fortuneswheel (28 page)

* * *

"He'll probably sleep now till morning," she said, pulling the cover back over him. "It's the best thing he can do."
Garras took her by the arm. "Where do you want to go to talk?" he asked quietly. "It's third meal time. How about coming to eat with me?"
"All right," she agreed.
"Mess or restaurant?" he asked as they left the lab.
"Restaurant, and you can pay," she said.
"At least you've got your sense of humor back."

* * *

Early next morning as Vanna was checking on Kaid, Kusac walked in. He stood by the doorway watching.
"Vanna. Kaid," he said, acknowledging them and drawing their attention to his presence.
Vanna looked up. "Hello there. You're up early," she said.
"I came to see Kaid."
"How did you know he was here?" she asked.
Kusac shrugged. "A knack. Look, Vanna, I need a private word with him. Do you mind?"
"Not at all. I'm finished here," she said, clearing her instruments away.
Kusac waited till she'd left, then moved over to Kaid's bed. Folding his arms across his chest, he stared down at him.
"Are you feeling better?"
Kaid looked warily at him. "Yes. I want to be up and back to work, but Physician Vanna won't let me, sir."
"You'll be back when you're fit. Meral and Sevrin can cope for now. We owe you our lives at least twice over. Thank you."
Kaid's ears flicked in acknowledgment.
"Why kill them, Kaid? They'd done nothing."
"I don't know what you mean, sir."
"You want them catalogued? The oxygen pipe in the aft landing bay, the shuttle engine explosion... Shall I go on, Kaid Tallinu?"
Kaid regarded him balefully. "Another knack?" he asked.
"No. Our telepathic abilities were enhanced yesterday. You were broadcasting while you spoke to Garras. We couldn't avoid picking you up. Don't worry, your mental training is still more than adequate to frustrate most telepaths."
"Not you, eh?"
Kusac shrugged. "It varies," he said noncommittally. "Why them, Kaid? They'd done nothing."
"They were planning to murder you and they were capable of succeeding."
"I can understand Chyad and Maikoe, but the others?" He narrowed his eyes, studying Kaid's face. "You'd do the same again." It was a statement.
"Yes. Without a second thought."
"Who are you working for, Kaid?"
"From the moment we touch Sholan soil, you."
"Whether or not I want it?"
"Yes."
"If I told you no more killings?"
"Then my job would be impossible, if I agreed to it."
Kusac uncrossed his arms and sat down on the chair by the bed. "Carrie and I talked about you last night. She feels safer with you around."
"And you?"
His eyes took on a hard look. "We're too vulnerable, too noticeable. We need you. I don't like it, but I have to be a realist for both of us now. We can't afford our vulnerability. Kill one of us and we both die, and I want us to live, Kaid." He stopped, refocusing his eyes on Kaid.
"I'll only place one restriction on you. You touch no one we hold dear without our permission. I know that the Brotherhood obeys its own tenets before any contracts if there is a conflict of interest. I want no conflict of interest with us, Kaid."
Kaid hesitated. "I agree, Liegen. I'm glad you see the need for protection. So much is at stake here."
"You mean the treaty," said Kusac. "I'm sick of us being equated with the damned treaty!"
"Not the treaty, Liegen," Kaid said. "You two are important to Shola. You're a new force in our world, a force for change. I can see the God's hand in this."
"Don't get religious with me, Brother Tallinu," warned Kusac. "I've never been at ease with any of your Brotherhood. I'll hear no more about it. Neither Warrior nor Telepath Guild— nor the Brotherhood— will use us for their own ends." He got up to leave. "When Vanna says you can leave your bed, return to our suite. Even though you won't be fit to work, having you there will ease Carrie."
"She fears the Terrans."
"Very perceptive," said Kusac. "Her father's behavior the other night could have destroyed the trust that's taken me so long to build with Carrie. I won't risk him or any other Terran upsetting her like that again. Apart from certain people, I want them kept away from her."
"It shall be as you wish, Liegen."
Kusac stopped at the door. "Who are you working for, Kaid? I want the truth."
"It's against Brotherhood principles to..."
"You're not a member of the Brotherhood, though, are you?" he interrupted.
Kaid pushed himself up using his good arm and regarded Kusac balefully. "Why ask me when you already know?"
"I want to hear you tell me."
"Until we reach Shola, your mother, then you."
"Where does Garras fit into this?"
"You'd better ask him," said Kaid, his tone final. "I'm not in your employ until we reach Shola."
"Who hired you to work for me?"
"That's confidential. Now, if you don't mind, Liegen, I need to rest." With that Kaid lay back and shut his eyes.
Kusac had to turn away lest Tallinu see the half-grin that touched his mouth. Despite everything to the contrary, he liked and trusted this male. Why, he had no idea. Who in their right mind would trust a renegade Brother?

* * *

"Tallinu's report is overdue. I want to know why the delay," said Ghezu.
"I'm not privy to his plans," said Dzaka. "If he delays his report, there will be a reason for it."
"I've heard he's been injured."
Dzaka looked stonily at the image on his comm. "If you know, why ask me?"
"You'll make the assessment of them."
Dzaka betrayed his startlement. "Me?"
"You. We can't wait much longer, we need a decision. Shortly they'll be transferred here, to Shola. If they're a danger to us, I want them dealt with now."
"I can't assess them without observation. I'll need time— which you say we haven't got. Besides, Kaid may already have reached a decision."
"Ask him and send me his report. Then I want yours. You have two days, make the most of it."
"Why do you want me duplicating his work?" Dzaka was baffled.
"That's not your concern," said Ghezu. "Just do your job."
"You don't trust him."
"Just do your job, Dzaka. Need I remind you of your oath?"
Dzaka could feel his hackles begin to rise. "No. You don't," he snapped, cutting the connection. It was happening again. Ghezu had no right to use him against Kaid, no right to make him peer over his shoulders. Why hire him if he trusted him so little?
He clenched his fist till his claws started to cut into his palms. Now Ghezu was making him choose again. He brought his fist down hard on the desk. The pain helped stop the memories, the feelings of his unwitting betrayal of Kaid on that day. And the memory of Kaid's eventual abandonment of him. The only reason he'd stayed then was because Kaid wouldn't take him.

* * *

"The Valtegan prisoner will be here within the next hour," said Raguul, looking round the table at the heads of staff gathered there. "This time I want some information out of him."
"What is his current state of health?" asked Chiort, head of Medical.
"Alive, uncommunicative, but not yet catatonic," said Raguul. "Have you been able to isolate a hypnotic drug that would prevent his withdrawing from reality?"
"I've got one in the developmental stage. It's our best bet yet, but I've only tried computer simulations. I need to test it on a live Valtegan to see if it will really work."
Raguul nodded. "Mnya, can your people work on him if he's drugged?"
"Debatable, Commander. Neither I nor my people know enough about the Valtegan mind to work with it at all except on the most basic level, let alone be able to compensate for drugs. It takes time for us to be able to read a new species, and with respect, Commander, every one of the Valtegans you have had brought on board has been catatonic by the time he arrived. We've done no better than Vroozoi did."
"Commander, the Terrans captured this one and delivered him to the shuttle holding cell still alert and in his right mind," said Draz. "It occurs to me that we may be missing an obvious correlation between the Valtegans and ourselves. We know they don't become catatonic in Terran company. Perhaps it's exposure to us that triggers their mental withdrawal."
"That's ridiculous!" said Chiort. "Why would exposure to us trigger their withdrawal?"
"The idea's not as ridiculous as you think," said Mnya slowly. "If we continued the Terran contact when they arrive on board, making sure that all Sholan scents are removed from their route to the brig, then we'd have a reasonable amount of proof that Draz's suggestion is at least a working hypothesis."
"Then what?" asked Chiort. "If you're right, we can't examine him either physically or mentally!"
"Not so," said Mnya. "We have a potentially reliable Terran telepath in Carrie. It's time her Talent was actually tested in a real situation. She and Kusac have both been able to enter Valtegan minds virtually from the first. We also have a Terran physician on board who is more than capable of administering your drug, Chiort."
"We'd need communication devices for the Terran physician so we can contact him and advise him as he conducts the questioning," said Draz thoughtfully. "We have something that should work."
"The most reliable of the Terrans are Skai, Anders, and Perry," said Vrail, head of Alien Relations. "We could use them as guards."
"Let's implement Draz's idea," said Raguul. "We've nothing to lose by trying. Draz, you see to the communications devices and getting maintenance to clear the route from the landing bay to the brig. We also need the air purified of any trace of our scent, the same with the brig. Myak," he said, turning to his adjutant, "you contact the three Terrans and get them to report to Draz for a briefing. Mnya, you see to our Leska pair, and Chiort, you brief Dr. Reynolds. We've got just under an hour to get this together, so let's move."

* * *

Carrie took Mnya's call as Kusac was still with Kaid. As soon as he left medical, she reached for him.
The Mentor wants us to meet her at the brig,
she sent.
They've captured a Valtegan, and they want us to read him.
He's the first one they've had who hasn't gone catatonic in
custody.
I'll meet you there. Get Sevrin to take you,
he replied.
Kusac was waiting for her when they arrived. "They want you to work with the Terrans," he said, coming forward to meet her. "Can you do it?" he asked, his hand touching her cheek. "They think that fear of us is what makes the Valtegans retreat into their own minds."
"Who do they want me to work with?" she asked, trying to keep her anxiety under control as she sensed his concern.
"Mainly with Jack," he replied. "They're using Skai, Anders, and Perry as guards. None of the people involved in the bar fight that first evening. No Sholans will be visible."
She nodded. "Where will you be?"
"In here," he said, taking her by the hand and leading her through the doorway beside them.
The Mentor sat at a desk facing a window-sized viewing screen. Beside her was a high ranking official from the Medical Guild, and behind them stood Draz. The adjacent room was being swabbed down by a couple of maintenance personnel wearing environmental suits.
Mnya turned to them as they entered. "Kusac, Carrie, it's good to see you again," she said, getting up and holding out her palm in greeting.
Briefly Carrie touched her hand to the Mentor's.
"This is Consultant Chiort from Medical," Mnya said, indicating her companion. "Sub-Lieutenant Draz you already know. We thought it time for you to try using your Talent professionally, as it were," she said, resuming her seat. "I take it Kusac has told you the gist of our problem?"
Carrie nodded. "You could be right," she said. "The Valtegans that came to the inn on Keiss were terrified of Kusac. They kept as far away from him as possible."
"That's interesting. Perhaps Draz's observations are nearer the mark than we thought."
You'll be able to cope,
sent Kusac, his hand tightening around hers.
Jack will be there, too.
I'll manage,
she replied, aware of his concern.
"Kusac and you have both told me how you've read Valtegan minds before," Mnya said. "We need you to question the Valtegan about why he's on Keiss, where his home world is, and who they're fighting. When you ask the questions, listen not so much to his words as to his surface thoughts. We're recording the interview so that we can make sense of the actual language he speaks afterward. Here's a list of the questions we need you to ask," she said, handing her a piece of paper. "They've been written phonetically in Valtegan by your friend Jo. All you have to do is read them out."
Carrie felt Kusac about to speak.
I'll get the answers, but
I'll do it my way.
Remember,
he warned,
only listen to the surface thoughts,
don't take from him.
"We'll be watching from here," Mnya continued. "If there's the slightest sign of trouble, Draz will be in immediately." She looked wryly at Kusac. "If he wasn't, then Kusac would be. Do you have any questions? They should be arriving in a few minutes."
Carrie shook her head. "None. A captive Valtegan won't bother me." She moved away from the Mentor to look through the screen. The room was empty now save for a table and two chairs opposite each other, one being obviously a padded restraint chair.
You know what to do, don't you?
Kusac sent.
Match your
mind to his, then ask the questions. You should be able to
feel his answers as he speaks them. If you need to, use our
Link as I showed you to draw on me for extra energy.
He stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.
You'll
do fine.
She put her hand up to cover one of his.
I'm not worried,
she sent, aware of his continuing concern.
It's good to feel
useful for a change.
She felt his immediate objections and laughed. "You know what I mean," she said.
Her attention was drawn back to the other room as the door opened to admit Skai. Perry and Anders followed, holding the struggling Valtegan between them.
Carrie watched as the prisoner was unceremoniously placed in the chair and the automatic restraints activated to hold him by the forearms and calves. The three then stood back against the wall, waiting.
The Valtegan sat there looking ahead, toward her. With tiny jerky movements he turned his head, eyes flicking in every direction, assessing the room, weighing the odds against an escape attempt.
She watched him almost dispassionately. He was scared, she could feel it even from here. His skin was more than usually pallid, the scales looking dull and lackluster. The whites of his slightly bulbous eyes were red and rimmed with matter; he blinked at the brightness of the lights. His wrists moved, pulling against the restraints, testing them.
"Turn the lights down," she said abruptly. "It's too bright for him."
As the lights dimmed, a little of the tension seemed to leave his body and he sat still now except for the slow blinking of his eyes.
His clothing was mud-streaked and torn. That was to be expected, but there was something unusual about it, and him. Frowning, she stepped closer to the view screen. Under the stains the uniform was slightly different in color from those she was used to seeing around Valleytown. Perhaps he was on active service rather than one of the garrison troops.
It was hard to see in this one trapped soldier the aliens who had terrified her people for years on Keiss. Those nightmare days seemed removed from reality now, belonging to another time.
"I'm going in," she said, turning away from the screen.
She hesitated in front of the door, then resolutely pressed the access panel. It slid open and as she stepped inside, the familiar dry musty smell hit her nostrils, this time overlaid with the sharpness of fear. Memories started to crowd her mind, and she pushed them aside firmly. She didn't want to remember now, she had a job to do.
She walked past their captive on slightly unsteady legs, grateful for the long Sholan robes that she now wore. At least no one could see she was nervous. Stopping between the table and the prisoner, she raised her eyes and looked up at him. He stared back, eyes locking onto her face briefly before he looked away.
The hairless face and head was humanoid, with a forehead that fell smoothly down toward the nose. His bulbous eyes were set in a skin that was scaled an unhealthy shade of pale green. He sniffed, tongue-tip flicking out to taste the air. The mouth opened slightly revealing rows of sharp pointed incisors.
"You insult me," he hissed in badly spoken Terran, pulling again at his restraints. "Not talk to female." He arched his hands, the nonretractable claws puncturing and ripping the fabric beneath.
"You'll talk to me," said Carrie, resting her hands behind her against the table top. "You're not one of the garrison troops."
Hissing, he turned his head, trying to see the Terran males behind him.
"I asked you a question," she said, her voice taking on a hard edge.
He ignored her, continuing to hiss and turn his head. The smell of fear was getting stronger.
Leaning forward, Carrie reached for his jaw, grasping it firmly and forcing his face round to hers.
"You will talk to me!" she said, her fingers pressing into his flesh.
His mouth opened and the tongue flicked out to touch her wrist. He recoiled, trying to pull away from her, his teeth snapping in the hope of catching her arm. His mouth opened wide as he tried to hiss, but his attempt ended in a choking cough.
Carrie, take care! Your hand is too close!
sent Kusac.
The Valtegan's eyes were beginning to glaze, and his movements became more frantic as he jerked his head free of her hand. A flap of skin on his scalp raised, forming a small crest that fluttered briefly before collapsing again. He began to gabble in his own language, his eyes rolling up till only the whites showed.
She felt fear welling up inside him, pushing coherent thoughts aside and filling his mind till there was no room for anything else. He was still conscious but not for much longer. There was no time to think, only to act. Reaching into his mind she took control. His body jerked, then his limbs went slack. Where there had been fear before there was now stark terror at her presence, a terror so strong it broke her hold over him.
Surprised she followed, sinking through the levels of his consciousness as he fled her mental touch. Aware of Kusac's thoughts as he tried to stop her, she thrust them aside, intent on the hunt as any Sholan would have been.
The falling sensation stopped abruptly to be replaced by the feeling of floating in a vast cavern, an alien landscape full of shadows briefly illuminated by flashes of brightness that for a split second revealed an image. She knew that if she could but reach the flashes she would have the information she needed.
The myriad of tiny flares were dimming now, fewer each second as his terror extinguished them one by one. Reaching for those few that were left, she memorized them, storing them at the back of her mind for later. No time now to examine them. One by one the lights faded, turning in on themselves till all that remained was his terror and the dark within dark.
She knew reality was nearby, just the other side of the darkness, but sudden tiredness weakened her. She tried to go back the way she had come but now she felt a resistance to her as everything around her started to slow down. It was like moving through a thick, dark syrup. Then slowly she realized something was wrong. Panicking, she reached out for Kusac. His thoughts swamped her, full of anger and fear as he pulled her back out of the Valtegan's mind.
The return to her own mind was so abrupt that it made her reel and she clutched at the table to steady herself, blinking as she realized she was watching Jack monitoring the effects of the drug on their captive.
Kusac's thoughts were blistering.
Just what the hell do
you think you were doing? I said read the surface thoughts!
I didn't expect you to follow him! You were nearly trapped
there!
I had to go in. He tasted your scent on me and started to
withdraw. If I hadn't, we'd have gotten nothing!
You should have told me! We'd have sent Jack in to ad-
minister the drug first.
It was the drug that nearly trapped me there.
Her tone was sharp and angry.
At least now we have some information
from him.
You took unnecessary risks, you violated our code of ethics!
I don't subscribe to your damned code! I'm at war with
them and I'll do what's necessary to get the information we
need. I've succeeded, that's what counts at the end of the
day.
"Carrie, are you all right?" asked Jack, glancing round at her.
"I'm fine, thanks," she said, rubbing her hand across her eyes as she stood up. "He's gone catatonic. You'll get nothing from him now," she said as she began to walk slowly toward the door. Dammit, Kusac had no right to be angry with her.
As she passed Skai, he flinched and averted his eyes. Puzzled she glanced at him, feeling his shock at the sight of her eyes.
She's not human!
His thought echoed round inside her head as she hurried out into the corridor away from him.
Kusac was waiting. He came over and grasped her by the arm. "The Mentor's furious," he growled as he escorted her through the door. "We'll talk later."
Carrie pulled away from him and strode over to Mnya. "Before you start complaining, too, I'm going to tell you just why I did it that way. He was fine until his tongue touched my arm, then he picked up Kusac's scent. That triggered off a terror reaction that's programmed into him and he began to withdraw. I tried to stop it, but he preferred to die rather than be exposed to Sholans."
She turned to look at Chiort. "Your drugs won't stop it, nothing will, the fear of your people is too strong. If I hadn't gone in there and then to take what I could, we'd have had nothing. I did what I had to do."
Her tone became angrier as she looked back at Mnya. "His kind aren't polite in war, I don't intend to be either. They tortured my sister to death. I'll follow your code in most circumstances, but not these. Politeness won't win wars, information will."
Mnya's hard look didn't change, and Carrie could feel the female's hostility washing over her. There was a dislike of the unknown quantity that she and Kusac represented, and a fear of the unpredictable element that Carrie's Link to Kusac had now brought into the Sholan telepath culture.
"Your actions lost us the chance to interrogate this prisoner," the Mentor said. "More than that, because you exceeded your instructions, you are responsible for terrifying him to death. Your undisciplined Terran mind..."
"No," interrupted Carrie. "You're wrong. It wasn't my Terran mind that caused this. He went catatonic because something deep in his subconscious recognized the Sholan in me! He believed I was one of you. My mind isn't human any more, Mentor. Even he recognized that."
A stunned silence greeted her remark, then she felt a sharp invasive probe reach for her mind. Without thinking, she fended it off, hearing Kusac begin to laugh quietly as he moved to stand beside her.
"We both forgot something vital, Mentor," he said. "The nature of our Link. What I know, Carrie knows and is learning how to use. She has had the equivalent of an identical upbringing and education to me, including the full knowledge of our code of ethics. Do you know that I'm beginning to think she's got the right of it after all? In a war, only the victors can afford to have a rigid ethical code."
He frowned briefly, putting a hand on her shoulder. Carrie felt the probe at the same time he did.
"No. I won't let you read me either," he said. "My Leska only did what I would have done, given the same circumstances."
"Do you want to know what I discovered?" Carrie asked, aware that Kusac's anger with her had evaporated in the face of the Mentor's attitude.
"Yes," snapped Mnya.
Carrie sat down on the edge of the table. "The Valtegans seem to have a communal inherited memory. If something has affected them on a racial scale, then somehow, I don't know the mechanism, it's imprinted on them and retained to warn future generations. A fear of feline species is what triggers their catatonia— the sight, smell, or worst of all, the touch of a Sholan mind creates a terror so deep they prefer to die rather than face it."