burst into the passenger compartment. Excitedly, she almost lifted her wings, though she had no room to fly in there. “One of the Adurians is talking,” she said. “He’s a navigation technician who refused to say anything before. Now he’s telling our officers what we did wrong, and how we were misled by other prisoners.”
“But can we trust him?” Bhaleen asked. He hurried past her, heading for the hold where the prisoners were.
“Wish we had a Tulyan to use the truthing touch on him,” Hari said.
When Hari and the others entered the spacious hold, he saw his officers and soldiers standing around one of the hairless, bulbous-eyed Adurians. The alien was spewing words like automatic projectile fire, technical information about astronomical coordinates and settings on the nav-units. One of Hari’s men was recording him, and another was entering notes on a clip pad.
Finally, the HibAdu soldier fell silent.
Pushing his way past the others, Kajor Bhaleen unfolded a knife and held the blade against the throat of the prisoner. The Adurian technician had dark, bulbous eyes that were comparatively small for his race. His gaze darted around nervously.
“Why should we believe you?” Bhaleen asked. He drew a trickle of yellow blood from the alien’s neck.
“Please don’t kill me! I’m telling the truth because I don’t want to die out here, marooned. I have told your men what they need to do.”
“If he’s lying, we will know soon enough,” Hari said, placing a hand on Bhaleen’s shoulder.
The Kajor hesitated, then withdrew the weapon. He wiped off the blade and folded it back into his pocket.
The Adurian pleaded to be sent back to join his companions, and received assurance from his captors that his actions would be kept secret. Afterward, Mutatis checked and rechecked the new information. All calculations and projections showed that it was correct, and finally the ships got underway again.
Three hours later, the Adurian was found dead in his sleeping quarters, strangled by a fellow prisoner.
Chapter Eleven
Sometimes it is possible to think about a thing too much.
—Master Noah Watanabe
For weeks, the Liberator fleet had been in the Parvii Fold, occupied with essential tasks. The complete vanquishing of the Parviis and their flight from the galactic pocket had only been the beginning. Now, at last, virtually all of the podships had Tulyan pilots and the galactic pocket had been secured against the return of enemy swarms, to prevent them from ever using it as a home base, or an area of racial recuperation.
In addition to their concerns about Parvii survivors, the Tulyans in the Liberator force had devoted themselves to preparing the vast Aopoddae fleet for deep-space galactic recovery operations, matching them up with pilots and taking steps to remove and replace the ancient bonds that Parviis had placed on the sentient spacecraft in order to control them.
Inside the main corridor of the flagship Webdancer , Noah had just spoken with Tesh Kori. Then she had returned to her isolated position in the sectoid chamber, from which she would pilot the vessel in the Parvii manner. She was about to get underway, but this time fleet command had decided that the big flagship would be among the last of the vessels to depart for the Tulyan Starcloud. For hours now, the rest of the fleet had been streaming out through the Asteroid Funnel, into deep space.
As Noah hurried through the gray-green corridors of the vessel, he had mixed feelings. Some of his companions, including Anton del Velli and Subi Danvar, had said they hoped the entire Parvii race went extinct, for the greater good of the galaxy. To Noah that sounded horrific, but privately he’d admitted that it did make some sense. Still, he wanted to believe it was overkill, so he had been telling the others that there were worthwhile Parviis in the race. Tesh Kori had proven that, and her intentions had been verified by the Tulyan truthing touch.
If
“But can we trust him?” Bhaleen asked. He hurried past her, heading for the hold where the prisoners were.
“Wish we had a Tulyan to use the truthing touch on him,” Hari said.
When Hari and the others entered the spacious hold, he saw his officers and soldiers standing around one of the hairless, bulbous-eyed Adurians. The alien was spewing words like automatic projectile fire, technical information about astronomical coordinates and settings on the nav-units. One of Hari’s men was recording him, and another was entering notes on a clip pad.
Finally, the HibAdu soldier fell silent.
Pushing his way past the others, Kajor Bhaleen unfolded a knife and held the blade against the throat of the prisoner. The Adurian technician had dark, bulbous eyes that were comparatively small for his race. His gaze darted around nervously.
“Why should we believe you?” Bhaleen asked. He drew a trickle of yellow blood from the alien’s neck.
“Please don’t kill me! I’m telling the truth because I don’t want to die out here, marooned. I have told your men what they need to do.”
“If he’s lying, we will know soon enough,” Hari said, placing a hand on Bhaleen’s shoulder.
The Kajor hesitated, then withdrew the weapon. He wiped off the blade and folded it back into his pocket.
The Adurian pleaded to be sent back to join his companions, and received assurance from his captors that his actions would be kept secret. Afterward, Mutatis checked and rechecked the new information. All calculations and projections showed that it was correct, and finally the ships got underway again.
Three hours later, the Adurian was found dead in his sleeping quarters, strangled by a fellow prisoner.
Chapter Eleven
Sometimes it is possible to think about a thing too much.
—Master Noah Watanabe
For weeks, the Liberator fleet had been in the Parvii Fold, occupied with essential tasks. The complete vanquishing of the Parviis and their flight from the galactic pocket had only been the beginning. Now, at last, virtually all of the podships had Tulyan pilots and the galactic pocket had been secured against the return of enemy swarms, to prevent them from ever using it as a home base, or an area of racial recuperation.
In addition to their concerns about Parvii survivors, the Tulyans in the Liberator force had devoted themselves to preparing the vast Aopoddae fleet for deep-space galactic recovery operations, matching them up with pilots and taking steps to remove and replace the ancient bonds that Parviis had placed on the sentient spacecraft in order to control them.
Inside the main corridor of the flagship Webdancer , Noah had just spoken with Tesh Kori. Then she had returned to her isolated position in the sectoid chamber, from which she would pilot the vessel in the Parvii manner. She was about to get underway, but this time fleet command had decided that the big flagship would be among the last of the vessels to depart for the Tulyan Starcloud. For hours now, the rest of the fleet had been streaming out through the Asteroid Funnel, into deep space.
As Noah hurried through the gray-green corridors of the vessel, he had mixed feelings. Some of his companions, including Anton del Velli and Subi Danvar, had said they hoped the entire Parvii race went extinct, for the greater good of the galaxy. To Noah that sounded horrific, but privately he’d admitted that it did make some sense. Still, he wanted to believe it was overkill, so he had been telling the others that there were worthwhile Parviis in the race. Tesh Kori had proven that, and her intentions had been verified by the Tulyan truthing touch.
If
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