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.”“He couldn’t really have human DNA.And he doesn’t look human.”“If he did, it is possible that he disguises himself in some way.With a sensor net that distorts his true image, perhaps.Yet I agree—he does not look human.”“If we could get one hair from his head,” she murmured thoughtfully.He chuckled.“I will make that a priority, before he leaves.”“I know he’s leaving,” she said.“But when? And why?”“He says little,” he replied.“I do not know.But soon.”She frowned.“Everything is changing so quickly,” she said.Dtimun was still thinking about Komak.He shielded his mind far too well for a regular Cehn-Tahr, and he was a telepath.But human DNA? A child born of a Cehn-Tahr and a human would be put to death instantly, with its parents, if it were even possible.“Why wouldn’t Chan Ho just have Chacon killed?” Madeline wondered aloud.He moved closer.“If he were to be assassinated, his death would be laid at the door of Chan Ho, who has a precarious hold on his power,” he replied.“The Rojok commoners love Chacon.They do not love Chan Ho, who lacks the ability, because of Chacon’s opposition, to create terror as his late uncle, Mangus Lo, did.If Chacon simply disappears, people will wonder, but there will be no proof.Certainly, there will be no body.” His lips compressed.“Chacon and I attended the military academy on Dacerius together.We were friends.It has been a great sorrow to me that we found ourselves adversaries in this conflict.”“He is a noble adversary,” she agreed.“I owe him my life.”“I owe him mine as well.”She tried to imagine Chacon in the same position she and Dtimun and the Holconcom had been in at Ahkmau.It was distasteful.“Komak believes that Lyceria’s spies found out something about the kidnapping and that she has gone in person to warn him,” he said grimly.“Chacon would not have dared meet her near Memcache, but if they decided to meet at Benaski Port.that den of thieves is far removed from here.It would take at least two or three standard weeks for them to arrive there, and they would have to travel covertly, which would also take more time.” He seemed unusually worried.“They say that the emperor is frantic.”“Well, of course he is.She’s his only surviving child.”He nodded, but he didn’t meet her eyes.“You and I would go to Benaski Port and save her and Chacon, then?” Madeline asked.Dtimun’s eyes flashed green.“As you are now, your own life would be in greater danger than Chacon’s.”She flushed.“Oops.”He frowned.“We knowthat Komak has a way to alter your DNA, to make you far stronger than you are.But the process is dangerous.Any DNA manipulation has consequences.As you have already seen,” he added bitterly, alluding to his own negative qualities.“Not all tampering is bad,” she argued as a scientist.“I’ve seen lethal viruses displaced by scientific method, genetic malformations cured with gene therapy.It has benefits, as well as consequences.” Her eyes twinkled.“My, my, think of the possibilities, if there’s a breakthrough in nanotech that would make me the equal of a Cehn-Tahr woman in strength and fortitude.” She cocked her head.“I could get into even better brawls with my comrades aboard the Morcai.”He gave her a speaking look.“Sorry,” she said.“Just a stray thought.” Her eyes twinkled even more.“I could put Komak over a table,” she considered.“Wouldn’t he be surprised?”“Very surprised, when I threw him off the roof for touching you,” he returned and he wasn’t smiling.She let out a breath.“I miss the Holconcom,” she confessed and averted her eyes.“I love duty with the Amazon Division, but I miss the Morcai and her crew.”“Stern and Hahnson and Komak,” he interpreted coldly.“And, of course, you, sir,” she added with dry humor.“Nobody dresses me down twice a day for behaving in a nonmilitary fashion.” She sighed sadly.“I’ve become like you, sir, somber and duty-minded.Imagine that.”His eyes went green for just an instant.“I cannot.”She studied him curiously.She wanted to ask a question, but she was too wary of him to put it into words.He anticipated it and changed the subject abruptly.“There is another matter.The Dectat wishes to honor you for the treaty with the Nagaashe.They are debating the means.”Her heart jumped.“My goodness! But I didn’t really do anything.”“Your ‘old fellow’ would certainly debate that opinion,” he said, and he laughed gently.“The worst of your enemies in the days before Ondar has become your greatest advocate.The irony is incredible.”“Irony, sir?”“The soldier who would gladly have ordered your death in your first days with the Holconcom is the one who suggested the honor.”She laughed.“The Nagaashe said that he was the worst of all the Cehn-Tahr.” She frowned introspectively.“I don’t understand how they even knew him.Anyway,” she continued, “the Nagaashe were afraid of the Cehn-Tahr.They thought of you as animals.They saw you through my eyes.It changed them.”He smiled.“For which the Dectat is more delighted than you realize.Our stores of Helium 3 have been greatly diminished during the war, and our supply lines fragmented.The Nagaashe planet is close to us, and they have almost unlimited concentrations of it on their world.Our supplies were dwindling to a critical level because of the war.”“The Nagaashe were kind to me.”He looked at her with growing unrest.The sedative was just beginning to wear off.He straightened with regal grace from his perch against the window.“Later, we must let the kehmatemer in to see you, or face a riot.!”His sudden sharp pause was due to the entrance of a flaming mad Dr.Edris Mallory, soaked in some interesting and colorful substance, with a furious Captain Rhemun of the kehmatemer right on her heels.She saluted Dtimun at once, dripping on the smooth stone floor.“Sir.”Rhemun followed suit.Odd, Madeline thought, for an officer of another service to salute Dtimun like that, as if he were Rhemun’s superior.Perhaps it was military protocol here.Dtimun had said that he outranked the kehmatemer.“Mallory, why are you dripping on the floor?” Dtimun asked curtly.“Sir, he—” she pointed to Rhemun with her saluting hand and put it quickly back in place “—poured a pot of vegetable soup over my head!”“I can see that.Why did he pour a pot of vegetable soup over your head?” he asked, glancing toward Rhemun.“Permission to speak, sir?” Rhemun asked formally.Dtimun sighed.“Very well.”“We feel that Ruszel needs protein to mend her body,” Rhemun said curtly [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]