Checkers realised that there was only one place that she could safely
land: on Astra's back. Fortunately Astra was still low enough that she
could reach her without much difficulty. That would buy her a little extra
time since, though Astra's endurance was limited after her long flight, it
still should be greater than hers.
Astra and Checkers were not able to communicate using silent speech, [41875] but it was fairly obvious to Astra what Checkers was trying to do, so she hovered as steadily as possible whilst Checkers glided to a landing on her back. Once she was safely "aboard", they were able to converse in the conventional manner. "They're pirates!" Checkers said. "The others have been captured." "I know. I've been using the silent speech to talk to Sartoma. She was going to try some sort of magic to persuade the pirates to help us, but that was several minutes ago and I haven't heard from her since. I'm beginning to get worried... Oh!" "What is it, Astra? Are you all right?" "I'm fine. But Sartoma just shouted 'Charlie, Charlie'. I heard her in my mind. Something is very wrong. Ah! She just screamed! It was terrible. I'll see if I can talk to her."
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12/7/2004 1:00:34 PM
Extending Enabled
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