blinking solemnly. “What I know is this,” he said. “The Indigon boy had an implant in his brain. What interests me is— what I know .”
“What do you mean?” asked Craig impatiently.
“I mean, Captain, that I could have done that surgery. So could any competent surgeon on any number of planets. And, it could have been used on many races of beings. So why not?” He looked around at them all expectantly.
Navos stared at him, realization of the old doctor’s meaning streaking through him like an electric shock. “Why do the implant on an Indigon?” he echoed. “Why choose one of my race? Other beings are as susceptible to mind control, just not able to use it.”
Sirena drew in her breath in a hiss. “Yesss. Whoever did this must know you are on board the Orion . And how powerful you are at divining any threat. Why do they dare to do this here?”
Panthar let out a low mrrrowl of realization. “Yeah, they must know how angry it would make you for an Indigon to be victimized. Seven hells, if they messed with a Tyger cub, I’d never rest until I ripped their throat out.”
Mra winced fastidiously, but the others nodded.
Craig turned to Halix. “Mr. Halix, is Lt. Qwerx on duty this rotation at the InterGalactic Bureau of Investigation?”
Halix nodded, his round face alight. “He will be arriving in a few hours on a shuttle from bureau headquarters. Do you wish him to come directly to you?”
Craig nodded. “Ask him if he will meet here at 1100 hours. Daron, Sirena and Slyde, I want you to work directly with Qwerx to pinpoint just where the surgery took place on Indigo. If you can find the where, you can find who. And then we will very politely inquire, ‘Why?’”
As waves of passionate, focused anger crashed around him like storm waves on a beach, Navos nodded, appreciating Craig’s irony. When the Orion ’s tormentor was discovered, it would be a no-holds-barred fight to see which of them got to annihilate the bastard. He meant to make sure it was him. Not content with threatening his ship, now the galactic slime was threatening his own people.
As he walked away from the command deck, he was thinking hard. Why had the attackers chosen an Indigon this time? And why under his very eyes?
Chapter Seven
Professor Loftan Cyan was feeling very pleased with himself. He allowed a small smile to curve his lips upward as he turned to his new employer. But the Pangaean across his desk didn’t return the smile. Instead his corn-silk hair writhed about his throat, a clear sign of anger.
They’d just finished observing as the Indigon youth threw himself again and again at the impenetrable metal of the Orion ’s reactor hatch, using his own body as a battering ram until he was bruised and bloody. The only real sound had been the sickening smack of his flesh and bone against the iridium hatch, but his screams of mental anguish echoed deliciously in Cyan’s mind.
He’d enjoyed not only listening to the young fool suffer, but knowing he alone was able to enjoy that particular nuance. His new employer was from a race not endowed with intuitive or empathic powers. If the fellow weren’t a fabulously wealthy galactic shipping magnate, Cyan would feel quite contemptuous of him. But currency spoke clearly in any language and Rra had plenty of it. So, greater intellects must overlook his faults.
Cyan sat back in the graceful chair behind the swirl of Indigon glass that was his desk.
“You weren’t quite as successful as you claimed,” the Pangaean said coldly, his pale green face taut. “Navos was able to subvert your energy and kill the boy.”
Cyan hid his anger at the criticism. He gazed coolly at the businessman, Rra—or at least the holographic image of him that sat opposite. A lovely Pangaean woman was curled by his side, but Cyan ignored her. Judging by her scanty, provocative lii silk gown, she was merely Rra’s mistress. Eye candy, certainly, but unimportant.
“On the contrary, all went
“What do you mean?” asked Craig impatiently.
“I mean, Captain, that I could have done that surgery. So could any competent surgeon on any number of planets. And, it could have been used on many races of beings. So why not?” He looked around at them all expectantly.
Navos stared at him, realization of the old doctor’s meaning streaking through him like an electric shock. “Why do the implant on an Indigon?” he echoed. “Why choose one of my race? Other beings are as susceptible to mind control, just not able to use it.”
Sirena drew in her breath in a hiss. “Yesss. Whoever did this must know you are on board the Orion . And how powerful you are at divining any threat. Why do they dare to do this here?”
Panthar let out a low mrrrowl of realization. “Yeah, they must know how angry it would make you for an Indigon to be victimized. Seven hells, if they messed with a Tyger cub, I’d never rest until I ripped their throat out.”
Mra winced fastidiously, but the others nodded.
Craig turned to Halix. “Mr. Halix, is Lt. Qwerx on duty this rotation at the InterGalactic Bureau of Investigation?”
Halix nodded, his round face alight. “He will be arriving in a few hours on a shuttle from bureau headquarters. Do you wish him to come directly to you?”
Craig nodded. “Ask him if he will meet here at 1100 hours. Daron, Sirena and Slyde, I want you to work directly with Qwerx to pinpoint just where the surgery took place on Indigo. If you can find the where, you can find who. And then we will very politely inquire, ‘Why?’”
As waves of passionate, focused anger crashed around him like storm waves on a beach, Navos nodded, appreciating Craig’s irony. When the Orion ’s tormentor was discovered, it would be a no-holds-barred fight to see which of them got to annihilate the bastard. He meant to make sure it was him. Not content with threatening his ship, now the galactic slime was threatening his own people.
As he walked away from the command deck, he was thinking hard. Why had the attackers chosen an Indigon this time? And why under his very eyes?
Chapter Seven
Professor Loftan Cyan was feeling very pleased with himself. He allowed a small smile to curve his lips upward as he turned to his new employer. But the Pangaean across his desk didn’t return the smile. Instead his corn-silk hair writhed about his throat, a clear sign of anger.
They’d just finished observing as the Indigon youth threw himself again and again at the impenetrable metal of the Orion ’s reactor hatch, using his own body as a battering ram until he was bruised and bloody. The only real sound had been the sickening smack of his flesh and bone against the iridium hatch, but his screams of mental anguish echoed deliciously in Cyan’s mind.
He’d enjoyed not only listening to the young fool suffer, but knowing he alone was able to enjoy that particular nuance. His new employer was from a race not endowed with intuitive or empathic powers. If the fellow weren’t a fabulously wealthy galactic shipping magnate, Cyan would feel quite contemptuous of him. But currency spoke clearly in any language and Rra had plenty of it. So, greater intellects must overlook his faults.
Cyan sat back in the graceful chair behind the swirl of Indigon glass that was his desk.
“You weren’t quite as successful as you claimed,” the Pangaean said coldly, his pale green face taut. “Navos was able to subvert your energy and kill the boy.”
Cyan hid his anger at the criticism. He gazed coolly at the businessman, Rra—or at least the holographic image of him that sat opposite. A lovely Pangaean woman was curled by his side, but Cyan ignored her. Judging by her scanty, provocative lii silk gown, she was merely Rra’s mistress. Eye candy, certainly, but unimportant.
“On the contrary, all went
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