Mkks Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk
give go go go go go go
tell chi go go go go go
chi tc’a go go go go go
knnn knnn knnn knnn knnn knnn knnn
A cold wind went up Pyanfar’s back. “Hilfy: get comp on that. Tirun, go to com one.”
“Aye,” Hilfy said.
Not a word of criticism. No outcry from the crew. The tc’a ship was out ahead of them, likely to foul their schedule; a tc’a official onstation was talking about knnn, and no one sane wanted them involved. No one could talk to knnn but tc’a; and tc’a talked like that, in matrices that had to be read in all directions at once. It spoke of two tc’a presences, one at Mkks, going, perhaps-(give a chi?)-to tc’a at Kefk; while knnn were involved all across everyone’s motivations, and of two kinds of kif (Kefk-bound?) and two kinds of hani (gods, did it pick that schism up?) only one lot of kif was going to fight?
“… abort this lunacy!” a hani voice said, Rhif Ehrran from Vigilance, fairly yelling over com. “Aja Jin, pull us back!”
“You want what,” Jik’s answer came back. “Give time Kefk know we come? Sure thing they blow us to hell, Vigilance. You stay on course, stay on course, you hear?”
“Khoihktkt mane kefkefkti-“-from the kif: The mahe’s agreeing with us.
“Aunt, comp’s got nothing better. The tc’a’s talking about notifying knnn and says that tc’a’s going with us to Kefk. Comp’s not sure about the rest, but it’s got a conjecture-”
“Vigilance is on,” Geran said, “wanting the captain direct.”
“Refuse,” said Haral.
“Call on three,” Khym said. “It’s Harukk. Their com wants the captain.”
“Refuse: get Jik.”
“Belay that,” Pyanfar said, biting her mustaches and reading comp’s conjectures on the tc’a, not far off her own. “Jik’II talk when he can. Give me output. Compose a message to the tc’a and tell it we go and it waits.”
“Aye.” From Hilfy, tautly. No ship talked to methane-breathers without filling out abundant official queries afterward. There were reasons. Like methane-breather logic, which could take something fatally amiss. They were different. Very. And went berserk very easily. Tc’a were the peaceful lot.
Knnn-were something else.
“Aunt-here’s the set-up; approve it before it goes.”
hani hani mahe kif kit tc’a t’ca
ship ship ship ship ship Mkks ship
go go go go go Mkks wait
danger danger danger danger danger danger danger
“Makes sense to me,” Pyanfar muttered as it came up on the screen. “Log and send it. Send to Aja Jin: quote: We’re on schedule and proceeding. We’ve advised the tc’a of navigation hazard.”
“Jik’s on already,” Geran said. “He’s saying go with it. Still go.”
“Fine.” It was not the answer she had rather have had, but it was the one she expected. Go with it. Go ahead. Take the chance.
Jump with a tc’a in their midst. Tc’a navigated like snakes. They were snakes. Come in at Kefk blind with a tc’a liable to pop out of hyperspace any gods-rotten-where off-mark and the faster hunter-ships plotting to overjump them in hyper-space. … It was asking for disaster. Collision.
“We’ll shine bright enough for Anuurn to see, if we kink this one,” Pyanfar said. “Someone want to calculate the size of the fireball?”
“Gods-rotted bright one,” Haral said.
“Vigilance advises us,” said Khym, “she’s filing a-”
Hysterical laughter broke out in sneezes, short and wild. They were hair-triggered. Hani. Hell-bent on course for kifish zones.
“What’s that Ehrran think she is?” Hilfy cried over it all, as if there had never been kif, never been those awful days. Hilfy: youth and outrage. “What’s been going on?”
“Welcome back, kid,” Haral said dryly, never turning around. “You want a list?”
“Chanur’s got trouble,” Geran said, from Hilfy’s right. “Ehrran’s the name of it. She’s after our hide. Any way she can get it. We don’t cross her bows. That’s the word on it. We take this jump, we thank the gods this time we’re coming in a little slower than that ship of Ehrran’s. She’ll be in front of us at Kefk. Don’t want her on our tail, no thanks.”