"I am not flattered."
"This is going to ruin me," she muttered. "I'll be laughed out of my unit."
"Your personal social difficulties are of no concern to me." He rose and she shrank back against the tree. "I don't think you can track me without this." He held up the seeker visor he'd found in her pack and slowly slipped it over his face, the headband tightening automatically. Adjustment of its internal controls would provide him with greatly enhanced vision and a plethora of information on his surroundings.
"With this on, I think your colleagues will have a harder time 'closing in' on me." He turned away from her to pick up the backpack.
"Then you're really not going to kill me." She was still hesitant.
"I've already told you: those who believe in the Purpose-"
"Yeah, yeah. Some of your allies take a less exalted attitude on the battlefield."
He took a step toward her. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to render you unconscious again. Just to preserve my lead. Nothing personal."
She sighed. "If you must. I hope you trip over a rock and break both legs. Nothing personal."
He smiled. "I must tell you that your appearance borders on the attractive."
Her gaze narrowed. "Don't go getting any funny ideas. We're different species."
"Ah," he said, gratified. "Then you don't think we're that much alike after all." Holstering the heat gun, he hefted his club.
8
Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have been trapped so easily, but his unnatural attraction to the Human female had made him careless. The result was that he fell victim to a relatively clumsy ambush.
By the time he realized what was happening it was too late. Fur bristling, triple eyes staring, the Yula stepped out from behind the boulder in front of him while the Hivistahm—Hivistahm!—rose from behind the fallen log off to his right. Each held a stinger focused on different parts of his body. He didn't recognize the weapons type . . . not that it mattered.
He was furious with himself. A moment ago he'd been preparing to set off into the real mountains, better equipped to remain at large than he'd been since his initial escape. Now all was lost. Not to Human or Massood Trackers, but because of a native and a Hivistahm, noncombatants both.
The Hivistahm he thought he could outmaneuver, but he knew nothing of Yula reaction time. The triped spoke through a translator.
"Put your right hand atop your head and drop the club you hold to the ground, then put your left hand atop your right. Do it quickly, please!"
As soon as Ranji had complied the Hivistahm bounded forward and, trembling slightly, removed the heat pistol from the service belt and retreated.
"Good." The tiny black eyes never wavered. "Please keep your hands where they are so that I may note the position of your manipulative digits at all times."
Out of the corner of an eye Ranji saw that the Hivistahm was still trembling, and he wondered how the highly civilized, inoffensive creature had been talked into participating in the ambush.
The Human rose and brushed at the back of her suit. "It's about time relief got here, though I was expecting one of my own kind. Not that I'm complaining, mind." She started toward him.
"Stop there, please."
Halting, she gaped at the Yula. It had remained motionless while confronting the prisoner, but under that Human stare it quivered ever so slightly. Ranji noted the reaction.
"What is this?" she murmured. "I'm one of the designated Trackers. You two have done well and will be suitably commended. I'll see to that myself. But you're not trained soldiers. I am. I'm not trying to steal your thunder. I'll hold the gun while you take my stuff off him. Then we'll call for a sled to lift us all out of here." She took another step.
The Yula retreated an equal distance and flicked the muzzle of its weapon in her direction. "Stay where you are, Human. Do not make me tell you again. Your presence here complicates matters and I am trying to decide how to proceed."
Hands atop his head, Ranji watched and waited silently for an opening.
"You want to take it back alive, to keep it here on Omaphil for observation and study," the Yula was saying.
"Of course." The woman continued to stare at the triped.
"I cannot let you do that." Its fluffed-up fur made the native look twice as big as it actually was. "The thing has to die."
"What are you talking about?" Trondheim's gaze was focused on the stinger. "Don't you realize what an impressive accomplishment this is for one of your species, how you'll be feted when the word gets out that you and a Hivistahm captured an escaped Ashregan warrior?"
"We do not want to do anything 'impressive,' " the Yula told her.
"Truly feted we do not wish to be," added the Hivistahm.
With the rocking, jerky motion of its kind, the Yula took a double step toward Ranji. "The thing needs to die. It is a dangerous mutation, an aberration that could wreak havoc on Omaphil were it to escape from captivity. As it already has. So much for vaunted government safeguards." He gestured with the pistol.
"Look at it! Twisted and distorted by the addition of Human fighting characteristics. Can one imagine anything so grotesque? It will be better off dead."
"How did you know that I had escaped?" Ranji asked curiously.
The Yula did something with its tiny mouth which might have been the equivalent of a smile. "I have well-informed friends."
"Then your friends should've told you that its fate is not for you to decide." Trondheim glanced in Ranji's direction. "There's a sled on its way here now. How are you going to explain their dead specimen to them when they arrive?"
"We did not think of that." The Hivistahm scanned the sky uneasily. "Truly we did not think of that."
"Be quiet!" Teoth snapped. "The female attempts to preserve the monster's life with the aid of a fabrication." He aimed the pistol. "This will only take an instant and then we will be away from this place."
"As a Human soldier of the Weave I am ordering you to turn your weapons and this prisoner over to me!" Trondheim took a step toward the triped, eyes glittering. "Or are you going to shoot me, too?"
"You may kill me after, but that does not matter." Teoth was calm, anesthetized by the prospect of incipient martyrdom. "My life is not important. I gladly die to preserve my world from this creature. If word of its presence was made known there would be panic. The Weave had no right to bring it here. Omaphil is peaceful and civilized. I shall insure that it so remains." It looked back at Ranji.
"Do not attempt to convince me otherwise. I was on the ship with it. I watched, and I know."
"Word won't get out," Trondheim told him.
Teoth made a gargling sound deep in his throat. "It has already escaped custody once."
"It won't happen again." She spoke slowly and deliberately.
For the first time, the Yula seemed to hesitate. "Can you guarantee that? Can you assure it beyond doubt? I think not. Its presence here says not. Better it should die."
Trondheim advanced another step and extended a hand. She was quite close to the native now, Ranji noted. "I'm afraid I can't allow that. If you're going to shoot it, then you're going to have to kill me, too. Now give me that pistol."
The use of the Human command tone shook Ranji slightly. Unsurprisingly, it rattled the Yula even more. As soon as the weapon's muzzle had drifted sufficiently toward the woman, Ranji moved.
The sandy gravel he kicked up struck the Yula in the face. It uttered a high-pitched squeak, dropped the gun, and clawed at its eyes with the instinctive reaction of a nonfighter. Ranji pivoted and leaped to within arm's length of the Hivistahm. Bug-eyed, it fired wildly as Trondheim dove for cover. Neatly severed by the stinger, a large branch tumbled from a nearby tree.
As he landed Ranji brought his closed fist around in a sweeping arc to strike the Hivistahm in the left eye. Fragile occipital bones crunched and blood squirted. The much smaller, reptilian creature gave a slight shudder and collapsed onto its haunches, then onto its s
ide.
Brushing grit from sensitive eyes, the Yula bent its fore-center leg and reached to recover its weapon. As it did soRanji spied a fist-sized stone, snatched it up, aimed and threw all in one motion. A Human or Massood might have been able to dodge, but the Yula was not nearly so quick. The rock struck it above the middle eye, denting fur and bone both. It exhaled reverberantly and fell backward.
Panting hard, he stood wondering at the psychosis which would drive a Yula and Hivistahm to such a confrontation. Before he could come up with any answers, something heavy hit him in the ribs. Much more massive than a Yula or Hivistahm, it sent him sprawling.
Trondheim rolled off him and scrambled for the pistol still clutched in the motionless Hivistahm's fingers. Ignoring the pain in his side, Ranji flung himself in pursuit, landing on the back of her thighs. She twisted and pain shot through his whole body as her elbow connected with his nose.
Wrenching the pistol from the unconscious alien, she whirled and fired, aiming to wound, not kill. Ranji froze, waiting for the bolt from the stinger to take effect. Nothing happened. Frowning, she sighted carefully along the barrel and fired again.
An unsmiling Ranji climbed to his feet and charged.
It all made perfect sense. The Yula had been very much in command, just as it had been quite mad. Not being possessed by a similarly extreme form of insanity, the Hivistahm had agreed to provide backup . . . but could not bring itself to handle a loaded weapon capable of killing another intelligent being. The stinger it had carried was not charged. It didn't really need to be, since their quarry wouldn't know otherwise.
He did now.
Trondheim threw the useless weapon at him and made a dive for the Yula's gun. She would have beaten a normal Ashregan to it, but not Ranji. It was his turn to hit her hard in the ribs. She wheezed painfully and tried to use the elbow again, but this time he was ready for it and the blow caught him harmlessly on the shoulder. As it did so he brought the edge of his palm down against the side of her neck and she went limp.
Panting hard, he rose slowly and picked up the Yula's stinger, not taking his eyes off her as he did so. Next he walked back to the Hivistahm and recovered her heat pistol. Only then did he allow himself to relax a little. He took his time rearranging the backpack and service belt, sorting through the pack's contents as he waited for her partial paralysis to wear off.
Finally she sat up, rubbing her neck and staring at him. "You're very good." The admission came grudgingly. "More than just quick. A lot more. Better than any Ashregan I ever heard about."
"Thank you." He straightened his translator, which had been knocked askew but not broken during the fight.
"Not only don't you fight like any Ashregan, you don't even feel like an Ashregan."
"And how many Ashregan have you felt? Not that I understand what you're saying."
"Your bones, your muscles. They're too dense. It's one of the traits that makes Humans so tough. Our bones aren't hollow like those of most other intelligent species and we have more muscle fibers, so we're stronger and heavier. Strength and mass aren't Ashregan characteristics. You felt like a Human, not an Ashregan."
"I reiterate: How many Ashregan have you felt?"
She didn't look away. "I'm only repeating what I learned in training."
"Weave intelligence is far from perfect." Try as he might he couldn't just brush her observations aside, not least because the Hivistahm and Lepar who had captured him on Eirrosad had made much of similar observations.
"So you're what the Amplitur have been up to. It makes sense. Genetically you're their nearest allies to us, so you'd be the easiest to imbue with Human characteristics. Be a helluva lot harder with an Acaria or Korath. Doesn't it make you think?"
"About what? I think only of the Purpose."
"Well, think about this for a change. If the squids keep screwing with your racial DNA, how long before you become more bastardized Human than honest Ashregan?"
"That is not possible," he insisted. But the notion upset him.
"Isn't it? The squids play with DNA the way a kid does with building blocks. How do you know what they are and aren't capable of? We've never underestimated them. Why should you? Look at yourself: Human size, muscles, bone density, reflexes. How do you know what the hell you are? How much of you is still Ashregan?"
Ranji was silent for a long moment. "My mind is all Ashregan," he said finally. "So are my intentions. I have been privileged to experience mind-to-mind contact with the Teachers themselves, to receive accolades and advice from them directly. No Human could do that. Your nervous system would react violently and defensively."
Trondheim considered. "All that proves is that your nervous system is still Ashregan. Externally, except for your skull and hands, the rest of you is as Human as me or any of my cohorts."
"Appearances mean nothing." The assurance Ranji voiced so readily did not extend to his thoughts. What was he, really?
A servant of the Purpose, he reminded himself firmly. Biological coincidences notwithstanding. He indicated the badly injured Yula and Hivistahm.
"The more contact I have with representatives of the Weave, the more convinced I am of the righteousness of the cause. Your governments fight, your organizations argue, and as individuals you spend much of your time engaged in petty internecine squabbling. I want no part of that."
"You haven't been given a choice."
He eyed her derisively. "Did you notice that your so-called friends and allies feared the threat of attack from you more than from me? What kind of higher civilization is that?"
She glanced down at the unconscious Yula. "These two were extremists. Probably mentally unbalanced as well."
"But what if they were not? What if their greater fear of you was the sensible, intelligent attitude to take?"
"We're not exactly universally popular throughout the Weave. But we're respected. I have a number of non-Human friends."
"Are you so certain? Or do they just force themselves to be pleasant when in your company so as not to offend you?"
"Hey. you're the one we're discussing here. For better or worse, I know what I am." She sounded sad. "The Amplitur and their damn 'Purpose.' Look what they've done to your people. Not to mention the Molitar, and the Segunians, and the poor Wadir. Turned them into soldiers, fighters for the Amplitur cause, when all they want is to be left alone."
"No race wants to be 'left alone,' " Ranji told her.
"My kind does."
He hoped his response would translate. "I rest my case."
She sighed and sat down on a nearby log, careful to keep both hands where he could see them. "Doesn't it bother you that your supposed 'Teachers' might have messed with your genetic makeup without your knowledge or consent, might've been busily splicing your genes like toy cutouts while you were still in the womb?"
"Nothing like that took place. Nothing like that would be allowed to take place."
"How do you know? Because they told you so? You must know how forceful their 'suggestions' can be."
"I am Ashregan," he all but shouted. "Not the product of genetic engineering!"
"No," she murmured almost pityingly. "Just the byproduct."
"I don't need to think about it. I know."
She eyed him intently. "Maybe you do. Maybe you do. But I think you're either a greatly gifted liar or else you've been completely mindwashed by the squids." She rose and he tensed slightly, but she made no move toward him.
"Well, it's obvious I'm not going to convince you otherwise. Maybe this one was right." She prodded the prone Yula with a foot. "Maybe it'd be better if he had shot you." She looked back at him. "If you're going to knock me out, get on with it. I'm fed up with trying to talk to someone who's unable to speak for himself. I don't blame you; it's not your fault. But it's boring, and I'm tired."
Ranji rose and drew the little cylinder full of sleep gas from the service belt. Despite her outward show of bravado he saw her flinch expectantly. He hesitated.
 
; "Perhaps I will allow you to remain conscious for a while yet. Every time you open your mouth you tell me something useful."
"Then you're easily sated."
"Yes," he told her, pleased with his decision, "I think that for now I'll have you accompany me. If you become too much of a burden there are always the alternatives." He looked back the way he'd come. "And if your peers are closing in on us, it would be useful to have a hostage."
"So now I'm a hostage?" Her eyebrows arched. "What makes you think I won't break your neck the first time you doze off, or shove you over the nearest cliff the next time you relax?"
"Nothing," he told her blandly. "The implied threat of your company will help to keep me alert." He smiled thinly. "Keep in mind that if you do try something like that I may not have time to gauge my response. Keep in mind also that if your theory is correct and certain of my abilities and characteristics have been bioengineered into me by the Amplitur, I may also possess abilities you know nothing about and cannot imagine."
There! he thought with satisfaction. That's got her thinking. "Did I not just defeat you?"
"Yeah, you did," she admitted, downcast. "But you surprised me in my sleep. I wasn't ready for you. And I was expecting to have to fight an Ashregan. A bigger, tougher version of an Ashregan, but an Ashregan nonetheless. You," and she gave him another of her uninterpretable looks, "you're something different."
"Remember that as we walk." He put the sleep canister back on the belt, hefted the backpack, and slid the seeker visor down over his eyes. Then he gestured with the Yula's stinger. "I think it's time we moved away from here."
She started off in the indicated direction, glancing back over a shoulder as she spoke. "You won't find anything up there. I've seen the topos. It gets rugged and steep and there's no serious climbing equipment in that pack."
"I'm not concerned. I have you to test any dangerous places for me. Since you'll be walking in front, I think I can rely on you to choose the safest path."