Finally these last ships docked and by the time their crews were welcomed and rested, the Condor, its sides virtually bulging  with cargo and expanded crew, waddled into port to squat beside the other, sleeker vessels.

 

Becker gave a low whistle as the crew, including RK, descended on the spanking clean robolift.

 

"Will you look at this spread?" Becker asked. "Your old uncle has done himself proud, Princess."

 

Acorna wasn't listening. She didn't even wait until the robolift touched the ground before jumping off and flying into the collective arms of her uncles and old friends from Maganos Moonbase.

 

Hugs, kisses, tears, and exclamations flowed freely and to Maati, seemed to sadly contrast to her own reunion with her brother, mother, and father.

 

Finally, Hafiz Harakamian, mindful of the presence of four horned Linyaari and Aari, whom he had met before, detached himself from the storm of sentiment and greeted his new guests.

 

He was flanked by Karina on one side and Nadhari Kando on the other. As chief of security, Nadhari considered it her job to be with Hafiz in any crowd and put herself between him and harm.

 

"Welcome to my pavilion, and to this Moon of Opportunity, honored guests, Captain Becker, and er-crewman?" Hafiz said with a glance at Mac.

 

RK leaped onto Nadhari Kando's shoulder.

 

"It's that Makahomian warrior lady again. Hello, there," Becker said, perhaps a bit eagerly.

 

Nadhari gave him a slow smile and streked RK's plumed tail. "I see the sacred cat has brought you safely through another journey, Becker."

 

"Yes, he was a lot of help," Becker said, reaching over to stroke RK too, and incidentally brush his fingers against Nadhari's sculpted cheekbone resting against the cat's side. RK growled and batted at him. "The hero of the whole thing actually," Becker continued. The growl lowered. "In fact, if he hadn't alerted Aari to the fact that the Khieevi was after Acorna, and then come back to lead me and Mac to where the Khieevi and Aari were duking it out, we probably would not be the hale and healthy party standing before you now."

 

RK was purring now.

 

Hafiz, who had been trying to ignore Becker to court the Linyaari, suddenly turned to him, very pale despite the artificial sunlight in his offices. "Khieevi? You encountered Khleevi!"

 

"Yeah, got a couple of dead ones up top," Becker said, jerking his thumb toward the Cow)or.

 

Acorna rejoined the crew, her friends and relations surrounding them all now as they strolled off the robolift and toward the sumptuously appointed reception area. "Uncle Hafiz, we will need to establish some sort of laboratory to study the dead Khieevi and to analyze a substance we discovered on another world."

 

"You need establish nothing, 0 flower of my family tree," Hafiz said. "We have the best of all laboratories here at your command complete with all the most advanced devices and equipment."

 

"And we have some top Linyaari organic chemists in our crew, Uncle," Acorna said with a nod to two of the newcomers, "Allow me to present Kaarlye and Miiri, father and mother of Aari and Maati."

 

"We are honored," Hafiz said. "And our laboratories of course are at your disposal. Just across the garden of a thousand succulent sweetgrasses and flowering fountains you will find luxurious pavilions designed with Linyaari tasks and requirements in mind." He clapped his hands and porters appeared. "When you have rested from your journeys, we will dine."

 

"No time to rest," Kaarlye said brusquely. "We must analyze this substance at once. When it is warm, it spreads rapidly."

 

Becker stopped the porters at the robolift. "Wait a minute, folks. We didn't come with a lot of baggage and I think my crew and I had better unload the sap and the -uh- prisoners. You might want to stand back. They stink. A lot. As for RK, Mac, and me, -we're staying aboard the Coru)or."

 

Nadhari lifted an eyebrow and made a very unconvincing pout with her mouth. RK laid his ears back and wrapped his tail possessively around Nadhari's neck. "Unless of course the cat has other ideas," Becker finished lamely.

 

That night a sumptuous meal was laid before them.

 

Under an open canopy, silvery platters of meats and sweets nestled among opulent arrangements of flowers and plumed grasses upon a long low table nestled within a bank of tufted divans covered with poufs of paisley silks and velvets. These topped thick soft rugs of various harmonious patterns and jewel-like hues.

 

Becker and his new crew sank into the divans and following Hafiz's lead, Becker, Karina, Dr. Hoa, Acorna's non-Linyaari family, and Nadhari Kando plucked succulent items from the trays on the table. Meanwhile Acorna, Aari, Maati, and the parental units grazed on the flower arrangements. Becker was a little startled until he realized that this was the intended purpose of what he had thought of as an overabundance of centerpieces. The old man had simply seen to it that the Linyaari "dishes" were arranged as appealingly as the savory morsels offered to the other guests.

 

"Uncle Hafiz, you are amazing," Acorna said. Becker was pleased to see that after the strain and danger and hard work the girl had recently endured, she looked as fresh as some of the flowers she was eating, glowing with happiness at being among her old friends again. "How long did it take you to build this installment, anyway? " Her eyes took in the gently lit garden with its fountains and mountainous background, the spired and domed palaces that formed Hafiz's chief residence and several  of the hotels and office buildings besides. Overhead stars twinged-not any stars Acorna had ever been among but artful stars, placed with an artistic interpretation of constellations and formations Karina had deemed auspicious.

 

"Little more than the twinkling of an eye, dearest child, that and many, many, many trillions of credits, of course."

 

Becker was seated on the end of one divan, Nadhari Kando on the adjoining end of another, the Condor's first mate still wrapped complacently around her neck like a living fur collar. Every once in a while a forkful of fish eggs or meat didn't make it all the way to Nadhari's mouth, however, as a paw or a set of feline teeth intercepted it.

 

"But enough of my little pastimes," Hafiz was saying while Becker was admiring the line of Nadhari's jaw and the curve of her neck, "I am consumed with curiosity to know how it is that you actually have two dead Khieevi with you?"

 

"Oh. Them," Becker said. "Well, they're survivors. I mean, they were survivors. From the crash of their ship. The one we caused since, you know, they had just finished shooting the kids' ship out of the sky."

 

"And by kids you mean . . . ?"

 

"Maati and Thariinye," Acorna put in. "They apparently decided at almost the same time we did to search for Maati's and Aari's parents on the blue world. But the Khieevi had the same idea, and had already launched an attack when we arrived."

 

"Tell me, Captain, I am intrigued," Nadhari said. "What powerful weapons do you carry on that salvage ship of yours that vanquished a Khieevi vessel?"

 

"Yes," Hafiz said. "Please, tell us. If they are that effective, I will order many for the protection of our moon."

 

Becker gave Nadhari a smile that urged her to wait a moment and answered Hafiz, "Well, sir, it is true that I have a bunch of very lethal weapons on the Condor. Some of them even  work. Or would, if I had them assembled and installed. Which I didn't. So then Acorna here says, what about using the tractor beam?"

 

A smile played at the edges of Nadhari's mouth, which was the only thing about her with any extra flesh-her lips were sculpted but pleasingly plump, at least they were when relaxed. He seemed to recall seeing that same mouth set in a hard grim line above the jut of that firm and shapely jaw. It would have had him quaking in his gravity boots, if he thought she had any quarrel with him. But she didn't, and RK's tail tip flitted playfully from her shoulder bone to jawline to eartip, as flirtatious as a courtesan's fan.

 

"Captain, surely you have not acquired enough cargo by now to act as another slingshot bomb with which to fell your enemies?"

 

"Oh, no, ma'am. Not slingshot this time. We-uh-skipped 'em like a rock and then played crack the ship with their sorry carcass. Worked good, too, didn't it, crew?"

 

"Yes, Joh. Good," Aari said.

 

"Except for the survivors. We didn't know there were two at first," Becker said.

 

He regaled the table with the story of the questioning of the injured Khieevi while interweaving the story of Maati and Thariinye as if he had understood every word they spoke of their ordeal or had been with them while it was occurring. He gave it a few flourishes here and there and ended by saying modestly, "So I blew a hole through the bugger, but Aari here had already pretty much finished him off."

 

"How?" Karina Harakamian asked.

 

"Why, by giving him a great big old hug. See, that Khieevi was so purely mortified by all that Linyaari sweetness and light Aari was extending to it just because he's of such a highly evolved nature, that I figure the Khieevi came down with a  monstrous case of sugar diabetes on the spot and it was such a shock to its system it curled up its toes and died."

 

Karina clasped her plump, beringed hands over her heaving amethyst-veiled and amethyst-encrusted bosom and sighed, "How thrilling! And what a triumph for the light!" Then she glanced around at the stolid Linyaari faces, and at Becker's determinedly innocent one. He was trying to keep his mouth from twitching. "Wait a moment. Is that true?" she asked.

 

"Not a word of it!" Becker exploded with laughter. Karina was exactly the kind of audience he loved. Gullible. "Well, the thing did curl up and die and it was because of something sticky as sugar, but not sweet. It was this sap stuff we picked up on some planet full of vines. But I had you going there, didn't I?"

 

Nadhari shook an admonitory finger at him, "Naughty, naughty, Captain. But I must say, I'm very impressed. You and your crew of pacifist •warriors vanquishing such formidable foes without so much as a real weapon among you-"

 

"You're forgetting that I blew a hole the size of the cat through that thing," Becker said, slightly offended at being lumped with the pacifists.

 

She shrugged like a panther rippling its muscles in preparation for a longer stretch. "Oh that. A mere coup de grace. But your ingenuity and wit amaze me. Anyone can win by force of muscle or superior firepower. But winning because of strategy and the ability to turn whatever you have at hand into a weapon, I find that-very, very impressive."

 

"You W Becker was surprised at first, then amazed, followed by stupefied. Him? Impress heri She was absolutely the most impressive woman he had ever seen in his entire life and fascinated him at the same time she scared the bejesus out of him. He hadn't done anything she couldn't do with both hands tied behind her back, but it was nice to hear it anyway.

 

"Absolutely." He couldn't tell if it was her or RK purring. Both of them were regarding him through slitted eyes.

 

"I certainly do. You and I should discuss-strategy."

 

He -was flummoxed. The truth was, he never stuck around for courtship or seduction much past the brief encounters in the pleasure houses-hadn't since he was younger and encountered all the ladies who wanted a good time but thought spending any part of it on a salvage ship beneath them. Nadhari Kando knew where he lived. She'd been there. "I-uh-I'd really like that. I need to check in with Mac though-that's the KEN-640 unit-he's repairing the corn unit on the Khieevi shuttle so we can maybe monitor their movements-"

 

"By the sacred whiskers, you think of everything, don't you?" She moved closer and offered him an olive. He held out his hand but she held it with two fingers and her thumb and waved it teasingly till he opened his mouth, then she popped it in. He could definitely get used to this. Her scent was a mixture of musk and citrus, and something like a forest after a rain. He liked it. He held out an olive for her.

 

"And I-uh-I guess I should get RK back, too. He hasn't had his usual eighty hours of sleep today."

 

"Oh?" she said. "That's funny. He's been communing with me. He -wants to stay with me tonight."

 

"Well, if that's not just like a cat!" Becker exclaimed, dropping the olive back onto his plate in his consternation at his first mate's defection.

 

Nadhari smiled. Her smile reminded him of RK-he just hadn't realized that was what a cat smile looked like. "What's that?" she asked as the cat rubbed against her cheek. "Oh, yes. He wants to stay with you tonight, too."

 

"Divided loyalties?" Becker asked.

 

Nadhari swung her sturdy but very shapely legs down from the divan with a sinuous slither and stood looking down at him. "Hardly. RK is a sacred temple cat. His wish is my command. If he wishes to be with me, and with you ..." her hand reached  down to cup Becker's chin and with slight pressure on it, raised him to his feet. "I am not the one to gainsay him. Are you?"

 

"Disappoint my old buddy?" Becker asked, slipping her hand through his crooked elbow. "Perish the thought. Mind telling me where he wants to spend this time with us tonight?"

 

"Aboard your vessel," she replied, and he was surprised to see that she actually had to look up at him. How did she do that? He could have sworn she was taller. "In the hold -where you questioned the first Khieevi."

 

"Really?"

 

"Yes. The sacred cat thinks I would find that environment rather - stimulating."

 

"Kitty knows best," Becker said.

 

fourteen

 

Hafiz -would not hear of the Linyaari remaining aboard the Condor. Acorna was glad, particularly -when she saw Becker, RK, and Nadhari strolling arm in arm in the direction of the ship.

 

A self-contained trio of pavilions triangulated around a garden/grazing area. Kaarlye and Miiri were billeted in one, and although Maati could have stayed with her parents, she asked if she might share a pavilion with Khornya instead. This left Aari and Thariinye to share the third.

 

Acorna spent most of the rest of the evening with her adoptive fathers/uncles, describing what had befallen her since they had last seen each other.

 

"This Aari guy," Gill said. "You and he . . . ?"

 

"We're friends," Acorna said, off-handedly.

 

"Evidently, if he's willing to wrestle bug-eyed monsters on your behalf," Calum said.

 

"We -were all in danger," Acorna said, reasonably enough. "And Aari was trying to save us all."

 

"He didn't know that stuff smeared on his shirt would kill the thing though?" Gill asked. "He just dove right in and tackled it?"

 

"Well-yes."

 

"Sounds kinda suicidal to me," Calum said.

 

"I don't really think he is-at least, not now," Acorna said.

 

"But he was before?" Gill asked.

 

Acorna suddenly felt more uncomfortable than she had ever before felt in the company of these beloved men. "Why are you questioning me this way?" she asked.

 

"Why do you think?" Calum asked, exasperated. "Because we care about you, of course, and we've talked it over and it looks to us like you care about him."

 

"But we wish to make sure," Rank said, "That-well, you're not just feeling sony for someone who cannot be a good mate for you, to put it bluntly."

 

"You must admit, pet, that we know a few more things about men than you do," Gill said, smiling.

 

"Human men, yes, but Aari is Linyaari," she said. "And we are friends. Nothing more."

 

"Not-yet?" Gill asked.

 

"No, nor will we be until he's-"

 

"Until he'^f ready, darlin'?" Gill pressed. "What about you? Are you going to crew on a salvage ship until the guy makes up his mind whether or not he could stand being mates with a beautiful, intelligent, funny, talented, warm, and loving girl? You must excuse us, but it's a no-brainer. Which makes us wonder about how intelligent or warm he is."

 

"Frankly, we thought you'd get snatched up by some young stud the minute you landed on your home-world," Calum said. "We're a bit surprised at this turn of events."

 

Acorna dimpled at them suddenly. "Is this one of those situations where you are going to ask me when I'm going to settle down and give you grandchildren?"

 

"Yes," Rafik said, "Usually mothers do it, well, used to, but you have no mother and we weren't sure your aunt would think of it, besides which she's not around, is she? So we thought-  that is, Calum and Gill thought-maybe between us, we should discuss this."

 

"Ha£z started it, really," Calum said. "Hey, we did pretty well, I think. Gill "was all for calling the guy outside and asking him what his intentions were when we saw how he-how you- how things were. But then we figured a guy -who tackled a Khieevi bare-handed might be the sensitive type, so we decided asking you-"

 

"Was safer," Rafik finished with an impish grin.

 

Acorna laughed. "You've asked. We've discussed it," she said, giving them each a hug. "And I have nothing more to say-honestly, there if nothing more to say right now. Meanwhile, when am I going to get to give my fathers away in marriage is what I'd like to know? Judit and Mercy will not wait forever while you busy yourselves speculating about my love life."

 

"Actually," Calum said. "We um, have an announcement to make. But I will wait until she can-"

 

The other two started thumping him on the back. Talk turned to how the nuptials were to be handled and then all of them began to feel the need to talk to their mates and Acorna slipped away, back to her assigned pavilion.

 

Maati was not there. Acorna thought perhaps the girl was spending more time with her parents. That was fine. It would be nice to be alone for a while. As light as she had made of her dear friends' questions, they echoed questions in her own mind, and she didn't want a youngling new to thought-speech to read her, even accidentally.

 

Du) she care for Aari simply because she had pitied him, or was there more to it than that? How would she know? She had never chosen a mate before. She knew her uncles had only her best interests at heart and it was quite true that she hadn't noticed all that much difference between human and Linyaari males. And she felt, being raised by men, that she understood  them as well as a female could. At this point in her life anyway. But she couldn't say she understood Aari at all. She could read his mind when he let her and she knew he cared for her. She could empathize with his pain. But she hadn't a clue why he behaved as he did. She wished Grandam Naadiina or Aunt Neeva "were here to consult with. She would have asked Gill, Calum, or Rafik about the matter but they seemed to be predisposed against Aari.

 

With a sigh, she settled down to an uneasy and dream-filled sleep in which she -was being courted by a Khieevi.

 

Aari, on the other hand, was getting no sleep, nor was he able to progress very far in the book he had chosen from the Condor's ancient hardcopy library, a collection of ancient European literature by various authors. Aari was currently reading an excerpt from a play called Romeo am) Juliet by William Shakespeare. The language was not easy but Aari had read another book that referred to Shakespeare as inventing the language of love, so he thought it might be interesting to see what the Bard of Avon had to say. Although he could not imagine why a cosmetics firm from the twentieth century (the ship's library also contained a number of small brightly colored pamphlets from this company) would choose to sponsor an ancient poet unless it -was because he "was also an actor and they, as Aari was learning, also used makeup.

 

But •while he was struggling with the language, Thariinye was chattily giving him the benefit of Thariinye's spectacularly successful career (according to the young male) as a wooer of females. Aari had not had the heart to ask him to be quiet, as he knew that the loss of the tip of Thariinye's horn had made him feel disfigured and the younger fellow was relating his past exploits simply to bolster his own confidence.

 

But in that estimation, Aari was using the projection of his own feelings about the loss of his horn and empathy for Tharii nye's distress, not thought-reading, which he found impossible to do -while he was trying to unravel Shakespeare's thees and thous. So he was taken aback when Thariinye suddenly rolled over on his own pallet and poked Aari playfully in the ribs.

 

"That Khornya is quite a reed, isn't she?" Thariinye said with a wink.

 

"A--reed?" Aari asked, looking up from his book at the mention of Khornya's name.

 

"A-slender and succulent desirable mate, to old-timers like you," Thariinye translated with a tolerant wave of his hand.

 

"I-yes. Maati mentioned that you had considered yourself pledged to her. Is that-still true?" His voice was steady and controlled.

 

"Me? No! No, no, no. By the ancestors, no! Oh, I was smitten, of course. She is beautiful-quite a reed, as I said. But, well, it really was just that I was the first Linyaari male she met and she -was so dewy eyed and innocent I felt protective, so I -wanted to warn off other males lest they not . . . appreciate her finer qualities . . . properly. No, now that I know her better, she is not for me."

 

"No? And -why not?" Aari asked, suddenly feeling protective himself, and rather angry at Thariinye dismissing Khornya. Who wouldn't want Khornya?

 

"Frankly?" Thariinye said. "She's too smart for me. And well, a bit too idealistic. And a little too strange, being raised by humans and all. She has peculiar ideas about things so I can't begin to guess what she's going to do next. That makes me nervous around her."

 

"I admit I am nervous around her, too," Aari said thoughtfully.

 

"I noticed. But you're crazy about her, aren't you?" Thariinye's voice was insinuating and his eyes sly. "You want her, don't you?"

 

"I ... have no right," Aari said. "She deserves a mate who  is whole in mind and body. And horn," he said, a bit cruelly, since Thariinye was being cruel and discourteously invasive, to his way of thinking.

 

"Ouch," Thariinye said. "I guess I deserved that. But I'm told mine will grow back, in time."

 

Aari was quiet. Thariinye had responded to cruelty with cruelty of his own. That was one reason why the Linyaari usually eschewed cruelty. It was not only unkind, it was unwise to start the spiraling descent that would lead with all parties having fallen to a lower level.

 

"Sony," Thariinye said again. "I'm trying to tell you something here and I keep on upsetting you. You're pretty touchy, you know that, don't you?"

 

"Perhaps it is because for so long, when anyone touched me, it was to cause pain," Aari said through gritted and bared teeth. Then he relaxed, "I am sony too. I have begun to think of you as a friend. Grandam says friends come together to teach each other. I sense you are trying to teach me something. Proceed."

 

"What I'm saying," Thariinye said, "Is no matter what YOU think she deserves, the females I know seem to feel that what they deserve is whatever their little female hearts decide they •want. I think it's pretty clear she wants you."

 

"No," he said. "She is a kind and loving person. She feels sympathy for my injury, for what happened with the Khieevi. When she is sure I am as healed as possible, for she is a healer above all, she will return to her human people for good as our ambassador-stopping by narhii-Vhiliinyar to communicate with the government perhaps. By then Joh and I will be far away so I -" <)o I will not have to watch her leave again, he thought to himself.

 

"You're just making that assumption!" Thariinye said "Why don't you ask her? Talk to her? Take her some of these beautiful, delicious flowers! Recite Linyaari love poetry to her!

 

She's never heard it, you know. I was going to try it out on her but I could tell she wouldn't believe me."

 

"What would it tell her that I bring her flowers from a garden that is also hers to graze?" Aari asked, shaking his mane.

 

"That you brought her breakfast in bed?" Thariinye suggested. "No, no, go back to your book. Forget I said anything."

 

But the next morning, Thariinye slept in while Aari went to see if he could assist his parents in the laboratory where they were analyzing the sap that had killed the Khieevi. Upon awakening, Thariinye saw the book Aari had left behind. His journey with Neeva, Khaari, and Melireenya to collect Khornya from her human foster parents had given him a superior knowledge of Standard, he felt. With the help of the LAANYE he had carried -with him from the Niikaavri, he was able to translate one of the stories, although the words fell in odd places. This particular tale, by a human named Rostand, told of a fellow with a disfiguringly long nose-which sounded perfectly attractive to Thariinye, since long noses were considered elegant by Linyaari tastes. The long-nosed chap was in love with a female also desired by a more attractive male, a friend of the longnosed chap. Finally, because he -was a kind person and wished to see both his friend and the female he loved happy, and also because it allowed him to speak his own -words of love to the female, the long-nosed male hid and spoke his love words while the handsomer male pretended to speak them to the female.

 

Thariinye knew that it obviously would never work out. There were a few similarities in the personalities involved of course, but considerable mutation would have to occur before such a solution would in any way serve the present situation.

 

Maati was a youngling, but in her capacity as a messenger, she had been receiving a great deal of vicarious experience since she was very small. The only other females available to discuss this with, unfortunately, were Khornya and Aari's mother, who  was quite busy and besides, Thariinye didn't know her. Maati would have to do.

 

Maati was thrilled to find herself among human younglings approximately her age. They had been alive much longer, as Linyaari children developed very rapidly and, once adult, maintained a healthy maturity of great longevity. The youngest of these children had been alive at least eight years, which was much longer than Maati's single ghaanyi. A ghaanyi was about one and a half years, by Standard time, which was how these humans measured their days.

 

But the younglings were barely sentient for a very long period in their early lives, so their experience, while different, was not much greater than Maati's own. Certainly none of them had been messengers for their governments, although Laxme, one of the boys, had developed unusual skill with the com units. Nor had they been shot down by a Khieevi ship, fought a Khieevi hand-to-hand, and lived. But the Maganos Moonbase children, she was sorry to hear, had all endured horrible lives as child slaves. The Starfarer children of the Haven had watched their parents die at the hands of hijackers, had defeated and dealt decisively "with the same hijackers, and now were in command of their home ship, with only a little help from a few adults. The thing all of the children had most in common was that they loved and admired Khornya, though the human children called her "Acorna," "Lady Epona," or "The Lady of the Light" and regarded her with •worshipful adoration Maati found strange.

 

"She's just a really nice girl, like us, only a little older," Maati told them.

 

"Like you, you mean," Jana corrected her. Jana was really nice and had been asking Maati lots of questions about healing. At first Maati had been unwilling to answer. Linyaari did not  usually let outsiders know they healed directly through their horns. Doing so could lead to incidents like the one where bad humans took many Linyaari ambassadors prisoner and tried to force them to heal and cleanse water and air under horrible circumstances. Linyaari raised on the homeworld knew this, but Khornya had not.

 

"Don't be so cagey," Jana had said when Maati tried to play innocent. "We know all about how you can heal people. Acorna healed all of us when we were in the mines and other bad places. If it hadn't been for her, most of us would be crippled. I don't know why you wouldn't want people to know what you can do. It's wonderful! I wish I could do that. I -want to be a doctor."

 

"I'm going to create holograms, just like Mr. Harakamian," Annella, a redheaded girl from the Haven, said. "He's shown me a lot of what goes into it. It's not as hard as you'd think but then, he says I have a natural talent for it." Then she realized they weren't talking about careers, they were talking about Acorna's ability to heal and she added, "But it must be wonderful to be able to heal the way your people can."

 

Maati made a wry face. "It comes in pretty handy, like when the Khieevi attacked us. Thariinye got hurt real bad trying to save me and Khornya. He probably would have died if he wasn't Linyaari and we hadn't been there. Or at least lost a hand."

 

"That was really brave," Jana said. "Kheti is brave like that. And Acorna is, too."

 

"My brother was the bravest though."

 

"Which one is your brother? Thariinye?" Annella asked.

 

"Oh no-Thariinye is a friend, sort of, when he isn't being a hdnye."

 

"I don't know what that means," Jana said, "But I bet it's not good."

 

"No, it's not, but he's not that way as much anymore. My brother is the one -who doesn't have a horn. The Khieevi, um," Maati found she had trouble saying it, even now, "When they captured him they tortured him and, you know-"

 

"We get the picture," Jana assured her hastily, hearing the choke in the voice of the Linyaari girl. "Your brother must be very brave. We heard he tackled that monster bare-handed."

 

"He did. But the monster was about to get Khornya. That was a fatal mistake," Maati said with satisfaction unbecoming a member of a nonviolent race.

 

"I've seen how Lady Epona looks at him," Jana said with a sigh.

 

"Everybody sees but him!" Maati said. "He is so smart and so brave but he just thinks because he doesn't have a horn, Khornya would be getting a bad deal-that she might not accept him, even though everybody can see she really likes him."

 

"Why doesn't she tell him?" Annella asked.

 

"Cause she's afraid that even though he likes her, he would still maybe reject her and I think, well, actually, I sort of peeked. She is afraid that rejecting her would cause him more pain and she doesn't want to do that. Grownups are sooooo complicated."

 

"You'd think they'd realize that life is pretty short to be so backward about good stuff," Jana said wistfully. "Everybody is being so careful of everybody else's feelings they're never gonna get together."

 

"That's what Thariinye said," Maati agreed, heaving a deep and dramatic sigh. "He was talking about 'some male with a large nose who did the talking for some other male to a female they both cared for. Do males with long noses play the role of go-betweens in your society? Are there any of them here we could get to talk to Khornya for Aari-or the other way around?"

 

"Nooo," said Jana. The other kids shook their heads too.

 

Their educations on Maganos Moonbase had tended to the practical and technical and neglected the arts. Their former masters hadn't exactly provided them with cultural opportunities either.

 

However, Annella's mother, before she had been spaced by the invaders, had been very fond of theater. "He's talking about a character named Cyrano, Maati. It's from an old earth tale."

 

"I see," Maati said wisely. But she didn't.

 

"I think he's hit on something," Annella said. "Maybe they need a go-between."

 

"A matchmaker," put in Markel, another of the kids from the Haven who had been listening carefully to what -went on. He considered himself a very special friend of Acorna's, since it was with his help she was able to save herself, Calum Baird, and Dr. Hoa and help the youngsters of the Haven overthrow the hijackers. "Only, it sounds like a lot of people have tried to be one from what you say, Maati."

 

"Yes," Maati said. "Khornya's foster fathers talked to her about it and she didn't want to talk, Karina Harakamian can't read her mind, Thariinye said he knows she -won't talk to him, and she thinks I'm just a kid and can't understand. But I 9o. I understand they are both being dumb not to talk to each other. They don't really need to talk to some third person because neither of them will believe anybody else. They need to talk to each other. Aari needs to talk to Khornya and Khornya needs to talk to Aari or they won't believe it." She shrugged. "Not even a long-nosed male could help."

 

"Maybe there's a way for that to happen, kind of," Annella said slowly.

 

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Markel asked.

 

"I think so. Do you think we could pull it off?"

 

"Maybe. It can't hurt to try anyway. Hafiz isn't going to care. He probably 'will even find a use for them later."   "What?" Maati asked. The other kids looked at the two Starfarers as well.

 

"Come with us to the holo lab. We'll try to show you. It'll take a while, though."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the days that followed, Becker staggered around the ship humming marching songs. While Nadhari was on duty, RK stayed on the ship. She was on duty a lot, but still found time almost every day for a little visit. Becker was chronically surprised that she really seemed to like him, and the Corufor.

 

And of course, Mac was conducting, under Becker's guidance, an extremely critical security operation. He could now receive signals from the main fleet, although he could not yet send them. While Mac was working, Becker regaled him with cute stories about Nadhari. The captain figured if he was going to be crazed about the woman, the android -was the perfect party to hear his jabbering. That way he wouldn't make a fool of himself to anyone who -was likely to gossip.

 

He was just getting to the part where Nadhari, in a fit of passion, had inadvertently reintroduced him to somersaults and handsprings, when Acorna arrived, looking bemused and distracted, but as usual, determined to be useful.

 

"Any luck with the corn unit, MacKenZ?" she asked.

 

"I have had some contact with the main fleet. They are wondering where this scouting shuttle is. They apparently re ceived some communication before the crash onto the blue planet. However, these beings are on the whole unperturbed by peril to individual members or even vessels, from what I have learned from our captive, from what Aari has been able to tell me of his experience, and from what I have gleaned from their communications."

 

"Where are they? What are they doing?" Acorna asked urgently, hunkering down beside the thoroughly exhausted Becker and Mac.

 

Acorna looked down at the corn unit, still mounted on the control panel, and at a mess of other hardware from the shuttle. "What did you do with the rest of the shuttle?" she asked.

 

"Smells like Khieevi," Becker said. "Without you and the others on board, the smell was enough to gag a maggot. Maybe the smell w<u a maggot, for all -we know. Khieevi are bugs. They could have maggots."

 

"Ye-es," Acorna said. "We really should investigate their life cycle. We would have a better idea of their vulnerabilities if we knew more."

 

"True," Becker said. "Wonder if Hafiz has got any entomologists in this bunch of settlers he's imported."

 

"From what I can tell, Khornya," Mac said, "The fleet may be en route to the Niriian home-world-where the piiyi came from."

 

Acorna nodded. "The Niriians have been warned already that their ship was intercepted and that the Khieevi are in this general area and still at large. Surely they will have taken defensive measures."

 

"In case they haven't," Becker said, "Nadhari was going to get Hafiz to dispatch a light drone with a prerecorded message to broadcast from space-well away from here. We still haven't heard from narhii-Vhiliinyar, Princess, but it looks like the bugs haven't got there yet."

 

"What's needed is technology that prevents transmissions  from being traced back to their origins, at least by Khieevi devices," Acorna said. "Do you think we could do a diagnostic that might help some of the engineers develop something within the near future?"

 

"Yeah, if we survive that long," Becker said. "Anyhow, it won't hurt to ask Hafiz about it."

 

"If the Khieevi find the drone and destroy it, that would give my beloved uncle an economic motive anyway," Acorna said. "He just hates to lose something he'd hoped to make a profit on."

 

"You know, me too," Becker said. "Your uncle and I have got quite a bit in common."

 

Acorna smiled mischievously at him. "I know."

 

Becker gave her a sideways glance from under his bushy eyebrows. "Seen much of Aari lately?" he asked innocently.

 

"Not too much," she said, feigning lightness. "He has been assisting his parents in the laboratory, from what I can tell. They've determined that the sap contains a spore which, -when it comes in contact with an insect's carapace, metamorphoses into a fungal infection of great virulence."

 

"I knew it had to be something like that," Becker said. He didn't mention that she'd changed the subject away from Aari. "So all we gotta do basically is lure them to the place where we got the sap and tell them to eat their fill." He chuckled. "I'm getting good at this decoy business. We faked Ganoosh into thinking the Federation Outpost was the Linyaari homeworld and now all we have to do is convince the Khieevi fleet that whaddayacallit-vine worlds is full of yummy bug food and let them and the plants fight it out to see who eats who. Piece of-you should pardon the expression-cake."

 

"First, however," Mac said, "I must fix the transmitter on this unit. While I have no problem with concentration or distractions, Captain, you do happen to be sitting against the access panel. Perhaps you would consider moving?"

 

"Mutiny!" Becker grumbled. "C'mon Acorna, I'll treat you to a bouquet or something dirtside."

 

They ate together in one of the little bistros Hafiz had set, one to a building, circus, or block, for times "when people did not want to meet in one of the several great dining halls. All of the ones in the main compound, which contained the Linyaari compound, opened onto gardens for al fresco mixed human and Linyaari grazing.

 

"Have you tried any of the activities around here?" Becker asked Acorna casually. "Nadhari and I are going to take a room in one of the fantasy suites at the hotel. Complete holo landscapes in every suite." He sighed. "She's an amazing woman, Nadhari."

 

"You really like her, then?"

 

"That's a little mild. I mean, there's not many women I'd let take RK with them while they're working, but she said he wanted to see what she did. She's the first Makahomian he's been around since the crash. He likes being worshipped. I guess everybody ought to try it once. Being worshipped, I mean."

 

Becker did not need RK. He himself looked like the proverbial cat who had swallowed the unfortunate proverbial canary.

 

"I am pleased for you, Captain. Have the two of you made any long-range plans?" Acorna asked.

 

"It's a little early yet," Becker said complacently, "But I figure after we save the universe as we know it, -what with her brawn and my brains ..."

 

Acorna didn't warn him, but Nadhari herself, clad in her green security forces uniform, crept through the garden until she was directly behind Becker, where she caught his head in a hammerlock, "And then what, oh brains of the outfit?" she asked. RK, slipping through the weeds behind her, stopped at her feet and wound around her ankles.

 

"Whatever you want, babe," Becker said, removing her arm  without difficulty and distributing kisses up the crease in her  uniform sleeve.

 

Nadhari actually wrinkled her elegant, if oft-broken nose at Acorna. "Isn't that cute? He called me babe. Nobody ever calls me babe. If most men did it I'd have to break at least a finger. But from Jonas, it's not lack of respect, it's protective." She put both arms around his neck and gave him a half-comic noisy smooch before melting back into the garden as if she were one of the plants, the cat's plumed tail the last vestige of their presence.

 

Becker sat there with a silly grin on his face. Acorna remembered the word used for someone whose internal dam had broken so that the banks of their dry stream -were filled to overflowing. Besotted. Becker and Nadhari were besotted and Acorna was glad for them.

 

But she had to excuse herself before she choked on the lump in her throat.

 

Maati made Thariinye close his eyes as she led him by the hand into the holo-lab. Opening them, he saw a number of the youngsters from the station grouped around Aari and Acorna.

 

He looked confused. "Is this some kind of an instructional meeting or what? Where's Becker and the cat and your

 

parents?"

 

"Look closer," Maati told him, now letting go of his hand and herding him in among the children. "Aren't they awesome?"

 

He saw now that Aari and Acorna were standing in little pools of light. Neither of them greeted him and once in a -while, though very seldom, one of them would flicker slightly.

 

"Holograms?" he asked.

 

Annella Carter beamed at him. "Yes! What do you think?"

 

Thariinye scratched his chin and circled the two familiar figures. "Well, they do flicker sometimes. What are they? Tourist attractions?"   "Noooo," Maati punched him lightly on the forearm. '"Course not. They're to, •well, be go-betweens for the real people."

 

"Go-betweens to what?" Thariinye asked.

 

"What's the matter with you?" Maati demanded. "Have you gone soft in the head from too much easy living? Go-betweens to each other, of course!"

 

Thariinye groaned. "I was afraid of that. You don't think it will actually work, do you? These things wouldn't fool either of them for more than a moment or two if they have their wits about them."

 

"That's why we wanted your help," Maati said. "You're the one who made me think of it. How do we make it work?"

 

"Work?" he asked. "Why ask me? I don't know anything about holograms."

 

"No," Maati said, "But according to you, you know all about loooove," she drew the word out mockingly and he gave her a look that would have sent older and more susceptible girls running away in tears. She just laughed back up at him and the other children giggled.

 

"Of course I know more than a lot of infant younglings," he said. "What is it that you need to know about it? And how does it concern your little holo dollies?" He flipped his fingers at the life-size holograms as if they were no bigger than his foot.

 

"We need to know what Khornya should say to Aari and what Aari should say to Khornya to get them together, of course!" Maati said. She did not seem to be getting the idea that she was a mere child being put in her place. She acted as if he was the one who was being stupid. He didn't much care for it, but as her words sank in, he did see -what the children -were trying to do.

 

"Oh," he said. "Well, she should tell him that she loves him and why and he-er-should do the same."

 

"But how would they say it •without sounding corny?" Jana  asked. Maati and Thariinye had both been speaking in Standard for the benefit of the others. Maati's Standard was quite good by now, he noticed, no doubt the result of her prolonged association with the other younglings.

 

A young male the others called Laxme tapped some keys on his control pad and the Aari figure swung toward the Acorna holo and said, in a comic mockery of Aari's own voice, "Oh, kiss me, my sweetie pie," and made sounds like hooves pulling out of a mud puddle.

 

Thariinye was indignant. "Stop that at once!" he said.

 

Laxme shrank back into himself as if he expected to be hit.

 

"He was just playing, showing you how it worked," Jana said softly.

 

"I know, but Aari is a brave man, the bravest man my people have ever produced probably, and I'll not have him and Khornya ridiculed, not even by friends."

 

"That's -why we wanted your help," Maati said. "To make them do and say the right things."

 

"What right things?" Thariinye asked.

 

"You know-to get them together. You say you're this big expert on luu-uuve. So you should know, right?"

 

He glared at his former shipmate. "I know how to attract a girl to me," he said. "But, uh-" he lowered his voice and spoke out of the side of his mouth so just Maati could hear, "as you'll remember, it didn't work with Khornya."

 

"Maybe not, but she's already attracted to Aari. We just have to have his hologram to encourage her, and vice versa. So what things should they say?"

 

"First of all," Thariinye told her, "You'll have to have the holograms appear to them after they've been sleeping for a while so that they're groggy and won't notice the shimmering."

 

"That's what we were going to do," Annella said. "But they don't shimmer that much."

 

Thariinye ignored her. He was thinking hard. "I know," he said. "I think I can find just the thing. Wait a bit."

 

He returned about a half hour later carrying the book of ancient European literature Aan had been reading.

 

For the next several hours, Jana read aloud and the others argued the use of this passage or that, 'while -Maati and Thariinye, with the use of the LAANYE, attempted to translate the agreed-upon phrases into Linyaari. Once they decided on the phrases, they had to program the holos to move properly.

 

"They should look seductive, but mustn't touch a real person, of course," Thariinye said. "They should lead Aari and Khornya to a real place together to continue in person ..."

 

"Or a holo place!" Annella said, "None of the holo suites in the hotels are filled yet, since we haven't had a single new guest, just the people who came with the caravan and they all have their own quarters."

 

Mac's performance and function had been greatly increased by his recent upgrades and education, and he knew the captain was pleased. Becker had puzzled him somewhat when Mac had shut himself down in the captain's absence with Nadhari Kando. "I thought you'd keep working on the shuttle, Mac," the Captain had said. "Not exactly a self-starter, are you?"

 

"No, sir, though I do shut myself down to conserve energy."

 

"I want you working on that shuttle day and night, whether I'm here or not. So program that and don't 'worry about conserving energy. There's energy to burn in this place and I don't think Harakamian will begrudge you some if it saves our butts in the long run."

 

"Yes, sir," Mac had responded. And he had of course been following instructions ever since. If he could have felt regret, it was that now most of his social interaction was in the Khieevi fashion. He had repaired the transmitter some time ago, though he had not used it yet, as he had not been instructed to do so.

 

But he practiced, nevertheless, imitating, interpreting, assimilating, and integrating the klicking and klackings until he used them-if only to himself-quite as easily as he conversed in Standard and Linyaari.

 

He 'was left alone a great deal these days. The captain and the cat spent increasing amounts of their time with the denizens of the Moon of Opportunity, particularly with Ms. Kando. Sometimes they had their get-togethers aboard the ConPor, but since Ms. Kando needed to be available to her staff, many times the three of them shared her off-duty time -with her in her quarters or in one of the hotel rooms available in the compound. Aari and Acorna were busy elsewhere as well, and the few times -when any of the Linyaari had come aboard, the initial smell, the noise emitted by the shuttle, its corn unit's volume on high so Mac could hear it as he moved about the ship, seemed to distress them and they left again quickly, particularly •when Mac accidentally greeted Aari with Khieevi klackings.

 

So it was that he was alone when he heard the ships sounding off, a roll call of attack, heard the staccato klickety-klackklack of orders passed from one unit to another. The essence was that the planet of Nirii, around which the fleet had been gathering, was now being attacked, the fleet swarming down upon it much as hungry insects were said to do on some particularly appropriate foodstuff.

 

Mac listened with interest. Had he been capable of it, he might have been excited. He was still listening when Becker returned.

 

"Hi, Mac, can you turn that damned thing down? It sounds like an army of tap dancers landing on a flat wooden planet."

 

"Oh, no, Captain, nothing like that. The sound is simply that of the Khieevi invading the planet of the two-horned bovine beings. They are passing communications among their various ships, attempting to first conquer major cities and defense outposts, and to an extent prevent any possible escape by inhabit ants. Their efforts are concentrated primarily on the attack however."

 

"Great galloping gravity, Mac, why didn't you say so?"

 

"You did not instruct me to do so. Captain."

 

"Do I have to tell you everything?"

 

Mac was pleased to now be able to employ one of the captain's own idiomatic phrases, "Yes, sir. Pretty much."

 

"Right. Okay. You keep monitoring that thing-remember everything you hear. I gotta go see a man about a drone."

 

Hafiz was explaining why the drone -was not yet in space as he had assured Becker it -would be with all possible dispatch. "I was preparing my message, dear Becker."

 

"Your message? How long can it take to say, 'The Khieevi are coming, the Khieevi are coming, lock and load or get the hell out now7.' "

 

"You don't understand, my boy. Even such public service messages carry delicate nuances. And of course, we did not know exactly -when or where they were coming, did we?"

 

"Now we have a pretty good idea, though. They're chowing down on the cowboy planet right now."

 

"Cowboy planet?"

 

Becker stuck a forefinger from each hand up beside his temple and wiggled them. "Two horns like cows, get it?"

 

"Ahh, the Niriians. Yes, I have heard they have excellent organic technology."

 

"It stinks, if you ask me, but nobody deserves to have the bugs on top of them and that's what's happening right now. So, is the drone going up or do I have to take the ConSor up and make like Paul Revere?"

 

"Paul who, dear boy? And what was he revered for, exactly? "

 

"Getting his drone up before the enemy had a chance to  eat every planet in the galaxy, that's -what. Now then, do you think you can finish your message?"

 

"Certainly."

 

"Good. I'll just wait then and carry it out to the drone for you."

 

Hafiz turned on his recorder and rewound. "Let me see, where was I, oh yes, 'This urgent humanitarian -warning is brought to you through the kindness and beneficence of the Federation's foremost philanthropic economic ambassadorial firm, House Harakamian.' "

 

"A commercial'}" Becker demanded. "You held off putting the drone into space while you made a commercial?"

 

Hafiz spread his hands -with an elegant shrug. "I am in commerce after all, dear boy."

 

"Not for long if the bugs attack us," Becker said grimly.

 

"Ah, an excellent point. Very well, I shall continue."

 

The message concluded, "The dastardly insect creatures of torture, doom, and enormous appetite, the Khieevi, are known to be attacking the Niriian homeworld. Any who dare assist the Niriians, feel free to do so, please, -with our commendations and blessings. All others in the same quadrant might think seriously about evacuation or defense, as your culture dictates."

 

Becker gave him a disgusted look, but said only, "Good. Now then, that should be translated to all of the languages of the nearby races. I don't expect, since -we're making first contact here, more or less, their Standard is going to be really up to par."

 

"Ah! A good point." He clapped his hands. A servant appeared. "Please fetch our Linyaari guests-all of them. Ask them to bring their clever translation devices and tell them it is a matter of some urgency."

 

Hours later, -which seemed like months to Becker, each Linyaari had contributed a translation of the message in all of the languages each of them knew. Since all but Maati and Acorna  had spent considerable time visiting nearby planets at some point in their lives, they felt they had pretty much covered it.

 

Meanwhile, Nadhari and her staff went on red alert, and to the whine of the sirens, the first evacuation drill began, just as the drone was shot into space.

 

The Balakiire had not yet landed on the first planet on the list of those to be warned when they heard a broadcast that at once made their mission and their caution futile and provided them with a new mission.

 

Oddly, this new mission began in a similar fashion to their present one.

 

"Mayday, Mayday! This is the Niriian vessel Fo^en broadcasting a Mayday to all worlds and ships in the area. Our homeworld is under attack. The Khieevi have landed. Our ship escaped before the invasion. Mayday! Come in, please." With a glare at Liriili, Neeva picked up the communication device.

 

"Please give us your coordinates, Fo^en. The Linyaari ship Balakiire, is reading you loud and clear."

 

The Niriian gave the Fo^en's coordinates. "Hurry, Balakiire. We are nearly out of fuel and air. We were on our way in for both when the Khieevi attack commenced. The Khieevi have covered our cities like sweet-bugs converging on their hive."

 

"We are coming, Fo^en. Please do not send additional communication unless we request it or you are in further distress. To do so may alert the Khieevi to your-and our-position. Signal that you have understood and then please, silence unless we contact you."                      

 

"Understood, Balakiire. Be swift, be swift, please."

 

Liriili snorted. "I suppose we will join them just in time for a Khieevi attack."

 

"Perhaps," Neeva said. "But I, for one, hope not. At least their signal should be heard by nearby worlds and other craft, so our personal warnings to those worlds will not be necessary."

 

 

 

"I wonder what they will make of it on narhii-Vhiliinyar," Liriili said with a bitter smile. "I warned them."

 

"Yes, you did, and fortunately, with you no longer in charge, they will probably ready the evacuation ships, refuel the fleet, gather the lifeforms, and prepare to leave narhii-Vhiliinyar in the direction farthest from the Niriian world. I suspect they may fly into Federation space. That will be the recommendation of those of us who have been in contact with the peoples of that alliance."

 

"Yes, and they "will come with their weapons, disrespecting the principles the Ancestors taught us."

 

Melireenya turned in her seat and stared at the former viizaar, "What is it with you? You are not satisfied one way or the other. Would the destruction of our people please you now that you have been deemed unfit to lead them?"

 

Liriili gave her a superior smile but didn't answer. Neeva was becoming alarmed by the woman's attitude. Instead of helping her heal, this entire experience was driving her more and more into herself. She -was so aloof there was no question of touching her with a horn to try to heal her and besides, she seemed to be resistant to the usual bonding that cohered the Linyaari.

 

The next hours were spent in preparation to take the Niriians aboard. The Balakiire had no fuel to give them, and their ships were fueled somewhat differently. Extra berths were prepared, the gardens hyper-planted with varieties of plants the Ninians "were known to favor.

 

The Niriians were pathetically glad to see their Linyaari allies, and also somewhat shame-faced. "VLfe^haanye-Ferlili Neeva," the captain of the Niriian ship began. "We heard you and your crew had been taken into custody by false authorities. Please know that our lives are yours from this day forward and we will defend you always to any-"

 

She choked, sputtered, swallowed, and continued. "I was  about to say, to any who seek you on our planet. But it is unlikely we will have a home to return to."

 

"Which brings up a good question," Khaari interjected. "Where should we go now? Return to narhii-Vhiliinyar?"

 

"Yes, but we should emulate Captain Becker and take evasive action, don't you think, rather than returning directly? In case the Khieevi have spared any ships to follow the Fo^en."

 

"A lot of good it did the junk man," Liriili sneered.

 

"How do you know what good it did him?" Khaari demanded. "We don't know what became of anyone yet."

 

But they were to learn very shortly. On the other side of the wormhole, they picked up a broadcast.

 

The first portion was in Standard, and while the Balakiire's crew were putting their heads together trying to remember enough of that language to decipher the message, it was rebroadcast in other languages.

 

The Niriians became agitated, "They know! They know about the attack! Perhaps they will send help. They are speaking our tongue!"

 

Neeva looked up. Khaari said, "I know that voice! That's Thariinye speaking!"

 

"He's alive!" Melireenya said.

 

"Of course he is," Liriili said. "I told all of you that he would be perfectly all right, and no doubt the brat is as well."

 

The language switched again, this time to Linyaari, and Neeva smiled widely. "That's Khornya."

 

They recognized other voices as the broadcasts were repeated in other languages-Aari's and those of Miiri and Kaarlye, which made Khaari, who was related to Kaarlye on her mother's side, sigh with relief.

 

When the Standard broadcast was repeated, Neeva said, "I know that voice, too. Doesn't that sound like Khornya's kind and generous uncle Hafiz? He spoke before we parted of start ing a trade colony on that moon where we went to recuperate after-"

 

The other two nodded, indicating she needed to be no more specific. "That must surely be where they all are now."

 

"I have the coordinates right here, Neeva," Melireenya's voice practically sang. "Perhaps he can contact the Federation and they will drive the Khieevi away." She smiled up at the Niriians. "Your world may be saved yet."

 

They clasped each other so tightly their horns locked. "Only let it be so," the captain said fervently.

 

Acorna 'was awakened by a brilliant light shining in her eyes. She opened them wide. She was very tired, having spent the day formulating evacuation plans for the children. The first shipload carrying the youngest ones was to leave in two days' time with Calum on the AcaSecki. The crew of the Haven would send their youngest along too, but the older ones insisted they would stay and fight. Acorna had also done translations of follow-up messages to broadcast in the languages she knew-Linyaari of course, but also Federation-based languages. The Khieevi had invaded Federation space once in search of Linyaari, who was to say they would not do it again?

 

The tension and her efforts both had •wearied her until she had fallen onto her cot too tired to say goodnight to Maati.

 

Now the light awakened her and her first thought was that she was being wakened because the compound was under attack.

 

Aari knelt beside her, a few feet from her sleeping pad. He looked rather odd, but not especially alarmed. Maati, on the other side of Acorna from her brother, was rolled onto her side and covered completely by her blanket. She did not seem to notice the light. Acorna rubbed her eyes. "What is it, Aari? Is something the matter?" she whispered.

 

"Hark!" he said.

 

"What?" she asked, thinking for one ridiculous moment that he might break into a holiday carol, though she had no idea why he would unless he had been inspired by something he had been reading. But the archaic term was the only word he uttered in Standard. The rest was in Linyaari.

 

"What light is breaking through the pavilion flap over there? It is the suns and Khornya is the moons!" he asked in a very soft version of their rather nasal native language. Evidently this was not, then, an alarm, unless it was perhaps in some sort of code.

 

Otherwise, oh dear, she had to wonder if perhaps he might have a fever? An infection perhaps? Or a poisoning? She had no idea really which dangers he might be more susceptible to, without his horn, than the average Linyaari.

 

"Aari, are you all right?" she asked. "You look ratherwell, no pale, but see-throughish. I don't like the texture of your skin. And what you are saying does not entirely make sense. Here, let me feel your pulse. . . ."

 

But he backed away a bit, babbling, "A reed is a reed by any other name and would still not smell very much but be as graceful and delicious as Khornya." He beckoned her to follow. Which she did because whether his strange utterances were a code for danger or because he was ill, she could hardly ignore them.

 

Aari thought at first he must be dreaming. Khornya knelt a short distance from his sleeping mat. She was surrounded by a very bright light, as if perhaps she'd taken .radiation, and was looking at him with a yearning that echoed that he felt whenever he looked at her.

 

"Khornya!" he said, when she did not speak. "Khornya, is something wrong? Are the Khieevi attacking?" He looked for Thariinye, to waken and warn him, but the other man was not on his mat. This was not unusual for Thariinye. He had been  gone a great deal lately, working on translations and evacuation procedures and also apparently chatting up females, even if they were the wrong species, just to keep in practice, as he said.

 

Khornya did not answer him directly but instead said something very strange. He thought it might be code, but if so, no one had given him the key.

 

"How do I love you?" she asked in Linyaari. "Let me count the trails! I love the very ions scattered behind your vessel. I love the fragrance of the grains on which you sup. I love the-"

 

"You do?" Aari asked, comprehending that what she said was complimentary if not particularly coherent, evidently not code, but her own pent-up feelings. Her tone of voice was rather declaiming and he could not read her at all. But then, there were times when that happened to him. "But-I have no horn."

 

"I love the horn you do not have and the horn you used to have and the horn you will have again," she continued, rather than answering him. "Come, my love, let us wander into a secluded bower and there take our ease, if you know what I mean?" Very un-Khornya-like, she waggled a silver-white eyebrow and winked at him. He wondered if perhaps Hafiz's gardens had inadvertently been planted with a stand of what was called "loco weed" in the ancient Zane Grey novels of the wild western America.

 

Either that or it was some peculiar female mating ritual his mother had neglected to tell him about. Well, there was no time to consult her now. Khornya was wafting away and he could not let her wander around this huge alien compound in such a state. Someone might take unfair advantage of her. He rose to follow her.

 

She flitted ahead of him like one of the ectoplasmic entities of the wraith-haunted ruined -world of Waali Waali his parents had taken him to as a child. Back in the early days of terraforming technology, a powerful company had rapidly terraformed planets,  raised great cities upon them, and settled •whole transplanted civilizations upon their surfaces, where they thrived and bred, loved and warred for several eons. And then the terraforming destabilized, the ice caps melted, the seas froze, the mountains erupted, and the ground opened and buckled. The cities were ruined and the people were killed, but the heavy gravity kept them bound to the surface, which had an indelible memory of the former grandeur of its cities imprinted upon its ruins. A similar, more tangible memory of its inhabitants, now bodiless spirits seeking some solid vessel in -which to be reborn, flickered about the ruins in the same "way Khornya's white form was now kindled, now quenched, as she wound her way through the ornamental back alleys of Hafiz's compound.

 

He could only follow, the winds and rain of Dr. Hoa's climactically generated monsoon soaking through his mane, his steps clicking quickly up cobbled steps leading through narrow passages and by doorways shrouded -with night-velveted rugs and blankets, their patterns picked out golden with the light of the holo-torches from the main thoroughfares. Suddenly he saw Khornya's -white form disappear through a doorway and he found it, concealed by a waterfall of luminous beads, then he too quickly entered.

 

He threaded through -what seemed a maze, except that instead of blank walls, there were more often curtains, blankets, rugs, beads, and once, the side of a large gray beast with flapping ears, long curving fangs, a nose like a snake, legs like pillars, and small, disinterested eyes that regarded him mildly, then returned to contemplating the infinite. Aari passed the beast, but when he looked back, all he saw was blackness.

 

He began to -wonder and to fear. Perhaps he was still in the Khieevi torture machine, and his mind -was playing cruel tricks on him, all of this a mere illusion to build his hope, to give him a dream they could cruelly dash? But--well, no. He didn't hurt. That was a sure sign there were no Khieevi. When he had been with the Khieevi the pain -was always -with him and now there -was nothing but his body, feeling whole and quite astonishingly alive, and the night, and Khornya flickering ahead of him, a beckoning candle.

 

Abruptly, her white form twinkled out ahead of him and then, much farther than he thought she could have gone in such a brief instant, he heard her call, "Aari?" in a rather plaintive and childish voice. He rushed forward.

 

"Khornya? "

 

"Aari, where are you?" she sounded not frightened but anxious.

 

"Right behind you. I'll be there in a moment," he called, and he -was. Suddenly he found himself facing her across not a room, but a moonlit field, much like the ones he remembered from Vhiliinyar when he -was a boy. The moons shone down through mist rising from a free-flowing stream, and night birds crooned softly from the boughs of scattered trees. Khornya stood near one of the trees beside the stream, and noted his arrival with relief.

 

"There you are!"

 

"Of course I am." He went to her. He -was relieved to see she seemed healthier and more substantial than she had at first appeared in his pavilion. Her skin radiated warmth and the sweet clean floral smell she carried with her. But there -was another more enticing scent emanating from her as -well. She looked up at him -with her eyes wide and shining as the moons and her mouth moist.

 

"I feared you wouldn't come back," she said softly.

 

"Against love's fire fear's frost hath dissolution," he said.

 

"Excuse me?"

 

"It's something I read recently," he told her, his hand running through her mane, the backs of his fingers stopping to feel the curve of her cheek. "It seemed appropriate."

 

She sighed. "It sounds better in Standard."

 

"I will ask my parents to tell me Linyaari love poetry and fill your ears with it, if that's what you -want," he said, realizing that the language of love must have been what she'd been trying to speak when she -was in his tent. She was right, even with the meaning rather unclear, the poetry from the books he'd been reading did sound much better in Standard.

 

"That is not all I want," she said, her voice husky and her breath sweet.

 

He felt parts of himself he'd thought dead rushing to fill his veins with life as hot and strong, as urgent as magma seeking to escape a volcanic fissure. She lifted her arms, almost as if in a trance, and he took her into his own and held her. Her sweet musky scent swept over him as they slid together into the wildflower sprinkled grass, which was not damp and dewy as he expected, but as warm and comforting as a blanket.

 

Annella and Maati let out a sigh at the same time. Jana pulled them away from the control booth for the holo suite. She had Laxme by the ear. Thariinye lingered a little until Maati reached back and snagged his arm.

 

"They deserve a little privacy," she said.

 

"I maybe should have given him a few more pointers before we started this," Thariinye said.

 

"There was no time," Laxme said. "They're going to make us leave pretty soon and we had to finish it-get them together before whatever is going to-happen, happens."

 

"Looked to me like he was doing-they both were doing- just fine, without your advice," Maati told Thariinye. "And we should leave them to do it."

 

Jana grinned at her. "I think you're wise beyond your years, Maati."

 

"Someone has to be," Maati said, with a meaningful look at Thariinye.

 

Feeling quite pleased with themselves and considering their  good deed a job -well done, the group of young people emerged from the Spanish-Moorish castle that housed the grandest of the holo hotels. The curtain swags and bead-draped maze of back streets through which Aari and Acorna had followed each other's doppelganger was the hotel lobby. The suite Aari and Acorna occupied now was on the second floor. The field of fragrant flowers and grass was actually a rather nice Turkomoon carpet, the stream an en suite lap pool, in case they wanted to bathe after their . . . activities.

 

No sooner had they emerged however, than Maati realized the air smelled subtly different-she recognized the smell too. It was the smell of ships landing. Linyaari ships. She recognized it even before she heard the boots pounding in concerted double time down the street from the spaceport.

 

With each stroke of the hand, each gentle nip of teeth or lap of tongue, Acorna felt more and more bonded to Aari, as if they -were exchanging their very molecules, which of course, they -were, romantic as the thought might sound. It didn't feel unromantic however. The urges that had been mysteriously rising in her, troubling her dreams, thrilling her at inappropriate moments, were all about thi). This exquisite agonizing ache that made her feel as if she would burst from her skin if something didn't happen. She knew Aari felt the same -way and yet, he hesitated.

 

"If we-continue," he said. "There will be no going back."

 

"Why would I want to go back?" she asked. "You are my lifemate. I think I've always known that."

 

"Really? I didn't think-I couldn't hope-"

 

She shushed him with a kiss and they moved so that she was poised above him, his hands on her waist.

 

"Now, beloved?" he asked.

 

She bit her lower lip and nodded emphatically, "Yes. Now."

 

The double-quick pounding boots rounded the corner and the security forces halted with two quick and perfectly synchronized stomps. Nadhari Kando paced effortlessly at the head of the cadre and Captain Becker pantingly trailed behind the buff and ready cream of planetary militia from Federation -worlds.

 

Nadhari glared at the children. "It is long after curfew."

 

"What curfew?" Jana asked, innocently.

 

"Were you not at the briefing at twenty hundred hours this evening?" Nadhari asked. "We have a red alert situation and a curfew is in effect until further notice."

 

"So what're you gonna do, shoot us?" Laxme demanded. He liked being free after his childhood in the mines. He did not take kindly to orders, even from the good guys. Or gals.

 

Nadhari pursed her lips and regarded him seriously. "No, but you could ask Becker's friend Aari how much fun it is to not be where you're supposed to when the evacuation starts and be left behind when the Khieevi attack."

 

None of the kids said anything and Nadhari continued. "Now then, Maati, Thariinye, you are to report to the reception area. The Balaklire has just landed and they are very anxious to see that all of you are alive and well. I need to find Aari and Acorna, too."

 

Becker grimaced and told Maati, "That witch of an administrator came on the Balakiire, too. I bet the Linyaari couldn't take her on the planet anymore. But Neeva really wants to see everybody and make sure you're all okay."

 

"I'll go tell her Khornya is okay," Maati said. With a wicked grin she added, "Thariinye can fill Liriili .in."

 

"No, that's okay," Becker said. "Just tell us where Acorna is and I'll get her."

 

Thariinye's glance strayed toward the hotel entrance and Becker asked, "Are they still in there? Why didn't you say so?'

 

"Good. I'll fetch them," Nadhari said, and before anyone could stop her she pushed past them and entered the hotel.  Moments later she emerged, looking most uncharacteristically embarrassed and shame-faced. "Why didn't you tell me they were-uh-occupied? " she demanded. "I thought you had all been playing a game or having a meeting or something! What were you doing, using their rendezvous as a training class?"

 

Maati's face fell. "Noooo, we were trying to get them together. And we did, too. And now it's all ruined!"

 

"Uh-not entirely," Nadhari said. "Not from what I saw. But I certainly spoiled the mood."

 

Annella groaned. "It took us weeks to set that up."

 

"Set what up?" Becker asked suspiciously, but Annella, Markel, and Jana were shaking their heads slightly that Maati should say no more.

 

In a few minutes, Aari and Acorna walked purposefully from the hotel, as if they hcu) been interrupted in nothing more personal than a meeting, except that every once in a while one of them would steal a look at the other one. And smile. Or sigh. Or get lost in looking and stumble.

 

Nadhari said nothing as she led the way back to the spaceport. Becker talked rather a lot.

 

The Niriian refugees endured the Linyaari reunion and the subsequent confusing introductions as well as they could, until at last they met someone whose name they recognized. "And this," Vi^ec>haanye-ferUU Neeva said, "Is Mr. Ha£z Harakamian."

 

"The Hafiz Harakamian of the message?" they cried, and faced him with broad smiles. "Ah, it is you, exalted sir, who will save our world and our people. But it must be done quickly. Many die even as we stand here -wasting time with these formalities."

 

Neeva translated and Hafiz smiled broadly back at his guests. "I am very sorry for the plight of your planet, dear alien beings, but you see, I am a merchant. While it was within my power to provide you and the neighboring worlds with a warning about the Khieevi menace, I am not a -warrior or a warlord, merely a humble tradesman."

 

This was the point when Khornya was sorely missed. Neeva understood Niriian very well indeed, but she missed many of the nuances of Hafiz's speech.

 

"He says he can't save them," Neeva said. "He is no -warrior, merely a rich merchant."   Hafiz caught her look and saw that he had fallen somewhat in her estimation. The Niriians weren't buying it, however. They set themselves even more squarely in front of him and stuck their round jaws out a bit and smiled even more broadly and determinedly.

 

"Sister-child's father's sister-brother Hafiz," Neeva said, for had he himself not said he felt as if he were related to the Linyaari as he was to Khornya herself-therefore he would naturally also be related to Neeva. "I must tell you that these Niriians are very stubborn people. Once they put their minds to a thing, they do not budge until they have achieved their goals."

 

"Most admirable," Hafiz said nodding and smiling still. "But their tenacity cannot change the facts."

 

At this impasse, Nadhari Kando and Captain Becker and the little cadre of security troops Nadhari commanded marched into the reception area. With them were a gaggle of children including Maati, as well as Thariinye, Aari, and Khornya.

 

"My husband is a merchant, as he has explained to you elevated alien beings," Karlna Harakamian now addressed the Niruans with an apologetic flutter of lilac-and-violet draperies and a sparkle of amethyst-jeweled hands. "Surely you would not wish him to subject himself and those he protects to the same fate your planet has met? Hafiz is a genius at accumulating and distributing useful things and services. The idea of the sort of mass destruction the Khieevi wreak is abhorrent to him, but also totally incomprehensible. I don't know how you could possibly imagine he could be of assistance."

 

Liruli had a fine curl to her lip and to " Neeva, said in Linyaari, "It is as I suspected. Your great hero-our adopted 'uncle'-is perfectly willing to trade with us but as far as being a true friend of anyone but himself-hah!"

 

Neeva tried valiantly not to let the disappointment show in her eyes as she murmured to the unflinching Niriians.

 

Acorna was roused from her bemusement by this exchange,  and separated herself from Aari and the others to go stand next  to Hafiz.

 

To Liriili she said, "That is not fair. Uncle Hafiz is responsible for the lives of all of the people here and their welfare has to be his first consideration. And he and Captain Becker have been making some strides in perhaps finding a way to combat the Khieevi without risking more lives."

 

"Is that so?" Liriili demanded. And before anyone could stop her, she translated a version of what Acorna had said to the Niriians. The result of this was that one of them, following Acorna's glance to where Becker stood beside Nadhari, reached out a muscular arm and hauled Becker into a great crushing  hug.

 

Liriili smirked. "Our allies say the junk man is their hero and surely if he knows a way to fight the Khieevi, he will use it quickly to save what is left of their world."

 

Acorna translated to Becker, "They want you to use the methods we have discovered to fight the Khieevi now, Captain, to save the rest of their -world."

 

"Okay, okay!" Becker hollered. "Just tell them to let me go! We'll talk."

 

This time Thariinye stepped in to translate, adding his usual flourishes.

 

The Niriian did not loosen its grip on Becker.

 

"What did you say?" Aari asked Thariinye. "It's not  working."

 

"I told them the captain was a great hero and had already slain many Khieevi and would save their homeworld with the help of the philanthropist Uncle Hafiz."

 

"Tell them they have to let Captain Becker go before he can help them," Acorna suggested.

 

Thariinye spoke to the Niriians again and the one who held Becker released him with such an enthusiastic clap on the back  that the captain staggered into the arms of Nadhari Kando, and stepped on the cat's tail as he stumbled.

 

RK rewarded him by opening his leg from kneecap to ankle.

 

Nadhari patted Becker absently and shoved him gently aside to pick up the cat and croon to it. "Your servant meant no disrespect, sacred feline. Is your magnificent tail broken?" She looked at the nearest Linyaari, -who happened to be Liriili. "Please heal the tail of the sacred temple cat."

 

Liriili, much to the surprise of anyone who was paying attention to her, abandoned her goading behavior of the rest of the humans to add one of her hands to Nadhari's in RK's thick fur, cradle his tail in the other hand, and gently lowered her horn to touch it. The cat immediately began purring and rubbed his cheek against Liriili's.

 

"If that isn't adding insult to injury!" Becker yowled, clutching his bloody pant leg.

 

Aan scowled at Thariinye, who quickly stopped jabbering to the Niriians and knelt beside Becker. "Sorry, Captain, allow me." He placed Becker's foot upon his own bent knee and ran his horn the length of the cat scratch.

 

Becker let out a long sigh of relief.

 

Liriili was crooning to RK. "I had a little pahaantiyir once and you are very like him, sacred temple cat, yes, you are, you lovely creature!" Tears were actually coming to her eyes now. "Oh, how I wish he were with me now, my little friend, when I am surrounded by ill-wishers."

 

RK purred as if he had found a new best friend.

 

"Traitor," Becker growled.

 

Come, my friends, let us refresh ourselves in the gardens and discuss this brilliant plan of ours." Hafiz waggled an eyebrow at Becker, but the eye under the brow was extremely skeptical.

 

Of course, Becker didn't really have a plan. Acorna knew that. But between the experiences the current crew of the Condor had and the skills and resources of Hafiz Harakamian, Acorna saw the components of a rather good plan taking form. All it took to formulate -was for everyone involved to pool their resources.

 

As the others trailed off behind Hafiz, Acorna fetched Mac. "The captain told me I should remain here, Acorna, and monitor the Khieevi broadcasts."

 

"You are recording them, aren't you?" Acorna asked.

 

Yes.

 

"Then you can listen to the recordings when you return. We need you now, MacKenZ. Captain Becker is going to explain to Uncle Hafiz how we can defeat the Khieevi."

 

"Oh, that would be most instructive. I am grateful you thought to bring me, Acorna."

 

She smiled and eased him away from the Khieevi shuttle. He had spent so long with it the smell had permeated him and she had to stop and give him a once-over -with her horn to erase the unpleasant odor.

 

"Of course you must come, Mac. Without you and your skills, we would not have a hope of defeating the Khieevi."

 

"Now then, Captain, we are all eager to hear your plan," Neeva said.

 

"Ye-es, dear fellow," Hafiz said. "Please enlighten us."

 

"Oh, you're part of it, too. Uncle Hafiz," Acorna assured him. "In fact, we can't do it without Uncle Hafiz's holographic magic can -we, Captain Becker?"

 

"Uh-no, of course not," Becker agreed.

 

They sat on low cushioned chairs positioned near the fountain. Servers brought delicacies for the humans, while the Niriians and the Linyaari -were invited to pluck -whatever appealed to them from the bounty of the lush gardens surrounding the pool into -which the -waters splashed from the horn of a unicorn, rampant. The Linyaari who had not yet seen this fountain re garded it with wonder, even Liriili. This was not the usual way in which homage was paid to the Ancestors, but no doubt the Ancestors would approve.

 

"And as I was telling Mac, we can't do without his skills. Of course, if Aari had not made an effort to recall all he knew of the Khieevi, had not concentrated so hard on the piiyl that was, I am sorry to say, Toroona and Byorn, the legacy of one of your brave crews, we would never have learned their language or anything about how they function." The Niriians were actually a mated couple, female and male, rather than two males as those unacquainted with the species had assumed. Becker was surprised to find that his ribs had almost been broken by Toroona, the female.

 

"Yeah," Becker said, "Aari found out about another important part of the plan too. Namely that a substance we discovered while on a salvage mission is toxic to the Khieevi. And what Kaarlye and Miiri have been doing is analyzing the damage to the corpses as well as the effects of the substance on other things. What have you folks come up with anyway?"

 

"We are still exploring possible ways to synthesize the substance, Captain, and to utilize it in a controlled fashion outside its native environment."

 

"That's okay," Becker said. " 'Cause the truth is, there's nothing wrong with using it in its native environment. See, it's this vine world, full of these big plants that secrete the sap that eats through the Khieevi shells. The way I figure it, if Hafiz here can make use of his holos to make the vine world appear to be like a Linyaari outpost or something,'and Mac can persuade the Khieevi that he's one of their guys who survived in the shuttle we've been-well, Mac's been-studying, and we can set up drones and such to make it seem inhabited, then the Khieevi will maybe leave the Niriians to come to the vine world, and the vines will attack 'em, sap 'em, and no more Khieevi."

 

Everyone agreed that it was a brilliant plan. Almost all of  it could be carried out by remote control, once the vine world had been prepared to look inhabited. The only danger was that the vine world was closer to both the Moon of Opportunity and to narhii-Vhiliinyar than the Niriian homeworld, but they could not, of course, let that weigh too heavily against the lives of any Niriians still surviving the initial Khieevi attack.

 

The Niriians listened anxiously to the translations, their faces stoic, but when they spoke at last their words sounded urgent.

 

"Time is of the essence," Neeva interpreted. "They implore us to begin implementing the plan immediately."

 

The Moon of Opportunity shut down its recreational functions and trade centers. Personnel were reassigned to emergency functions. If the plan worked as everyone hoped it would, security, medical, and reconstruction teams would be sent to Nirii following the destruction of the Khieevi.

 

Aboard the ConSor, Mac reassembled the Khieevi shuttle.

 

Kaarlye and Miiri continued their experimentation with the sap and their studies of Khieevi anatomy and physiology in the laboratory.

 

The children were assigned to either the AcaBecki or the Haven for evacuation. However, Annella Carter, Markel, and Jana were remaining as long as possible in order to help Hafiz prepare the necessary holograms.

 

"We must simulate a civilization sufficiently luscious to induce salivation among the Khieevi," Hafiz instructed his pupils. "We shall transfer the holos of Linyaari pavilions to nestle them among the vines. We will also need to use the Baiakiire as a model for simulating other Linyaari vessels of different designs."

 

"Oh, goody," Annella said. "It will be like decorating giant Easter eggs!"

 

"Also, we must have holos of individuals-Linyaari and the  Nirnans. We can do several sims of each of the Linyaari guests and hope the Khieevi will not be aware of the duplication."

 

"We already have done ones of Aari and Acorna," Annella told Hafiz.

 

"Have you?" Hafiz asked. "That is excellent. Excellent indeed."

 

"Yes, and we can do me and Thariinye next," Maati said. "Except I want my holo to be really large and fierce."

 

"Why bother?" Thariinye said. "All they have to do is make an ^altered holo of Liriili and she'll probably frighten the Khieevi into leaving a slime trail all the way back to their homeworld."

 

 

 

 

Seventeen

 

 

 

 

The first invasion of the vine world was both human and Linyaari. Acorna, moving gently among the fragrant vines, felt remorseful for what her people -were about to bring upon this self-contained ecology.

 

The plants felt far less alien this time, and far more friendly, now that she knew what their sap could do to Khieevi. She had scarcely noticed before how exquisitely beautiful the flowers were, with their petals shaded from cream to ivory to milky white and translucent, with the barest hints of pink near the stamen.

 

The scent did not seem so overpowering as it had before. Instead it was rather hypnotic, permeating her other senses so strongly that it seemed to be a color, a taste, a voice, as •well as a smell. As technicians and scientists barged through the vines so quickly the plants whipped back and forth as if in a strong wind, Acorna merely held her hand aloft and the ropes of leaf and flower parted for her like a curtain. Perhaps she was thinking of these vines as saviors, champions, defenders of her kind against Khieevi kind, but they were altogether more attractive to her than on her last visit.

 

Kaarlye and Miiri led teams of volunteers in the harvesting  of the sap. They brought containers, of course, but all the really needed was their own footwear and gloves, which collected plenty of the sticky substance as the people plowed through the vines.

 

Technicians carefully placed the drones that would transmit signals to lure the Khieevi away from the Niruans. These would be overlaid with holograms of Linyaari ships and pavilions being projected by other technicians while the programmed Linyaari holos began milling around among the holo-structures like so many ghosts.

 

Acorna found it quite startling -when she parted the vines •with a small gesture to face herself on the other side of them, a self apparently kneeling to collect sap and murmuring oddsounding words. Acorna retreated two careful steps and the vines closed back over the projection.

 

"Hmmm," she said to herself, and returned to where the ships that had brought the technicians, scientists, and equipment were almost totally wrapped in vines.

 

"Captain, I think I may have learned something about these plants," she began.

 

"Yeah, well, save it, Princess. We got us a situation here. Most of the holos are being hidden by the vines. Except for the projections we can make from above, of the tents and the ships, and only the tops of them are showing, this is still looking pretty much like -what it is, a vine world. It's going to take either some earth-moving machines or some heavy machete work to clear spaces for the holos and then these things have a way of growing back. The only good thing about it is that mowing a few of them down will produce more sap. But how it's going to work for a decoy, I dunno." He scratched his mustache in a thoughtful way.

 

"Wait, Captain. Perhaps that won't be necessary. Perhaps we can communicate with them."

 

The Captain looked at her as if she were insane. "Acorna.  Darling. Sweetie. Princess. Honey. Excuse me. You're a real bright kid, but they are plants. You eat them. You <)on't discuss strategy with them."

 

"Perhaps not. But if you use heavy equipment or even machetes to clear the area around the holos, then won't that defeat the purpose? Especially if the vines do not regenerate quickly enough in this area? Then the Khieevi will simply land in an area filled with holos, and once they discover that the bait is indeed, merely a collection of holograms, they will go back to the Niriians, or what will be worse for all of us, follow the projections back to the source and prey on the Moon of Opportunity instead."

 

The mustache bristled and Becker scratched it again. "OK. Guess we better have a council of war here."

 

Acorna made the same speech to Rafik, Gill, and via transmitter to Hafiz, orbiting the planetoid in the Ail Baba, one of his more modest vessels. Karina Harakamian, who had come along as the mission's "spiritual adviser," answered for Hafiz. "Of course, Acorna, dear, you are quite right to try gentle persuasion first. I will have the first officer transport me to the surface at once so that I may assist."

 

"How kind," Acorna said, quite insincerely, but there was no point in hurting Kanna's feelings. Fortunately, her new "auntie" was a mind reader only on very sporadic occasions, and those were never the ones Karina predicted or anticipated.

 

At Acorna's signal, the Balakiire landed beside the holos of the other Linyaari ships, some of them decorated with bunnies and flowers as well as the more usual rococo designs that symbolized the great families and heroes of the Linyaari people.

 

Thariinye and Maati, who had been setting up the smaller holos and who had also noted the problem of the vines obscuring them, responded to Acorna's mental summons, and Aari, who had been keeping her within sight as much as was possible, joined them.

 

"I don't suppose the LAANYE will be of any help here," Acorna said. "But I think we must try thought transference with the beings on this planet."

 

"The vines?" Aari asked.

 

"Yes," she said. "It came to me while I was out among them that they may communicate by their scent. Remember, the first time we came here, it was almost overpowering."

 

"It still is right around the ships, and where Captain Becker and the scientists are working," Maati said. "But I noticed as we got a little farther away, planting some of the holos, that the smell was actually kind of pretty."

 

"Sexy," Thariinye said.

 

-Maati put an elbow in his ribs. "Trust you to think so, even about vines!"

 

Aari shrugged. "I don't see what help I can be. I'm not very psychic without my-"

 

Acorna had to turn to face him as he was behind her, one hand resting lightly, reassuringly on one of her shoulders. "Aari," she said, staring, not into his eyes, but slightly above them.

 

The other Linyaari, including his parents, who had just arrived, panting, hefting their collection bags, followed her gaze. "Aari, what is that on your scar?" she asked, a little breathless with hope as she reached up to touch, thinking realistically that she would probably encounter a piece of a petal from one of the vine flowers. Her finger and his touched the little white protuberance at the same time.

 

"It's horn!" he said. "My horn is regenerating. The graft is finally taking."

 

(And I'll bet I know why,) Thariinye whispered, laughing.

 

Both Acorna and Aari blushed and Maati, who also picked up the whisper, stomped hard on Thariinye's foot.

 

Acorna embraced Aari and his parents and Maati touched him briefly.

 

Karina arrived. "I suppose we should start by everyone forming a circle!" she said brightly.

 

"Why?" everyone else asked, almost in unison.

 

"The better to commune, of course!" Karina said.

 

"With our species or yours maybe," Acorna told her gently. "But I think perhaps with these beings we might need to use different methods. One thing I do feel we must do, however, is to distance ourselves from the main part of the camp. The odor given off by the vines is the most overpowering and noxious near the ships."

 

Acorna led them into the vines, which parted almost politely before her and the others. They walked perhaps a half of a kilometer from the ships before Acorna stopped and inhaled.

 

"What do you smell?" she asked.

 

"It's nice here," Maati said. "Does that mean the plants here aren't as upset as the ones near the ships?"

 

"I don't know really," Acorna said. "It's just something I thought -we might try."

 

"It sounds pretty silly to me," Liriili said, though she had been unusually quiet until then. "How ever can you imagine that something can communicate with smells?"

 

Miin laughed. "What do you think -we do when -we're ready to mate, Liriili? Or other species for that matter? With pheromones!"

 

"It's not unheard of for species to communicate with something other than sound, after all," Neeva said. "Many do by sight, or touch, or, as we do ourselves, by thought alone. Had you spent more time investigating the universe around you, Liriili, you would know that."

 

Acorna said, "Now I remember! Ants! Little ants communicate by pheromones too-a fairly complex set of smells to give ", each other signals, indicate path-ways, that sort of thing."

 

"Ye-es," Liriili said, sounding almost pleasant, "Of course.

 

Paha,ntiydr<f also leave scent marks on their territory, or for mating. I just never thought of it as communication before."

 

"Yes, well, live and learn," Neeva said as diplomatically as possible, clearly not wishing to discourage Liriili's willingness to consider for once that something someone else said might actually contain merit. "The problem is how we should interpret the scents given here."

 

"That probably won't be as hard," Acorna said, "As somehow managing to communicate with the plants themselves. But I wondered-if the scents symbolize their thought forms, perhaps we can find some common ground to teach them something about ours."

 

"Why?" Thariinye asked.

 

"There are many good reasons why one would wish to communicate with a new species, Thariinye," Neeva said. "But the specific one Khornya has in mind, I suspect, is so that we might

 

ask the vines to part and allow the holograms to be seen by the Khieevi."

 

"But first "we must find a common vocabulary," Khaan said. "What do we know about the vines? How could we show similarity?"

 

"We-ell," -Maati said, "If-we want them to part, maybe she should start with that. They come together and they spread apart. Maybe we can show that with each other."

 

"But they don't communicate by what they see," Liriili said, and for once she -was using a reasonable, if impatient, tone that only slightly hid the fact that she was as puzzled as any of the rest of them. "They communicate by smell."

 

"But they convey a thought, sort of," -Maati argued. Acorna thought the girl had matured a great deal since she had stopped being Liriili's messenger. She was much more confident now.

 

(Showing off for her parents,) Thariinye, catching Acorna's thought, -whispered to her uncharitably. But Aan scowled at  him, as if he read the thought too, and Thariinye looked away as if the thought had been sent by someone else.

 

"Yes," Acorna agreed with Maati. "It is a thought form, however they express it and who knows? Maybe to the vines, we exude a scent too when we are thinking certain things. Only we'd be a lot more complicated for them to read, maybe, than they are for us. Let's try to simplify it for them. Everyone spread apart and concentrate, as we do so, that we are spreading apart."

 

"Our essential apartness," intoned Karina.

 

(Move gently, spread wide,) Acorna whispered. "Karina, think, 'Move gently, spread wide.' "

 

"A mantra! I love it!" Karina squealed. "Move gently, spread wide. Move gently, spread wide,"

 

"Softly," Acorna said. "In fact, don't say it, think it."

 

Karina nodded gravely and only moved her lips to the words.

 

The whisper was taken up by the others, in unison, (Move gently, spread wide). Their line spread until they could not touch outspread hands. As they moved at first the plants only parted to let each individual pass but gradually, as the people kept whispering, the vines softly lay themselves down upon each other until there was a large rectangular area open around the Linyaari and Karina.

 

When this concept seemed to be understood, Acorna said softly to Karina, who was on her right, while whispering to the others, (Close up, gather together, twining, tangling, plaiting).

 

The others took it up and gently came together, then pressed themselves in closer, Joining hands, lacing fingers, wrapping knees and feet around legs, hips, and waists as tightly as possible-and then more tightly as the vines locked in around them, squeezing until Acorna gasped, "Move gently, spread wide" again and the others picked up the thought. It took the vines a breathtaking moment to realize that this time, they must  spread first, but their scent lightened from the suffocatingly close aroma it had become while holding the Linyaari, and the vines spread once more.

 

"These plants are definitely sapient beings," Neeva said approvingly-and apparently somewhat fragrantly. The vines swayed gently back and forth, as if pleased, and emitted a light, sweet aroma.

 

"Good," Acorna said, "Because now we have to tell them about the Khieevi."

 

"Why?" Thariinye asked.