“Much of the fault lies with us for not realizing that your-specialness-separated and isolated you, not only from the rest of your people but from the truth within yourself. Now we do not punish you, child, but seek to recompense you for the harm we have allowed you to do to yourself as well as to others. You must face the truth of your actions, if not within yourself, for you seem to be incapable of doing so, but by seeing for yourself the consequences.”
Liriili was very easy to read now. Caution was trying to displace fear and disbelief in her mind as Grandam retreated to her official position, sat, then rose again, in unison with the other Council members.
“Liriili of clan Riivye, you are relieved of your duties as Viizaar of Kubiilikhan and administrator of narhiiVhiliinyar by the High Council after consultation with and in accordance with the advice of the Ancestors. You are reassigned to duty as a junior shipman on the Balakiire, under the command of vifeShaanye-feriui Neeva and Melireenya. Your mission will be to pursue the information obtained from the pliyi, to attempt to warn the Condor of the peril contained in it, to ascertain the whereabouts and ensure the safety of Thariinye and Maati and the Niikactvn, to determine the whereabouts of Kaarlye and Miiri and rescue them or at least retrieve the data in their landing pod, and to warn our allies of the Khieevi danger, even if by issuing such a warning you allow the Khieevi to trace a signal back to the Balakiire. Vi^e()haanye-feriiU Neeva and her crew have volunteered for this mission, and have agreed to take responsibility for you. They are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, if necessary, to accomplish this mission. You are hereby dismissed into the custody of the Neeva, her crew, and the Balakiire, and may the wit of the Ancestors and the Grace of the Friends preserve you all from harm.”
The prisoner -was in unbearable pain. Aari had decidedly mixed feelings about the fact. His need for revenge was at odds with his hatred of seeing anything, even a Khieevi, suffer so. But there was one comfort to be found in the hold of this ship, as terrifying a place as it was right now. The prisoner was klacking out all the information Aari demanded, but neither Aari nor Becker nor even Mac, who had been quite prepared to “slowly disassemble” the Khieevi, had laid a finger on the creature. Whatever was causing the Khieevi so much agony, they weren’t responsible.
Instead of disassembling it, Mac was rapidly processing the information he was given about Khieevi klackings by Aari and the LAANYE to help interpret Aari’s and Decker’s questions into simulated klacks and to interpret the answers.
The thing lay within the cargo net on the deck, and the net s couplings were securely fastened to the bulkhead. The monster was going nowhere. Aari was grateful the despicable creature’s form was somewhat obscured by the grid of the net. Is titanium strands pulled tightly across the creature’s protrudlng Gyes, restrained its pincers, and bent one antenna flat against ^e side of its bulbous head. The putrid smell Aari had first ^ticed out by the Khieevi ship now filled the hold and seemed 0 grow worse and worse as time went on. Becker remarked on tne green icor draining from beneath the netted Khieevi.
“It’s messing itself, it’s so scared,” he said. “Scared?” Aari asked. “A Khieevi? Scared? Of us?” “Sure. You were scared, when we found you for the first time, weren’t you?”
“Naturally, but I am not a Khieevi.” “Let me tell you a little something about people, buddy, any kind of people,” Becker said. “These creeps,” he gestured to the Khieevi, “they like to hurt anything they come across just to watch it squirm. It’s how the buggers think. So when one of them gets caught and put in the same position as its victims, of course it’s going to figure we’ll do the same to it. Only difference is, we’re after information. According to you, when you were a Khieevi captive, they didn’t seem to care all that much if you said anything or not. They just liked to hear you scream, right?”