"Oh, it's all right," he assured her. "And I'm fine. A near miss by a crossbow bolt, they tell me."
"More near than miss," she said, a flicker of life coming back into her face as she touched the bandage with gentle fingers. "You sure you're all right?"
"I'm fine." He looked back at the transport. "I don't mean to be callous or anything, but I'm going to have to leave soon, and we still haven't got anywhere on our problem. You have any idea of what levers we can use against the Dhaa'rr leaders?"
Klnn-dawan-a took a deep breath, visibly extricating herself from her emotional tangle about the Chig slaughter. "I don't know," she said. "I can't think right now."
"I understand," Thrr-gilag said. "I can probably stay a little while longer."
"No, you'd better head back while you can," Klnn-dawan-a said, flicking her tongue in a negative. "We won't have any chance at all if you show up late at Unity City. I'll talk to my family and friends. See if we can come up with something."
"All right," Thrr-gilag said. "Just try to be careful which Elders you use as your pathway."
"Searcher Klnn-dawan-a?" a voice called.
Thrr-gilag turned to see the transport pilot standing at the top of the landing ramp. "Yes?" Klnn-dawan-a called.
"Call for you, Searcher," the pilot said. "Direct laser link from orbit."
Frowning, Thrr-gilag followed Klnn-dawan-a back to the transport and up the ramp. "Here she is," the pilot said, keying a switch on a small communications board just inside the hatchway and gesturing to it. "All yours, Searcher."
He moved a few strides away as Klnn-dawan-a stepped up to the board. "This is Searcher Klnn-dawan-a."
"Searcher, this is the third commander of thePerseverance," a voice said. "We've received a priority message from the Dhaa'rr Leadership Council indicating that you're to be brought immediately to Dharanv."
Klnn-dawan-a threw Thrr-gilag a startled look. "For what reason?"
"The message didn't specify," the third commander said. "You'll have one tentharc to make preparations, at which time the transport currently at your encampment will bring you to orbit. We'll leave for Dharanv as soon as you're aboard."
"Understood," Klnn-dawan-a said. "I'll be ready."
"Very good.Perseverance out."
There was a click, and the communication went quiet. "I'm coming with you," Thrr-gilag murmured.
"They may not be willing to take you along," Klnn-dawan-a murmured back.
"I don't care if they're willing or not," Thrr-gilag said firmly. "We go together, or we don't go at all. Anyone makes a stink about it, and I'll raise noise all the way up to the Overclan Prime."
"All right." Klnn-dawan-a squeezed his hand tightly. "I didn't really want to go alone, anyway."
The pilot stepped over to them. "I've been ordered to take you to orbit, Searcher," he said to Klnn-dawan-a. "If you'd like, I can take you back to the encampment right now, instead of waiting for the group outside to finish up. That would give you a little more time to pack."
"Thank you," Klnn-dawan-a said. "You'll have room for Thrr-gilag, too, won't you?"
The pilot looked at Thrr-gilag, a hint of uncertainty crossing his face. He was Dhaa'rr, and the word had come down from above; and all at once, it seemed, the easy informality that had let him juggle his schedule so that he could give Thrr-gilag a lift was gone.
But only for a beat. "Sure, no problem," he assured them. "Go ahead forward and get strapped in. I'll go tell Director Prr-eddsi what we're doing, and then we'll be off."
Great,Thrr-gilag thought to himself as he and Klnn-dawan-a made their way toward the front of the transport. Off to face the Dhaa'rr leaders and Elders. All of them looking for a rock-hard reason to nullify his bond-engagement to Klnn-dawan-a. Like a group of crazed Chig whelps, waiting for their prey to make a fatal mistake...
He frowned suddenly. Chig whelps. Dangerous in packs; safer and less violent as individuals.
Just like Humans?
"What is it?" Klnn-dawan-a asked.
"I don't know," Thrr-gilag said slowly. "Maybe nothing. Or maybe I've just found the key to the Humans' behavior."
"Really? What is it?"
Thrr-gilag flicked his tongue in a negative. "Let me think about it a little longer. Can you get copies of all your studies?"
"I've already got them," Klnn-dawan-a said. "They're back at the encampment."
"Bring them along," Thrr-gilag told her. "Especially anything having to do with biochemical behavior triggers in Chig whelps."
But that wouldn't be enough, he knew. It might give them an idea of the direction to look in, but it wouldn't prove anything. The only proof would be if he could find similar behavior triggers in the Humans' biochemistry.
And for that they'd need to get hold of another Human.
"I don't like that look," Klnn-dawan-a said into his thoughts. "It worries me."
"It's all right," Thrr-gilag said, grimacing as he patted her hand. "I'm just thinking about how I'm going to ask my brother for a favor."
"A big favor?"
Thrr-gilag sighed. "You wouldn't believe it if I told you."
13
"Overclan Prime?" the Eighteenth said, his voice seeming to come out of nothingness in the darkened room. "The Speaker for Dhaa'rr is on his way."
"Thank you," the Prime said, laying his stylus down beside the gently glowing reader monitor and swiveling his chair to face the door of his private chambers. "Was he seen?"
"Not since he left the Speakers' office building," the Eighteenth said. "I don't think he's seen us, either."
"Make sure you keep it that way," the Prime warned him. "Especially here. Everyone who knows about this room and its secrets is also under the impression that no Elders at all are positioned to reach it."
"We won't be seen," the Eighteenth assured him. "Good luck."
The Prime took a deep breath, settling his thoughts. A few beats later there was a quiet knock at the door. "Come," the Prime called.
The door swung open to reveal a dark figure, silhouetted against the brighter corridor light behind it. "You wished to see me, Overclan Prime?" Speaker Cvv-panav said.
"Yes, Speaker," the Prime said. "Please; sit down."
Cvv-panav moved inside, closing the door behind him. "Your lighting seems to have failed," he commented dryly as he stepped into the circle of pale light from the reader monitor and sat down on the visitor couch. "Careless of the maintainers."
"I find darkness to be conducive to thought," the Prime said. "Tell me, have you heard the news from Gree?"
"What news would that be?" Cvv-panav asked evenly.
"News about Searcher Thrr-gilag; Kee'rr," the Prime said. "Bond-engaged to a daughter of the Dhaa'rr. I understand there was an incident a few tentharcs ago that has certain members of your clan speaking rather highly of him. Something about quick thinking under pressure."
"Utter nonsense," Cvv-panav spat. "And you know it as well as I do. I doubt Thrr-gilag had any intention whatsoever of hitting that creek with his stinger beam. If he was aiming at anything-and I doubt even that-it was at one of the Chig. What happened out there was pure good luck, nothing more."
The Prime shrugged. "Perhaps. Still, hedid hit the water; and all who were there agree that the cloud of steam was a significant factor in a quick Zhirrzh victory. I've seen the sort of crossbow bolts the Chig use-a few properly positioned shots could easily have taken out something as lightly armored as a shipping transport. Two of their four laser cannon had already been disabled, in fact, when Thrr-gilag made his move. And, of course, he also pulled Klnn-dawan-a down out of danger. All in all, a reasonably impressive display. Particularly for one not trained as a warrior."
"If you asked me here to rub my tongue in Kee'rr triumphs, Overclan Prime, then I would ask permission to be excused," Cvv-panav growled. "If instead you have a point to make, kindly make it. It's very late, and my time is valuable."
"My point is quite simple, Speaker," the Prime said. "Whatever the contributions of good luck or accident, the fact is that Thrr-gilag has come out of this incident with considerably more personal prestige than he had going in. Particularly among those Dhaa'rr who were facing into the Chig crossbows. It occurs to me that the last thing you might want right now is for a member of the Thrr family to have his reputation enhanced."
For a long beat Cvv-panav was silent, his expression unreadable. "Interesting conjecture," he said at last. "Have you a suggestion to go along with it?"
"A suggestion and an offer both," the Prime said. "I submit that what you really want right now is an excuse to call of the bond-engagement of Thrr-gilag to Klnn-dawan-a. How would you like to obtain evidence that Thrr-gilag's mother is both insane and criminal?"
Cvv-panav straightened slightly on his couch. "Is she?"
"No, not really," the Prime said. "But I believe that such an illusion can be created. She has in fact taken the first steps for us: she has apparently decided that she doesn't wish to accept Eldership."
"I see," Cvv-panav said. "That would be the insanity part, I presume. What about the criminal part?"
"That will stem from her hiring someone to steal herfsss organ from her family shrine," the Prime said. "Stolen so that she may destroy it."
"Really," Cvv-panav said. "And how would she go about finding someone willing to do this for her?"
"Obviously, she would have no idea how to do so." The Prime smiled tightly. "Which is why the Dhaa'rr will offer her their services."
Cvv-panav's eyes flicked around the room, as if reassuring himself that this room and conversation were completely private. "If this is some sort of joke, it's in extremely poor taste," he said calmly. "The Dhaa'rr do not rob shrines. Not for Kee'rr or anyone else."
"Oh, she wouldn't know they were Dhaa'rr," the Prime assured him. "She wouldn't know anything about them at all. Not even that they were robbers for hire."
"Then why bring the Dhaa'rr into it? Why not stage the entire deception yourself?"
"Because there's no one in the Overclan capable of handling such a delicate operation," the Prime told him. "At least none whom I could implicitly trust. Certainly none who could quietly vanish afterward to, say, the wilds of Dharanv without anyone noticing. Without evidence and with no one around she can identify, no one will believe Thrr-pifix-a's story."
There was another beat of silence. "It's still nothing more than a tasteless joke," Cvv-panav said. "But I'll allow myself to be amused. Tell me more."
"Again, it's quite simple," the Prime said. "You'll send two or three of your people to Thrr-pifix-a's home near Reeds Village. People close to you, of course, whom you can implicitly trust. They'll represent themselves as members of some fictitious organization that advocates Eldership as a private and personal choice, and will offer to retrieve herfsss from the shrine and bring it to her. They will do so; and as soon as they've left her, warriors under Overclan authority will move in, recovering thefsss and charging her with grand-first theft."
"Risky," Cvv-panav grunted. "Even without any substantiation, there would be some at a public hearing who would wonder about her story."
"Which is why there won't be any hearing," the Prime nodded. "The warriors will move in quickly enough to prevent any damage to herfsss, circumventing the most serious charges. After that-" He gestured vaguely. "I thought that as a compassionate gesture you might be willing to use your influence with the Overclan to arrange for the charges to be quietly dropped."
"In exchange for an equally quiet cancellation of the bond-engagement?"
"Exactly."
"Interesting," Cvv-panav murmured, stroking the side of his face thoughtfully. "You spoke of an offer."
"Obviously, you'd want no witnesses to this transaction," the Prime said. "Thrr-pifix-a lives alone, and in an isolated area, but of course one must always consider the Elders. Fortunately, there's only one shrine-that of the Frr family-whose Elders have access to the region around Thrr-pifix-a's house. On the chosen latearc I'll have one of my chief subordinates moderate an open debate on some issue of vital interest to the Elders-a possible increase in the number of cutting pyramids, perhaps, or some news about job opportunities. The debate will be held in Kee'rr territory, within easy range of both the Frr and Thrr shrines. That should guarantee your privacy at both the theft and delivery ends of the operation."
"Perhaps." Cvv-panav eyed him. "An interesting suggestion, Overclan Prime, and an even more interesting offer. It's clear what the Dhaa'rr would gain. Now tell me what the Overclan would gain."
The Prime shrugged. Here came the tricky part: convincing Cvv-panav that all this by itself was enough of a reason for him to get involved. "The Overclan would gain in two ways," he said. "First, it would neutralize Thrr-pifix-a and her dangerous ideas before they have a chance to spread. That's the overwhelming reason I want her discredited, and as quickly as possible."
"I doubt anyone's going to pay much attention to her," Cvv-panav sniffed. "Certainly not in the middle of a war."
"On the contrary: the middle of a war is precisely when such ideas find their widest audience," the Prime countered. "With the public watching dozens of young warriors being raised to Eldership every fullarc-and watching all of them suffer the lengthy disorientation of long-distance anchoring shock-some are bound to call into question the basic relevance and usefulness of Eldership. The last thing we can afford is to have the focal point of a simple, reasonable old female asking for the right to decline Eldership on her own."
"Perhaps," Cvv-panav said. "It still seems unlikely to me."
"Trust me: there are numerous historical precedents," the Prime told him. "I won't go into details. And second, I would consider my assistance on this as the purchase price for enhanced Dhaa'rr cooperation with our campaign against the Human-Conquerors."
Cvv-panav's face darkened. "You accuse the Dhaa'rr of working crossways to the Zhirrzh war effort?"
"Not exactly crossways," the Prime said. "But you have your own interests; and they do not always mesh with mine. Or with those of the Zhirrzh people as a whole."
Cvv-panav smiled. "You're still upset about my insistence that the Dhaa'rr be represented on the upcoming Mrachani mission, aren't you?"
"To be honest, yes," the Prime said, allowing a touch of annoyance to creep into his voice. "That was against all standard protocol, and we both know it. There are also your various political machinations over at Warrior Command as you try to slice through established warrior authority structures to suit yourself and the Dhaa'rr. Totally unacceptable at any time; potentially disastrous in time of war. Plus there's your continuing pressure on the Overclan to grant you-and you alone-restricted information on warrior operations."