Yaut flicked an ear, willing for the moment to wait and see what might be shaped from this difficult dilemma. He motioned Aille’s service into the empty building, then followed.
Silently, the four humans and two Jao threaded through the massive residence. They lost their way in the labyrinth of halls more than once and had to double back. The power was still on and Terra’s garish sunlight flooded through the many skylights and windows as they searched, but the emptiness was eerie.
When they finally stumbled upon the command center, Aille was startled to find a tattered-looking human male slumped in the central chair. The man was staring blankly at gleaming real-time tactical displays that had been left running.
“Dr. Kinsey!” Caitlin hurried over to him. “What are you doing here?”
Kinsey’s flushed face turned slowly, as though he were a device tracking a faint signal from some other galaxy. His eyes narrowed. “Caitlin?”
She took his hand awkwardly in her left one, her blue-gray gaze probing. “Did Oppuk strand you here?”
“No.” He shook his head. The age-grooves in his face were much more pronounced than Aille had ever seen them. “I was told to leave, just like everyone else,” he said, passing his free hand over facial skin rough with that peculiar hairy stubble human males were prone to exhibit. “They ordered all the humans in residence back to their homes to wait for instructions. I guess when one of the jinau generals objected—not even that, just pleaded—Oppuk had him killed. But—” He broke off and stared at the display over the strategy table. “I was hoping you might come here, so I decided to stay. I was worried about you. And if I understand the situation properly, it doesn’t seem to matter where anyone is, when the Ekhat come. Unless you’re in a specially designed underground shelter, you’re dead anyway.”
Yaut took the human by the arm and levered him onto his feet, then had to support his weight as the man swayed in his grasp. “We must contact the ranking Jao officer left on the planet’s surface,” he said over his shoulder to Aille. “I will use Oppuk’s database to ascertain who that might be.”
“Come over here, Dr. Kinsey,” Caitlin said, taking the man’s arm from the fraghta. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
“No, it’s not,” Kinsey said wearily. His lips twisted into a half-smile, half-grimace. “I’m absentminded, Caitlin, I’ll admit. But that’s not the same thing as absence of mind. So it turns out the Ekhat are not just some myth to frighten recalcitrant children, they’re actually coming—and from what I can gather, they’re going roast the Earth to cinders.”
“Maybe,” Tully said. “Maybe not. Rafe has some ideas about stopping them, and the Subcommandant’s at least willing to listen.” He helped Caitlin ease the exhausted professor onto another seat by the curved wall, where he’d be out of the way.
“Ah,” Yaut said, skimming through the records. “Here it is. Commandant Kaul has left also, along with, of course, the Subcommandant in charge of the flotilla. The ranking Jao officer left on the planet’s surface, aside from yourself, is Pleniary-Superior Hami krinnu Nullu vau Dree. She has been assigned to a bunker in the moiety called ‘England.’ I will transmit a command for her to report to you here, along with her staff and service.”
“Good,” Aille said. “Check the logs and see who else remaining on the surface might be of use.” His skin itched almost unbearably and he had to resist the urge to disrobe and scratch. “Until then, I am in desperate need of a swim.”
Caitlin looked up from Kinsey’s side. “Governor Oppuk certainly had enough pools in this monstrosity, if he didn’t punch holes in the bottoms before he left.”
Aille’s whiskers drooped in baffled-misunderstanding. “Why would he destroy something useful in that fashion?”
“Because he wouldn’t want anyone else to enjoy it!” Caitlin said. Aille reflected that if her ears had proper range of movement, they probably would have been pinned in blatant disgust.
Yaut looked up from the holo display, his fingers tented. “I wish to do more checking on assignments,” he said. “I will join you later.”