“You have artificial wombs?”
He nodded. “The TeLaxaudin developed them for us immediately after the Fall. Without them we would have died out because there weren’t enough females to breed from safely.”
“Did you find evidence that Chy’qui had taken samples from us—eggs and sperm—and was trying to breed hybrid Human/Sholans?” she demanded, leaning closer to him.
He frowned dubiously. “It’s possible,” he said. “They did do that to the General. I heard he was not pleased.”
“They bred from Kezule?”
“On the Kz’adul, they took samples while he was unconscious. We carried growth tubes for the samples from the M’zullians. We had to as the implants made them sterile within a few weeks.” He noticed Carrie had gone very pale. “Are you all right, Carrie?” he asked, concerned for her. “Shall I get you some water?”
“No, no, I’m fine,” she said, taking a few deep breaths. “Was Doctor Zayshul involved in this?”
“Yes, she ran the system. It was she who programmed the tubes to choose the donor eggs for each M’zullian sample and fertilize them. Then they were implanted in a tube and so on.”
She sat there for several minutes, obviously thinking, so he picked up his bowl of c’shar and sipped it, waiting for her.
“So it is possible Chy’qui did try to breed from us,” she said at last.
“It’s possible, but unlikely. All the tubes went down to our world at the same time and were delivered straight to the labs where Doctor Zayshul and Doctor Kzizysus worked. If they hadn’t, the embryos would have died. Had there been any not of our species, they’d have noticed it and informed the proper authorities.”
“Would we have been told about it, though? Wouldn’t your people have been afraid we’d be so angry that we’d break the treaty?”
He thought this over carefully. “They would have told you,” he said. “The Doctor would never have done it, only Chy’qui, therefore we would not be to blame.”
“Did you ever find out who murdered Chy’qui?”
“How did you know that?” he asked, surprised. “Only the Doctor thought he’d been murdered, by a steward who disappeared when we were downloading cargo and people to our world. Everyone else thought he’d committed suicide.”
“If this steward did escape, could he have taken any samples with him?”
“Samples, yes, but not growth tubes. They’re just too big, Carrie. But where would they grow them?”
“I don’t know, Zsurtul. You tell me.”
“I can’t, because I don’t know of anywhere but the labs. You could ask Kzizysus.”
“I will, but didn’t the Directorate have a base which Kezule destroyed when he stopped the plot to kill your father?”
The Prince shuddered, screwing his face up at the thought of a plot against his father and mother. “Yes, they did.”
“Might there not have been tubes there?”
He spread his hands helplessly and said, “I don’t know, Carrie. I wish I did and could tell you.”
“Why did Kusac get aggressive around the M’zullians?”
“Their scent,” he said. “He could smell them. You can’t, but he could because he’d been scent ...” He ground to a halt, realizing he’d fallen neatly into a trap.
“He’d been what, Zsurtul?” Carrie asked quietly.
Now he was stuck, and he began to squirm again. “He’d been scent-sensitized we think,” he said eventually.
“How?”
“I can’t tell you, Carrie,” he said, hanging his head. “The Doctor told me to say nothing.”
“The Doctor may be dead now, you said so. And don’t you think I should be told something that important about my mate? Why could he smell your people when none of the rest of us can?”
“I can’t say.”
Carrie grasped hold of his hand. “Tell me, Zsurtul,” she said, her voice growing angry.
“I can’t!” he said, glancing up at her briefly and looking away when he saw her predator’s slitted eyes.
“If you think it would damage the treaty, think of this. If you don’t tell me, it definitely will, I’ll see to it myself!” she all but snarled at him.
“He was scent-marked!” he said, trying in vain to pull his hand away. “She scent-marked him!”
Carrie released his hand in shock. “What?”
“Our females can mark a male with their scent when they couple with him,” he said in a rush. “The Doctor said it wasn’t her, but he smelled of her scent.”
She shut her eyes and muttered something under her breath. “What does this scent mark do?” she asked, her voice barely audible.
“It sets them apart as a desirable mate,” he said, cringing back in his seat. “Makes them attractive to the other females, and makes the males want the female that marked them.”
“Would it make him see other males as rivals?”
He nodded.
“That was why he went for you, wasn’t it?” she asked. “You’re a Prime, so is she. He saw you as a rival.”
He nodded again. “It wasn’t his fault, he had no control over it. I think the marker went wrong because it changed him so he could smell us.”
Carrie got up and began pacing the room. “When did you find out about this?” she demanded.
“Only when I came here,” he said. “Not before, on Haven. I could smell her scent and his bound together. I called home and asked the Doctor about it. That’s when she told me to say nothing. She said another female on the ship did it, not her, and that the other had been found dead just after the exchange of Kusac for me.”
“But you don’t believe her.”
“How could another female put the Doctor’s scent on Kusac? It can only be done when they are coupling. I’m sorry, Carrie. I liked your husband Kusac, and I like you and Kaid, too. We need this treaty so much that I couldn’t risk it by disobeying Doctor Zayshul,” he said unhappily, watching as she continued to pace the room.
She stopped and came over to him, laying her hand on his shoulder, smiling faintly when he automatically shrank away from her at first.
“It’s all right, Zsurtul,” she said. “I know you weren’t to blame for any of this.”
He sighed with relief.
“Is there anything else you haven’t yet told me that I should know?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Oh, one thing more,” he said. “Perhaps the Doctor is all right, because my mother suddenly decided to have another child after the Doctor visited her. It was just before she and the General left K’oish’ik. I think perhaps this is connected. My mother has certainly borne this egg easily.”
“You may be right,” Carrie said, sitting down at the table again. “Kaid’s on his way over. Would you mind repeating this to him for me?”
“Won’t he be angry with me?” Zsurtul asked anxiously.
“No, he knows as well as I do that you weren’t involved in any of this. We do understand why you were afraid to tell us.”
“Will you report this and break up the treaty?”
She shook her head. “I can’t tell you what will happen, Zsurtul. All I’m concerned with is finding Kusac.”
Kaid spent an hour asking Zsurtul questions before he decided he’d learned all he could. Thanking the Prime Prince, they left Ruth’s.
“Well?” said Carrie, once they were outside. “What do you think now?”
Kaid stood idly kicking at the snow as he formulated a reply for her. “All right, we go to Stronghold,” he said. “I still don’t think you’re right, but I promised if you found out anything else, we’d go.”
“Is that all you’re going to say?” she asked in disbelief.
“What else do you want me to say?” he asked, looking up at her. “That I’m shocked and angry beyond belief? I am, more than I can say,” he said, a note of anger entering his voice. “If it was the Doctor, it would explain why Kusac said he was concerned for her safety when we got him back. Do you want me to s
ay that only the fact she saved his life will stop me from wanting to tear her apart if we meet her again, assuming it was her and not this dead person Zsurtul mentioned?”
She nodded. “Yes, I did need to hear that. Kaid, do you realize what Zsurtul told us? The Primes have artificial wombs, they could have grown hybrids in them! Kezule attacked the Directorate base. What if he found them there?”
“He’d have found embryos, Carrie, nothing else.”
“Growth can be accelerated.”
“That’s a rather large leap of logic.”
“Wait here,” she said, and darted back into Ruth’s. Zsurtul was still in the lounge, but Ruth and Ray were with him.
“Zsurtul, the growth tubes—can your people accelerate growth, too?” she demanded, ignoring the other two.
“Yes. The General’s offspring were accelerated to the age of twelve in only a few weeks. They wanted them two years older than the M’zullians so they could be their officers.”
“Thank you,” she said, turning round and walking straight into Kaid who’d followed her in.
Six cubs, ten years old, she sent to him. It’s become more than a possibility. Will you now at least admit that?
I want to read over your transcript before I’ll admit anything.
She sighed and turned away from him. I’ll stay here with Ruth for a bit, then.
I’d rather you came with me.
And I’d rather you read the transcript alone, so you can’t accuse me of trying to influence you, she replied.
Very well, he sent after a small silence, then walked away.
Pulling out a chair, she took off her jacket again, flinging it on the sofa and joined them at the table.
“You look like you could do with some coffee,” said Ray, getting up.
“Make it a strong one,” Ruth called out after him. “So he still doesn’t believe us,” she said to Carrie.
“He admits something is not quite right, but that’s all. He has agreed to go with me to Stronghold, though.”
“That’s at least more positive,” said Ruth.
“Why do you want to go to Stronghold, Carrie?” asked Zsurtul, picking up the bowl of c’shar Ruth had brought him.
“I think they may have sent Kusac to find, or meet up with Kezule,” she said tiredly.
“Then you think he was ordered to steal the Touibans’ ship?” he said after a moment’s obvious thought.
“I hadn’t thought it that far through, but now you mention it, yes, I think he was,” she said, her mind suddenly darting in several directions as she sorted through the possibilities.
“Then why didn’t the Brotherhood speak up for him instead of letting him be thought a traitor?”
“Because the mission was so sensitive they couldn’t admit it existed,” said Ruth quietly as Ray came back with Carrie’s coffee.
“One to Kezule could certainly be that,” said Zsurtul. “I know our Ambassador asked your government to inform us if Kezule was seen anywhere. My father certainly wants him to return. He feels the General’s counsel is more important than the possible risks of anyone using him to stage another coup.”
“This all sounds very cloak and dagger,” said Ray, putting the mug in front of her then taking the empty seat at her side. “What’s it all about?”
“Too complicated to explain,” said Ruth succinctly.
Zsurtul opened his mouth to start telling him only to find his hand, which lay on the table, covered by Carrie’s and squeezed warningly.
Not his business. He’s an outsider, she sent to him, using a mental frequency that she knew could pierce his natural mental barriers and be heard by him.
He started, and glanced quickly at her, then away again.
“What do you plan to do now?” asked Ruth as Carrie took a mouthful of her coffee.
“Speak to Kzizysus,” she said. “But I don’t want Kaid to know I’m going.” She looked across at Ruth. “This is strong,” she said, putting her mug down.
“You need it,” she replied, smiling. “Listen to Mother. Even you need mothering sometimes, Carrie.”
“Kzizysus, that’s the TeLaxaudin doctor who lives in the shuttle out on the parking lot, isn’t it?” asked Ray.
“Yep,” said Carrie. “He was working on the Kz’adul with both Doctor Zayshul and Chy’qui. It was the ship that rescued us from the M’zullians on our way back from Jalna.”
“I’ve heard of them. They’re the ones that destroyed your two colonies and attacked Keiss.”
“A Warrior caste,” said Zsurtul. “Bred only to fight and kill.”
“Is it wise to go there without Kaid?” asked Ruth. “I know Kizzy has only got Shrulo there, but all the same, even one Cabbaran can be a fierce bodyguard.”
“I don’t think Kizzy will be a problem,” she said, taking another drink.
“I shall go with you, Carrie,” said Zsurtul.
“I’ll come too,” offered Ray.
“No need,” she said, feeling the caffeine rush start to hit her.
“I’d leave it till tomorrow, if I were you,” said Ruth, eyeing her carefully. “That coffee was a little too strong for sensitive conversations.”
“I’m fine,” she said.
“You should drink decaf if it gives you the jitters,” said Ray.
“Wouldn’t make any difference,” said Ruth. “It affects us and the Sholans the same way, like alcohol.”
He looked at her in surprise. “You can get drunk on coffee?” He grinned and shook his head. “We should be so lucky as to have such cheap booze!”
“Coffee can be quite expensive here,” Carrie said, finishing it off and getting up to fetch her jacket.
Zsurtul got to his feet and followed by Ray, went to fetch his own coat.
Take Zsurtul at least, sent Ruth. If the worst happens, the Cabbaran won’t make a move against you with the Prime Prince there.
Mothering me again?
Sure, grinned Ruth. Why not? It’s tough enough being a mother to twin babes and a toddler without Kaid as well, and the worry of Kusac on top.
Carrie was laughing as the two males returned.
“You will not prevent me going, Carrie,” said Zsurtul firmly, fastening the seal on the front of the full-length, padded coat. “It is my duty and responsibility to you. The TeLaxaudin are our allies, and Kzizysus was on our ship.”
She nodded at him. “Come on, then. But there’s no need for you to come with us, Ray. This is a friendly visit.”
“You can’t stop me either,” he said with a slight grin. “Besides, I haven’t yet met this TeLaxaudin. I’m not going to miss that opportunity.”
Carrie raised her eyebrows and was about to assure him she could, when she caught Ruth’s gently shaking head. Sighing, she turned to leave. “You can come, if you do exactly what I tell you,” she said. “Protocol is important here. Our relations with both the TeLaxaudin and the Cabbarans is not as free and easy as it is with some of our other allies.”
He nodded. “Understood.”
The shuttle was the same one that Annuur and his family had lived in before they’d joined the Watcher patrols with the U’Churian, Captain Tirak, and the rest of their crew. As they neared it, Carrie knew that Kzizysus would see them approaching through the hull of his main living quarters. Though it looked opaque from the outside, Cabbaran technology was capable of turning it transparent from the inside.
With a shudder, she hoped the slightly built alien would remember her dislike of it in that state. The impression of walking in midair had made her feel decidedly queasy.
They’d barely set foot on the ramp when, with a gust of warm air, the air lock slid open for them.
“Welcome, Liegena,” said a voice over the intercom that could only be Shrulo’s. “Apologies not meet you. Too cold it is for us. Come to lounge. The way you know.”
“I hope you don’t intend to leave me out here in the cold,” said Ray, glancing up at the darkening sky.
Carrie sighed and
beckoned him to follow them. “Remember, do exactly what I tell you,” she said as they stepped inside and the door closed behind them.
It was warm, even in the corridor, and they had to open their coats. Carrie led them to the lounge, and to her relief found that the bulkhead was opaque.
Shrulo was sitting on one of the sloped Cabbaran loungers while round him, piles of cushions were scattered on the floor.
“Please, be comfortable,” he said, sitting up on his haunches and indicating the cushions with one forearm. “Annuur told me the view you not like, Liegena,” he said with a sound approximating a chuckle.
“Thank you for the courtesy, Shrulo,” she said, picking her way toward a pile of cushions. “I think you know Crown Prince Zsurtul of the Primes, and this is Ray, a visiting doctor from Earth.”
Shrulo dipped his long-snouted head low in the direction of the other two. “Greetings, Enlightened One,” he said. “And you Earth Doctor Ray.”
“May you always be remembered,” said Zsurtul in his own language as he inclined his head to the small alien. Then, in the first graceful move she’d seen him make, he sat down next to her.
“A pleasure,” said Ray, sitting down beside them.
“Some refreshments?” asked Shrulo, leaning down slightly to activate the small control unit on the arm of his lounger.
Carrie heard a slight noise and looked round to see an automated trolley roll into the room and wend its way between the cushions to them.
“That’s new,” she said, helping herself to one of the mugs on it. “Annuur didn’t have it when I was last here.”
“Were many here then, including their U’Churian family. Not so easy for one you call Kizzy, and me.”
“True,” she said, sipping the delicate warm herbal drink as Zsurtul and Ray helped themselves.
“What aid can we be to you?” Shrulo asked.
In her mind, she could feel Kaid’s awareness of where she was, and his disapproval of what she was doing. Pushing it aside, she strengthened her shields until she could no longer sense him. She had no intention of leaving until she had the information she wanted, and she didn’t need Kaid’s interference.
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