INTENT OF MERCY

The meeting was extraordinary. At the head of the table was the ancient man who by a combination of tenacity and sheer genius had retained the Chairmanship of the World Union Council for almost six consecutive terms. Also present was Director Kreinhauser of the Security Service, as well as his opposite from Expediters. Completing the unlikely four was Jenkins, the Phuili Ambassador to Earth.

Gia Mayland entered the room with apparent calm, though she had not the faintest idea why she had been summoned, to join these representatives of power. As she accepted the proffered chair, she was comforted by Peter Digonness' warm smile. "Good to see you, Gia. How are you?"

"Apprehensive," the expediter admitted. She inclined her head to the Chairman. "I am honored, sir."

"Likewise," Giesse Frobert rumbled. He looked at the slim woman appraisingly. "I have heard good things about you, young lady."

"Not so young," Gia said with a faint smile.

The rumble became a deep chuckle. "My dear, from where I stand you are a mere youth." Abruptly the broad face smoothed into an expressionless mask. "Anyway, to business. Director Digonness, if you don't mind—"

"Of course." The head of Expediters touched a control and the room darkened. Above the table an image formed. At first ghostlike, it edged toward apparent reality as a hidden holographic projector focused billions of bits of digital data. It was as if a window were opening into the universe. Suns speckled the darkness, gigantic dust clouds straggled across the light years, globular clusters and distant galaxies were faint patches above and below the glory known to humans as the Milky Way. In the foreground was a drifting mountain, its rough-hewn outline peculiarly jagged as if it were covered with sharks' teeth.

The mountain enlarged and gained detail. Finally Gia gasped with astonishment as she heard the Chairman murmur, "I was briefed earlier of course, but I still find it hard to believe. You are certain there is no other possible explanation?"

Digonness shook his head. 'I doubt it, Mr. Chairman. That asteroid is carrying something like two and a half thousand small spacecraft."

"I don't understand," Gia began. "Who—?"

Digonness said quietly, "The Silver People. Remember them, Gia?"

"Oh god no." Horrified, Gia stared at the slight graying man who to a large extent controlled her life. "Are you sure?"

"As much as I am sure of anything," Digonness replied sadly.

Gia shivered; the chill of an old nightmare revived. The Silver People had been a mad dog race utterly dedicated to the elimination of all life other than their own. A joint human-Phuili military expedition had already sterilized an entire planetary system to prevent the germinating anti-life plague from making the quantum jump from its own system to the stars. But not, it now seemed, with absolute success.

With dry tones belying the terrible nature of his revelation, Digonness continued, "Let's not forget the main point of the Groombra reports, to the effect that traces of phase-shift emission were detected soon after seed activation of the Silvers' sun. What you are seeing is proof of what has long been suspected: that at least one of their ships escaped the nova."

"I am not convinced," Kreinhauser said flatly. His voice permanently hoarse from four decades of authoritarian use, the grizzled Security Director added, "That thing, and whatever is stuck on its surface, can be from anywhere. The galaxy is still a mighty unknown."

Chairman Frobert nodded. "My old friend has a point. And because the Silvers' system is still under quarantine, there is no way we can compare that vessel with abandoned sister ships which may still be in the system."

"I zink we not need compare." The Phuili Ambassador, a short, pale-skinned being resembling an intelligent bull terrier, had been examining data which scrolled with incredible rapidity across a portable reader. "Data show asterwoid less zan light year fwom system of Silvers. Wesidual velocity is movement still wadiating away fwom seeded sun. Zerefore ship is Silvers."

Gia took a deep breath. As a participant in the events which had led to the scorching of the Silvers' system in the first place, she now knew why she was here. Jase Kurber should also be present, except she had heard he was on assignment on one of the newer colony worlds. She addressed the little Phuili. "Mr. Ambassador, it has been four years since the seeding. If any of the Silvers escaped the subsequent nova using phase-shift, then surely they would be hundreds of light years away by now." She looked again at the image. "When was that recorded?"

"You are looking at real time." Digonness smiled at her obvious surprise. "Since that thing was discovered, we have been able to assemble a young fleet out there with collectively enough power to punch a lot of information through tachyon space. And I do agree with Ambassador Jenkins that that monster is a Silvers. The reason it is not halfway across the Spiral Arm is, I suspect, because the Silvers were only into first generation P.S. technology. Though such a drive works after a fashion, it allows only one surge before complete meltdown. I doubt, in fact, there is anything more than a pool of slag in what is left of a drive room."

Gia asked reasonably, "So why don't we board and find out?"

"For several reasons," the Chairman said. "Of which, Ms. Mayland, only two need concern you. The first is that the ship is probably heavily defended, or at least boobytrapped. The second reason is political." At this point the old man beamed at the Phuili representative. "Ambassador Jenkins, why don't you tell her the rest?"

"Yess." Two large faintly glowing eyes turned to the human woman. The alien projected friendliness to the entity he knew had had a long association with his kind. Gia felt that friendliness, recognized it, and welcomed it. Her last couple of assignments had been on human worlds; she missed the unusual but satisfying relationship possible between individuals of the two races.

"Human and Phuili togezer destwoy system of Silver People." The Ambassador's voice was high pitched and rasping, like a child with a bad cold. "But now know all Silver People not destwoyed. Human and Phuili must Zerefore again togezer, zis time not to destwoy. Perhaps be ozer ships escape sun seeding, only chance find out is maybe on zat ship." The Ambassador paused, seeking words in a language which fitted awkwardly on a tongue and palate designed for very different sounds.

"May I?" Digonness asked understandingly.

The alien gestured. "Pleese. It best."

"Thank you." The Director of Expediters turned to the woman he considered the best field agent he had. "The Chairman said it, Gia. Politics. We need someone in charge out there: someone who not only represents the interests of Earth and Phuili enough to be fully acceptable to both, but who can also make decisions for both. The Ambassador has already been in touch with his home government, and has been told they will accept anyone jointly selected by him and Chairman Frobert. So they decided—"

"With your recommendation, no doubt," Gia interrupted dryly. Not burdened with false modesty, she knew exactly where this was leading and did not like it. "Damn you, Digger—" Suddenly remembering where she was, Gia blushed and rephrased, "Mr. Ambassador, gentlemen, I am not an administrator and never have been. There must be others who are better qualified."

The Chairman said softly, "All right, Ms. Mayland. Whom do you suggest?"

There was a silence, during which Gia realized there was no way she was going to wriggle out of this one. It was her unique rapport with the Phuili they wanted, plus the fact that she was well enough known that she could probably order a few humans around without causing too much resentment. Though, she observed somewhat caustically, she did not doubt she would get plenty of advice.

"But of course you will get advice." Digonness seemed puzzled by her reaction. "In fact, I understand the teams out there have already determined several options. You will probably be briefed about them after you arrive."

Gia smiled. "Oh, I am sure of that."

"Then you accept the assignment?"

Gia sighed.

Groombra Four was Gia's first stop. A planet in Phuili controlled space, it was the one closest to the Silvers' system bearing a terminal of the instantaneous galactic transport network that had been created by a race long since departed from the known universe. It was from Groombra Four that two ships, one human and one Phuili, had departed bearing the 'sun seeds' that would turn the sun of the Silver People into a small nova.

Toomis (as the Phuili called it) was a not unattractive world, with a breathable atmosphere and native flora and fauna appropriate to its semi-arid climate. The terminal towered over a narrow valley on one of the two continents which covered most of the northern hemisphere. There was a Phuili settlement not far south, but Gia's shuttle, as it emerged out of the flickering sphere of pale fire centered above the terminal's enormous bowl, turned east toward the second continent. Ninety minutes later it landed at Fraser's Town, a compact human community of about one thousand souls. At the far end of the landing field was the ground-space shuttle which would take the expediter up to the phase ship she knew was waiting in orbit above the planet.

Gia had looked forward to a few hours of R and R before the next stage of her journey. But the uniformed man who was waiting for her as she emerged from the Earth shuttle had different ideas. He ushered her into a small ground car which he immediately steered in the direction of the other shuttle. "I am sorry, but my orders are explicit. The Century is ready to go, and will phase out just as soon as you are aboard."

Gia's lips tightened in frustration, but she did not object. Though a few hours was not much compared with the forty-two days it would take to reach the vicinity of the Silvers' ship, she realized that even minutes could count if the alternative was hordes of virulent anti-life rampaging the universe.

The shuttle was designed for minimum payload and maximum acceleration. So by the time it docked with the enormous Century and Gia unsteadily emerged from the transfer lock, she hoped she could at least get a little rest. But even that promise was denied, as she was met by a crewman who immediately escorted her through echoing corridors to the ship's Control Center.

The Century was one of the interstellar transports built before Sol's third planet was opened up to the galactic network. It could support eight hundred colonists in a spartan though adequate environment for up to three years, so was necessarily of impressive dimensions. But with nearly ten thousand worlds now instantly available from Earth, there was little need for this giant and her sister ships. Now they were usually in parking orbits above various colony worlds, until perhaps needed to ferry people or supplies to destinations not part of the network. The ships were too big to be efficient, but at least they were there. So, although only occasionally, they were still used.

The Control Center was almost as impressive as the old Century herself, containing rows of consoles in a vaulted chamber resembling a temple of worship rather than the working heart of a spaceship. Psychologists had insisted on this diversion from the appearance of state-of-the-art technology because, they insisted, the colonists needed to have confidence that those who were operating the ship could take them safely to destinations beyond a sea of suns. In the cathedral-like Center, the captain and his officers became High Priest and priests of a religion whose mysterious technological rituals were very comforting to the sturdy farmers whose lives had always been encompassed by the land and the unpredictable sky on the one hand, and their faith on the other.

Gia knew this, and indeed was a skilled technical pragmatist who understood the functions of most of the flickering displays. Nevertheless, something inside her was touched by the aura of controlled power as she carefully followed her guide between the consoles until she found herself before the High Priest himself.

"Hello, Gia," the captain said. "How long has it been? Three years? Four?"

Startled, she looked at him. "Uncle Joel!"

"Himself," the captain said fondly as he enveloped Gia with a rib-creaking hug. Large, ruddy-faced and white haired, Captain Joel Gresham had always regarded Gia as the daughter he never had, at the same time retaining a healthy respect for her considerable talents. "Take over, please," he asked his First Officer as he gestured Gia to follow him to his quarters behind the Center.

The main room was large and comfortable, containing the furniture and display cases Gia had last seen aboard his previous command: Transtar's Farway. A thin faced man in an unfamiliar black uniform rose from a chair as they came in. "Is this the expediter?" the man asked coldly.

"The lady's name is Gia Mayland," Captain Gresham replied, his voice equally frigid. "Gia, this is Major Harald Gostorth of Gostorth's Guards."

"I am not familiar—" Gia began.

"The Guards are necessary to protect Fraser's Town against encroachment by the infidel." Gostorth's face as well as his voice was wooden, humorless. "The universe is a hostile place, Expediter Mayland. Humanity must always remain vigilant."

"Of course," Gia said politely, though she had recognized the fanaticism in the major's pale eyes. Urging Gresham to the far side of the room, she whispered urgently, "That man's a walking threat! Why is he here?"

The captain's reply was blunt. "Because he has the right. Because, my dear Gia, we also carry a representative from the First Continent."

Gia was incredulous. "A Phuili? One of their xenophobes on this ship?"

"There was no choice. Every available Phuili ship is already at Silvers One." The captain chuckled. "By the way, it's a female. Uses the name Mary."

Gia whistled softly. "Where did you put her?"

"If you are thinking of the direct aproach, forget it. By her own request, Mary is in quarters as far from the human occupied part of the ship as possible." The captain glanced at the dour, black uniformed man from Fraser's Town. "Naturally."

Naturally.

Such was one of the legacies of the genocide committed by a permanent strike force which officially did not exist—although it would forever haunt the diplomatic shadows of the two governments who had clandestinely set up the force in the first place. The humans and Phuili of Groombra Four had been chosen because they were paranoid racists: perfect shock troops against anything "alien" threatening their respective puritanical concepts of what the universe should be. Safely separated by an ocean, the two communities scrupulously ignored each other, accepting cooperation only when certain coded requests were delivered from both home planets.

The destruction of the Silver People had been their first joint action. Now, as evidenced by their representatives aboard the Century, it seemed the two communities expected that their services might be required a second time.

Gia went back to Gostorth. "Are you aware there is a Phuili on board?"

The major nodded. "Of course. Considering the circumstances, it is to be . . . ah . . . expected."

"But from your point of view, not desired. Isn't that so?"

"We all have our crosses to bear," the major retorted stiffly.

"The Phuili's name is Mary. Do you know of her?"

"I understand she is competent. For one of her kind, that is."

Gia turned to the captain. "Captain Gresham, I believe this calls for a conference." She pointed at the major. "Including him." She then pointed at the com unit. "And of course your other passenger."

"No problem." The captain punched a three-letter code and the big screen illuminated with the alien features of a Phuili. "Captain, I give you gweetings," the being said solemnly.

Gia moved before the screen. "My name is Gia Mayland and I am a member of Expediters. Your government and mine have given me command of the combined fleet at the asteroid known as Silvers One. Do you accept that authority?"

The long head inclined. "It iss wequired."

"What about you, Major Gostorth? Do you accept?"

"If it is absolutely necessary—" The major shrugged. "If you insist. Anyway, it is obvious I have no choice in the matter."

"Damn right you don't," the expediter muttered.

Phase shift, the P.A. announced . . . . five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . shift! The deck trembled, there was a slight blurring of the senses, and then it was over. The Century was now enclosed within a bubble of multi-light, heading to a destination forty light years in distance though only days in time.

Gia asked the major to sit near the com unit, then moved herself so she was facing both the major and the Phuili's screen image. "I want you both to understand," she began without preamble, "that I am not going to that asteroid to supervise its destruction. My purpose is knowledge: about the ship itself, its propulsion systems, and especially its passengers—if there are any. Mary, if you wish to transfer to one of the Phuili ships after we arrive, I will have no objection. Major, you may similarly transfer to any human-manned vessel. But neither of you will be allowed aboard any investigatory probes, and certainly not aboard the Silvers' ship itself. Even if boarding does prove feasible."

Mary said quaintly, "If Silvers on ship, zis one not wish go." The alien voice hardened. "But zink you wong. You should destwoy. Not take chance.'

"For once I agree," Gostorth said harshly. "I was there when we sun-seeded the Silvers' system, and I remember how we rejoiced when we thought we had destroyed that festering evil. Expediter Mayland, perhaps you have forgotten it only needs one microbe to start a plague."

"But what if there are many microbes, Major? Will it stop the plague if we kill only one?"

The captain coughed. "Until they asked me to bring the Century out here, like most people I had never heard of the Silver People and what was done to them." His face became bleak. "My god, to hear about such an act in this day and age—" He shook his head. "Anyway, my briefing did include the evidence suggesting that at least one of their ships got away as their planets were frying. But what if that was not a one-shot? What if there were others? Dammit, how many Silvers are tucked away just to man the more than two thousand spacecraft which that one monster is carrying? What are we up against? A fleet? A fleet of fleets? We need answers, and from where I stand there seems only one place where we even have a chance of getting them. And that is inside the guts of that asteroid!"

Gia went to the old man and hugged him. "Captain, I could not have said it better."

Mary asked sensibly. "But how you get on asterwoid?" With Phuili understatement, she added, "I zink Silvers not want you on asterwoid."

The captain chuckled. "Good question. Good comment."

Major Gostorth's eyes glittered. "I think, madam expediter, this is one time you will regret not bringing my guards."

Gia did not try to hide her contempt as she looked at the black uniformed man. "Major," she said succinctly, "you are a fool."

The Century arrived and took up station in a void as apparently empty as would be expected in the almost-nothingness between the stars. But on the big ship's detectors, this was a busy area indeed. Roughly encompassing the surface of a sphere thirty thousand kilometers across, sixteen spacecraft of assorted types orbited an object currently known to the twenty-one-hundred entities aboard the ships as "Silvers One." This was an overwhelmingly Phuili fleet, which was natural enough in this predominantly Phuili-settled part of the galaxy. It also explained the choice of a human operations director. The Phuili, being an obsessively logical race and not desiring to take on more than their fair share of what was, after all, a joint human-Phuili problem, had balanced the equation by acknowledging the authority of a human. Expediter Mayland was therefore not particularly surprised at the two-to-one ratio of Phuili over humans when she was introduced to her advisory staff aboard the bulbous vessel which was the fleet's command center.

What did surprise her, and pleasantly so, was the Phuili who came to her and took one of her hands in a very uncharacteristic gesture of friendship to one not of his race. "I zink you and I are souls of one body," Davakinapwottapellazanzis (known to humans as David) said seriously.

Gia politely concealed her pleasure. "This is not a coincidence, is it David?"

The long head inclined. "Iss difficult. But I awange."

Gia doubted the difficulty. Aside from his high status in the Phuili hierarchy, David's own part in the Silvers affair had given him formidable leverage. Though she was uncertain if gratitude should be the proper response for her place in this uncomfortable hot seat of responsibility.

Of the three humans on the advisory staff, one was also an old friend—whose embrace hinted at perhaps a little more than friendship. Pushing him to arms length, Gia laughed delightedly. "Jase, it is just like Christmas homecoming! How in blazes did you finagle this one?"

Jase Kurber grinned as he ran fingers through his thinning black hair. "I didn't. Believe it or not, Digger assigned me here a couple of months ago."

Gia's eyes widened in astonishment. "The devil he did!" So even as she attended the meeting with Giesse Frobert and the others, Expediters' Peter Digonness had already set the wheels in motion to renew a previously successful partnership. Not that she minded the director's intervention. Gia, Kurber, and David had proved their compatibility. Still, there was a hint of forces beyond her control which made Gia uneasy. But for the moment dismissing her doubts, she said briskly, "OK, I was brought here in a hurry so let's not waste further time. What can anyone tell me that perhaps I do not already know?"

The Phuili version of an "operations" room in which Gia and her advisers were located was low, curved and slightly claustrophobic to the humans who were considerably taller than their small alien colleagues. But claustrophobia became vertiginous agoraphobia as the unoccupied half of the room suddenly winked out of existance and became instead an opening into the infinity of deep space. It was how the Phuili did such things, regarding as totally unnecessary the "fade-in" used by humans to allow time to adjust to the incredible reality of holo projection.

The combined gasp from four human throats was followed by a guttural sound which Gia interpreted as the Phuili equivalent of laughter. But ever the perfect diplomat, David diverted attention from the discomforture of his human friends by zooming the field toward the object known as Silvers One and commenting, "Gia you perhaps see zis before. But not I zink so close."

No. Certainly not so close. This time, instead of stopping above an area of slender needle-nosed columns which stretched from horizon to close horizon like a metal forest, the zoom continued in until only one of the columns was visible. It was undoubtedly a ship, small and clean of line, its base concealed in a depression sunk into the asteroid's crust. "Small cwew," David said. "Two. Zwee maybe. Not more."

He retracted the zoom slightly and then moved the field over the ranks of ships. In some places, the hulls were so close the rock of the asteroid was barely visible in the spaces between.

Kurber said, "Notice the absolute lack of recognizable features on those ships, plus the fact that they are as alike as peas out of the same pod. I am not sure what that implies, except to presume they are the products of mass production on a truly massive scale."

"Vewy fast to make," one of the other Phuili agreed. "As if know zey must finish and send out-system before we find and stop."

Gia nodded. Perhaps the Silvers were mad, but it seemed they had been smart enough to realize their plans for the rest of the universe might be opposed by some. She looked sourly at the ugly image, the rows of daggerlike craft aimed beligerently at the stars. "What else can you tell me?"

"Watch," David said.

Again the little Phuili manipulated the holo controls. The image zoomed back until the asteroid was merely a stony space wanderer in the center of the field. The star background had shifted slightly, so Gia judged she was no longer watching in real time. Her guess was confirmed by the large man who had been introduced as Keller Vanderbrusse, communications specialist. He pointed at the Phuili numerals rapidly scrolling at the edge of the field. "This was recorded about twenty hours ago. I know we jumped the gun, but time is short and it did seem the obvious first step."

Something glinted in the foreground, suddenly flared and streaked toward the asteroid. "We aimed to miss by about a thousand klicks; close enough to be noticed, distant enough to imply a non-aggressive intent."

"I forgive you," Gia murmured, appreciative rather than angry at this demonstration of intelligent initiative. The image switched to one seen by the probe's camera as the tiny vehicle accelerated along its present course. Again the asteroid changed: from a distant irregular shaped object like any other of its size and mass, to a formidable and bristling carrier of . . .

There was a flash of light, another, and then several more as the asteroid reacted. The missiles themselves remained invisible as the probe reached its closest point and began to draw away. The asteroid's surface was quiescent again, resuming the enigmatic status it had held since being discovered. Slowly the asteroid retreated; eleven hundred kilometers, twelve hundred, thirteen . . .

The image flickered, was replaced by an expanding sphere of fire as seen from the Phuili command ship. For a while the sphere pulsated, waxing and waning with obscene irregularity. "A slight case of overkill," Vanderbrusse commented. "Seven warheads against one innocent little proble."

"So how do we get into that thing?" Gia asked.

"Exactly."

The problem seemed unsolvable. Gia lay and stared into the darkness of the cabin assigned to her, wishing she had the expertise to understand what was currently happening back in the operations room. At her suggestion, electronic and propulsion experts had been brought in from all over the fleet, "to find a means to jam or overwhelm the asteroid's defenses." She hoped she had injected some sense of purpose that had not been there before, though in her heart she suspected they were grasping at straws. Jamming seemed very unlikely; without some knowledge of the systems under that stony crust, the odds against were enormous. And how, with a mandate that allowed for everything except the destruction of the asteroid, does one "overwhelm?" In any case, the closest thing in the fleet to a warcraft was Luna, a patrol ship from the early years of human expansion into space. With only a single missile tube, that military anachronism was about as useful as a mounted cavalryman against a squadron of tanks.

Gia was not sure if she slept. In that half world between waking and dozing, in which the mind plays tricks with time as well as logic, she was not at first aware of the thrumming of the ship's drive as it accelerated the big spacecraft out of its orbit. But she was startled into full wakefulness by the piercing phonics of a screech alarm. "Iknillic!" rasped a Phuili voice over the P.A. "Rassin bil Iknillic!"

Not having the faintest idea where the bridge of this alien vessel was located, and knowing she would not be welcome there anyway, Gia could only hurry back to Operations as more incomprehensible Phuili consonants rattled out of the P.A. When she entered, the experts were still there, anxiously watching the holo image of a double-hulled ship linked at each end by a complex of spheres and struts. A faint blue-white glow was flickering around the entire assembly.

Gia asked breathlessly, "What is going on?"

"Runaway converter," was the laconic reply of a lanky human Gia vaguely remembered seeing on the Century. "They are already evacuating." As he spoke, dozens of passive life pods began spewing out of the stricken Phuili ship as shuttles from all over the fleet raced in and picked them up like sharks swallowing minnows.

The expediter found a vacant seat and slid into it. "Is it going to blow?"

"Haven't the foggiest." The man frowned puzzledly. "The point is, what could have caused it? The safeties these days—"

"Not accident," one of the Phuili said flatly. "Zat happen because someone make."

"Sabotage? But who—?" Gia's eyes widened. "Iknillic! Now I remember. That's the ship that took our Phuili passenger, while Major Gostorth—" Her face went white. "My god, where's Luna?"

David, followed by Jase Kurber, had entered just beofre Gia's horrified flash of realization. Almost as if he were reading her mind, her small friend immediately sat before the holo controls and switched the image to a plot displaying near space. The Phuili ships were represented by blue points of light, the human ships by green. The asteroid was a lurid red near the bottom edge of the field. All the blue and green points were converging on the flickering blue spark of the damaged Phuili spacecraft, though it was noticeable that the ships from the far side of the englobement were curving wide to avoid the prickly menace at the center.

All except one.

By this time the tension was almost palpable as David touched the control that would identify the miscreant vessel. A symbol appeared.

Kurber swore. "Godamn, it is the Luna." He shouted across the room to the lanky human from the Century. "Kerrin, who are Luna's owners? And what do we know about her crew and their point of origin?"

Kerrin's hand-sized comset, keyed to a memory bank aboard one of the human ships, took only seconds to roll out a slender piece of flimsy. "She's owned by the Lecfras Trust on Unity," Kerrin called back. "Most of those aboard are Unitans."

"Lecfras." Kurber took a deep breath. "Translates to Lector Fraser. Anything bearing that name has to be further right than Attila the Hun. And the Unitans themselves are not much better."

The green trace seemed to be approaching its closest point to the asteroid: not suicidally close, though near enough to indicate a captain whose recklessness was somewhat surprising for a responsible officer. Gia prayed she was overreacting, that this was merely a coincidence—not an unholy conspiracy which for place and timing promised an unpleasantness far greater than merely the destruction of a single ship. But that hopeful thought lasted only a few seconds. With a flare of thrusters at full power, Luna suddenly flipped ends and blasted away from the asteroid as if hell itself were at the little ship's heels. Where Luna had been, a tiny spark accelerated furiously along a tight curve which left no doubt of its intended target.

Everyone in Operations was momentarily paralyzed as they realized how neatly they had been hoodwinked; from the 'accident' which had attracted every unit of the fleet, to the attack run which in any other circumstance would have been forcibly aborted long before its initiation.

Already the asteroid was reacting; seven tiny flashes from its surface, one after another as backup followed backup with neat regularity. "It's ridiculous," Gia murmured, half to herself. "How can one silly missile—?"

The answer came almost with the question as, seconds before it was obliterated, the spark ejected something behind it. With the same furious acceleration as its parent, the second component passed through the expanding cloud of gases created by the seven defense warheads.

Again flashes from the asteroid, and again a multiple explosion—just after a third component split away from the attacker and accelerated at an incredible rate through the detritus of the second series of explosions.

The third reaction from the asteroid was apparently successful, though for tense seconds the asteroid itself could not be seen behind the fading cloud caused by its last salvo of missiles. As it gradually reappeared, a blackened area on the asteroid's near side indicated it had not gone entirely unscathed.

David anticipated Gia's question. "Missile fwom human ship made by Phuili. Vewy old, not make fwom many centuwies. Zwee, one in anozer, all shielded. In head, matter against matter. Vewy dangerwous."

"Anti-matter," Kurber breathed. "My god—"

"Zink Phuili you call Mawy and human you call Major awange zis. But not work because Mawy not know heads changed since many cycles. Now missiles only for warning. Not hurt much."

The situation was so improbable, Gia doubted she would dare recount it to anyone not already conversant with most of the facts. Though it was possibly true that man and Phuili were indeed a duality that might ultimately rule the universe, on a smaller scale the duality on Groombra Four had instead become an insanity as potentially potent —and tragic—as the Silvers aberration it had been set up to destroy. Such an insanity, fueled by hate of an enemy that eclipsed the hate they had for each other, was something the greater human-Phuili partnership was going to find increasingly difficult to rationalize.

"Iknillic!" said the P.A. "Iknillic si enne rassin!"

David returned the holo image to that of the burning ship—which was no longer burning. After a moment of uncomprehending silence, the little Phuili then uttered a word so full of angry consonants it was like a vocal explosion. "It pwoof," he told his human friends, his bitterness evident even to unaccustomed ears. "Because plan fail, Mawy weverse what did to converter. She only one know ship not in danger, so I zink she still on ship."

Gia sympathized with David's shame. But she was also familiar enough with Phuili psychology to know it was not a matter to be discussed. "Then I suppose we can cancel the evacuation and get everyone back on board." She paused. "What is Luna doing?"

Kerrin entered the query into his corn-set. "Returning to station," he replied after a moment. Marveling, he shook his head. "The gall of those people. They are carrying on as if nothing happened!"

Despite herself, Gia smiled. "What else can they do? They are not the first losers who have used bravado to face their sins."

Kurber asked tentatively, "What do you want done about Mary and Major Gostorth?"

Gia looked at Kurber. Then at David. Her face was bleak. "I want punishment. I want both of them brought to this ship and confined together. Until I rescind that instruction, no one—human or Phuili—is to communicate with either."

Kurber whistled. "Bit drastic, isn't it? How long is this . . . ah . . . joint confinement to last?"

"Until I decide it can end." The expediter's expression softened. "Jase, I know it's cruel, but we need to know the extent of the conspiracy. Hopefully, reaction to each other's physical presence will prove stronger than any urge to remain silent."

David inclined his long head. "Zis one agwee. Perhaps it way to stop ozers twying same."

Perhaps, Gia thought as she returned to her cabin and again prepared to catch up on lost sleep. But she doubted that one failure would deter the fanatics of Groombra Four. From their myopic viewpoint, the only enemy was the one at hand—which allowed little or no room for consideration of anything else. Especially a threat which existed only in theory.

Gia was so exhausted that sleep came easier this time. But hardly, it seemed, had her head touched the pillow when she heard the twanging of her cabin's attention alarm, and then a familiar voice. "Gia, are you awake?"

She looked at her watch. She had been asleep for five hours. She yawned and said to the air, "Yes Jase, I am now. What is it this time?"

"Something you should see. Good news for a change."

Gia was intrigued. Within a couple of minutes she was back in Operations and staring with wonder at the image of a sleek, slightly singed object clamped to the hull of the Phuili ship Mary had sabotaged. "That last little fracas dislodged it from the asteroid," Kurber explained cheerfully. "It was found drifting, identified as a harmless crew carrier and then brought in."

David added, "Iknillic our wepair and build place. Have cwew and machines to fix all zings. Zey put contwol on Silvers ship to hand at distance."

"Radio control?" Gia began. "But why—?" Her face cleared. "Of course. If the asteroid's defenses recognize it as a friend, it opens a door we did not have before." This had better be the break we need, or someone else can have this job! "Go ahead. Please."

Daring to hope, Gia watched the image as space-suited Phuili drifted away from the captured prize and re-entered their ship. Magnetic clamps released and the Silvers' craft turned and accelerated smoothly toward the asteroid. Minutes passed. Steadily, the distance closed.

"We appwoach cwitical point." David indicated the scrolling numerals. "Soon we know."

Twelve hundred. Eleven hundred. One thousand . . .

By now there should have been a reaction.

Nine hundred. Eight hundred. Seven . . .

Still no reaction. No one seemed to be drawing breath. Even the Phuili observers were suspended in timeless anticipation; their small bodies rigid, great eyes staring.

Five hundred.

Three hundred.

Still nothing. The remote pilot steered his charge about the asteroid's equator, at one point dipping below a hundred kilometers. There was a small sound in the room, a concerted sigh. Then, as the distance finally began to increase, a whoop from Vanderbrusse. "We made it!" the big man exhaulted. "Dammit, we can go!"

The Phuili were also happy, bowing to each other and to their human guests in a display of emotion rare for that notoriously phlegmatic race.

Gia was in a more practical frame of mind. Though a door had opened, it was nevertheless a very small portal. "David, you told us those ships are crewed by three, at the most. Do those numbers still hold?"

The Phuili nodded. "Inside of ship vewy small. Even zwee tight to get in." Still the diplomat, he continued, "But you to decide who, fwiend Gia."

Three hours later, Kurber and two Phuili identified as John and Matthew found an entrance lock on the surface of the asteroid. The exterior controls were simple and the lock opened easily. Two hours after that, Gia and David came down and met Kurber in an enormous chamber at the heart of the asteroid. The chamber was spherical, its inner surface completely covered with thousands of glasslike protrusions that reflected the light from their lamps like a coating of precious stones. Phuili voices muttered in Gia's helmet phones, there was a pause, and then the entire space became brilliantly illuminated.

David said with satisfaction, "Zey find contwol center and turn on, power. Soon find defense contwols and turn off."

Kurber was floating near one of the protrusions. He called Gia over. "Want to meet the crew of this beast? Come and say hello."

The expediter activated her suit jets and drifted across. The protrusion was actually a transparent hexagon about fifty centimeters wide. As Gia grasped Kurber's shoulder and steadied herself, he shone his lamp into the hexagon. Inside was the head and shoulders of a gray-furred being. Its eyes were closed, the long arms were folded across the chest.

Gia felt strange, her revulsion conflicting with her awareness of the undoubted physical attractiveness of the being. "What happened to them?" she heard herself whisper. "What made them what they are?"

"God knows," Kurber replied. "Perhaps in the past some paranoiac demigod came to power and somehow transferred his sickness to the whole race."

"Iss possible," David agreed. The little Phuili was drifting alongside them, his snouted face enigmatic behind the reflected highlights of his helmet." Pleese come. I zink ozers find somezing."

The two humans followed him out of the chamber and back up the broad corrider which led to the surface. Then they turned aside through a side portal, into a long room covered with display panels and ranks of multi-colored indicators. John and Matthew were at the far end of the room, before an enormous panel split in two halves. One side was brilliantly ablaze with thousands of tiny sparklike indicators all glowing orange. The other side was identical, except the indicators were blue.

There was a rapid exchange in the incomprehensible Phuili language, before David turned to his human friends. "Place we just in filled wiz what you call sleep tanks. We zink zis place is where sleepers made waking." David gestured at the tiny indicators. "Each light push in like little button." Expectantly, he looked at Gia.

His point was painfully obvious. Whether or not to revive any of the sleepers was a decision only Gia had the authority to make, and it was one which made her fervently wish she were elsewhere. Even to revive only one or two of the graceful monsters had the potential of being the unleashing of a dormant plague. On the other hand, not to revive could mean they would never know—or at least probably not until it was too late—if there were any other drifting arks waiting to release their cargoes of comatose malevolence into an unsuspecting universe.

Thoughtfully, Gia studied the huge panel. "David, are the Silvers bisexual?"

"Have seen only one corpse of wace. But it have like male."

Kurber's mouth twitched. "1 suppose you have a reason for that ... ah . . . delicate question?"

Gia nodded. "It looks to me there are about as many lights on that panel as there are sleepers. Which suggests that the two colors represent the two sexes —and please note there is an equal number of each. So if we revive—"

"Even if we can, we shouldn't!" Kurber interrupted sharply. "To start with, we have not yet figured out how to activate the atmospheric life support. And the reviving process is probably automatic anyway, most likely triggered when the asteroid reaches the neighborhood of a star."

David was also studying the panel. "I zink automatic only for two. If two zen see planets wiz life, zey can make ozers to wevive." He pointed to the top of the panel, where symbols linked a small row of orange-blue pairs. "I say contwol start at top two. If not work, zen next two."

"And so on." Kurber rubbed his chin. "You know, that does make sense. It also means we merely have to find the asteroid's sun proximity sensors and generate a phony signal." He grinned. "Interesting possibilities there, don't you think?"

"I am not interested in mere possibilities," Gia said grimly. "Before we stick our necks out on this one, there will have to be certain stringent controls."

The expediter's instructions, which she issued immediately after they returned to the command ship, provoked some discussion but not much argument. Something had to be done, everyone knew it, and the necessary preparations were well within the capabilities of the fleet and its polyglot crews.

The biggest job was the painstaking analysis of the various electrical and mechanical systems aboard the Silvers ship, followed by modifications which the original designers certainly never had in mind. Interfacing with the asteroid's voice and control circuits, a tough task by any standard, was also accomplished within the stipulated time. Whether or not the newly introduced translator module was sufficient, was something they would not know until after the operation was initiated. At this stage, all Gia could do was dilute her worries by concentrating on other things.

After a thorough exploration and mapping of the asteroid's interior, explosive experts were called in. Carefully they installed and set their charges, then withdrew. The consequent explosions were minor, designed merely to seal certain tunnels and service shafts. But for fifteen tense seconds the huge mass reverberated like a bell before finally rumbling into silence. Anxious minutes followed as circuits were checked for possible disruption. Nervously, Kurber remarked, "That was a bit more than I expected."

Gia nodded, though she did not speak. Her state of mind was such that she would gladly have swapped her current situation for any from her past, even those that had been life threatening. Old fashioned fear was one thing; she could cope with that and often had. But the strain of these moments was something close to unbearable.

She stood up. "Dammit!"

Kurber looked at her. "I agree," he said uncertainly. "Do you have something in mind?"

"I am going to have a little talk with our friend Gostorth." Gia held up a restraining hand as it seemed Kurber was about to join her. "No Jase. This is personal."

She knew she was being selfish. But Gia had long ago learned to trust her own combative instincts. If conflict was in the wind, even if only verbal with a programmed fanatic, the challenge was a welcome catharsis.

The major was now confined alone, but his red-rimmed eyes and nervous twitch indicated he had not long been separated from his unwelcome roommate. Gia's first words were a cheap shot, but she enjoyed saying them anyway. "I gather you and Mary did not get along too well."

"You are a bitch," Gostorth said tonelessly.

Gia smiled. "Thank you." She sat down facing him. "Do you want more company? I can arrange it, you know."

"What do you want?"

"I want to know the extent of the conspiracy. I want names."

He sighed. "I am surprised you did not have me pumped full of some T-drug. It would have been easier and less . . . ah . . . uncomfortable."

"Easier? Less uncomfortable? For you, Major, perhaps. But you see I do not want you to come away from this with an easy conscience. You will talk because now you know what will happen to you if you don't. We do not need any drug."

Again he sighed. Compared to what he had been, Gostorth was definitely a reduced man. Gia recalled what she had seen when, during a rare spare moment, she had tuned in to a pickup in the confinement area. The two conspirators had been huddled in opposite corners of their shared space, not speaking or moving. Only their eyes had been warily active, as if each suspected the other was a predator about to pounce. It had been a depressing scene. Mary was now confined elsewhere—apparently, in the Phuili context, as much disturbed as the xenophobic human.

Gostorth said, "Luna was in on it."

"Of course Luna was in on it!" Gia looked at the man with contempt. "Please do not insult me with the obvious. Frankly, mister Gostorth, if it was not for the weapon you used, I could almost have been persuaded this thing was strictly between you, Mary, and Luna's idiotic crew. But because that weapon had to have originated from Phuili—"

The P.A. beeped. "Human Gia needed," an anonymous Phuili announced. "All weady for start."

The expediter rose to her feet and went to the door. "Think about what I have said," she told the reduced man. "I will be back."

It seemed everyone was there waiting for her. Sitting or standing, Phuili and humans were all looking at the split image on the screen at the end of the room. This was ordinary 3D as opposed to holography, but the excitement generated by the image of the sleepers' control panel on one side, and the vault with its thousands of glassite hexagons on the other, was almost enough to make the air crackle.

Gia sat in the seat reserved for her between Kurber and David. "What did Gostorth have to say?" Kurber asked.

"He's malleable," was Gia's obtuse reply. "Is everything set?"

"We weady," David said.

Gia clenched her hands under the table. "Then let's do it."

David whispered into his comset. A Phuili technician closed a switch and fifteen thousand kilometers away a carefully programmed data package began feeding into the receiving unit of a detector mounted on the asteroid's surface.

For about twenty interminable seconds nothing happened. Suddenly Gia grabbed Kurber's arm and pointed.

"Jase. It's beginning."

On the image of the control panel, the top pair of orange-blue indicators had begun to pulsate.

Enrahin stretched cramped muscles. His thoughts were still somewhat blurred, but already he remembered where he was and why. Air blew on his cheek and chilled his damp body as the reviving process reached its final phase and as the automatics built up atmospheric pressure outside his stasis chamber. An indicator began pulsing above his head, telling Enrahin he could now open the lid and exit the chamber. The lid swung back easily, and as he floated free he looked below him and to the right. He did not know Ayree's exact location, but surely her pulse indicator would tell him if the loved one would again share his life.

It was there!

It was very faint, but the tiny pulsing glow was unmistakable to his eager eyes. Enrahin immediately launched himself down past the ranks of chambers and their time-suspended occupants, reaching and embracing Ayree just as she began to emerge.

"Again we are one!" he said happily.

She blinked sleepily. "How long?"

"I do not know. Only minutes has it been since I woke."

Ayree shivered and fluffed her fur, She was beautiful, even with the uneven hair growth caused by lack of grooming. "Then we must find out," she said practically. "Control did not wake us for nothing."

She flexed her long legs and with a single soaring leap reached the main access opening. Her mate followed, into the broad tunnel which ultimately led to the surface. Suddenly he bumped into her as she floated helplessly before rubble which completely blocked their way.

Enrahin was as horrified as she was, but he had been stim-programmed, so his reaction was immediate. He urged Ayree into a side tunnel. "Come. I think the way to Control One is still open."

Ayree obediently turned and followed him into a long room lined with panels and winking displays. Once they were inside, Enrahin said loudly, "Control. Are you listening?"

A voice answered. It was weak, electronically disturbed, and beyond the noise of interference its words were halting and strangely accented.

I LISTEN.

"List. Time since drive activation. State of vehicle and life units in storage. Reason for activation of life units E19 and A304."

TIME. FIFTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETEEN DAYS LESS ELEVEN MINUTES. STATE. VEHICLE DAMAGED BY EXPLOSIVE OVERLOAD OF PHASE SHIFT DRIVE SYSTEM CAUSING COLLAPSE AND BLOCKAGE OF SEVERAL PASSAGES. STORED LIFE UNITS UNDAMAGED. STASIS AND CONTROL SYSTEMS STILL OPERATIVE. REASON. ANOMALOUS INDICATION OF STAR PROXIMITY.

Ayree felt for and grasped Enrahin's hand. "Explain use of term, anomalous."

VEHICLE CURRENTLY ZERO DECIMAL SIX STANDARD FROM SYSTEM OF ORIGIN. NEAREST STAR IN DIRECTION OF MOTION TWELVE DECIMAL NINE STANDARD. INDICATION OF STAR PROXIMITY THEREFORE ANOMALOUS.

What does it mean? Enrahin's twin hearts thudded as he pondered this strangeness. He heard Ayree ask,

"Is it possible the star sensors were also damaged by the drive explosion?"

SYSTEMS CHECK COMPLETED. POSSIBILITY OF ERROR THREE DECIMAL ONE PERCENT.

"Identify possible cause of anomaly."

NINE ONE DECIMAL SIX PERCENT PROBABILITY STAR PROXIMITY DATA ARTIFICIALLY GENERATED.

Fifteen thousand kilometers away, Expediter Gia Mayland turned off the microphone. "Now they know," she whispered as, on the screen, two attractive gray-furred beings stood with eye-glaring rigidity. Then there began a spasmotic twitching of the male's right hand as, slowly, he turned toward the sleepers' activation panel . . . .

Ayree dug sharp claws into his upper arm and pulled him away. "No Enrahin, not yet. We do not know enough."

Like an animal emerging from water to the dry land, he shook himself. But Enrahin's eyes were still wild and unfocused as he said hoarsely, "Control said artificial. That implies life."

"Control is artificial. Does Control live?"

Gradually the wildness died. "No. Bu . . . but we built Control. We are life!"

"We are life," Ayree agreed. "And by creating Control, we proved that intelligent action need not necessarily be exclusive to living beings. Perhaps life created whatever generated the anomaly. But we do not have the right to activate any of the others until we are certain that we face that other life. Not merely what it once created."

Ayree had always been the analytical one. Realizing the logic of what she had just said, though still shivering with the hate/fear that was his birthright, Enrahin dragged forth his cowering reasoning-sense and forced it into action. "So if we are not dealing with life is, then it must be life was. Either way, it is a shattering thing."

His mate nodded. "And proving, of course, the necessity of the Great Work. But would you and I be performing our Holy Task if we activated other life units prematurely? It is precisely because stasis is limited to once per life unit, that Control has been programmed to activate only two at each time. So it is our function, dear one, to determine the nature of this anomaly and then to make a proper decision. If it is life, then we must activate as many brothers and sisters as is necessary to rid this area of the infection. If it is not life, then it is our duty to return all systems to cruise mode and then to submit ourselves to the nutrient vats. What we cannot do, others will do—and we will be there, our substance being part of their substance."

"My god, what kind of philosophy is that?"

"Cold blooded."

"But they are not machines. Their obvious affection for each other proves that."

"Even Hitler loved his Eva Brain. And I am sure Caligula had his tender moments. We cannot afford to go soft, Gia."

"Agwee we not take chance. But zat little good perhaps mean we can make into bigger good. Maybe later we make. But first still have find out if ozer ships. Fwiend Gia, you have somehow make zem speak."

Enrahin asked, "Is the anomaly close enough that it can be shown on the screen?"

NEGATIVE. OPTICAL AMPLIFYING CIRCUITS DAMAGED. SELF REPAIR PROGRAM OPERATING.

"How long before repairs are complete?"

CURRENT DATA MAXIMUM TWO POINT SEVEN HOURS. MINIMUM ZERO POINT THREE HOURS.

"Do available sensors indicate anything of anomaly other than its possibly artificial nature?"

"That's it Gia! The question we need!"

"Oh I hope so," the expediter said fervently. She took a deep breath . . . .

SIX TWO DECIMAL EIGHT PERCENT PROBABILITY ANOMALY SIMILAR TO THIS VESSEL.

Enrahin groped for Ayree's hand. That is not possible.

"Clarify," he said.

ANOMALY OF SIMILAR SIZE AND MASS. INDICATIONS OF METALLIC STRUCTURES ON SURFACE.

"Like needle-ships," Enrahin muttered, half to himself. "But that cannot be. We know the others were—"

His mate's grip became so fierce it caused pain. Don't speak of it. Not even this way!

He knew Ayree was merely insisting on observance of the rules, even when using secret-talk. It seemed an unnecessary nuisance, but with an inward sigh Enrahin decided to abide. There would be no conflict with his love, even of the most minor kind. I was wrong and I am sorry. So please do not . . .

Ayree said firmly, "Whatever is out there, if it is a ship, then it must be of other-life. How can it be otherwise, considering this is our only ark?"

Wondering for whose benefit she had voiced the lie, Enrahin suppressed the urge to secret-talk his doubts. What was bothering Ayree anyway? Did she still believe in that hoary old theory of a transmental component of secret-talk? "Dear Ayree," he said. "What you say is true, of course. But you know how I like to project myself into the future, imagining the people as they will be—countless trillions of us, cleansing and purifying the cosmos until it is perfect. Time is vast after all, and we are prolific. Truly the Great Work will come from this single holy seed which bears us all towards our destiny."

"Damn!" Gia's frustration caused her to thump the table so hard it made Kurber jump. "Did you see and hear that? The male said it for god's sake. Others! But then she stopped him. How?"

"As if know we listen." David's huge eyes were somber. "But zink zey not know. Equipment we put hidden too well to find yet. Zink female do smart guess. Zen tell male shut up, perhaps wiz mind talk."

"Telepathy?" Kurber frowned. "Could be. But the problem still remains: presuming they have other ships out there, how in blazes do we find out about them? We have already searched the asteroid for physical evidence, though I suppose we'd need years to poke into every nook and cranny. So let's face it; our only hope is still inside one or the other of those two furry skulls."

"And how do we do that?"

"Plan B. Make friends with them."

"That is not funny, Jase."

"Who's laughing?"

The two Silvers had made a quick tour through the main tunnels, and so far had found each surface access thoroughly blocked by tons of fallen rock. They knew there was equipment which could clear the mess, but when they discussed the problem . . .

"We don't know how to operate that machinery, and in any case there is no point in activating anyone who does, until we are certain there is something —or someone—out there."

As always it was Ayree's logic that cooled Enrahin's impetuousness, and realizing there was still not sufficient reason even to activate a minuscule few of the others, the male felt a terrible sense of loneliness as he and his mate trod through echoing tunnels toward Control One. Tightly, they held hands.

The blockages form a very strange pattern.

What do you mean?

True to her resolve not to say too much, even with secret-talk, Ayree ceased communication until they were back in the room with the winking displays. With all this flickering activity it was not difficult to imagine it as the measure of a living crew at work, instead of the reality of a soulless collection of components imitating what the two beings dearly wished could be.

"Control, have the optical circuits been repaired?"

AFFIRMATIVE.

"Please show us the anomaly."

The image was at first fuzzy with very little detail. But even before it cleared and sharpened, Enrahin and Ayree knew exactly what they were seeing.

"I not understand weason. Zey know ozer Silvers not near."

"David, if there is to be any chance at all for us to talk and them to listen, they must be convinced we are not the alien horrors they expect. So we start with the image of a ship similar to their own."

"Ah. What do zen?"

"At the proper moment we introduce them to two beings not unlike themselves: male and female, possibly a little inferior. The One Behind All, we inform them, has created these beings to assist in the mighty task of bringing order to the Universe."

"Beings cannot be Phuili. We too diffewent. Humans closer zough less hair. You say male and female."

"Exactly. Jase and I."

"I zink perhaps might work. But after—?"

"I wonder about that myself. Dammit Gia, I am no actor! What are we supposed to say to them anyway?"

"Right now, I haven't figured that out. But Jase, I do not want to order the destruction of those people if there is the slightest possibility they can be turned around. I may be the judge with powers of execution, but at this moment I strongly lean toward a recommendation of mercy."

There was a long silence. Kurber was obviously astonished, while David looked thoughtful. Then:

"It is say all zings possible. Zank you, fwiend Gia, for wemind."

"Thank you, friend David."

Kurber was not so sure. "I wonder if anyone will deserve thanks when this is over," he commented gloomily.

"Is there any sign of activity on that ship?"

NEGATIVE.

"That does not prove anything. It has obviously matched our course and velocity—which is orders of magnitude beyond any coincidence."

"Enrahin, we have already discussed that. If that ship is like ours, then perhaps it has a Control like ours."

ALIEN SHIP TRANSMITTING. SIGNAL CONTAINING COMPARATIVE REFERENCES AND NUMERICAL DATA FOR POSSIBLE LANGUAGE TRANSLATION.

Enrahin hissed. "Language? But language is caused by life!" Face twisted in hate, the male skittered back and forth, eyes darting about him as if looking for a weapon—any weapon. "No!" Ayree cried, her fur fluffed in agitation. Trying desperately to cling to reason, she grabbed Enrahin and pulled him close. While her only motive was to somehow return her mate to a semblance of sane behavior, instead an irresistable biological urge overcame them both and they began to mate. As was normal with their kind, the mating was insanely violent, noisy, and over as abruptly as it started. In their temporary exhaustion they hardly heard the developing sequence uttered by Control.

. . . WES COM BEEP SHOD . . . WESH COMMUN BEENG SHOP . . . WISH COMMUNIC BEINGS SHIP . . . WISH TO COMMUNICATE WITH BEINGS ON SHIP. PLEASE REPLY. ARE YOU THERE . . .

Ayree flexed sore limbs and wiped blood off herself. Pain—a residual of ecstasy—revulsion, and curiousity were all components of a whirling confusion in her brain . . . . hate . . . hate . . . hate . . . destroy . . . destroy . . . destroy . . . The message of a thousand generations shouted wild from her genes. She looked at Enrahin. Like her he was a mess. But more noticeable was the strangeness of his expression. The fatigue was there, and still the fear. But the hate was gone, as if part of him had burned out from overload.

"Ayree." His voice was weak yet wondering. "Control has language. Yet Control is a machine. That is so, isn't it?"

"That is so," she replied gently. Oddly, as if echoing his overload, her own hate had subsided—though not quite gone. It was still there, seething deep at the edge of her awareness.

"But what if—" Enrahin lifted a hand in the universal sign of question, then let it fall. "What if there is life on that other ship? Is it possible they are . . . you know . . ."

She knew. And what he was trying to say chilled her. "We are the Giver's chosen instrument of the Great Work." Ayree said, realizing with shock she was saying the holy words as much to remind herself as her mate. "So whatever happens, whatever we see or hear—"

WE ARE CALLED HUMAN. WE ARE THE SWORD CREATED TO DESTROY THAT WHICH DEFILES THE ONE'S UNIVERSE. WHAT ARE YOU? IS THERE MORE THAN ONE SWORD?

It was almost too much. Enrahin seemingly did not react at all, which more than anything else indicated the extent of his sickness. Ayree, still sane though barely so, for an eternity of moments could only glare at Control's master panel as if its electronics had somehow become transformed into protoplasmic ooze. Finally, with a massive effort of will she forced herself to speak.

". . . show . . . me . . ."

One of the screens flickered into life. Two creatures, hand in hand, stared at Ayree. To her confusion they were not so much repulsive as merely ugly: about the same shape as she was but almost hairless, with protruding nostrils and slits of mouths. Their eyes were small and deeply recessed into their skulls. One was smaller than the other, with a greater development of chest. The smaller one spoke, its mouth parts making sounds which Control translated.

WE STILL WISH TO KNOW. ARE YOU ANOTHER SWORD?

Ayree moistened her mouth. "What," she asked with difficulty, "is the One?"

Her mind was functioning a little better now, enough for her to have reasoned that if they did not properly answer her question, then all doubts were resolved and she and Enrahin could proceed with whatever was necessary to destroy these strangers and their ship. But Ayree's hope for that simple solution was dashed as the smaller being replied, THE ONE IS THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE. THE ONE GAVE US THE TASK TO DELIVER ALL THINGS FROM THE SCOURGE WHICH IMITATES AND PROFANES TRUE LIFE. IN THIS WE ARE THE SWORD OF THE ONE.

Enrahin groped for Ayree's hand. I am not as sick as you think. "Perhaps—" Again it seemed he groped for words. "Perhaps in the Great Work, what we are is only a part. Perhaps—" He lapsed into helpless silence. Ask them. How many are they?

Ayree asked.

WE ARE AS YOU SEE. was the unexpected reply. Two? In that ship? They are lying!

HOW MANY ARE YOU?

"Two," Ayree promptly lied. "As you."

WE MUST MEET.

It was almost a relief to be able to speak the truth. "That will be difficult. All our surface access tunnels are blocked by fallen rock and we are trapped inside."

WE HAVE MACHINES. WE CAN MELT THROUGH TO YOU.

"It's certainly taking them long enough to react to our little bombshell." Vanderbrusse glanced at his watch. "Nearly a full minute and they haven't said a damn thing."

Still hand in hand, the two Silvers were wandering aimlessly about. Their gaze was open and fixed, as if going through an alien form of somnambulism.

"Perhaps we moved too fast. Talking with the devil is one thing. But having him come to you in person—" Kurber shook his head.

Gia had to agree. "Jase, I am afraid you have a point." She burst out, "My god, I think I have managed to mess up the whole thing!"

"Not perhaps so," David said. With soothing logic the little Phuili continued, "You have offer way fwom inside of asterwoid. Zey too smart to wefuse us doing."

"Maybe, but only if we haven't already driven them over the edge." Kurber gestured at the screen. "Look at those two! Right now they are hovering between pragmatism and that insane purpose of theirs like a tug-of-war between evenly matched teams. If pragmatism wins out, then OK. I admit we still have a chance to turn them around. But if it turns out the other way, or even if the rope breaks and they go schizoid on us—then I say we have no choice except to blow them out of space before they can rouse their sleeping buddies."

It was a terrible choice and they all knew it. Communication had been established, and with time could perhaps lead to a kind of grudging acceptance. But the menace represented by the regiments waiting to be unleashed from the asteroid's core was an unstable component in an equation already weighted against Gia's desire not to be involved in another mass slaughter.

So we have decided?

We have decided.

It will be difficult.

That is so. But what else can we do? Perhaps for too long we have assumed our exclusiveness without properly considering the impossible vastness of the universe. The near destruction of our race surely indicates that the Giver must have more than one arrow to his bow.

It is a possibility we must consider. But even if the Giver did create other instrumentalities for the Great Work, we still cannot be sure of those who are about to come to us.

Agreed. So we must be prepared.

We must be prepared.

Gia's mood at the news of acceptance was a combination of relief and caution. As the work team and their equipment prepared to melt a tunnel from the point on the asteroid's crust indicated by the Silvers, she issued swift instructions.

"David, as soon as your crew is within a meter of breakthrough, Jase and I will go down and take over. Are you sure the other access is well enough camouflaged?"

"Silvers have see and not know what zey see. What looks wockfall is not. So we use as Silvers wait at place where new tunnel to come."

"Good. And if things work out as I hope, your people can withdraw by the same route. But if the situation turns ugly—"

"We watch. If need, we act. You and Jase be safe."

Later:

So you are sure the strangers cannot read secret-talk?

Enough that I am convinced it is our greatest advantage over them, though I admit we must be circumspect in its use. We must not arouse their suspicions with too many silences.

Agreed.

"They are close."

"Very close. In a few moments they will be before us."

"When did you deactivate the defense screen? I did not see you anywhere near the panel."

"There was no need. The screen was already down, presumably a result of the phase-shift failure. The event was, after all, catastrophic enough to collapse the exit portals." And it is that I fear. Why only those tunnels which lead to the surface? Surely, a strangely selective effect.

Coincidence is often strange.

"Look! The wall is glowing!"

"Then they are here. Better stand clear in case of rock splinters."

Ayree and Enrahin backed into the relative safety of the entrance of Control One as with a hiss and a rumble, part of the corridor wall disappeared. Dust billowed outward, was almost immediately thinned as exhaust vents opened. Cautiously the "humans" emerged out of the jagged opening and halted. The small one spoke, its thin voice eerily echoing Control's translation, I AM GIA. THIS MALE IS JASE.

They were indeed ugly. But also strangely pathetic with their squashed, pink-skinned faces and awkwardly jointed limbs. Ayree was surprised she could feel pity along with her instinctive revulsion. "I am Ayree," she responded. "This is Enrahin. What do you offer?"

OUR PURPOSE IS TO SERVE THE ONE. WE THINK IT IS YOUR PURPOSE ALSO. IT IS CONFUSING TO US BECAUSE WE DID NOT KNOW THAT OTHERS SHARE THE HOLY CAUSE.

Enrahin signaled, That at least is understandable. It is our own dilemma.

Ayree repeated. "What do you offer?"

WE OFFER OURSELVES. WE OFFER OUR SHIP AND ALL IT CONTAINS. THE ONE'S UNIVERSE IS MIGHTY AND MUST BE CLEANSED. THERE CAN BE NO OTHER WAY.

All it contains? Challenge him!

"I asked you before. I ask you again. How many are you?"

There was a hesitation. Then: IN OUR SHIP, THERE ARE MANY THOUSANDS IN DORMANCY CHAMBERS. THEY CAN BE RESTORED. BUT ONLY IN THE ONE'S SERVICE.

"Ayree! Praise the Giver, I believe they truly are our soulmates in the Great Work!" Yet why do I feel so uneasy? What is wrong?

Perhaps they are too much for logic to expect. We must probe deeper.

"There is a better place to talk than in this corridor." Ayree pointed, then she and Enrahin turned and walked slowly into Control One. Is this wise? her mate, asked.

Do they know about this space? Ayree countered.

They should not.

Exactly. Then what I am about to do should provoke no reaction other than perhaps curiousity. Watch them closely.

At first, the humans remained merely hesitant. But as the two Silvers continued past the various control displays and approached the glowing blue-orange panel at the far end of the chamber, Enrahin noticed that the hesitancy seemed to become a distinct nervousness. As if by unspoken agreement, the humans suddenly began to close the distance between themselves and their hosts. Enrahin felt Ayree's hand tighten. Prepare.

His pulses raced as her suspicions became his. I am ready.

At the panel, Ayree casually lifted her free hand upward toward the illuminated buttons.

STOP HER! roared Control, translating the male's mouthings as both humans lunged forward.

They know! Screaming with primeval hate, the Silvers unsheathed their claws and charged to intercept the humans. It should have been an easy slaughter. The humans were obviously weak and biologically not equipped to face the natural killing machines Ayree and Enrahin were by birthright. But as gray-furred arms swept lethal arcs across where unprotected throats should be, the humans had already dropped prone below a sudden fury of sizzling beams. Enrahin did not have time even to know what killed him. His head half blown from his shoulders, he simply pitched forward in a bloody heap. Ayree cried once and fell across her mate. She twitched a few times and then lay still.

Their hot weapons still at the ready, two armed Phuili edged into the room. Then David came in. His alien expression showed strain but was otherwise unreadable. He squatted next to the bodies.

"Not like fail," he said sadly.

Gia studied the photograph. "Those?" she asked, pointing.

David nodded. "Tiny sensor pads. Vewy sensitive, much nerve network behind. All over palm of hands. When hold hands, Silvers communicate near good as talk."

Kurber asked, "But what would be the evolutionary need? 1 noticed nothing wrong with their ability to voice communicate."

"Combative," Gia murmured, half to herself.

"Beg pardon?"

"Try this on for size. Suppose the Silvers have a very long history, perhaps even as long as your people's, David. Also suppose that their world was an incredibly savage place almost exclusively populated by toothed and clawed predators. So to survive long enough to evolve sentience, the Silvers ancestors had to become even more savage than the rest. Then, as they attained dominance and eliminated most of the competition, those ancestors increasingly turned their savagery on each other. Still they continued to evolve, though obviously it would be a painful process. Therefore a question. In such a situation, given enough eons of continuous combat against natural enemies and then against one's own kind, what kind of personality trait would you expect to develop?"

Kurber frowned. "Paranoia?"

"You said it, dear. Paranoia. But taken to such an extent, and over such a period of time, that the physical ability to 'secret-talk' became as much a part of life as eating and breathing."

David nodded thoughtfully. "But Gia fwiend, does not act of hold hands what you call 'give-way?' "

"Not if that particular behavior is also a basic instinct," the expediter replied. "If it is normal for Silvers always to grab hands with anyone within reach, who then can tell who is secret-talking with whom?"

"And zeir anti-life cwusade?"

"A natural extention of what they are. What originated as a survival mechanism on one planet has exponented into a threat against every living thing in the cosmos. As far as the Silver People are concerned, all other life is threatening and must therefore be eliminated. From backyard, from planet, even from the universe itself, it's as simple as that."

As she spoke, Gia also knew she was rationalizing. The hardest decision of her life had been the order to vaporize the Silvers' asteroid-ship. Now the asteroid, its thousands of needle-ships and the tens of thousands of intelligent beings it was bearing toward what they considered was their holy destiny—all that was gone. Also eliminated—at least from the forseeable future—was the chance to correct a great natural tragedy. In their loyalty and obvious love for each other, Gia had seen qualities in Ayree and Enrahin worth saving. And then she had been forced to destroy them. In some ways, God, you have a lousy sense of humor.

"We haven't burned all of our boats, you know."

Startled, Gia ejected out of her depression. "What are you talking about?"

Kurber looked uncomfortable. "We'll find them. If they are to be found, that is."

"Zis one agwee," David said. Unlike Kurber, who had misinterpreted Gia's malaise, the Phuili's deep empathetic sense had enabled him to know and understand his human friend's intensity of feeling. Nevertheless he followed Kurber's lead as he pointed out, "If ozer asterwoids, zey pwobably on course for ozer suns which near. Also because pwimitive dwives pwobably fail as zis one, zen easy to know appwoximate place which be."

It was a correct and necessary interpretation which Gia had already determined would be in her report when she returned before Giesse Frobert and his committee. One fact was certain, however. Gia Mayland would quit Expediters and even Earth itself rather than be involved—even remotely—with the killing she knew was to come. Only Major Gostorth, Mary, and the other shock troops from Groombra Four, would be happy with the outcome of this particular exercise.

David repeated. "As alweady say, not all lost."

"I think—" Gia began, then stopped. Though it had happened before, in other circumstances, the shared sense of knowing which passed briefly between her and the Phuili left the expediter slightly breathless with its intensity. Whatever David was referring to had, she now knew, nothing at all to do with the possibility of finding other asteroid-ships.

She sought Kurber's hand and interlocked her fingers with his. "David. What is not lost?"

David told her.

And suddenly there was hope.

"How many?" Giesse Frobert asked.

"Six," Gia replied.

"How are they developing?"

"Very well, apparently."

"And when will they be born?"

"About thirteen months from now. According to the Phuili biologists, normal gestation is only half that, but the mortality rate is probably high. With the extended time, they expect their artificial uterus will deliver six healthy little Silvers."

"What about the mother?"

Gia looked down. But not before the Chairman detected a suspicion of moisture in her dark eyes. "Ayree was brain-dead. They kept her body functioning only until the embryos could be safely transplanted."

"How long a time was that?"

"Several weeks. She and her mate were then given a ceremonial space burial. I insisted on it."

"So I heard," Frobert said dryly. The Chairman paused a moment, his broad face impassive. "I understand Expediter Kurber returned with you."

"Yes sir." Unexpectedly, the woman blushed. "We are considering a . . . ah . . . cohabitation contract."

Frobert turned to the man at his side. "Peter, do you know about this?"

The director of Expediters grinned. "I am encouraging it."

And he's behaving like the cat who caught the canary, the old man grumbled to himself. He cleared his throat. "Expediter Mayland. Director Digonness. I do not like being maneuvered into situations over which I have no control. However, in these somewhat exceptional circumstances, and cognizant of Expediter Mayland's stated intent to resign should I do otherwise, I accept the director's recommendation that Expediters Mayland and Kurber be appointed to Project Alchemy. I trust that is satisfactory?"

"Eminently so," Peter Digonness declared gravely.

Gia merely bowed her head; as much to conceal her swelling emotions as to indicate acquiescence. She wondered how Jase would react when she told him. Bless him, she thought. He too will probably turn away, especially being a male. The poor dears are not supposed to display such feelings.

"Alchemy?" the Chairman was asking. "I do not understand the relevance."

Digonness said seriously, "I think, sir. you should ask Expediter Mayland about that one. Like so many other things, it was her idea."

Gia managed a weak smile. "Alchemy. The transmutation of base metals into gold." Abruptly her eyes flashed and she added fiercely, "Or in our case, the transmutation of an intelligent species!"

For long seconds, Giesse Frobert, Chairman of the World Union Council and therefore master of mankind's highest political office, studied the flushed expediter. With a grunt of effort, he then ponderously heaved his bulk out of the chair and walked to the door. Just before he went out, he turned.

"Alchemy, you say?" He chuckled. "My dear, if you pull this off, and if I am still around when you do—" The chuckle became a rumbling laugh. "My god, I will recommend you for Sainthood!"

How long before Earth and Phuili again needed the services of the psychopaths of Groombra Four, was still only an informed guess. Thousands, tens of thousands, or perhaps even millions of the deadly Silver People were out there between the stars, dreaming away the light years until they could waken to begin their savage crusade. But now there seemed at least a reasonable possibility they could be located and destroyed before Day One of Armageddon. For most of those who knew, even for those among them who were sickened by the necessity of having to accept genocide as a viable solution, Project Alchemy seemed at best a wishful fantasy.

But Project Alchemy was not a fantasy.

On a small previously uninhabited world beyond the Hub, guarded by a screen of warships whose commander had been instructed to destroy without question not only any unauthorized vessel which came within ten diameters of the planet, but also anything which came up from the planet, six lively youngsters were being educated, studied, and above all, loved.

Perhaps the instructions in their genes would ultimately overwhelm what was being learned within their furry skulls. Those of two races who were their guardians and teachers had, of course, dedicated their lives to making it otherwise. But it was a delicate edge they all trod; balanced between the time-consuming work with the youngsters on the one hand, and the near certainty on the other that the warriors of Groombra Four could be performing their grisly work before Alchemy had a chance.

It was, in a sense, a race. And the prize was much more than the continued existence of an intelligent species. It was also a race for the soul of a civilization.

Careful not to damage its complex circuitry, Gia gingerly wriggled her hand into the glove. Then she took the hand of the graceful child at her side. Wide eyed and radiating innocence, Emma looked at the expediter trustingly. But Gia was wary. The children were born actors and could convince the most profound skeptic that black was white. So this, the first test of secret-talk between Silver and human, was infinitely more than a mere indication of the child's sincerity. Within the next few moments, ten years of work would either be triumphantly verified or shattered for ever.

"Do you love me?" Gia asked.

Emma answered promptly. "Of course I love you. You are mother."

Gia interfaced with the computer. Do you love me? she signaled via the glove to the natural sensors on the palm of the child's hand.

Emma was startled and tried to pull away. But the woman held firm. Do you love me? she repeated.

The child tugged again, tentatively. Gia relaxed her grip but did not let go. The child trembled and crept close. A silken arm encircled Gia's neck and a furry head pressed into the hollow between neck and shoulder. Then:

I love you, momma Gia.

All was well.

The ambassadors were ready.