Judgment at Proteus

by Timothy Zahn

  “How foolish of us to have forgotten such things,” Kordiss said sardonically.

  “How foolish, indeed,” Wandek agreed. “Asantra Prllolim?”

  “The coagulation curve in Chinzro Hchchu’s records has been reset,” Prllolim said. “It will now show his death to have occurred less than a minute after the emergency call is made.”

  “And as to your second point, the capabilities of Human hands are not nearly as obvious to untrained Filiaelians as you might think,” Wandek continued. “Director Usantra Nstroo and the patrollers will have to turn to an expert in Human physiology to determine that.”

  I felt my brief flicker of professional pride fade away. “You?”

  “Who else?” Wandek said. “And I will naturally need several days of study before I can come to a conclusion. I will certainly want Logra Emikai to be standing by during that time in case you try to escape.”

  “Of course,” I said, feeling my heart sink even lower. And with Minnario injured and probably needing medical attention himself, Bayta would be completely alone. Every direction I tried, every turn I made, the Shonkla-raa had already closed it off.

  Maybe Wandek could see the growing despair in my face, or else he simply knew Human psychology as well as he knew our anatomy. “Please don’t assume that I’m telling you all this in order to gloat in your presence,” he said. “As I’m sure you long ago deduced, the Modhran strategy for slipping through mental defenses is to insert suggestions along lines of respect, familiarity, and trust. For us, the preferred strategy is to break down resistance through the creation of fear and hopelessness.”

  He stood up and leaned over me. “Do you feel fear and hopelessness, Mr. Compton?”

  “Fear is a biochemical response that can be controlled or ignored,” I said as firmly as I could. “And hopelessness is a lie and an illusion. There’s always hope.” I locked eyes with him. “Always.”

  Wandek shook his head. “You Humans are remarkable beings indeed,” he said as he straightened up. “I shall look forward to having all of you under my authority. Until later, Mr. Compton.”

  He started toward the door, then paused and turned around again. “One other thing,” he said. “Up to now, our plan has included only the modification of unborn Humans. But since you’ll be our guest anyway, I think it will be worth examining whether or not the same techniques will work on a fully developed Human brain.”

  “Sure, why not?” I said, fighting down a surge of horror at the thought of Wandek and the other Shonkla-raa poking around inside my skull. “You might as well be efficient about this.”

  “Exactly,” Wandek said. “Of course, the technique may also kill you. But if it succeeds, you too will be able to look forward to a lifetime in my service.”

  He took a step back toward me. “So tell me now, arrogant Human,” he said softly, “whether hopelessness is only an illusion.”

  He turned again and started across the room. Prllolim and Kordiss joined him, Kordiss walking backward so that he could keep an eye on me the whole way. Even a last-second act of desperation was going to be denied me.

  They were halfway to the door when an unexpected question hammered through my growing swirl of despair.

  Why the hell were they bothering to alter Human brains?

  There was no reason to go to all that time and effort. Asantra Muzzfor had already demonstrated that the Shonkla-raa could take control of the Modhri, and the Modhri had just as conclusively proved he could take control of Humans. Instead of spending all this time and energy fiddling with baby brains, why not simply scratch the babies—and their mothers—with some Modhran coral and be done with it?

  The answer seemed obvious. As Hchchu and Wandek had both stated, there wasn’t any Modhran presence aboard Proteus. No Modhri, no coral, no Modhran walkers.

  And yet …

  I lowered my gaze to Doug. He was sitting on his haunches, his body motionless, his masked eyes gazing intently back at me. Doug, my faithful watchdog, who had accidentally alerted me to at least two attacks since our arrival here. Doug, whose partner Ty had inexplicably deserted me in order to stay close to Bayta, whom the Shonkla-raa had been furiously trying to get alone. Doug, who had never once greeted Ty with the same yip that both watchdogs invariably exchanged with other watchdogs they happened to meet.

  Doug, who by Dr. Aronobal’s own statement belonged to a species that the Fillies knew so well they had no reason to study further.

  Deliberately, I turned my eyes from Doug to Minnario. The Nemut was still lying motionless, his breathing still the slow rhythm of unconsciousness.

  And then, as I peered into his face, I saw his conical mouth shift in a small, knowing, hard-edged smile.

  The three Shonkla-raa had reached the door now. “Usantra Wandek?” I called.

  He turned around. “Yes?”

  “The next time you come after me,” I said softly, “you’d better bring all of you.”

  He snorted and turned away. A moment later, the door closed and sealed behind them.

  I turned back to Minnario. “Hello, Modhri,” I said.

  “Hello, Compton,” Minnario murmured, his eyes still closed, his distorted mouth speaking English for the first time since we’d met. “It’s a long way indeed since the super-express.” He hesitated. “Are we still allies?”

  “Yes,” I said firmly.

  “Good,” he said. “Then we must hurry.”

  Doug stood up and trotted to me. Lowering his head, he opened his mouth wide.

  And out onto the floor slid Minnario’s missing comm.

  “Bayta is in terrible danger,” Minnario continued, his voice urgent as I reached down and picked up the comm. “We must move swiftly if we’re to save her.”

  FIFTEEN

  Bayta answered on the second ring. “Where are you?” I asked without preamble.

  “On the bullet train heading back to our quarters,” she said, her voice suddenly taut. “What’s wrong?”

  “Pretty much everything,” I said grimly, walking over to the door and trying the release. It was locked, all right. “There’s been another murder, the Shonkla-raa are trying to frame me for it, and you’re in danger,” I continued, turning and heading for the desk. “You need to get off that train at the next stop and find a place to hide. Is Emikai with you?”

  “Yes, he’s right here,” she said. “Do you want to talk to him?”

  Minnario’s hand twitched. “There’s a place nearby that will serve,” he said.

  “No, that’s all right,” I told Bayta, nodding to Minnario in acknowledgment. “I don’t think the Shonkla-raa particularly want him, so he should be safe enough for now. But tell him he has to make a choice—”

  “This is Emikai,” Emikai’s voice came abruptly. “What has happened?”

  “The people who killed Tech Yleli have killed again,” I told him, walking around the side of the desk and trying to activate the computer. It was as solidly locked down as the door.

  “Who was murdered?”

  “Why?” I asked suspiciously. “You going to call it in if I tell you?”

  “Of course,” he said. “I have no choice.”

  “In that case, I can’t tell you,” I said. “The killers are trying to frame me for the murder. I have to get away from the crime scene before the whole Proteus security system piles on top of me.”

  “Leaving the scene will not help you,” he warned. “You will have left samples of your nucleics behind.”

  “In this case, that won’t matter,” I said. “Put Bayta back on, will you?”

  “Wait.” There was a brief pause. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “What can you do?”

  The pause this time was longer. “Assuming you escape the scene, how much evidence will there be against you?”

  “If I get out fast enough, none,” I assured him, looking at the locked door and then at Hchchu’s desk. “In fact, depending on how much noise I ma
ke, and how fast the patrollers get here after me, they’re going to be left with one hell of a puzzle. Don’t ask me to explain—it’s way too complicated.”

  “No explanation is necessary,” he said, and I could hear the relief in his voice. “If you are innocent, and if the evidence will show that, there is no requirement for me to hinder your movements.”

  “That’s good to hear,” I said, going over to where Minnario’s empty chair was quietly hovering. Taking one of its arms, I pulled it over beside the desk. “I’d like you to accompany Bayta to a place of safety. She’ll show you where.”

  “Understood,” he said. “We will await your arrival.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “Now put Bayta on.”

  There was a pause— “Frank?”

  “Okay, we’re all set,” I told her, searching the chair’s control board for the off control. “Emikai will go along and help keep you safe until I can catch up.”

  “Where do you want me to go?”

  “I don’t know yet,” I said, looking at Minnario. “Minnario?”

  The Nemut’s fingers twitched again. “Ty can guide her.”

  I grimaced. Of course Ty could guide her. Sometimes I forgot just how useful a group mind could be. “Ty will show you where,” I told Bayta. “Just follow him.”

  “Ty will show me?”

  “Yes,” I said. I found the control and twisted it, and the chair settled smoothly to the floor. “It turns out our super-express ally had an extra card up his sleeve.”

  Even over the comm I could hear the hiss as she inhaled sharply. “Minnario?”

  “Bingo,” I said. “Fortunately, the truce appears to still be on. Doug and Ty are also members of the club—go ahead and follow him.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked, her voice strained. “I mean—”

  “I know, I know,” I cut her off. “But go back and think about everything that’s happened here. He’s been running interference for us against the Shonkla-raa ever since we set foot on the station. Including having Ty stay with you for protection, despite the fact the animal had been ordered to stay with me.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “More to the immediate point, up until thirty seconds ago Wandek and his buddies had me in an airtight frame-up,” I went on. “There’s no game the Shonkla-raa and Modhri could possibly be playing that would put us in a worse predicament than they already had us in. So just go—I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

  “All right,” she said, still reluctant but with a firmness in her voice that meant she was ready to go along with the new plan.

  “And watch yourself,” I added. “See you soon.”

  I keyed off the comm and slipped it into my pocket. “How is he?” I asked as I tipped the chair over on its side and started removing the thrusters. The central stabilizer Minnario had mentioned the first time we’d taken the chair apart was visible from this angle: a plain cylinder the size of the other thrusters, but with six vertical lines of hash vents instead of the thrusters’ three.

  “He’s very much unconscious,” the Modhri said grimly. “At the very least he has a mild concussion. It may be more severe than that.”

  “Can you do anything to help?” I asked. Freeing two of the thrusters, I slid them up under two of the desk’s corners, giving them just enough juice to lift that side of the desk half a meter off the floor.

  “Do you think I function as a medical implant?” the Modhri retorted.

  “So that’s a no,” I said as I pulled two more of the thrusters from the chair. “That means we’ll have to find someplace where we can get him proper medical attention.”

  “If you think that’s wise,” the Modhri said doubtfully. “It’s certainly not necessary—I can function well enough without him.”

  “That’s the kind of talk that makes people not like you,” I admonished as I set the thrusters beneath the desk’s other two corners.

  “Yes, of course,” he said. “I understand. Forgive me.”

  I paused, frowning around the corner of the desk at Minnario’s unmoving form. Had the Modhri actually apologized to me? “It’s okay,” I said as I keyed in the thrusters and cranked up the other side of the desk. “Besides, unless Doug’s a lot better at charades than he looks, we definitely still need Minnario, or at least his mouth. Speaking of which, how are you hearing me right now? Or isn’t Minnario really deaf?”

  “Yes, he is,” the Modhri said. “I’m hearing you through Doug’s ears.”

  “Ah,” I said, detaching two more of the chair’s thrusters and looking for some way to attach them to the rear of the hovering desk. “So how come you didn’t join the party when Muzzfor called up everyone else back on the super-express? You could hear his siren song through the other walkers’ ears, couldn’t you?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that,” he said. “But I suspect that the sound works on an Eye’s polyp colony directly through his auditory system. Hearing it through the group mind isn’t the same as having the physical effect of the physical sound coming through the Eye’s own ears. But whatever the reason, I wasn’t affected that way.”

  Minnario’s body gave a sudden shiver. “You don’t know what it was like, Compton. You can’t possibly know. I could feel the tug of his orders, could feel the helplessness and horror of it filling my mind. For the first time in any part of my experience this particular part of the mind was cut off from all the rest. It was terrifying.”

  “It’s called being alone,” I said, pulling out the two middle desk drawers and probing with my hand at the panels at the back ends. The wood seemed thick enough to handle the pressure the thrusters would be exerting. “Very popular among all the rest of us.”

  “So I understand,” the Modhri said, some of the horror fading away. “But it’s not something I’m accustomed to. What’s your plan?”

  “To get us the hell out of here before the receptionist gets back,” I said, sliding one of the thrusters into each of the empty drawers. “Any idea how we’re doing on time?”

  “If Usantra Wandek’s numbers were right, we have another five minutes.”

  And Wandek’s estimate could easily be off by a minute or two. “Okay, here’s the rundown,” I said as I stood up and turned Minnario’s chair upright again. “The door’s locked, and it may be soundproof, but it isn’t particularly thick or strong.”

  “So you’re going to ram the desk into it?”

  “Right,” I said, looking at the controls. Earlier, when we’d been moving the unconscious Kordiss inside Yleli’s file cabinet, I’d watched how Minnario had operated the detached thrusters. I wouldn’t have nearly his finesse, but I was pretty sure I could duplicate his technique as far as I needed.

  Only with four of the thrusters now taking the desk’s weight and two more positioned to push it across the room, there were only two thrusters left to power the chair. The chair that Minnario had said required three to function.

  “Is there a problem?” the Modhri asked.

  “Minnario’s chair is one thruster short,” I told him as I lugged the chair over to Minnario’s sprawled body and got a grip under his arms. My brief Westali medical training had mentioned the risks of moving someone with a head injury, but it would be a hell of a lot more dangerous to leave him here. “If we’ve got time to retrieve at least one of the thrusters after we crash the desk, we’ll be okay,” I went on as I carefully lifted Minnario and eased him into his chair. It was harder and a lot more awkward than it looks in dit-rec dramas.

  “Why won’t there be time?” the Modhri asked.

  “Because if Wandek has any brains at all he’ll have someone loitering out there to make sure things go as planned,” I said. “In which case, we’ll have a very limited number of seconds in which to barrel our way over, around, or through him.”

  “And thus may not have time to retrieve the thrusters,” the Modhri said. “Yes, I understand. Have you a plan?”

  “We’ll find out in a second.” I adjusted Minnario so
that he was more or less upright, and keyed the switch. The chair rose a few centimeters on the remaining thrusters and stopped, hovering a bit uncertainly. Functional, but barely, and only if there weren’t any obstacles along the way taller than someone’s foot.

  Which meant we were going to have to get creative. “Doug?” I called, beckoning to the watchdog. “Front and center.”

  For a second the animal hesitated, and I could swear I could see an inquisitive frown on his face. Then the look cleared away. He trotted over, nudged his muzzle under the edge of the chair, and slid the whole thing up onto his back.

  “Even with the thrusters taking some of the weight, he won’t be able to carry it very far,” the Modhri warned.

  “He shouldn’t have to,” I said. “I just need you to be able to make a run for it if I end up tangling with one of Wandek’s buddies.”

  “You mean you would fight him alone?” the Modhri asked, his voice suddenly tense. “No, you mustn’t. I’ve fought against Shonkla-raa. You can’t possibly survive such a battle.”

  “I fought him too,” I reminded him, “and I’m very open to suggestions. You think Doug could take one of them?”

  “By himself, no,” he said. “But he could delay a single enemy long enough for us to escape.”

  “You mean before the Shonkla-raa killed him?”

  “Well … yes,” the Modhri conceded.

  I grimaced. It made sense, I knew, certainly if it came down to a question of Doug or Minnario and me. But the idea of deliberately sending even an animal to die in my place didn’t feel very good. “Let’s see how it plays out,” I said. Switching to the proper section of the chair’s control panel, I ran a little more power to the four supporting thrusters.

  The desk rose to waist height. I lowered it back down to knee height and got a grip on the power controls for the remaining two thrusters.