“I appreciate your professional effort,” Pyanfar said quietly. And could not forbear adding: “And I do understand you, Ehrran.”
“Thanks,” Geran said for her part. The word all but: strangled on its way out.
The hani medic nodded curtly and hitched the strap of her carry-sack higher on her shoulder as the mahen medic came out of the room. “She explain?” the mahe asked. “I hook up machine, she stay connect. No take off. You get list procedure. I leave supply in cabinet.”
“She explained it. Yes. Thank you. Mashini-to, a?” .
“A.” The mane grinned and bowed and swung off down main corridor with the hani slogging along beside, an unlikely pair headed for the lift. Mahen guards peeled them selves out of the corridor in their wake and followed, Goldtooth’s remaining intrusion withdrawing itself.
Geran looked drawn and shaken. Silent even yet. Pyanfar put her hand on Geran’s shoulder. “Hey, she’s going to be all right. Best new-fangled stuff Iji’s come out with. Good as hospital. And more good news. I don’t think we’re pulling out of here real soon, not like we were afraid we might. Day or so, maybe. Maybe more. We know where Akkhtimakt is; I just got word from Goldtooth, and it looks like we’re going to have a little chance to breathe. There’s more to it than that, but for Chur’s sake it’s the best news we could come up with on short notice.”
Geran said nothing. But her face went defenseless and ordinary as if she had come back to them finally. Pyanfar pressed with her hand and Geran drew a deep breath. “What did Goldtooth have to say?”
“A lot of stuff that takes explaining.” Pyanfar looked in on Chur, leaned there in the doorway of a room which had a great lot of machinery sitting over against the wall; and a crowd of visitors: Hilfy and Tully and Khym still lingered “Hey, you,” Pyanfar said, “out of there and let Chur rest, will you?” And as the file passed her in the doorway: “Chur, Cousin, you hear me?”
“Uh?” Chur lifted her head from the pillow.
“We just got a present, a little while to rest. We got a message where Akkhtimakt is and we’ve got time for a little R and R. You don’t be getting out of that bed or you walk back to Kshshti.”
“Gods-be needles,” Chur said. “I hate needles.”
“Got more news for you. You get more of them on the way. Get some sleep, huh?”
“Trying,” Chur said, and shifted in the bed and settled as far as the tubes and one arm strapped outward let her.
Pyanfar shut the door and looked at the somber gathering in the hall.
“So what is it, captain?” Geran asked.
“Not something I much want to dump on you right now,” Pyanfar said. “But I’d better.”
“Chur-”
“Not about her. Us. Bridge. Everyone.”
The four of them followed her. Tirun and Haral turned their chairs about as they walked in. Pyanfar went to her own seat near Haral and leaned on the back of it while the rest of the crew settled on chair-arms and against cabinets. “Haral, Tirun, you catch that business in the corridor?”
“Aye,” Haral said. “Both of us. Good news on Chur. Thank the gods.”
“Thank the gods and friends where, we have ’em. Such as they are. We got anything essential running now?”
“No.”
“All right.” She took Goldtooth’s code-strip packet from her pocket and put that down on the counter by her seat, powered her chair about to face the crew and sat down.
“Humans are moving out from Tt’a’va’o. I don’t know what route they took; maybe you do, Tully, but the choices from there are real limited. I’ve talked to Goldtooth. I know a lot of things.” She watched Tully’s face, saw anxiety-the least little flicker of his strange eyes. “Humans on the move. And that’s not the worst of it. Goldtooth’s been lurking about Kefk regions keeping the Meetpoint route closed and creating a real difficulty for Akkhtimakt-Jik said sometime back that Goldtooth might be up to something hereabouts. But it turns out they don’t check things out with each other real well. It seems Jik took off on his own and made the deal with Sikkukkut. Unauthorized, as it were. Or at least without-consulting. Forced Goldtooth’s hand. Tully, I’ll try to use small words. Goldtooth had come in from deep space-at least from outside the Compact-with Tully aboard, off Ijir. He left Ijir to go its way-but he had a duplicate of the message packet Ijir carried. He had Tully. And he had gotten something else-some kind of message from the knnn. From the knnn, gods help us. At least that’s what Goldtooth hints. Meanwhile Akkhtimakt aimed to take Kita Point, while his agents were busy eliminating all opposition on the kifish home world-setting himself up as hakkikt of all the kif, that’s what he was after. And back at that stage, a few months ago, Sikkukkut was no more than a provincial boss from Mirkti- with ambitions. Sikkukkut courted his old mahen connections at Meetpoint, approached Goldtooth trying to outflank Akkhtimakt, probing for every weakness he could get- Meetpoint’s always a good place for intrigues. A real good place to pick up rumors. And right around that time rumors were running heavy-like hani deals with the stsho; mahen deals-everybody who was high up enough to get advance warnings was trying to get the best advantage against this new kifish hakkikt. Against Akkhtimakt.