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.”