His broken hand rested on her shoulder, comfortingly. “I knew they could no longer be alive or they would have been here to meet me. It was my choice to remain behind, not theirs to abandon me. You only confirmed what I knew already.”
Acorna hurried to catch up with the others and Becker lowered the robolift once more. This time the cat stayed firmly onboard, sitting protectively between Aari’s feet.
“I’m happy to report. Count Edacki, that the experimental station is now fully operational and the testing has begun.” General Ikwaskwan gave the news to his employer on his private and secure channel. “Our technicians are going over the computers of the captured Linyaari ships, trying to find a way to open the navigation programs and decode the course to the home world. It seems there is an autodestruct device on such programs, but we are unsure as to how it can be reconstructed when thecreatures-wish to return to their home world.”
“Perhaps you can cajole our guests into providing you with the information verbally,” Ganoosh suggested.
“Well, there’s a little problem with that, sir. Except for three of the captives, the ones who came for the Acorna girl a few months ago, none of these creatures speak anything resembling Standard. We tried forcing the ones who do understand to translate, but they refuse and there is no budging them. Torture doesn’t work. They don’t say anything, even though they feel it. They pretty well heal immediately. Or die. We’ve almost lost the ambassador-whatsername-the one who is Acorna’s aunt. At least that’s who she said she was. It’s hard to tell. They all look alike. It’s hard to tell the men from the women even.
“Hmmm-are they being recalcitrant about using their other powers?”
“Oh, no siree. We’ve got that under control. Put one or two of them in a gas chamber and the air is sweet as springtime when you let them out. Poison one of them -with drain cleaner and it’s crystal clear water before you know it. That’s well documented. You can feel free to dump toxic waste, pollute anything you want, and what we have here is a cure-all. Of course, I’m not sure how well they’ll perform outside a controlled environment.”
“It’s not like you to mince words. General.” Ganoosh smiled. “You mean outside of captivity. Well, there are some other little tests I want you to run. I have had my ward divert her course, but soon she will be arriving with a very important guest, I hope, and possibly some information regarding the location of the central nesting place of our fine horned friends.
She will also have with her some horns which have been removed from their original owners. I would like you to do some testing to determine the qualitative difference in the performance of the horn on a live animal, as opposed to one that’s detached. If it is not great, well, then “
“I understand perfectly, Count Edacki. I wish also to report, by the way, that I have myself devised an interesting and entertaining way of testing the horns’ healing powers.”
“How is that?” Ganoosh asked.
“By reviving the idea of the Roman amphitheater and gladiator contests. You’ll recall my associate, Nadhari Kando?” the general asked.
“You haven’t made her privy to our little secret, have you? The woman was in league with that bleeding-heart Delszaki Li,” the count said with some disgust.
“We seem to have solved the problem of Nadhari s tender heart with liberal infusions of drugs that produce hostility and aggression. They seem to overcome her natural inhibitions to violence, which were never all that strong anyway.” Ikwaskwan’s smile was feral.
“I recall that from another conversation we had,” Ganoosh said.
“We lucked upon a ship full of children, enemies of your late associate, the Piper, I might add. They had hoped, I understand, to enlist Nadhari to teach them the art of war. So I am accommodating them. Have a peek,” he said.
The general switched the view on the comscreen so that Ganoosh saw an amphitheater constructed by building bleachers up the sides of a biosphere bubble. The soldiers in the bleachers were protected from the combatants by walls of reinforced plascrete. In the center of the ring, tethered by the neck and foot to a pillar, was Nadhari Kando, the lithe and dangerous-looking female Ganoosh had seen previously in Ikwaskwan’s company. She was armed with daggers and whips. And a tall, rather lovely teenaged girl, dressed in what was apparently Ikwaskwan’s scanty idealized version of a Roman toga, was forced into her path by soldiers carrying laser prods. The girl had only a dagger and a net.