Chapter 13

"We have to move. Grab your computer," she instructed.

Through the open door he could see the rest of his guard group was all assembled. All carried rifles. "What's going on?" he demanded, getting to his feet.

"An armed group has murdered the outcast representative," she answered. "Details are a little sketchy still. I'm not taking chances, though, so you are going somewhere more secure until we know what's going on."

He stuffed his feet into his shoes and grabbed the computer and its power cord. He hastily wrapped the cord around the computer for now, wishing for a case to carry it in. The alarm continued sounding, although the volume decreased a little.

She led him out into the hallway, and the Rich'ti formed a ring around him. Lineel led the way. None of them had to say anything to make it happen. They moved down the hallway to a corner. Lineel checked it before they moved down the other hallway. There were a couple more corners, with them sometimes changing course abruptly, before they came to a nondescript, unmarked door.

Ezneel carefully pried the door panel off the wall and started fiddling with circuitry inside.

"Quickly," Lineel said insistently.

Ezneel sneered a human looking smile and the door opened. She pushed the panel back into place and they all went through the door.

"First we'll use a utility corridor to avoid traffic," she said once the door was closed. I want to avoid us being seen until we know more about what's going on."

"The way I see it, we have two options," Larnet said. "Either we find a safe spot here, or one of us goes for an aircar and we head for safety elsewhere."

"No aircars," Lineel said with a shake of her head. "Even if we bring one of them up here to a landing pad, like you're suggesting, there's too much exposure getting into it. Besides, Agronet will get this situation under control quickly enough. We just need a place to hole up for a short while until it's sorted out."

"Alright. Where then?" Larnet asked.

"Further down in one of the buildings," Mirket suggested. "We'll have to go down the hard way though, to keep cover."

"Which one though? Where's the best cover?" Lineel asked, looking at Larnet.

"Probably the agricultural center," Larnet answered. "Technology will be teeming with people in and out of medical, and there's not as much cover in most of their other levels. Too many clean rooms and testing areas. Social and Government are always too busy, and right now everyone will want the gossip. Agriculture is probably curious, but they'll all be sitting around their holo displays and not paying attention to much else if they've heard the news."

"Agreed," Lineel said. "Let's get to the Agriculture Center then. Ezneel, I'll need you to check the system once we're down there. There ought to be at least one or two of the people with offices who are scheduled to be away today. We can hole up in one of those until we get information suggesting it's safe."

The four exchanged nods and then the group was on the move again, continuing down the hallway. There was a move out of the corridor and down one of the larger hallways before Enzeel dealt with another door panel and they were inside another service corridor. This one led to a spiral staircase. Kevan looked down the center briefly and then pulled back again, realizing they were high enough up that he couldn't see the bottom.

They made a quick pace down the stairs, and Kevan found himself breaking a sweat, as Rich'ti stairs were higher than Human ones. Each step was as high as his knee and he was just relieved that they were headed down instead of up. There was a single door at each level and he counted seven before they stopped and Ezneel started messing with the door panel with more intricacy than the last two. The others spread out, two watching for anyone coming up or down the stairs, and Lineel with her ear against the door, listening for anyone coming. Kevan stood there in the center of it all, feeling somewhat useless.

It seemed to take a long time before Ezneel finally announced that she'd found a vacant office. Ezneel conferred with the others, but Kevan missed most of it. He wanted to lean in to hear, but somehow it felt like he'd be intruding, so he stayed where he was. Eventually Lineel pressed her ear against the door to listen again. She nodded. The door slid open.

They moved slowly and carefully. His Rich'ti protectors made almost no noise moving down the hallways, and he did his best to step lightly. He was especially relieved that it was all carpeted. He cringed at the thought of how loud a squeaky shoe would seem.

Larnet stayed a few feet ahead of them. He stopped at each intersection, listening before peering around. Once he motioned them back and they quickly moved back to a prior corner and ducked around it. Eventually whoever had been coming passed, and they moved on.

The proceeded without incident to the office they were looking for. Ezneel opened it in similar fashion and they moved inside. The office was barely furnished at all. There was a simple desk and a filing or storage cabinet and little else. There were papers spread around the desk, and a box on top of the cabinet. The box was too high up for him to guess at what might be in it.

There were no windows in the office, so he suspected that it was more central within the building as the walls of the buildings had all seemed to be covered with windows and balconies. Lights came on automatically as they had entered, and he stood, waiting at the center of the room, wondering what would come next.

"Now we wait," Lineel answered his unspoken question. "We'll give it some time. Enzeel can hook into the system through the panel inhere so we can see what the situation is like. We'll want to keep it quiet in the meantime, so no one knows we're in here." The others nodded in agreement.

"You can hook that back up over here," Enzeel told him, pointing at his computer and over at the wall nearest the desk. "There's at least one receptacle in every room, especially offices. Depending on how much they've told you about accessing our network, you could probably find out more information with it too."

"I'm not sure that everything is quite compatible for me to do that yet," Kevan said. "They've made it so that I can send messages to my people as well as to people within your system. Most of the access to news and other information I've gotten through my holographic projector, the small computer on the door panel, or the library computers I've been directed to. No one has been able to explain if I can access more with this machine or not yet."

"They're probably planning to just let you use a computer of theirs in the new quarters I heard they were setting up. Most Rich'ti who have an office also have a computer. Too bad the one who has this office took theirs with while away." She whispered as she talked and began pulling the front off the inner door panel as she did. Within moment, she was pulling, disconnecting, and reconnecting wires and other items inside. Kevan moved over to the desk and saw that there was a Rich'ti plug on the wall near it. He set about unraveling the mess of cord that he'd hastily wound around the computer and plugging it in. It didn't take him long to have it up and running again. He quickly sent a message to Urish'tal, and Agronet both, asking what was going on. He realized that the amount of people who he knew how to send messages to was limited as well, and he had no idea how to look up what other Rich'ti's "addresses" were to send them messages too.

He used some of the time to catch up on low-priority news from home. Ezneel still had very little information about what was going on locally. Apparently the local news media had learned about and reported a disturbance in the capitol building, but there were no details yet.

"So how did you all find out what had happened?" Kevan asked. "If the information isn't getting outside, what source do you have?"

"We heard it on the security channels of the radio system. There may have been news agencies that heard as well. If so, they either aren't sharing their information or they've been told not to release details yet."

"News media groups among my people tend to feel it their obligation to share that kind of information," Kevan explained, wondering where the limits of free speech were here.

"Some information would cause greater harm than good," Larnet explained. "Such information is not casually spread."

"Like the actual progress of the war?" Kevan asked.

"In one of the recent interviews with Agronet," Larnet explained, "he suggested that not all information had been released in order to prevent widespread panic," Larnet said. "If a reporter were to find out information about something as sensitive as the war and release it without checking with the goverment first, they would be held liable if something like widespread panic occurred."

"About ten or twelve years ago, there was an impending natural disaster on the southern hemisphere in one of the oceans. Scientists were unable to predict if the effects would spread wide enough to reach the mainland. Precautions were being put in place to evacuate the areas if necessary, and the scientists ran simulations on worst-case scenarios. At some point, a reporter got ahold of one of those simulations and broadcast it worldwide. There was no indication on the simulation itself as to which ocean the problem was starting in either. There was widespread panic as huge numbers of coastal residents scrambled to make their way inland, thinking there was going to be devastation along the shores. As a result, many were injured and a few were even inadvertantly killed."

"Three other reporters had taken the first one's story and run it too. In the end, the actual disaster never reached the coast in any manner other than slightly rougher waters than normal. A boating advisory was issued and no evacuation was ever needed. There was a reef system that had been enough to break the heavy waves that might have reached the land. Something like that, I forget the exact details of the scientific end of it. But those four reporters were all tried and found guilty as being responsible for the panic. As a result of their actions, people died and were injured. They were cast out. This helped reaffirm that the reporters should check their facts to be sure that the goverment was ready for the public to receive them."

"If the war is going that badly and everyone knows about it," Larnet finished, " some people will be too busy worrying about it to get their jobs done. It would probably be counter-productive to most efforts to change the way the war is going."

"Good point," Kevan said, nodding. The group grew quiet while Kevan wondered to himself how people back home would consider that. One more thing to word carefully in the reports, he told himself.

Apparently there was very little information coming over the military radios so far. The Rich'ti seemed to have more trouble with impatience than Kevan. Admittedly, Kevan was able to keep himself occupied with catching up on news from home. Most of it wasn't terribly interesting, but he liked having the link back to home. It made this world seem less far away. Some of them tried to look over his shoulder, but it became clear that none of them could read English, so they ended up shrugging and stepping back.

Eventually he pushed the computer away from him, tired of looking at it for a while. His Rich'ti escorts were sitting around looking bored. He felt bad for them. They probably all wanted to be somewhere else, but here they were guarding him. He probably wasn't even all that interesting to them other than being an alien. Even that didn't seem to excite them much.

"This must be a boring, possibly even disappointing assignment for you," he said. "But I do appreciate it. So thank you. Just in case nobody else says it."

That evoked a conversation about their professors and the four of them seemed to disagree on which was the most boring. There seemed to be three contenders for the title, and one other professor's name came up as being the most exciting, although aparently none of them had classes with him currently. He asked them some questions about their classes, and found that it wasn't too dissimilar to human college, except that instead of grades, each teacher told an advisor whether or not the student had completed the class to their satisfaction or not. The advisor, an elder from the field, made the ultimate decision on whether or not the student reached graduation and when. There was also a panel of elders for the school who made decisions when conflicts arose between students and teachers or advisors. Some care was taken in matching students up with their advisors, however, and to Kevan it sounded as if the advisors worked to mentor the students as much as possible. Class sizes sounded like they ranged in size, depending on the topic, some being very small and personalized and others being large lecture hall affairs.

They were describing one of the lecture halls to him, with sloped floors that had scooped, padded areas for them to sit in and little desk extensions, when his computer beeped that he had a message. As he turned and opened it, he heard them break off and start talking into their radios. His message was from Agronet, wondering where he was at, and suggesting it was safe for him to return. The radio communications were going on for a while, and it sounded like the others were getting far more detail about what had happened than he had been given. After a few moments they gestured to him.

"We can go back now," Lineel told him. "I guess your new room is ready too, so your things are being moved there for you and we can go directly there instead."

He nodded and shut the lid on his computer before unplugging it. He took a moment to wind the cord around it more carefully this time before tucking it under his arm and leaving with them. They still took up places around him, and watched furtively as they moved through the building, but this time they didn't use and service corridors, but went to the main elevator instead. Rich'ti in the hallways stared in surprise as they passed.

They took the elevator up to the second floor from the top. A hallway took them to a glass door guarded by two soldiers with rifles. The door was labeled 'Diplomatic." The soldiers stepped to either side out of the way.

Inside was a lobby area with seating mats. There were four doors from there, and one of them was marked 'Human.' Trorkash and a Rich'ti female were sitting on the mats, and rose at their entrance. Trorkash led the female to them.

"Welcome to your new living area," Trorkash said. "This is Kir'let. She will be one of your aides. The intention is for you to have three. Come with me and I will show you around."

The human embassy was several rooms. It had its own smaller foyer and a number of offices. There was an office for Kevan, and an adjacent office for the aides to share. There were also two offices set aside for whatever use Kevan chose for them. His quarters were next to the office. His office and his quarters both were along the outer wall of the building, and windows provided a pretty view of the city.

The quarters themselves were larger than any he'd had previously. The bed was offset from the center, but scoop-like lounging chairs with fur padding were located at a few strategic positions throughout the room. He was pleased to see a shower again, and hoped that this time he'd be able to control the water temperature as he'd asked.

He found that this time he had more than just a water spigot, but his room contained a small kitchenette, like many human hotel rooms sometimes did. A quick exploration of drawers revealed that his belongings had been brought over and carefully placed into drawers in this room. He found that things were located in approximated positions to where they had been in the previous room. He made a mental note to re-organize later, as the larger room had spread some things out from each other more than he would have liked. He found the Rich'ti approximation of the human toilet, set into a drawer that he could pull out when needed. It had been some time since he'd had a chance to use any toilet facilities and he promplty kicked everyone out of the room so he could do so. When he came back out of the room, Trorkash had left, and he found that Larnet had been called away with him, to speak to Agronet.

He found that Mirket and Ezneel had been posted at the door to his area and Kir'let waited with Lineel in the aide office.

"Will you be staying here a while or do you have plans to leave again?" Lineel asked him.

"I expect to be here a while, getting settled in," he replied.

"Then I will take my leave for now. Kir'let knows how to reach me if you need to go anywhere, so that I may accompany you." She turned and left, without waiting on a response, leaving Kevan facing Kir'let.

"So," Kevan said needing a way to break the ice, "have you ever been an aide before?"

"No, I haven't," Kir'let admitted, shrugging her shoulders a little.

"Well, I've never really had one before, so we'll figure it out together. Fair enough?"

"Very fair."

"I need to get some things in order," Kevan explained. "Follow me."

They moved into his quarters and Kevan grabbed a stack of clothes from one spot to move to another while they talked. Kir'let asked how she could help, and Kevan directed her on what to move where. They continued talking while everything was rearranged.

Kevan explained the difference in sleep schedules, and explained that one of the biggest things he'd like help with was keeping his appointments scheduled so that a rotating sleep schedule would still work. He also wanted help with reminders so that he could plan his day ahead. They started working on ways to schedule things so that it wouldn't require huge changes from either one of them.

He also filled her in on some of what had happened since his arrival. He also warned her that there would be security issues to be concerned with, and that at this point she shouldn't go anywhere without a security escort. She nodded but said nothing.

She was very quiet overall, and spent most of her time nodding and entering things into a slim datapad she carried. When he was done re-organizing his belongings, he gestured for her to sit down on one of the lounge seats, and he took one opposite her.

"Tell me a little about yourself then," he started. "How did you get this position, for example?"

"Oh." She looked a little startled at the question and it took her a minute before she seemed ready to reply. He tried to give her a nod of encouragement.

"I was in line to be an aide's assistant about two years ago, but I lost out against another candidate," she said, looking embarrassed. "Since then I've been working as a secretary within the packaging sector. I've been watching for opportunities to try again for the aide's assistant position, but I'm not the most..." she trailed off for a moment, looking very worried. "I know this is an aide's position and not an aide's assistant, but I can do the job, I know I can. I'm not overly strong physically you see, so I lose challenges easily, but I really can do the work!" She looked as if she was afraid he was about to fire her on the spot, her body had gone rigid while her fingers fiddled with the datapad in her hands, turning it over and over again nervously.

"There are many kinds of strength," Kevan told her. "I'm not as physically strong as a lot of Rich'ti myself. But there is also strength of character--how strongly you hold to the things you believe. There is also courage, which is the strength to do something that needs to be done."

"There is a different kind of strength I need to know if you have," he continued. "Some Rich'ti will come up to you and demand things of me. They might want to speak to me immediately, or they might want to be treated as more important than another. The two of us will be setting my appointments, and if someone can't respect that, you'll have to be the one to tell them that I can't see them right away, and that they'll have to wait."

"Some will try to bully you with words to get you to do what they want you to. That's the first strength I need you to have. To stand up against that and be able to tell some of them--sometimes even Agronet's advisors--that they'll have to make an appointment or come back later. Some of them might try physical strength on you. I'll deal with the ones that push past you in my own way, as long as you can limit how often I have to."

"Can you do that?" he came out and asked her. "Can you speak with authority on my behalf when I ask you to?"

"Yes," she said almost right away. He couldn't tell for sure, but he thought she was deciding it just then, telling herself that she would. He remembered one of his first assignments, when someone asked him if he'd be able to speak on the government's behalf and uphold their official positions. He had replied pretty much the same way.

"Good," he told her, trying to sound reassuring. "Then we should have no problems at all." She seemed relieved, but was still fidgeting with the datapad in her hands nonetheless.

He followed that up by explaining some of the differences between Rich'ti and Humans, and let her know that he had learned a lot so far but that he might sometimes make gestures or do other things that she could easily misinterpret. While he had fallen into a few habits already, like some of the nodding gestures, he expected to be able to relax a little when he wasn't in a meeting with a Rich'ti. This meant that if he grinned at something he was reading, he didn't want her to think he was in his office baring his teeth at his computer. He gave her a quick run-down on a few of the basics, especially in facial expressions. To his relief, she didn't seem overwhelmed when he was finished.

"I shall do my best to keep them straight," she told him afterwards.

"Good," he nodded. "Now then, while I will be handling the messages I recieve from my own people, is there a way to have any Rich'ti messages sent to you directly and you can let me know when they come in?"

"Yes, I can arrange for that," she said.

"Good. Keep in mind that you will be viewing some things that are not meant for the general public. I expect you to confer with me before anything you see or hear is relayed to anyone else. Do you understand?"

"I do know how to keep a confidence, yes," she nodded.

"Very well then," he said, "let's see if there's any news about today's event."

They went to the holo-screen in his office and turned it on. News wasn't hard to find. Reports described how an armed group had entered the capitol building through the parking levels. The group had moved to a mid-level hallway and intercepted the outcast representative being given a tour of the building.

The representative and everyone with him had been killed. The attackers had all been rounded up at this point, although their identities were not being released. There had been eight total, including a driver that had attempted escape in an air car and had been shot down by military fighter craft. The other seven were in military custody.

"So what's your immediate opinion?" Kevan asked her.

"What they did was wrong. They are criminals and should be treated accordingly. There is a certain irony to sending them out among the people they attacked."

"They won't be cast out," Kevan said. "Things are changing. I don't know what will happen to them, but I suspect that will set the precedent for what's to come. I think Agronet hadn't wanted to make that decision yet."

Just then, almost as if to punctuate his statement, a beep came from his computer announcing a new message.

He looked over and checked, to find that it was from Agronet, both requesting his presence and confirming the rendevous point for the ship he'd sent to Human space. Kevan had a moment of amusement as he wondered briefly if the Rich'ti had a word for multi-tasking. He relayed the information, with a brief explanation about why a Rich'ti ship was headed to Human space. Her eyes widened in surprise at the information, but she said nothing about it. She turned instead to her datapad and tapped at it briefly.

"Lineel should be here shortly to escort us to meet with the Takor," she told him after a moment.

"You can send communications with that?" he asked with surprise.

"Yes, it was given to me as part of the assignment to this position. I believe you have one coming later today that will have the same capability. You also have a larger workstation in that panel behind you." She pointed at the wall and he turned to look at it. There was a small area that looked like something similar to the area he put his hand to for the door panels. He put his hand to it and a larger panel of wall slid back and a computer workstation extended itself out in a smooth, quiet motion. The screen flickered on and a Rich'ti menu appeared, not too dissimilar from the ones he'd seen on the library computers of the Rich'ti ship.

"Perfect," he said, with a nod of approval. He turned back to see her tapping away on her datapad, not paying him much attention just then. He waited patiently until she looked back up at him.

"I have just had all communications sent to you through the Rich'ti network copied to my own datapad," she told him. "You will still receive them so that you may peruse them if you wish, but I will keep you appraised on those communications from this point forward."

"Wonderful," he replied, as Lineel stepped up to the office door. "Ah, Lineel."

"I heard you needed to go somewhere?" she asked, leaning against the door casually. He noticed that she now carried a rifle on a strap, which was slung over one shoulder.

"It seems a little wierd to need an armed escort to go up one level in the same building," Kevan admitted.

"Chek'tun didn't leave the building," Lineel reminded him.

"This from the culture without crime," he said with a shrug. "Let's go."

Lineel led them back to the elevator. None of them spoke. They spent more time waiting for the elevator than riding in it. There were armed soldiers in the gardened lobby.

Before they got half way across the lobby area Urish'tal came from Agronet's office area. Her face looked deliberately composed. She didn't say anything, but did give Kevan a nod of acknowledgement as they passed each other.

The door opened when they got to it. Agronet was the only one in his office. Lineel took a position outside the office.

"Do you want me to wait out here?" Kir'let asked.

Kevan looked quickly to Agronet, who showed no response.

"I don't think that will be necessary," he said and led her inside.

Once the door was closed behind them, Agronet gestured that they should take seats.

"Despite the recent complications, I hope you find the new accomodations suitable," Agronet said. "Though it appears I will be unable to come and see for myself for at least a while, if at all."

"What's happened?" Kevan asked bluntly.

"Urish'tal tells me that I've been a little more active than she had anticipated in her treatments. She's slowed the blood flow further up, but the leg I was poisoned in is now entirely useless. At least it's easier to concentrate without the pain I was feeling, but then I'm starting to ache further up instead. I'll need to take all meetings here and hope no one realizes why until I either cannot function anymore or this cure arrives from your people. Urish'tal is not entirely sure it will be in time, although she won't tell me that directly."

Agronet was looking at Kir'let with narrow eyes.

"Do you understand that this information is currently to be kept quiet?" the Takor asked her suddenly.

"I do, sir," she nodded at him.

"The future of the entire Rich'ti race are at stake right now. Certain things must be handled very carefully or we risk losing everything. You will find yourself now privvy to information on just how badly the war is going for the us. Along with other complications that cannot be told to the general public for fear of mass panic. I expect you to maintain these confidences. Failure to do so will be seen as treason."

"I understand, Takor, I do," she said quietly. Her eyes had gone a bit wide, but she'd managed to keep her voice from hinting at any fear.

"Good. There are other matters than my health that need discussing," Agronet said, turning back towards Kevan. "I've managed to explain to the outcasts that this incident was similar to what happened with their group - we had some who did not react well to the change. They will be punished, and publicly. I've convinced them to send another representative, with two additional Rich'ti accompanying them. They will have one aide from their own population, as well as one bodyguard. We will also provide an aide and a bodyguard along with the guards you've seen at the door to the new diplomat quarters section. They are sending Eesh'ket this time."

Agronet seemed pleased with the choice, and Kevan had to admit that he was relieved as well. He wondered suddenly if that meant Ar'shan would be coming as well, in one of the two positions. As if reading his thoughts, Agronet nodded.

"Yes, he's already said my daughter will be serving as his aide," the Takor nodded. "I only hope she won't find out about my current health. I do not want her to see me weakening."

"Hopefully the cure will arrive in time that she won't have to find out," Kevan said.

"If it even works," Agronet said. "There is no guarantee that this cure will actually work, Kevan. Urish'tal has warned me that she cannot be positive, but that it's the best chance I have."

Kevan just nodded, realizing he didn't have any assurances he could offer either, just his own hopes.

"As for Chek'tun's murderers," Agronet said, changing the subject again. "I have taken some time to peruse some information Pergute provided me on Human methods of dealing with criminals, as we can no longer use the method of casting them out. I am having a structure that is no longer in use modified for future use as a disciplinary center, but in the meantime we have no place to put them. I have decided to use some more historical methods the Humans once used, that will also provide a message to the rest of the Rich'ti people that I am serious about these new changes. They will be publicly whipped and then put in something you call... stah-cay-dis."

"Stock-ades," Kevan said, drawing out the pronunciation with surprise. "How long do you plan to keep them there?"

"Until there are secure rooms in the new building where they can be kept. We will not starve them, but they will not be treated kindly either. They have murdered. That is the worst crime any Rich'ti can commit. They are lucky I do not try one of the other techniques, like hanging them from rope around their necks. In their choice of victims I consider their actions as a challenge to my own authority as well. If I were in better health, I would handle the whipping personally." Agronet's face showed his anger, his nostrils flaring.

"It will be interesting to see how Rich'ti respond to that," Kevan commented. "I do hope that the public in general doesn't have a hard time with the pace of changes. It was made clear to me early on that I was not welcomed if I was to be an agent of change, and it was never my intention to cause changes."

"I know all about the concerns about change. I was against allowing you here at first, for just that reason. I have come to see differently since. Changes aren't happening because you're here, but because they're needed. You have provided input into some new directions, but that is all."

Kevan nodded, hoping that's all it was. He did feel much more instrumental in what was going on than he preferred.

"I wasn't sent to be the permanent representative for my people," he reminded Agronet, "but to observe and make recommendations and lay the ground work for an alliance."

"Later," Agronet said, "when more progress has been made, it will be interesting to have more humans here to observe. Part of me wants to suggest allowing representatives from other races, but now is not the time."

"You know," Kevan suggested, "after the war you could arrange an orbital station to serve as the diplomatic area. You could still invite representatives, but not have them on the planet directly. Get other races to be involved in design and construction, and it could be an interesting platform for diplomacy and cultural exchange."

"An interesting idea, but I think it will take time before we as a people are ready for a step like that. First we must survive without sacrificing what it is that makes us Rich'ti."

"Has there been any recent Brey-hahd activity?"

"No," the takor said with a heavy shake of his head. "And that worries me."

"Why exactly?" Kevan asked.

"They've been sending their scouting parties with some regularity. To the point where we had our pilots in their ships and waiting to see where they came into the atmosphere the last time they attacked. So far, since that initial incursion when we managed to bring down one of their ships, we've lost four of our own ships and not managed to take down any more of theirs. They've also managed to take out some interesting choies of structures." Agronet sighed, visibly disturbed.

"What do you mean?"

"Their targets seem to all be aimed at large population density structures and government or military buildings," Agronet answered. "I am concerned that this building will become a target soon. And our planetside military ships are not adequate to defend if they bring in more than one or two scout ships at a time. We've not had to defend the planet itself in so long that we only have those ships as a token showing of defense. It's supposed to be the job of the orbital ships to defend the planets now. Some of the armed smaller ships have been down on the planet helping in these attacks, but we are not ready if they launch anything larger than these small scouting missions. If they actually come in to specifically take out key structures, as I suspect they are gearing up to do, we probably can't do much to stop them as it stands right now."

"Have you any armed structures with weapons that can shoot down air vehicles?" Kevan inquired.

"We used to, but several centuries ago we dismantled all equipment like that when we began forming into a single community. We were once divided on this planet and would war with each other."

"I don't suppose any of that equipment is lying about in a museum?" Kevan asked, remembering that they had a word equivallent to 'museum' and using it.

"No. There may be one or two, but there is no working ammunition for them anyway at this point. The rest were used in construction of ships as we were looking outward at expansion into other planets."

"What about arming the aircars then?" Kevan suggested. "They are at least small and maneuverable."

"And have no armor at all. Anyone attacking in one would likely be on a suicide mission," the Takor replied. "There is also a weight issue there. Aircars are designed to carry people, not heavy weaponry. Heavier cargo is usually transferred by ground vehicles."

"Well I'm not a military expert," Kevan admitted, "and I don't know what else to suggest." The only other option he could think of was evacuation, but he kept that to himself. Suddenly the window office seemed less appealing.

There are a number of Rich'ti that had been asking about meeting with you," Agronet said, changing the subject.

"I'm happy to meet with them," Kevan replied. "Have them contact Kir'let and schedule appointments."

With that they were done, and Kevan excused himself so that the Takor could rest. Lineel was still outside waiting for them, and the three walked off to the elevator. They went quietly down a level and through the hallway past the waiting soldiers. The inner lobby area was empty.

"Lineel," Kevan began. "Rich'ti will be scheduling meetings with me through Kir'let. She'll be able to keep you up-to-date on when I'm likely to be not going anywhere for a while. I suspect I'm going to be busy for the rest of today."

But first, he admitted to Kir'let, he wanted a nap for about an hour. She confirmed that she would start setting appointments for him, with break times worked in. Then he thanked Lineel once again before heading to his room to lie down for a while.

He found that he was restless, and while he did doze off on the bed for an hour, he kept waking periodically throughout, usually from dreaming. His dreams were generally about Brey-hahd attacking or, in one case, the moon itself crashing down on the building. Once an hour had passed, he gave up and headed back to his office, where Kir'let filled him in on the schedule for the rest of that day. She had left him some periodic breaks between meetings, for food and other matters, but otherwise he found himself booked solid until dinner, as well as already booked for the next day too. He found messages from his own government waiting on his computer, asking about potential trades. One message, however, was a spot of good news - his government was sending a second, larger fleet towards Rich'ti space. While they had been told to wait for confirmation of the need from the commander of the small fleet already scheduled to arrive, they would hover at the edge of known Rich'ti space, much closer on hand to assist. It wasn't all he had hoped for, but it was progress, and he sent a message to Agronet, informing him of the update.

Most of the meetings were with advisors. While he was very busy that afternoon and the following day, he found that most of the meetings seemed to drag by, with him having the same few conversations over and over again. Basically, they all seemed to want to make him aware of their status in Rich'ti society and therefore their presumed superiority over him. Most of them wanted some assurance that he would make no attempts to influence the Rich'ti culture with his own Human one, since they all perceived Humanity to be a hotbed of wicked, evil ways. After the third such meeting he informed Kir'let to give him a few minutes of break in between each meeting, and during one of the breaks he took a trip to visit with Urish'tal to do something about the throbbing headache that had cropped up.

About mid-afternoon that next day, Kir'let informed him that Eesh'ket had arrived, and Kevan had her schedule a meeting with him as soon as they could, giving up the next short break period he'd had scheduled for a meal. Instead, Kir'let arranged for a meal to be brought in for both Kevan and Eesh'ket, along with herself and Ar'shan, who would be comparing schedules in the aide's office. Kevan was also informed that the other two aides who were expected to join Kir'let had been reduced to one and that they would be arriving shortly before dinner.

Upon seeing Kevan, Eesh'ket gave him the Rich'ti equivallent of a smile, with an enthusiastic nod.

"Good to see you," the Rich'ti said, taking the seat Kevan gestured at.

"It's good to see you as well," Kevan replied. "How are things going outside?"

"Many are assuming Chek'tun's assassination was an act of retribution for the riots. We will be interested in seeing how the guilty ones are treated. We have been informed that several were arrested."

"What's being done with the rioters?" Kevan asked.

"There was a public trial. It was explained that if the riot had prevented negotiations between us and the city dwellers, that we would not be protected from the Brey-hahd. Endangering an entire community is as high a crime as we have."

"So what is the punishment for such a thing?"

"They are tied to a post in the middle of the community where they are never looked at and never spoken to. And also never fed. They remain there until they starve to death. They will beg for help, and none will answer them. This is justice. They have turned their back on Rich'ti ways, and so Rich'ti turn our backs on them."

"How long does that take, generally?" Kevan asked with surprise.

"It has only ever been used as punishment twice before," Eesh'ket told him. "And not during my time. It was said that it could take as long as four months before the last one dies, although it is estimated that most of them will not actually last that long."

Kevan swore quietly in human under his breath.

"While I don't condone what they have done," Kevan said, "I have to let you know that starvation is not a form of punishment my race condones. To deliberately starve someone to death is one of the few crimes remaining that we would give out a death sentence for amongst my kind."

"It is not a sentence we give lightly, Kevan," Eesh'ket replied calmly. "Our way of living is stemmed from a need to survive, not a choice. Keep in mind that while our methods of discipline may seem harsh to you, the Pechute do have one thing about us right. We were founded by criminals initially. And the majority of those who have been cast out have committed a crime. We have already given them a second chance by helping them to survive when the Pechute already cast them out to die and be forgotten. If they endanger the survival of the entire community, they no longer deserve our compassion. They must die and as they do so they will make their amends by proving as an example to others. Never has a group so large been punished in this manner, and as we are all gathered together, and they have been placed in the center of our gathered tribes, at the meeting place where all can see. There is nothing you, nor your kind can do to change this. It is our way, and our decision. And I doubt the Pechute would protest this punishment either, considering their hostility towards us."

"Also, in both past instances, a family member has taken pity and taken their life before it came to them starving to death. Although most of them are currently bound with most if not all of their family members, so it is possible that some of them actually will starve to death, assuming we survive the Brey-hahd. The few children of those communities have been taken into other communities, spread out apart from each other. There were some women, mostly pregnant ones, who did not participate in the riots and they have also been integrated into other communities, but are being watched until they can prove themselves trustworthy. It is unlikely any of them will help the criminals to die at this point. Those particular communities, being comprised primarily of murderers to begin with, had much harsher rules than the rest of us, actually. While it seems there was some trust between some of them, mostly order was kept through violence and fear. Mating was essentially through rape not consent. No love is going to be lost over these deaths, no matter how they die."

Kevan let the subject change. He wasn't sure how he would describe it all in his report, but he knew people back home would not approve. He thought he understood, but many would not.

Eesh'ket asked a couple of questions about how a diplomacy center should be run, and Kevan spent quite a bit of time describing how embassies on other planets were run. Eesh'ket seemed to enjoy hearing it, and Kevan was happy to have an easy conversation for a change.

All too soon Ar'shan interrupted them to let Eesh'ket know he was needed elsewhere, and the two of them left.

Kevan took the time to check his messages. He had gotten confirmation that the Rich'ti courier ship had met the human ship with the antidote materials. The courier might be due back as early as late the next day. Kevan forwarded to note to Urish'tal.

After catching up on news from home--small things, mostly--he found himself with a little time before dinner and then the evening free. He found Kir'let in her office, and asked where he could go to get some exercise. She summoned Lineel, who led the three of them to an exercise area a level below them.

The machines in the area looked the same as the ones he had seen on the ship, and, in fact, most of the area was laid out in a similar manner. He made use of the ones he'd become familiar with, remembering to be careful not to set anything high enough to accidentally hurt himself. He was jogging on their equivallent of a treadmill when suddenly it whined to a halt and the lights all around them went dark. For a moment, they were blanketed in complete darkness, as the exercise area was an inner room in the building and did not have windows to the outside.

After a moment, emergency lights flickered on at about the same time as the building itself seemed to shake on it's foundation, accompanied by the sound of a large explosion. In the dim light, he saw that Lineel had moved next to him and was listening intently on her radio, the rifle held at the ready.

She saw him looking at him and gestured to Kir'let, who moved closer to them both.

"Brey-hahd," she told them. "We're under attack. We need to move down and stay away from the outer edges. It's not safe this high up in the building."

They moved quickly as Lineel led them to one of the staircases leading down. As they started to descend, she explained that they couldn't use the elevators with the main power source shut down as it was. She told him that if the Brey-hahd could target the main power of the building and get a direct hit, the building would likely explode and take buildings nearby with it in the process, which was why it had been shut down so quickly. While the power source was well shielded, there was no guarantee that the Brey-hahd weapons wouldn't penetrate.

They weren't alone in the stairwells, Rich'ti swarmed out of doorways and onto the stairs with a strange quietness about them. To Kevan's surprise, they were orderly - no one was pushing or rushing to get down first. They moved quickly and quietly, most of them seeming to have a determined resolve on their faces. They hardly seemed to notice the Human in their midst at all.

The four buildings had seemed tall to Kevan before, but he realized he had probably only made it about halfway down the stairs before he started to feel winded. The Rich'ti, on the other hand, seemed to have no trouble. The taller Rich'ti steps added extra challenge as he had already just been exercising. About three-quarters of the way down, he had to ask them to stop a moment, while he moved off to one side to massage a cramp out of his abdomen. His legs were starting to ache as well. All throughout the descent, the building kept shaking with explosions, some more violent than others. One seemed particularly close, and pieces of the building shook loose and rained down onto them, bruising and scratching those that were hit.

The Rich'ti helped each other up. None had been buried by debris, there wasn't that much of it, but several had been knocked over by it. They all hurried more then, and Kevan could see the calm wearing thin.

As they continued lower, the crowd grew thicker. Lineel looked more and more nervous trying to watch the crowd about them. She led them off to the side down another corridor and away from the crowds

Eventually they arrived at the aircar garage. Lineel stopped short and Kir'let nearly ran into her. Half of the garage was in flames. It was the end that had the way out.

"That can't be good," Kevan managed to say.

"A little bit of fire I'd risk," Lineel said, "but whatever caused this is probably going to effectively block the exit.

"What about the mass-transit tunnels further down?" Kir'let suggested.

"Might be the safest way out, but they'll be pretty crowded," Lineel said, looking undecided. There was a secondary explosion in the burning area as an aircar exploded. "But we can't stay here," she added.

She led them to another stairwell that led down below the building near one of the ground-level entrances. He saw a few Rich'ti go out the doors and start running across the grass towards other buildings. As they did, he watched in horror as a small Brey-hahd scout ship spat a stream flame down over them. A few tried rolling on the ground to put the flames out, while others flailed about screaming as their fur burst into flame. He stood for a moment, trapped between fear and a desire to help them as he watched them dying. The ones on the ground couldn't put the flames out - whatever the oily substance the Brey-hahd used had been sprayed on the ground as well, and grass everywhere was catching fire around them. Rolling on the ground was only making the fire worse for the Rich'ti who burned.

Lineel grabbed him by the arm and hauled him after her, down the stairs. He blinked as they descended out of the brighter-lit area they had just been in, into another area only lit by emergency lights. This staircase was steeper and went straight down for about three stories before leading out into a long, tubular room where long glass-like tubes opened their doors so Rich'ti could pile inside them. Kevan saw that the calm was gone in this area - Rich'ti pushed others out of their way to get into the tubes. In a couple areas, he saw fighting going on.

"I don't like this at all," Lineel said, keeping them off to one side.

Once it was full, probably beyond the usual expected capacity, the doors on the tube automatically tried to shut, but stopped and opened again to avoid closing on the Rich'ti in the way. It took some time before the doors had enough clearance to close, and Kevan noticed that the tube seemed to weigh heavily on the track beneath it compared to the next one that arrived to take it's place. It looked as though the tubes were supported by air, pushed up from the track beneath it, although he really couldn't be sure from his vantage point. Lineel attempted to maneuver him into a position where they could get onto the next tube, although it meant being swept in by the swarm of Rich'ti trying to enter it.

For a moment, he found himself separated from Lineel and Kir'let. Then everything seemed to slow down around him as he found himself looking up into the face of an angry male.

"This is your doing, Human," the Rich'ti said, spitting on him as he did. Kevan heard Lineel calling his name in the distance as pain suddenly shot across the left side of his ribs. He had a surreal moment of looking down at the knife sticking out of him, and then back up at the male who pulled it out and stabbed him with it two more times before disappearing in the crowd. He wondered why he hadn't stopped the male, when he realized his arms had been being held back by two other Rich'ti behind him. They let go of him then, and he was falling. For another strange moment, he found it interesting that even the bottom of the tube was glass, and that it seemed like there was a thick mist holding it up and propelling it. Then someone stepped on him, and then another, as the Rich'ti in the tube pushed and shoved their way around like trapped animals. He tried to call out for help, but it only came out as a scream.

Then blackness seemed to sweep up from beneath and pull him under.