The building felt sterile, devoid of life or any evidence of it.
The doors to the cubicles had been removed, and gaped at her as she walked past them, peering into empty apartments containing no furnishings, mementos, or equipment. Each building had contained eight apartments, and all of these were empty, in each and every building. Neeva could catch not a whisper of thought, not a spark of raw emotion.
She returned to the outside, her skin crawling with the unnatural silence and emptiness of the places where some of the best and brightest of her people had lived while learning, teaching, trading.
As she stepped out onto the park, her feet disturbed the layer of snow on the ground. She noticed that the native grasses her people had planted here were untended, dead. Nor had there been anything remaining to eat in the indoor gardens that each apartment customarily boasted. There had, in fact, been no way to tell which room served which function, so completely empty had the former dwelling places been.
But beneath her feet the soil, snow-covered as it was, was beginning to tell her something at last. Anger and fear, confusion, interrupted sleep, interrupted mating, longing for loved ones who were not there, the cries of frightened children and some, not much, but enough to scare any resisters, actual pain.
She was so busy absorbing these impressions that she failed to hear the snow-muffled footsteps of the party approaching her until it was too late to run back to her shuttle.
Leading the party was the large, double-horned, heavily built form of her old friend and primary negotiating contact, Runae Thirgaare, along with some other Niriians unknown to her. And behind them, four uniformed people who looked very like those who had sheltered Khornya.
“Vue()haanye ferilli Neeva,” the Runae said to her with less warmth than usual in her greeting. “I am afraid we can no longer welcome you and your kind among us.”
“Why not?” Neeva asked. “Where are the others?”
One of the uniformed strangers stepped out from behind the Runae. “We will take you to them, VLfe<)haanye feriiu Neeva,” a hornless woman almost as large as the Runae said. “We are Federation forces and have detained your people to assist us with our inquiries into certain criminal irregularities we are investigating at this time.”(Runae, please, speak to me yourself. What is happening here? You know I have only just come from my own world. What crimes could my people have committed? You know us as well as your own!)(Not quite as well, VU^haanye. Your people are inclined to some wildness and peculiar practices. They are unpredictable. Ours is a well-regulated world. We have no idea what trespasses you may have committed elsewhere. It’s to be expected, of course, of those who are deprived of the stabilizing influence of a second horn. I’m sure there is nothing to worry about. These people are from the regulatory body for a large federation of allied worlds far beyond us. We are, at their behest, considering membership at this time. So you see that of course we must respect their request for extradition.)“For what criminal irregularities are we being charged?”Neeva demanded of the hornless beings.“We’ll explain it all along the way,” the “woman said. She looked very familiar to Neeva. Her uniform particularly looked familiar. Wasn’t it very much the same one as was worn on Rushima by the troops that had assisted in the repulsion of the Khieevi attack?Neeva pondered this as she was hustled past her own shuttle, which was being transported to the same place she was, a larger vessel with some official-looking markings on it. It wasn’t until the uniformed woman began to push her into the hatch, pushing down her head so that her horn did not catch on its upper flange, that Neeva recalled that the troops who had assisted on Rushima were not allied with any Federation. They were a private army of mercenaries under the command of one General Ikwaskwan.Grandam “was as good as her -word. Acorna joined -ssfc ^ ^ .-Maati and several other couriers in carrying ^^f messages back and forth from the governmental compound to the citizens at large. Despite grave concerns about the situation in space, Acorna felt better than she had done since her arrival now that she was able to be useful and somewhat a part of things. Being a government messenger also gave her a much better idea of the communities in the area and the scope of settlement on narhiiVhiliinyar than trying to make contact on her own had done.