by Timothy Zahn
Thrr-mezaz stared hard into the soft, alien face. "Let's get one thing straight right now, Lahettilas," he said coldly. "You and your companion are not in any position to insist on anything."
The alien face changed. More strikingly, so did his voice. Instead of the trembling tone, it was suddenly quiet and soothing. "I am sorry, Commander of the Zhirrzh," the translation came. "We understand that we are at your complete (something). I am (something) because I am afraid that we will die."
"I understand that," Thrr-mezaz said. Somehow this new voice of his was more irritating than the previous one had been. It reminded him of the condescending tone one of his teachers had used back in school whenever someone got the answer wrong. "We'll do whatever we can to protect you."
Lahettilas bowed half-over. "I understand, Commander of the Zhirrzh. We will trust you."
"Someone will be in to talk to you later," Thrr-mezaz said, catching the eye of one of the warriors and gesturing toward the aircraft service building. The warrior nodded and gestured to the others, and together they steered the Mrachanis across the landing field. Keeping the bulk of his attention on the sky, Thrr-mezaz headed off at an angle from their path back toward the Human-Conqueror aircraft.
Srgent-janovetz was sitting on the ground when he arrived, watching the Mrachanis out of the corner of his eye. "Is the attack over?" Klnn-vavgi asked.
"It seems to be," Thrr-mezaz said, reaching a hand up to block the darklight interpreter-link. "For now, anyway. Prisoner give you any trouble?"
"None," Klnn-vavgi said. "He stayed right where he was told to the whole time. Didn't even sit up, in fact, until I prodded him to do so."
Srgent-janovetz was looking up at him now. "Was he doing anything that maybe didn't really qualify as trouble?" Thrr-mezaz asked. "Any hand or leg movements, for example?"
"Nothing that I noticed," Klnn-vavgi said.
"Um." Thrr-mezaz withdrew his hand from the interpreter-link. "As you can see," he said to Srgent-janovetz, pointing across at the Mrachanis, "your warriors missed their target. They're still alive."
The Human-Conqueror's face changed as the translation came through. He spoke - "I know nothing about that attack. I came here to speak about (something) terms."
"So you said," Klnn-vavgi said. "Events seem to be indicating otherwise. Why do you want to kill the Mrachanis?"
"We don't," Srgent-janovetz protested. "The Mrachanis aren't our enemies."
Thrr-mezaz reached a hand to the interpreter-link again. "What do you think?" he asked Klnn-vavgi.
"What's there to think?" Klnn-vavgi countered, blocking his own link. "Those sure weren't our explosives raining down on us."
Thrr-mezaz glanced back at the damaged storehouse. "Yes, but how did they do it? Neither the Elders nor anyone else was able to find any trace of an attack site. Nor did they see anything coming in across the village perimeter."
Klnn-vavgi shrugged. "Maybe you were right about the Human-Conquerors having a network of underground tunnels, and the Elders just haven't found them yet." He looked pointedly up at the aircraft beside them. "Or maybe they had everything they needed already inside the perimeter."
"Yes, I was thinking the same thing a hunbeat ago," Thrr-mezaz told him, eying the aircraft. "Problem is, we're southwest of the building right here, but all four explosions were on the east and north walls. How could they have gotten their projectiles to go around corners that way? Especially projectiles small enough that we couldn't spot them?"
"I don't know." Klnn-vavgi looked down at the Human-Conqueror still sitting on the ground. "I do know, though, that we shouldn't be discussing this in front of the prisoner. They may have picked up more of our language than we know."
"Good point." Thrr-mezaz gestured a pair of warriors over. "Any suggestions on where to put him?"
"The storehouse springs to mind," Klnn-vavgi said dryly. "Let's see how he likes it there when his friends start firing again."
"Tempting, but impractical," Thrr-mezaz said. "The place has no doors left. Not to mention three brand-new exits."
"How about the Optronics supply room, then?" Klnn-vavgi suggested. "After we've pulled all the Optronics out of it, of course."
Thrr-mezaz considered. It was a little risky - the room was in the same building as the interpreter and was near other sensitive equipment. But the prisoner should be safe enough there until they could come up with something a little more permanent. "Fine," he told Klnn-vavgi. "Go ahead and get that set up for him. And detail some warriors to start converting some of the private homes in the village into guest quarters. Seal over the windows and secondary exits - you know what I mean."
Klnn-vavgi nodded. "I'll get right to it. If we're going to keep getting company, I suppose we might as well have a real place to put them."
"Right." Thrr-mezaz looked up at the aircraft. "And while they're doing that, have the technics start on this thing. I want to know about everything that's in there. Especially anything that could possibly be a weapon."
The sun had set in the west, and the long shadows were fading into a general dimness along the ground. Thrr-mezaz stepped carefully across the broken storehouse door, wincing as the shards crackled beneath his feet. Two Zhirrzh warriors had been raised to Eldership at this spot. Two warriors under his command...
He stepped into the storehouse, lowlight pupils widening to adjust to the gloom. A half-dozen warriors were at work inside, cleaning up the wreckage. The one he was looking for was over by one of the holes in the north wall: Vstii-suuv, one of his two climbing companions on that abortive attempt to penetrate Human-Conqueror territory two fullarcs ago.
Thrr-mezaz walked over to him. "Rather a mess, isn't it?" he commented.
Vstii-suuv straightened up from where he'd been crouching. "It certainly is," he agreed.
Thrr-mezaz gestured to take in the room. "So what's the consensus? Any ideas how the Human-Conquerors did it?"
"Not really." Vstii-suuv flicked his tongue in an annoyed negative. "I suppose it's possible they could have used missiles or projectiles that were small enough to sneak in without any of us seeing them. But I really don't like that theory."
"I know what you mean," Thrr-mezaz agreed, looking at the debris around the blast hole. "If they had an explosive this powerful, why haven't we seen them use it before?"
"Right," Vstii-suuv nodded. "And it's not nuclear, either. It would have left radiation behind."
"Still, just because they haven't used it before doesn't mean they don't have it," Thrr-mezaz said, gingerly touching the splintered wood at the edge of the hole. Fairly thin wood, actually, but the damage was still impressive. "We'll have to check and see if any of the other beachheads has come under this kind of attack. Should there be that many wood splinters out there?"
"I have no idea," Vstii-suuv said, stepping closer to the hole and peering at the ground outside. "But you can see there are a lot of splinters inside, too."
"True," Thrr-mezaz agreed, stepping back away from the hole. "One of the few halfway positive side effects of warfare: everyone learns so much along the way. We're certainly going to learn a lot about explosions and explosives by the time this is over."
"How about talking to the guards who were raised to Eldership when the door was destroyed?" Vstii-suuv suggested. "They might be able to tell you more about what happened."
"I've already tried getting a pathway to them," Thrr-mezaz said. "Unfortunately, they're both still twisted in anchoring shock. No telling when they'll come out of it, either - we're a long way from the eighteen worlds." He lowered his voice a bit. "The main reason I stopped by was to let you know that we're going to be doing another climb soon. Probably sometime in the next four or five fullarcs."
Vstii-suuv's midlight pupils narrowed. "You have something to take up there?"
"We will soon," Thrr-mezaz said, mindful of the other Zhirrzh in the room and the Elders floating around nearby. However Thrr-gilag had managed to pull off his illegal cutting of Prr't-zevisti's fss
s, the theft seemed to be undetected as yet. He wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. "Anyway, pass the word on to Qlaa-nuur."
"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 do that.
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.
