"It's only their smile," reassured Carrie quickly, and her brother relaxed.
"We heard all about Kusac's masquerade," Vanna said. "We're an upright race like yours, but we've retained the ability to travel more quickly on four legs when the need arises. I expect that capability will disappear in time."
"You're so similar to us, yet so different," Richard said, "that it's unsettling. Being able to speak our language almost makes you more Alien." He looked sheepishly at his sister. "You've been through all this. I expect it sounds foolish to you."
"No, not at all. I just see things on a different level from you. With my mind, not my eyes."
"You always did," he replied. "I get the feeling these people are more your kind than we are."
"Can I come in?" asked Jo from the hatch.
"Of course," said Vanna. "Come and initiate me into the rites of making this strange beverage I've heard so much about."
Jo had brought the colony's equivalent of instant coffee and a large thermal jug with her as well as powdered milk and sweetener. She made up a large jugful which they carried outside. Mugs were collected and drinks poured for everyone, the tech personnel taking theirs with them to their work areas.
The small group that regrouped outside the pod to talk was comprised of Garras, Vanna, Carrie, Kusac, Captain Skinner, Jo, and Richard.
"This is good," said Vanna, sipping her drink.
"What brought you to Keiss?" asked Skinner, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and offering them around. The Sholans declined, but Carrie accepted gladly.
"I ran out days ago," she said, digging her lighter out of her trouser pocket.
"We've plenty in the groundcar," said Jo, throwing her a pack.
"Two of our colony worlds were attacked without warning some six months ago," said Garras, his ears almost flat against his skull with emotion. "Every living person on both planets was killed. Nothing was taken, just ruthlessly laid waste by massive air and ground attacks. Our people didn't even have the time to send out a distress signal. We still have no idea why it was done."
"On one planet two Aliens' bodies were found, bodies from a species unknown to any of the members of the Allied Worlds. Because of our impromptu stay on Keiss," he said with a faint touch of humor, "I can now identify them as Valtegans."
Skinner nodded. "I can see we have a common enemy."
"We need to know where these Valtegans come from and what they are doing. We also need to know why they utterly destroyed two of our worlds yet left you alive. This species is a danger to everyone," said Garras.
"You mentioned the Allied Worlds," said Skinner. "How many of you are there?"
"Four core species, ourselves and three others with whom we have Trade treaties, but each colony is an independent member of the Alliance."
"I presume you are each searching and patrolling your own sectors of space."
Garras nodded. "Until now, we have drawn a blank on every world we've searched."
"How did you happen to get shot down?"
"The Khalossa dropped a score of eight-man scouters like ours, each on a three-month recon mission. We hit problems on the world before Keiss and told them we were running late. A new rendezvous was arranged and we proceeded here."
"We hit turbulence on the way down and failed to notice the Valtegan presence until we were attacked. The first two shots took out guidance, auto-distress, and communications, costing me my pilot and navigator," said Garras, his pain again very evident.
"The third hit breached the hull and injured Kusac," said Vanna. "Garras brought us down on manual and we crashed on the edge of the forest."
"I hit the auto-destruct and we took anything of use and left, only to walk straight into a Valtegan groundcar attack," said Garras. "Our engineer was the first man out." He stopped for a moment before continuing.
"We returned fire, but we were pinned down in a vehicle about to explode. As luck would have it, Guynor managed to lob an explosive device close enough to the groundcar to take it out and we escaped just in time."
"We headed for the cover of the forest, knowing that among the trees we could pass for the indigenous cats on this world, especially since we'd made sure our dead went up with the scouter."
"We knew the general location of this life pod, so we headed for it." Garras took a sip of the coffee. He wrinkled his nose with distaste and set it aside.
"Kusac was too badly injured to keep up with us, so we had to leave him hidden in some bushes to follow us when he could," said Vanna. "Getting the information about the Valtegans to the Khalossa was more important than one person's life, even if he was a Telepath." Vanna cast a look in Carrie's direction, but the girl said nothing.
"You aren't still mad at me?" she asked Carrie, lapsing into Sholan and putting her head on one side, ears flicking.
Carrie looked puzzled. "Why should I be mad at you, Vanna?" she asked in the same language.
"Back at the cave you were mad at me for leaving your lover behind."
Carrie flushed, looking away. "He isn't my lover, Vanna," she said quietly.
"Why not?" The Sholan sounded surprised.
Garras frowned. "Vanna," he warned.
Vanna turned to Garras. "I'm only asking why not," she said. "It's a reas..." she stumbled over the word, "... fair question."
Carrie began to panic. She couldn't cope with this sudden interest in her private life. Why was Vanna asking her, and in front of everyone else? It wasn't like her at all.
"Leave it, Vanna," said Kusac mildly.
Carrie felt her hair being touched and instantly turned around. Kusac had taken hold of a lock of it and was idly winding it between his fingers.
He grinned up at her from where he lay propped against a lump of wood. Carrie turned reluctantly back to the conversation.
"I want to know," insisted Vanna. "You love each other, so where is the problem?"
Why wasn't Kusac saying something? Why was he letting Vanna talk like this. She reached for him mentally but found him unconcerned, not seeing the questions as either a threat or an intrusion.
You're too far away, he complained, leaning forward to pick her up with both hands.
She gasped, taken by surprise not only at his action but at the strength required to do it.
He put her down beside the curve of his body, keeping his hands around her waist.
"Vanna," warned Garras again, "I won't have this interference."
"Solitude, Vanna," purred Kusac in reply, putting his chin on Carrie's shoulder. "She's too important to me for anything less."
Carrie was utterly bewildered. Why was he behaving like this? What she felt of him through the Link was strange and confused.
Are Carries tickly? came the thought as, with a flash of humor, his fingers began to tickle her ribs.
She squealed, knocking his mug over as she squirmed out of his grasp. She picked it up as she backed a short distance away from him.
"Kusac, what on earth is up with you?" she demanded, keeping a safe distance between them.
Garras leaned forward and took the mug from her, glancing over to where a burst of laughter came from the tech group.
"A mild euphoric?" he said, raising an eye ridge at both Kusac and Vanna. "I think this coffee has a stronger effect than that," he said in English.
"Oh, no," said Jo, trying hard not to laugh. "It doesn't make you drunk, does it?"
"I'm afraid coffee will have to be restricted to off duty periods only," he said. "Vanna, go and brew some strong c'shar for our lot, and take Kusac with you!" He handed her the mug.
"Yes, Captain," she said, getting unsteadily to her feet. She swayed gently on her way to the hatch, Kusac forgotten.
"I'm fine, sir," said Kusac, straightening up.
Garras shook his head. "On second thought, you'd probably be better out here since you're a Telepath. Did it have this effect on him before?" he asked Carrie.
"Not that I noticed, but then our coffee isn't as strong as Jo's."
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There was another burst of laughter from the groundcar. "I'd better go and sort them out," Garras said, getting to his feet. "Excuse me, Captain Skinner, I'll be back in a minute."
Jo gave way to fits of laughter.
"I'm sorry, Carrie," she chuckled. "I know it's not really that funny. Maybe if they take their coffee very weak?"
"Maybe," said Carrie, standing up and turning to stare at the hatchway. The pod interior was always illuminated and in the galley she could see Vanna making up a jug of c'shar.
Mito and Guynor trooped past her and through the hatch followed by Garras. When he reached the galley, he spoke to Vanna briefly, then she went off to look in her medikit. When she returned, she added the contents of a sachet to the c'shar.
"Carrie," said Skinner, trying to draw her attention.
She turned— and found herself flying backward through the air to be caught by Kusac just before she hit the ground.
"Hello," he said, grinning down at her.
Stunned, she lay across his arms for a moment before struggling to sit up. He helped her.
With a theatrical sigh, she leaned back against him and shut her eyes for a second. "Ye Gods," she said. "What am I going to do with you? A six-foot drunken, playful feline!" She groaned.
"Don't you dare say that," she snapped at him as he opened his mouth.
He looked hurt and sent images of being misunderstood to her.
She pulled his ear. "Behave," she admonished him.
Vanna came out bearing a fresh mug, obviously making an effort to walk straight. She held it out to Kusac.
"Drink this," she said. "It'll work in about ten minutes."
"I'd rather not, thank you, Vanna," he said lazily.
"Orders," she said.
He took it. "But I feel good," he said. "I haven't felt so relaxed in days."
"So have some more tonight," she said before going back into the pod.
Carrie remained where she was for the moment, Kusac's mellow mood relaxing her, too. Then, abruptly, she sat up beside him so they were no longer touching. Once again, because they'd been in contact for too long, she'd felt their heightened sensitivity start to build.
Kusac looked and felt disappointed, but he accepted it and began to drink the c'shar. However, not to be totally beaten, his tail flipped onto her lap and lay there, the tip gently flicking.
Garras returned with his own mug of c'shar and sat down with them again. He grinned at Skinner.
"About that coffee of yours," he began.
Carrie began to laugh, getting a puzzled look from the other Terrans.
"You're a Trader through and through, Garras," she chuckled. "Captain Skinner, he's going to suggest that our coffee will sell as an exotic hot alcoholic beverage to the Sholans, a totally unique drink. Keiss will make a fortune out of that alone, never mind any other trade goods."
"May I suggest that you get Jo to draft a trade agreement with Captain Garras on behalf of his Clan as the major importers of coffee, citing you as the suppliers? If you don't, then Earth is likely to pick up this contract, and, quite honestly, why should they? Keiss needs the interplanetary trade."
Captain Skinner looked startled.
"She's right," said Kusac. "As a Telepath, I've done basic training with the Judiciary, so I can see the contract's phrased correctly, and my signature on it should carry some weight."
Carrie glanced sharply at Garras then at Kusac. This was the first time she'd picked up the Sholan Captain's curiosity over Kusac's background.
As Skinner thought the trade idea through, she began to check her inherited memories of Kusac. She soon gave up, finding only memories of a family that though loving had a strong sense of responsibility. She obviously didn't know what to look for and so was unlikely to find anything.
"Isn't it somewhat irregular to do that?" Skinner asked.
"Probably," said Kusac, "but I'll make sure the agreement will hold up in the Courts."
Skinner looked at Garras, who nodded.
"Telepaths work closely with the Judges as Truthsayers and Oathtakers because they can tell when a person is lying. Their signature gives the official seal of approval to any contracts."
"Jo?" Skinner asked.
"Go for it, Captain. It'll ensure that we have a voice of our own once official negotiations start among Earth, Keiss, and the Sholans."
"It seems like we have a deal, then," said Skinner, looking around the group of mixed Sholans and Terrans. He held his hand out to Garras, who hesitated briefly then took it.
Skinner's grasp was firm enough to trigger Garras' claws and the Sholan quickly put his other hand on top of the Terran's to release himself.
"It takes very little pressure to extend our claws," he said, checking the other's hand to see no damage had been done.
Skinner looked at the five slight indentations. "We've a lot to learn about each other," he said. "What do you do when you seal a bargain?"
"I think this is my field," said Jo. "Carrie, you'll help me won't you? Language, behavior, and customs are so closely linked, after all."
"If I'm not needed for anything else," said Carrie, picking up the other woman's thought that once this episode was over, Carrie would find life very dull indeed if she had nothing challenging to occupy her.
Carrie leaned forward to help herself to more coffee. While appreciating the gesture, she hoped Jo was wrong. She was a Telepath like Kusac and she wanted to work with him as one. Among the Sholans her mental abilities were at least understood in part. Here on Keiss among the Terran community she was almost considered to have some kind of mental illness. Well, unless she was much mistaken, it was the Terrans who would have to change their attitude about people like her.
"You mentioned the Erasmus," she heard Skinner say.
"Yes," replied Garras. "Once the Khalossa is here, there is no need for your ship to turn back to Earth."
"What if all our attempts to reach your ship fail?"
"We're due to rendezvous with the Khalossa in ten days' time," said Garras. "If we fail to contact them within a day of that they will come looking for us. Obviously, they will be alert for trouble and the outcome will be the same, but it may take longer to subdue the Valtegans if our people are unprepared."
"We're working against time because the Valtegans were able to get hold of our ship's computer crystal. If they can manage to read it, they will have star charts for an immense area of our space as well as the location of the other planets our people were checking and the route for the Khalossa. We need to contact the Mothership as soon as possible and alert them to the potential danger we're all in." Garras stopped as Vanna came through the hatch.
"Everyone's fit for duty again, sir," she said.
Garras nodded. "Carry on."
He turned back to Skinner. "As for the Erasmus, once the trouble here is cleared up, we can send a couple of tugs to bring your ship directly here."
Skinner digested this in a stunned silence. "The next step will be to contact Earth and bring various leaders here for talks, I expect."
Garras nodded.
"Will we become part of your Allied Worlds?" asked Jo.
"It's not that simple," said Garras. "In the normal course of events, there would be negotiations taking several years, a trial membership period, then, if all went well and you had the capacity for interstellar flight— either developed by yourselves or gained through trade— you would be offered full membership."
"However, the Alliance is on a war footing at the moment, your sector of space— here at least— backs onto our colonized area and the Valtegans are known here. We need this sector adequately patrolled and we are stretched too thinly to protect another species."
Kusac retrieved his tail and moved closer.
"Given the fact that you are the only other Telepathic species we have met," he said, "for that reason alone our people will surely push for you achieving full membership as swiftly as possible. In fact, that may well prove to be the pivotal r
eason. With more Telepaths on our scout crafts, the better our chance at sensing the Valtegans' presence before their instruments pick us up."
"Then why didn't you sense them when you approached Keiss?" asked Jo.
"Like Captain Garras and Mito, I was off duty, asleep," said Kusac.
"Maran, our pilot, ignored my orders, deciding that there was no need to wake us as we approached Keiss," said Garras. "His overconfidence cost him his life."
"You keep mentioning Telepaths," said Skinner, lighting another cigarette. "What exactly do you mean? Reading minds and all that?"
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