Chapter 11

He'd caught the attention of some of the Rich'ti while doing the exercising, and he tried to ignore their stares as he started getting himself up to pace. He made the first run around the entire camp pretty effortlessly, which helped give him a better indication of how much of his body hadn't been let go during his recovery from his injuries. For the second pass he pushed himself a little harder, picking up the pace. About halfway through, he noticed a couple of children lagging behind him, seeming to mimic what he was doing. He chuckled quietly to himself as he continued, noticing that the Rich'ti youngsters seemed to have no trouble keeping up with him. On the third pass, he picked up the pace some more.

Halfway through the third pass he realized he had quite a few children, laughing and trying to mimic his movements as they ran along behind him. He picked up the pace on the fourth pass and was amused to see that he put a little distance between himself and some of them, but not all. On the fifth pass he started to slow the pace back down again and by the seventh he was doing a fast walk to cool himself back down. The children never specifically approached him, but he gave them a smiling nod before heading back into the camp.

He realized at that point that he wanted to bathe before breakfast as well, and started looking for Ar'shan, figuring she would be the best person to ask where he could get some water for it. He realized, as he walked, that he hadn't seen Sarsh'ta since the day before when he'd walked away. He wondered briefly how she was holding up, and how long it would take for her to accept her situation. He still had questions he wanted to ask her, but was unsure how to approach her without seeming as if he was backing down. His thoughts returned to his present needs, however, when he saw Ar'shan talking with another female as she cut some sort of fruit into pieces. She noticed him as well, and waved to him as he moved in their direction.

"Kevan! We were just talking about you," she said, rolling a smile nod at him. "This is my mother, Shir'an. This is the human, Kevan that I spoke of."

"Hello, Shir'an," Kevan said. He realized he wasn't sure what Rich'ti said after introductions. "I'm glad to meet you," he tried.

"You're sort of... strange looking," she said. He tried not to chuckle at the skeptical look she gave him as she looked him over. Neither of them had stood at his arrival, so he sat down to join them.

"I can understand. When my people first started meeting alien races most of them looked rather strange to us. In our language, alien and strange are almost the same word."

"You speak our language well..."

"Thank you. I've been trying. I know I get the inflections wrong sometimes, and some of the non-verbal parts of communication are trickier to get used to. I've always been pretty quick at picking up languages, and living with the language and the people who use it is a great way to learn."

"Ar'shan has been telling me a lot about you," Shir'an said as she went back to slicing. "But she exaggerates often."

"Oh? I think I've already seen indications she has her father's knack for diplomacy."

"Diplomacy?!" Shir'an asked, nearly choking with a laugh. "Agronet's about as diplomatic as water helps fires burn."

"Don't misunderstand," she continued, "he's got a good heart, but he's not the type to dance around the subject to find the right angle to approach it like the politicians do. Agronet's a warrior at heart. He's got the best intentions, but he'd rather deal with people in a blunt, upfront manner. Ar'shan tells me you're trying to have him as Takor for the Pechute. If he does take the position from Logur it is only a matter of time before at least one of his new advisors learns about his stubborness the hard way."

"The hard way?" Kevan asked, suddenly realizing that he only knew so much about the fleet commander. "What do you mean?"

"He can have a temper if he's certain about something and someone gets between him and his goal. He's gotten where he is because once he's made up his mind it takes something very big before he'll change it. It works very well for someone in command of other warriors, but as Takor? I just don't know how that will work out."

"There have been many years that have passed since you've seen him last, Mother," Ar'shan pointed out. "Everyone changes as time goes by. Perhaps he is not quite so stubborn as all that anymore."

Kevan remained silent for a moment, remembering Sarsh'ta's frustrations on the ship when Agronet insisted Kevan wear the identification bracelet so they could track his wherabouts. He understood their mistrust and caution at the time, but now wondered if some of that wasn't also Agronet pointedly showing his status over Sarsh'ta after all. Sometimes it was starting to feel as if the more he knew about Rich'ti ways, the less he understood them.

"For now, we need a strong leader to organize the Pechute for this war. His stubborness will work in our favor," Kevan reasoned aloud.

"In a fight for survival, stubborn isn't necessarily a bad thing," he continued. "He also doesn't have to keep the position forever. He doesn't really want it anyway. But right now nobody seems to have a better suggestion."

Shir'an was silent at that. She continued to slice, her head cocked to one side in thought. He hoped she was deciding that it made sense. If nothing else, she didn't debate the point.

"I guess more about him you'll have to wait for or ask Sarsh'ta. Your ways are strange enough to me that I don't think I can give you a very real picture of how he might or might not have changed since you saw him last."

"Yes, her," Shir'an said with a sigh. "She is not adjusting well. Some who are outcast do not."

"She was happy with her life, and to her it feels as if everything she's worked for is gone. She has made a career of studying aliens, and you don't have many of those here."

"More than most Rich'ti have," Ar'shan teased. "Even if only by one."

"However," Shir'an added, "you already speak our language well enough to communicate and we are more familiar with having to teach our ways to newcomers than the Pechute are. Her skills are less useful here and she knows it. For someone who is willing to interact with aliens, she is surprisingly unwilling to see us as anything more than outcasts."

"It will take time for her," she continued. "The Pechute teach their children that anyone who has been outcast is no longer a Rich'ti. In fact, we are thought to be worse than most aliens, as we have supposedly broken Rich'ti laws. They do not think of us as having families and laws of our own. This is quite a shock for her. She tried to mask it well in the beginning, but then I believe she was in a state of denial, as if it was all some error that would be made right again."

"Was it as much of a shock for you as it is for her?" Kevan asked, hoping it wasn't too personal a question. He was relieved when she didn't seem to take any offense. She did pause for a moment, however, as if reflecting on the memory of it.

"Not quite as much. But then I was never as highly ranked amongst the Pechute as she was. I understand she was an advisor to the Takor?" Kevan nodded in response and she continued.

"I was a communications technician on a ship where Agronet was second in command. We had many of our shifts together which is how we came to know each other in the first place. Even then it was obvious he would rise further in the ranks than most. I was very flattered when he chose to mate with me over some of the others he could have picked. It was a pleasant arrangement."

"The sudden exile came as a surprise to me. I was accused of translating a communication incorrectly, causing some kind of political complication. I don't really remember the exact details of what it was I supposedly did, but I do remember that the communication they showed at the trial was not one I had ever seen before. When I told them that, I was then accused of lying as well. It all started to go downhill from there. My father had some small amount of political leverage at the time, and I think that's why I was able to avoid the branding. I believe they used me against him to get him to do something political."

"When I arrived here, I think the most difficult part was getting used to being on the planet all the time again. I had grown up on this world, but my skills had taken my career into space. The people were kind to me though, so I adjusted after a while."

"Several here have similar stories. Fewer have been off world, but all who have been outcast have had their lives abruptly stripped from them, whether there was a reason for it or not. In too many cases it was someone else's ambition at the root of it. It is the primary source of the ill will many hold for the Pechute."

"She will adjust, but not until she lets go of her old life. The longer she holds out, the more difficult it will become. We have seen it before."

"So how many of you out here were cast out directly?" he asked.

"Not even one in ten," Ar'shan answered. "There are only a few in our village even branded." Kevan couldn't recall seeing one yet.

"Is it harder for the branded?"

"It's supposed to be, but they learn quickly enough that out here they're judged by what they contribute and how they act."

"Enough have been branded without just cause that here everyone receives a second chance, as we have less ability to prove their guilt or innocence once they are so far from where the crime was supposedly committed." Ar'shan explained. "Our own laws on crime, however, are very strict as a result. While we will spend much effort to find the truth of the matter, if one is found guilty they will have to take responsibility for their actions. Fortunately, we do not have much crime out here. There is enough work put into survival that it leaves little time or inclination for foul play. That is one fear that many have about us building cities of our own."

"The laws vary from community to community too," Shir'an added. "We shall have to come to a common agreement when we combine into cities as well. Few would agree with Ing'grit's philosophy on law and punishment, for example."

"Ing'grit?" Kevan asked. "I've heard that name before, but don't know who it is."

"Ing'grit leads the one community among us that houses those marked as perpetrators of violent crimes," Shir'an told him. "It was her group that found Sar'shta. If she hadn't of had my name she would have been in some trouble too, as Ing'grit's group has less females among them than most other communities. Few want to trade with them as they are known to be rough about most things. The original Rich'ti to form that community were all murders and other violent types. They're offspring aren't much less violent, especially being brought up by their rough parents. They are quick to scavenge and excellent hunters, but they are so busy fighting amongst themselves that they don't get a lot accomplished in the way of growing or building. As a result, they took lands that have caves where they find shelter. The other trouble with them is that they have no elders. No one amongst them ever lives long enough to become one. They are constantly making deadly challenges for leadership over each other. It's been surprising how long Ing'grit has been able to hold her position as leader, as she is challenged by one of the males at least once per month. The other tribes all have a similar community among them, some are rougher than others."

"Every race and every culture has that same problem," Kevan assured them. "I learned early on that cultures that didn't seem to have problems just hid them well. I try not to judge a people by the problems they have as much as how they are trying to address them. There is no perfect society."

"So what problems do your people struggle with currently?" Shir'an asked. It looked like she was nearly finished with her slicing.

"Well, one challenge is leadership. Communication and information are widespread enough that almost anyone can take an active role in expressing ideas to the government. There's a movement that wants total ...participation. An idea where every individual votes to determine everything. It's not a good idea, but they're a vocal group. There's one example."

"Do you really think an alliance between your people and ours can happen?" Ar'shan asked.

"It can always happen when both sides want it to. In this case it's slightly complicated because there are two governments here, but that doesn't have to be an obstacle."

Shir'an stood with the bowl of fruit. "I must be going. I will leave you to your conversation."

He was about to say something to her about enjoying the conversation, but Shir'an moved off at a brisk pace, before he could say anything. Though it still struck him as odd how the Rich'ti seemed to so suddenly end conversation and simply leave, he set those thoughts aside in his mind for further examination later. Instead, he turned back as Ar'shan asked another question.

"What happens if the Pechute decide they don't want an alliance after all, but we do?"

"I expect that some compromise will have to be agreed upon between you and the Pechute that will allow us access to you without infringing on them in the process," he replied. "It would prove far more complicated to arrange."

"They consider the space around the planet to be theirs, or at least it is space that belongs to the Rich'ti and the Pechute do not consider us to be Rich'ti as they are. If they do not wish you to be in their space, once the war is over, and we have no ships of our own, then they might prevent you from even being able to reach us." It seemed to Kevan as if she was pondering aloud.

"Hopefully we can make them understand that you are Rich'ti, just as they are," he told her. "Once that is accomplished, then the space around the planet belonging to all Rich'ti will no longer be a problem."

"I can see why Agronet does not wish to be Takor," she said quietly. "Every time I think of something that will need to be resolved, I come up with even more questions that need to be answered and more complications."

"Yes," he said, "that's part of the game. Personally, I prefer to take the big problems and break them down into smaller, more manageable ones. And some things are similar everywhere."

"And Agronet is sympathetic to your cause," he continued. "He'll make sure you aren't completely overlooked in negotiations. Also, I can safely say that my goverment will not accept an agreement that considers you a second-class people."

"Among my people there were a couple of groups, tribes if you will, that were outcast not to differently than you have here. When we first started colonizing other planets many tribes merged together, but there were some that wanted to remain separate. They left and started their own colonies. There were also some with different beliefs than most, and some of them gathered together to start their own colonies. My government could help you do that, as just another option to consider."

She fell quiet, and when she looked like she was about to start a list of possible objections he changed the subject. "Hungry?" he asked.

She nodded and they stood up. She led him to an are where fruits and vegetables were set out. She grabbed up a pair of red things and handed him one. He crunched into it following her example. It had the wet crunchy feel of an apple, but the taste reminded him more of a sweet red pepper. It was only mildly spicy.

Rich'ti around him nodded at him as they came and went, grabbing a few items and then moving off with them. He and Ar'shan stood off to one side as they ate and he listened as Ar'shan had some small conversations with other Rich'ti who approached her. Most of the questions asked of her seemed to relate to either hunting or perimeter defense against the jungle outside. She seemed to be in charge of coordinating both for the community as far as he could tell. It seemed as if the same Rich'ti who hunted for meat for the community were also in charge of guarding it as well. There was also mention of guards for gathering parties who would gather wild fruits and vegetables from the jungle.

Ar'shan explained to him that they had an extra load on them for food needs right then. Most of the other tribes were not as familiar with which foods the jungle could provide, which meant that the hosting tribe needed to help them to feed their communities. Eesh'ket's community and the other jungle communities were training the other tribes hunters and gatherers while they were here, so that the task would lessen some. Ar'shan told him that it was her responsibility to take charge of those matters for Eesh'ket. She also mentioned that the burden was more heavily placed on their community as Eesh'ket had been the one to call the meeting in the firs place. As host, he was expected to provide certain amenities for the guests from time to time. A meeting this size had never occurred before, however, so they had been busier than she had ever seen it.

On a sudden whim, he asked if he could be involved in one of the hunting parties. To his surprise, Ar'shan agreed, and suggested he join one that she was leading herself in a couple of hours. He then remembered his reason for finding her and asked about bathing facilities in the meantime so he could clean up from his exercising.

She explained that there were specific gathering areas for bathing, and that it was usually done as it was getting dark, before sleep. He reminded her that he'd be at the meeting again tonight, so he wouldn't get the chance then. He explained he could handle it himself if he had a bowl of water, so she directed him to what he'd need.

He felt better once he felt clean. He washed out some of his clothes, and then went to find a sunny spot to sit in while he dried out. He sat and relaxed for a while, watching Rich'ti go about their day. When he saw Rich'ti gathering around Ar'shan with spears he joined them. She handed him a spear nearly as long as he was tall.

"About an hour from here is a large, gentle river. Many animals come there for water. It is a good place to hunt. That's part of the reason we've settled here," she explained.

There were about a dozen hunters in total. Ar'shan was the only female. She gathered them into a circle around her before leading them in a prayer. It was a simple thing about being grateful to the land for providing for them, and them promising not to take that for granted. There wasn't, however, any real sense of who or what was being prayed to.

The party then formed into a couple of lines and headed beyond the perimeter of the camp, into the dense foliage. While most stayed in pairs and followed in a line, a few immediately spread out to the sides, as if watching the edges for signs of animals. One of the hunters loped off ahead of the group as well, and Kevan noticed that he was both quick and noiseless on the jungle floor.

Ar'shan whispered to him that he was to remain close to her, and he nodded his response. They moved forward into the jungle for quite some time before they slowed their pace. Kevan did his best to walk quietly with his bare feet, but he felt inadequate at it compared to the Rich'ti hunters who seemed to know already where every leaf and twig was located. Eventually, Kevan saw the lead runner come back and signal to Ar'shan in some form of sign language. She, in turn, signalled to each of the paired hunters who spread out in different directions. She motioned to him to follow her, and he again nodded his understanding.

He followed her forward, trying not to make any sounds at all. It seemed as if he could hear his own heart beating in his chest and he willed it to beat a bit quieter, if not a bit slower. She put her hand up, stopping him, as the reached the edge of a clearing. Just beyond the foliage he could see several animals drinking from a small creek that ran through the area. They had short, orange-brown fur and scales that protruded out from their backs. There was a wedge-shaped tail that protruded out the back and was furless, and six legs along the longish body that came outwards with splayed feet that resembled those of a lizard. Their heads were flat with short tusks and a snout that protruded outwards. They were nuzzling at the ground with the snouts, making slurping and snorting noises as they drank from the creek.

"They are called werpracht," Ar'shan whispered to him. "Stay away from the tail, it has poisonous spines."

Two hunters moved off, moving towards the ends of the herd. "They are not very aggressive," Ar'shan continued explaining. "We are down wind of them, which is good. Their hearing is not bad, but for defense they rely on vision. But mostly they see movement."

At first all he could tell about them was that they were large. As the hunters slowly edged closer, it looked like the animals came to about mid-chest on them. Several of the animals were watching the two hunters, but they weren't reacting yet.

"We will wait here. Those two will aggravate the herd, which will move towards us. If we hold still enough, they will run right past us without trampling us. When about half the herd is past us, I will call out, and we'll strike. The strongest and fastest always get to escape. That is one of our rules. If we weaken the herd too much, they will be hunted by other predators."

He nodded his understanding and she continued. "The objective is for two or three hunters per animal to immobilize it. With any luck, we can capture three that way. Even two is not bad. Help hold one in place until there are enough for one to step in and finish it."

He and Ar'shan and another hunter all had spears in the animal and it was far from still. It tried to lash out with its tail, but its body moved enough that Kevan was all but carried out of the way just holding onto the spear. He lunged forward again, pushing the spear a little deeper. He noticed the others were already doing the same thing, although they looked to be getting slightly more effect out of it.

The animal made angry and hurt sounding grunting noises, but it squirmed a bit less. Kevan focused on his job and staying away from the animal's tail. Another hunter came up with a large knife. The animal jerked around, at this point apparently trying to bite the new hunter. The hunter waited calmly for a moment before stepping in and very quickly shoving the long knife up through the bottom of the animal's head.

The animal stopped thrashing about. Before long the legs went out below it. Kevan lost his grip on the spear as the animal fell. Once it was on the ground, he could see that Ar'shan had lost grip on hers as well. Another animal was already lying down, and a group was working on a third. The herd had fled.

"Three is good," Ar'shan said as the knife-wielder moved to the third animal. There were more hunters holding that one in place and it was dispatched quickly with the same strike up into the skull.

He saw Ar'shan and the other hunters start pulling their spears back out of the animals and he struggled with his own until he managed to dislodge the tip from where it caught on the hide. He noticed that the blood that oozed from the wound looked more orange than red, and wondered briefly what gave it that appearance. His limited biology classes that he'd needed for his degree didn't really cover enough to let him formulate any guesses.

Another hunter came around to each group with something resembling a hammer that they used to re-insert the the three spears plus a fourth into the animal. The spears were pushed in further and Ar'shan explained that they were placed in locations where they could be used to help carry the animal back to camp. Ar'shan suggested that he allow one of the other hunters to take his place for the carrying, explaining that the difference in height would make things more difficult. He was handed one of the rifles instead and given quick instruction on how to use it. He walked along one side of the party, having been instructed to watch for anything that might attack them from the jungle. One of the Rich'ti covered the other side while the rest of the group walked in a line between them.

Ar'shan had positioned herself close to him and while they travelled, she explained the various uses they had for different parts of the animal. While most of their uses for the bone, meat, fat, and bladder were not unusual, he found himself surprised to find that the intestines of the creature were tough enough that when emptied they wove it into a rope. She mentioned that they treated it with something that helped keep it supple for years before it dried out. There were other parts of the animal that they used in their medicines, either as a component or a catalyst.

"How would things change for you if you were able to trade for food?" he asked.

"What would we trade for it?"

"That I don't know, but it's something to think about. Also, once you're not hiding so much you could do more organized farming. There are always things to trade, especially when less time needs to be spent surviving. Even ornamental crafted items have value."

"We aren't much for being merchants," she said, sounding skeptical.

"I know so far I've only seen a small part of your way of life. I'm not looking to change you. I was mostly curious how spending less time gathering food would affect you as a people, I didn't mean to suggest one way might be better than another."

"There are machines that can prepare food faster, but at the same time I've seen Rich'ti enjoying preparing food. I also think that other enjoy eating it more as a result. Most humans have access to machines that will prepare food for them. That doesn't mean that all prefer and use them. Doing something by choice is very different than doing it out of necessity."

"I think many wouldn't want much to change," she said and turned to look forward more. He shrugged and went back to looking around them in the woods.

The trip back to the village took longer than the trip out had, although not by a lot. One of the sentries that saw them arriving called something back towards the huts and by the time they were actually entering with their burdens, several Rich'ti had come to meet them. The crowd was a reasonable mix of both male and female Rich'ti and they quickly relieved the hunting party of their burden. He heard comments that seemed to be surveying the shape of the beasts, estimating how much of certain resources they could get out of them. A few of them stopped to issue compliments to the hunting party as well.

Once the crowd had dispersed and taken the dead werpracht off with them, Ar'shan addressed the hunters briefly, letting them know that they would hunt again the following day unless she heard otherwise. The hunters gave her nods of agreement before heading off in various directions to attend to other duties. Kevan had recognized a couple of the hunters as Rich'ti who'd been on sentry duties during the night, and suspected that they might be headed off to sleep until the shift began.

He was about to ask Ar'shan a couple of questions when a Rich'ti that Kevan recognized as Eesh'ket's aide came running up to them.

"There is an airship that has arrived not far from here, landing," the aide said quickly, somewhat out of breath. "Eesh'ket has called for Kevan to see if he knows the Pechute inside or not. You are to come as well, Ar'shan."

"Lead us there," Ar'shan said simply, casting a glance at Kevan. Kevan nodded to let her know that he agreed. They followed the aide off and out of the village again, in a similar direction to the way they had gone to meet Agronet the day before.

She led him to the edge of the settlement. An aircar had set down, and was surrounded by Rich'ti. Quite a crowd was gathering, but it parted for them. Closer, there were eight warriors pointing rifles at the car. He could see Urish'tal inside, looking very nervous and pressing her hands against the domed window.

Eesh'ket was near the guards, and Kevan veered to him first. "We need to work on your reception, Eesh'ket. She's a healer, I don't think she's this dangerous." He patted the Rich'ti leader on the shoulder and stepped between two guards to greet Urish'tal, who opened the aircar.

"I'm not used to being this pleased to see an alien," she said.

"Please tell me you come with good news," he said to her, rolling his head in smile. She quickly looked more relaxed. He hoped that meant that the rifles behind him had been lowered, but he pointedly didn't turn to see.

"Agronet is now Takor, although he is not happy about it."

"That was faster than I expected. How did it go?"

"Agronet is not one to let a few complications get in his way," Urish'tal replied somewhat cryptically. "He has taken care of Logur, who refused to yeild. Just after breakfast, Logur was about to do a news broadcast to announce the evacuation. He had the order drawn up to move ships in position and tried to issue it to Agronet just before the broadcast. Agronet took that opportunity to challenge him."

"The fight went quickly enough. Logur was not the better fighter of the two. Agronet is now Takor and has been issuing new orders to counteract and repeal the orders that Logur had given. The fleet had not moved much, but many Rich'ti of importance had left their duties to prepare to be evacuated."

"Perhaps, however, I can give you a more detailed account in private?" she asked, still eyeing the Rich'ti around them nervously. "I have also brought some of your things. Agronet suggested that you needed a fresh set of coverings."

"Very well," Kevan replied, as she reached back into the aircar for at item that he recognized to be one of his suitcases. She handed one over to him and retrieved a second one as well.

"I asked the children at the community about some of the items, as one informed me that you had told them about many of your belongings," she added. "Hopefully I have gathered the correct tools for any immediate needs you may have. I was mainly studying your biology, not your grooming habits."

Kevan gave her a Rich'ti smile nod and then introduced her to Eesh'ket and some others including Ar'shan. Urish'tal looked Ar'shan over in a manner that suggested she already knew about Agronet's daughter to some extent. Then, introductions complete, she turned back to Kevan.

"Is there somewhere private we can go and you may change your coverings while we talk?"

Wondering if she was just paranoid amongst the cast-outs or if she had something she didn't want them to hear, he nodded. He led her back into the village and to the hut that he had been staying at, hoping it would provide enough privacy. He didn't know if these Rich'ti were in the habit of eavesdropping on one another or not. As they headed back to the village he told Ar'shan that he would find her once he had changed. She nodded in response and headed off in a different direction once they'd reached the opening to the hut. Most of the other Rich'ti had followed them back, but seemed to be keeping a respectful distance from what he could tell. A few had been left behind to guard the aircar.

He could see looks of surprise, almost disbelief, on her face as he led them through the village to his hut. He understood how it could all seem so terribly crude and primitive from her perspective. She said nothing.

They set the suitcases down and he opened them. Quite a bit of stuff was there, but now much of it felt like things he didn't really need.

When he had been packing it had been hard to narrow down to so little. Not knowing how long he would be here, he had labored over wondering what he would need and what he would miss. His dog had known he'd be gone for a while, and had been close by or lounging on his bed next to a suitcase for most of the packing time. He missed his dog, but realized that most of the things in the suitcases seemed unnecessary now. Oh the difference a month or so makes...

He picked out a new outfit, changing into it without any sense of awkwardness in front of Urish'tal. It felt cleaner, but not really more comfortable. He knew he still needed a shower, but maybe that wasn't that big a deal, either.

"So," he said eventually, "what is it you wanted to tell me?"

She hesitated a moment before beginning, as if giving him another once-over to be sure he was trustworthy.

"Not everything about Agronet's challenge went as smoothly as it could have," she finally said. "Logur was cheating. If Agronet hadn't have communicated his plans to me shortly after he last saw you, he would be dead right now. As it is, he only has so much time."

"What happened?" Kevan asked, frowning.

"He has been poisoned," she replied. "He expected that to be a possibility after what happened to Gertat, so I had already given him something that would slow the process of most known poisons to allow time for an antidote to be applied. Unfortunately, there is no antidote for the form of poison Logur used. Normally it acts quickly, going into effect the moment it reaches the heart. It stuns the victim for a few moments and then causes the heart to start shutting down. In Agronet's case, it has not reached the heart yet. I have managed to slow it's process by thickening his blood just in front of it, and adding something that will force the poison itself to thin within the blood so that it will effect him less at first when it does reach the heart. Eventually, however, it will kill him. And anything more I try to do to slow it or cure him will likely kill him too."

Kevan stood there for a moment, stunned.

"The public doesn't know," she continued. "He doesn't want to give them more to worry about when he's about to tell everyone the real situation with the Brey-hahd. He's already trying to scope out possible successors. Most Takor have a successor indicated in case they die of illness or some other non-challenge related means while they hold the position. However, it rarely happens and in all cases the successor is challenged quickly after the job becomes theirs. In all cases, the successor has lost."

"How long does he have?" Kevan asked abruptly. "How much time until..." he trailed off, not wanting to think about Agronet dying. What do I tell Ar'shan?, he thought to himself worriedly.

"Fortunately for us, I suppose, the point of entry was low in the body and at a point in the bloodstream further from the heart," she answered. "We may have as much as three weeks if I keep clotting the blood just in front of it. Although that won't be good for him either and he will start suffering the effects of that as well." She sighed heavily.

"What about my people?" he asked aloud as he suddenly thought of it. "Can you give me a chemical breakdown of this poison as well as some information on your body chemistry and biology that I can send to our doctors? If you can't find a cure with what you have, perhaps there's a chance that we have something that will work. We have different plants and other resources to draw on than you do."

"I will have to ask Agronet if it would be alright to share such information with your people," she answered. "In his current position, it may be a risk he's willing to take."

"Well, we have to try," he concluded. He finished changing and looked at the suitcases. It seemed like so much to bring out just to have him bring it back.

"I should be back at the city. I need to get in touch with my government and get them up to date on what's going on. I expect I'll spend much of my time back and forth now."

"So are these Rich'ti going to be involved as well?"

"They are involved, whether they or anyone else wants them to be," he answered, wishing they could just be one people. "The Brey-hahd won't make any distinction between one group of Rich'ti and another. What their place is likely to be we probably won't know until tomorrow."

There wasn't anything new to add to the two suitcases, so he closed them and grabbed them up. "Shall we?" he said, inclining his head towards the doorway. She nodded and he led them back to the aircar. He had her wait there so he could find Eesh'ket before leaving.

"I have to go report to my government," he explained. "Thank you for your hospitality. Everyone has been very kind to me. I'll be back before long. I plan to give you and your people an even share of my time. I'm sorry I won't be here tonight for the next meeting. Please share my apologies with the rest. I will try to arrange communications equipment for you."

"Your time among us has been very interesting. We will be here when you return, and you will always be welcome among us," Eesh'ket said.

"I know that. Thank you."

Kevan walked back to the aircar. Urish'tal sat in the driver's seat, and Kevan moved to sit next to her. They didn't speak as the jungle went by beneath them on the way back to the city.

Kevan recognized the first building he'd stopped at when he'd initially arrived on the planet. The silvery towers gleamed in the sunlight, making them almost difficult to look at. They didn't go down to land on one of the paved areas next to the towers, as they did before. Instead, Urish'tal announced herself to someone on the radio, presumably inside the building. Afterwards a panel of flooring slid out of the area at the bottom of the peak where the towers joined. She neatly landed on it and Kevan watched as fencing folded around from beneath the panel to form walls. As he stepped out of the aircar with his suitcases, he had a brief moment of feeling as if he had just been caged.

As they went inside a female Rich'ti ran out to the aircar and started it up again. When Kevan inquired, Urish'tal explained that it would be moved elsewhere and brought up when she needed it again.

"Being Takor invokes certain priveledges," she told him. "As Agronet has chosen me to be his personal physician for the duration of his term, I also have certain priveledges. I don't have to take the time to park at the bottom and come up on the elevator, for example. I could if I wanted to, but when one reaches certain levels of authority it is important to remind those around you that you have not forgotten your rank over them. Small things like that help them know that I am aware of my status and therefore indicates my intent to keep it."

"Agronet has made arrangements for you to stay here," she said, indicating a doorway she stopped at. "There has not been time to make any modifications as were made at the previous room you had, but he prefers to have you remain where we can better ensure your safety. Since you were able to manage on the ship, he felt you could probably make yourself comfortable here. However, some changes can be made over the next week, to better accomodate your needs. Let us know what you need. We've contacted some of the people who helped modify the last room so that they already have an idea of what to do. I can arrange for you to meet them before they begin any work."

"I don't need that much. The waste equipment was right enough before, and the shower for washing in was nice, although being able to control the water temperature would be appreciated. For right now, a big bowl of water and a sponge would be a good start. I haven't had much washing since I disappeared out there."

"I understand," she said with a roll of the head. "There are others of your things that we'll have brought here. Your computer, for one, was something we didn't see any need to bring to you out there, or the charger for your portable data device. We'll get you that water and I can show you how to get it for yourself for next time."

She led him down the hall a bit to a room that had the wash tubs and sponges and a spigot to fill them with. She explained it would probably be a couple of days before modifications to his room were complete. She offered she could also arrange for an office for him to use. He explained that he might have use for that later especially.

She helped him carry the tub of water back to his room. On the way she explained that he'd have his computer and be able to send reports back to his government within an hour. Once back in his room she apologized for being busy, but that she was needed elsewhere.

Once he was alone in the room he stripped off his clothing and bathed. He pulled out a fresh pair of pants and shirt and sorted the items from the two suitcases out onto the bedding. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully at the sight of the razor, but decided against trying to shave or even trim the beard that was starting until he had his compact mirror back. He remembered asking Sarsh'ta about getting a mirror, and put that on the mental list of things to see if he could get.

He moved around the room, which wasn't too incredibly different from the last one he had had. The view from the balcony was better, as he was higher up and facing outward instead of into the courtyard below. He could tell he was in the heart of the city. Buildings stretched out for miles away in every direction. He noticed, however, that they were spaced apart, allowing for a lot of open grass and trees in between. He wondered briefly if they had planned it that way from the onset or if it had evolved as they demolished old buildings and built new ones. With most societies it was the latter, after long periods of having buildings jam-packed to house as many as possible. It was usually only after they expanded out into space that civilizations began to space themselves out again, once overcrowding was less of an issue.

He opened all the drawers and cabinets in the room, stashing the items from the two suitcases and scoping out the best location for the computer when it arrived. He located their version of a toilet and was relieved to see that it resembled the one on the ship closely enough that he was unlikely to have any real difficulty while waiting for the modifications to be completed.

It didn't seem long before the door chimed and he found Kreckan standing there with the rest of Kevan's luggage on a cart. He let the technician in and pulled the remainder of his suitcases off while Kreckan unloaded the computer at the shelf Kevan indicated.

"I kept working on this in your absence," Kreckan told him after it was operational. "I've made a few enhancements to the speed it works at and your communications equipment in it now knows how to access our communications equipment in space. It will take a few minutes to make the connection, but then your messages should arrive at their destination anywhere between a half hour to an hour, depending on where in Human space you are sending it to. Our receivers are now actively watching for messages transmitting to you as well, so you should get replies much quicker too. It will still take longer though, as the Human equipment sending it is not quite as highly powered. I suspect that's why you need so many of them scattered all over your space."

Kevan raised an eyebrow at the male, once again amazed at how many things the technician inadvertantly seemed to reveal about the Rich'ti's level of spying on other races. He invited the technician to show him any changes he'd made to the programming, hoping more tidbits would drop.

"There's really not much different in there that you'd notice unless you knew how to program it," Kreckan said. "I had the time to work on it still as I was supposed to be making a report for Logur on the device. I submitted a couple of reports on the design of it, but I'm more interested in making things work rather than writing reports about it. It doesn't matter much now anyway. Although you ought to know, you've got six messages waiting in the queue for you to read." Kreckan gave him the Rich'ti equivallent of a grin, and Kevan decided he liked the technician after all.

Kreckan excused himself and took the cart with him when he went. Kevan sat down to start checking on the messages he had waiting when the door chimed again. This time he was surprised to find Trorkash, the ship's security officer, standing in his doorway.

Trorkash had seemed tolerant enough on the ship, but Kevan wasn't sure what to expect now. He wondered how many of the crew from the little courier ship Agronet had used here staying around Agronet now. He wondered if maybe most of the crew on the ship had been arranged ahead of time.

"Agronet wishes to see you in his chambers, now that you have returned," Trorkash said.

"Certainly," Kevan replied. "Where are they?"

"I will show you."

Trorkash took him to an elevator and they rode it to the top level of the building. On the way up Kevan commented that he had expected Trorkash to be up on the ship.

"Every Takor needs an Aide," Trorkash said a little curtly.

"Of course," Kevan said, not sure how to interpret the Rich'ti's tone.

At the top the elevator stopped and they stepped out into a gardened foyer area. It appeared that much of this level was topped in a glass dome. Trorkash led him past an area ringed with torches that looked like a gathering space. There were smaller areas as well among the gardens with mats set out for seating of smaller groupings.

There were also some walled-off areas. Trorkash took him to one that seemed like a building butting up against the dome edge, with the dome surface serving as the fourth wall.

Trorkash stopped in front of the door panel and put his hand on a scanner. He then instructed Kevan to do the same. Once he was finished, Trorkash entered a code onto the pad and the door slid open.

Inside, Agronet was sitting on a mat with what appeared to be a rather complex datapad on a stand in front of him. He barely looked up at it as he frowned over something on the display panel. He had his back to the glass of the dome and the spectacular view of the city. He issued a grunting noise and a nod of his head that seemed to be a dismissal of Trorkash, who nodded and left the room.

Once the door had slid shut, Agronet looked up at Kevan and sighed heavily, pushing the stand to the side for the moment.

"Please, sit," he indicated one of the other soft fur mats placed at intervals around the floor.

"Agronet, I..." Kevan trailed off, not knowing how to put what he wanted to say into something concise. "I'm sorry," he finished, wishing he had more to offer just then.

"We saw no other alternatives. We can deal with it more when it gets worse. Right now I have more pressing concerns." He gestured again at the mats and Kevan chose one and took a seat on it.

"It seems Logur was busy in his short time as Takor," Agronet pointed at the datapad. "He sent orders to various members of the fleet, bypassing my command and moving them out of defensive positions to send them in directly against the Brey-hahd mothership. He had them running silent after receiving their orders. As a result, we've lost about a third of our spaceborne ships already. He did not even send them as a collective unit, but in small groups. I've recalled the few that hadn't made it there yet to help defend the planet here. I am also pulling most of the ships we have here as well. I am leaving a few in strategic positions nearby where they can reach other areas if the Brey-hahd suddenly change direction, but can also come here quickly if the fight happens in the home system." He sighed again, shaking his head.

"He commissioned new ships to be hastily thrown together. I'm told that a couple might even be ready in time, although they will be only barely equipped to fight. They won't be any different from the ones we already have though. Half the reason they will be done in time is because the Rich'ti building it know where everything goes based on the usual design. I have ship technicians working on coming up with no less than ten new ship designs however, in the event we survive this to build new ships. I've told them to build the hulls of the ones that won't be ready and then re-design the interior to focus on a specific strength, so we can still use some of what's already been started. I've thrown the entire ship-building industry into an uproar, along with most of the fleet training schools. Most of them just don't comprehend why we need to change the design. I'm hoping the ships from your fleet will do well here and show them the benefits through example." He looked hopefully to Kevan, as if looking for confirmation that it would be so.

"My understanding is that our ships have been faring better, but I think we're also fighting a smaller Brey-hahd force than you are. Our ships will at least change things and force the Brey-hahd to use different tactics. It may be that our ships can help prevent them from using whatever weakness they've found. Have you had any luck figuring out what that might be?"

"No," Agronet said heavily with a very human shake of his head.

"It will take my people some time to get here yet. If you'll agree to send over schematics for your ships, my people can have their experts go over them and see if they can find it."

Agronet started to say something, and Keven could tell immediately it was going to be a protest. He headed it off before the Rich'ti leader had a chance. "We both know the current design is going to change. Giving us the schematics for an admittedly out-of-date ship design can't be a huge security risk. I'm sure we'll be sharing some of our ship designs as well. I think the potential benefit outweighs any potential risk."

"I see again, I think, why they chose you for this," Agronet said. "You are right, of course, although many Rich'ti wouldn't be so quick to agree."

"Understand that it will take a day or so before they are ready to send," Agronet added. "Some parts of the schematics will not be included, such as the detailed information on our weapons systems. I will have the engineers make recommendations on what to send but then it will ultimately be the fleet commander's decision on what gets included."

Kevan nodded, wondering just how much the new fleet commander would choose to strip out of the schematics. He hoped there would still be enough left to give the Human engineers a chance to find the design flaw that the Brey-hahd were currently exploiting.

"On the matter of sending information to my people," Kevan said, moving on. "Have you given thought to the matter of the poison?"

"Far more thought that I have time for right now," Agronet said, looking momentarily sad. The expression passed quickly, but Kevan could see that Agronet was having a hard time pushing the matter aside to attend to his new duties. "You may send medical information on the Rich'ti people and information on this poison to you scientists. If they can find an antidote it will negate the danger of that poison for future victims as well. Urish'tal can provide you with the necessary data to send. I will have her send my own recent data as well, since this is the only known case where the poison has been slowed to delay death."

"I will send them as soon as I have them," Kevan said solemnly.

"There is also the matter of the... the other Rich'ti," Agronet said, seeming to change the subject. "How will negotiations be dealt with in regards to them? I have made some brief mention of the idea of trade and relations with their government, although so far it has met with much shock and resistance from my advisors. I have mentioned communications so far, and not that I have actually met with these other Rich'ti. Such ideas are very nearly as bad as treason the way they are reacted to. I must handle this as slowly and cautiously as possible. Unfortunately, my time to do that is now very limited."

"Like with many things," Kevan suggested, "it might work best if you can put it in terms of positives. Show a benefit from working with them. Maybe the first step is to start revealing how many there are. Or, take one thing at a time and focus on the war first."

"Later, when alliance details are being worked out, you can suggest that we--the humans--are already negotiating trade with the others, and you can suggest not wanting to be excluded from that. From there you can start a discussion on how you'd like relations to be with the rest of the Rich'ti. Maybe that will give you a groundwork to start from."

"Something along those lines might work," Agronet said, sounding reluctant and far from confident. "In the mean time, I'll have the medical information sent to your computer. You will be able to forward it to your government for your scientists."

"Perfect," Kevan replied. Agronet didn't say anything for a moment, so Kevan asked if there was more for just then. There wasn't, so he left and headed back to the elevator. On the ride down he was already putting together parts of his report in his head.

Once he had returned to his room, he started in on the six messages that had been sent to his computer. Two of them were inquiries on why he hadn't reported on schedule. He skimmed quickly past those. One was a response to his initial report, which basically was a written "good job" that read like a form letter and mentioned that his report would be forwarded to the appropriate individuals. He rolled his eyes, knowing who some of those "individuals" were. He was not suprised that one of the other messages was from one of them, and contained a long list of questions about the Rich'ti for him to try and answer. The man writing it was Allen Garston, the "temporary" Interspecies Advisor for the UWPM while Kevan was away. Kevan had little regard for the man, who's background was more firmly based in biology and military strategies against hostile aliens than peacemaking measures. Half the questions seemed as if he was assessing the Rich'ti as a potential threat instead of a potential ally. Kevan left that message to respond to later, moving instead to check the remaining two first.

One of them was a concerned message from a long-time friend and colleague, Marcus Nixell. Marcus had his own studies in alien cultures and tried to help make them more understandable to the general human population by making comparisons to both human cultures and animal behaviors. The examples had often been instrumental in helping bridge the gap between humans and some of the more recent species they had met, and Kevan had worked with him directly on several occasions. Marcus had sent back an initial assessment on some of the Rich'ti behaviors that Kevan had included in his report, and he was relieved to see that he had come to some of the same conclusions on his own. Marcus was one person he wished he had with him for this first contact between Human and Rich'ti. His input was always invaluable, and he had good instincts. Marcus had included a list of questions as well, which were vastly different from the ones Allen had sent. Kevan decided to answer those first, right after he checked the last message.

The final message in the box was the most recent. It spoke of the contact with Agronet and the arrangement that had been made so far. Agronet had not mentioned it to Kevan, but the Rich'ti had stalled them on Kevan's whereabouts. He had told them that Kevan was unavailable and would report as soon as he was able. There was also some mention of compatibility issues with the human communication gear. In the message sent to Kevan, it was stated that they were sending in a small fleet. They were suspicious, however, and were coming to either help the Rich'ti if they were telling the truth, or to conduct a search for Kevan if they had not heard from him by that point. His urgent reply was requested.

That was the message he replied to first. He took some time to word it carefully. He had been given word combinations to include in his reports to indicate whether he was being unduly influenced or not. He made sure that the inclusions of the safe status message would be completely inconspicuous.

He tried to stress in his report both the kinds of help and the urgency that was needed. He warned them that Agronet had been poisoned and that more information would be coming. For the moment he left out that the government had changed, stressing instead the need for the government to remain stable as it was. He knew he'd be yelled at for that exclusion later. He also touched on the second nation-state, mentioning that a more in-depth report would be coming later.

Before sending the message he set delivery to copy a number of government officials. He wanted it directly in the hands of those it would only need to be forwarded to anyway.

The reply to Marcus took almost as long to compose. There were many questions, and he tried to answer them in the detail his old friend would want. He was nearly finished when a window popped up on his screen informing him of a message and file arriving from Urish'tal. He finished up his message and sent it off.

He was surprised to find the message from Urish'tal was already in English, as was the accompanying file of medical charts. Only the scans had Rich'ti symbols instead of English letters, and there was a long report included explaining each of them. He was impressed on how quickly she had managed to get it all together, and wondered how she had managed to translate it into English too. He skimmed over the message itself, and then attached it to one of his own before forwarding it to several different people that he knew should be the ones looking at it. He hoped that Allen Garston would look at it from the angle of curing Agronet instead of just finding any weaknesses in the Rich'ti biology. He then sent back a reply to Urish'tal letting her know that he'd forwarded it to the appropriate people and dropping in a casual inquiry on how she'd managed to translate it into English for him already. After that, he began work on Allen's questions, bearing in mind the answers he'd already included in the other messages already.

A couple of hours passed before he was interrupted by another message incoming. The reply basically told him that they were pleased to hear that he was alright and that they refused to send more ships until the commander in charge of the ships already in route to Rich'ti space had made a threat assessment. They suggested that he keep them appraised of the situation in the meantime. He slammed his fist down in frustration on the side of the shelf panel that the computer sat on. At about the same time, the door chime sounded. With a sigh, Kevan went over and opened it.

"Well, hello again!" Pergute said in English as the door panel slid aside. "It is good to see you alive!"

"Ahhh, hello," Kevan replied, also in English, suddenly realizing who'd been translating for Urish'tal. "Please come in." He gestured to the mats in the room and Pergute came in and settled comfortably down into one. Pergute had brought a couple of large bowls of food with him as well and one of these he handed to Kevan.

"I thought you might be in need of some food by now," Pergute told him. "I most certainly was anyway."

"Thank you," Kevan said, taking the bowl. He hadn't realized how long it had been since breakfast until he smelled the aroma of the cooked meat. He settled down on a mat, eating some of it right away.

"Well, it seems you're no worse off for your adventure," Pergute commented.

"Indeed," Kevan said, hoping it carried the right cryptic note. "So is this a social call, a professional visit, or something...I should be concerned about?"

"A little bit social, a little bit professional. It occurs to me, you see, that with you here representing your people, it makes sense for one of us to go to your people to represent us there, does it not?"

"That's usually how ambassadors generally work." Pergute looked confused for a moment, and Kevan checked his palmpad, finding that the Rich'ti have a direct translation for ambassador. "That's usually how representatives generally work," he tried. Pergute nodded at that, so he continued. "I'm here to speak for my government more than I'm here to speak to my government on your behalf. At least, that's the theory. It isn't entirely working that way so far. But in the long run, yes, you are correct."

"And how does that selection process happen among humans?"

"What do you mean?"

"How will they decide which of us would go?" Pergute asked, leaning forward.

"Ah, you see, there's one example where things are a little different than you think. The way it's usually done, your government decides who to send to speak for you, not us."

"Then it will likely come down to a challenge," Pergute said, sounding unhappy. "It would be much simpler if your goverment just chose someone as we did. Surely your kind know better what type of individual you'd be most comfortable dealing with?"

"Yes, but if we chose then the Rich'ti might be able to change their mind about the level of negotiating power that individual holds. If the Rich'ti choose their own representative, they are choosing who they feel will best represent their needs and desires out of the agreements that will be made between our two races. If we choose someone then we might be accused of selecting someone who will bend to our will and not uphold the standards the Rich'ti expect. My government will also not want to be put in the position where such accusations could be made."

"I see, I see," Pergute said nodding. "And yet you came here, knowing we chose you?"

"My government would not have allowed me to come if they did not have the faith in me that was required," Kevan said simply, remembering some of the long briefings he'd been through on things he was and was not allowed to negotiate with the Rich'ti. "And they made some things clear to me before I left so that I would better represent my kind while I was here. Also, we'd been led to understand that this was an initial contact that might lead to further negotiations. It was not expected that I would be negotiating such things as fleet assistance in a war. I have helped negotiate things for my government in the past, however, so they already know that I will represent them to the best of my abilities."

"I see," Pergute said somberly, as if thinking hard about what Kevan had said.

"So..." Pergute started with obvious hesitation, "how is Sarsh'ta?"

"So far? I'm not sure she's adjusting well. I think she's waiting, expecting Agronet to be able to bring her back. Although I suspect right now Agronet has other things he has to focus on first."

"True enough. What was your experience among the outcast like?"

"What can I say? They're Rich'ti no less than the ones here are. There were some differences. I'm somewhat more concerned about the circumstances that led to my...visit with them."

"Yes, very unfortunate, that."

"Is it something I should worry about happening again?" Kevan asked pointedly.

"It is ...less likely now. For one, with Agronet as Takor if he sends someone to you it is more likely to be someone you know." Something in the tone of voice made Kevan uncomfortable. He was glad the conversation was happening in English, so that he had the translation advantage for once.

"Any idea who was behind it?" he asked, watching the Rich'ti's eyes closely.

"Agronet is surprisingly adept at his new position, don't you think?" Pergute said abruptly, not answering the question. "Instead of removing those that might be opposed to him by casting them out, as most Takor do, he had given them each tasks that place them in easily watched positions. An interesting move. One very much like we would expect to see from a fleet commander who has to deal with problems in space where you cannot simply cast someone off the ship until the next time you arrive in port."

"So you're saying the ones I should be worried about are being watched?" Kevan asked, again trying to get to the heart of the matter.

"I am saying nothing, Kevan," Pergute said, narrowing his eyes. "Merely stating my observation of how things are developing. I leave the game to those who best know how to play it."

"Somehow I find that highly unlikely," Kevan muttered, only half to himself. He realized that Pergute and whomever he was working with had their own agenda entirely. He only wished he knew what it was. "I just don't want to see anyone positioning themselves in such a way that might endanger the Rich'ti people in a time of war," he added in his regular voice, giving Pergute a hard look.

"I am sure that even they wish for the Rich'ti's continued survival, Kevan," Pergute said, standing up. "I do not doubt that at all. But I have taken up too much of your time as it is. Perhaps we can continue this conversation at another time?" He stood, waiting for a response. Kevan found that surprising as every other Rich'ti had seemed to end conversations by suddenly leaving the room. He stood up himself, and Pergute reached forward, gesturing that he'd take the empty bowl in Kevan's hands.

Something suddenly felt extremely suspicious to Kevan, but he couldn't figure out what. He handed his bowl over, wondering if something had been added to his. Pergute had eaten as well, but it would not have been hard to keep the two bowls separate. He tried to keep the suspicion off his face and said nothing.

"I'm sure we'll talk frequently," he said. Pergute nodded and said, "Of course," before opening the door and leaving without another word.

He waited a moment once the door closed. He didn't feel anything, but he couldn't put the suspicion out of his mind. He considered dismissing it as just being paranoid but ended up hitting the intercom button next to the door and requesting Urish'tal.

"Hey, do you have a moment?" he asked when she responded.

"Certainly, what can I do for you?"

"I was exposed to a number of new things outside the city. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like a quick check of my health to see how I'm handling it."

She gave him directions to the medical facility in the building and offered to meet him there right away.

"I will be there shortly," he agreed. He only stopped long enough to finish the last sentence on the reply to Allen and send it before heading out of his room to the medical area. It seemed to take up most of the uppers two levels of one of the main buildings just before they met at the peak. She had given him relatively clear directions from his room and to the right elevator. He took it down the number of levels she had told him to and found himself at one end of a larger medical area than he'd seen so far. Urish'tal was waiting as he stepped out onto the floor.

"Is there something in particular you are concerned about?" she asked as she led him over to one of the tables. As they stepped inside she tapped some keys on her datapad and the privacy shield rose around them.

"I don't know," he answered. "We have a saying amongst my race, however - better to be safe than sorry. I would appreciate it if you checked my scans and blood against the information you took from me before."

"Then I will do so," she answered, giving him a strange look. She didn't say more on the subject, but got to work instead, telling him to remove his clothing and get up on the table. She took his blood first and left for a few moments before coming back and starting the scans. He laid there, very still, watching the screens above him. He wished he knew slightly more about his own biology and what the scans should look like.

"Interesting," Urish'tal said at one point.

"What's that?" he asked.

"It appears you suffered quite a bit of injury recently, but were given a rapid healing agent. A large dose from the look of it. Dangerous stuff, Rekshal. We're not sure of the long term affects of administering it directly into the system. We only use it in small doses within a topical solution that helps keep it stable."

"They warned me it could be dangerous, but I couldn't afford to just lie about for weeks recovering," he told her. "I was given the choice and told them to give it to me."

"First you go jumping into enemy ships, then you go taking strange healing drugs. Are you always this reckless?" she asked, giving him an amused look.

"Not as a general rule, no," he replied. "But sometimes I don't have time to wait for everything to fall neatly into place by itself."

"Hold on a moment," she told him, squinting at her datapad. He saw the screen on the scan above him change as the device backed up and seemed to magnify an area that he thought might be his stomach. He wasn't sure what to make of the speck on the screen until it magnified quite a bit. Then it appeared to be a small mechanical object.

"Oh, now that's considerably more interesting," she commented, zooming it in closer. "What have you been eating, Kevan? I'm going to have to have one of the technical people identify this little item. It's not a medical monitor."

"It's small," she continued, "too small to have much in it, I think. But it's definitely constructed." There was some kind of haze on the image around it, and he asked what that was.

"I think it's a coating to help it go down easier. The coating will presumably dissolve so that the device can lodge itself in you further into your digestive system. That part, at least, has been done before. It hasn't been in you long, most of the coating is still intact."

"How long do you think the coating is supposed to last?" he asked, wondering how much time he had before it tangled itself up in him with barbs and became harder to remove.

"I don't know. I'd have to watch it for a while and monitor the progress before I could estimate that. On the other hand, I can remove it fairly easily at this point."

"The people that put it in me didn't intend me to know about it, I'd kind of like to know what it is to see if removing it would alert them somehow. If it's some kind of listening device then they know we know. If it's a tracking device--"

"Oh I think it's too small for a listening device. Also, it's in a noisy area for a listening device. Let me get a technician down here to see if he can determine if it's a tracking device."

"Make sure it's someone you trust very, very well," Kevan warned. "I don't want word of this getting out."

She left the privacy bubble around the examination table for a minute or two and Kevan continued to squint up at the display above him, as if it could help him figure out the little intruder in his body. He somehow kept expecting it to start blinking or moving, but it only seemed to shift slightly with the movement of his own internal organs. He found that he was holding his breath and remaining rigid, as if to keep it from moving deeper in, and he forced himself to breathe normally.

Urish'tal returned, scanning her datapad as she entered the privacy area again.

"It will take her a short while to arrive, as she has to fly in from another area of the city," she told him. "In the meantime, your blood seems fine, except for some expected elevated levels from the remaining traces of Rekshal in your system. I understand your desire to heal more quickly, but I would never have advised such a large dose, especially in a non-Rich'ti." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know what would make them take such risks."

"They are living in a far more hostile environment than you are," Kevan tried to explain. "Every person is needed to keep their community working, so most cannot afford to be unable to work for long periods of time. Some of the same people who hunt their food also have duties guarding the community from the animals as well. I saw that many people had dual responsibilities."

"Even so," she replied unabated, "there will be some there who know the results of some testing that was done years back. It drove some Rich'ti to madness. It killed others. There seemed to be a maximum dosage before it could potentially do either and that dosage was reasonably low to begin with. We found another chemical that could help stabalize it better in a topical form and keep its effects localized to that area, so we primarily use that instead. We rarely give it in ingested form as it sends the entire body into a healing overload state, even at the safer dosage. There have been some instances where the patient has not stopped that healing state and began "healing" areas of the body that didn't need it once the hurts were fixed. I have seen images of the victims. It was as if they were mutating, giving the body areas to try and heal. I doubt you were told all of this when they offered you the drug. And they had no right giving it to a human. They had no way of knowing how it would react to your system. You are very lucky that you seem to be responding to it without complications, although I will be happier when it is entirely finished leaving your system."

"Yes, well, it's not as though I haven't been drugged more than once without my consent. But I'm moving past that." He started to explain that risking drug complications didn't seem any worse than what the Brey-hahd might be bringing, but he realized she might not know what was coming. He didn't know how much anyone here had been told, and it wasn't his place to do so. "It seemed a necessary risk at the time. If I hadn't, I'd still be lying there recovering."

Eventually the technician did arrive. She scanned with some other equipment before declaring it a tracking device. The confidential nature of it was made clear, which the technician said she understood.

"Can you remove it without damaging it?" Kevan asked.

"Yes, why?"

"The Rich'ti that put it in me think I don't know about it. If it suddenly stops, they'll know I know. If it's still working then I can use it against them."

Removing it meant putting an instrument down his throat, which was less than pleasant, but tolerable. Once she had it out she put it in a small vial of fluid for him. It was smaller than a grain of rice.

"They'll be able to know you were here, if they're monitoring already," Urish'tal warned him.

"True. But then they'll track me leaving and going about my normal business. The obvious conclusion then will be that you didn't find it."

"When are we going to discuss how it got there?" Urish'tal asked.

"That's something I'll take up with Agronet later. I want to know more about who they are before I act."

"I understand," she said.

Kevan left the medical bay after he had put his clothes back on, not wanting to give Urish'tal time to ask him more questions. He headed back to his room and pulled up the Rich'ti computer that was installed in a panel of one wall. He started by using it to access the news of the last few weeks, backing up to see what the news had reported about the attempt on his life. The initial coverage had been extensive and he watched interviews with most of the people he had met by that point. He was amused to see that someone had even interviewed the female cook he'd worked with on the ship, but somewhat more interested in watching the interview with Pergute. He already knew he probably shouldn't just access files on the Rich'ti Professor directly, but he did follow a couple of casual links that gave him slightly more information, but nothing that really helped him.

He followed similar links on a few of the other interviews too, so that it looked less conspicuous. He followed through on the bigger headlines, noting the news when the moon fell to Rich'ti hands and then coming to Gertat's death. He was surprised to find that the footage on the challenge was easily available, and he pulled it up and watched it. He followed that by skipping ahead briefly to watch the footage of the challenge between Logur and Agronet. In neither one was he able to determine when Logur poisoned his opponent, but he could tell that Logur was not the better fighter in either instance. From what Kevan saw, it seemed as if Gertat had had an early opportunity to finish the fight and had hesitated. Gertat had repeatedly offered verbal chances for Logur to back out of the fight.