Sisle was soon smiling at Potter's antics. Potter ran ahead, fell behind, caught up, and then explored by the trail until they passed, only to dash around them again. Their path formed the center of his activities, so he was always with them, but never walking by their side.
She put her arm inside Tommy's and pulled it close. "Are we getting out of here?"
Tommy clasped her hand in his before answering. "Sisle, I won't lie to you. I don't know. All we can do is try. I want everyone else to believe we will, though."
She laid her head on his shoulder as they walked. "Am I free now?"
"As far as I'm concerned, you've been free since the day I first took off your collar. No one will put it back on."
She slid her arm around him and pressed the side of her body against his. "That means I'm free to tell you how much I like you." She stopped and pulled him around to face her. "I want to be your woman, if you'll have me. Really your woman."
Tommy looked awkwardly to the side. "Sisle, you just asked me if we’re going to get out of here. Do you believe we are?"
"I believe you'll find a way to save us."
"So you believe we’ll both be on Earth some day?"
"You’ll make it so."
"Things might be different on Earth." His voice was almost a whisper.
She pulled away from him. "You don't like me."
He took her elbows in his hands. "Sisle, I think I'm in love with you.” He closed his eyes and took a breath. “I'm not sure what that means, but I think I am. I think I want to spend my life with you. But first we must return to Earth. Then you can be certain I'm the right person rather than the only person."
She stamped her foot--a gesture that was almost lost on the straw-covered dirt floor. "Why are you so much braver in front of a crowd than you are with me? Am I asking so much? Why can't you just take what I want to give you? Any of the warriors would."
"Maybe that's a good reason why I shouldn't. Can we please wait?"
Her hands moved up behind his shoulders and pulled him toward her. "Not for everything," she said as she placed her mouth against his.
A loud shout from the direction of the central column broke them apart. “Master Tommy! Master Tommy! Are you here?”
Tommy shouted back. “Here!” and waited as one of his apprentices ran toward them.
The boy leaned over, his hand on his knees trying to catch his breath. Finally, he gasped, “One of the directors broke out of her chambers! Other Nesu and some of the warriors joined her! They are trying to retake the ship!”
Tommy heard Sisle gasp and felt her hand give his arm a painful squeeze as she jerked him halfway toward her.
Her free hand gripped her bare throat. “No!” she whispered.
Las
Her swim in her pool lasted much longer than anticipated. She had expected to be dead within an hour of leaving the bridge with the other council members. Eventually, she tried to contact Ull, without success. Then she opened her door to walk to Ull’s chamber and received a shock almost bigger than destruction by the Kadiil: three strange warriors barred her way with sticks drawn.
She directed her grinding whistle at the warrior with the crossed sticks of a squad leader embossed on his belt buckle. “Where is my regular guard? What are you doing here?”
His reply made the hair on her back stand on end. “I am sorry, Lord Las, you must remain inside your chamber. Master Tommy’s orders.”
“Master Tommy’s orders! How does that feral give orders to one of the council? Get out of my way!”
The three stood solidly, their sticks held in front with both hands, away from their bodies. They easily evaded her claws and blocked her attempts to shove her way through. The three of them outweighed her by over three times and were much faster.
The collars! I will put an end to this! Her hand darted inside the pouch to the belt around her waist. Before the warriors could react, she had the cylinder in her hands. The twist and click took an instant.
Nothing happened! She twisted the cylinder all the way and clicked the button again.
“I am sorry,” the squad leader said again. “We no longer wear your collars.” He stroked his bare neck. “You should return to your chambers.”
“Where is this feral--,” she began, then started again, “I want to speak with Master Tommy. Will you tell him?”
The three warriors looked at each other. Finally the leader shrugged, “I will tell him, but he is very busy trying to defeat the Kadiil.”
“Trying to defeat the Kadiil? That is impossible!”
“Master Tommy does not think so.”
# # #
Las sat on the edge of her pool, splashing her webbed toes through the surface of the water. Four weeks had passed since the feral had taken over her ship. Her every attempt to leave had been rebuffed. Her requests for contact with anyone outside her chambers had been ignored.
Except for her last.
The small voice came from behind her. “Mother, are you well? We have been so worried about you. What is happening?”
Las responded with a squealing whistle as she turned. “Lada, they let you come to me!”
Lada’s level gaze met that of her still seated mother. “The warriors that brought me here said that they are worried about you, too. They also said that I am too small and young to be a threat. Why are they worried about you, Mother?”
Las pulled her daughter into her arms and voiced a low whistle. “Maybe because I quit trying to get out, they think I will kill myself.” She held her half-grown kit at arms’ length. “Now that you are here, I am already better.” She wrapped her clawed hand affectionately around her daughter’s muzzle. “You may be small, but you are old enough to talk. Stay with me a while. We will swim and eat. When you leave, I will have a message for the mothers in the family chamber.”
# # #
The raucous whistling almost deafened her as the door popped open. A mob of adult Nesu held the three warrior guards against the floor. Three other warriors stood against the far wall of the passage, their hands fingering the collars around their necks.
Whna, the senior mother from Las’s family chamber stepped to the front, her tail flipping back and forth behind her. Whna’s statement addressed both Las and the warriors held on the floor. “We have replaced and activated the collars on these six. They will help us now or die!”
“Good!” Las replied. “We must release the other People and reclaim our ship.”
The band moved quickly through The Peoples’ decks, growing larger as they overcame each group of warrior guards. First three warriors “relieved” the warriors standing guard, and then struck them to the floor as soon as they turned their backs to march away. Only one group noticed that the relieving guards were wearing collars, but they were swiftly overwhelmed by others waiting around the curve in the passageway.
Las entered Ull’s quarters with a triumphant whistle. “Ull, we are retaking the ship! Join us.”
Ull’s head appeared above the surface of the water. From behind her, the smaller head of a male peered fearfully.
“To what end?” Ull asked. “Will we be able to escape the Kadiil?”
Las voiced a low whistle. “Perhaps not. But whatever happens, it will be as the council wills. We must return this ship to the control of The People.”
Ull pulled herself from the water. As she glanced back at the male the mournful whistle she voiced was almost inaudible above the roar of the waterfall. “I had almost forgotten my duty.” She shook the water from her fur. “How did you free yourself?”
“I commanded the mothers of my family chambers to overwhelm their guards.” Las whistled derisively. “Too long have the mothers lived without effort or responsibility. Too long have they relied on the council to make their decisions and on the warriors to protect them. This must change.”
Ull said something that Las couldn’t understand. Louder Ull said, “Whatever else happens, I owe the feral something that I must repay. What is
your plan?”
# # #
They rushed from the elevators into an empty bridge. More and more of The People and warriors came into the room, until Las finally sent word that they needed no more reinforcements.
Las joined Ull by the control platform. “Why is there no one here? Even the feral would know to leave someone on watch.”
“Perhaps because it doesn’t matter.” responded Ull. A clawed finger pointed through the dome over their heads at the continuous stream of charged particles pouring from all sides around the asteroid protecting My Flowing Streams. All around the room, The People looked up, following Ull’s pointing hand. The joyful whistling and chatter that had begun when they entered the room without opposition slowly died.
“Whether it matters or not is our decision to make.” said Las. She made a sweeping gesture around her. “And now that we have the bridge, we will be making the decisions again.”
The lights went out, and the dome cover closed, blocking the light from the nova.
Las grabbed at Ull in the dark. “What is happening?”
“The control desks are dead!” shouted Ull. She pulled herself from Las’s grasp. “The feral is responsible for this!”
Las heard the faint sound of hatches opening all around her. From nearby came the voice of the feral, his words so loud they echoed around the chamber: “I address The People! Has the council told you why we are trapped here in the firestorm you saw through the dome? Has the council told you that they decided that you and your kits should die in their pools, killed by the Kadiil? Has the council told you that the humans on this ship are trying to save us all in spite of your council?”
Las felt Ull brush by her. From the darkness Ull screamed, “It is time to close our bargain, feral!”
Chapter Twenty-one: Networking
A blow from the dark knocked Tommy to the deck. Before he could scramble away, he felt claws around his neck and heard Ull’s voice in his ear. “I know we will all die here, but you will die first. I have had enough of you.”
The claws tightened, puncturing his skin. He felt blood running down his neck. Any time now! he thought, and the lights came on.
“Ull, I would rather not kill you, but I will!” The muzzle of the pistol Sisle had carried since the rebellion pressed against Ull’s head. “Let him go.”
Tommy pushed Ull off and stood. Behind him the hatch to the lower deck stood open. Around him and near other open floor hatches, warriors armed with pistols and rifles covered the Nesu. Unarmed warriors, without collars, held collar-controlling cylinders where the recaptured warriors could see them.
Tommy wiped the blood from his neck with the tail of his shirt. “You can kill your warriors, but so can we!” he shouted. He stepped onto the control platform. “This must end. Humans control this ship and we will not return it to The People. I have turned off the pumps in all your chambers. The chamber pools will soon be stagnant. Choose whether your kits will live or die!”
A mournful whistle filled chamber. One of the Nesu stepped forward.
“What did you mean when you spoke in the dark about the council?” Her grey muzzle turned back and forth between Ull and Las.
“Who are you?” Tommy asked.
“I am Whna, the senior mother in the family chamber where Las was born. She replaced me on the council.”
“What has the council told you about the Kadiil?” Tommy asked.
“Nothing.”
“The Kadiil are trying to destroy this ship.”
“Why?”
“We were intercepted by raiders. I used the drive to create black holes to destroy their missiles.” He looked down at his feet, then back at the senior mother. “The Kadiil objected and have been trying to destroy us ever since.”
She made a grinding whistle. “And what did the council do?” Her eyes focused on Las.
“They decided to have one last swim and let the Kadiil destroy us.”
“Without telling the families!” she shrieked. She leaped past Tommy before he or Las could react and landed on Las with all her claws extended, knocking her to the floor. Whna’s hands dug into Las’s neck. Entrails and blood the color of burgundy spurted from Las’s abdomen where her feet ripped through muscle.
# # #
Tommy sat alone and silent on the edge of the lake in Whna’s family chamber. Whna hovered in the otherwise empty water in front of him, her eyes never leaving his. Beginning some twenty feet to each side and extending around the bank of the lake and the higher ground above, other of The People watched, larger females in front, smaller males peering around the females, and still smaller kits trying to look past or through the legs of the adults. The only sounds were that of the waterfall roaring down the far wall and the lesser tinkling of the many streams running into the lake from the smaller pools scattered around the edge of the large chamber. The musky smell drying fur filled the humid air.
“You are either very brave or very foolish,” Whna finally said. She turned quickly in the water, her gaze taking in the hundreds of The People in the chamber, including the crowd standing in front of the door. “If we decide to kill you, your warriors will not be able to rescue you.”
Tommy voiced the low grinding whistle of Nesu displeasure. “When I told you in the bridge that we may all die soon, you killed Las because she had done nothing.” He took off his shoes, rolled up his pants, and dangled his feet in the water. “Leegh and I are trying to save us all, so I do not believe you will kill me.” His sudden smile caused Whna to move away from him, her tail churning under her. “But if you do, the humans will seal your door closed from the outside and drain this lake.”
A moaning whistle passed in a wave around the shore as each Nesu repeated his words to her neighbor.
His gesture took in all The People in the chamber. “Do you speak for them?”
“I speak for The People here. I do not speak for all of The People in the ship. For that, a new council must be elected.” Her tail churned under her again. “If you let us.”
“I am here to get your cooperation in defeating the Kadiil,” Tommy responded. “If that means a new council, so be it.” He smiled again. “We cannot allow the new council to have the power it had before. But perhaps that will be better for you. Your people gave its members too much responsibility.
“First, let me tell you what has been happening and what we are trying to do--“
# # #
Far too many people packed the hanger deck on My Flowing Streams. Tommy would have preferred to run the first test alone, but everyone who had participated in the programming wanted to be involved. He had insisted there would probably be little to see, but they didn't care. They were doing their part to defeat the Kadiil.
Whne, reelected to The People’s council, also asked to be involved, and Tommy had her join him at his station. To accommodate her, Leegh, and the members of Leegh’s family who were in the hanger, Tommy had instructed everyone to use the lords’ language.
“Do you mind telling me what I am seeing?” Whne asked. “I recognize the drive module but nothing else.”
Tommy pointed at the boxes that lay on the deck, underneath and on every side of the massive drive. “We think the boxes are part of the computer that ran the Kadiil ship. The thin cables connecting them we believe are for data. The thicker cables should be for power. Not that we know for sure. That is what we are here to find out.
“The data cables that were connected to the drive, sensors, and radio are plugged into adapter boxes, custom made by the Communications Guild, and routed into the Earth computers you see scattered around the hanger's edge. Other computers are set to receive the output from radio transmitters in front of the disconnected wormhole generators.”
Even a month before, Tommy would have written all of the programs on those computers himself. But now, the urgency of their situation, and the number of programs to be written, had forced him to give his students a chance. He had described what the programs should do and turned the
m over to the teams. Now, they were done, and Tommy was pleased with the quality of the work.
He saved two programs for himself: the interface with the drive, which he wrote with Leegh's mathematical help, and the program tying the programs together over a network. When one Earth computer reported an object visible by radar to the Kadiil computer, all the other Earth computers would “see” the same thing, or not, depending on what Tommy told them to do. Several large monitors on pedestals around the hanger displayed a depiction of what the Kadiil computer would be forced to sense, and what it did as a response.
Wearing a protective suit, an artisan volunteer placed an insulating mat and ladder under the drive supports and climbed to the power plug. "I am ready, Master Tommy."
Tommy checked the monitor. All computers on the network were ready. "Pull the plug," he called.
"Well,” Tommy said when the connection came smoothly apart. “That was a non-event. Now we see if Vent was correct in his theory.
“Plug it back in!" he shouted.
The thin cables between the boxes flickered with faint light. "Optical cable," Tommy said. "I don't have a way to tap into that."
"What did you say?" asked Whne.
"Nothing I can do anything about," Tommy responded.
"Vent, you were right!” Sanos called. “The computer is booting!"
Tommy called to the artisan standing on the ladder. “Be ready to pull the plug again if I tell you to!"
He made some adjustments on the controlling computer, then said, "The Kadiil computer is seeing otherwise empty space with The People's Fist at one light second. If it remembers what was happening, it will jump in and attack."
On the large monitors, the programs attached to the gravity sensors displayed the Kadiil computer’s command to view out to two light seconds. The Earth programs responded with a sighting of The People's Fist. This brought an immediate command from the Kadiil to focus on the ship.
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