The girl had become a hazard, her very existence menacing Liriih’s position by threatening to “expose” her to the spacefarers for alienating Khornya and Aari. The child didn’t understand the delicacy of Liriili’s task in leading the planet, the careful balance that had to be maintained for the good of all. And, as for Thariinye … Who did he think he was, ducking away from her delicate overtures? He, too, was a hazard, disrupting the peace of so many of the young females, and not realizing that he obviously needed a mate who could guide him and help him control his less responsible impulses. He blamed her, she knew, for she could read him even when his horn was shielded, just as if he was made of plasglas. He had wanted to go on the Balakiire’s last mission, and he thought she had robbed him of glory. Very well, let him seek it now. Perhaps when-and if-he returned, he would be much wiser, would understand that her counsel had been for his own good. But, as for now, her two most difficult charges were, headed off-planet, possibly never to return. She’d sleep well tonight.
She arose the next morning at a leisurely pace, and halfway through cleansing herself, answered the call from the spaceport comshed. “Yes?”
“Vuzaar, I am here to relieve Thariinye, only Thariinye is . here. The equipment is on and there is a strange message 1 opine through the monitor, but Thariinye is absent.”
“How strange,” she said. “In this weather, where can he have p-one? It’s hardly fit outside for grazing.” Thunder was once more booming outside the pavilion and the cracks of lightning could be seen indistinctly through the fabric of the walls. Liriili shivered lightly, and pulled a blanket across her shoulders.
“Also, ma’am, one of the spacecraft is not in its berth.”
“How strange. Was it there yesterday? Perhaps it has been taken for repairs?”
“No, ma’am. I-wait-there u a note here from Thariinye. He says that he and Maati-surely he cannot mean little Maati the messenger!”
“Surely not,” Liriili agreed.
“-Have gone to look for the girl’s parents. He also wishes to warn others of a Khieevi presence detected in this galaxy by a Niriian vessel-that’s the message on the com screen.”
“How very extraordinary,” Liriili said. “Stay at your post, then-is it liril this morning?”
Yes, maam.
“Stay at your post, liril. Be alert for incoming messages, but under no circumstances are you to answer them. There will be no outgoing messages of any kind from this planet until rurther notice from me. Do I make myself clear?”
‘With Khieevi in the vicinity? Yes, ma’am, absolutely.”
I will send to the hills of the Ancestors and ask those spacefarers on retreat to return for a special meeting of the Council on this matter.”
I’ll be right here, ma’am. Even if we’re not to respond, ^harnnye may report back to us with more information about Ae Khieevi.”
My thoughts exactly, liril,” she said, and ended the transmission.
“I don’t get it,” Becker snapped, glowering at the corn screen. “For six weeks that damn thing is squawking at all hours with messages from everyone from your grandma and your aunt, Acorna, to that-woman-who runs the place. ‘Pick us up a nice trade alliance when you go home, honey. See if you can get us good terms on joining the Federation. And don’t forget a pint of milk and a loaf of bread while you’re at it.’ “
Aari and Acorna looked at each other and shrugged, then returned their attention politely to Becker’s rant.
“And now, when we have something really important to tell them, when we need to hear back from them right away, we get zip for a week and a half. What i) it with those people, anyway?”
He was not the only one who wanted to know. Aari and Acorna had spent every waking hour with the LAANYE and the Niriian logbook, then, while sleeping, learning the nuances of the Niriian language from the LAANYE’s sleep-learning programs. They listened over and over again to the mayday message and the ship’s log entries. If the captain had given specifics about the transmission from the Khieevi, the details of the ship’s final hours, or any findings pertaining to the location of the vessel pictured on the verdant planet, they had not found them. They hcu) deciphered an entry that was a personnel list of the crew aboard the downed Niriian vessel.