Acorna frowned. "I wish we were able to wait until the evac ships have time to reach Federation space." She let the words hang in the air. It -was a vain wish. All of them had seen the broadcasts of pain-wracked Niriian prisoners being tortured. All of them knew what the planet would look like when the Khieevi were finished. All of them knew that every moment they delayed cost more Niriian lives. They had to act quickly. And really, the evacuation ships would be heading toward Federation space, not near the vine "world. There should be no problem at all. Acorna wondered why she remained anxious, nevertheless. When her question popped out, it surprised even her. "I wonder why they do it, really."
"Who, hon?" Becker asked.
"The Khieevi. Why do they torture people? Did you ask the prisoner that?"
"No. I figure it's just cause they're mean mothahs and they enjoy it. Isn't that about right, Aari?"
Aari frowned. "I did not think of them as enjoying anything, Joh. In fact, now that you mention it, I don't believe they 9u) enjoy torturing me, as relentless and thorough as they were. It seemed more as if they were very anxious to be wringing from me every bit of pain and fear they could. The few questions they asked me did not seem to be important to them and they did not bother to try to understand enough Linyaari to be able to express themselves. And I am afraid that one thing our observers and diplomats have learned of the Khieevi is that they are very scientific about their torture. The first few of our representatives they captured and tortured died almost at once, so the Khieevi refined their techniques so that they would only cause maximum pain for the longest possible time without fatal results."
He shuddered suddenly and Acorna reached for his hand and held it. She knew from his thoughts that he had been shamed by his fear of the Khieevi, and by the pleading he had no doubt done with them to stop hurting him, natural as such responses were. He did not feel any of the merit Thariinye attributed to him for enduring what he could not escape. Acorna agreed with his assessment. It was pitiable what he had been through, horrible, but did not, in itself, make him a better person. No, he himself did that by his strength of character in facing what he feared most, and with reasons stronger than anyone around him could possibly understand. He faced the Khieevi, and their torture, and examined it to try to find answers and solutions that would help others.
Becker grunted. "Whoever said 'know your enemy' was right, even if he couldn't have known the enemy was going to be big, nasty, alien bugs. If he had known, maybe he would have told us how we were supposed to know them."
"Receiving reply from the Khieevi now, Captain," Mac said. "On our -way, Mac," Becker said. The crew clattered across the grated deck plate and down to the hold containing the shuttle. Klackings and klickings emanated from the freshly repaired corn unit.
"What do they say, Mac?" Becker asked. "They are coming here now, ^Captain!" Mac said. "Wow, that was fast. Already?" Becker asked. "The Niriians do not make satisfactory victims, apparently," Mac said. "The Khieevi expressed preference for Linyaari prey. They scream better, apparently. This is a desirable trait in a host race for the Khieevi. They have been quite unhappy with the lack of response from the Niriians, despite their best efforts. The Niriian response has been judged inadequate." "Inadequate for what?" Becker asked.
Mac said, "I do not know, Captain. I repeat only the- scuttlebutt-I am picking up from their intership transmissions. Shall I ask?"
"No," Aari said. "If you were a real Khieevi, you wouldn't have to."
"True," Becker said. "So, they're on their -way. Let's fall back smartly, gang." It had been necessary for them to transmit from the proper physical location to lend verisimilitude to their transmission, but the remote cameras located on the vine world and its moon would provide visuals of the Khieevi invasion. The Condor could detect the approach of the Khieevi from considerable distance, thanks to the bank of long-range scanners Becker normally employed for detecting ships in peril, recent disasters, and other juicy salvage situations. Once the Khieevi swarm was all focused on the vine world, the Condor could creep back into position for a ringside seat to the "the squishing," as Becker colorfully referred to it.
Once the swarm approached, radio silence would have to be maintained. However, the Condor's shuttle had been repaired and readied to act as a relay between the Moon of Opportunity and the Condor, to carry news of the mission's progress. Once the Condor was in position on the far side of the vine world's nearest planetary neighbor, their position was transmitted to headquarters on the moon.
The Condor lurked, waiting for the Khieevi to become carrion.
When the swarm's vanguard arrived, Becker, who was on watch, let out a whoop. "-Mercy gracious, boys 'n' girls, the scanners look like Kezdet's pleasure district on a Saturday night when the fleet's just docked! My oh my oh my!"
Acorna and Aari joined him on the bridge. Mac was still monitoring Khieevi communications from the wrecked shuttle.
The vid screen came to life as the remote cameras switched themselves on to record the landing of the Khieevi fleet. A shark-like school of the mantis-shaped vessels circumnavigated the smallish vine world as if they were the rings of Saturn. From the innermost ring of ships, shuttles shot to the surface, after -which those ships spiraled away from the planet to be replaced by others with a fresh supply of shuttles and troops.
"We're going to need something to destroy the ships too," Becker whispered fiercely. Acorna knew why he was whispering. The attack was ferocious. She feared anew for the sapient vines. "If they don't land, the sap can't make contact."
"Perhaps they will land to investigate and infect each other," Acorna suggested.
But they did not.
The vines parted to permit the landing of the shuttles, each of -which disgorged an amazing number of ground troops.
At first the vines allowed the Khieevi to pass until it seemed there were as many Khieevi on the ground as there -were vines, all marching relentlessly upon the holo compounds.
Acorna trembled at the sight of multiples of herself, Aari, Neeva and the Balakiire's crew, Aari's family, Thariinye and Liriili, going blithely and peacefully about their business while endless lines of Khieevi, ever reinforced by more shuttles dropping through vine-world space in lines of their own, deposited reinforcements.
The staccato klacking of pincers and mandibles was louder than any -weapon's fire.
"Why aren't the plants closing on them?" Becker demanded.
"I don't know, Captain," Aari answered. "In the communications we had -with them, the mere scent of the Khieevi caused the vine-beings to shoot sap upon the offending objects."
"They're waiting," Acorna said, excitement and awe in her voice. "We knew the plants were intelligent and they're proving it! I think our -warnings about the Khieevi -were understood much better than -we had reason to hope. The plants actually have formed a plan. They -want to trap the largest possible number of Khieevi before they counterattack."
"You're kidding!" Becker said, and whistled.
RK leaped onto the console. His fur stuck straight out on his body so he appeared to be twice his normal size. His tail bristled and switched so fast it slammed Becker's kaf cup to the floor -with one swipe, Aari's with the next. A low growl from RK's throat grew to a high-pitched caterwaul that made Becker cover his ears and Acorna lift the spiky creature into her arms to try to comfort him. He didn't attack her, but neither did he calm down. There was nothing to heal in his response. It was natural and healthy for a Makahomian Temple Cat to go into battle mode under the circumstances. Acorna understood this and when the cat remained stiff and distinctly uncomforted, she set him down again where he stood with his tail lashing the air like a saber.
The first phalanx of Khieevi reached the holo-compounds and opened fire on the holos, which responded by breaking up and reforming, continuing the postures, journeys, movements, and apparent tasks in -which they had been engaged before the attack.
Khieevi klacking escalated to an even higher volume. Shuttles no longer streamed from the skies. The ground troops, heedless of the klacks of the vanguard, charged forward, trampling some of those in front of them.
Mac looked up at the rest of the crew. "The Khieevi are very frustrated and dissatisfied," he said. The android could have saved the speech. The tone of the klacks accompanied by the activity of the klackers was more than eloquent.
Then suddenly, and seemingly simultaneously, the Khieevi exploded into action, all of them at once diving into the vines with open mandibles. The attack had been so typically single minded that it had drawn their attention-and the attention of Acorna and her friends-completely away from the plants, -which had been docilely shrinking away .from the Khieevi, allowing roots and stalks to be trampled. Even before the Khieevi attack changed course, however, the plants slowly began thrusting upward again, unbending from being trod underfoot, as if reaching for sunlight, all very innocent and plant-like.
But as the first mandibles closed on the first stalk, the vines whipped into action, shooting sap from each fresh wound and from sap sacs hidden in the stalks and under the leaves as well. The Khieevi were surrounded, as they had previously surrounded the holo-compounds.
The cameras became ineffective as sap squirted everywhere. Becker switched to the moon-linked camera. A close-up of the planet's surface showed it glistening with turbulent swells and peaks of slimy sap. The Khieevi shuttle's corn unit squealed -with high-pitched eeee sounds. Acorna reached over and flipped the toggle, and the sound mercifully ceased.
The remote camera showed a handful of shuttles with rapidly dying Khieevi piloting them erratically towards the mother ships. Once the stragglers had been reabsorbed by the swarm, the ships veered off.
"Are they going back to the Niriians?" Becker asked Mac.
Mac flipped the toggle back on again and monitored the noises emitted by the ships. "No, Captain. They are in disarray. This has never happened to them before, I think."
"Predators who prey on pacifists probably don't run the risk of getting beaten all that often," Becker allowed. "So what are they up to?"
"I do not think they know at this time, Captain. There is talk of returning to the homeworld. They are-unlikely as it may sound-I believe they are very frightened, Captain."
"Of the vine world?" Becker grinned. "They should be. Serves them right."
"Yes, but they are already discussing -what might be used to neutralize it. Actually, from what I can detect, I believe they are afraid of returning to their homeworld. That seems odd, don't you think?"
"Maybe the King bug is going to chop off their heads," Becker said with a shrug. "I hope he does and that teaches them not to mess -with us again. So, gang, I guess that's it. It's over. We win. Or the plant critters do. End of story."
Acorna could not think of a logical objection to this conclusion, though she felt it was somehow all-anticlimactic. So much horror so easily conquered. Who would have believed it. But she could tell from Becker's tone and his expression that he felt the same. Aari too appeared perplexed and unsatisfied. "What's the matter?" she asked him.
He shook his head, "Perhaps, after living with fear of the Khieevi for so long, it is hard to believe we have put an effective end to them. Perhaps I am merely having trouble adjusting to the idea that they are gone, that our people, and I in particular, no longer have the terror of them looming over us."
"Maybe that's it," Acorna agreed. But she remained uneasy.
No brass band greeted the ConSor, but everybody looked happy to see it return safely. Rafik Nadezda, Declan Giloglie, and Nadhari Kando were waiting at the landing bay, as were Aan's parents.
Before the robo-lift had touched the ground, Aari's parents were saying, "We made a significant breakthrough with the sap! Wait till you see. It's quite simple but very effective."
"That's good," Becker told them. "But I'm afraid we won't be needing it."
He deliberately pulled a long face and Acorna and Aari, picking up their cues from him, tried to keep their thoughts to themselves.
"Why? Didn't it work? What happened?"
"The plants pretty well annihilated the Khieevi army, that's what!" Becker said, grinning. "We-or rather the plantswhipped their buggy butts."
Cheers went up among the reception committee and as the word passed all through the compound. Outlying recreational areas had been closed for the red alert and the main city was bloated with anxious people, some of them bored because their functions had been related solely to the closed areas, some of them pumped with adrenaline, ready to take action against any threat.
The Linyaari delegation pressed forward, the Niriian couple preceding them by a step or two.
Acorna smiled at them and told her aunt, "According to the Khieevi broadcasts, they won't be going back to Nirii either. Mac says from what he can figure out, the Niriians did not make very good victims."
Neeva translated and Toroona smiled beatifically. "She says that's something they can be proud of," Neeva said.
Rafik was smiling too. "Whew. This is a wonderful turn of events! We had better call Uncle Hafiz at once, Acorna, so he can come back and broadcast a new message taking all the credit!" Acorna and Rafik exchanged knowing grins.
Aari's mother had taken his arm on one side and Acorna's on the other. "And we thought we had so much to show you.."
"We are most interested in your discoveries, Mother," Aari assured her. "While most of the Khieevi army was destroyed, there were still many ships aloft and we are unsure how many troops may have remained onboard."
"Yeah," Becker said. "Besides, they're bugs." Acorna translated.
Kaarlye looked puzzled. "Of course they are insects. Does the captain think we are unaware of this?"
"I believe what he means," Acorna said. "Is that insects reproduce rapidly and in large numbers. The danger from the Khieevi is not yet over."
Rafik, dear boy, and my good Captain Becker, this news!" Hafiz Harakamian said. The crew and passengers of the AcaSecki were cheering, holding hands, and hopping up and down, even as Calum reversed course in preparation for the AcaSecki's, return to MOO, as the children now referred to it. "You have vanquished the enemy, saved the Niriian homeworld, made the universe a safer place to do business, brought honor to House Harakamian, created the opportunity for much favorable publicity for the Moon of Opportunity, and all at a relatively low price point! Commendable, gentlemen, most commendable indeed."
The next hail was from the Haven. "I presume you've heard the news!" Johnny Greene said.
"We have indeed and splendid news it is!" Hafiz replied. "We are returning to the Moon of Opportunity even as we speak."
"We're within Federation space right now, and I haven't heard what the general vote was, but the Counsel is pretty sure the kids will want to come back to the Moon, too. Once the vote is in, if that's the case, "we'll caravan with you again."
"Very well, Johnny, but tell the children not to dawdle.
Uncle Hafiz has a great deal to do now that his staff has made space safe for our new friends and neighbors to travel freely once more."
"Uh-yeah, we knew that," Johnny said. "Catch you in a few."
"So that means we need to wait for them?" Calum Baird asked.
"Yes, indeed," Hafiz said. Laxme and some of the other children made impatient noises.
"Are they going to be long?" Laxme asked.
There was not actually a lot to do on the Accu)ecki and the rations weren't that great either. It wasn't as big as the ships they had come on, and there hadn't been time to prepare properly for a long journey. Nutritious ration bars took up little space, did not require heating or freezing, and provided all of the basic requirements. Laxme knew he shouldn't quibble. Working in the mines, he and many of the others had far less to eat, nothing really, just enough to keep them upright and working. But now that he had tasted enough food, tasty food, lovely desserts and butter for the vegetables and even the succulent meats-he wasn't happy to give that up.
Maati had been indignant at being herded onto the evacuation ship as if she wasn't the former copilot of her own ship, the survivor of two battles, one in space, one on the ground, with the Khieevi. She knew that her parents had insisted she go because they wanted her to be safe, but part of her felt that they really just wanted to be rid of her again, when she had only just found them. And Thariinye was even more impossible than usual. Recently their mutual teasing had been playful and friendly but he was so angry at being kept out of the action again and treated like a child that he took it out on her with deliberately nasty and hurtful remarks. She snapped back just as angrily, and their mood made the other children angry and nasty or depressed too so there was already a lot of fighting on the ship. This didn't improve Calum Baird's temper any either, and Karina Harakamian fluttered about calling for peace and light. When she wasn't hiding in the berth she had to share only with Uncle Hafiz.
As for Hafiz, he could not but wonder how he had come to taking leave of his senses so far as to allow himself to undertake a long journey in the company of so many children. He was not a fatherly man, nor, if the truth be known, even an avuncular one unless it proved profitable to appear to be. He could not stand whining children actually.
Of course, the unsettling thing about this lot is that they didn't whine. For the most part they were disturbingly adult. The larger ones seemed to be used to looking after the smaller ones, and even the youngest didn't cry, just looked at him with wide eyes that managed to be hopeful and suspicious at the same time.
Returning to the Moon of Opportunity seemed to please them, and he felt more gratitude than was strictly reasonable that they had perked up so much. Even the two Linyaari young ones stopped scowling at each other to cheer. But as the wait for the Haven grew longer, the children became impatient again.
Hafiz did not like the hostile silence. Karina disliked it even more, apparently. Complaining of a headache, she took to their berth.
"What troubles you, my little ones?" Hafiz asked finally, bravely, his own mood at least much improved by relief at not losing his corporate shirt.
"Well," Jana said. "There's not a lot to do here. I think they're bored." She herself, her tone implied, was above boredom.
"Bored?" The concept was not one with which he had much familiarity. Being fabulously rich and imaginative as well, he could usually avoid such unattractive moods.
Calum turned in his command chair and said, "In order to get maximum passenger space, we had to dispense with some of the amenities-there's only one set of phones and goggles for vids, the hardcopy books were offloaded to make room, and I'm getting sick of nutrient bars myself. Of course they're bored. Aren't you?"
"I've been enjoying the rest, frankly," Hafiz said. "And then, my beauteous Karina and I have not been married long."
"Uh-huh," Calum said, rolling his eyes.
"She has her trances and meditations and continuous search for what she refers to as enlightenment to entertain her," Hafiz said. "Perhaps you could tell the children a story, Baird?" he suggested in a helpful tone.
"Or maybe you could, Hafiz. I'm busy skippering this bird," Calum said, turning his back on him again.
"Me? Ah." Hafiz looked around him. "Very well, then. I shall need to employ the remote link to the ship's computer, dear boy."
"To tell a Story?' Calum asked incredulously.
"Audio-visual aids, homely former senior wife of my illustrious nephew, audio-visual aids," Hafiz said, and clapped his hands. "All young persons wishing to become unbored will now assemble in the hydroponics garden where your beneficent Uncle Hafiz shall entertain you so thrillingly you will completely forget to sulk and fret and otherwise contort your faces and voices into infelicitous conformations."
"That should charm 'em all right," Calum said.
"I shall also require the next meal's supply of luncheon bars and liquid refreshment," Hafiz said.
"Gee, I'd have the chef give them to the mattre'd to deliver personally, but they're both busy with this evening's banquet," Calum replied sarcastically. Hafiz knew, very well that if he wanted the damned bars he'd need to take them from the food locker himself. The replicator worked, but even it required sup plies from which to manufacture foodstuff and those supplies took up more room than the nutrient bars and caps.
"Very well," Hafiz said, and beckoned imperiously to Jana and Chiura, who were following in the wake of the other young ones headed toward the hydroponics garden, which they would soon, Hafiz knew, come to regard as a garden of delights. "Young ladies, you will accompany me to the food locker and assist in conveying supplies to our destination."
The girls looked at each other and shrugged.
The driver of Khieevi ship designated by Fourteen Klaclu am) Two KUdu was greatly agitated.
Partly this -was from the pain in his sixth foot, which had come into contact with the damaged shuttle pilot who managed to dock aboard Fourteen Klaclu am) Two Klicfu before the crew of the large ship realized that both shuttle and the operator of same were infected with an alien substance that ate them. Once they had made this discovery, members of the crew attempted to neutralize the infected personnel in the customary way, by stomping them to death. Unfortunately, this brought feet, pincers, and in some cases other delicate body parts into contact with the alien substance.
The driver really didn't feel well at all and neither did the affected crew members, who could now truly be called a skeleton crew, if not an exoskeleton crew, since the exoskeletons were the first parts eaten away by the substance.
The high-pitched pain sounds they were producing made the driver's brain ache as well as his foot, *which he realized would have to be sacrificed before long or it would involve his entire leg. Unlike the crewmembers, he had not done any actual stomping of the infected shuttle soldier. He had merely nudged the soldier with his foot to tag the tainted one for elimination.
He feared that he would be the next to be eliminated. If the disease didn't claim him, he would surely be stomped by the other, healthier ship drivers, or worse, his damaged part -would be severed and he -would be fed to the Young.
The Young would be even angrier and more ferocious than usual, as they had not received a good feeding in many, many lengthy time units. The Niriians -were a stingy, selfish race who kept their pain to themselves and did not beg or plead or weep, no matter how meticulously and slowly they were disassembled. They were so retentive of their feelings that they refused to writhe even under the worst provocation. They also were rather frail things and tended to die. Quickly. Quietly. No nutrition for the Young there.