Dark Nadir

by Lisanne Norman

  “You will eat or this one dies,” said J’koshuk.

  “He can eat if he wants. I do not,” replied the speaker, shutting his eye again.

  J’koshuk swung round to glare at the one the guard held. “Are you going to eat now?” he demanded.

  “Not eat,” said the voice from the translator.

  “Kill it,” said J’koshuk.

  The guard released his rifle to pull a pistol from the side of his belt. Putting it to the middle of the Cabbaran’s back, he activated it. The Cabbaran stiffened, then went limp again in his grasp. The Prime threw him to the floor, and J’koshuk prayed he wasn’t really dead.

  “And the next one,” he said.

  The guard took a couple of steps and reached for the next Cabbaran. The speaker remained motionless, not even opening an eye this time.

  “Do I have to order the death of another before you’ll agree to eat?” demanded J’koshuk, reaching down to pull one of the speaker’s ears.

  “Choose your own path,” the translator said. “We chose ours. You cannot force us.”

  Furious, J’koshuk let it go and signaled the guard to drop the Cabbaran unharmed. Now what? “If I take you to see your crew, will you eat?” he asked desperately, aware that he’d lost any chance of having the upper hand by saying this.

  “All of us go, and we stay there, not in this medical room.”

  J’koshuk heard the door opening and looked round to see a Seniormost enter.

  “Take them,” he ordered. “New quarters will be prepared adjacent to your crew. You will eat, or you will die.”

  The speaker pushed himself up on his forearms again. “Can’t walk. Too weak,” his translator said.

  “Carry them,” ordered the Seniormost, leaving.

  Two more guards moved forward to pick up a Cabbaran each. They turned to face J’koshuk. It was obvious they were waiting for him.

  Hissing quietly with anger, he bent down to pick the speaker up. He staggered slightly under the weight, nostrils shrinking at the smell. The indignity of being forced to carry a lesser creature was greater than that of having pain inflicted on his person! Stiff with rage, he followed the lead guard into the corridor. They only had a few yards to walk, the Cabbarans had been in the block next to the others from the Profit, separated only by a corridor.

  * * *

  Kaid had just awakened as the door opened to admit the strange cavalcade of guards and supine Cabbarans. The U’Churians sprang instantly to their feet when they saw their crewmates.

  J’koshuk pushed to the front. “Where do you want them put?” he hissed, not bothering to conceal his anger and contempt for beings who tolerated four-legged creatures among their crew.

  Kaid began to sit up but Tirak’s hand was on his shoulder, holding him still. “In the bedroom to your left,” the captain said.

  They waited where they were, covered by one guard as the first and J’koshuk deposited their live burdens in the room. Once they’d returned, the other two went.

  J’koshuk, mindful of his orders, stopped long enough to snarl at them, “See they eat. They’ve refused food for three days.” Then he was gone.

  * * *

  “Mrowbay, see to them,” ordered Tirak. “Sheeowl, get water. Giyesh, find something on the menu they can eat.” He looked down at Kaid.

  Before he could speak, Kaid called T’Chebbi over. “Help them all you can,” he said.

  Nodding briefly, she followed the others.

  Tirak sat down on the arm of the couch beside him. The haunted look had gone from around his eyes. “We’ve a chance now,” he said quietly. “I knew they’d do this, it’s what I was waiting for.”

  Kaid was lost. The drugs were still in his system and he wasn’t exactly capable of thinking coherently yet.

  “Cabbaran navigators are indentured to their crew,” Tirak explained. “We have a contractual obligation to each other. They are part of our Family.” He saw Kaid’s confusion. “It’s the way they work their contracts. Just take my word for it,” he added. “We need them as navigators if we’re to escape.”

  “T’Chebbi and I doctored the Nav systems on the Profit,” Kaid said. “We can get us to a safe place with what we hid before wiping the logs.”

  Tirak’s ears flicked briefly. “You were busy while I was out cold.”

  “There was work to do,” replied Kaid, meeting his gaze. “The integrity of your ship to protect. We helped Sheeowl.”

  “I know you did. Where are you planning to go if we get out of here?”

  “It’s your ship, Tirak. But I know a safe place where we can defend ourselves if necessary. At an outpost remote from our home world, and yours.”

  Tirak nodded. “How far?”

  “Where’s here?” shrugged Kaid. “Two jumps from where we were. With your navigators, a week?”

  “Less, if pushed, and we would be. Say three days, but it’s dangerous.”

  “We send a message as we jump, hope they follow us not it. At least we die trying. Anything’s better than this.”

  “Agreed. Your outpost, our navigators.” He stopped to look up as Sheeowl approached them.

  “Mrowbay says they’ll be fine. Annuur made sure they all drank enough. Says he wants to talk to you.”

  “Excuse me,” said Tirak, getting up.

  Jo ambled over and sat down beside him. “I’ve just been doing some calculations,” she said quietly. “You tell me how Kate has avoided getting pregnant in the fourteen and some weeks she’s been off Keiss. I didn’t last that long and I had an implant.”

  “Lucky?”

  She looked across at him. “No one gets that lucky, Kaid.”

  “Sterile? Or he is.”

  “Yeah? What’s the odds on that?”

  “Unlikely,” he admitted. “Have you any reason for asking?”

  “Not without worrying Kate.”

  “Where’s the medikit?”

  “In your room. Why?”

  “Do you know if there was a miniscan in it? Did T’Chebbi use one on me?”

  “Yes, she did. Would that tell us what we need to know?”

  “Don’t know. It’s set for field missions, not domestic.”

  “Except a mission with Leskas in it involves domestic issues,” said Jo.

  He flicked an ear in assent. “Try it if you get the chance without arousing her suspicions. Make sure you do it covertly. We’re being monitored. I want to keep that unit.”

  She nodded. “How are you, by the way? You had us all very worried for a while.”

  “I’m fine now,” he said, leaning back against the couch arm. “Groggy, but fine.”

  “What was it?”

  “Don’t know. Maybe a trapped nerve or something.”

  She gave him a long look. “The disappearances are only happening to us, not the U’Churians.”

  “I know. We’re working on it. Trust me.”

  She nodded slowly and reached out to touch his blanket-covered leg. “I do. You take care.” She got up and ambled out of the room.

  * * *

  Commander Lyaka of the Alliance vessel Rhijissoh, stood waiting in the main docking bay for the arrival of the shuttle from the U’Churian vessel Vranshan.

  “Ten days from Home to here is pretty good time, Commander,” remarked his assistant, Jiosha. “We can’t match that. Takes us three weeks in military craft.”

  Lyaka grunted as he watched the field that covered the bay entrance begin to change color for the approaching shuttle.

  “Only the private barques can go faster . . .”

  “Stop rambling, Jiosha,” he growled impatiently. “I want you scanning those U’Churians from the moment they arrive, not making pointless noises to me!”

  “I’m already doing that, Commander,” she said quietly, clasping her hands across the front of her purple telepath’s robe. “There was a point to what I was saying. Their Captain Thaylan is wondering about the Rhijissoh’s capabilities. He’s aware our vessels are somewhat sl
ower.”

  “Who’s with him on the shuttle?”

  “I’m aware of seven people, Commander. Three of them are, I presume, Cabbarans.”

  “Anything more you can tell me?”

  She turned an impassive brown-eyed gaze on him. “I will need to spend some time in their company before I can do more than pick up the most basic of thoughts, Commander.”

  “Your Guild told me you were the best at working with alien minds.”

  “I am one of the best, but these are two new species,” she said stiffly. “I will have to learn how they think. Then, Commander, I can sit at the edges of their minds and just absorb their stray, surface thoughts. I don’t think you appreciate the amount of work that is involved.”

  Lyaka could see the shuttle now, just beyond the pale blue curtain of the force field. “I appreciate your job is as complex as any, Jiosha, but I need to know that these people are dealing honestly with us if we’re going to combine our forces to look for the Rryuk’s Profit. I don’t want them using the opportunity to avail themselves of our technology.”

  “Then use their ships, Commander.”

  “Not practical. We need the instant communications they lack.”

  “You need their speed, and their navigators, from what I understand. And for that, you need their ships, too.”

  He growled softly. “Who briefed you?” he demanded.

  She turned an innocent look on him this time. “Why, you did, Commander.”

  “I told you nothing of . . .” He stopped, eye ridges meeting as he scowled at the small dark-furred telepath. “You read me!”

  “I cannot be responsible for what you’re thinking in my presence, Commander. It does seem to me that a combination including their ships and our comm equipment would be best. I suggest you make that your first trade offer—in return for information concerning the Cabbaran navigation system.”

  Lyaka turned his attention back to the approaching shuttle as it penetrated the Rhijissoh’s barrier. “You would do well to concentrate on your own duties, Jiosha. Make sure our guests aren’t planning anything that would compromise our security.” He’d never come across a telepath quite so ready to voice her own recommendations. In his experience, and he’d worked with a good many, an opinion had to be forced out of them.

  “As you wish, Commander. May I remind you that I will also be protecting the interests of the U’Churian and Cabbaran people against similar infringements of their security? The Telepath Guild does not involve itself in any kind of espionage work.”

  “I’m aware that telepaths are neutral, Jiosha,” said Lyaka, watching the shuttle maneuver to its designated landing area. “Khyno, Vaszha, go and greet our visitors, if you please.”

  Lieutenant Khyno, sub-Lieutenant Vaszha at her side, both resplendent in formal dress uniform, proceeded to approach the craft, stopping only a few meters from the hatch.

  “You will attach yourself to our visitors as their liaison,” Lyaka said to Jiosha. “Escort them to their quarters after our initial discussions, take them to the senior lounge set aside for them and their diplomatic party to dine in, and show them around the permitted areas of the Rhijissoh should they ask for a tour. I presume you’ve acquainted yourself with these areas?”

  “Yes, Commander,” she murmured. “Do I accompany them on their search, too?”

  “That is your primary function. We will each be using our own craft,” he said, turning to glance at her once more. “However, as you surmised,” the word was said with heavy sarcasm, “there will, indeed, be one joint craft. You will be on it.”

  The hatch was opening now, and the first of the U’Churian military delegation was stepping out, closely followed by his two companions. Despite the fact he’d seen the images recorded by the Hkariyash, the similarity between them and his own people astonished Lyaka.

  Averaging the same height as themselves, the U’Churians were all dark-pelted. Dressed in mid-thigh length blue tunics bearing an emblem over the right shoulder, each one carried a sidearm fastened to his or her belt. Khyno and Vaszha moved forward to greet them.

  “You’d think we came from the same stock, wouldn’t you?” said Jiosha quietly. “But notice, their legs are straight, and their mouth and nose slightly more pronounced than ours.”

  Lyaka narrowed his eyes a little to see better. At this distance, and with their longer black pelts, it was difficult to see the details clearly. “Enough like us to be distant cousins,” he murmured, seeing what she was talking about as the party moved away from the ramp to allow the quadrupedal Cabbarans to emerge. Briefly he wondered if they were the navigators.

  “This group aren’t a navigation unit,” said Jiosha abruptly. “Navigators travel in septs of four. The agreements between them and the U’Churians makes them effectively Family members.”

  “Family?”

  “The species data sent by the Vranshan an hour ago said that each profession has six or so leading Families and all members of that profession belong to one of them. The Cabbarans become quite literally Family members of the ship on which they work,” she said. “Your aide likely didn’t have the opportunity to brief you, Commander, since you were greeting the Ambassadors when the information arrived.”

  Lyaka didn’t have the time to reply as the small party drew closer. He was continuing to be impressed with her efficiency, however. Normally telepaths weren’t interested enough in work of a military nature to be as fully up to date as Jiosha obviously was.

  Khyno stopped and indicated the leading U’Churian. “This is Captain Thaylan, Commander Lyaka. And Lieutenants Rryal and Hannak,” she said, indicating them in turn. “This is Cheerow, Mimkee, and Duchurr, the Cabbaran military delegates.”

  “Captain Thaylan, welcome to the Rhijissoh,” said Lyaka, bowing his head in greeting. This is Jiosha Dzahai, who will be helping you during your stay with us.”

  As he spoke, the three Cabbarans rose up to a sitting position, leaning forward to sniff audibly at the commander and the telepath with their long, mobile snouts.

  The translator device on the lead Cabbaran’s belt burst into life. “Commander’s telepath. How follow thoughts alien to you?”

  Lyaka caught Jiosha’s startled expression, then saw her mouth open in a slight smile.

  “With difficulty, Delegate, and not without help from yourselves.”

  “All tele-paths wear this color?” asked Captain Thaylan, touching Jiosha’s robe. His voice was a deep rumble, the Sholan, though understandable, not quite correctly pronounced.

  “By law they must,” said Lyaka. “It is an offense to read a sentient’s thoughts without their permission, therefore telepaths must advertise their profession at all times.”

  “Mental privacy is highly valued, Captain Thaylan,” said Jiosha, inclining her head toward him.

  “Report from Captain Tirak said this,” he nodded. “Good knowing he was given the truth.”

  “If you’d like to accompany us, Captain,” said Lyaka, turning slightly to indicate the air lock behind him. “I have refreshments laid out for you. We can update you on the measures we’ve taken so far to locate the Rryuk’s Profit. May I say your command of our language is excellent.”

  “Sent to us by Profit when interim treaty signed.”

  Lyaka waited a moment for the Cabbarans to resume their normal walking stance before leading the way out of the landing bay.

  “If you wish, Captain, I can increase your knowledge of our language,” said Jiosha as she fell into step on the large U’Churian’s other side. “We call it a skill transfer. It would also help me to understand your own language. I match my mind with yours and send you the understanding of Sholan.”

  The slightly smaller officer behind him spoke rapidly to her captain in their own language.

  “Tirak said ask for this,” Thaylan nodded. “What news have you?”

  “Of the Profit?” asked Lyaka, stepping into the corridor and waiting for his guests. “Not good, I’m afraid. We found som
e debris only a few hours ago. I’m having it brought in for you to inspect. However, there wasn’t enough to account for the whole ship. There’s a possibility that she’s still sound enough to have continued her journey. The damage could be due to meteoric impact and account for her lack of communication.”

  “Four ships already dis-patched during jump to search route,” Thaylan said. “Look for fuel traces, see if Profit dropped out.”

  “You launched craft during jump?”

  Thaylan’s mouth widened in a Human style grin. “You cannot? We not so be-hind you as you think!”

  Lyaka glanced at Jiosha, wondering how the U’Churian had known their rating of their tech level. She arched an eye ridge in surprise at him. It seemed this Captain Tirak was quite astute.

  Thaylan put a large pawlike hand on his shoulder, grinning almost from ear to ear. “Your Jiosha give us Sholan language. We pre-pared. Tirak warn us. Got drugs for headache. Then we talk trade. Want co-munication in jump from you. Maybe give you help on hull con-struction. Need it before nav-i-gation, yes?”

  Yes, thought Lyaka, this Tirak has briefed Thaylan well—too well!

  * * *

  Day 12

  “So you’re Vanna’s Human,” said Noni, eyeing the young man up and down. “At least she got a decent sized one, not like Tallinu.”

  Started pale blue eyes peered out from under shoulder length, wavy brown hair. They flicked across Noni’s face, assessing her even as she assessed him.

  “Could almost be Sholan with all that hair over your face. What you call it?” she demanded.

  “A beard and mustache,” he said, grinning. He liked her immediately.

  “So I’m an irascible old crone, am I?” she asked, much to his dismay. “We’ll have less of the old, if you please. Teusi!”

  “I know,” sighed her assistant. “Take Jurrel to the store. You do realize it’s raining, don’t you, Noni? We’ll get soaked walking to the village and back.”

  “Take the aircar then, and not the store, go to the inn. We might be a while. You, sit,” she said, pointing a claw at Brynne. “I don’t suppose . . .”

  He grinned again and reached into his robe pocket, pulling out a bag of ground coffee. “I was told you liked this. This one’s from Earth.”