“As I said, none of us have yet been offered any physical violence,” said Kaid. “And they’re well capable of it. We saw their demonstration as we left the M’ijikk. Quite the opposite in fact. Rezac’s and Jo’s injuries were treated, they’ve kept us all together when they could have separated us—apart from the Cabbarans, that is. Let us control our heating and lighting, and our food.”
“And given us our own clothing and entertainments from the Profit,” added Sheeowl.
“We’ve no proof as yet that taking Kate and Taynar is an unfriendly act,” pointed out Sayuk.
“I’d call it downright unfriendly,” growled Manesh. “No matter how comfortable a prison is, it’s still a prison. Removing someone from their bed at night without permission is kidnapping.”
“We don’t know enough to reach any real conclusions,” said Tirak grimly. “What we need more than anything else is information.”
Kaid nodded. “Agreed. We need to keep studying the Primes and their guards. Watch how they move, their speech patterns, how they place themselves at the doorway when they come here. Most of us have military backgrounds, we know the drill. Look for their weak points, then we can start planning an escape.”
“And what do we civilians do?” asked Zashou.
“You’re a telepath. Keep probing at them, see if you can get through to their minds. If you can, find out anything at all,” said Kaid. He glanced at Rezac. “Which reminds me, I need to speak to both of you about your psi abilities.”
“When?”
“Now. I think we’ve covered about everything we can for the moment.” He looked around the room again, making sure he made eye contact with each of them in turn. “There’s still several hours of sleep left. I, for one, am going back to bed. I suggest you do the same. Sitting up all night won’t do any good, it’ll only wear us out.”
There was a general stirring and murmuring as people began to get up and wander off to their rooms.
“We’d better include you, Jo,” said Kaid as she began to rise. “You know what Rezac knows.”
As they made for the middle room, Kaid snagged T’Chebbi and drew her with him, tapping a message on her wrist with his fingers as he did, letting her know he needed her analytical skills.
The minute they were settled on the beds, Kaid began to talk in the Highland patois. “My bet is this is a fairly standard suite, therefore there’s likely another the same backing onto us. I’m sure we’re under constant surveillance. There might even be concealed entrances on the back walls.” He indicated the one behind them. “We’ll keep our talk to a minimum. Spend some time with T’Chebbi, Rezac. I want her to teach you how to communicate with us in the Brotherhood touch code. It’s simple and efficient, and open gestures are easily missed by non-Brothers. Keep it low-key. I don’t want the Primes noticing what you’re doing.” He sensed the other’s surprise at being included, then a touch of regret that it hadn’t been a show of trust in him instead of common sense.
“Agreed,” said Rezac quietly, resting his arms on his knees.
“Why not use thought?” asked Jo, struggling with the new language which for her was still an acquired skill.
“They’ve a damper field on outside this room,” said Rezac before Kaid could answer. “They either know we’re capable of telepathy and don’t want us to read them, or they’re telepathic themselves. Which ties in with them taking Kate and Taynar because of their abilities.”
“I’m going to be next,” said Zashou, a note of panic in her voice. “I just know I am!”
“Anyone could be next, Zashou,” said Kaid sternly, “or no one. The Primes might be able to monitor our mind talk, but they can’t know this patois. It’s archaic and only used by the Brothers in this form nowadays.”
“How did the Primes learn Sholan?” asked Jo.
“From Valtegan databases. Must have had one, considering M’ijikk was M’ezozakk’s own ship,” said T’Chebbi.
“In the interests of keeping this talk short, what do you want to know about our psi abilities?” asked Rezac.
“What they are and how powerful. When we went back to the Margins, we saw Jaisa do things we’d never even considered possible. The nearest I’ve seen to that level of gift has been in unstable telepaths, and they usually ended up having to be terminated.”
Zashou looked at him, amber eyes widening in shock. “Terminated? You killed telepaths?”
“It was what the law dictated,” said Kaid. “When a telepath with a wild Talent went out of control, they had to be contained. Up until recently, the Telepath Guild would request that the Brotherhood capture and terminate them. We couldn’t allow someone who was mentally unbalanced and, for instance, had the ability to kill using the power of his mind, to roam free on Shola.”
“The Telepath Guild ordered the deaths of their own? What kind of world has Shola become?” Zashou looked from Kaid to T’Chebbi. “I don’t want to be part of a society that lives like that!”
“Shola’s a good world, but as I said, that ruling’s changed now. Those with wild Talents are still captured by us, but now we’re free to recruit them if we can, and if we can’t, they’re contained and handed over to a tribunal to decide their fate. Some of our best people, and our few telepaths, were once mentally unstable because they couldn’t control their Talents. We’ve always collected those who could fight yet still retained some of the psi gifts of the telepaths—gifts thought not worth including in the Guild’s breeding program. We saved the lives we could, Zashou. But we were talking of your abilities, not ours.”
“So the current Telepath Guild recognizes only telepathic ability,” said Rezac.
“Until recently, yes. But now we’ve met the Humans, the Guild has become aware of those other talents we’ve been harvesting for so long. They’re beginning to adopt our training methods and actually educate those thought to have too little a gift.”
“Vartra was only working on enhancing telepathy,” Rezac admitted, “but we all had several other abilities that were actually usable. We didn’t look on them as separate skills, though. When we changed, it was more like all our senses expanded, some more than others. Vartra had us experiment, see what we could do, then got us to chart the results and compare them with data from the other resistance cells where telepaths were in hiding. I remember Jaisa was good at generating movement within objects, literally shaking them apart.”
“I saw her do that to an iron grille that blocked our way up through the storm drains into the temple on the plains,” said Kaid.
Rezac nodded. “That was one of her little tricks. We just approached every situation and looked at as many ways to solve it as possible. If we couldn’t do it by conventional means, we used our minds.”
“How did you overcome the Valtegans and start the Cataclysm?” asked T’Chebbi.
Kaid noticed Rezac glance at Zashou before answering. This was obviously something that had added to the rift between them.
“Goran captured Valtegans for us to experiment on. It took some time, but eventually we learned how to read their minds. I found I could force a contact with them and make them do what I wanted. We could control them, operate their bodies for a short time. Useful if you wanted a guard at his post to turn aside and not notice you, or to open a gate for you. They have a Challenge system something like ours, so it was easy to subvert them, fill their minds with hate for their superiors till they turned on them.”
“It was contemptible,” said Zashou, eyes flashing with anger. “They treated the captured Valtegans like animals!”
She’s empathic, too? Kaid sent to Rezac, using a tight channel only he’d receive.
How’d you guess? Rezac sighed. “Once we were taken by them to K’oish’ik, their home world, we used the same tactics to set up our rebellion. That involved working with the other captive species, persuading them to join our cause, and using them as the fighters since we were unable to fight ourselves. There were a few of us who could communicate over interplanetary distances. We fo
rmed the network to keep everyone in touch. When we were ready, we attacked simultaneously, Sholan telepaths and the alien slaves.”
“When you were brought out of stasis, you sent telepathically to us on Shola. Why couldn’t you send for help from Jalna before the poisons in the soil affected you?” Kaid asked.
“They were weak and ill for several days,” said Jo. “They were lucky to have survived for so long, Kaid. And we had our orders. Wait for our contact to communicate with us in a month’s time. When she didn’t, we couldn’t know that communication with anyone else was impossible because we were broadcasting on a wavelength no one else was listening to.”
“What about now?” he asked. “Surely with your enhanced talent you can get through this barrier.”
Rezac shook his head. “No way. I’ve tried other mental frequencies as well, but I just don’t have the power.”
T’Chebbi stirred. “What about combining your talents, linking minds first, then trying?”
“Zashou’s mind is still silent. I can only hear Jo.”
“And that for only a few more weeks,” murmured T’Chebbi.
“Excuse me?” said Jo. “What do you mean by that?”
“The cub,” said Kaid. “It needs to develop separately from you and it can’t if you’re Linked with Rezac. Your Talent will fade by the twelfth to fourteenth week and not return till he’s born. That’s what happened to Vanna.”
“Can you tell me how long this pregnancy will last?” she asked, skin flushing pink with embarrassment. “None of us knows anything about Sholan childbirth.”
“I helped deliver Carrie’s cub,” Kaid said, trying to distance himself from the memories. Talking about her was difficult, brought his anguish to the surface. “She should have gone for twenty-four weeks as Vanna did, but time traveling accelerated her pregnancy.”
“I just remembered. Zashou affected the Valtegans’ eggs,” said Rezac suddenly, keeping his eyes on Kaid and steadfastly not looking at his mate. “Once they had gotten used to us, we were free to walk around certain areas of the palace. In the days before our attack, several times we made our way to the royal harem and hatchery. There’s a trick we found to magnify our ability rather than just combine it. We’d use it so we had the power to affect their eggs and their females by making them sterile.”
“You could manipulate cells? Can you show me how to do it?” Kaid demanded as endless possibilities raced through his mind.
“Rezac,” said Zashou warningly. Suddenly they were all aware of her extreme displeasure.
“It’s a Leska thing,” Rezac said doggedly, refusing to be silenced by her disapproval, either mental or verbal. “We had to be pairing to trigger it.”
“The gestalt! It has to be the gestalt,” said Kaid.
“Gestalt?” Rezac had obviously never heard the term before.
“It’s like a force that’s beyond you, and it’s triggered by strong emotions,” Kaid explained. “It just suddenly snaps into being and floods through you. It’s difficult to control, though, and we’ve not found a practical use for it.”
“Carrie’s eyes changed first time,” reminded T’Chebbi. “Cellular manipulation.”
“How do you know about it?” demanded Rezac. “You don’t have a Leska.”
“We have a full three-way Link,” said Kaid. He corrected himself quietly. “Had.”
A small silence that no one knew how to fill followed.
“So theoretically, Jo, Zashou, and I together might be able to generate enough power to break through the barrier,” said Rezac finally. “Do you know of a way to trigger this gestalt that doesn’t involve mating?” he asked Kaid carefully.
“Carrie did it once, but she collapsed immediately afterward. Her Talent and Link were new to her, though. They considered the gestalt too unstable to experiment with. I hope it is possible, because if so, it’d be one hell of a lot easier for you just to link minds in public when the Primes come to the door, rather than having to be off in another room waiting for a signal from one of us.”
“I won’t do it,” said Zashou, her tone one of barely controlled fury. “I absolutely refuse!”
“I wouldn’t go a bundle on it either,” said Jo, eyeing Rezac warily.
Diplomatically, Rezac said nothing.
“Is a way round it,” said T’Chebbi. “Include Kaid and you have four.”
Zashou got to her feet, tail lashing from side to side as she projected the full measure of her scorn and anger. “This conversation is finished,” she said.
“What’s the problem?” T’Chebbi asked her, perplexed by her reaction. “This could free us all. You want to stay here?”
Kaid got to his feet. “Leave it, T’Chebbi. The morals back in their times were very different from ours. Same applies to Jo. We modern Sholans are the odd ones out here.”
“You all had other lovers, not like this is first love. I don’t see a problem,” she grumbled as she rose. “Think about it,” she said sternly to Zashou, before looking over to Jo. “We fight with weapons at hand. This could be a powerful weapon.”
They returned to their room, Kaid sealing the door behind them with relief. The last part of the conversation had gone in an unexpected direction and he was glad to escape from it. He didn’t blame the two females because he didn’t know if he’d be prepared to involve himself either.
“At least it woke Zashou up mentally,” said T’Chebbi. “Even I felt her!”
“There is that,” Kaid agreed. “And we know now how Carrie managed to change her eyes. Just think of the untapped potential in the gestalt, T’Chebbi!”
“You got to control it first,” she reminded him as she began to get undressed again. “Now tell me what you were smelling on the sheets.”
“Kate and Taynar were new Leskas on their way to Shola when they got kidnapped by the Valtegan on Keiss,” he said, unbuckling his belt. “I don’t think they had the special contraceptive implants available on Keiss then.”
“You think she’s pregnant? Surely she’d have said something. Taynar would. He’d be so proud we’d never hear the end of it.”
“I recognized the scent, T’Chebbi. No one else would except Rezac or Kusac.” He stopped, mind blanking for a moment. So much of his life had been bound up with them that he found it impossible to avoid mentioning them several times a day. It made coping with their loss almost impossible.
“Taynar’s young, too young to be aware if even a female Sholan was pregnant, let alone his Human Leska. Kate’s certainly got the Talent to conceal it from him if she wanted to. Then again, she’s young enough that she might not realize she was pregnant. Having discovered Human females with Sholan partners can conceive, the Primes will certainly be curious to find out if she has. It’s the only other possible common factor.”
T’Chebbi stuffed her hand into her mouth to stop the mewl of horror escaping. “What are they keeping us for? As breeding animals?”
“That’s what worries me,” he said, stripping off his tunic. “I assume you have an implant.”
“Yes, immediately after . . .” She faltered to a stop, looking away from him.
“After what?” he asked a moment later.
“Immediately after I knew I was genetically compatible,” she said, concentrating on meticulously folding up her tunic.
“That’s not what you meant to say.” He could feel his pulse begin to quicken as she mentally retreated from him.
She moved away from him but he reached out to stop her.
“You were pregnant, weren’t you?” he said, his voice deathly quiet as he continued to hold her by the arm.
“I didn’t know we were compatible,” she whispered, keeping her eyes away from his.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were leaving for Stronghold.”
Relief flooded through him. The vision had been false. It had only shown the possibility, not the actuality of a cub. He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin o
n top of her head. “You should have told me. It was Vartra’s damned genetic fix,” he said. “I changed you as we paired. Is that why you didn’t come to see me off?”
“I couldn’t. I was still deciding what to do. It was my problem, my choice, not yours. I knew you didn’t want to share your cubs with anyone.”
“You should have told me,” he repeated as she moved away from him. “Yes, it was your choice, but I’d have been with you if you’d wanted me there.”
“It was nothing, Kaid. I terminated two days later. Vanna was good to me, asked me no questions.”
“I wouldn’t have let you be alone unless you wanted to be, that’s all. It was my fault, not yours. If it happens again, you tell me.”
“It won’t. Unless we choose it to,” she said, placing her tunic on a drawer unit against the far wall. “I’m not Jaisa.”
He said nothing this time, ashamed that he was glad she’d chosen to terminate. “I know you’re not Jaisa. We’re Companions, with responsibilities for each other,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, well, let’s leave it now. Is over. Wasn’t what either of us wanted, even without a mission coming up.”
He had to respect her wishes. “We should try to sleep, T’Chebbi. There’s no point in staying awake waiting for them to return Kate and Taynar. They won’t be brought back tonight, I can guarantee that.”
She returned, climbing into her sleeping pod and pulling the cover up. She lay silent for a moment. “If Kate is pregnant, happened after Mrowbay examined her, otherwise he’d have said tonight. Can only be a very few weeks pregnant. Want me to ask Jo, see if Kate’s spoken to her?”
He turned off the light before coming back and easing himself down into his own bed. “No, leave it. I don’t want Jo worried. You can ask Kate a few questions when she’s returned.” Reaching out, he touched her shoulder. “Thank you for earlier,” he said quietly.
She turned her head and grinned at him. “What for? Was what I wanted too. Least I know it wasn’t me that caused you to fall asleep as it got interesting!”
* * *
Kezule had reason to be grateful for his excellent memory as he spread out the map he’d gotten just over a month ago from the swamp skimmer. The Sholan pilot had had detailed maps of his own territory, but only the most general ones of the southwest area for which he was heading. The God-King be praised that he’d had the foresight to call up the map on the aircar before he and the female had abandoned it. With the aid of the pilot’s stylus, he’d been able to add in features he’d remembered from the comm map to this one. By his reckoning, he was about halfway to his goal.
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