"I obey, Commander," Vstii-suuv said firmly. "We'll be ready whenever you want us."
"Good."
Thrr-mezaz took a few steps away from the wall, crunching wood shards underfoot, feeling a frown settling across his face as he looked around the open area. Something about this whole thing didn't feel right, somehow. "Communicator?"
An Elder appeared. "Yes, Commander?"
"Who was watching the Mrachanis when the Human-Conqueror attack began?" Thrr-mezaz asked.
"As it happens, I was," the Elder said.
"Who was with you?"
"Actually, I was alone," the Elder said. "The other two had been pulled off for perimeter sentry duty."
"I see," Thrr-mezaz said, making a mental note to discuss proper priorities later with the Elders' speaker. "Can you tell me what exactly the Mrachanis were doing when the first explosion occurred?"
"I've already been through this with the speaker-" The Elder broke off at the look on Thrr-mezaz's face. "They weren't doing anything in particular, Commander," he said. "Just sitting there at the table."
"The same table we found them hiding beneath?"
"Yes," the Elder said. "They were just talking together when the door blew up."
Thrr-mezaz looked across at the table. It was fairly close to where the darklight relay had been hanging. "Go to the interpreter room and find out for me what they were talking about."
"I can tell you right now, Commander: we don't know," the Elder said. "They'd accidentally covered over the darklight relay a few hunbeats earlier."
"What do you mean, accidentally covered it over?"
"The Mrachanis had hung out decorative cloths at various points along the walls," the Elder explained. "One of them happened to be over the relay."
Which meant the technics had no recording of the aliens' conversation. How very convenient for someone. "And you didn't think it worth telling one of the warriors about?"
The Elder was starting to look a little uncomfortable. "The alert had been sounded, Commander," he said. "Everyone's attention was out at the perimeter or on the approaching Human-Conqueror aircraft. I didn't think it was vital that it be fixed immediately. And anyway, I was watching them. They couldn't have done anything."
"Except that they could have-"
Thrr-mezaz broke off, his lungs tightening into an almost-gasp. Abruptly, for the briefest flicker of a shattered beat, a strange and dizzying tingle had splashed across his mind-
And in front of him the Elder screamed, his face contorted with agony and fear.
And suddenly Thrr-mezaz knew what had happened.
"Commander!" one of the warriors shouted from across the room. "What-?"
"Elderdeath weapon!" Thrr-mezaz shouted back, fighting off the residual disorientation. "Full alert: all warriors."
Another Elder appeared. "Commander, Second Commander Klnn-vavgi requests your presence immediately in the command/monitor room," he reported, his voice tightly controlled. "He asks permission to lift the Stingbirds into defensive positions."
Thrr-mezaz looked at the holes in the storehouse walls. "Give him permission," he told the Elder. "Then tell him to collect some warriors and meet me at the Optronics supply room."
The Human-Conqueror was standing against the back wall of his temporary cell when the Zhirrzh warriors arrived. Still alert, still fully dressed. Almost as if he'd been expecting them. "Tell me where it is," Thrr-mezaz said without preamble. "Now."
The Human-Conqueror's face changed as the translation came through, the ridges of short hairs over his eyes pressing closer together. "Where what is?" his reply came in Thrr-mezaz's ear slits.
Thrr-mezaz flicked his tongue in contempt. With the deceit unmasked he could have hoped the Human-Conqueror would at least be reasonable about it. "The Elderdeath weapon," he bit out. "The one you or your warriors just used against us. Is it aboard your aircraft, or are there other warriors nearby?"
The prisoner's face remained the same. "I heard the shouts, but whatever happened wasn't our doing. And I don't know anything about this-what did you call it? The Elderdeath weapon?"
"Don't act stupid," Klnn-vavgi snarled. "You know what the commander's talking about."
"And we know you know," Thrr-mezaz added. "Furthermore, we're prepared to do whatever is necessary to-"
And suddenly there it was again: an abrupt flicker of disorientation tingling through his head, sharper this time, with an edge of pain to it. He darted a hand to the door frame for support against the flash of dizziness, dimly aware of the Human-Conqueror still standing against his wall. Beside him Klnn-vavgi shouted something; a half-dozen laser rifles swung up toward the prisoner-
"Hold!" Thrr-mezaz snapped. "Don't fire."
The rifle muzzles paused uncertainly. "Commander?" Klnn-vavgi demanded.
"I said don't fire." The last of the dizziness faded away, and Thrr-mezaz straightened to face the prisoner again.
The Human-Conqueror was still standing there, making no move to take any advantage of his enemies' sudden weakness. Observing their reaction, perhaps? "By all rights I should kill you for that," Thrr-mezaz told him. "I should have let them shoot you down right there. I trust you realize that."
"Whatever happened to you wasn't my fault," the prisoner said, his voice quiet. Almost earnest. Almost believable.
Almost. "Fine," Thrr-mezaz said. "If that's the way you want to play it." He turned to Klnn-vavgi. "Second, I want you to collect some technics and go take another look at that aircraft. And give the healers a call-I want that device hidden under the skin on his face to be removed."
He turned back at the Human-Conqueror. "You can cooperate or not. It's your choice."
For a long beat the alien gazed back at him. Then his face seemed to twitch. "All right," he said. "But there's no need for healers."
He reached both hands up to his face, to the side where the Elders had discovered the hidden device. The laser rifles lifted again in warning as, slowly and carefully, he began to peel away a section of his skin.
Klnn-vavgi muttered an awed-sounding curse under his breath as the flap of loose skin grew larger. Thrr-mezaz nodded his agreement; Thrr-gilag had never mentioned anything about Human-Conquerors being able to dothat.
The edge of the device was visible now: small and flat, very much the same color as the Human-Conqueror's skin but easily distinguishable by the differences in its darklight radiance. He finished with the flap of skin and dropped it onto the bed in front of him; then, just as carefully, he peeled the device itself from its place.
"Drop it on the bed," Thrr-mezaz ordered him. "And then stand away from it."
The prisoner did as instructed. Thrr-mezaz gestured, and one of the warriors gingerly retrieved both the device and the skin flap and handed them over.
"Ycch," Klnn-vavgi growled deep in his throat. "Did you see that, Commander? He just ripped it right off his-"
"It's not skin," Thrr-mezaz said.
"What?"
"It's not skin," Thrr-mezaz repeated, turning it over. "At least not his own skin. See? No blood anywhere."
"Well, I'll be cursed," Klnn-vavgi said, peering closer. "That's an incredibly good imitation."
"I'm sure that was the intent." Thrr-mezaz looked up at the prisoner. "This must have been pretty important for your technics to have gone to so much work to hide it," he commented, hefting the skin-colored device in his other hand. "What is it?"
The Human-Conqueror shook his head back and forth to the side. "It's not a weapon."
"What is it?"
The other remained silent. "Fine," Thrr-mezaz said. "We'll figure it out for ourselves."
He gestured, and together the warriors left the room, locking it securely behind them. "Guard posts as previously," he ordered the warriors when they were out in the cool latearc air again. "Well, Second. Comments?"
"Ten to one it's our Elderdeath weapon," Klnn-vavgi said sourly.
"Yes," Thrr-mezaz murmured, gazing down at the device in his hand. "Perhaps."
"You don't sound convinced."
Thrr-mezaz shrugged. "Oh, you're probably right. It's just that the whole exercise seems to have been pretty futile. Yes, they got us stirred up a little, but that's about it. There was no attack on us, no further attack on the Mrachanis, not even an attempt by the prisoner to break out. So what did it gain them?"
"Information, maybe," Klnn-vavgi suggested. "They know now what levels it takes to affect us."
"They knew that after the first battle," Thrr-mezaz countered. "No, there's something here we're not getting. I just wish we had some idea what it was."
For a beat they stood there in silence. Then, with a sigh, Thrr-mezaz dropped the device and fake skin flap into Klnn-vavgi's hand. "Anyway. See what the technics can make of these."
"Right," Klnn-vavgi said. "You still want them to look at the aircraft, too?"
"Oh, yes," Thrr-mezaz confirmed grimly. "I want them to get in there and tear it apart. Down to individual molecules, if that's what it takes."
"And the prisoner?"
Thrr-mezaz looked back at the warriors standing guard. "The same goes for him," he said. "Something's going on here, Klnn-vavgi. It's time we found out what that something is."
21
There was an Elder waiting as Thrr-gilag came in through the side entrance of the Overclan complex. An Elder whose face was set in transparent stone. "You are Thrr-gilag; Kee'rr?" he demanded.
"Yes," Thrr-gilag said, holding up his pass for inspection. "I was told to come here-"
"I know," the Elder cut him off. "The Overclan Prime awaits you in his private chambers. Follow me."
Without waiting for a reply he set off down the corridor. Thrr-gilag followed, his tail spinning nervously behind him. There was trouble in the air. Big trouble. He'd seen it in the hardened faces of the perimeter protectors who had directed him to this particular door instead of to any of the main entrances. He could see it in the eyes of the Overclan warriors whom he passed and could hear it in the low tones as they conversed among themselves as he went by.
Big trouble. And all of it focused on him.
And to Thrr-gilag it was obvious what had happened. Somehow they'd found out about that little stunt he and Klnn-dawan-a had pulled with Prr't-zevisti'sfsss back on Dharanv. They'd found out, and he was being led off to summary trial and judgment. All was lost: his career, his honor, his bond-engagement to Klnn-dawan-a. And Prr't-zevisti's last chance for survival.
It was over. And yet, even as Thrr-gilag's emotions swung violently between panic and resignation at the looming disaster, a small part of his mind refused to let go of the nagging sense that something here wasn't right. Why would the Overclan Prime get personally involved with such a sordid matter? For that matter, why had they trusted him to obey the summons to Oaccanv? Shouldn't they at least have brought him back here under warrior guard?
The fears and doubts and apprehensions were still chasing through his mind when he and the Elder arrived at their destination. It was a different room from the private offices he'd been brought to-could it really have been only eight fullarcs ago?-just after the ignominious return of the alien study group from Base World 12. "Enter," the Elder said, and vanished. Trying vainly to slow his tail's dizzying spin, Thrr-gilag gripped the wooden ring and pulled the door open.
It was a smaller room than the Prime's private office had been, and even more simply furnished. But it was imbued with the same sense of age and history. Two Zhirrzh were waiting for him: the Overclan Prime and Speaker Cvv-panav of the Dhaa'rr. "Come in, Searcher Thrr-gilag," the Prime said gravely. "You know the Speaker for Dhaa'rr."
"I do," Thrr-gilag said, nodding respectfully to each of them in turn and noting the odd lack of akavra -fruit rack. Here in the Prime's private chambers, apparently, such formalities were dispensed with.
"I'm afraid I have bad news for you, Searcher," the Prime said, "concerning a matter of grave importance. For reasons that will become apparent, I've decided to personally intervene. Please; sit down."
Thrr-gilag lowered himself onto the indicated couch, fighting to keep from blurting out the words boiling up within him. Whatever they knew-whatever they thought they knew-he must above all else not help them by volunteering information. He and Thrr-mezaz had fallen into that trap with their parents innumerable times as children. "What is it?" he asked as calmly as he could.
"It concerns your mother, Thrr-pifix-a," the Prime said quietly, his gaze steady on Thrr-gilag's face. "She's been detained on charges of grand-first theft." He paused. "She-or rather, persons unknown employed by her-broke into the Thrr family shrine last latearc. And stole herfsss organ."
Thrr-gilag stared at him, shock freezing his muscles into immobility. "What?" he whispered.
"You heard him," Cvv-panav said, the harshness of his voice slashing across the brittle stillness like a ragged ax against kindling reeds. "She hired some thugs and stole herfsss."
Thrr-gilag looked at him, the face not really registering against the swirling paralysis in his mind. She'd done it. She'd actually done it. His mother had stolenher fsss. Had had it there, in her hands.
There in her hands... "What happened then?" he asked, afraid to hear the answer. "I mean afterward?"
"Don't worry, herfsss was recovered intact," the Prime assured him. "Which is about the only good part of all this. At least she won't have to stand trial forfsss destruction."
Trial.The word sent a fresh shiver through Thrr-gilag. "Will she have to stand trial at all?" he asked. "I mean, if there was no harm done-"
"There was most certainly harm done," Cvv-panav cut him off. "Her thugs broke into the shrine, damaging Thrr property and injuring one of the protectors in the process. That's worth two trials right there." He sniffed contemptuously. "What makes it all the worse is that she refuses even to admit her complicity in the crime. Claims that two unnamed Zhirrzh from a nonexistent organization came to her out of nowhere and offered to help her."
Thrr-gilag looked at the Prime. "Maybe she's telling the truth."
"The organization she named doesn't exist, Searcher," the Prime said, flicking his tongue in a negative. "We've had plenty of time to check. It simply doesn't exist."
"I see." Thrr-gilag took a careful breath. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be. "So she will have to go to trial."
"Under normal circumstance, undoubtedly," the Prime said. "In this case, however"-his eyes flicked to Cvv-panav-"Speaker Cvv-panav has asked me to intervene on behalf of you and your mother."
Thrr-gilag looked at Cvv-panav, a sudden surge of hope flickering into flame within him. Cvv-panav, Speaker of the most powerful Zhirrzh clan...