“The woman did not have war on her mind,” Dalden pointed out stubbornly.
“We could hear perfectly well what she had on her mind, just as we know perfectly well what was on yours, all of which is redundant. I am stressing a point here, big guy, if you haven’t figured that out yet, and if you don’t get it by the time I finish, then you arenotgoing back to the surface. Are you listening yet?”
“Is it possible not to, when in your presence?” Dalden replied stiffly.
A very good imitation of a sigh filled the control room, loud and prolonged. “We don’t have time for bruised warrior egos, Dalden. My job is to get you back home in one piece and still breathing. If you can manage to recover the rods as well, then you’re happy, Tedra’s happy, and I’m happy. Which means I’ll help you to do that. None of which means you have time for hanky-panky.”
The third blush was immediate and quite vivid. Dalden had no trouble understanding the “ancients’ language” that his mother and Martha both used, having grown up hearing its use. Tedra had always been fascinated by the ancient history of her people, when most Kystrani couldn’t care less, and only recent history was still taught in their learning systems.Hanky-panky,one of those ancient words, equated to Sha-Ka’anifun,or what was more universally known as sharing sex.
“Now, from the top once more,no fraternizing with the local species,” Martha continued. “If even one of those humans figures out that you aren’t one of them, you’d have billions of people trying to wipe you from their memories, and given their history, that means kill you on sight. They won’t care that you’re here to help them. They won’t care about the wealth of advanced knowledge you could introduce them to. They would consider you a threat to their survival, not a benefit, and exterminate you accordingly.”
Shanelle frowned at that point. “You said he’d have no trouble passing for one of them, Martha, as long as he left his sword on the ship.”
“Nor will he, since they come in all sizes and shapes themselves, even Sha-Ka’ani warrior size. But that’sifthey aren’t already looking for him.”
“Why would they be?” Shanelle asked. “Didn’t you say that they would have to conclude that we disintegrated, if they noticed us at all, because no disturbance of their water was caused by us?”
“Correct. They have viewing devices to see farther into space than the naked eye can, which means they could have seen us coming if battleships of this line weren’t equipped with a wide selection of disguisers. It also means they probablydidsee Jorran’s ship if it hovered long enough above them and if one of the operators of those viewers was paying close attention, which fortunately isn’t a guarantee, since they are operated by humans, rather than by computers.”
“So if they are looking for anyone, it would be Jorran, not Dalden.”
“Yes. But that means that Dalden can make no mistakes to draw attention to himself, or they’ll think they’ve found what they’re looking for in him. And these people are in a constant state of readiness for war. Though most of them have reached a point of wanting global peace, they are too diverse in cultures to attain it completely.”
“I wish you could just get a fix on Jorran and zap him to us,” Shanelle mumbled. “Problem solved.”
“Already tried it, kiddo, without success,” Martha replied in a matching mumble. “Without a homing link attached to him, I can’t get a perfect lock on him, even if I can pick up his voice. I’d have to transfer the entire area he’s in to guarantee getting him as well, which is out of the question unless we know for certain that he’s alone. Besides, he’s wearing one of those old-fashioned personal Air Shields that prevent contamination when visiting suspect areas.”
“Never heard of it.”
“Didn’t think so. Personal Air Shields have long been considered inferior devices, since a simple pill these days can destroy any contamination in seconds, if there isn’t a meditech unit handy to do the same. The shield around him isn’t visible to the naked eye, doesn’t prevent access to him other than of the germ type, but it definitely interferes with Molecular Transfer.”
“As in, can’t be used with?”
“Right. He’d have to turn it off for me to get at him, and he’s not likely to do that, if he’s paranoid enough to wear an old-style shield in the first place rather than trust a meditech to cleanse and purify or a pill to prevent. But chances are his ship isn’t equipped with an expensive meditech. Nor are the pills standard issue on Traders like his that usually have only contamination-free planets on their scheduled routes, so they have no need for such devices to begin with.”
“Why was it discontinued for use if it still serves its purpose?”
“It became obsolete when Molecular Transfer first came into use. It worked fine when the only way you could get down to a planet was in a landing ship, but because Transfers can’t be made while using one, if you transfer without the shield activated, you get contaminated before you can turn it on.”
“That would be rather pointless,” Shanelle agreed. “But wouldn’t there be a time when Jorran might need to turn it off, like for cleaning up or sleeping?”
“Yes, but without a homing link on him, I can’t keep him on track. I can zero in on him only when he communicates with his ship, but once he goes silent again, I lose him in the crowd. Besides, as long as he keeps the shield control within five feet of him, the shield will remain on him, even when he removes the control unit from his person, so I’m not counting on getting lucky there.”
Shanelle sighed. “So we have to physically get our hands on him and the rods.”
“Exactly, but Dalden should be able to manage that just fine once he finds him—as long as he stops being distracted by the locals.”
No blush this time; in fact, Dalden’s expression had turned warriorish, as in no expression at all. Martha usually took such opportunities to try to provoke a reaction, one of her small forms of amusement, but with a specific task at hand, she restrained herself.
“I haven’t determined if Jorran did his homework first, or just picked a country at random,” Martha continued. “But there are many different forms of government here in the different countries, and a hierarchy of government in the one he did pick. Head of a town, then head of a state that has hundreds of towns, then head of the whole country. They don’t have a head of the whole planet yet, haven’t progressed to that. But there are a few countries that are considered world leaders: their opinion counts big-time and they have the power to back it up, if you know what I mean. He’s picked one of the big leaders, but it looks like he’s going to start small and work his way up. Didn’t think he’d be that smart.”
“Why is this smart, when it’s not what he really wants?” Shanelle asked.
“Because what their leaders do here is quickly made known to all the populace, especially what the big leaders do. Whereas the actions of the little leaders, the ones who only govern a single town, tend to only be made known to that town. In other words, the fewer eyes on him, the better.
“He probably wasn’t expecting this planet to be so hugely populated, since most planets grown to this size begin dispersing their people to other planet colonies before they deplete the mother planet’s resources. Century III is still in the baby stages itself, with a gross population under five hundred thousand. This planet has people in the billions. They have millions jammed into little cities. They don’t spread out, they spread up. There’s just too many people here. It’s no wonder any ship that has come close enough to check them out has run the other way instead of making contact.”
“On the other hand, Jorran might be delighted by the overabundance of population,” Shanelle remarked. “The more people falling at his feet in worship, the better.”
