Dragon and Judge

  A hard metal that had impact and heat-stress marks over nearly a third of its surface, and that had been warped visibly from its original shape. Clearly, this was the safe that had been aboard the Havenseeker, the only one of the four advance team ships to crash.

  Frost had now said two other safes had been destroyed. Neverlin had apparently decided, not unreasonably, to let her practice on the one whose contents might already have been ruined by the crash.

  Which meant there was a fourth, undamaged safe somewhere. Possibly somewhere in this very house.

  "You said yesterday it was a simple combination lock," Neverlin reminded her as she put together her audio sensor.

  "I said it was straightforward," Alison corrected. "I didn't say it was simple."

  "Then what's the delay?" Neverlin persisted.

  "There are still a few problems to work out," Alison said. "Unless you want this one to blow up like the other two did."

  She had the minor satisfaction of seeing Neverlin turn a dark glare on Frost. Setting the end of the sensor against the door above the lock, she pretended to be digging out yet more deep, mysterious clues.

  And tried desperately to think.

  Because the lock really was pretty simple. The problem was much farther in.

  Taneem had spent over two hours over the past three days peering into the safe's interior as Alison sat with her back pressed against one or the other of the safe's side walls. Late at night on each of those days, after Alison had run the most recent data through her MixStar computer, the K'da had described what she'd seen, giving the girl a verbal map of the safe's interior. Alison had listened, and asked questions, and tried to make sense of it all.

  But that sense refused to come.

  For one thing, the safe was way too big, with enough room in there for two or three good-sized travel cases. Alison herself could probably fit inside, in fact, though it would be a tight squeeze. Yet the only contents were a handful of little plastic or ceramic diamonds the size of Alison's thumb.

  There was also that packet fastened to the ceiling, which was connected to a wire grid that covered the entire inside of the safe. Now that Alison knew the packet was a self-destruct bomb, she realized that the grid itself was part of the whole defense system. Anyone trying to cut or blast their way through the walls would cut one or more of those wires, blowing the bomb and destroying the diamonds.

  But the bomb wasn't just attached to the grid. There were also two other cables, longer and thicker, stretching from the bomb to the wall with the twenty indentations. In fact, from Taneem's description, Alison had concluded that the cables disappeared into the wall exactly opposite to the fourth and sixth of those indentations.

  And at that point, she had found herself stuck with a whole stack of unanswered questions.

  Had there been other cables connecting the bomb to the other indentations, cables that might have been knocked off in the crash? From Taneem's description it looked like the packet had places where such cables could have been attached.

  But the K'da couldn't see anything lying loose inside the safe except the diamonds. Could the cables have somehow been destroyed?

  A look at the last undamaged safe might provide some answers. But Alison didn't dare ask for such a thing. Especially since she wasn't supposed to know that a fourth safe even existed.

  Leaving the sensor attached to the metal above the lock, she sat down with her back pressed against the safe door and pulled out her notebook and pen. She felt Taneem shift around on her back, once again using that ever-so-useful K'da trick for looking through walls.

  "You know, we can get you a chair," Frost said.

  "No, thanks," Alison said, making little marks in the notebook as if she was taking actual notes. Taneem's job today was to see if she could get a better look at the spots where the two cables and the wall connected.

  For a few minutes Alison stayed as she was, pretending to listen to the sensor's output and making more little squiggles in her notebook. Then she felt Taneem shift again on her skin, and there was the touch of K'da claws on her right side. Alison half turned, moved the sensor to a new position, and then resettled herself against the door a few inches farther to her right.

  The next three hours were spent mostly in silence. There was an occasional clink as she rearranged the components of her equipment, or a muted clunk as she attached or reattached the various sensors. Sometimes she would accidentally kick the safe as she moved around it. Twice during the morning a messenger slipped in to deliver a murmured message to the Patri.

  But aside from that no one spoke. The three watchers, for that matter, hardly even moved in their seats. It was, Alison reflected grimly, rather like working in a tomb.

  A little before noon, she finally called a halt. "I need to go back to my room for a while," she informed the others. "I need to do some thinking."

  "You can't think here?" Frost asked.

  "I want to lie down," Alison explained. "Humans do their fastest thinking standing up, but they do their best thinking lying down."

  The Patri stirred in his seat. "It is stalling," he rumbled.

  Alison turned to him, her mouth gone suddenly dry. There hadn't been a single scrap of doubt in that voice that she could hear. "I'm not stalling," she protested. "All I want to do is—"

  "What do you mean, Patri Chookoock?" Neverlin cut her off, his eyes suddenly hard and cold.

  "It makes the same moves over and over," the Patri said. He gestured toward the safe, his eyes never leaving Alison's face. "Today it does the same as it did two days ago."

  "I'm checking my readings," Alison put in before Neverlin could say anything. "Some safes have floating codes and chron flippers."

  "It is stalling," the Patri accused again. "It cannot solve the puzzle and thus seeks an opportunity to run away from it."

  And out of the corner of her eye, Alison saw Frost stiffen.

  She flicked her eyes toward him. But whatever it was she'd seen had instantly been buried behind an expressionless face. "With all due respect, I'm not going anywhere," Alison said. "I've got twenty thousand riding on this." She raised her eyebrows at Neverlin. "Forty if I can do it before Mr. Arthur finishes his Easter egg hunt."

  Neverlin's eyes narrowed. "Look, Kayna—"

  "Actually, I think we could all do with a break," Frost cut him off smoothly. "In any event, it is almost lunchtime. Kayna can eat in her room and take whatever thinking time she needs. When she's ready, we can all meet again. Is that acceptable?"

  Neverlin had switched his narrowed-eyed stare to Frost. But he merely nodded. "Fine with me. Patri Chookoock?"

  "If it is ever ready," the Brummga growled.

  "She will be," Frost promised. "Come on, Kayna. I'll take you back to your room."

  Neither of them spoke until they reached Alison's slave-level room. Alison walked inside; without waiting for an invitation, Frost followed. "Isn't it interesting how the human mind works?" he commented conversationally as he closed the door behind him. "I've been watching you for two weeks without a clue. And then, a single offhand comment from a fat, ugly lump with stuffed cabbage for brains, and suddenly it comes clear."

  Alison held her breath. If he'd gotten a clean look at her in the Rho Scorvi forest. . .

  "Running away." Frost leveled a finger at her face, his casual manner abruptly gone. "You're a deserter from the Malison Ring."

  Alison's breath went out in a huff. Bad enough, but not as bad as she'd feared.

  But definitely bad enough. "The what?" she asked. It might still pay her to play stupid.

  It didn't. "Don't waste my time," Frost bit out. "Your hair's different—shorter and darker—but I remember the face from the newslist. You joined up about eight months ago, went through basic, then disappeared the week you were sent to your first post."

  "All right," Alison said as calmly as she could. "I admit it. I got scared and ran."

  "Oh, you didn't get scared," Frost said. "And you didn't just run. B
ecause I also remember that your training camp CO reported there might have been a breach in his computer system during the six weeks you were there."

  Alison grimaced. So she'd left a trail behind her on that job. Between the Malison Ring and the Whinyard's Edge, she wasn't running up a very good record here. "I was just trying to clear out my record," she said, letting a little tremor drift into her voice. "I knew I couldn't handle the job, and thought—"

  "Spare me," Frost snarled. "I've had about as much of you as I can stomach."

  "Okay, fine," Alison said, dropping the tremor. "Game's over. I'm not exactly thrilled by the company, either, if you want to know the truth. But you still need me."

  "Maybe not as badly as you think," Frost said. "Like you said, the game's over. So here's what's going to happen. You're going back to that room—today—and you're going to open that safe."

  Alison stared at him, her throat tightening. "I can't," she said. "I don't know how to deactivate the self-destruct bomb."

  "Then you'd better figure it out, hadn't you?" Frost advised coldly. "Because if it goes off, the Patri will have you shot." He shrugged. "Either way, I'll be happy."

  Across her back,Alison felt Taneem shifting position. Quickly, she put a warning hand on her shoulder. "Can I at least have an hour to think?"

  "Sure," Frost said, opening the door again. "Take all afternoon if you want." He leveled his finger again. "But sometime before midnight tonight, you're going to open that safe." Stepping out into the corridor, he closed the door behind him.

  * * *

  Chapter 24

  For a long minute Alison just stood there, staring at the closed door, her mind skidding like an out-of-control bobsled.

  One way or another, she was going to die tonight.

  Taneem bounded out of her back collar. The sudden weight threw Alison off balance, and she barely caught herself before she could slam into the wall. "I'm sorry," Taneem apologized as she turned back around. "I came off too quickly."

  "No, it's okay," Alison said, looking at the K'da with a surge of guilt. Take care of Taneem, Jack had told her just before he'd disappeared on Semaline.

  Instead, Alison's failure was going to get her killed, too.

  "Are you worried?" Taneem asked, stepping closer and peering into Alison's face.

  "Yes, I'm worried," Alison told her honestly. "In fact, I'm terrified."

  The dragon twitched her tail. "How may I help?"

  Alison sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "I don't think you can," she said.

  "You will solve the problem," Taneem said firmly. "I know you will."

  Alison looked away from that earnest dragon face. "I don't think so," she said quietly. "I'm stuck, Taneem. I can't figure out what the people who designed the safe were trying to do."

  She started as something settled onto her lap. She looked down to see Taneem's head resting there, those silver eyes gazing up at her. It was so exactly like the way her old Newfoundland used to do that it brought tears to her eyes. "You're very clever, Alison," Taneem said. "I've heard both Jack and Draycos say so."

  Alison had to smile at that. "Jack actually paid me a compliment?"

  Taneem's tail flicked. "I'm not sure he meant it as a compliment," she conceded. "I think he was being annoyed with you at the time."

  "That sounds better," Alison said. Her smile faded. "But all that cleverness doesn't seem to be working. You were right—we should have tried to get away back on Semaline."

  "No, it was you who was right," Taneem insisted. "The risk was worth taking. As you pointed out, if we'd attacked our captors we might well have died."

  "Instead of dying now," Alison said, stroking Taneem's head. "At least you they won't have to worry about burying."

  And was instantly ashamed of herself. It had been horribly insensitive to remind Taneem that she would go two-dimensional and simply disappear when she died. She opened her mouth to apologize—

  The words frozen in her throat. Would simply disappear . . .

  And suddenly she had it. "That's it," she murmured. "Taneem, I've got it."

  "I knew you would," the K'da said, lifting her head from Alison's lap. "Tell me."

  "They were smart," Alison said, her whole body feeling limp with relief. "They were very smart. You know anything about fingerprints and retina patterns? Well, no, probably you don't."

  "Were those some of the tests the doctor performed when we first arrived?" Taneem asked.

  "Yes—right," Alison confirmed. She'd forgotten Taneem had been there for that.

  Which was a strange thought all by itself. Was she really getting so comfortable with Taneem's presence that she could actually forget the K'da was there against her skin?

  "Anyway, fingerprints and those other things are sometimes used like keys to make sure the wrong people can't open a door or safe or something," she said, getting back to her explanation. "That's what those indentations on the side of the safe are for. One of the crew puts their fingers in the right holes, that triggers some sensors, and then you can open the safe without the bomb going off and destroying everything inside."

  Taneem pondered that a moment. "So the reason the other two safes were destroyed was that the people didn't know which indentations to use?"

  "Partly," Alison said. "But mostly, they didn't have the right fingers."

  Taneem cocked her head. "I don't understand."

  "See, the problem with this kind of lock is that sometimes they can be fooled," Alison told her. "All a bad person has to do is kill someone who has access and then take his fingers or his eyes."

  Taneem's neck arched. "That's barbaric!"

  "I agree," Alison said. "Though it's actually a little more complicated these days. The point is that the safe's designers didn't want that happening here." She smiled grimly. "So whose digits do you suppose they keyed the lock for?"

  Taneem's jaws cracked open in a wide smile. "They keyed it for K'da toes."

  "Exactly," Alison said, nodding. "Add in the fact that you need a K'da/Shontine combination in order to look over the wall and figure out which indentations to use, and you can see that Neverlin and the Valahgua pretty well shot themselves in the foot when they wiped out Draycos's team."

  "Only they don't know it," Taneem said thoughtfully. "What then do we do?"

  "We open their safe for them," Alison said, standing up and holding out her hand. "Come on, let's get some lunch. Then we'll show them how a real safecracker does things."

  Frost had apparently expected Alison to stall as long as she could. As a result, he was the last to arrive when the group gathered again in the Patri's suite after lunch. "Good of you to join us, Colonel," Neverlin said with an edge of sarcasm as Frost slipped into the room. "Alison says she's ready."

  "Does she," Frost said, giving Alison a long, hard look as he crossed to his usual seat.

  "Yes, she does," Alison said. "Or were you expecting her to wait until a little closer to your deadline?"

  Neverlin frowned. "Deadline?"

  "Colonel Frost told me before lunch that I had until midnight tonight to get the safe open," Alison explained.

  Neverlin turned an unreadable expression on Frost. "Or?" he prompted.

  "The Patri Chookoock was right—she was stalling," Frost said before Alison could answer. "I thought she could use a little extra incentive."

  "And as you see, it worked," Alison said, watching Neverlin closely. "You ought to let the colonel take charge more often."

  "We'll certainly consider it," Neverlin said coolly as he turned back to Alison. "And we're waiting."

  Alison nodded and turned back to the safe. That had been risky, she knew. But the more she could create or encourage strains between Neverlin and his allies, the better. Kneeling down in front of the safe, she stretched out her left arm along the line of indentations, resting her palm on top of numbers four and six. "I hope someone's got my money ready," she commented as she got a grip on the combination dial.

 
And as she did so, she felt a whisper of weight come onto her palm as Taneem lifted her forepaw from Alison's hand and slid two of her toes into the proper indentations.

  Alison keyed the combination she had worked out. There was a soft snick from somewhere inside the safe. Praying that she'd gotten everything right, she took hold of the break bar and pulled.

  Without any fuss or muss, or smoke or explosions, the door swung open.

  Neverlin and Frost were there in an instant, Frost shoving Alison aside in his eagerness. Fortunately, Taneem was able to get her toes out of sight before Alison's hand was pushed away from the safe wall. "Hey!" Alison protested as she lost her balance and landed flat on her rear.

  Both men ignored her. "Well?" the Patri rumbled from his chair.

  "They're here," Neverlin said, his voice almost shaking with excitement. He pulled his cupped hands out of the safe, full of the little diamonds Taneem had described. "And not burned to ashes."

  The Patri gestured to one of the Brummgas standing guard by the door. "Order that its money is to be prepared," he said. "Order, too, that a transport be made ready."

  "Let's not be too hasty," Frost cautioned, peering down at the diamonds. "This is from the one that crashed, remember. I think we should make sure the data's intact before we turn her loose."

  "He's right," Neverlin seconded. "I'm sure she won't mind hanging around another day or so." He sent Alison a cultured sort of smirk. "After all, she's the one who suggested we should listen to the colonel more often."

  Carefully, Alison suppressed a smile. She'd been afraid she would have to find a way to make that suggestion herself. "Not a problem," she assured them. "Just remember that another job will cost another twenty thousand."

  "Understood," Neverlin said. "Colonel, would you escort Ms. Kayna back to her room?"

  "I'll have Dumbarton and Mrishpaw do it," Frost said. "I think I'd better stay and help you check this out."

  For a long moment the two men gazed at each other. "Whatever you'd like," Neverlin said at last. "Ms. Kayna, we'll see you later."