Rety's tutor had been the wilderness, whose harsh education taught just one lesson-to survive, at all cost. She grew up watching as some creatures ate others, then were eaten by Something stronger still. Lark referred to the "food chain," but Rety called it the who-kills mountain. Every choice she made involved trying to climb higher on that mountain, hoping the next step would take her to the top.

So when the Jophur were beaten and captured by mythical dolphins, it seemed only natural to hurry aboard the submarine and claim sanctuary with her "Earth cousins." Only now look where I am, buried under a trash heap at the bottom of the sea, hiding with a bunch of chattering Eartbfish who have every monster and star G.o.d in s.p.a.ce chasing them.

In other words, back at the bottom of the mountain again. Doomed always to be prey, instead of the hunter.

Craxf I sure do got a knack for picking 'em.

There were a few small compensations.

For one thing, dolphins seemed to hold humans in awe-the same kind as the Daniks had for their Rothen patrons. Furthermore, the Streaker crew considered Rety and Dwer "heroes" for their actions in the swamp against the Jophur sky boat. As a result, she had free run of the ship, including a courtesy pa.s.sword that let her approach a sealed entrance to the Streaker's brig.

For a brief time both airlock doors were closed, and she knew guards must be examining her with instruments. Prob'ly checkin' my innards, to see if I'm smugglin' a laser or something. Rety took a breath and exhaled deeply, washing away her body's instinctive panic over confinement in a cramped metal s.p.a.ce. It'll pa.s.s . . . it'll pa.s.s. . . .

That trick had helped her endure years of frustration in her feral tribe, whenever defeat and brutality seemed to press in from all sides.

Don't react like a savage. If others can stand living in boxes, you can, too ... for a little while.

The second hatch opened at last, showing Rety a ramp that dropped steeply to a chamber that was flooded, chesthigh, with water.

Ugh.

She disliked the mixed compartments making up a large part of this weird vessel-half-immersed rooms that were spanned above by dry catwalks, allowing access to both striding and swimming beings. The liquid felt warm as Rety sloshed downslope, reminding her of volcanic springs back home in the Gray Hills, but with an added fizzy quality that left trails of tiny bubbles wherever she moved. Feigning relaxed confidence, Rety approached the guard station, where two sentries were a.s.sisted by a globular robot whose whirring antennae watched her acutely. One of the dolphins rode a six-legged walker unit-without the bug-eyed body armor-enabling it to stride about dry areas of the ship. The other "fin" wore just a tool harness, using languid motions of his flippers to face a set of monitor displays.

"May we help you, missss?" the latter one asked, with a tail splash added for punctuation.

"Yeh. I came to question Kunn an' Ja.s.s again. I figure I'll get more out of 'em if I try it alone."

The guard focused one eye back at her with a dubious expression. The first attempt had not gone well, when Rety accompanied Lieutenant Tsh't to interrogate the human prisoners. They had been groggy and unhelpful, still wearing bandages and medic pacs for their various injuries. While the dolphin officer tried grilling Kunn about matters back in the Five Galaxies, Rety endured a hot glare of hatred from her cousin Ja.s.s, who murmured the word traitor and spat on the floor.

Who 'd you figure I betrayed, Joss? she had wondered, eyeing him coldly until his stare broke first. The Daniks!' Even Kunn isn 't surprised I switched sides, after the way he treated me.

Or do you mean I've turned against our home clan? The band of grubby savages that birthed me, then never showed me a day's kindness since?

Before looking away, his eyes showed it was personal. She had arranged for Ja.s.s to be seized, tormented, and pressed into service as Kunn's guide. His being locked in this metal cage was also her doing.

That thought cheered her up a bit. You gotta admit, Ja.s.s, I finally made an impression on you.

But soon things are gonna get even worse.

I'm gonna make you grateful.

Meanwhile, Kunn told Tsh't that the siege of Earth went on, though eased somewhat by a strange alliance with the Thennanin.

"But to answer your chief question, there has been no amnesty call by the Inst.i.tutes. Several great star clans have blocked a safe-conduct decree to let your ship come home."

Rety wasn't sure what that meant, but clearly the news was bitter to the dolphins.

Then a new voice intruded from thin air, where a spinning abstract figure suddenly whirled.

"Lieutenant, please recall instructions. Have the prisoner explain how his vessel tracked us to this world."

Rety recalled seeing a tremor course down the dolphin's sleek gray flank, perhaps from irritation over the machine's snide tone. But Tsh't snapped her jaw in a gesture of submission, and sent her walker unit looming closer to Kunn's bunk. The human star voyager had nowhere to retreat as her machine pressed close, threateningly. Rety recalled sweat popping out on the Danik warrior's brow, giving lie to his false air of calm. Having watched him intimidate others, she was pleased to see the tables turned.

Then it happened. Some piece of equipment failed, or else the lieutenant's walker took a misstep. The right front ankle abruptly snapped, sending the dolphin's great ma.s.s crashing forward.

Only lightning reflexes enabled Kunn to scramble out of the way and avoid being crushed. By the time guards arrived to help Tsh't untangle herself, the dolphin officer was bruised, angry, and in no humor to continue the interview.

But I'm ready now, Rety thought later, as one of the brig wardens prepared to escort her down a narrow pa.s.sage with numbers etched on every hatch. I've got a plan . . . and this time Kunn and Joss better do as I say.

"Are you sure you want-t to do this now, miss?" the guard asked. "It's night cycle and the prisoners are asleep."

"That's just how I want 'em. Groggy an' logy. They may blab more."

In fact, Rety hardly cared if Kunn named the admirals of all the fleets in the Five Galaxies, Her questions would only serve as cover for communication on another level.

She had been busy in the room the Streakers a.s.signed her-a snug chamber once occupied by a human named l Dennie Sudman, whose clothes fit her pretty well. Pictures I on the wall portrayed a young woman with dark hair, who I was said to have gone missing on some foreign planet years ago, along with several human and dolphin crew mates. On her cluttered desk Dennie had left a clever machine that spoke in a much friendlier manner than the sarcastic Niss. It seemed eager to a.s.sist Rety, telling her all about the Terran ship and its surroundings.

I've studied the pa.s.sages leading from this jail to the OutLock. I can name what kind of skiffs and star boats they keep there. And most important, these Earthfish trust me. My pa.s.swords should let us out.

All I need is a pilot . . . and someone strong and mean enough to do any fighting, if we run into trouble.

And luck. Rety had carefully timed things so there was little chance of running into Dwer along the way.

Dwer knows not to trust me . . . and I can't be sure that bothJa.s.s and Kunn together would be enough to bring him down.

Anyway, all else being equal, she'd rather Dwer didn't get hurt.

Maybe I'll even think about him now and then, while I'm livin' high on some far galaxy.

There wasn't much else about Jijo that she planned on remembering.

Dwer I DON'T BELONG HERE," HE TRIED TO EXPLAIN. "AND neither does Rety. You've got to help us get back." "Back where?" The woman seemed honestly perplexed. "To that seaside swamp, with toxic engine waste and dead Jophur rings for company? And more Jophur surely on the way?"

Once again, Dwer was having trouble with words. He found it difficult to concentrate in these sealed s.p.a.ces they called "starship cabins," where the air felt so dead. Especially this one, a dimly lit chamber filled with strange objects Dwer could not hope to understand.

Lark or Sara would do fine here, but I feel lost. I miss the news that comes carried on the wind.

It didn't help settle his nerves that the person sitting opposite him was the most beautiful human being Dwer had ever seen, with dark yellow hair and abiding sadness in her pale eyes.

"No, of course pot," he answered. "There's another place where I'm needed. . . . And Rety, too." Fine lines crinkled at the edges of her eyes. "The young hoon, Alvin, wants to let his parents know he's alive, and report to the urrish sage who sent the four of them on their diving mission. They want help getting home."

"Will you give it?"

"How can we? Aside from putting our own crewfolk in danger, and perhaps giving our position away to enemies, it seems unfair to endanger your entire culture with knowledge that's a curse to any who possess it.

"And yet ..."

She paused. Her scrutiny made Dwer feel like a small child.

"Yet, there is a reticence in your voice. A wariness about your destination that makes me suspect you're not talking about going home. Not to the tranquil peace you knew among friends and loved ones, in the land you call the Slope."

There seemed little point in trying to conceal secrets from Gillian Baskin. So Dwer silently shrugged.

"The girl's tribe, then," the woman guessed. "Rety's folk, in the northern hills, where you were wounded fighting a war bot with your bare hands."

He looked down, speaking in a low voice.

"There's . . . things that still need to be done there."

"Mm. I can well imagine. Obligations, I suppose? Duties unfulfilled?" Her sigh was soft and distant sounding. "You see, I know how it is with your kind. Where your priorities lie."

That made him look up, wondering. What did she mean by that? There was resigned melancholy in her face . . . plus something like recognition, as if she saw something familiar in him, wakening affectionate sadness.

"Tell me about it, Dwer. Tell me what you must accomplish.

"Tell me who depends on you."

Perhaps it was the way she phrased her question, or the power of her personality, but he found himself no longer able to withhold the remaining parts of the story. The parts he had kept back till now.

about his job as chief scout of the Commons, seeing to it that no colonist race moved east of the Rimmers-sparing the rest of Jijo from further infestation. Enforcing sacred law.

then how he was ordered to break that law, guiding a mission to tame Rety's savage cousins-a gamble meant to ensure human survival on Jijo, in case the Slope was cleansed of sapient life.

how the four of them-Darnel Ozawa, Dwer, Lena, andJenin-learned the Gray Hills were no longer a sanctuary when Rety guided a Danik sky chariot to her home tribe.

how Dwer and the others vowed to gamble their forfeit lives to win a chance for the sooner tribe . . . four humans against a killer machine ... a gamble that succeeded, at great cost.

"And against all odds, I'd say," Gillian Baskin commented. She turned her head, addressing the third ent.i.ty sharing the room with them.

"I take it you were there, as well. Tell me, did you bother to help Dwer and the others? Or were you always a useless nuisance?"

After relating his dour tale, Dwer was startled by a sudden guffaw escaping his own gut. Fitting words! Clearly, Gillian Baskin understood noor.

Mudfoot lay grooming himself atop a gla.s.s-topped display case. Within lay scores of strange artifacts, backlit and labeled like treasures in the Biblos Museum. Some light spilled to the foot of another exhibit standing erect nearby-a mummy, he guessed. When they were boys, Lark once tried to scare Dwer with spooky book pictures of old-time Earth bodies that had been prepared that way, instead of being properly mulched. This one looked vaguely human, though he knew it was anything but.

At Gillian's chiding, Mudfoot stopped licking himself to reply with a panting grin. Again, Dwer imagined what the look might mean.

Who, me, lady? Don't you know I fought the whole battle and saved everybody's skins, all by myself?

After his experience with telepathic mule spiders, Dwer did not dismiss the possibility that it was more than imagination. The noor showed no reaction when he tried mind speaking, but that proved nothing.

Gillian had also tried various techniques to make the noor talk-first asking Alvin to smother the creature with umble songs, then keeping Mudfoot away from the young hoon, locking it instead in this dim office for miduras, with only the ancient mummy for company. The Niss Machine had badgered the noor in a high-pitched dialect of GalSeven, frequently using the phrase dear cousin.

"Danel Ozawa tried talkin' to it, too," Dwer told Gillian.

"Oh? And did that seem strange to you?"

He nodded. "There are folktales about talking noor . . . and other critters, too. But I never expected it from a sage."

She slapped the desktop.

"I think I get it."

Gillian stood up and began pacing-a simple act that she performed with a hunter's grace, reminding him of the prowl of a she-ligger.

"We call the species tytlal, and where I come from, they talk a blue streak. They are cousins of the Niss Machine, after a fashion, since the Niss was made by our allies, the Tymbrimi."

"The Tymb ... I think I heard of 'em. Aren't they the first race Earth contacted, when our ships went out-"

Gillian nodded. "And a lucky break that turned out to be. Oh, there are plenty of honorable races and clans in the Five Galaxies. Don't let the present crisis make you think they're all evil, or religious fanatics. It's just that most of the moderate alliances have conservative mind-sets. They ponder caution first, and act only after long deliberation. Too long to help us, I'm afraid.

"But not the Tymbrimi. They are brave and loyal friends. Also, according to many of the great clans and Inst.i.tutes, the Tymbrimi are considered quite mad."

Dwer sat up, both intrigued and confused. "Mad?"

Gillian laughed. "I guess a lot of humans would agree. A legend ill.u.s.trates the point. It's said that one day the Great Power of the Universe, in exasperation over some Tymbrimi antic, cried out, 'These creatures must be the most outrageous beings imaginable!'

"Now, Tymbrimi like nothing better than a challenge. So they took the Great Power's statement as a dare. When they won official patron status, with license to uplift new species, they traded away two perfectly normal client races for the rights to one presapient line that no one else could do anything with."

"The noor," Dwer guessed. Then he corrected himself. "The tytlal."

"The very same. Creatures whose chief delight comes from thwarting, surprising, or befuddling others, making the Tymbrimi seem staid by comparison. Which brings us to our quandary. How did they get to Jijo, and why don't they speak?"

"Our Jijo chimpanzees don't speak either, though your Niss-thing showed me moving pictures of them talking on Earth."

"Hmm. But that's easily explained. Chims were still not very good at it when the Tabernacle left, bringing your ancestors here. It would be easy to suppress the talent at that point, in order to let humans pretend . . ."

Gillian snapped her fingers. "Of course." For a moment, her smile reminded Dwer of Sara, when his sister had been working on some abstract problem and abruptly saw the light.

"Within a few years of making contact with Galactic civilization, the leaders of Earth knew we had entered an incredibly dire phase. At best, we might barely hang on while learning the complex rules of an ancient and dangerous culture. At worst-" She shrugged. "It naturally seemed prudent to set up an insurance policy. To plant a seed where humanity might be safe, in case the worst happened."

Her expression briefly clouded, and Dwer did not need fey sensitivity to understand. Out there, beyond Izmunuti, the worst was happening, and now it seemed the fleeing Streaker had exposed the "seed," as well.

That's what Danel was talking about, when he said, "Humans did not come to Jijo to tread the Path of Redemption. " He meant we were a survival stash . . . like the poor g'Kek.

"When humans brought chimps with them, they naturally downplayed pans intelligence. In case the colony were ever found, chims might miss punishment. Perhaps they could even blend into the forest and survive in Jijo's wilderness, unnoticed by the judges of the great Inst.i.tutes."

Gillian whirled to look at Mudfoot. "And that must be what the Tymbrimi did, as well! They, too, must have snuck down to Jijo. Only, unlike glavers and the other six races, they planted no colony of their own. Instead, they deposited a secret cache ... of tytlal."

"And like we did with chimps, they took away their speech." Dwer shook his head. "But then . , ." He pointed to Mudfoot.

Gillian's eyebrows briefly pursed. "A hidden race within the race? Fully sapient tytlal, hiding among the others? Why not? After all, your own sages kept secrets from the rest of you. If Danel Ozawa tried speaking to Mudfoot, it means someone must have already known about the tytlal, even in those early days, and kept the confidence all this time." Absently, she reached out to stroke the noor's sleek fur.

Mudfoot rolled over, presenting his belly.

"What is the key?" she asked the creature. "Some code word? Something like a Tymbrimi empathy glyph? Why did you talk to the Niss once, then clam up?"

And why did you follow me across mountains and deserts? Dwer added, silently, enthralled by the mystery tale, although the complexity combined with his ever-present claustrophobia to foster a growing headache.