Annoyance fluttered through Tau. “Itwas leaking fluids. I used the laser to plug the holes. This dronehas no useful information regarding the physiology of the nativecreatures.”
Xi nodded. “Because the traitor has noclue of their value. He is weakened by his certainty ofsuperiority.”
Discomfort fluttered through Tau alongwith the suspicion that Xi had noticed his ownarrogance.
Had he misjudged the value of thespecies?
Based on …?
Nothing, he realized. He had simplyassumed they must be inferior because they were carbon basedentities—weaker than his own because they were biological and proneto damage because they had a physical manifestation.
Fragile, he decided, not inferior, andnow an endangered species because of the traitor—who was one oftheir own even though they would have preferred not to claimhim.
It was commonly held that it wasbecoming a physical being when they were never meant to be such athing that had made the traitors deranged.
That was not a comforting thought whenhe must also inhabit an avatar to bring the villain tojustice.
“I suppose the question iswhether or not this particular being has value?” he respondedfinally. “Is this something you might know? Or be able todetermine?”
“It is a female ofbreedable age. She would be very valuable to herpeople.”
The comment threw Tau into a state of… uneasy confusion. He was certainly cognizant of the fact thatbiological entities reproduced, but that was purely on a scientificlevel. His adopting the avatar had brought him down to the level ofbiological entity even though it was only partly biological. He didnot acknowledge, then, that his mind instantly leapt toprocreation, but he could not deny it later, when he’d had time toconsider the disorder the comment threw him in to.
“Is it … she … breedingnow?”
Xi shrugged. “She could be, thoughthere is no outward indication at this point. The point is that shecould be. They will not restore their healthy balance withoutfemales to breed new blood.” He studied the female. “This one mayor may not survive, however. I think we could not do better than toattempt to return her to her people. They would be more …receptive, I think, if we did and they could see we had goodintentions toward them.”
“But … we have nointentions toward them,” Scout Quan cut in. “Do we?”
Tau shrugged. “Only peripherally. Itwill surely be a good thing for them if we remove our traitor. Andthat should be sufficient to convince them tocooperate.”
Forward scout Xi gave him anindecipherable look. “They will take one look at the two of you andshoot you down if they have the firepower to do so.”
Tau was taken aback. “Why would theybe hostile toward us?”
Xi resisted the urge toroll his eyes. “You are wearing an avatar that has attacked them.They cannot see thatyouare controlling it now and not the traitor. Theywill think you are the enemy.”
Irritation flickered throughTau—mostly with himself. He struggled with the unaccustomed senseof being of lower intelligence. “I am not accustomed to the avataryet,” he said wryly. “Or accustomed to the vagaries of biologicalentities. I confess it simply had not occurred to me.”
Given that, Xi was self-depreciating,as well, dismissing the temptation to claim cleverness he was notdue. “Actually, it was purely providence that I was spared havingto battle my way out of their commune. I had arrived in the midstof a nest of ‘borgs who turned upon me when I took over my avatar.The wounds to the face and head and the fact that I had to fightthem was sufficient to convince those who witnessed that I was notone of the traitor’s drones—even though they were still deeplysuspicious. They took me when they carried their own wounded awayand that gave me the opportunity to learn what I have about them.As you pointed out, the traitor has not wasted any time or effortcollecting data on these entities. There was nothing onboard toaccess.”
Tau nodded. “And you think we might beable to utilize them to destroy the traitor?”
“I think it would be worththe attempt. I have not discovered his burrow, but I did learn thathe had gone from the place he was holed up before and that suggestshe had prior knowledge that we were on to him.”
Surprise flickered through Tau,followed by outrage. “You think we have sympathizers amongus?”
“I think it’s possible notall of the traitors managed to flee.”
Tau considered it and finallydismissed it. “We are ordered not to communicate until we havecompleted our mission. There should be no furtheropportunities.”
“But we can’t simplydestroy him,” Quan pointed out. “This means we will have tointerrogate him to see what Intel we can gather.”
Tau saw little value in that and lesschance of it, but he kept his opinion to himself. They discussedhow they might ‘disguise’ their avatars and set about the processof making the changes so that they would be more easily accepted bythe humans.
When they were ready, Quan went out toreconnoiter to make certain they had no snipers laying in wait andthen Xi led the way and Tau followed carrying thefemale.
It seemed to take an inordinate amountof time to find the entrance to the human ‘nest’ and then a gooddeal more time to traverse the maze of tunnels that led to it, onlyto discover once there that the humans had abandoned theirhideaway.
