The signal which caused Essu’s shield to relax presently reached it again. Essu wasn’t aware of it, but the shield softened in mechanical obedience. This time, it was Telzey’s probe which slipped through. She’d reproduced the signal as carefully as she could, but hadn’t been too sure it was an exact copy. Evidently she’d come close enough—and now for some quick and nervous work! If Stiltik happened to return before she got organized here, it wasn’t likely she could escape discovery.
That part of it then turned out to be easier than she’d expected. Essu’s mind already was well organized for her purpose. She flicked through installed telepathic channels to indicated control points. By the time she’d scanned the system, knew she understood it, most of the Tolant’s concepts were becoming comprehensible to her. She checked on the immediately important point. What was he to do with her after she came awake and Sasar pronounced her condition to be satisfactory?
Response came promptly. Essu would take her to Stiltik’s private lockup, inform Stiltik of the fact, and stay with Telzey until Stiltik wanted her. The lockup was a small sealed circuit section known only to Stiltik and Essu. Stiltik believed the human psi would be an important catch. She didn’t want her enemies to hear about it until she’d finished squeezing the truth from the Alatta, and had searched through Telzey’s mind for information she could turn to political advantage. It appeared Stiltik was engaged in a power struggle with Boragost, the other High Commander in the Elaigar circuit.
Essu’s shield hardened again until it appeared solidly locked, though a really close investigation would have revealed that contact remained now between his mind and Telzey’s. Telzey didn’t want to break that contact unless she had to. The Tolant should turn out to be as useful as she’d thought, and she had to do a good deal of work on him before he’d be ready for use—which made it time to be restored officially to consciousness and health. Once Stiltik was informed the prisoner was safely in the lockup, she should be satisfied to leave it to Essu to see Telzey stayed there.
And that would be essential for a while.
A thought whispered, “I know you’re planning to escape from the Elaigar! Would you permit me to accompany you?”
For an instant Telzey froze in shock. That had been a human thought. Otherwise there hadn’t been—and still wasn’t—the slightest indication of another human being around. She flicked back a question. “Where are you?”
“Not far away. I could be with you in a minute.”
Now she’d noticed something. “You’re human?” she asked.
“Of course. My name is Thrakell Dees.”
“It seems to me,” Telzey remarked, “there’s something here that could be part of the two Tanven minds I’ve been in contact with—or perhaps a third Tanven mind. But if you look closely, it’s only the impression of a Tanven mind.”
Silence for a moment. “A projected form of concealment,” Thrakell Dees’s thought said then. “One of the means I’ve developed to stay alive in this cave of devils.”
“How do you happen to be in the circuit?”
“I was trapped here over six years ago when the Elaigar suddenly appeared. I’ve never found a way to get out.”
Telzey gave Essu’s mind a questioning prod. “You mean you don’t know where the exits to Tinokti are?” she asked Thrakell Dees.
“I have an approximate idea of where they should be. However, they’re very securely guarded.”
Yes, wild humans, Essu was thinking. Quite a number of humans had managed to hide out in the circuit in the early period. Hunting them had been good sport for a while. There were occasional indications that a few still survived, skulking about in unused sections.
“What happened to the other human beings in the circuit?” Telzey asked Thrakell Dees.
“The Elaigar and their serfs killed most of them at once. I myself was nearly caught often enough in those days. Only my psi abilities saved me. Later I learned other methods of avoiding the creatures. The circuit is very large, and only a part of it is occupied by them.”
“Is anyone left besides you?”
“No, I’m the last. A year ago I encountered another survivor, but he was killed soon afterwards. The Elaigar have brought in captured humans from time to time, but none ever escaped and few lived long. Today I learned from a serf mind that Stiltik had trapped a human psi. I began looking for you, thinking I might be of help. But it seems you have your own plans. I suggest we cooperate. I can be very useful.”
“What do you know about my plans?” Telzey asked.
“Nothing directly. Your thoughts were too closely screened. But I’ve been following the responses you drew from the Tanvens. They indicate you intend to attempt an escape.”
“All right,” Telzey said. “I will try to escape. If you want to come along, fine. We should be able to help each other. But keep out of the way now, because I’ll be busy. The Tolant will be taking me somewhere else soon. Can you follow without letting him see you?”
“I’m rarely seen unless I want to be.” His reply seemed to hold a momentary odd note of amusement. “I can follow you easily in the general circuit. I have keys for some sealed areas, too. Not, of course, for all of them.”
“We’ll be in a sealed area for a while, but we’ll come back out,” Telzey told him. “Let’s not talk any more now. I’m going to wake up.”
* * *
She dissolved the memory taps in the Tanven minds and that of the old Elaigar, stirred about on the cot, then opened her eyes, looked up into Couse’s green face and glanced over at Sasar who had drawn back a trifle when she began to move.
“What’s happened?” Telzey asked. She looked at Couse again, blinked. “You’re the interpreter. . . .”
“Yes, I am,” said Couse.
Sasar said in the Tanven tongue, “What is the human saying? Ask her how she feels,” the thoughts carrying through the meaningless sound. Essu, hearing the voices, had appeared in the entrance again and was watching the group.
Couse relayed the question, adding that Sasar had been acting as Telzey’s physician after she had been injured. Telzey shifted her shoulders, twisted her neck, touched herself cautiously.
“He’s a very good physician!” she told Couse. “I’m still aching a little here and there, but that’s all.”
Couse translated that twice, first for Sasar, and then for Essu, who had some understanding of translingue but not enough to be certain of what Telzey was saying.
“The human aches a little!” Essu repeated. “It’s awake and it can walk, so it’s healthy enough. Tell your healer he’s relieved of his responsibility, and be on your way, both of you!”
The Tanvens left quickly and quietly. There was a belt of woven metal fastened around Telzey’s waist, with a strap of the same material attached to the belt. The other end of the strap was locked to the wall beyond the cot. Essu unfastened it now and brought Telzey flopping off the cot to the floor with a sudden haul on the strap. A short green rod appeared in Essu’s free hand then. He pointed it at Telzey’s legs, and she felt two sharp insect stings.
“Get hup!” said Essu, practicing his translingue.
She got up. He shoved her hands through loops in the back of the belt, and tightened the loops on her wrists. Then he took the end of the strap and left the room with the prisoner in tow. The Tanvens had turned right along the passage. Essu turned left. A closed door blocked the end, and as they approached it, he took something from his pocket, touched the device to the doorlock. The door swung open. They went through into an extension of the passage, and the door swung shut on its lock behind them.
There was a sudden heavy stirring in Telzey’s mind. . . . Elaigar thoughts. The old male was coming alert. She realized suddenly he could hear them. This seemed to be his area—and Essu was unaware it had an occupant. There was a heavily curtained doorspace in the wall just ahead—
As they came up to it, the curtains were swept aside and a huge Sattaram loomed above them. She felt Essu’s shock of alarm. Then the Elaigar’s hand flicked out with the same startling speed Stiltik had shown. Telzey was struck across the side of the head, went stumbling back against the wall. With her hands fastened behind her, she couldn’t get her balance back quickly enough and sat down.
It hadn’t been too hard a blow—from the giant’s point of view no more than a peevish cuff. But he wasn’t finished. He’d whipped a heavy knife from his belt, and was looking down at her. A human! He’d had no sport for too long a time. His lip curled, drawing up