IronStar (61 page)

“I will do my best, Warmaster,
there’s a device-that-speaks in three of the waterfront towers. I will call
them.”

“Thank you, Armsmaster. As fast as
possible! It has Akaray captive with it, and Tash’ta… No one is to approach
it.”

“Yes, Warmaster, I understand. That
part of the city is where plague-of-screams was worst, there is almost no one
else there.”

A few minutes later their small
convoy reached Waterside Block. They halted briefly at the north end of the
block so Corporal Gilman could get out with her equipment. Kirrah drove the
second Tango behind Lieutenant Warden’s vehicle. From there she could see a
sparse forest of masts already out on the water. In a few seconds they pulled
up at the south end of Waterside Block where Tailors’ Road met the lake. The
Kruss and its two captives were visible just arriving on the empty docks ahead.
As Kirrah’s party stopped their vehicles thirty meters away and stepped down,
the Kruss turned and spoke into its microphone. Kirrah’s translator picked up
the coughing, hissing sounds:

« Pssittagk greets ssKirragk mighty
warrior of slowmeat primitives. »

“Kirrah sees Piss-tak acting
stupid. Release humans
now!
”
Funny
, she thought, looking at the
Kruss over the sights of her beamer,
I don’t remember drawing my sidearm
…

« ssKirragk is foolish acting.
Shoot beamer, detector respond small explosion »
 
To illustrate, the being pointed a clawed and
armored finger at the three-by-six centimeter boxes now strapped to the throats
of each hostage.

« Detector sees beamer noise and EM
pulse. If close, kill. Understand? »

“It’s mined the hostages, Kirrah,”
said Lieutenant Warden to her right and behind. If we fire a beam weapon…”

“I get the picture, Marcus,
now
what?”
Oh yeah, I’ve taken over, I guess that’s up to me
...

“What does Piss-tak want?” Kirrah
ground out between her teeth.
God, how badly I want to pull this trigger
…
Akaray was looking at her, not moving except for his eyes, which were flicking
back and forth between her and the Kruss. Tash’ta was standing as far away as
her chain allowed, which was only a few centimeters. Her knees and one elbow
were scraped and bloody, her hands were pinned behind her by some sort of restraints
like Akaray’s.

« Pssittagk wants Lssghagk » the
being said, each eye roving independently to keep as many Regnum soldiers in
sight as possible.

“What is a Liss-gik?” Kirrah
replied.

« Already saw other Kruss on
imager. In hole, two doors. Name Lssghagk. Pssittagk demands trade Lssghagk for
small slowmeats. Good deal, all live. »

“Your friend Liss-ghack is no
longer on-planet. It is already on its way to a Civilium Scrutineer. It is
evidence in the Talamae people’s claims against the Kruss Empire, for use of
illegal weapons. There is plenty of good evidence. Your Empire will already pay
heavy reparations for your actions here. Do not add to the list of charges.
Release the humans
immediately
!”

The small reptile-like being stood
in thought for a moment, tongue licking its black lips, one small clawed hand
gripping Akaray’s upper arm. A small display panel slid up out of its suit
collar, one eye swung down to take in whatever the panel was showing.

« Not to believe humans. Not to
trust humans. Too many humans here. » The creature crouched down behind Akaray,
pulled Tash’ta forward on its right side. The girl shouted:

“Warmaster! Kill this thing!
Please! I do not fear!”

I bet you don’t, sweetheart
,
Kirrah thought, remembering the blood transfusion. She replied:

“Tash’ta. If I fire my weapon, that
box on your throat will kill you both. Do nothing, trust me, we will get you
free.”
I hope
.

“Piss-tak! Listen to me! If the
humans are harmed, nothing in the universe can save you from my vengeance, do
you understand this?”

« Understand. We trade same coin,
ssKirragk and I. Lssghagk is my ortho-mate. Want back, now! »
Oh, shit! Part
of its
family, Kirrah realized.
No wonder it’s acting so desperately.
What now?

“Lssghagk is not on this planet,”
she replied. “Lssghagk is on Regnum ship, taken to Civilium Scrutineer, then
Justice Board. Release humans, I will send you to be with Lssghagk.”

« ssKirragk insults Pssittagk’s
trading skills. » The neutral voice issuing from the translator overlaid the
rattles and coughs coming from the Kruss’ throat, its mild tone totally at odds
with the desperate conversation.

« Pssittagk believes ssKirragk will
make trade. Not now, then tomorrow. Not too long, trade-goods spoil. Before
Pssittagk grows hungry. Pssittagk leave now, no troubles make small humans
safe. » The Kruss turned and started down the bank toward the river.

“There are no ships for Piss-tak.
Best we talk, settle trade here,” Kirrah called after it.

« ssKirragk not good marketer. Got
no goods for trade Pssittagk-customer wants. Get goods, then bargain. Many
boats here, rent one against account for Kruss flyer. »

‘Many boats?’
Kirrah
wondered.
What ‘Many boats’?
She trotted to the edge of the bank, looked
out over the now-empty wharves and down to the waterline, where the Kruss was
walking along the shore to the right with its hostages. It came to the next
dock where a string of the anti-shipping fire rafts were still tied up. It
sliced the lines tethering two of the two-by-three meter rafts to the pier,
herded the two young humans onto one of the wobbly log floats and forced them
down among the oil-impregnated brush and kindling. It tied the two loose fire
rafts together and pushed off into the current. Then it called back up:

« Channel One! », and Kirrah,
standing on the top of the pier with her allies, turned her wristcomp to the
international hailing channel.

« Terms for hostage release, » said
the mild computer-synthesized voice driven by the Kruss’ alien mind.

« Imprimus: do not fire on
Pssittagk. Detector sees energy beam, causes small explosion, kill small
humans. Pssittagk drink blood. Arrows also foolish, hurt humans, not Kruss
armor. Other weapons cause fire, these wood rods burn fast, cook Pssittagk’s
dinner very tasty. Notice to human soldier on roof with long gun, if this Kruss
cease reset timer, Kruss beamer then shoot, ignite wood. Also activate small
explosions. »

“Damn!” said Adrianne, rising from
cover on the block’s roof just behind a faded sign. “Sorry, Ma’am. No shot.”
The mild voice continued, apparently using an archaic numbering system the
language file rendered in Latin:

« Secundus: No shuttle flights, no
small fliers within
bzzzz
eighteen point seven kilometers of Pssittagk.
Also send these wood boats away. »

« Tertius: Kruss and prey now take
long river voyage. Pssittagk call one O’dai ship for pickup, must return to
base for… Must return to base. ssKirragk must allow one O’dai ship up river,
meet Pssittagk, depart. No attacking.

« Quartus: Kruss to need meat-food
soon. Accept delivery two ways only. One way, ssKirragk put meat on raft in
river, rope across river. Raft in center. Good meat only, small humans must
swallow first.

« Other way, Kruss eat parts of
small humans. Plenty meat for voyage. ssKirragk choose way one or two.
Pssittagk allow shuttle flight to place food, first delivery by
bzzzz
fifty-two
minutes after dawn tomorrow.

« Pssittagk apologize about long
contract, over-fill slow human mind. Pssittagk tries to think of everything, no
surprises. Good trading partner. Give ssKirragk time needed return Lssghack.
Final trade at Kruss base, safe there. Good deal, yes? Alternative, if Lssghack
visit Regnum, small humans visit Krusslath. »

Kirrah stood in stunned silence, as
every avenue of attack her frantically racing mind considered, was blocked by
something the Kruss had set up.
Check and mate.
She watched the powerful
little creature lash Akaray’s ankles to one of the logs, then bend the boy on
his back over the brushpile and secure his wrists to the other side. Then a
sobbing Tash’ta was similarly spread-eagled on the raft, and the Kruss settled
down comfortably between its human shields. The current continued to carry them
down the lake. Kirrah made to follow along the shore when Irshe stopped her
with a firm hand on her arm.

“Warmaster, the fight is not
there
.
The fight is
here
.” He touched her forehead with a fingertip. She
recoiled, took a deep breath.

“Irshe-
ro’tachk
is wise as
always. I am sorry. I forget I am not the only one wanting those two returned.
Let us go back to Stone-in-a-River school and consider our options. And please
ask Captain Og’drai to shadow that Kruss down the river. He should take four
steamships and a complement of archers and cavalry, and keep back five doi’la
unless otherwise ordered.

“Lieutenant Warden, would you
please make the arrangements for a shuttle flight tomorrow before dawn? We will
take a raft aboard, and a coil of rope, we can deliver a
sha’pluuth
carcass
a few kilometers down-river from the Kruss’ position. And could you have
someone track them down the river from a Tango, with a good optical suite? I’d
like to supplement the
Argosy’s
optics. I assume if we ever learn that
little horror has killed our people, we can strike at will. And have them take
a local guide, there are
tso’ckhai
on the plains, your people won’t see
them in time.”

Two hours later, a glum group was
still gathered in Kirrah’s quarters at the Stone-in-a-River school. She sat
behind her small desk. Irshe, Slaetra, Doris Finch and Brai’klao shu’Naei, the
school’s law professor, occupied the modest suite’s normal complement of four
padded chairs, while Peetha, Issthe and Adrianne Gilman rested on a light
outdoor bench brought in for the meeting. Marcus Warden was perched on one
corner of Kirrah’s desk, fiddling absently with a complex-looking
twenty-centimeter cylinder of machined hullmetal, a souvenir he’d lifted from
the damaged Kruss flier still lying in several pieces in the courtyard outside.

“Perhaps if we stopped for
refreshments,” Slaetra said, “we might also refresh our minds a little. I fear
we have been wearing ruts around the problem.”

“Refreshments would be good,” said
Kirrah. She got up and paced around her desk.

“How about a slow-acting poison in
its meat?” said Doris. “Something toxic to the Kruss but not the humans, or something
to incapacitate them all and let us separate them?”

“There is still the problem of its
self-acting
not-sword
,” Irshe replied. “If the Kruss loses
consciousness, I thought you said its suit would be able to cause the deaths of
Tash’ta and Akaray.”

“Well, yes, but…” Doris retreated,
a bit embarrassed to be tripped up by an indig on a technical point. “Wait a
minute, it can’t keep that deadman timer running all night, or it will fall
asleep and lose its hostages. Sorry, Kirrah,” she added, seeing the look that
scenario brought to her friend’s face. “But it
has
to know it’s dead
meat if it kills them, even accidentally. So it has to turn the timer off
sometime
.”

“The problem is, we can never be
sure
when
,” Kirrah replied. “That wretched creature is completely in
control of the situation.”

“My Warmaster’s enemy is very
clever,” said Peetha, who had been silent for most of the discussions. “But all
enemies have a weakness. Kirrah Warmaster herself has taught me this.”

“You are doubtless correct, Peetha.
I just can’t see what its weakness
is
.”

“Neither do I
see
it,
Warmaster. But as a child learning Wrth ways, we were taught to sense an
enemy’s weakness by observing where he protects himself. It seems to me that
although we do not know
what
this creature’s weakness is, we may guess
where
it is.” All eyes turned to the young Wrth
warrior.

“There is something I cannot quite
set my blade to, about its need to return to its base under the O’dai palace.
If it simply wanted its mate back, it could bargain just as well standing
outside our walls. Instead, it sets out on a five or six day voyage, because it
wants to be
home
. This draws my attention.”

“Damn, she’s
right
,” said
Doris. There’s something fishy about its determination to get back to its base
in… is it ‘
O’dakai
’? There can’t be room for more than one or two more
Kruss there, I’ve been over the shuttle’s sensor logs three times myself, once
with the raw data.” Kirrah’s professional experience told her she could
implicitly trust her shipmate’s expertise with sensor data.

“Then what we need is to make it
impossible for the Kruss to return to its base, without seeming to be the ones
responsible,” contributed Adrianne. “You have no wet-navy forces between the
Kruss and the lake?”

“No,” said Kirrah. “Everything was kept
here, for the defense of Talameths’cha, of this city.” More glum looks around
the circle. “I can’t believe that little
shit
is holding our combined
forces at bay with two cheap sensor boxes and a goddamned
timer circuit!
”
She pounded her desk in frustration, not for the first time that afternoon.
Issthe observed the outburst calmly, without judgement.

“This concerns me in a different
way as well,” said Brai’klao. “I would like to hear your
Doctor Penni’ten
speak to this, as I know no
Civil’ym
law. But law between star nations
surely seeks to look on all arguments equally. If I were the Kruss, I would
tell how I was stranded on a planet full of strangers, how my
Reg’num
enemies
helped the enemies of my allies by teaching them
tech
they did not have,
how they kidnapped my… you say it’s not ‘mate’ exactly - my family member, and
destroyed my
device-that-flies
when I attempted rescue. Thus there are
facts which could be assembled to make the Kruss capturing Tash’ta and Akaray,
look like us capturing the first Kruss.”