Had Mac been a purely organic being, he might have felt chagrin at Becker’s response to his attempt to ascertain the field functionality of the flitter and to educate the crew regarding its upgraded equipment. When the Condor’s com receiver suddenly filled with static, Mac’s initial reaction had been that Captain Becker, in one of his customary fits of gruffness, had “hung up” on him. But then he realized that the monitoring had somehow penetrated his careful programming and those who were doing the monitoring had cut off the transmission.
He needed to do something about that, but he wasn’t sure what. His programming was now quite advanced, as evidenced in his promotion to uniformed crewman, but although he was capable of independent thought, he was not actually programmed to think strategically.
He was pondering what response if any would be appropriate when he observed irregular activity in the aft view screen. Earlier in the morning a flitter had made a short hop from behind the headquarters building to the field east of the Condor’s docking bay. Now three figures approached it, each from a different angle. Zooming in, he recognized the person nearest the flitter as Lieutenant Commander Macostut.
And very quickly, from the litheness of her movements and some other characteristics he had stored as recognition factors, he identified the second person, coming between Macostut and the third person, as Nadhari Kando. She would be wanting to board as soon as she had spoken to Macostut, he felt sure, so he lowered the robolift. She looked up, then fell down. The third figure, one Mac did not recognize except that a certain facial resemblance to Nadhari identified him as her cousin, the ruler of this place, placed a weapon in his belt and helped Macostut bind Nadhari and load her into the flitter. Before Mac could raise the robolift again and board it to go to her assistance, the flitter was over the wall and gone.
He stood inside the robolift as it lowered.
Once the lift met the ground, Mac understood that his presence and position would now be known to any who were watching from headquarters. Therefore, he waved in a friendly fashion in that general direction. Two men emerged from the building, looking straight at him.
It seemed as good a time as any to undo the damage they had done to his communications system. He needed to warn the captain about the Federation flitter, and to advise him of Nadhari Kando’s predicament.
Mac walked nonchalantly toward the troopers, wearing his customary friendly and diffident expression. He was, however, accessing the memories he had of the time when he was “muscle” for Kisla Manjari. There were very few of these Federation people left on the post, and only a handful in the communications area. He would reason with them first, of course, and point out that their own commander had broken their prime rule against technological contamination of this world. If they disagreed or failed in any way to be other than helpful and cordial, he, who possessed the strength of about twenty fully organic men, would be forced to modify their physical configurations.
“Captain, shall I take the helm for a while?” Acorna asked. “It would be easier for me to do so, since the controls are built for Linyaari hands.”
“You forget I fly with all kinds of alien equipment,” Becker said proudly, forgetting that they were on Makahomia precisely because he had added Khleevi equipment to his control array. “Besides, you need to coordinate the mental communication around here. Might be too distracting for you to do that and fly, too. While you were resting up, I familiarized myself with some of Mac’s upgrades. The scanner is a little clunky, but better than you’ll find in any of the antique Federation buggies they have around here.”
Acorna nodded and settled down for a quick nap. She wasn’t the only one to take advantage of the opportunity. Miw-Sher was already limply sprawled under her seat harness, with cats settled beside her, on her lap and shoulders, and at her feet. RK rode up front between Becker and Acorna. Before she could fall asleep, Acorna heard RK’s ruminations about his tragic parting from Haruna, and how the unfortunate feline female would never know what she had missed.
Acorna raised a solicitous hand and scratched the cat under his chin.
He climbed into her lap, put his paws on her shoulder, rubbed his face against her neck, and purred a little. (It’s just that seeing those kittens makes me feel like I’ve missed something, Acorna, you know? I should be a daddy by now, but nooooo… Becker wants only one ship’s cat. I want to make babies.)
Acorna laughed and scrubbed his ears. (You should know better than to try that line on me, Mr. Cat. You don’t care about the baby kittens at all. You just want to make time with a female cat!)
RK sat back up, since he was getting no sympathy, and licked his right front paw. (Nothing wrong with that. It’s what tomcats do.)
(Yes, I understand your frustration,) Acorna said, with such fellow feeling that RK favored her once more by leaning against her face. (I know exactly what you mean. Female Linyaari long for their mates, too.)
(I know,) RK said, and rubbed against her cheek with a brief burst of a purr. (Aari was on the wall.)
Acorna felt the little disk warm against her chest. (Yes, though it wasn’t what you would call a good likeness. And it could have been any Linyaari, but I have had the dreams. It’s him. I know it. He’s long gone, though. The way they speak of him here, he was from some very ancient time in their history.)
She hoped Aari had not returned to Vhiliinyar while she’d been off saving the world again—though this time it was RK’s world. She cupped the little disk against her throat. She missed him. Aari in dreams and as an ancient historical and mythological character in the Makahomian doctrine was not at all the same thing as Aari beside her.
She sighed and settled down for another catnap. The rest, food, and drink had helped, but she still felt drained by all the healing she’d done since they’d come to this world, and from all the long sleepless nights before that she’d spent wondering when she would see Aari again. She allowed her eyelids to close, hoping to dream of him—
—And jerked awake some time later, hailed by a mental call.
(Acorna, can you hear me? It’s Nadhari.)
(I can read you, Nadhari. Where are you?)
(I’m a prisoner on a Federation flitter with Macostut and Edu. We’re on our way to the Aridimi stronghold.)
Acorna relayed the information to Becker.
“What’s her position?” he asked.
(Nadhari, can you see the instruments? Do you know what your position is?)
She did indeed know where she was, and relayed the coordinates to Acorna, who told Becker.
After a moment he said, “Bingo! Tell her not to worry. Rescue’s on the way.” Becker changed course and put on a burst of speed.
Miw-Sher woke with a start. “What? Have you found Uncle Tagoth?”
“No,” Acorna said, and explained about Nadhari’s capture.
“But we must find my uncle first. If the Mulzar finds him before we do, he’ll know that Tagoth has betrayed him, and he will kill him.”
“I don’t think so, kid,” Becker said when Acorna told him of Miw-Sher’s concern. “I bet Edu’s too focused on his goal to pay any attention to a lone life form down there in all that desert. And if he does find your uncle, I bet Edu’s just like us. He’ll want your uncle to show him the way to this stronghold. I’m on Edu’s tail now. We can see him but he can’t see us, thanks to the Linyaari cloaking. If it looks like he’s after your uncle, I’ll take him down before he knows what hit him. He’ll never lay a hand on Tagoth.”
Becker was enjoying himself now, flying low and fast, tracking Edu’s flitter and keeping pace with it, following it as closely as possible without overtaking it. The Federation vehicle’s signal was strong and loud. “Remind me to promote Mac for thinking to put this scanner in,” Becker said.
“Can you find a person on the ground with it?” Acorna asked.
“Yeah, but not when the rig’s set up like this,” Becker said. “Mac adapted it from the Condor’s array, and it’s meant to have a few more
toggles in the control apparatus that this little flitter just doesn’t have. To get enough focus to pick up someone on the ground, it has to be recalibrated. If I do that, I run the risk of losing ‘His Holiness’ and Nadhari. Damn, I wish Mac had thought to install a couple of laser cannons on this thing too, but I guess that wouldn’t go over big with the Linyaari.”
“Probably not,” Acorna agreed. Then she sat back and concentrated on broadcasting her thoughts to a specific mind out there on the desert floor. (Tagoth? Tagoth, this is Acorna. There’s a Federation flitter with the Mulzar and Macostut aboard heading at top speed to the Aridimi stronghold. They have taken Nadhari prisoner. Please just think of me and concentrate on an answer if you are receiving this.)
But she heard no reply, nor did she sense that her message was reaching its target. She was not too surprised. Her telepathy, though highly developed, worked best with those she knew well.
“Are you trying to contact him with your mind?” Miw-Sher asked.
“Yes. I already tried, but it’s not working. I’m sorry.”
“I can do it, if I change. I can find him. But you have to land. I need to change my form and call to him—cat to cat.”
“Miw-Sher, it’s a bad idea to stop. We’re pretty safe here in this flitter, and we have Edu under observation. The Mulzar already has Nadhari as a prisoner. We can’t give him a chance to take us captive as well. If Edu can’t find the stronghold without your uncle’s help, then you’d play right into his hands by giving him the opportunity to capture you to use as leverage to ensure your uncle’s cooperation in finding the hidden stronghold. Can you imagine what your uncle would do if Edu and Macostut threatened to kill you? Tagoth might be able to hold out against them if they threatened Nadhari or us, but not if they have you, too.”
“They won’t get me!” Miw-Sher said. “I can find his trail, and once I do, I can call him. Let me try. If we get to my uncle first, then perhaps the Mulzar won’t ever be able to find the Sacred Lake.”
Acorna couldn’t see how anyone in a well-equipped flitter could avoid finding an entire temple complex, but then, Miw-Sher wasn’t accustomed to flying in flitters. “He could find it,” Acorna told her.
“Maybe, but with my uncle’s help, we can certainly get there ahead of him to help the Aridimi prepare some kind of defense against him. Captain Becker could keep following the Mulzar, if he wishes to, after he drops me off. He could also come to my rescue, should I be captured.”
“All right, you have a point,” Acorna said. “We’ll try it your way, but I’ll go with you.”
(Hmph,) RK said, rising and stretching, (I could do with a bit of a run myself.)
Whereupon Sher-Paw, Haji, and Pash all rose and stretched as if to say that they, too, wouldn’t mind a bit of healthy exercise.
Grimla mewed piteously, torn between the two competing paths her Temple guardian duties required of her. She couldn’t allow her two-legged kitten to leave without her protection, but on the other hand, she had a litter of four-legged kittens to care for. What should she do? She had to stay with the youngest and most helpless of her charges. She did not think this was at all fair, but what was a mother to do?
Becker put his foot down, however. “Nope. This situation is bad enough. I’m not gonna try herding cats all over the desert in addition to all the problems we’ve got already. I’m not landing, and nobody is getting out.”
“In that case,” Acorna said, “it seems that the only alternative is to recalibrate your scanner. Excuse me, Captain. Allow me.” She did this easily. It was one of those talents she seemed to have been born with, a talent that had constantly amazed her asteroid-mining foster fathers. “Now then. See if you can find Tagoth with the scanner.”
“What if we lose the other flitter?”
“We know roughly where they are going, so we’ll catch up with them before this is over regardless of what happens. And if we can find Tagoth, we’ll beat them to the Aridimi stronghold. He’s the only one among us who knows exactly where that is. So let’s find Tagoth. Don’t worry, I’ll recalibrate the scanner for you as soon as we locate Miw-Sher’s uncle.”
Becker huffed and growled into his mustache. “You drive a hard bargain.”
The cats settled back, though Grimla left her kittens long enough to groom Miw-Sher’s fingers, comforting her.
The scanner was quiet for some time as the Condor continued on its course, and then suddenly a small dot began to show on the perimeter of the pattern, moving away. Becker headed for it. “I hope that’s not a jackrabbit or some varmint out for a midnight run,” he said.
But as they drew nearer, a visual scan homed in on the images of a large cat bounding across the desert.
“That’s him,” Miw-Sher said, leaning forward. “It’s my uncle! I’ll bet the Mulzar wouldn’t realize it was him if he saw him in cat form. He doesn’t know Uncle can change!”
Becker didn’t seem to hear her. He was happily watching the scanner. “Doesn’t that Mac do top-notch work?” Becker asked Acorna. “Isn’t this great? Your guys can’t even get visuals like this with the standard scanners you have in the flitters you’ve got on Vhiliinyar! I knew my scanners could find salvage light-years away, but I never tried to find a moving guy on the ground while I was moving too. Yippee!”
But finding Tagoth was one thing. Catching him was another. Although he couldn’t possibly see the cloaked flitter, he seemed to sense it. He looked up, then bolted in the opposite direction. Becker headed him off again. Again the cat-man fled, this time feinting to the left but taking off again in the direction he was originally headed.
“He thinks we’re the Mulzar,” Becker said.
Miw-Sher pleaded, “Please, land. I’ll chase him. I’ll get him to come to us.”
“No,” Acorna told her. “By the time we land, he’ll be far away. We’d just have to load up and chase him again. If we keep this up long enough, we may wind up directly in the path of the Federation flitter ourselves, or we might chase Tagoth into their hands. I think we can find a better way to reach him. Here, link hands with me and call him—except call him as if you’re speaking to me. I’ll see if I can relay your thought. Maybe since we’re this close to him, it will work.”
They linked arms and Acorna carefully touched her horn to the girl’s forehead. Miw-Sher’s eyes widened, and she whispered, surprised, “That feels…nice. Not pointy and sharp or anything. It makes everything…feel better, even smell better.”
Acorna smiled, but knew they had a job to do. “Shhh, concentrate. Talk to your uncle.” But before either of them could seek to make contact, the Temple cats and RK pressed in on them on every side, reinforcing the catty side of the mental conversation.
(Uncle Tagoth, it’s me, Miw-Sher. I’m in a flitter flying right over you. You can’t see it because we’re wearing a cloak that makes us invisible to the Mulzar and the Federation commander in another flitter, but we’re here and we’re trying to help you!)
The cat figure in the visual scanner kept fleeing.
“We’re not getting through. Keep it simple,” Acorna breathed to her. “Just tell him it’s you in the flitter this time. Think of it as a mental shout. Captain, it might help if we uncloaked for a moment.”
Becker nodded and Miw-Sher did as Acorna suggested.
This time the cat stopped and looked up at them.
“It’s working,” Becker hooted, and Acorna felt the flitter begin to descend. “I do believe he heard you, ladies. Thaaaat’s right, big kitty guy, come to the flitter.” The vessel landed on the sand with a thump.
Tagoth began losing his feline characteristics as he came to the grounded flitter. His ears, already flattened with alarm, seemed to melt back into his skull and reemerge as human ears; his tail flicked once and disappeared. His muzzle shortened and his whiskers shrank to nothing and vanished, as did his claws and the fur.
“Oops,” Becker said. “Watch it, fella, ladies present.”
Miw-Sher was already holding out
her scarf, which her uncle accepted, turning it into a sort of loincloth before climbing into the flitter.
“Where to?” Becker asked Tagoth, who seemed relatively unperturbed by this sudden change in his circumstances. He settled himself in next to his niece, looked around calmly, and shared quick cheek rubs with Miw-Sher and the Hissimi Temple cats. He admired the kittens, running one finger along their tiny backs.
Acorna repeated Becker’s question to Tagoth, who pointed and said, “That way. Continue as you were going when you found me. I will say when to change course.”
Becker obliged, getting them into the air as quickly as possible.
While Becker took care of the flying, Acorna studied their new passenger. She could see the appeal of the man, understanding why Nadhari had been attracted to him. Tagoth had a quiet, concentrated magnetism. He seemed to Acorna to be a man of strong convictions, with a great sense of honor, but one who had lived for many years under the constant threat that his double life would be discovered—and that his days would be prematurely ended as a result.
Acorna sent a message to Nadhari. (We just picked up Tagoth and will be taking him to the Aridimi stronghold. Are you all right?)
(Yeah, except for being a prisoner of a man I’ve hated since I was a little kid,) she replied. (But you’ve got trouble. Edu and Macostut spotted you just now. They’re speculating as to why you just dropped off their screens again. Be careful.)
Eighteen
Trying not to seem aggressive, Mac bore down on the Federation soldiers staring at him from the headquarters building. They were standing between the android and the place where he needed to go. Removing them seemed the logical solution.
“Halt!” one of them said. “Stop right there. Who the hell are you and why were you on that ship?”
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