His ears pricked forward. “What do they want? Any more of my people on board?”
“I told you, the ship that brought you was different. This is one of the usual ones.”
“I thought you said they didn’t come often.”
“They don’t. I checked. The last one was some fifty years ago. They take a collection of foodstuffsâ grain, vegetables, fruit, and meat. Soil too, this time.”
“A science ship! What the hell’s a science ship doing here?”
Strick frowned. “Science ship?”
“One taking samples to run tests,” he said absently, mind working as he tried to figure out what the Valtegans wanted with bio samples. “How long have they been coming here?”
Strick shrugged. “Didn’t bother checking any farther back.”
“Not interested in conquest, then. Why the hell are they testing the soil and crops?”
“I’ll leave you to it. Like you said, Jeran, I got to go.”
The Jalnian’s words cut through his thoughts. “Right.” He hesitated. “I don’t suppose…”
“I’m sorry. U’Churian craft in plenty, a couple of Cabbarans, and that Chemerian ship, but none like you.”
Jeran nodded, watching as the other left the warehouse, stopping briefly to exchange pleasantries with the Jalnian guards on duty at the door.
*
“Well?” demanded Rezac as the apothecary came out. “What is it?”
The little man peered across the room to where Killian sat, obviously waiting for his command before speaking. “I’ve seen it before, but not often,” he said, responding to the gesture to approach the Lord. “It wasn’t easy, you know, her not being one of us, but that’s what made it simpler. If you see what I mean.”
“Get on with it, man! Stop dithering,” snapped Killian, shifting his bulk restlessly in the chair. “What’s wrong with her?”
“I usually see it in young children. Then, being young, they’ve got a chance. But when it’s an adult,” he shook his head, making tiny, concerned sounds.
Rezac was far more disturbed than he cared to admit. One of the worrying factors was that he was experiencing very little of what Zashou was feeling. Normally he felt everything to some degree, but with Zashou’s advancing pregnancy, their Link had dimmed.
He wanted to shout and rage, to pick this little white slug of a male up and shake him till the solution dropped out of him. Luckily, Jo’s firm presence was helping him, just, contain his impotent fury. Now she was urging him to keep his mouth shut and leave this to the rest of them.
Killian was making sounds of his own by this time, and they were far from tiny. “Arnor, if you don’t get on with it…”
The apothecary looked at him in surprise. “The food,” he said. “It’s the food. Didn’t I say that? The lady being an alien makes it quite definite.”
“The food?” echoed Jo.
“Her stomach just can’t cope with our food.”
“So what’s the cure?” Killian demanded.
“Oh, that’s the really simple part,” said Arnor, adjusting his cap, a large smile on his face. “Take her home. Or to the Port to her own kind. Once she’s able to eat the food she’s used to…” He faltered to a halt, the smile dying. “Not an option?” He sighed. “Then beyond giving your kitchen a special diet for her, there’s little I can do.” He shook his head sadly. “It’s really just a matter of time, I’m afraid.”
“You have to let us go, Killian,” said Jo. “You’re killing her if you keep us here.”
Anger like a red mist swept through Rezac, then suddenly he felt his mind grasped and held firmly. Rage as he might, he could do nothing; his body refused to respond. Dammit, Jo! he sent, but Kris answered him.
Not Jo, me. Violence now will achieve nothing, so be still!
Killian turned a cold stare on her as he dismissed Arnor with a wave of his hand. “Do what is needed,” he said.
“Wait! There must be more you can do!” exclaimed Jo, rising from the table.
Arnor hesitated, his kindly face creased in concern. “I can ease the symptoms, give you an oil to rub in the sores, a tisane for the irritation and the pain.”
“Do it, I said,” repeated Killian. “She’ll get what help I can give her, and when you’ve finished your work for me, I’ll see to it personally that you’re escorted to the Port and put aboard a ship that will take you home.” He pushed himself up from his seat. “Now you have an incentive to finish the weapon. You are responsible for her life, not me.” He turned and followed the apothecary from the room.
“He’s lying,” said Jo once the door closed behind him. “He has no intention of letting us go. This son-of-a-bitch is empire building and he’s using us to help him.”
“Let me guess,” said Davies. “Control of the spaceport.”
“Got it in one,” she agreed.
The hold on Rezac’s mind was released, and he slumped to the table. “You bastard,” he said to Kris. “You did that before, when they brought the talismans, didn’t you?”
Kris reached forward, touching his fingertips to Rezac’s hand, but the other pulled back. “I had to. We’re captives, Rezac. If we do anything to upset the balance we have at the moment, it could jeopardize any escape plans.”
“What escape plans?” he asked, not bothering to keep the withering contempt from his voice. “We have none! Just be careful, Kris, that you don’t consign Jo to death with Zashou and me! The Gods know what will happen to her if we die!”
“I know what’s at risk, Rezac. I’ve lived with your people.”
“Enough, Kris,” said Jo, cutting him short. “How soon till we can start working downstairs on the laser?”
“Really? Or for effect?”
“Either, dammit! We need to get out of here and assess the potential for escape! Sitting here on our butts has achieved damned little. There’s not going to be a rescue in time for us!”
“Today. We can get the power source taken down to the laser now. Apart from a cursory check to see it arrived here intact, we’ve not given it a good going over.”
“What about the controls we’re working on? Can we do anything to hurry that along?”
“Not without power, and we need that downstairs to check the laser,” said Kris.
“You and Rezac check over all the control connections, make sure they’re sound, then check them against the plans,” said Davies. “We were about ready to test it anyway.”
“We can’t afford to blow this, Gary,” warned Kris. “We damage any of the components for the controls, and we’ve had it.”
“Then, godammit, we fake it!” Davies snapped. “What d’you suggest? I’m not sitting here watching my friends die!”
Jo reached out and put her hand on Davies’ shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Easy. No point in falling out with each other. We all want the same thing, right, Kris? Now let’s get moving. Rezac, you make a start on the controls, I’m going in to see Zashou,” she said, getting to her feet.
Rezac looked up at her. “Not a good idea. She’s not in the most receptive frame of mind.”
“She shouldn’t be alone now either. If she won’t speak to you, then she’ll speak to me! She can’t deny that I’m involved, too. See if you can get some boiled water for me, and when you do, Gary, you bring it in, please, before you go down to check the laser. Bring it in a tankard or something. I think Zashou will be able to drink that more easily than cold water.”
*
Jo went to her own room and picked up a hairbrush before going to see Zashou. As the days had passed, she had begun to understand this unlikely pair and the culture from which they’d come. They were gregarious, a tribal people, needing the company of their own kind far more than Humans did. One thing Zashou had lacked for a long time was the feminine side of life. Well, she could at least give her some female company. If Rezac was right and Zashou saw her as taking the pressure out of her Leska Link with him, then it shouldn’t be too difficult to establish a common ground of
friendship with her.
Zashou was lying on her side, facing the door. She opened her eyes as Jo approached.
“What do you want?” she asked tiredly. “I’d rather be alone.”
“I’ve come to talk to you,” Jo said, finding a place to perch beside her. “The apothecary, Arnor, is sending up some oil for your skin. I think we should ask for a tub of hot water, put some of the oil in it and let you soak for a while.”
“What’s the point? I’m dying, aren’t I?”
“You will if that’s your attitude,” said Jo sharply. “Arnor’s getting a special diet prepared for you, one low in whatever it is in the food that’s upsetting you. And we’re working on the laser now. Killian’s said he’ll release us when it’s finished.”
“And you believe him?”
“Maybe, but we’re also working on an escape plan. Actually, I’ve come in for a selfish reason. I want some female company. You think I don’t get tired of those males? Their constant bickering, the need to be one up on each otherâ it’s tiring, Zashou. I can’t remember when I last did something for myself as a female.”
Zashou opened her eyes again, looking curiously at her. “You like being female? I thought you wished to be one of them.”
“Just because I’m in the military doesn’t mean I’m less of a female than you.” She pulled the brush from where she’d tucked it in her belt and toyed idly with it. “My mother and I used to brush each other’s hair every night before we left Earth for Keiss,” she said reminiscently. “We were the only two females in a household of men. It was good to get away from my dad and my brothers for a while each evening.”
Zashou pushed herself up till she was able to see Jo without craning her neck. “Jaisa and I did that, at the monastery, before…” She faltered and Jo knew she didn’t want to say anything controversial. She waited.
“Before they tried to rescue her family,” she continued finally. “Our friendship was never quite the same after that. Where is your mother now? Didn’t she mind you joining the military, fighting the Valtegans?”
“My mother died in the journey to Keiss,” she said. “Many people did. There was an accident during the crossing. We all traveled in cryo units, so we didn’t find out till we arrived.”
Zashou’s hand touched hers, and she felt the other female’s concern. “I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to poke at old wounds.”
Jo smiled. “It was a long time ago, Zashou. But I thought perhaps we could take some time together, leave the males to their own devices for a while, and just be females! How long is it since you had your hair unbraided and brushed?”
“Too long,” she said candidly. “It takes so long to do it myself, and I don’t want Rezac…” She stopped, face taking on a cautious look.
“Rezac isn’t one for female company,” said Jo diplomatically. “I think he’s never had the chance to develop the gentler side of his nature.”
“Gentler side?”
She sensed the disbelief in the Sholan’s voice. “It’s there, Zashou, but at the moment he’d rather cut off his right hand than admit it!”
Zashou laughedâ only a small one, but it was the first Jo had heard.
“He would, wouldn’t he? Why? Why does he have to see meâ usâ as something to weaken him?”
“I didn’t come to talk about Rezac, but you know the answer, Zashou. He gave it to you as he did to me, when we Linked,” she said quietly.
Zashou reached out and took the brush from her. “Maybe we’ll talk about Rezac another time,” she said, equally quietly. Leaning forward, she ran her hand across Jo’s short hair. “So soft. It makes mine feel harsh by comparison. You should grow it, Jo.” She began to pull the brush through Jo’s hair.
“I came to brush yours,” said Jo.
“I know, but yours will take only a little time to do.”
Jo relaxed. She was seeing a very different individual from the petulant female she’d thought Zashou to be. And she liked this person.
Rezac brings out the worst in me, she admitted. Then thisâ illness hasn’t made it easier.
Again Jo sensed this was a taboo subject for now. No matter. The situation was clear-cut, they all knew that. They must escape or Zashou, and Rezac, and possibly even herself, would die.
“My hair used to be long,” said Jo. “I cut it when I joined the guerrillas on Keiss. Less work to keep it clean and tidy when you’re living rough.”
“Males are lucky. It is in their natures to fight. When it involves us, we lose our female side.”
Jo put her hand up to cover Zashou’s and the brush. “Then let’s reclaim it,” she said.
*
By late afternoon, the heavy cylindrical container that had been the shuttle’s backup power source had been moved down to the barn where the laser and the larger parts of the craft had been stored. Upstairs, Rezac had checked out their cannibalized control unit, and Jo had done wonders for both her own and Zashou’s morale.
The oil and tisanes had arrived, along with the wherewithal for them to boil water when they needed it. It was only an iron tripod with a swinging arm and a pot to hang from the hook, but it gave them a little more independence.
Jo got Davies to request the bath, and a succession of guards had brought buckets of hot water to fill it. They had not been amused by the demeaning work, and their sour faces had afforded both Jo and Zashou some amusement.
Hair unbound and forming a mass of tightly curled ringlets, Zashou had taken the first of her baths with the oil. Afterward, she’d agreed to allow Davies to come in and massage more oil into her pelt on the understanding that Jo remained, too. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the Human male, she hastened to say, but she was nervous of being touched quite so intimately.
How did you manage with Rezac? How could you let him touch you? Zashou sent as Davies, now working on her back, massaged the oil deep into the roots of her dense pelt.
He was very gentle with me. He was aware of how afraid I was and tried to show me there was no reason for my fears.
Pity he didn’t do the same with me.
Jo detected the note of bitterness, the first that day. She stopped plaiting and reached out to touch the other’s cheek. You frightened him, Zashou. Still do. You know he loves you, and he wanted to win you himself. He resents your Link as much as you do because it gave neither of you the choice. I’m sorry that you both had to suffer so much for it to be easier for me.
“Y’know, back home on Keiss, I’d be the envy of everyone,” said Davies, his hands gently easing the muscles over the top of Zashou’s shoulders. “Here I am, massaging one of the most beautiful Sholan females I’ve seen, and there’s nothing in it!”
“Nothing in it?” asked Zashou.
“Watch her neck, Gary,” warned Jo. “The loose skin at the back’s her scruff. Grasping it triggers a freeze response.”
“Okay. I mean, there’s nothing sexual in it,” he explained, carefully circling her neck.
“Sensual,” said Jo, fastening off the end of the braid on which she was working.
“Plenty of that,” agreed Davies, with an old-fashioned glance at her. “I hadn’t realized just how soft your fur could be.”
“You’ve never had a Sholan partner, Gary? You’re slipping!”
“That was never me, Jo, you should know that. Things are different now that our lives aren’t always on the line.”
Jo looked up at him. She didn’t need to speak.
“Anyway,” he continued, “you Sholan females can look quite intimidating to a male like me. After all, get the approach wrong and there you are facing some six feet of powerfully built teeth and claws.”
“Is that how you see us?” There was a purr of amusement in Zashou’s voice.
“Yes, ma’am!” he said cheerfully, moving off her and getting down to the floor. “So this is the first chance I’ve had to meet one of you ladies up close and personal.”
As Jo sat back, too, Zashou rolled over
and looked up at him. “So what do you think now?”
Davies grinned, glancing briefly at Jo. “You’re nowhere near as intimidating lying down.”
Zashou’s purr deepened. “I see you have charmers among your own males, Jo. I’m surprised no one has approached him!”
“Oh, I don’t live on Shola like Kris,” he said, going over to the washbasin to clean his hands. “I live on Keiss. Jo and I, we’re local experts on the Valtegans, so we’ve been kept busy back home.”
“Then why haven’t you visited Shola?”
“Who’d invite us? We need an official invitation to go to your world, Zashou.”
“I’ll invite you, for the amusement I’ll get watching the females cope with your charming nature. Where will they take us when we get home, Jo?”
Jo continued with her braiding. This was the last one. Her arms ached, but the change in Zashou had been worth it. “To Carrie’s and Kusac’s, I assume. The Aldatan Estate.”
Zashou was quiet for a moment. “I really will be going home,” she said quietly. “You knew Carrie, didn’t you? Would she invite you for a visit?”
“She might. We got on well when we met, but I only knew her for a couple of weeks.”
There was a knock at the door, and Kris stuck his head in. “Durvan says our presence is requested for dinner,” he said.
Jo nodded. “You’re done,” she said to Zashou, slipping the last bead onto the end of the braid. “If you get up, I’ll give your pelt a quick brush.”
Zashou got slowly to her feet, standing patiently while Jo ran the brush quickly over her. The soft amber fur gleamed in the last rays of the sun. Kris coughed and backed out hurriedly as Davies turned round and let out a whistle of approval.
“Gary,” said Jo warningly as she picked up Zashou’s robe and held it out to her.
“I’m going,” he said, and headed for the door.
“What?” asked Zashou, taking it from her.
“He saw you as a female,” said Jo.
The Sholan was obviously confused. “But he knows… Oh.” She touched her belly. “I start to resemble you more because of this cub.”
“Zashou…” she began.
“It’s all right,” sighed Zashou, slipping the robe on. “Your males are not that much different from ours. Your shape is part of what draws Rezac to you. To be able to persuade a female to carry his cub makes a male feel important. Rezac’s thoughts are full of it. He could at least keep them to himself!”
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