulin.

"Only if he believes in the Charter" Bastom said.

"Oh, Chalkin believes in the Charter all right," Paulin said sardonically. "The patent conferring the t.i.tle of 'Lord Holder' on the original major northern Stakeholders is what gives his line the right to Hold. And he's already used the Charter to substantiate his autonomous position. I wonder if he also knows the penalty for failing to prepare his Hold. That const.i.tutes a major breach of the trust."

"Who trusts Chalkin?" Jamson put in.

"The trust which holders rest in the Lord of their Hold in return for their labor," finished Paulin.

"Ha!" said Bridgely. "I don't think much of his holders either. Useless lot on the whole. Most of 'em kicked out of other holds for poor management or plain laziness."

"Bitra's badly managed, too. Generally we have to return a full half of his t.i.things," M'shall said. "Half the grain is moldy and timber unseasoned, hides improperly cured and often rancid. It's a struggle every quarter to receive decent supplies from him. "

"Really?" Paulin asked, jotting down notes. "I hadn't realized he shorted you on t.i.thes."

M'shall shrugged. "Why should you know? It's our problem. We keep at him. We'll have to keep at him over this, too, you know. Can't let him away with a total disregard for the upcoming emergency. Not every holder in Bitra's useless, Bridgely."

Bridgely shrugged. " Good apples in every basket as well as bad. But I'd really hate to have to cope with the problem come springtime and Threadfalls. Benden's too near Bitra for my peace of mind."

"So what is the penalty for what Chalkin's doing? Or, rather not doing?" Franco asked.

"Impeachment," Paulin said flatly.

"Impeachment!" Jamson was aghast.