Between Darkness and Light (51 page)

“Not possible, Captain,” said M'kou regretfully when he asked him that evening in the rec room. “The feed comes from the library, and it and the medical office you are working in are connected to the main databases. Those in the other rooms aren't. May I ask why?”

“I want to be able to access my own comp data as well,” he said shortly.

“Let's sit down,” said M'kou, gesturing to an empty table nearby. “Perhaps something can be arranged.”

He followed him over and sat down, putting his glass of ale on the table.

“Now, what exactly is it you want to do?” the young Prime asked.

“Multiple searches and cross-references with my own database,” he said. “I work more efficiently when alone. I'm not used to having to explain what I'm doing to someone else.”

“I thought that the point of you working with Doctor Zayshul was so she could help interpret data from our past for you.”

He shifted in his seat, picking up his glass and taking a drink from it. “I work mainly on instinct and experience, Lieutenant,” he said, placing the glass carefully back on the table. “Explaining it takes time and breaks the flow of thoughts.”

M'kou nodded. “I can see that it would. The library is only two rooms down from where you are at present. How would it be if I made several terminals there available to you? You'd also be close enough to the Doctor if you needed to collaborate on anything.”

He nodded. “That would be fine,” he said. “I want to go into records older than Doctor Zayshul is currently going through. I think the answers we need are unlikely to be in those of the male-only society to which the General belonged.”

“Are there any older than that?” asked M'kou.

“I believe so, though the files look like they may have degraded during the passage of time. I may need to do some work on recovering them and I have some programs on my own comp that could help me do that.”

“Sounds promising. If you'll excuse me, I'll go and make sure all will be ready for you for tomorrow morning,” said M'kou, getting to his feet. “I'll see you later, Captain,” he added as the door slid back and a small group of civilian females entered, followed by the Sholans.

“Alone, M'kou?” said Zhalmo, smiling broadly as she passed him on the way to their table. “I was sure Lazaik would be with you. Captain.” Nodding at Kusac, she slipped into an empty seat beside him.

“She's working this shift,” Zhalmo's brother said. “I've some business to attend to but I'll be back shortly.”

“I'll keep the Captain company,” she said, reaching out to touch Kusac's hand briefly. “He can tell me how his research is going.” She looked up at M'kou. “Go, go! He'll be fine with me.”

M'kou was frowning slightly as he left.

“What's the ale like tonight? I hear it's a new batch,” she said, reaching out to pull his glass closer and sniff at the contents.

“Tastes the same as usual to me,” he said lamely. “Uh, can I get you a drink?”

She smiled brightly at him, the rainbow-colored skin round her eyes creasing slightly. “Would you mind? I've just come off-shift on the
Zan'droshi
and I'm exhausted.”

He got up and joined the others clustered round the bar.

“You're here early,” said Banner as he took his drink from the young civilian Prime serving at the bar. “How's the work going?”

“Slowly,” he said. “I came here to see M'kou so he could arrange for me to use the library tomorrow. It's going to be a lot faster if I can set some search parameters on a couple of comps and let them crunch the data for me. And you?”

“It's interesting exploring on one of their battle cruisers, I'll give you that. We've worked our way through to a refueling area today, by one of the fighter landing bays. Sent a couple of drums of fuel over for testing to see if it is still good. Also found their machine shop. If the fuel's good, they plan to try it out on one of the fighters they've been restoring.”

“How many fighters have they found now?”

“Usable ones? About ten, I believe, out of fifty. The rest had been shot up in what must have been a pretty bad firefight in the landing bay and are beyond repair. Found a couple of other craft too—deep space scouts.”

“Useful,” he said, then gave his order to the waiting youth.

“Depends what for,” said Banner in an undertone.

He shot his Second a sharp look, getting one of complete innocence back.

“What?” asked Banner with a slight grin as he began to move away from the bar.

“Mixing with the natives now?” asked Dzaou silkily as he took Banner's place. “The good Doctor is having a bad effect on you.”

Taking his drink, he pushed past Dzaou, choosing to ignore him and returned to where Zhalmo sat.

“Thank you, Captain,” she said gratefully, accepting her drink as he sat down. She took a long drink then set the glass on the table. “Do you mind if I call you Kusac since we're both off duty? It isn't often any of us gets a chance to talk to you alone. How are you enjoying your visit here? It must be lonely for you all so very far from home and your families.”

“We're used to that,” he said, avoiding her question as he picked up his glass to take a drink himself.

“At least you do have some female company,” she grinned, “even if we aren't your own species.”

He was spared answering her only because his mouth was full.

“Tell me about your world,” she said. “Is it beautiful? What are your homes like? Do you live in a great walled city like we did?”

“It's beautiful,” he said. “We have great forests full of game, and plains of grain and other crops. We have a few cities, but mostly we live either on large family estates or in the towns that support them.”

“Sounds lovely. And your Emperor? Does he live in a palace?”

“We have an elected President, and, yes, he lives in a palace that belongs to us all, not to him.” He jumped as her fingers touched his wrist, fighting the instinct to draw it away from her.

“I've been so curious about your hands,” she said, her voice dropping as she turned his hand over. “I saw you running on all fours when we were planetside for the hunt, but I can't imagine how you did it.” She began tracing the outline of the soft center of his palm with her finger, making sure to keep her shortened claw from touching him. “It looks far too tender to be used for running on.”

“We don't run on that part,” he said, suddenly intrigued by her actions. She was making up to him—he could smell it in her scent, and feel it in her unguarded mind. He remembered their first day here and how she'd approached him in the gym. Maybe it was to his advantage to let her get a little closer.

He clenched his hand slowly, retracting his fingers till only the hard tips were exposed. “We run on the pad at the heel of our hand, and on the fingertips,” he said.

She turned his paw over, looking at it from the other side, then grinned up at him. “Put it back into a hand,” she said. “That's amazing. I would never have believed you could do that.” She turned his hand over again, stroking the center suggestively. “So why do you have such vulnerable palms? And how do you feel anything with such hard fingertips?”

He caught her hand with his, curling his fingertips into her palm. “Oh, we lose no sensations, believe me,” he said, letting the ghost of a purr of amusement into his voice. “There're many things we can do with our hands.”

Her eyes widened briefly, and she chuckled. “Maybe one day you can show me,” she said quietly.

“Perhaps,” he murmured, letting his index finger gently stroke her palm.

She shivered, and withdrew her hand. “You're far too tempting,” she said, patting the top of his hand. “And this is too public a place for that—my scent will give me away,” she smiled. “Tell me more about your world.”

He spent half an hour talking to her before excusing himself to join Banner and the others. As he was getting to his feet, she grasped his hand tightly, stopping him.

“Remember my offer, Kusac,” she said quietly. “It may be that sometime it would be, shall we say, mutually beneficial, for us to get closer.”

“I'll remember,” he said, surprised by her offer. It made him think as he walked over to where his crew sat. Perhaps from her he could find out more about scent markers. It was no secret after all; Zayshul had said all the Primes could smell her marker on him.

“What was that all about?” asked Khadui. “It looked very intense.”

He shrugged. “She wanted to know how we could run on all fours. I was showing her.”

“Just a PR job,” said Dzaou.

“Exactly,” he replied.

“You looked too much like you were enjoying it,” Dzaou objected.

“Why shouldn't I?” he asked, raising his glass. “She was charming company.”

“They are, aren't they? You forget how different they look after a while,” said Jayza artlessly. “They're just people like us, really.”

Banner laughed and patted the youth on the shoulder. “Well said, youngling!”

“Three months,” growled Dzaou. “I can't wait till it's over and we can leave this Godsforsaken place!”

A bustle at the entrance drew their attention—a civilian female was handing out leaflets.

“It's Nisho,” said Banner. “Looks like she's got the latest newssheet ready. Go fetch one, please, Jayza.”

“I thought she was one of Kezule's harem,” said Khadui.

“She is. Who better to produce the Outpost gossip sheet,” Kusac said.

Jayza engaged in some animated conversation with her then sped back to their table, throwing several copies into the center while he rapidly scanned his own.

“What's so exciting?” asked Banner, leaning forward to pick up two copies, one of which he handed to Kusac.

“Yes!” exclaimed Jayza. “She's right! There, halfway down the page—there's a swimming pool up on the hydroponics level and it's being opened to everyone as of tomorrow!”

“You're joking,” said Khadui, reaching for a sheet for himself.

“You can bet we'll be excluded,” said Dzaou sourly, taking a copy.

“It's a bit more than a pool,” he murmured, reading the appropriate paragraph.

“Well, I'll be,” said Banner. “Who'd have guessed a place like this would house a pool? And it does include us. The only stipulation is that we refrain from using the pool on their first day of the week as that day is for their religious observances. As Kusac said, it's more than just a pool.”

“What's the religious significance, Captain?” asked Jayza.

“They believe life evolved from a pool they hold sacred on their world. Each Outpost of any size, and each conquered world would have had a replica of that pool made by the Commander.”

“To be able to go swimming,” said Jayza, a large grin on his face. “It's going to make the time go faster.”

“Don't get too excited about it,” he said, scanning through the finds of civilian interest that had been made on the
Zan'droshi
over the last week. “It's a mineral pool, not a freshwater one.”

“It doesn't say that here,” said Khadui.

“Giyarishis said something about it the other day when I got trapped up there. Said the pool has healing properties,” he replied. “He used it on my arm.”

“Did it work?” asked Banner, intrigued, looking at him.

“Certainly seems to have done. It still needs a bandage,” he added, aware of Banner's interest in seeing how his wound was progressing.

“I should check it later tonight,” said his Second.

“No need, the Doctor changed the dressing today,” he said, concentrating on the list of the library's latest acquisitions of entertainment vids that he'd reviewed for anything of interest the day before.

“New vids, Banner,” said Jayza. “Hope they aren't the usual heroic tales of ancient Valtegan battles.”

“Worth a look, I suppose,” said Banner.

Startled, he glanced up at them, but there was no sign, either on their faces or in the set of their ears that their comments had been anything other than a coincidence.

Lijou leaned on the battlements, looking out over the mountains. From the faint glow behind the leaden clouds, he knew the sun had only just cleared the horizon. A cold wind was blowing from the northwest, promising more snow.

“You seem troubled, Father Lijou,” a quiet voice said from behind him.