Elrabin sighed, wondering why he bothered with them. “Foloth?”
“Is this an exam?” the older cub asked coolly. “The building is drab and cheaply constructed. Obviously it is temporary and they are building something larger to house the laboratory.”
“Never mind what it looks like,” Elrabin said, trying to keep his patience. “It has—”
A quiet buzz on his hand-link interrupted him. He fished it out of his pocket and snapped it on. “Yeah?”
“Any luck?”
He recognized Ampris’s voice and grinned. They were being cautious with the links and not using names that might get picked up by surveillance nets.
“Some. We’ve done been looking things over for an hour, and no patrols have been flown in that time. Guards ain’t nothing. The locks will be the hardest part, just like I thought. Can’t get closer to check them out. May have to risk going in and taking what comes.”
“Fine,” she replied.
“Or,” he said, glancing at Nashmarl and Foloth, “we may just pry a hole in the wall. It all be built of temporary block. If a security field can even be rigged around this piece of junk, I want to see it.”
“No problems, then?”
“Nope.”
“Good. We need a diversion for the sky,” she said.
Elrabin understood she was referring to the Zrheli on Shrazhak Ohr. “Got to talk to ’em first, see?”
“Did that. We have a go, but they’re under constant surveillance and can’t act unless we do something to break that up.”
His mouth fell open and he swiveled back his ears. “You talked to ’em? You?”
“I did,” she replied, and her voice was smug.
He couldn’t believe it. He figured nobody could get through to the station—especially not Ampris. The last time she and Elrabin had been on the station, she’d been honing her glevritar blade on the guts of little nasty Zrheli, or at least she had been until one of them clipped the tendons in her leg with his beak and nearly killed her. Elrabin figured the Zrheli wouldn’t want anything to do with Ampris.
“They agreed?” he asked, still not believing it.
She hesitated a moment on the channel. “Yes.”
Elrabin rubbed his muzzle and glanced at the listening cubs with a wink. “You could talk the Kaa off her throne,” he said in admiration.
“I doubt that,” Ampris replied dryly. “So what kind of diversion can we deliver?”
“What you got in mind?”
“I’m giving the job to you.”
“No,” he said in protest, his admiration vanishing. “Hey, I don’t want to be coming up with no clever ideas. You be the one—”
“I can’t do everything,” she said, cutting him off. “Get busy and think up something.”
“But what about this case job?” he asked.
“Sounds like that’s finished,” she said crisply. “Turn it over to whoever can do it, and start on this new project. We need something fast. Going out.”
“But—”
She was gone before he could finish his protest. Elrabin snapped off the hand-link and thrust it back into his pocket with a growl.
From the corner of his eye he glimpsed stealthy movement. He whirled around just as a Skek came creeping across the roof tiles and grabbed the water skin Nashmarl had laid down.
“Hey!” Elrabin shouted.
The Skek, small and covered with fur so dirty and matted it was hard to see the creature underneath, shrieked and ran in reverse. With its many legs it could go forward or backward with equal agility. It scuttled away, gibbering wildly and dragging the water skin by its strap.
Elrabin made a wild grab and missed.
Nashmarl jumped up and ran after it. “That’s mine, you dirty thief! Give it back!”
The Skek eluded him, scuttling here and there over roof tiles and around chimneys. Nashmarl slipped and skidded, his arms flailing wildly for a moment before he regained his balance.
Elrabin rose to a half-crouch, whining without realizing it, certain the cub was going to fall off the roof to his death. By the time Nashmarl caught himself, the Skek was long gone and out of sight.
Nashmarl picked up a loose tile and hurled it as hard as he could. It went skidding across the roof, flew off the edge, and smashed into pieces on the pavement far below.
The Toths guarding the laboratory glanced up in their direction.
Gulping down a yelp, Elrabin dropped behind the cover of a chimney. Foloth did the same, holding out his hand to help Nashmarl come scrambling back.
They crouched there, barely breathing, and listened for any sounds of investigation. Finally Elrabin ventured a peek down at the guards.
They had resumed their places and were now chatting and grunting at each other.
Elrabin let out his pent-up breath in a long whoosh. “Close,” he muttered.
“That filthy Skek,” Nashmarl said. “They’ve pestered us all day. First they stole Foloth’s lunch, and now my water skin. The only one they haven’t bothered is you, Elrabin.”
“That’s ’cause I keep my pretties hidden and not lying about for them to pick up.”
Under his hood, Nashmarl glared at Elrabin and his face began to redden. “That’s not fair. It’s just an old water skin. Who’d want it?”
“The Skeks steal because they like to,” Foloth said. “I should have brought my sling. I could have practiced my marksmanship on them.”
“Waste of time, trying to hunt Skeks,” Elrabin told him, then he stopped a moment with his head cocked to one side. A feeling of glee made him chuckle. “That’s it,” he said. “That’s it!”
“What?” Nashmarl asked him, looking baffled. “What are you talking about?”
“Skeks!” Elrabin said. “Come, let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” Foloth asked. “What about the lab?”
“You heard what your mother said,” Elrabin replied. “We’re going on a Skek hunt.”
“You just said it was a waste of time to hunt them,” Nashmarl argued.
Elrabin was already moving across the roof to the point where they’d climbed up. “It will be,” he said and laughed.
“You’re not making any sense,” Foloth said. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Inspiration, cub!” Elrabin said. “Sheer, brilliant inspiration. Come on!”
Three hours later, he managed to corner one in an alley that dead-ended. The Skek jabbered and rolled its eyes. Holding its thin arms high above its head, it scuttled this way and that, trying to dart past them as Elrabin and the cubs closed in. This one was fatter than most, but no less agile.
“All right,” Elrabin said with determination. He took off his coat and held it in front of him with both hands. “The two of you look sharp. Don’t let it get past you.”
“We won’t,” Foloth said.
“Maybe I should try to grab it,” Nashmarl offered. “You’re kind of old, and I can move faster than you.”
Elrabin backed his ears, but he wasn’t going to make the mistake of taking his eyes off the Skek, no matter how insulted he felt. “You stay behind me,” he said grimly. “If I miss, you catch it.”
“I still think I should do it,” Nashmarl said.
“Fine,” Elrabin said shortly. “You think that all you want. Now stay sharp.”
He advanced on the Skek, which darted this way and that, then backed away from him. Just as Elrabin reached the thing, it shrieked and skittered between his legs.
Cursing it, Elrabin spun around, trying not to let himself be knocked off balance. The Skek was getting away from him. He flung his coat over the Skek’s head and made a clumsy tackle of the creature. It shrilled and tried to run backward, bumping into him.
Elrabin grabbed it around the middle, and the thing kicked and shrieked wildly.
“Help me!” he shouted.
Foloth and Nashmarl raced to join him.
The Skek rolled in Elrabin’s arms, kicking him in the stomach. The pai
n made him curse, but although his grip loosened, Elrabin was angry now and he wasn’t letting go.
He twisted the coat harder around the thing, and Foloth was suddenly hanging on to a leg for dear life. Nashmarl ran around them both as though he didn’t know what to do.
“Nashmarl!” Elrabin said breathlessly. “Get hold of a—”
The Skek exploded in his arms. One moment Elrabin had been in possession of a solid mass of kicking, leggy fur; the next he seemed to be juggling pieces of Skek in all directions.
For a second Elrabin actually thought the creature had blown up, then a piece of fur no bigger than his fist went bouncing onto the pavement and skittered away from him as fast as it could go.
“Babies!” he said in astonishment as another piece of fur landed on the ground. The rest were squirming inside his coat, crawling up his arms, escaping him despite his every effort. He still had hold of the adult, although it was much smaller than it had been at first.
“Get them!” Elrabin said. “All you can catch!”
Nashmarl went running after the tiny creatures, pouncing on them and stuffing them in his pockets. Foloth let go of the adult’s legs and ran to help his brother.
Still clutching the squirming adult firmly around the middle, its shrieking muffled inside the folds of his coat, Elrabin hoisted it higher and started carrying it home.
“How many you got?” he called to the cubs, who had run ahead of him almost to the mouth of the alley.
Foloth turned back at once with his arms full of squirming, wriggling balls of fluff. “I have eight—” One of them jumped free and darted through a hole in the sewer grille. “Seven,” he said.
Nashmarl was still picking up tiny Skeks. With his arms and pockets full, he came back, skipping along, herding three or four along in front of him with his feet. “Get ’em!” he yelled at Foloth, who complied. “I got maybe a dozen,” Nashmarl said triumphantly.
“You do not,” Foloth said. “There couldn’t possibly be that many.”
“Hey, no arguing about it,” Elrabin said. “We’ll count when we get them home. we get them home.”
It wasn’t easy. The walk seemed to take forever. Now and then the adult Skek fell silent and quiet in Elrabin’s arms, but then it would struggle and kick until he wanted to throttle it. Baring his teeth and panting from exertion, he kept a tight hold on it. When he’d first captured it, it didn’t seem to weigh much, but the farther he walked the heavier it grew.
As for the cubs, they kept juggling and grabbing and chasing down the babies that escaped them. Elrabin figured the pair of them wouldn’t have any of the babies by the time they got back to Jobul’s, but to his surprise both cubs proved more diligent at the job than he expected. Nashmarl seemed to have a flair with the creatures; by the time he banged his way through the door and went hurrying inside, his captives were fairly quiet and tame. Foloth’s were still struggling, and Elrabin wished he could drop his own catch down the nearest sewer access.
When they burst in, Ampris was talking with Jobul, Quiesl, and Harthril while Velia paced back and forth restlessly. All of them jumped up in astonishment at the invasion.
“What have you got?” Ampris asked.
Nashmarl went bounding over to her. “Look, Mother! Skeks! Lots of them!”
“Skeks!” Velia said shrilly. “Those filthy things. Get them out of here at once.”
“Um, yes,” Jobul said, looking less than pleased at what had been brought into his house. “I don’t think they should be in here.”
“Yeah, well, think of somewhere quick,” Elrabin said, panting heavily. He dropped onto a chair and wrestled with his squirming captive yet again. “Now that I got this mama and her brood, we ain’t letting ’em go.”
“I’m tired of holding them,” Foloth said. “I’m going to let them go.”
“No!” all the adults shouted in unison.
Startled, he stared wide-eyed at them, and Ampris came hurrying forward. “Wait just a minute,” she said. “We don’t want them to get loose in here. They’ll carry everything off.”
“Dirty things!” Velia said in disgust, staying well back. “What did you bring them here for? Elrabin, have you lost your mind?”
“I have an idea,” Jobul said. He headed outside at a run.
Quiesl came forward. “I have never seen an immature Skek of this small size,” he said, waving his tail from side to side. “Are they as agile as the older ones?”
“Pretty fast,” Nashmarl said. “You can hold one if you want. They don’t bite.”
The Myal smiled and poked his finger gently at one of the furballs. It responded by scuttling up Nashmarl’s arm and climbing on top of his head. Nashmarl squealed with laughter.
Ampris smiled at him and turned to Elrabin. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“You wanted a diversion,” he said breathlessly. “This is it. Course we need more, but these things ain’t easy to catch.”
“A diversion?” Ampris backed her ears while an unholy gleam entered her eyes. She drew in her breath sharply and laughed. “Elrabin, that’s brilliant. Oh, it’s perfect! Yes, yes, we must have more. As many as we can capture.”
“Now you have the madness,” Harthril said while Quiesl just gaped at her.
Jobul came running back inside with a large cage. Simply made of a wooden frame with fine gauge wire netting tacked to it, the cage was perfect for their purpose.
He opened the lid, and Elrabin dropped his captive inside with a grunt of relief. The adult Skek landed with a thud, lay there stunned a moment, then jumped to its multiple feet. Jobul closed the lid hurriedly. When he opened it again to allow Foloth to dump the babies inside, the adult tried to jump out.
Jobul banged its head with the lid, driving it to the bottom of the cage. The baby Skeks swarmed about the adult’s feet. Many of them climbed their parent and clung to its sides, their fur blending perfectly in color and texture with its matted covering. Nashmarl released his captives into the cage more gently, dropping many of them onto the adult’s back. They clung in place as though stuck there. In moments, the adult Skek seemed to be the single inhabitant of the cage, only bigger and woollier than before.
Jobul tied the lid shut securely, then placed a brick on top of it for added reinforcement.
Ampris was still laughing, and Elrabin grinned back at her like a fool. He enjoyed seeing her so happy; she hadn’t laughed like this in a long, long time. She flung her arms around her cubs and gave them each a lick.
“My wonderful Skek hunters!” she said and went off into another peal of laughter.
“What’s so funny, Mother?” Foloth asked her. “Why are you and Elrabin so thrilled about these creatures?”
“Yes, indeed,” Quiesl said. “Please explain.”
Ampris shook her head and pointed at Elrabin. The look in her eyes made him start chuckling too. But he managed to sober himself enough to answer.
“Skeks are big trouble,” he explained. “Always getting into things, always stealing.”
“If not stealing, then reproducing,” Harthril said in disapproval, glaring at the occupants of the cage.
“Right,” Elrabin said. He grinned and forced himself to stop looking at Ampris. “That’s right. No matter how many we catch and send up there, there’ll be more, see? By the time they get there.”
“Many more,” Ampris said unsteadily. “The Viis won’t know what hit them.”
“You were giving an explanation,” Quiesl said politely.
“Right.” Elrabin rubbed his muzzle. “See, the Skeks can tear Shrazhak Ohr apart in a few days.”
“Yes,” Ampris joined in, calmer now. “All stations have strict rules about vermin. But ships always have a few Skeks in them, no matter how diligent the ship’s crew is. So the stations put ships through tough decon procedures. Now, if we conceal Skeks in, say, a cargo shipment, it will go straight into the cargo receiving dock and into the station. As soon as it’s opened, the Skeks will run in all directio
ns. They’ll go into the ductwork first thing.”
“From there,” Elrabin said, “they can spread in all directions. As fast as personnel can get rid of some, the others will be reproducing more. They’ll mess up the food supplies for sure. They’ll tear off panels, and break circuitry. Ain’t nothing they won’t steal.”
He pointed at the cage, where the adult Skek was now busily tugging at the wire netting.
Jobul looked at it nervously. “Are you sure it can’t gnaw its way out?”
“No teeth,” Nashmarl said. “I looked.”
“Adults have teeth, surely,” Quiesl said.
“Not important,” Harthril announced. The Reject gave Elrabin a nod of respect. “Good plan,” he said in approval. “Come. We go catch more.”
Elrabin stood up, started to put his coat back on, then wrinkled his nostrils and handed it to Velia.
She looked at him defiantly and made no move to take it. “I ain’t touching that. I’ll burn it before I’ll wash it.”
Embarrassed, Elrabin backed his ears. Maybe she was right, though. The coat did smell like Skek now. Pretty soon, Jobul’s little house would smell like Skek.
“Yeah, okay,” he said, hating to see the loss of a perfectly good coat. Just because it was missing both sleeves and had some rips in the back didn’t mean he couldn’t still use the pockets. He fished out the hand-link and some other useful items and rolled the coat into a ball. “Guess I’m out of a coat, but it makes a good Skek net.”
Harthril almost smiled. “Maybe we make a real net and hunt Skek easier.”
Elrabin brightened at that. “Yeah. That sounds good to me.”
“Can I come with you?” Nashmarl asked. His green eyes were bright with eagerness.
Elrabin hesitated and looked at Ampris.
She nodded and licked Nashmarl’s cheek. “You have done well today. I am proud of you. When you come back, I will put you in charge of the Skeks, feeding them and so on, until it is time to ship them to Shrazhak Ohr. That is a very important job, and you will do it well.”
Nashmarl glowed under the praise. Watching him, Elrabin thought it was a shame the cub seldom deserved any. Still, since getting stoned by the Rejects Nashmarl had improved. He was quieter now, less boastful. If Foloth didn’t provoke him, Elrabin mused, Nashmarl might even stay out of trouble.
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