Allies by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Page A

his throat.
Hakan jumped, and then relaxed as the pudgy man in a well-worn
jacket smiled at him.
    "Peace," he said, his words barely
intelligible. "A friend of Cory, me."
    Cory sat back on his heels and looked at the
man over his shoulder. "You took your time," he said, crankily, to
Hakan's ear. "Binders?"
    "Right here," the pudgy man with the wispy
mustache said, and knelt down beside him, adding, "Had you come
inside, you might have found me an hour ago, you know, before I had
to sip any of that treacly punch they expected us to drink . . .
."
    *
    Hakan was wide-eyed, and Kem no less so. Val
Con leaned back in his chair and let them think it through. At the
far end of the table, Clonak fiddled with his note taker, though
Val Con was willing to bet there was nothing in the least wrong
with it.
    "Let me understand this,"
Hakan said finally. "You, and Clonak, and Zhena Pelnara, and–you're
all from another world . And Zhena Pelnara broke some kind of law about leaving . . .
worlds . . . like Vandar alone, and now there will be . . . mentors here to guide us
. . . into the next
phase . And you want me to be the go-between– between the
mentors and the King, or the assembly or–whoever."
    "That's right." Val Con smiled
encouragingly. "I know we give you a lot of information, very
quickly. If you agree, we can teach you–and you can teach us."
     
    Hakan took a breath, eyes bright.
    "He wants it," Miri commented.
    "I–" Hakan started, glanced at Kem, then
back to Val Con. "Why me?"
    "Good question. Because already you have
seen the impossible, already you . . . stretch and accept new
ideas. Also, you act quick and with decision. Not many people could
have surprised that zhena, or held her for so long." He, too,
glanced at Kem, noting the tightness of her shoulders, the forcibly
calm expression and the eyes bright with tears.
    "Kem, you also make a quick decision–to take
that weapon, to use it. It is well. This will not be so strange for
you–already you are a teacher."
    Her face relaxed slightly, though her eyes
still swam.
    "We'll have to talk it over," she said,
sending a look to Hakan. He nodded.
    "Yes," Val Con said. "But not too long. I am
sorry, but work must start–soon." He rose, gathering Clonak with a
glance. "We leave you for an hour. Then we come back and you tell
us what you decide."
    "Lunch," Clonak added, "comes to help
thought." He left the room, presumably to order lunch, and Val Con
turned to follow him.
    "Cory."
    He stopped, and turned toward her.
"Kem?"
    "That aircraft Hakan told me about, with the
tea that's brewed inside the wall, and the doctor machine you slide
people into?"
    "Yes."
    "Is that really true?"
    "Yes," Val Con said gently. "It is really
true. And if Hakan wishes it, he may be taught to fly–not that
craft, but one like it. You both might, if you wish."
    "Wants that, too," Miri observed.
    Val Con smiled. "That is for the future. For
now, you decide the future."
    As Val Con turned, Hakan said something
quiet to Kem that sounded like, "We may wish to be two things, I
think . . ."
    *
    He paused outside the door to the suite he
shared with his lifemate, took a breath, and put his palm firmly
against the plate.
    The door slid aside; he stepped into their
private parlor–and stopped.
    Across the room, the curtains had been drawn
back from the wide window, admitting Surebleak's uncertain dawn.
The rocking chair placed at an angle to the window moved quietly,
back and forth, back and forth, its occupant silhouetted against
the light.
    "Took your time," Miri said.
    He smiled and moved across the room,
dropping to his knees by her chair and putting his head in her
lap.
    "I am glad to be home, too, cha'trez."
    She laughed, her hand falling onto the back
of his neck, fingers massaging gently.
    "Emerging world, huh? Pretty slick way of
doing things, Scout Commander."
    "It was the only possible solution," Val Con
murmured. "Hakan and Kem will do well, I think, as planetary
liaisons."
    "I think so,