At The Edge Of Space (Hanan Rebellion) (53 page)

“And what does she mean to show them?”

“You,” she said; Aiela instinctively flung the
chiabres
-link asunder, dismayed by that touch of willful cruelty in Isande: she
enjoyed
distressing Daniel. The impulse he sent in her direction carried anger, and Isande flinched, and felt shame. “We searched to find you,” she said then to Daniel. “Oh, not you particularly, but it came to Chimele’s attention that humans from beyond the Esliph were turning up—we have followed so many, many leads in recent months, through the iduve, kallia, even the amaut, investigating every anomaly. We traced one such shipment toward Kartos—economical: Chimele knew she would at least find Kartos’ records of value in her search. You were available; and you have pleased her enormously—hence her extraordinary patience with you. Only hope you haven’t misled her.”

“I haven’t led her at all,” Daniel protested. “Amaut were all I ever saw, the ugly little beasts, and I never heard of iduve in my life.” And hidden in his mind were images of what might become of him if he were given to the iduve of
Chaganokh
for cross-examination, or if thereafter he had no value to the iduve at all.

“You are kameth,” said Isande. “You will not be discarded. But I will tell you something: as far as iduve ever bluff, Chimele is preparing to; and if she is wrong, she will have ruined herself. Three kamethi would hardly be adequate
serach
—funeral gift—for a dynasty as old and honorable as hers. We three would die; so would her
nasithi-katasakke, serach
to the fall of a dynasty. The iduve could destroy worlds of
m’metanei
and not feel as much as they would the passing of Chimele. So be guided by us, by Aiela and by me. If you do in that meeting what you did today—”

Now it was Daniel who screened, shutting off the images from Isande’s mind. She ceased.

Do not be hard with him,
Aiela asked of her.
There is no need of that, Isande.

She did not respond for a moment; in her mind was hate, the thought of what she would do and how she would deal with the human if Aiela were not the intermediary, and yet in some part she was ashamed of her anger. Asuthi must not hate; with her own clear sense she knew it, and submitted to the fact that he was appended to them.
If you fail to restrain him,
she sent Aiela,
you will lose him. You have fallen into a trap; I had prepared myself to remain distinct from him, but you are caught, you are merging; and because I regard you, I am caught too. Restrain him. Restrain him. If he angers the iduve, three kamethi are the least expensive loss that will result.

6

The Orithain of
Chaganokh
was a lonely man in the
paredre
of
Ashanome.
He wore the close-fitting garment common to iduve, but of startling white and complicated by overgarments and robes and a massive silver belt from which hung a
ghiaka.
His name was Minakh, and he was a conspicuous gleam of white and silver among so much indigo and black, with the fair colors of kallia and human an unintentional counterpoint across the room. Chimele faced him, seated, similarly robed and bearing a
ghiaka
with a raptor’s head, but her colors were dusky violet.

Tension was electric in the air. Daniel shivered at being thrust so prominently into the midst of them, and Aiela mentally held to him. Contact among the asuthi seemed uncertain, washed out by the miasma of terror and hostilities in the hall, which was filled with thousands of iduve. Bodies went rigid at the presence of Minakh, whiteless eyes dilated to black, breathing quickened. A dozen of the most powerful of
nasul Ashanome
were ranged about Chimele, behind, on either side of her: Khasif, Ashakh—great fearsome men, and two women, Tahjekh and Nophres, who were guardians of the
dhis
and terrible to offend.

Minakh’s eyes shifted from this side to that of the gathering. While he was still distant from Chimele he went to his knees and raised both hands. Likewise Chimele lifted her hands to salute him, but she remained seated.

“I am Orithain of the
nasul Chaganokh,
” said Minakh. “Increase to the
dhis
of
Ashanome.
We salute you.”

“We are
Ashanome.
May your eye be sharp and your reach long. For what grace have you come?”

“We have come to ask the leave of the
orith-nasul Ashanome
to go our way. The field is yours. May your affairs prosper.”

“Honor to the
vra-nasul Chaganokh
for its courtesy. We have heard that the zone of Kej is uncommonly pleasant of late. May your affairs prosper there.”

Minakh inclined his body gracefully to the carpet at this order, although it must have rankled; and he sat back on his heels, hands at his thighs, elbows outward.

“We rejoice at
Ashanome’
s notice,” he said flatly, and again came the concentration of hostilities, scantly concealed.

“Happy are the circumstances when
nasuli
may pass without
vaikka,
” said Chimele. “Honor to the wisdom of the Orithanhe which has made this possible.”

“Long life to those who respect its decrees.”

“Long life indeed, and may we remember this meeting with good pleasure. The
vra-nasul Chaganokh
has voyaged far and accrued honors; at its presence the Esliph shudders, and the un-traveled space of the human folk has now been measured.”

“The praise of
Ashanome,
hunter of worlds, is praise indeed.” Minakh’s face was utterly impassive, but his eyes flashed aside to Daniel, dark and terrible.

“Indeed
Chaganokh
is deserving of honor. So great is our admiration for its acquisition of wisdom that we lay at
Chaganokh’
s feet the matter nearest our heart. We search for a man who was once of
Ashanome.
Perhaps this inconsequential person has crossed the affairs of
Chaganokh.
We should not be surprised to learn that he has attempted to shake us from his trail in the uncharted human zones.
Chaganokh’
s recently acquired knowledge of this region seems to us an excellent source of precise knowledge. We are of course in great haste. Our time is slipping from us, and
Chaganokh
in its wisdom will surely accommodate our impatience in this regard.”

There was a long and deadly silence. Minakh’s eyes rested on Daniel with such hate that it was almost tangible, and every iduve in the room bristled. The silence persisted, broken ominously by a hiss from one of the
dhis
-guardians.

Minakh sweated. His belly heaved with his breathing. At last he prostrated himself and sat back again on his heels, looking dispirited.

“We delight to offer our assistance. This person attached himself to us at a distance. We ceased to notice him shortly after we entered the human zones, near a world known to those creatures as Priamos. Our own affairs occupied us thereafter.”

“May your
dhis
ever be safe, o
Chaganokh.
Again let us trouble your gracious assistance. Are the humans wise to think that the amaut are the cause of their unhappy state?”

“When were the
m’metanei
ever wise, o
Ashanome,
hunter of worlds? The amaut are carrion-eaters who seek scraps where we have passed. When has it ever been otherwise?”

“The wisdom of
Chaganokh
is commendable. Prosperity to its affairs and grace to its offspring. Pass, o
Chaganokh.
”

Now Minakh arose and backed away, backed entirely out of the
paredre
before he turned. No one of
Ashanome
stirred. No one seemed to breathe until at last the voice of Rakhi from the control station announced Minakh off the ship and the hatch sealed.

“Honor to the discretion of
Chaganokh,
” Chimele laughed softly. “Go your ways, my
nasithi.
Ashakh—”

“Chimele.”

“Set our course for the human zones as soon as you can make a proper determination from
Chaganokh’
s records. You are clear to put us underway at maximum, priority signal. Secrecy no longer applies. Either I am right, or I am wrong.”

Ashakh acknowledged the order with a nod, turned and left. Silently the iduve were dispersing, by ones and by twos, amiable now Minakh’s
harachia
was removed; and Chimele leaned back in her chair and looked for the first time at her kamethi.

“And you, poor
m’metanei
—an uncomfortable moment. Did you follow what was said?”

“As far,” said Aiela, “as
m’metanei
are wise.”

Chimele laughed merrily and rose, a violet splendor in her robes. She put off the
ghiaka
and laid it aside. “The Orithain of
Chaganokh
will not soon forget this day: unhappy puppet. Doubtless
Tashavodh
thrust Tejef off upon him; so he was obliged to try, at least, although his chances were poor from the beginning.”

Does she care nothing,
Daniel thrust at his asuthi,
for the misery they have caused my people?

Be still,
Isande returned through Aiela.
You do not know Chimele.

“You look troubled, Daniel.”

“Where do my people fit in this?”

“They are not my concern.”

She means it kindly,
Isande protested against his outrage.
She means no harm to them.

“What happened to them was your fault,” Daniel said to Chimele. “And you owe us at least—”

Aiela saw it coming, caught his human asuthe by the arm to draw him back; but the
idoikkhe
pained him, a lancing hurt all the way to his side, and that arm was useless to him for the moment. He knew that Daniel felt it too, knew the human angered instead of restrained. He seized him with his other hand.

She has been in the presence of an enemy,
Isande sent Daniel.
Her nerves are still at raw ends. Be still, be still, o for Aiela’s sake, Daniel, be still.

Daniel’s anger flowed over them both, sorrowing at once. “I’m sorry,” he told Chimele. “but you had no business to harm him for it.”

Chimele gave a slight lift of the brows. “Indeed. But Aiela has a
m’melakhia
for you,
m’metane-toj,
and he chose. Consider that, and consider your asuthi the next time you presume upon my self-restraint. Aiela, I regret it.”

The pain had vanished. Aiela bowed, for it was great courtesy that Chimele offered regret: iduve offended her, and received less. Chimele returned him a nod of her head, well pleased.

“Daniel,” she said then, “do you know the world of Priamos?”

Hate was in his mind, fear; but so was fear for Aiela. He abandoned his pride. “Yes,” he said, “I’ve been there several times.”

“Excellent. You will be provided facilities and assistance. I want maps and names. Is their language yours?”

“It is the same.” The impulse was overwhelming. “Why do you want these things? What are you about to do?”

Chimele ignored the question and turned on Aiela a direct and commanding look. “This is your problem,” she said. “See to it.”

They had come. Set on a grassy plain a hundred
lioi
from the river settlements, Tejef knew it, facing toward the east where the sun streamed into morning.
Chaganokh
had yielded and
Ashanome
had come.

It had been a long silence, unbearably long. Many times he had thought he would welcome any contact with his own kind, even to die. It was a loneliness no
m’metane
could understand, save one who had been
asuthithekkhe
and separated, a deep and terrible silence of the mind, a stillness where there were no brothers, no
nasithi,
nothing. No iduve could bear that easily, to be separated from
takkhenes,
the constant sense of brother-presence that never ceased, waking and sleeping, the pack-instinct that had been the driving force of his kind since the dawn of the race. From his birth he had it, seldom friendly is its messages, but there, a lodestar about which all life had its direction. It flowed through his consciousness like the blood through his veins, the unity of impulse through which he sensed every mood of his
nasithi,
their presence, their
m’melakhia,
his possession or lack of
arastiethe.

Now
takkhenes
was back. He felt them, the
Ashanome
-pack, who had given him birth and decreed his death; and he knew that if they grew much closer they could sense him, weak in his own single
takkhenois
though he was. The fine hair at the nape of his neck bristled at that proximity; the life-instinct that had ebbed in him quickened into anger.

They were on the hunt, and he their game this time, he that had hunted with them. He could sort out two of the minds he knew best: Khasif, Ashakh, grim and deadly men. Chimele would not have descended with them to the surface of this wretched world:
Ashanome
would be circling in distant orbit, and Chimele would be scanning the filthy business in progress on its surface, directing the searchers. One day soon they would find him, and
vaikka
would be settled—their victory.