Chrysalis

Science Fiction

Published by Awe-Struck E-Books, Inc.

Copyright ©2002

ISBN: 1-58749-362-4

Chrysalis

The mills of the Gods grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceedingly small.

-- Unknown

Chapter One

"Lieutenant Klarke?"

Lieutenant Gael Klarke's dark head shot up when the Council called her name. She got to her feet immediately. "Yes, ma'am?"

"It's good to see you again so soon. I trust you enjoyed your brief vacation?"

Gael maintained her standing posture before the twelve chairs on the dais. Eleven of them were empty. She faced the woman who'd spoken to her. "It was very restful. Thank you, ma'am."

"I'm sorry that we had to interrupt your rest," the grande dame of the Council continued, picking up a file set before her. She adjusted the strange eyewear that she favored on her sallow face. The round, lighted protrusions made her eyes look enormous.

Lanier had always been a personal favorite of Gael's. She was the oldest seated Council member and her eccentricities were well known to everyone. Gael had been her personal security guard when she'd first arrived at the Endo complex. She'd learned to like, as well as respect, the older woman and her agile mind.

"If you'll take your seat, Lieutenant, we'll begin. Lights."

The lights went dim as Gael sat down. The three dimensional preview was set in place between her seat and the Council dais.

"How much do you know about the planet R-12, Lieutenant?"

Gael searched her memory quickly. "Very little, ma'am. It's unpopulated. Has an unknown past history. There's a synthetic fuel plant there, I believe."

"That's right. There has been for nearly a millennium. One of the first that was ever set in place even before ENCOM was established and created the rules that fit production of the ore into fuel. I'm sure you know those rules, Lieutenant?"

Gael nodded, eyes on the bright preview that as yet showed nothing. "Only uninhabited planets or artificially formed worlds can be used because of the threat the process poses to vegetation and life forms. Monitored constantly. Self containing and repairing."

"Exactly," L. Lanier agreed. "Now I want you to watch and listen to this and give me your opinion."

The picture that formed in the holographic preview was dim. There were basic outlines of the building formation and a few robotic transports. A swirl of dust, caused by an unseen form on the viewer was followed by a loud grinding sound. Then nothing. Only a steady hum that grew in depth and a sudden disturbing --

"Laughter?" Gael blurted out loud, turning to the Council dais again as the lights came on and the picture disappeared.

L. Lanier's eyes glowed. "Exactly. My thoughts exactly, Lieutenant. Someone has sabotaged the plant. Who do you think could be responsible?"

Gael thought about her briefing before the meeting. "The ever-lasting competition between Guardsman and Bonding for the rights to that fuel?"

"Possibly."

"It could also be political sabotage. Possibly even a prelude to a more aggressive attack against the government." Gael considered the bigger picture.

"We want you to find out, Lieutenant," L. Lanier told her firmly. "Of course, ECHO and Guardsman are sending in their own investigators. We want you to observe the repairs."

"Find out what happened and why." Another Council member joined the conversation. His voice was deep, resonant and slightly familiar. Curiously, he kept his face in the shadows.

Not an accepted member of the Council, Gael surmised. She was surprised he'd waited so long. Usually, they fought to see who would get in the next word. There was something they weren't telling her. The tension and secrecy was palpable. It was difficult to get a true feeling for the situation since they obviously didn't want her to know anything more. "Is there an action you want me to take?"

"Just observe the planet. Tell us what you find. And, Lieutenant?" L.Lanier was specific. "You are to report back directly to me via my private channel. Understood? There will be no other communication."

"Understood, Council." Gael acknowledged Lanier's rank with a salute. Menor had been right. There was something big happening here. And they meant to put her in the middle of it.

It was only an hour after receiving her assignments that her travel papers were ready. It usually took three days. It was only a few minutes later that Gael stormed into her coordinator's office and demanded an immediate change in the curriculum.

"I can't, won't, work with this man or whatever he is," she told Menor shortly, no preliminary niceties. "We all know what happened last year when they found that leak on Padda. If he goes, then I'm not."

Menor sat, terrified, in his high backed chair, worrying a paper into threads. He'd been Gael's coordinator for a year and though he loved her silently and devotedly, he never quite got used to her rampages. "I want to help, Gael. Really. But it's out of my hands. This order is coming directly as an ENDO and ECHO joint project. You know how rarely that happens. They want -- "

"I don't care what they want," Gael raged. "I won't watch my career torn apart by something that renegade does. He never works within the prescribed framework. Last year was just the tip of his anti-authority complex. I won't -- "

"You'll lose your rank," Menor whispered tentatively.

"I...excuse me?" She stopped in mid-tirade to stare at him over the wide, perfectly organized desk. "Would you mind explaining that?"

He cleared his throat and dared a glance up at her. "You will lose your rank. Possibly face a Council trial and total expulsion."

She searched his worried face, pinning him with her merciless gaze. "You're serious." She started to pace the length of the room. "They'd do it, wouldn't they? Why me, Menor? Couldn't they find someone else to do this?"

He stood and ventured around to the front of the desk, starting to put his hand on her arm then retreating, linking his long fingers together. "Gael, technically, this is an ENDO project so you will be in charge. Last year on Padda, that was an ECHO job that they won the contract on, so Kalatri was in charge. True, no one expected him to do what he did, I mean, who could have foreseen -- "

"So there's no way out?" She looked across at him, her brown eyes hard.

He swallowed. "Not...not unless you want out permanently. You know if it were up to me, I wouldn't...I mean that you wouldn't -- "

"I understand, Menor. I'm not blaming you." She squared her shoulders beneath the ENDO red uniform. "But please be sure that Lanier knows that when I get back, I'm taking a year off. And that if I have to take that renegade apart to get the job done, I will."

Menor breathed, daring to relax for an instant when she suddenly turned back from the door. His pulse rate jumped and he had the uncommon urge to throw himself at her feet.

"You know what we call him, don't you?"

His face and mind went blank.

"Wildcat. We have a picture of him on the practice field. I always score through the eyes."

Menor tried to swallow, tried to find something glib to say. The door swished closed behind her and he looked up to find himself sitting on the floor.

All right, you've been handed a bomb that's probably going to explode before you can get away from it, Gael told herself, taking the small cruiser out of space dock a little faster than was necessary. The pointed comment from the control officer brought her back to her situation.

She was angry. No, dammit, she was furious! Twenty years of her life was wrapped up in ENDO. When they'd asked her what she'd considered doing with her life when she'd first come to ENCOM, there had only been one answer, ENDO. She wanted to be an ENDO officer.

As soon as she'd been able, she'd entered the academy. She was the youngest cadet ever accepted. She fought hard for her place in the organization. She mastered weapons, schoolwork, and her own young body that was constantly at war with her brain in those days. She'd been at the head of her graduating class and the youngest officer decorated for bravery and honor at her first mission. ENDO was her life and her family. There was nothing else as far as she was concerned.

"So let's start over," she said out loud, putting the light cruiser into warp at the outer perimeter of Selim-3's moon where the ENDO base headquarters were located. "You aren't furious with ENDO or even Lanier. You want to take Wildcat apart. He's the problem. You have to be the solution."

The biggest problem was that she couldn't stand telepaths. It was a personal failing. One she shared with most of the ENDO officers. She'd been lucky in her career and only had to work with a few. It wasn't that she was prejudiced exactly, she reasoned, calling up information from the computer on Kalatri Astri. They made her nervous. She was more comfortable with a loaded weapon at her head than with a telepath standing anywhere in the room.

ENDO didn't accept telepaths into their ranks but their counterparts, ECHO, did. They actually preferred them. She shuddered.

A face of stunning physical beauty came up on her viewer. He was startlingly attractive, she assessed, totally unmoved. She stared at his pure profile. Of course, all Rians were good to look at and all telepathic to one degree or another. This particular Rian, with his long, flowing mane of tawny hair and those clear azure eyes, was one of the strongest. No one had realized how strong until last year on Padda.

A deadly gas leak had erupted and a friend of hers, Hank Seus, had joined Wildcat, Kalatri Astri's nickname in the ENDO ranks, at the site. There was very little time for evacuation. The gas was deadly to both the people and the planet's environment.

Hank had taken one look at the situation and had moved to cordon off the area that would be affected first, trying to keep the damage to a minimum. There had already been some loss of life on the planet. His plan would have accepted a few more casualties while insuring that minimum damage was done to the ECO system.

Hank had told her afterwards how Wildcat had just looked at him. He didn't argue. He just looked at him like he wasn't there at all. That's when it happened.

Without a word, the telepath took control of the situation. Not bothering with established guidelines for evacuation, he telepathically commanded scores of inhabitants to leave the area, creating a panic when they all awakened, as if from a dream, to find themselves already on transports.

Then he'd used a mindshield to cap the leak until it could be sealed adhesively. All of this had been accomplished while he held Hank Seus and his team immobile at the site against their will.

When they realized what had happened, Hank was furious and tried to attack Wildcat. He was summarily sent with the other evacuees to the transports, fighting the telepath's control but losing ground quickly. Finally, he had ended up at the other side of the planet.

There had been talk of sanctions against ECHO. ENDO had demanded an apology from Wildcat. In the end, it all came down to the project. Few lives were lost, the ECO system had been secured and only Hank Seus' pride had been truly injured. ENDO had gone on to bid on other projects against ECHO and nothing else had been said.

But no one at ENCOM had forgotten and the incident added fuel to the already uneasy relations between the two groups.

The Alliance encouraged the rivalry between ENDO and ECHO. It kept prices low on their services and some had even hinted that the Central Alliance was afraid of either group gaining too much power. Together, so the theory went, ECHO and ENDO could overthrow the government.

The incident on Padda was evidence enough to Gael that the uniting theory was useless power trash. ENDO was started to aggressively defend against all environmental threats, putting the problems of the inhabitants after the safety of the planet's ECO system. They maintained ENCOM at Selim-3's moon with weapons and trained their agents in a militaristic fashion.

ECHO was inhabitant friendly, always looking for the peaceful solution, working with the people and the planet to find a safe way to end the threat. They were mostly telepaths. They maintained Miccah Station at the far end of the quadrant. It was an artificial satellite that was used for research and study. They'd signed peace treaties separate from the government with three other systems.

It was talk and action, Gael thought, as she pulled her cruiser out of warp just before reaching Miccah Station. That was the basic difference between the two groups.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Klarke. We hope your journey was pleasant."

Gael quickly shut down the ECHO service file, storing it for future study and picked up the image of the smiling ECHO station communicator. "Yes, thanks." As always, she disliked the ECHO effusiveness.

"You'll be here to pick up Kalatri Astri for the R-12 mission," the rosy-cheeked young woman continued with a smile and a nod of her pretty head.

"I thought that was a coded mission?" Gael searched for some sort of rank or insignia on the bright blue uniform on her screen.

"It is indeed, Lieutenant," the woman agreed, not a smile out of countenance. "I am Communications Manager Joy Frem. Your progress has been monitored and I am speaking to you on a closed channel."

"I see," Gael responded, "and Wild -- I mean Astri? Is he ready to come aboard?"

"We have not been able to locate him as of this time, Lieutenant. However, we are certain he will be found shortly. If you would like to avail yourself of our hospitality while we look for him, we would be glad to have you."

"No, thanks." Gael shuddered at the thought of all that understanding and help surrounding her and opted for a nap. "Just give me a call when you've found him."

She cut the girl short while she was assuring her that they would certainly let her know when Astri was located. Gael guided the cruiser into an outside berth at the shining station and put her communications on standby, lying back in her seat.

The night before had been a long, sleepless one with too much anger and too little action. The combination had resulted in too many weird dreams. Now that she was about to meet the problem head on, she could relax. He was only a Rian. A telepath, true, but she'd dealt with them before and she'd deal with Wildcat.

Chapter Two

Gael awoke dry mouthed and not sure where she was after a particularly nasty dream. She was on the beach at Del Sol again, her hastily evacuated vacation spot. The sun was hot and she was watching good-looking men saunter by when a face of unreal beauty formed before her.

Kalatri Astri.

He was tall and moved with an elegant grace. His ECHO blue uniform changed into a miniscule blue swimsuit as he approached. He looked down at his change of garment. "You have a very active imagination, Lieutenant Klarke. And your mind works in a way I find most attractive."

The sunlight was golden around his head and the breeze blew his hair around his face. She could see the light shining in the intense blue of his eyes as he bent his head down to hers. His mouth was just a fraction away...

Gael almost fell out of her seat getting to her feet. The dream left her irritable and wondering how long it was going to take to find her nemesis. She sat back down, punched in her COM number and waited for Joy Frem, the smiling cherub, to appear.

"Did you enjoy your rest, Lieutenant?" Kalatri Astri's face appeared on the screen.

After her dream, Gael felt uneasy and unready to face him. She had a face she used, the visage terrible, one cadet had called it when she had drilled him for four hours on correct procedure. She turned the visage on Kalatri who looked satisfactorily appalled by it. "What the hell are you doing down there? You knew when I'd be here and you know how important this mission is."

"I assure you, Lieutenant, that I know of both these things. I relieved Joy at the console to speak with you privately."

"So speak," Gael added, yawning despite herself.

He smiled quickly. "Your countenance is not quite intimidating enough yet for your words to have much bite. I am tougher than I appear, Lieutenant. I won't be bullied by ENDO or you."

Gael pushed back her instant anger. "All right. What do you want from me?"

"A great deal. But you aren't prepared as yet to accept all that I can give in return."

"I won't ask again," she replied in a voice of deadly quiet. "Stop playing games with me, Wi-Astri. I won't be danced around by pretty ECHO words either."

"Ah, my pet name. Wildcat, isn't it?"

Gael had the grace to look ashamed. She was better trained than this man, had more experience. She'd let her anger get the better of her and made herself look like a fool. "My apologies, Kalatri Astri. If we might start again? We have orders to rendezvous with Guardsman security by this time tomorrow at Land's End. Are you ready to proceed?"

"You may call me whatever you wish, Lieutenant Klarke." He smiled at her. "As for the meeting, I have taken the liberty of communicating my desire to meet with Guardsman the day after tomorrow. There is something that I must attend to here at the station before I can join you."

"You have taken the liberty --?" Gael was speechless. Only an ECHO agent would find something as important as a pre-appointed meeting too difficult to schedule.

Swallowing her anger and the words she'd learned in the alleys of Farga as a child, she faced him. "And what am I supposed to do until you're ready to leave tomorrow? This cruiser wasn't designed for comfort."

"I'd suggest that you enjoy our hospitality here at Miccah, Lieutenant. I'm sure you can find adequate comfort here as well as a good meal and something to keep yourself occupied. I'll be finished here in plenty of time to make our new rendezvous with the Guardsman group."

"How thoughtful of you," she snickered. "But I'd rather wait in open space. Without a ship." She switched off the screen, refusing to allow further communication with the station. She fumed; wanting to leave him there and go on to R-12, but a short conversation with Menor took away that option.

"Relax," Menor told her. "Go down to the station for the night."

She cut him off, too. She paced the length of the cruiser several times, angry despite her best intentions. She called them all names that would have put a blush on the hardest ENDO officer's cheeks. But in the end, boredom won out over pride.

Asking the Station Manager for permission nearly choked her. The response was courteous and welcoming. Still, she ground her teeth as she slipped the cruiser into space dock within the station.

Gael straightened her uniform. She checked her hair and made sure there was no sleep in her eyes as the shuttle elevator swept her from the cruiser to the main entry. She knew the drill, having spent time in the diplomatic corps more than once as a cadet.

A smiling, informative ECHO officer would meet her. She'd be escorted to her quarters, then to dinner in the main hall, then perhaps a quick tour of the station. She had to admit that she was impressed by their sense of order at Miccah. It hadn't taken anyone higher than the station manager to approve her request for a layover. At ENDO, it would have taken a superior officer. Here, it seemed, power shifted differently.

She stepped out of the elevator, adjusting quickly to the dim light in the main reception area. There were plants of all species from many different worlds growing wildly along the textured sand gray colored walls. There was a mauve cast to the east wall that shifted into tangerine then rose. A cascading fall of translucent particles showered through the colors giving the huge entry an exotic feel.

"Kalamir, Sadah." Kalatri Astri walked slowly from beneath the colored shower of lights. He bowed low, his hands touching his forehead in the traditional Rian salute.

Gael, versed in many forms of greeting, returned his salutation. "Kalamir, Sadoh."

"You have been to Ria?" he queried pleasantly, surprised by her move.

"Briefly. Your home world is very beautiful. You must miss it a great deal." Gael forced herself to keep her eyes on his face, knowing that the eyes to Rians were everything.

"Yes," he agreed, gesturing with his hand that they should proceed down the long hall. "And you?"

"Miss my home world?" She grimaced. "I hardly think so."

"So ENCOM is your home?"

"You could say that."

"Have you ever visited Miccah before?"

"Yes." She smiled briefly, glancing at the artwork illuminated in blue lighting, admiring the tiny trees with shiny blue-black leaves that had been etched into the wall. "It's very-uh...restful."

Kalatri laughed and stopped his wide stride abruptly. "In other words, boring?"

Gael stopped just ahead of him, turning back to look at his face in the blue light. His laughter was like a warm breeze on her skin, making her shiver. It made her uneasy to look at him. His beauty was bordering on the surreal. Rian charm came too easily, too sweetly.

The lights and the soft music gently wafting down the corridor reminded her of the Recreation Dens on Telfa Base, full of sex and drugs. It reminded her of who he was and why she was there. "You might as well know going into it. I don't like telepaths. I don't like working with an ECHO partner. And I don't like you personally. I'm here because I have to be. That's all."

He searched her face quizzically then began to walk again. "I was wondering."

Gael had no immediate choice but to follow. "Wondering?"

"Wondering what had happened to the female with the terrible face on the communication screen. I see I've found her."

Gael ground her teeth. Could she control her feelings in this operation long enough to get the job done? She gestured to the blue of his uniform and the red of her own. "Look, we're very different. Not just ENDO and ECHO. It's more a discipline. We obey orders at ENDO and we work as a team."

"You're referring to the incident on Padda last year?" His voice was smooth and emotionless, like a sheet of clear water.

Gael nodded, skipping once to keep up with his longer strides. She was tall but she suddenly understood her shorter friends running to keep up with her. "I'm not the sort of person that can pretend that it didn't happen. I think it might be better for everything to be out in the open between us."

"I believe I understand your concern, Lieutenant." He stopped abruptly, Gael almost falling into him. Blue eyes, as cold and clear as sapphires, bored into her startled brown gaze. "You're afraid that I'll try to take over this mission. Your mission. Is that correct?"

She held herself straight and pressed an imaginary crease from her perfect uniform and smiled, bowing her head slightly. "I'm not afraid of you taking over the mission, Sadoh. I'm worried that I might lose my rank for what I'll do to you if you try."

There was a moment of absolute silence when even the music seemed to cease its pleasant chatter.

Kalatri felt the remote and almost unrecognizable stirrings of anger inside himself. Those brown eyes were so assured, the face so confident. The urge to rip away that mask of utter smugness nearly overwhelmed him.

Instead, he found a not unpleasant ripple of emotion run through him. There was something here, something about this woman that intrigued him. He bowed his own head to her, his hair sliding forward to conceal the expression in his eyes that he wouldn't have been able to hide at that time. An expression it was far better for her not to see. "I'm here to assist you, Sadah. Perhaps you can teach me about team work?"

Gael didn't believe Astri's humble acquiescence for an instant but the training she'd grown up with pushed aside their differences for the time being. There was no need to be belligerent. He knew how she felt and that was for the best. Maybe he'd stay out of her way. But if she was going to show him ENDO teamwork, there was no time like the present. "I appreciate your compliance, Wi-Astri." Damn.

His look was more significant than a word could have been. An elegant pale eyebrow rose slightly. His mouth quirked at one corner.

"I'd bite my tongue off if it would help," she offered, shaking her head.

"What does it mean...wildcat?"

"A loner. Someone who has to do things their own way. Anti-authority." She shrugged. "Kalatri Astri."

There was a definite gleam lurking in his eyes. "Not so bad. I've been called far worse."

Gael would have put a year's wages on that but refrained from saying so out loud. You see, she chided herself. You can do it.

They walked silently down several more corridors, each a varying shade of blue, green or violet. As they passed other ECHO agents, Kalatri introduced her. They seemed unable to tear their eyes from her bright red uniform but they chattered happily with them. Most were young. Some were just children.

"Doesn't ECHO have a separate children's wing?" she asked at last, unnerved by the attention.

"No. We don't separate our young. We all learn together." He linked his long fingers together pulling them to show the joining. "It makes us stronger."

Gael remembered the cadet's wing at ENDO. The children were restricted to the lower levels until they had reached an age of practiced order and discipline. They would never have thought to stop a senior ENDO agent in the halls and ask impatiently for an introduction to a visitor.

"Your quarters." Kalatri stopped at a small room, gaining admittance with a touch of a button. He walked into the pristine white room and entered the code on the master circuit that would bring her food, clothing, etc. "Anything you require."

"Thanks." She followed behind him. "Ours is very similar."

"I'll be ready to leave the station in the morning. If there is anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable, please inform me."

"What is it that couldn't wait until you got back from the mission?" She faced him inquisitively, not sure if he would answer.

"You have the right to ask," he determined. "When a child is born to Rian parents, he must be joined, guided by a third. We call this person Khmar. It must be done on the third day of life. No earlier. No later."

"And you are a child's Khmar?" She briefly recalled hearing the term.

He nodded. "It's a bond as strong as blood and necessary to the child's development."

"As a telepath?"

"Indeed."

"I understand." She took a deep breath and looked up into his face. "Then I'll meet you tomorrow."

"Yes. Kalamir, Sadah."

"Kalamir, Sadoh."

Chapter Three

Gael spent the evening on the station with a group of young Echo agents. They were bright, interested in ENDO and in Gael herself. They were almost too eager with their questions and demand for knowledge. She was exhausted after her dinner and tour of the station.

Miccah was much larger than ENCOM with its gardens and labs. Though their discipline was much less stringent, Gael could feel their pride and loyalty to their group. It was in every word and along every corridor as they pointed to achievements and future plans. There was a softer, more relaxed quality to ECHO that she found distressing and interesting at once.

The children with their bright eyes and quick minds had impressed her the most. She couldn't help but wonder, as she undressed for bed, if it wouldn't be better for ENDO to have their young ones in the main service with the older agents. It would certainly keep them alert. She smiled, recalling the youngest ECHO trainee's impulsiveness. Their questions had been to the point, their insights challenging.

She knew even as she thought it through that ENDO doctrine would never allow for the freedom these youngsters enjoyed. Discipline was important, vital, to the code that was rigidly enforced. She reminded herself that it was that discipline that had saved her life. For some, the ENDO way of life was the best. She closed her eyes and put her own childhood firmly behind her, along with any small questions she might have about her chosen calling.

It was well into the predetermined night cycle of Miccah Station that Gael awakened. She gasped and sat straight up in bed. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and a tingling sensation surged through her body. A sound, growing steadily stronger, a pulsating hum had reached inside of her and captured her awareness. It grew in depth even as she lay back in the bedport, determining that it was part of a dream.

She had been dreaming. She was standing in that museum exhibit she'd seen last month, staring at those info disk entries they'd found on R-12. It was as though she'd been drawn into those threads of captured life. Then she was in the cruiser, heading towards the ore planet. The small ship throbbed around her, out of control, spinning towards the planet.

Her hand touched the side of the bedport and her hazy mind cleared instantly. She was on Miccah Station in a dark room perfectly humidified, heated, and circulated. The bedside table held the hand control for lights, monitor, etc. but there was a sound. A throbbing that grew steadier, deeper. She started to press the monitor to ask the manager on duty if something was wrong then thought better of it. Instead of the COM, she pulled on her complimentary blue-gray robe and put her feet on the warm, smooth floor. The sound drew her from her compartment. She wasn't thinking about where she was going. She looked out of her room but she was alone. The corridor was empty. She could sense the silence around her in the darkened hall and felt herself walking but it was dreamlike, unreal. There was a sensation like the beating of wings against her mind that led her forward.

Gael followed the sound, like music playing, calling to her. She reached an open doorway crowded with other station residents in their nightwear. They spoke for once in quiet whispers among themselves, glancing at her, acknowledging her presence. She wanted to ask what was going on and then return to her own quarters but she couldn't find her voice.

The sound was coming from the compartment. Not stopping to notice that she couldn't actually hear anything, Gael eased through the loosely packed group. The room was a meeting area of some type, larger then the normal space on the station. It was darker than the corridor had been except for a slight illumination that cast even deeper shadows on the faces of the inhabitants.

In the center, a tall man in a flowing yellow robe held a child, his large hands supporting the baby away from his body. Another young man and woman, equally tall and garbed in white, stood nearby. Their eyes were closed, their lips moving in soundless chants. This was the song that had awakened her. It was emanating from this group. Rians. Kalatri Astri held the baby, his Khmar, giving him or her their birthright.

Gael felt something tighten inside of her. The sound hardened and angered her, leaving her cold and alone in the group of people. She shouldn't have been there. This ceremony shouldn't have called to her. She'd been tested more than once and had no psi leanings. Had Wildcat dared to invade her mind with his thoughts? The idea was repulsive to her. It was a violation she wouldn't accept.

She didn't realize that she was staring directly into Kalatri's face until his eyes opened abruptly and the brilliant blue of his gaze burned into her own. She made no effort to hide the anger that had to be clearly written there. After a moment that felt like an eon to her, she turned away and moved back through the suddenly quiet crowd.

"Behold!" She heard his voice as she found the corridor. "He who sees without eyes and hears without ears. Though we are far from our world, still we are as one."

Gael looked back through the group surrounding him. Everyone had broken free of the spell cast by the Rian ceremony and surged towards the parents as Kalatri returned the baby to them. The room was full of voices and faces.

Kalatri's vision was narrowed to one. He watched as Gael turned and walked silently away.

***

In the morning, Kalatri went quickly to Gael's chamber only to find that she was already gone. He sighed and shut his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts together and trying to find an inner vision that would hold him through the near future.

His life at ECHO was simple and pleasant. He enjoyed his research and the interaction of others with like minds and goals. There was nothing much that taxed him. Except for the occasional foray into hostile ENDO environments.

At best, he found ENDO agents to be overbearing and dull witted. He could only assume that years of training with their weapons and their hard bodies had created a stagnation of their minds and their creative processes. At worst, ENDO was brutal, not caring to talk when firing a weapon would do as well. Destroying instead of understanding. He'd been called down more than once for his ENDO- ECHO partnerships; partnerships he inevitably controlled even if it meant some mild discomfort for his fellow ENDO agent.

Lieutenant Gael Klarke was a typical ENDO officer. She was skilled more surely in the use of the weapons he abhorred than in tact or diplomacy. She was likely to charge in with her weapon screaming, no matter how delicate the moment.

He didn't want to control her though he had controlled others before when the need arose. He had helped an occasional ENDO officer to do or say what he wanted in critical situations. Or simply kept them quiet and out of the way while he handled the problem. His conscience was clear in those affairs. If he could silence an uncouth agent to keep from ruining years of work to build trust between worlds and their people, Kalatri would do what was necessary.

Gael was going to be different. After meeting her, he had gone to the ECHO leaders to have his status changed. It would be better, for their reputation, to have someone else on the planet with this particular ENDO officer. From the moment he'd sensed her presence at the station, even while she was still on the cruiser, he'd known that something was different about her. He needed time to explore what that difference was without her disturbing influence.

He hadn't been able to explain the feelings she invoked in him even to his superior, Juroh, a fellow Rian. The closest thing he'd ever experienced was a mind link with a member of his own family. It made him feel slightly askew, powerless. Not an emotional response he wanted to experience with an ENDO officer in a possibly vital mission.

Certainly not a response he could explain to leaders who were adamant about his part in the project. They'd called on many favors to include ECHO in the investigation of the ore operation. Just why, they refused to say. Kalatri wouldn't presume to try to fathom it from them without their consent, especially since a Rian was on the panel.

"Where is Lieutenant Klarke?" he finally asked the senior COM officer after leaving Gael's room.

"Lieutenant Klarke is currently within her vehicle at location D-23. She has requested permission to withdraw from Miccah Station at 16:51 today."

Kalatri looked at the station chronometer near the wall COM and felt an irrational irritation with the woman again. She'd planned on leaving him there, no doubt. He closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing. He kept his anger with her at bay just long enough...there. That would give her something to do. And give him the time he needed to say his goodbyes and get a few things together.

At 16:50, Gael started the cruiser's engines, refusing to imagine what sort of reprimand she would receive for leaving Astri there at the station. It wasn't like her to do anything that might reflect badly on her commission but this was going to be the exception to that rule.

Last night had been too powerful. Anything remotely close to telepaths made her edgy. Confronting a Rian harmony ceremony in her nightclothes had been too far over the comfort edge for her. The less time she spent with Rians, Astri in particular, the better.

At 16:51, the engine suddenly died. There was no drain on the power converters. No reason for it at all. Without warning from the computer, everything went dead. Cursing fluently and colorfully in at least three different languages, Gael slid under the control panel and gained access to the interface system. The delicate crystal coupling that joined the computer to the ship's functions had dissolved, falling into powder at the touch of her hand.

She blinked behind her protective lenses. It wasn't possible. She'd outfitted the little cruiser herself before leaving ENCOM. That coupling should have been good for this trip and several thousand more like it. She heard the warning of the computer and the soft swish of the main hatch. Soft booted feet leading to ECHO blue came to stand near her. She hit her head with a thud, groaning out loud. Her plan hadn't worked.

"Maybe this will help?" His voice was unmistakable. The Rian accent was strongly wrapped around the accepted language of the Alliance. In his hand was another coupling that matched the one that had been destroyed. He crouched down close to the floor where she sat.

She stared at the coupling and his long, slender fingers a moment longer, sorting out all the impressions that ran rampant through her brain. Foremost was anger barely controlled by her training and personal dignity. A grudging admiration crept, unwillingly, into her thoughts. It had been a clever thing to do. Something she might have done in a similar situation.

Roughly, she pushed herself out from under the panel, catching him and herself off guard. His face was barely a breath away from hers. Gael held her ground, not moving though she could make out the almost violet pupils in his eyes. "Stop it. Now. Or I swear you'll be eating Rissan dust before this is all over."

The blue of his eyes turned almost black with his anger at her casual threat. Rissan was a chemical used by a barbarian planet in the Streng sector to take away the inborn psi abilities of its minor classed people. No one considered its usage anything but an atrocity. It was an uncivilized act by an uncivilized world.

"If I'd wanted to influence your thinking, Lieutenant," he informed her in tones that would have frozen a lesser person, "I would've had you sitting in that chair over there waiting for me to get here. I wouldn't have needed to destroy the coupling."

He leaned his head even closer, the fine silk of his hair catching on her sleeve as he moved. "Perhaps you should ask yourself what it is you fear so greatly, Lieutenant Gael Klarke. My thoughts or your own."

The air between them crackled with electricity. Neither moved or breathed. The coupling trembled in Kalatri's fingers. The communication port was activated on the control panel. "Gael? This is Menor. Could you take just a minute and let me know what's going on? You're behind schedule."

Gael drew in a ragged breath, fighting for control, flinging herself back and away from Kalatri. She squared her shoulders beneath her uniform and took her seat at the panel. "I'm here, Menor. What do you want to know?"

"You look terrible, Gael," Menor observed nervously. "Is there a problem? If so, you should have informed me. Lanier is very concerned. She wants a status report...now."

"Permit me," Kalatri offered. "It was, after all, my petition that has caused the delay."

Gael wouldn't meet his eyes. She moved away from the panel without a word. She took the coupling from his unresisting fingers and resumed her position on the floor to replace the one that had gone bad. Gone bad, she marked hotly. He had destroyed the damned crystal to keep her from leaving!

"Ah, Kalatri Astri," Menor smiled. "As always, one jump ahead. Kalamir, Sadoh."

"Kalamir," Kalatri replied steadily, though his hands shook. "I must apologize for this delay, Sadoh. I needed to be here for an important ritual involving my brother's son."

"Please, call me Menor," the aid responded. "The Khmara?"

"Indeed, Menor. You are well versed in the ways of my people."

"Thank you," Menor preened while Gael smirked as she heard him. "Will there be any further delays now, Kalatri?"

"None at all," Kalatri answered positively. "We're preparing to leave Miccah Station now. There was an unfortunate mishap with a coupling but that will be repaired momentarily."

"Very good. Excellent," Menor praised. "We received word from the Guardsman people that they will rendezvous with your ship tomorrow, your time 6:41, at the repairs station just off of Land's End."

"We'll be there, Menor." Kalatri told him firmly. "Is that all?"

"If you would tell Gael that we're expecting quarter reports from her, please."

Kalatri heard a brief curse and a groaning noise from the floor. "Lieutenant Klarke has assented to your request, Menor. She'll call you on the next quarter. It was pleasant to speak with you."

"And you." Menor smiled, relieved. He had expected something of a barbarian from the gossip. "You aren't at all what I was expecting. Good journey, Sadoh."

The screen went blank and Kalatri sat back in the gray cushioned seat.

Chapter Four

"If you wouldn't mind," Gael growled from under the panel, "you could try and start the engine."

The engine leapt into life, humming around them like the dream Gael had awakened in the night before. "That's got it." She slid out from beneath the panel and pushed the base cover back into place. "I assume you must be ready to go?"

She glanced at the COM panel making sure all the patterns were in place. No trouble surges with the coupling. She wouldn't look at him or she was likely to do something violent.

Kalatri traced her profile with his eyes, wondering if she'd felt the small flare between them when she'd taken the coupling from him. Her hair was dark, very short and upswept from her neck. She pushed at the dark lock that slid down almost into her eyes with a quick, impatient movement of her thin hand. The nails were nonexistent, mechanic's calluses between scars on her clever fingers. The hands were those of a worker and a warrior. There was a faint scar that ran from her right cheek to her ear, a delicate, thread-like white tracing that she didn't try to conceal with her hair or movements. Had she lived with it all of her life? "Menor is a good man."

Gael took the seat next to him at the control panel and started the procedure for leaving the station dock. "He's a good friend."

"I understand." Kalatri smiled slightly, nodding.

"What does that mean?"

"He's deeply attached to you in a more than friendly way." When she arched a querying brow and a frown at him, he shrugged. "I'm merely observing the nuances in his voice and the movement of his eyes when he spoke to you."

"And so you baited me?"

"Baited?" he inquired. "Explain, please."

"Led me to answer a question that you wanted answered by devious means."

"An interesting term, Sadah. I'll remember it for the future."

Gael received clearance to leave the station and a polite send off from the station manager. To Kalatri, the young manager offered the traditional ECHO salute.

"Come back victorious or on your shield," Gael murmured.

Kalatri paused in his quick hand movements as he pulled his hair back into a long braid down the center of his back. "Pardon?"

"An old Earth salute. It means win or die."

"I hardly think the ECHO salute can be even loosely translated as that," he observed quietly. "Perhaps your ENDO code would be more appropriate."

"Perhaps we need a truce, Sadoh." Gael took the little cruiser smoothly out of the station's confines and into the nearest traffic lane headed for deep space.

"Indeed." He arched one pale brow and looked at her in surprise. "What a civilized concept, Lieutenant Klarke."

"I don't understand your abilities, Kat. And I don't want to. But there must be some middle ground that we can share. I believe this mission is more important than my superiors have told me and I'm not sure we can get the job done in our present state."

"Kat?"

She shrugged. "It's the best I can do without...you know."

He sighed. "I share your fears, Sadah. I addressed our leaders but was turned down for transfer to another assignment. It seems we must work together. But there is one thing that must be clearly understood."

The small craft was set into self-guidance after reaching the outer beltway of the station's travel system. Gael turned to face him. "I think it's best that we're honest with one another."

"I'm Rian and as such one of my principal abilities to serving ECHO lies in my communication abilities, both vocal and non-vocal. It's part of my duty to keep apprized of the situation that I encounter at all times. If this means that I must gather information from the minds around me, that is part of my abilities."

His eyes held hers surely as he spoke. His words were sincere. "I'll try to the best of my abilities not to invade your privacy, both for my sake and yours but if it is necessary, I'll communicate with you on whatever level I need. I'll assist you if you will assist me. We can be partners in this mission, but you must put your fear aside."

She searched his face. "I'm not afraid of you. Or your abilities. I've worked with telepaths before. This is no different."

It would be impossible to explain. Not yet. Not so soon or everything would be lost. "If you can trust me not to enter your mind unnecessarily, then I'll trust that you won't use your weapon against me. I am unarmed, Sadah."

Everything about the entire mission was slightly off center. There was too much not being said, too many secrets. Gael studied him intently then suddenly pushed aside her irritation with all of it. "That's all I'm asking. Just enough time together, without fighting, to resolve whatever mystery is behind all of this. If we can pool our knowledge, maybe that will give us some clue."

As a starting point, it was a fair one. Kalatri refrained from pointing out that the easiest and fastest way to accomplish this would be an opening between their minds. He knew she would find that idea abhorrent. Instead he nodded and told her exactly what the ECHO leaders had told him of the problem.

Gael listened carefully but the information was almost identical to her own, with one very important exception. "You're ECHO's foremost agent in dealing with new cultures that we aren't able to communicate with. My strongest work has been in resettlement. But Lanier agreed with my assessment of the Guardsman and Bonding feud, and hinted at a possible greater risk to government security."

"As did Juroh," he agreed. "Yet, there is the strongest adamancy that you and I should go on this mission. It would seem that even a junior staff could have gone to oversee repairs to this ore station and check for environmental disturbances."

"Not that there could be many. What's left of the environment of that planet? The ore operation has been there forever. I've been on ore mining outposts before. The damage to air and soil is incredible. There is no plant or animal life or the ore operation wouldn't be there."

"Perhaps we're reading too much into what is a typical situation. ECHO might simply have wanted me to be there to identify any subterfuge on the part of Guardsman."

"But you aren't the only telepath in ECHO," she reminded him. "Just the best."

He smiled at her quizzically. "And that's what has put you on edge against me, Sadah?"

Gael yawned and stood up from her chair. "I had a long, sleepless night last night." She put a hand to stop him as he started to speak. "No, I don't want to know why or how it happened. The cruiser will take care of itself. I'm going to lie down for a while. Make yourself at home. The converter is over there. No Fargan rum but it makes a mean cup of something hot. I can't always guarantee what."

"Of course. I believe I'll study our destination and the records of the ore operation. If I find anything, we can discuss it when you awaken."

All nice and organized. She smiled awkwardly before she made her way to the small storage compartment that doubled as a makeshift bed. Like we weren't just at one another's throats. Like we could really trust each other, Kalatri Wildcat Astri.

She sighed and closed her eyes. The sooner this was over the better. Gael had a bad feeling about the situation. She didn't know whether it was about Kat or the mission but it was wrong. All wrong. She knew she wouldn't really sleep well again until she was back at ENCOM.

Kalatri sat in the comfortable chair as time and space clicked by on the panel and the computer made the connection with the records he'd asked for in the ENDO files. But it wasn't records of the planet they were nearing or the ore operation he would be studying. The files were of Lt. Gael Klarke. Her face stared at him from the screen as her bio fed into the system. He knew without checking that he would find his own files already in the cruiser's log. She had studied him. As an opponent, no doubt.

He put one hand on the scanner to pass the information to the screen, then sat back with his feet up on the panel, a hot cup of something he didn't recognize in his other hand. The background he had suspected and dreaded quickly became apparent.

Gael Klarke was Endo through and through from a very young age. There was no room in her mind for anything but logic and military tactics. She could no doubt plan a thoroughly devastating attack on any environmental disaster that had grown out of control. She was a leader, a fighter. She had been given merit since she was twelve years old for being a crack shot on and off the field.

It was impossible. What was the clue he was missing? Even more to the point, how had ENDO missed it for twenty years?

Gael slept soundly for a few hours, then was plagued by uneasy dreams of butterflies and laughter. Naturally, her dreams were haunted by shades of Rian culture and by Kat, in particular. She found herself standing again just inside the doorway on Miccah Station, watching as the Rians performed their Khmara ritual. Kat held the baby aloft once more, welcoming it into Rian society. The baby suddenly jumped from his arms, his skull heaving and growing larger and more grotesque. Gael stood still, unable to move, horrified. Wings grew from the baby's back. Green fire flashed from its eyes. The crowd of ECHO agents began to scream and push each other to escape.

"That's enough!" Kat spoke quietly despite the rending screams that split the air around them.

Gael heard him clearly and looked across the room at him. The ECHO residents and the baby disappeared. Only the two of them were left in the room.

"If you're going to draw me into your dreams, Sadah, please try to temper your imagination."

"What are you saying? You forced your way into my dream. You waited until I couldn't defend myself then used your mind games on me."

Kat laughed, the sound not quite pleasant. "Look within yourself. You've bound me to your dreams since you arrived at Miccah. I haven't been a willing participant but your emotional field is draining to me. I can't fight you nor can I escape."

"You're helpless in my dreams?" She slowly drew her weapon from her belt.

"Not helpless, Sadah." He shook his head, seeing the movement. "But I'm afraid of your inborn ability that you refuse to acknowledge or control."

"And if I shoot you down now?" She leered, unable to stop herself.

"Then I would be dead, Gael Klarke. But you won't do that. It's time for you to wake up. Now."

Gael felt the force of his personality projected through the vivid blue of his eyes. It hit her as squarely as a drunken punch, catching her in the solar plexus so that she did wake up, gasping. She staggered to her feet, her head reeling. She felt strangely sick and weak. She pushed at the disposal switch just in time to save herself from being sick all over the cargo area.

Afterwards, she sat on the floor, trying to regulate her breathing, her head between her knees. It was several minutes before the feeling passed and she felt strong enough to get on her feet again. Several more minutes passed before she felt able to meet Kat's curious blue eyes. She smoothed her uniform with a trembling hand and tried to make sure her hair was away from her face. She'd had a nightmare. There was no reason to feel anything more from it. She was awake and whole. It was over.

Kat watched her walk carefully into the bridge area. She didn't quite sway but her steps were unsteady as she went directly to the processor and ordered hot djine. He smiled slowly, knowing the potent brew was even more bitter in its synthetic form.

Gael screwed up her face and forced herself to swallow a steaming mouthful, feeling the bite of the strong, restorative drink. When she'd been posted on Salim- 3 during the riots, she'd become accustomed to djine. It could keep anyone awake and alert though the price was frequently shattered nerves.

"You're feeling rested now?" Kat didn't look up at her as she took her place at the panel.

"Much better," she lied, gulping the revolting drink.

His eyes swept over her pale face guiltily. "I am sorry, Sadah. But there was no other way."

Gael felt the djine catch in her throat as she struggled to speak, instead spluttering furiously. "You? You did this to me? You were really there. You -- "

"ENDO cruiser. This is Guardsman ship 409. Since we have rendezvoused early before we reach Land's End, perhaps you might want to join us for the remainder of the trip? We can go over some documentation that we were not able to present to your groups before you left your home bases."

Gael, almost beyond coherent speech, with djine splashed all over her uniform, looked away as Kat took up the communication, saying that they would be delighted to join the Guardsman ship.

"Excellent, Officer Astri. If you will place your cruiser on standby, we'll tow you in and set you in the turbo lift. Bring what you need and we'll have quarters readied for you."

"Thank you, Sadoh Denby. I'm placing the cruiser on standby now."

Gael pinned Kat with her stare, not speaking. Her eyes were dark with fury. "I'm going to change my uniform."

"We must talk," he whispered to her after setting the cruiser to be towed by the larger ship. "This can't continue between us. We'll both lose our sanity. Being unable to complete this mission will be meaningless in comparison."

"I'm going to change my uniform. Then we'll board the Guardsman ship. Stay away from me, Kat. If you enter my mind again -- " She stood up and started to walk away, the time for words past as far as she was concerned.

"Gael -- "

She turned away from him and retreated to the cargo area to change her uniform. She had to find a way to gain control of the situation. She'd never encountered a problem like this one before but there had to be a way to fight Kat's control. He was trying to undermine ENDO's efforts on the mission just as he had done on Padda last year. Menor and L. Lanier were counting on her to be able to best this man. There had to be a way.

Chapter Five

Alan Denby was a Terran of indeterminate age. He grasped Kat's hand heartily then did the same to Gael. "I'm so glad we have this time to go over the operation before we get to the planet. There's a problem there and I think it's more than just machinery breakdown."

"What do you suspect?" Gael took over the conversation undaunted, moving up to walk beside Denby. Kat was left to walk behind them up the narrow brown corridor.

"I believe we're going to find Bonding behind all of this. You saw the original info disk?"

"I did. I believe the plant was shut down by sabotage. Do you have any proof that Bonding is behind it?"

"Who else?" Alan Denby's homely face was sincere. "You know what it's been like since they got the contract on that new ore refining plant on Planet 9."

"A contract, I might add, that is being contested by ECHO at this moment," Kat added. "The environmental data was rushed through processing before we saw the findings from either side."

"ENDO did the work there, didn't they?" Denby gave Gael a conspiratorial glance that any other time would have put her off. It did put her on guard.

She'd seen the work done on Planet 9 and tended to agree with ECHO's demand for time to recheck the planet for life forms. In this case, however, any support in her fight for control in the mission was welcome. If Denby thought they were collaborators that was a plus for her. "So you feel Bonding shut down this plant to draw some fire on Guardsman."

"I think when you see and hear this new info disk, you'll be convinced. Might be the best thing just to go ahead and issue some restraining order on Bonding until this whole thing can be brought up before the courts."

"We really don't have that sort of authority," Gael felt compelled to tell Denby. "But we'll do what we can if sabotage is evident."

Kat added, "But you understand that the proof must be incontrovertible that Bonding is responsible."

"Well, you judge that for yourself, Officer Astri." Alan Denby opened the door to a meeting room as the ship got under way again.

For the next quarter, Kat and Gael watched the most slanderous info disk information Gael thought she had ever had the misfortune to witness. It was, evidently, spliced footage of Bonding uniformed agents mentioning their names as they invaded a shadowy space that may or may not have been an ore processor. Then they proceeded to tell them that they were disabling it, point by point.

"Well? What about that for proof?" Denby looked directly at her and Gael felt herself lose hope.

How could she side with this obvious con man against anyone, even an ECHO officer? She could feel his eyes on her, urging her to proceed. Gael took the middle, refusing to look at Kat. "This info disk certainly should be reviewed carefully. I need to check in with my home base. Perhaps we should transmit the disk back to them at the same time?"

"What a great idea! You and I think a lot alike. Get the job done. That's what I'm here for." Denby congratulated himself heartily, his sharp eyes on Kat.

There was something between the two ENDO\ECHO officers that Denby felt certain could be exploited. There was always rivalry there, if nothing else. His intuition told him to push. "You check in and I'll arrange some food. We have a chef on board, you know. No trans food here."

"That's great," Gael returned his tone and smile. "I'm looking forward to it."

A ship's steward led Gael and Kat to their respective quarters, showing Gael how to work the COM device before he left her there. She sank down slowly on the bedport when he'd left, wondering how much worse it could get.

A knock on the door brought her to her feet. She opened it to find Kat there and nearly groaned, further defeated. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk with you before you send any transmission to ENCOM," he said sternly, pushing by her into the room.

"I'm not a fool, Kat. I'm not going to make any recommendations until we have something more than a tampered info disk to present." She glared at him, hoping he would leave. He sat down in a chair at the other side of the small room and she shrugged, closing the door. "Say what you have to then get out."

"You're the senior officer in this mission, Lt. Klarke. I have a right to be present at any and all communication," he quoted ENDO-ECHO guidelines.

"Is that all? You just want to be here when I check in?"

"You know that's not all. We both know there is more."

"All right. Let's get this straight." She stood against the wall, facing him. "I'm putting you into my dreams with some sort of latent psychic ability that I've been checked for and never found to possess. This is draining you psychically and creating problems between us."

"That is a half truth," he amended. "You do have an undeveloped psi ability that for whatever reason has chosen to manifest itself with me. Perhaps your years of discipline have enabled you to disguise this ability or control it. But your energies are too close to my own and your continued meshing is dangerous to us both. We have to disengage or control your energies until they can be properly trained and channeled."

"And I'll bet there's a Rian ritual ceremony for just such a problem."

"There is no ceremony," he responded coldly, hating the random anger that was welling inside of him. It had been an amusing experience when it had first occurred but it was starting to wear on him. Emotional control was the first thing every telepath learned. When a thought could kill, Rian teachings concluded, all thoughts must be controlled. Emotions were the first and the most difficult.

When Gael's energies had meshed with his, her emotions had sent his into overtime. Fighting off his anger was proving to be more effort than he'd anticipated. He should have taken his Rian brother Juroh aside to explain the dangers before he left the station.

There is the option of me shutting down your mind until a point in the future when we can sort the whole thing out, he wanted to say to her. But he wasn't certain it could be done, at least not by him. She had joined their energy fields before he'd realized what was going on, certainly before he could stop her.

After all, she shouldn't have been a threat. Everyone knew that ENDO agents were carefully screened for any telepathic abilities. If he shut her down, there was every possibility that he would go down with her. That would scrap the mission and possibly destroy both their careers. "If you'd be a little less certain that this thing is not happening, Sadah, we could proceed from there. I could show you some basic techniques for controlling your energies."

She glared at him. "This is a simple mission, or at least it should be. Let's just see if we can't get through it without any more of this stuff shall we? We're only about nine quarters from the planet. All we have to do is observe the work done, and take a look around the area. How hard can that be? The place has been barren for hundreds of years. If there seems to be some proof of sabotage, we can handle it by turning the whole thing over to Central. Endo is happy; Echo is happy. We never have to see each other again. We keep my reputation, and what's left of yours, intact."

"We both know there is more to this than meets our initial perspective. What sounds easy out here might be much more complex on the planet."

"Okay. Let's look at it from another perspective. We stay on track with this situation. You do your job and I'll do mine." And I'll stay on Try-sting and djine until this is all over so there's no more chances of you getting to me through my dreams, you maggot. She wanted to say the words but held her mouth tightly closed.

Kat sighed, knowing that there was no answer at all there for him. "All right, Sadah. For as long as we can, we'll do it your way." He made a shift in his thought processes. "But you do agree with me that the info disk is a fraud?"

"A poor one at that." She was glad to allow the change. "He couldn't hope to fool anyone with that piece of junk. So did Guardsman sabotage their own plant to implicate Bonding?"

"That might be the case," Kat considered. "But his thoughts weren't set on that when we were with him. Alan Denby genuinely doesn't know why the plant shut down."

"I hope it's nothing more than the usual Guardman-Bonding crap. They're always trying to make one another look bad. And Bonding did just get that new contract."

He looked at her in bemusement, not speaking.

"What?" She eyed him suspiciously. "Did I say something wrong?"

"You took my word for the fact that Denby doesn't know who shut the plant down."

"Of course I did." She wondered if he had really lost it. "You're the best telepath in ECHO. I read your file. I know your reputation. You're a wildcat but you're a damned good enviro officer."

He laughed, throwing his head back so that his hair fell away from his face. "And you amaze me, Sadah."

"Just because I don't want you in my head, Sadoh, doesn't mean that I think your abilities aren't genuinely useful in dealing with situations like these." Knowing how very powerful his abilities were made it even worse but she didn't say so to him.

"And perhaps that's part of the problem?" He paused as he felt the flare of anger from her. "No, Sadah. I don't have to touch your mind to know your thoughts. I've read your files and you have a very expressive face. You don't want anyone else in control."

Gael stood up from where she had come to perch on a chair and quickly crossed to the COM link. "We better get on with checking in. Menor is very punctual."

"What will you tell him?"

"That we've made contact with Alan Denby. That we're only a short way from the planet and that we still don't know what's going on. Which we don't. I'm sure that I'm no less cautious than you when it comes to premature conclusions."

He inclined his head respectfully. "I have every respect for you and your...abilities."

Gael made contact and Menor was relieved that they were nearly there.

"The matter is quickly developing larger proportions than we would have liked," he told her. "ECHO and ENDO have agreed to meet on Telfa in the next few days. Try to have something for us by then. Guardsman is pushing for a revocation of Bonding's license to process ore. Central likes competition in all things so they are holding out for some proof. Keep us informed."

"We'll do the best we can, Menor," Gael responded.

"Is this a secured channel?" he asked carefully.

"On board a freighter?" she wondered at his innocence. "You must be joking?"

"Wait." Kat closed his eyes and breathed carefully, not moving. "Go on."

"Can he do that?" she whispered to Menor as though Kat wasn't just behind her.

"Of course." Menor's lofty expression adjusted to being one jump ahead of her again. "Now as I was going to say, we all have a fear that there is something else wrong on that planet."

"Something like what, Menor? Will you speak plainly for once? Everyone has hinted at something else but no one wants to share what that something else is."

"If I could tell you everything that L. Lanier suspects, I would, Gael. But she wants your report clean of any influence. Just be very careful. Don't trust anyone else. ENDO and ECHO stand together on this one. Do you understand?"

"No," Gael denied. "Not really. I wish you'd just tell us what you suspect and get it over with. I don't like playing these games."

"Just be careful and get us something as soon as you can," Menor encouraged shortly. "Thank you, Kalatri. We'll talk later."

The screen went blank and Gael turned to face Kat as he opened his eyes. "Well? What was he talking about?"

"He was filled with concern for you and wishing that they'd sent someone else in your place. He also was holding an interesting picture in his mind of you-uh-out of uniform, as you spoke."

Gael closed her eyes and sank down on the chair again, ignoring his inference. "Nothing else?"

"That's all, Sadah. But he was right. Someone on the ship was tapping into the link. Alan Denby was very interested in what you were going to say about ENCOM."

"Do you know for certain that it was Denby?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Just a guess," he replied. "I wasn't able to probe both men and keep the link from being monitored. Menor's thoughts were of greater importance at the time. I don't believe that Menor knows what Lanier is thinking. Perhaps she's hinted at something to him but he doesn't know what the something is."

"I've never been on a mission like this before," she told him in exasperation. "Usually they want you to memorize all the details they give you. This time, no one wants to tell anything."

"It was the same with ECHO." He shrugged. "My concern is that this is not the simple assignment you believe it to be and our other problems will surface."

Gael ignored that comment, too. "Do you want to check in with ECHO before we join Denby for dinner?"

"I have already checked in with Juroh." He stood up and walked to the door.

"A Rian?" It wasn't much of a guess.

"Indeed." His eyes were shadowed. "There are many benefits to being able to communicate without a mechanical link."

"ENDO doesn't agree with you."

"There is always ECHO," he retorted. "Possibly we don't have the formidable weaponry that you're so fond of but you won't need their weapons."

"Don't try to sell me on mind games, Wi-" She stopped short and looked up at him in embarrassment. "Your picture was on our target field for a long time."

"Did you score well?" He held her gaze in his shimmering blue one.

"Very well," She didn't look away from his beautiful face. "But it didn't do you justice."

"In what way, Sadah?"

"You were...are...much-uh-taller." She stammered and looked away uncomfortably.

"And you aren't much of a liar," he returned with a knowing smile. "I find you very attractive as well, Sadah."

"Did you --?" She gestured with one hand then pushed the hair back from her face, "Did you get that from me? I mean -- "

"You mean did I find it in your mind?" He touched her face lightly with one long finger. "No, Sadah. As I said, you have a very expressive face."

Gael cleared her throat then stalked out of the room ahead of him. Damn the Rians and their blasted charm! She'd take a charging, bull drunk Fargan anytime!

Chapter Six

Denby was waiting impatiently for them in the dining area. "If you're ready, I'll escort you into the captain's quarters. We'll dine with her tonight. She doesn't get guests very often on these repair runs. Did you contact your superiors?"

"Yes," Gael informed him carefully, very conscious of Kat behind them. Denby had maneuvered himself between them, hugging Gael's side closely. "They were very concerned about the status of the ore operations. Here, and on Planet 9."

"They should be." Denby nodded, pleased. "Bonding has always run a slipshod operation. I'm just surprised no one noticed before. Guardsman -- "

"They're concerned about both operations." Gael pushed him to see where he would go next. "After all, this is a Guardsman operation that's down."

Denby was suddenly nervous. "But the disk? Didn't they think the info disk was proof that it wasn't our fault?"

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Denby. They think you might be trying to put the blame on Bonding just to get the rights to Planet 9."

"That's ridiculous. We'll find evidence on the planet's surface of their sabotage," he assured her. "They won't get away with this."

The captain's quarters weren't much different than the rest of the freighter. The plain brown walls and threadbare accessories were well worn and obviously not well cared for. The captain was a small woman with a dark complexion that had been pitted by too much hard living.

Probably Fargan rum. Gael shook her hand. She suddenly had a clear image in her mind of the woman in a clouded drug den, her hand caressing a black rum bowl. Gael jumped back, taking her hand from the captain as though she'd been burned. The image faded but it left her shaken and uneasy.

"Sadah?" Kat queried softly at her shoulder as they were led to a long, low table.

"I got a cramp in my hand," she lied to him and herself. It wouldn't happen again. She almost missed the captain's exchange with Denby as she took her place.

As they took their places, Denby ended up beside Gael while the captain took Kat's arm and pulled him down beside her. Her eyes greedily devoured his face. "So you're Kalatri Astri."

"Yes." Kat inclined his bright head, keeping his eyes on the captain's eyes.

"You must be Rian. You people are always so attractive." She smiled suggestively, her fingers straying to the blue of his uniform.

Kat smiled, wishing he could take Gael and leave this place. He'd felt the flare of energy between the two women when they met. Images of the captain in the rum den still felt gritty in his mind. He could put it aside easily but Gael, without training, would taste it for much longer. Perhaps it was for the best. Perhaps it will make her realize her potential for good and for bad.

"We will dine in the traditional Derkan manner using our hands. My chef is especially well versed in Derkan methods even though he is originally from Farga. He spent a great deal of time on Derka learning their ways."

Kat didn't care for Derkan food or their planet but refrained from saying so, studying the captain as she spoke. The woman was lazy and ill mannered. Her whole being was consumed by lust. Being the object of that lust made him more than a little uneasy.

Gael watched the woman's dark hands trace the blue of Kat's sleeve, eventually caressing a strand of his golden hair lightly. She turned her attention to what Denby was saying beside her, refusing to wonder if Kat enjoyed the lavish attention.

Crude wooden bowls were placed in front of each person. Derkans ate with no utensils. Gael wanted to leave, feeling slightly queasy but she stayed at the table. Even if she only made a pretense of eating, that was all that was required.

"Lt. Klarke has already been in contact with her ENCOM commanders, Captain," Denby told the woman. "She's concerned about Guardsman's mining rights as well as Bonding's."

"Is there some reason for this suspicion, Lt.?"

"Only what ENDO decides there to be," Gael returned. "I only report the facts, Captain. ENDO and ECHO will decide the final analysis."

"And what does ECHO have to say, Kalatri?" She was nearly purring. Her dark face took on an almost rodent like sharpness.

"They feel the same. Everyone waits, Captain Amato, until we reach the planet."

"You contacted your superiors without mechanical means, didn't you? I've heard Rians could speak with their minds but I've never witnessed it myself."

"As you say. There is another Rian in the leadership that I report to directly."

"And are other Rians the only ones lucky enough to speak to you this way?" She licked her thin lips as she stared at him.

"Anyone with telepathic skills can be reached. Have you ever been tested?"

"No. Perhaps you could test me, Kalatri."

He bowed his head. "I'm honored that you would trust me with this, Sadah. But I'm not a teacher and not trained for the guidance this requires."

"I have heard other stories of Rians...abilities. That they pleasure with their minds as well as their bodies. Is this true, Kalatri Sadoh?"

Gael couldn't hear Kat's response to Captain Amato's question as the food was trundled in, but the captain sat back suddenly, drinking her wine sullenly. Kat's expressive blue eyes were bland, carefully revealing nothing.

The chef, a tall, grizzled man, entered the room with a brazier and a young boy who carried a huge tray of meat and vegetables. The fire was struck in the brazier and the helper, who didn't look up as he poured the wine, handed the meat to the chef. His scuffed and scarred arms told their own story.

Denby looked at the captain as though urging her to put down her glass. "Well, Lieutenant. What will it take to convince ENDO that Bonding is behind all this?"

When she didn't answer, Kat looked at Gael to find her keenly watching the young boy as he poured more wine for the captain. A thin silver wire on the boy's face glinted in the light. It was in the same location as the scar on Gael's face. The wire on the boy looked to be an implanted detector of some sort, probably proclaiming the boy to be a slave.

"Lt. Klarke?" Denby tried again impatiently.

"Yes?" She looked back at him, her hand going unconsciously to the scar near her ear.

"Both ENDO and ECHO will be satisfied with hard evidence that Bonding was on the planet," Kat filled in, drawing their attention away from her. "There will have to be more proof than a disk, however, Sadoh Denby."

"And if we can give it to them? Or rather, if you and the Lieutenant here can give that to them?"

"Then it will be in the hands of the two groups and Central will decide what becomes of Bonding. However, I must remind you, Sadoh, Central loves competition. It's likely that even if Bonding does lose its license that Central will create another group just to compete."

"Do you really think that's possible?" Denby's face went red.

"You know Central as well as we do," Gael rushed in, trying to keep the conversation on an even heading. "They pit ENDO and ECHO against each other for almost every operation for the competition. It stands to reason since ore operations are so large and so important to industry."

"The Lieutenant has a very good point." Captain Amato ended the discussion. "We'll find what we can on the planet. After that, it's up to Central to decide. For now, we eat."

Simple and to the point. Gael looked directly at Kat, picking up her glass of wine.

Indeed. His blond head tilted slightly, one brow raised over a blue eye that dared her to say anything. He sipped his wine.

"If you'll excuse me." Denby made his apologies, getting up from his place at the table. "I find that I'm not feeling very well. Lieutenant, Captain, Officer Astri."

"Very touchy, that man." Captain Amato held out her glass for more of the thick red wine.

The smell of the roasting meat was slightly unsettling, definitely unappetizing. Gael swirled the wine in her cup more than she drank it. The boy came towards her again with the wine just as the chef started to serve the meal. She dropped her heavy hand towel on the floor and bent to retrieve it.

"More wine?" the boy asked in his reed thin voice.

"No, thank you. Who are you?" She whispered the words furtively in a Fargan patois used in the streets by slaves and gutterlings.

He glanced sharply at the big chef who was serving vegetables to Kat across the table. He answered in the same slang. "I am called Toine. You-you're Fargan?"

"There must be something very interesting going on over there, boy." Captain Amato intercepted their conversation though she couldn't speak the language.

The beefy chef stopped in mid stride before reaching Gael. He yelled a curse at the boy in fluent Fargan. Toine scurried away, his dark head bent low.

Gael looked up into the chef's ugly, angry face and smiled as he held out a plate for her to choose her meal. She spoke quickly. The softly spoken, guttural words she casually used had the effect of waving a red flag at a bull. He threw down the platter of food and ground his teeth, balling his huge fists. There was no doubt when he stepped back that he wanted to fight right there.

"There seems to be a problem." Captain Amato laughed, leaning heavily towards Kat. She hadn't been so entertained in months.

Kat leaned forward and felt the captain's restraining hand on his arm. "Relax. Let them handle it."

Gael was already on her feet.

There was a relaxed composure to her stance that Kat knew was deceptive. The cold gleam in her dark eyes reminded him of her service record. When she'd told him that she'd scored well on his image on the training field, he knew that she wasn't bragging. She was the pride of ENDO and could kill with a single blow from her slender, scarred hand.

The chef's glittering eyes went to the weapon in her belt. He tossed the double-edged knife away from him, nodding towards her service weapon.

Gael nodded and threw her weapon on the floor, kicking it contemptuously from her.

"How interesting...and evocative!" The captain nuzzled Kat's right ear.

Her hand was still on his arm. Kat determined that it was time to teach the woman that no one touched a Rian randomly. She suddenly found the blue- sleeved arm writhing under her hand and moved away quickly, seeing the thick head of a Quellan Ha'lt snake.

In the next instant, the maddened chef found himself possessed of an urgent need to visit the galley. Without so much as another look at Gael, he left the room. Toine followed in his wake, not daring to glance back.

Captain Amato poured out the remainder of her wine, convinced something was wrong with it. When she looked again, Kat's arm was normal, resting lightly on the table. "I'm not feeling well myself." She leaned down close to Kat but didn't touch him again. "Perhaps we can meet later and you could show me some Rian mind magic that will make me feel better."

Kat smiled and nodded his head, watching her as she left the room.

"I think she's already seen some Rian mind magic," Gael accused stiffly, the words grating from between her clenched teeth.

He acknowledged her words with a nod.

"I didn't want your help."

Kat rose gracefully from his chair. "No. You wanted to kill him. I acted in the best interest of the mission."

She glared at him across the table. Blue eyes warred with brown, a silent battle of wills.

"All right," she agreed. "It wasn't the time or the place. Satisfied?"

He watched her retrieve her weapon from the floor. "What did you say to him?"

She looked at him uncomfortably, realizing how much of herself she'd given away to him because of her temper. "There really isn't a literal translation from Fargan. It's only an insult in the streets there. If he'd been well born, he wouldn't have understood what I said."

"And the boy?"

"I only asked him who he is." She clenched her fists. "No one should have to live that way."

"Farga has its own rules for civilization just as other worlds of the Central system."

She disagreed. "Slavery shouldn't be allowed just because it's a custom."

They reached her door as several Guardsman staff passed them. Gael glanced at them feeling dark and empty. "Everything on Ria is bright and beautiful." Like you. "It's not like that on Farga."

"We could talk for a while, if you like." He felt her withdrawal as strongly as if a wall had dropped in place. In her way, she'd found a way of controlling her psi abilities but only at the cost of her fear and anger. Kat tried to reach her with his mind but she was as clearly devoid of any psi as the captain. It was a remarkable gift, this disguising of her inborn abilities. He was beginning to understand how the ENDO council had missed it.

She looked through him with a flat refusal to acknowledge his presence. "I just need some rest." The panel slid open at her touch and she disappeared behind the wall screen, leaving him standing alone in the hall.

He sighed, wishing he could reach her. He could show her the remarkable achievement she'd made. Patience, as his father had told him, was not one of his better virtues. He came to his compartment and the door slid open to reveal that he was not alone. Captain Amato was waiting for him. Her unsightly gray uniform was gone and her wild red hair was falling over her shoulders.

"I've come for some Rian magic, Kalatri." Her eyes devoured him hungrily.

Devoid of the mesh of Gael's tangled emotions, Kat couldn't summon any anger at her advances. Ruefully, he found he couldn't find any passion either. The thought of mating with a female who would receive him only with her body was distasteful with the most interesting of women. With the captain, it was repugnant.

He chided himself with the image of Menor had held of Gael in his mind. Kat was fairly certain Menor had never experienced anything with Gael except a working relationship. The lusty, wild-eyed woman with Gael's face was almost a caricature of the real thing. Still, it inflamed his senses then as it had earlier.

He was still confused with her emotional responses. He and Gael were an unlikely match. As for the captain --

***

Gael lay awake in her quarters, staring into the darkness. Seeing that young boy had been like seeing herself years before. She'd been much younger than Toine when she'd left Farga but they had much in common. She pressed her fingers to her cheek where she'd ripped the slave's wire from her flesh because the ENDO council wouldn't take slaves. She would have ripped off one of her arms to join them and get away from her world. The detector wire had left a scar on her face that even the finest ENDO surgeon could only reduce to its present state. She'd always remember the pain and the determination that put it there.

She'd wanted to kill the chef at dinner and would have if Kat hadn't acted. She'd seen faces like his in some of her worst nightmares. They were saying the things he'd said to Toine, to her. She'd never gone back to Farga but she carried her scars with her. She could never forget that it was hard work and discipline that saved her from Toine's life. Kat could have his ECHO ways with his Rian charm and his background of easy acceptance. It could never be for her.

Folding herself into a tight knot of pain and misery, Gael drifted into an uneasy sleep. She was dreaming. She was walking along a green path through wet foliage. It was a pattern from another one of the R-12 tapestries. The threads were alive around her. The air was hot and heavy, redolent with strong floral perfume. She looked up into the pale sky and the sun was blazing red. Where was she?

In your bedport, she told herself sternly. Yet she couldn't recall where. Was she still at ENCOM or had she left for Miccah? She wasn't in this jungle but she was confused and suddenly trembling. She felt a hand on her shoulder, caressing her arm. She turned and found herself in Kat's arms. His golden hair showered over her face and shoulder. His touch was a trail of fire on her sensitive skin. She felt him lower them both to the steaming jungle floor, his lips on her neck and breast.

A door slid open at her touch and she stood in the doorway of Kat's room, not sure how she came to be there or if it was real. He was sitting in a chair near the wall. Captain Amato was on his bed, moaning audibly. Her eyes closed and her hands were making the movements of holding a phantom lover.

Kat opened his tired eyes and stared into Gael's for a long moment. He saw in her face what she had seen, felt what she'd felt in her dream. While she'd slept, their energies had meshed once again. The dream that he'd given Captain Amato in his stead had overlapped into Gael's. The passionate force of the dream permeated him as she stood there, her dark eyes stricken with understanding. He didn't dare move or attempt any explanation, not sure he could control the strength of the emotions that passed between them. He could feel the warmth of her skin against his; taste the faint wine still on her lips.

Without a word, Gael turned and left him there, the door sliding closed behind her.

When he could end Captain Amato's dream, when the insatiable woman had gone with a last crude caress, Kat tried to reach Gael within his mind. But the wall was there between them.

Chapter Seven

Gael huddled in her bedport, dosing herself with Try-sting to stay awake. When she could feel the familiar surge through her veins, she combed her hair and changed her uniform for the clean one in her bag. She took out her info disc on the ore-mining planet and its controversy and settled in for what remained of the surrogate night with a cup of djine.

They were close to solving the processing problem. She wouldn't let down her guard again. A few days of staying awake would be good for her. As cadets, all ENDO officers were required to stay awake for long periods of time just for the practice at the exertion.

The Try-sting raced through her mind and body, making her hand shake faintly, a restless energy welling up inside of her. When she'd reviewed the files, she'd go down to the cruiser and check out its systems. Then she would take on some target practice in the freighter's game room.

She was luckier than she thought and glad that she'd decided on the game room first. The captain's chef was taking all comers with gloves and spars when she arrived. Most of the freighter's crew knew second hand what had passed between them in the dining room. Money changed hands and the crowd grew steadily.

There was heavy silence when Gael, refusing to don a helmet, took up a heavy spar. The Fargan born chef growled at her from the ring. She jumped the gate. Kat wasn't there to stop the fight. The crowd cheered them on.

It wasn't much as fights went. The chef was in poor condition and though brutal, he had no stamina. He went down after inflicting a few minor discomforts to her. He didn't get back up.

His friends carried him from the ring, throwing angry glances back at Gael as she replaced her spar on the wall. She was holding together the torn pieces of her uniform with a satisfied grin on her face. She held her head high, knowing her face must be a mess. He had aimed hard for her eyes.

"He's a street fighter. You're much better." Toine came from behind a unit holding sports equipment, opening a packet that contained antiseptic wash and handing it to her.

"Thanks." She used the same Fargan the boy used. "Can you use the Alliance tongue?"

"Yes but you can understand me. We are Fargan."

"We are." The wash stung her eyes and lip where the cuts were the deepest. She could taste the blood in her mouth and flexed her shoulder experimentally. It was going to be sore and awkward for a few days.

"You fought for me." It was a flat statement.

She looked at him sitting beside her on the floor, his dark eyes so like her own. "I fought for both of us."

He touched the scar on her cheek with a knowing hand. "You were a slave. How did you escape?"

"I ripped the slave brand off of my face. I almost died. ENDO found me on Farga." She smiled though it hurt to do so. "Or I found them. It was a very long time ago."

"It's hard to imagine you as a slave. You're so strong."

"I'm like you but older," she told him quietly. "I escaped from Farga, from slavery. What about you?"

"I am a slave."

"And happy to be so?"

"No but I can't escape. I'm not brave or strong like you. Only small and weak. One day he will beat me too hard or the captain woman will kill me. It doesn't matter."

Gael took his scarred little hand. "I'll take you with me. There are places you can go."

"Places?" He sneered. "I've heard of them. Where you work always and sometimes they feed you. Where they forget you're alive until you die. Then they feed your body to the master's pets."

"There are many more places." She didn't deny that he spoke of what made up orphanages on some planets. "You could 'prentice to ENDO with me. You'd have good food, be able to travel. You'd have a home."

"I could?" He dared to imagine it, dark eyes huge in his excitement.

"You could if we can find a way to get you off this ship."

"You'd buy me from them?"

Buy? She hadn't considered that possibility. Money wasn't one of her strong assets. Negotiation might be the answer -- giving the chef or the captain something they wanted in return for the boy. Their situation was delicate. Hopefully that wouldn't come too close to be considered coercion. Would they see it that way?

Toine found her a uniform to exchange for her ENDO red that had been destroyed. She had only brought two uniforms with her. With everything that had happened, she considered that it might be wise to save the other.

"No one will miss you?" She didn't want to make the task of getting him away any harder.

"He won't." He gestured to the door where they'd taken the unconscious man out. Toine grinned. "And the captain woman is being pleasured by your friend in blue. I go to her soon."

Gael frowned, knowing that information only too well. She pushed it from her mind. "Have you gone to school? Do you read?"

"No but I can drink more rum than any of my masters. I can cook. I can fire a weapon. A man showed me once. And the captain woman." He grinned showing two missing teeth. "She says I'm good at mating."

Gael tossed her uniform into the trash receptacle and looked at his eager young face. It made her stomach churn to think about it. Yet he was proud of his accomplishments. "You're already a man." The words almost choked her.

"You'll take me with you when you leave? You'll buy me from them?"

She couldn't say no though she was sure to regret her actions later. What did she know about children? "One way or another. I'll get you away from this."

"And this?" He touched his slave mark with his finger. "I could rip it away as you did."

"No." She stayed his hand quickly, recalling her own pain. "We'll have it taken off by a doctor. They can do a much better job if they take it off themselves."

But would they? she reflected as he ran from the game room into the corridor. Slavery was accepted as part of the Fargan culture. Would she be able to legally set him free, even if he belonged to her?

She would have to have Menor check on the laws for her. If not legally, she knew people that would hide him, places he could go. Not everyone thought the laws were right. She'd been so careful since she'd joined ENDO that she never crossed that line of what made up legality. This time she would have to make an exception. So far the mission had been a series of exceptions. Learning experiences, Menor called them.

The Try-sting still zephyerd through her system. Her body was stiff and sore but her mind was racing. The cruiser was next on her agenda and the long ship's night stretched ahead.

"Sadah?"

Gael looked up from her position on the floor. Her mouth had been bloody but had now become merely swollen and sore. A bruise nearly closed one eye. She wore the drab gray Guardsman gear with her red ENDO sash at her waist. It was finally morning and the freighter was coming back to life around her.

Kat sat down beside her on the cruiser floor, close but not touching. Disapproval was clearly etched on his fine features. "I see I only saved you some time."

"I walked out." Her busy hands replaced a converter that was almost new in the circuit board. "It took four men to carry him out." His presence made her acutely aware of what she must look like. It took all her concentration on the parts in her hands not to use them to cover her face.

He shook his head ruefully. "And you find something of value in this?"

"I don't expect you to understand and I don't require your approval."

He studied her bent head, feeling the barrier between then, wanting to strain against it until it shattered. She didn't want to talk to him, didn't want him there. It didn't take a trained psi to tell that.

Her hand shook on the tool she held. The tension in her body was palpable. Why didn't he go?

"What do you require, Sadah?"

"I require our relationship to work until we can get this job done. We'll be at the planet shortly. I checked in with Menor this morning and the situation is still the same. No one will make a move until they have the facts from the ore operation."

Her words were too fast, too excited. Her gaze stayed on the board in her hands. He could sense her thoughts weren't focused on what she was doing. They were focused totally on him. He could feel her emotions pulling at him. "We need to talk, Gael. You need to understand what happened last night even if you'd rather not."

She continued to work on the circuit board until Kat's large hand closed over her own. The shock ran between them like an electric jolt. The flare ran up Gael's hand and through her arm before she drew her hands away, moving back from him quickly.

"Don't tell me what I need or don't need to understand!" Her head jerked up and she stared at him angrily. "What do you want from me?"

"You've done remarkably well concealing psi until now. But you can't hide forever and there's nowhere far enough to run." His eyes caught her own and refused to let her look away. "Even untrained, you're a formidable talent. Let me help you."

"It seems odd to me that I never possessed this talent," she spat the word from her mouth like dirt, "until I met you. I've worked with telepaths before and I've been tested since I was a small child. Excuse me if I choose to believe that this all has something to do with you."

"I don't deny this." He reached to grasp her arms, pulling her closer to him. "Every Rian believes that there is a compliment to their energies. With our energies meshed, you are my compliment and when you're near me, it will be impossible for you to hide for long behind this clever shield that you've devised."

Gael gasped at his touch and frowned into his blue eyes that were too near her own. The feeling was uncomfortably near what she'd experienced in her dream last night. "There's no such thing as a shield that can hide psi from ENDO tests. Everyone knows that."

"There is now and has been since you were a small child. ENDO is going to have to rethink their testing procedures."

Gael pulled back from him. "I don't want any part of this, Kat. If you try and bring this up to ENDO or ECHO, I'll deny it."

"It is a part of you, Gael. You can no more deny this than you can your arm or your face."

He leaned towards her again but she was lithe and fast, getting to her feet in one graceful movement. "If you have something to say about this mission, let's hear it. If not, then I'd suggest you spend some time preparing for our search of the planet."

She was in charge of this mission. If he continued to act like a cadet, she'd treat him like one.

He stood slowly, tall and lean. The sleeves of his ECHO uniform were pushed back to his elbows revealing identical armbands of pure gold that were painted with pagan Rian symbols. His hair was tangled gold around his shoulders and his fierce blue eyes were cold.

"I could have taken both you and your sparring partner out with a single thought and monitored a dozen other conversations at the same time. Your weapon and your training mean nothing to me, Sadah." He bowed his head to her. "I will be ready for the check of the ore operation, Lieutenant. But with the Try-sting and the djine tremors, will you?"

Chapter Eight

He left her there, angry and scared. She threw the heavy tool she held against the wall, cursing, certain that she heard his quiet laughter in her mind.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant." Alan Denby looked from the fallen tool to where she stood. "Nice shot. Is there a problem?"

"Endo-Echo." She bent to retrieve the tool. "There's always some problem. What can I do for you, Mr. Denby?"

"It might be what I can do for you, Lieutenant. Have breakfast with me. I have some interesting ideas that I want to discuss with you."

***

They sat in the crowded eating space with several hundred other techs. Voices rose and fell around the room. The tables were pressed nearly end-to-end to accommodate the crew with the size of the room. The floors were sticky with food. Gael had the impression that her freshly recycled cup had been used before. She kept her arms and hands off the table, glad she was wearing the Guardsman uniform and not her own. That the techs spent years on the freighters before getting leave was difficult to believe. She was glad to have been spared a tour of the galley area.

Over hot djine, Gael watched Denby consume an enormous amount of food. Her stomach revolted at the idea of anything solid. When he'd finished off the meat and bread and was looking longingly at the iced rolls, she decided enough was enough. "Your ideas, Mr. Denby?"

"I like that about you, Lieutenant. Straight to the point. No crap. I'll be as blunt." He took a small vial of powdered green crystal from his jacket pocket. He handed it to her with a smile. His faded blue eyes glittered sharply in his haggard face. "Know what it is?"

"Rissan." Gael looked at the vial and was instantly revolted. The chemical had enslaved an entire race. Not acceptable precisely but as Kat had reminded her about her own world, not something that Central considered going to war or expulsion for either. "Where did you get this?"

"It's not illegal." He still looked from side to side.

"Just difficult to come by." She returned the vial. "And worse than illegal to some. There have been reported cases of murder when telepaths have encountered this."

"But this could solve our problem."

A man beside them belched loudly then left the table.

"Our problem?" She hated using the dual possessive but needed to know what the man was thinking.

"You know, Officer Astri and his telepathic stuff? We could take him out for the rest of the mission. You could have all the commendations when we solve this little mystery and I wouldn't have him looking over my shoulder."

"Is there something specific?" She tried to stay cool, careful not to overplay her hand.

"We can talk, can't we, Lieutenant? You and I think a lot alike. There's no real secret here. We just plain don't know what's happened. But we don't want Bonding to come out of this alive. Does that seem like too much to ask? We can make it worthwhile." His face was eager, his smile ingratiating.

Gael fought down her anger and disgust. "You want me to find some proof that will verify to Central that Bonding was responsible for the breakdown of that plant? And in return, you're willing to take Officer Astri out of my way."

"That's about it. We can also offer you a substantial bonus of credits for your services. Discreetly, of course. Guardsman can be very generous."

"Of course." She smiled back at him then used the table as a lever to push him into the wall. He gasped and tried to move. Gael used her weight to propel him tightly against the flat surface at his throat.

"Have you lost your mind? What are you doing?" He gasped and slid to the floor. Gray uniformed techs moved quickly to empty the room until it was just the two of them.

"I'm relieving you of your Rissan." Gael heard a tray drop at the door and glanced at Toine. "Get the green vial."

He looked from her to the Guardsman agent with confused and frightened eyes.

"It's all right. Just pick it up and give it to me." Then she said in Fargan, "I'll protect you. Trust me."

Moving carefully, Toine picked up the vial and handed it to Gael. She shoved it into her pocket. "I'd like to have more than that, Mr. Denby. But the best I can do is to relieve you of your authority in this mission and remand you into the captain's custody."

"You'll be sorry." He was choked into silence as she pushed the table tighter against his throat.

"Not as sorry as you would have been if Kat had caught you with this stuff." She told Toine in Fargan, "Go. Get the captain for me."

He nodded, too afraid to speak, and ran for the door.

It was only a matter of moments before Captain Amato and several of her crew returned with the boy. The woman paused at the doorway, her narrow eyes taking in the situation. "What's going on here, Lieutenant?"

"Sorry to have abused your furniture in this way, Captain," Gael apologized. "I want this man put into a holding area until this mission is over and he can be taken into custody by Central."

"This is a Guardsman freighter, Lt." The captain smiled nastily. "You can't give orders here."

"I'm sorry to have to quote Central legalities to you but ENDO is controlling this mission. As ENDO's representative, that puts me in charge. If you need to verify, please do."

"Set up my com panel." Amato turned to her nearest officer, her slanted eyes not leaving Gael's face. He scurried to do her bidding. "I hope for your sake, Lt., that you're correct. Trying to take over a captain's position on board ship is tantamount to treason."

Gael's gaze never faltered. "Your duties are your own, Amato." She didn't bother to keep the sarcasm from her voice. "However, when your freighter is being used for ENDO-Central purposes, your duties also include assisting me in my mission."

"Denby is passing out." Amato pointed to the man at the other end of the table.

"Get your answers quickly, Captain."

The COM officer returned shortly, nodded towards Gael then turned to the captain to quietly report his findings.

"It seems you're correct, Lt. Klarke." The captain sent two crewmen to help Denby from his place at the wall. "I'll have Denby put in his quarters with a Scan- Lok until we finish this mission."

"Thank you for your help, Captain." Gael released her prisoner then moved the table back to its previous placement. "How long before we reach the planet?"

"About two quarters. My crewmen tell me that your ENDO contact is requesting an immediate response from you."

"I'll find Officer Astri and return his communication." Gael started to turn away and noticed the feral gleam in the captain's bloodshot eyes. "Anything else?"

"Just a warning, Lt. Guardsman is a powerful group. Not as powerful as ENDO or ECHO, I'll grant you. But a bad enemy nonetheless. It might be wise to remember that."

"I'll do my best," Gael returned sharply. "But Guardsman had better be sure their slate is clean on this one, Captain. Or it might be Guardsman and not Bonding that lose their license to create synthetic fuel."

Gael went quickly to her quarters, feeling Amato's daggers in her back as she walked away. Recalling the sight of the woman in Kat's bedport the night before nearly made her gag. Had it given her pleasure to put the woman in her place because of it? That was ridiculous. She was just doing her job.

Did the captain realize what had happened to her? The illusion had been so strong. She could still feel it. She quickly cleared her mind and pressed her door for entry. She was surprised at first to find Kat there but managed to recover before she faltered at the sight of him. He had, no doubt, monitored the entire occurrence. What would it be like to sit in a freighter away and know everything that was going on -- ?

"Since you consider my intrusion into your thoughts a hostile act, would you work at keeping yours out of my mind as well? Or would you rather I answer your question about what it's like to know what's going on without being there?" He smiled when he saw the abhorrence on her face. "I thought not. I've already hailed Menor and secured the channel."

Menor's face came up on the screen before she could form an answer. "Gael, please tell me why it was necessary for you to commandeer that freighter? This was supposed to be a friendly partnership between Guardsman and ENDO."

Kat's pale brows rose sharply.

Gael glanced at him then turned back to the screen. He didn't know! It was a small victory but a nice one. "I didn't exactly commandeer the vessel. I simply reminded the captain that on an ENDO mission, the mission takes priority over anything else. The Guardsman delegate, Alan Denby, tried to bribe me into finding proof on the planet that Bonding was responsible for the plant shut down."

"What proof? Do you think they have something set up?" Menor jumped at her words.

"I think it's possible. I had Agent Denby held for ENDO or Central agents to interrogate as soon as the mission is over. It's not inconceivable that Guardsman shut down their own operation just for the attention."

"Anything else you've noticed?"

Gael looked pointedly at Kat who simply shrugged. "Officer Astri doesn't think they know what's going on, Menor. He thinks that's what they're covering up and not their own actions." The tone of her voice made it clear what she thought of the idea.

"I'm capable of speaking for myself when the need arises," Kat told her plainly. "I've made my report to ECHO, Menor, as I was requested to do."

Menor nodded. "I'll request a copy of that report, thank you. You're very near the planet. Do you have any impressions as yet?"

"There's a great blankness, as though nothing is there. It is curious."

"Indeed." Menor inclined his head, frowning.

"We are less than two quarters away." Gael held her hands in her pockets to keep them from shaking. "We should have the answers soon enough.''

"I know all this has seemed strange, Gael. It's been strange for me as well. We're relying on you and Officer Astri to make sense of it." Menor looked at her battered face. "Did that happen to you with Denby?"

"Just a misunderstanding between two Fargans." She brushed it aside. "Nothing serious."

"The other Fargan is in much worse condition, I trust?" He smiled proudly.

Gael caught Kat's grimace of disgust from the corner of her eye. "Much worse."

"Good. Proceed with your mission, Lt. And I'll expect to hear from you next on the planet's surface."

Kat got up to leave as the screen went blank. Gael started to pull the vial of Rissan from her pocket but found she couldn't do so without betraying the solid tremor in her hands. She kept silent, trying not to draw his attention.

He pushed the button for the door, left her without another word.

Gael sat down on the bedport, realizing that she was beginning to feel worn down. She only had a few Try-sting left but if they did their job on the planet in good time, that should be all she'd need. Not once had she felt the crawling sensation in her brain that accompanied some outside psi condition. She hoped Kat was right and that the shield he thought she possessed was back in place. She might wonder at the strength of his psi abilities but she would never want to possess them.

If it were true that she would only be off guard with him, then she would see to it that they were never together again. The COM screen lit up, catching her attention as a young woman appeared. "Captain Amato requests your presence on the bridge, Lieutenant."

"I'll be right there." Gael walked quickly down the long, dimly lit corridors; following the general direction she recalled leading to the bridge. What could the woman want now?

"Lieutenant," Amato hailed her when she'd reached the command area. "Over here."

Gael approached the sensor area, watching the panel, as Amato and her officer seemed to be doing. "Is there a problem?"

"We're not sure," Amato replied. "Take a look."

They all continued to look at the panel. The energy patterns changed and fluctuated in what seemed to be a random form.

Gael didn't understand. "What is it?"

"A disturbance from the R-12 planet," Amato told her.

"Maybe com lesions or tracings," an officer added thoughtfully.

"I don't see anything to indicate a specific signature." Gael watched the screen. "Maybe just something random bouncing off the surface."

"Perhaps." Amato shrugged, standing up straight. Her head barely reached Gael's shoulder level. "I thought you should see it since it will be logged."

"Thank you. I'll make a note of it."

"Could I speak with you?" Amato gestured towards her quarters. "Alone?"

Gael agreed, following her into the tiny cubicle, wondering what they could have to discuss.

"Rum?" Amato offered, holding a beaker. "It's Fargan."

"No, thanks." Gael didn't mention that the substance was illegal anywhere off the planet since half of the system drank it. The effects of any alcohol would be spectacular in her system with the Try-sting. Fargan rum would knock her dead.

"The Rian." Amato traced her finger along the edge of her glass; the green tinged liquid glinting in the light. "Is he special?"

"Special?"

"To you. Do you travel together? Are you companions?"

Gael nearly laughed. "Kalatri Astri and I had never even seen each other before this mission. We only travel together because our leaders command us to. Duty."

Amato smiled, satisfied. "That's as well. The Rian and I have become very close."

"I'm going to log these entries from the planet's surface before I go down, Captain." Gael went slowly to the door. "I appreciate you letting me see them. As for you and Officer Astri, that's your affair."

"How gracious of you," Amato responded. "I'll order those signals compiled as well."

Gael started out the door again, feeling their conversation had ended.

"You know we aren't so different." Amato stopped her. "You have your ENDO reds and your honor but we're both the same in many ways, Lieutenant."

"I can't imagine what those ways could be." Gael half turned towards her, wanting to leave.

"We're both ambitious. Both driven to want more. We aren't afraid to use our power to get it. We demand the universe, don't we? We aren't so different."

Gael turned back to the doorway and left her there with the Fargan rum.

Chapter Nine

There was one thing Gael had to do before going to the cruiser and disembarking for the world they were nearing. She had made a promise to Toine and she meant to keep it. There was every possibility that she could find a place for him at ENDO. If he couldn't qualify for the corps itself, he could hold a staff position like Menor. If she had to, she would buy him from the captain.

She scoured the freighter for him but his rough-cut brown head was nowhere to be found. Refusing to be bested into going to Kat for help, she took a deep breath and approached the chef in the dirty galley.

He held up his knife, one eye completely swollen closed. His right arm was tied uselessly to his chest.

"I want the boy," Gael said in ragged Fargan.

"Too late."

"Where is he? I'll pay you for him."

"He is with the captain. You understand? You cannot have him for your own. Amato takes her pleasure with him."

Gael wanted to break into the captain's private quarters and take the boy away but she knew that Toine technically belonged to Amato. She'd have to wait for her moment, no matter how it galled her. Anything else would lose him, defeating her purpose.

Kat was already in the cruiser when Gael arrived a short time later. The planet was in scanner range. It was time to do her job.

"Guardsman's team with Denby's assistant is already on their way to the planet," he told her briskly.

"They won't have enough time ahead of us to set anything up."

"Unless something is already set up."

"Do you sense something?" She glanced at him, instantly feeling the delicate beating of wings in her mind.

He smiled. "Do you?"

"You're the telepath." She faced the view screen again.

The small cruiser moved slowly and surely away from the larger vessel. The planet was just below them, their side just entering into its daylight cycle.

Kat sighed, pushing himself for patience. "None of the crew aboard the Explorer seem to know anything about any deceit. Denby's assistant is an honest person who would like to come out of the mission with Denby's job permanently."

"That could be dangerous." She laid in a course for the planet. "I know Guardsman wants to protect their interests even if they don't discredit Bonding."

"But accomplishing both would be a credit to any agent."

Gael agreed. The sight of the brown-black planet coming up quickly on the screen made her uneasy. Echoes of the dreams she'd had about the place still haunted her. The only way to cure the problems she'd encountered since the beginning of the mission seemed to be there before her on the screen.

She recalled again the tapestry that had disturbed her in the museum. It was almost the same angle of the planet that they were seeing at that moment. That wasn't possible, of course, since the early inhabitants of the planet hadn't really had a civilization at all, much less space travel. Their information about the planet was limited but they did know that the world was primitive.

That vacation time she'd promised herself at the end of the mission was beginning to look better and better. She was spending too much time worrying about Fargan children and tapestries.

"They estimate repair time at three to four quarters," Kat told her, taking a message from the planet's surface. "That should be more than enough time to prove or disprove the Bonding sabotage theory."

"It can't be too soon for me." She was brain tired, though the Try-sting held up her body.

"It could be that your problems will just be starting when this is over."

"It could be." She yawned, shaking herself awake. "Or it could be that when I put you and all of this behind me that I'll never feel that way again."

"That way?" He leaned a little closer, encouraging. "What are you feeling, Sadah?"

"I'm tired." She tried not to sound irritable. "That's all."

"And have you been tired this way before?"

She turned to him, eyes blazing, ready to tell him to mind his own business but the intense blue of his eyes caught at her. It pulled her closer, telling her that she could relax, that it was safe. She could tell him anything. Nothing should be between them. Kat was a friend. Someone she could trust. Kat.

She fought him. He increased the mesh between their psi, taking her hand, completing the link, urging her gently. "Tell me."

"It's like a fluttering." Gael could barely get the words out of her throat but she felt compelled to speak. "Like a caged thing inside of me. It's not trying to get out, though. It's trying to get in."

"It frightens you, this feeling?"

"Yes!" She gasped at the admission. "Yes! I don't want this. I can't allow." She blinked her eyes and looked at him. He was very close to her. Her hand was clenched on his.

"It's simple." He took her other hand to reassure her. "Your life hasn't been so simple as this thing is going to be. All you must do is reach for it. If you fight, it will destroy you."

She blinked her eyes and wrenched her hands away from him. "What are you doing to me?"

"I'm only trying to help you, Sadah. You're like a small child trying to find her way. Lost, but not wanting to admit that you can't find the path."

His words felt so right, like a warm balm to her soul, flowing to her brain.

She shook her head violently. "I don't want your help. Don't you understand? I don't want this thing that you're offering."

"You have no choice ultimately. You can avoid sleeping for a time so that you don't dream. You can avoid me. But the spark has already caught inside of you and like it or not; want it or not, it will burn until it flares out of your control."

"I can control it if it exists. Didn't you say that I hid it all these years? I've controlled it this long. I can control it now and when you're gone, Sadoh."

"This isn't about control, Gael." His blue eyes caught her again and his words demanded her attention. "This is about acceptance."

His voice reverberated through her, touching a feeling inside of her that made her tremble. "I-I can't, Kat -- "

The computer warned. "Coming up fast on planetary entry."

Gael turned back to control the cruiser, trying to put the mission back into her thoughts. The conversation effectively ended.

"The atmosphere is very clear for an ore operation," Kat declared, looking at the instruments, noting the temperature and other vital statistics, giving Gael a chance to clear her thoughts.

"It's only been two weeks. It's not possible for all the gas to be gone." She glanced at him slowly. "Thanks, Kat."

"Don't thank me, Sadah. We must speak before this mission is over, before we go any further. It isn't going to be easy for you unless you accept it." He turned back to the panel. "It may not be possible for the gas to be gone but there isn't so much as a trace."

Gael frowned. "Between you and this mission, Kat." She lowered the cruiser's nose. "I don't know if anything is going to be easy again."

They came down smoothly. The Guardsman ship was stationed to the right of the huge ore container. Fog was rising from the ground, obscuring everything but the biggest structures and the area just before them. There was one man posted at the ship but the others had already gone into the structure.

It was obvious that Gael wasn't alone in her wish to get the mission over with. She was at the door when she noticed that Kat was not with her. "Are you coming?"

He followed slowly, stopping as he stepped off the platform. His mind was suddenly clouded, strangely slow. "How long has it been?" He stood on the warm, moist ground. His voice was muffled, muted in the total silence of this strange, dead place.

Gael stopped. "How long has what been?"

"How long has it been since life forms were recorded here?"

"You know as well as I do." She turned back to him impatiently, ready to follow the Guardsman people.

Kat stood just outside the cruiser exit, bewildered. He stared off at the far horizon where only brown-black rock formations met the drab gray sky. Not a single blade of grass or a small green shoot survived the ore processing's acrid fumes and burning temperatures. Not a bird called or an insect moved on that entire dark world. The emptiness was complete and forlorn.

"That there should be nothing here on all this bright world," he whispered raggedly, drawing a breath. Tears streamed down his face.

Gael watched him push back his hair, the striking gold and blue of his uniform the only color on the place. "Kat?"

He looked down at her through a mist of his own tears and a haze veiled his mind. "Why did we come here? Everything is dead. There is nothing here."

Gael couldn't believe his words but the expression on his lean face was enough. This was no joke. He was falling apart.

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, gulping huge sobs that racked his body. "I have to go. Now. Gael. I can't stay here. I can't." He ran back into the cruiser and closed the exit door.

Chapter Ten

Gael looked around herself at the desolation. What had happened? She knew that he was sensitive but he was also a professional. He had seen worse. The planet was sadly barren but that was to be expected. Something else was wrong.

"Kat?" She pounded on the door when she found it locked against her. "Open up the door." There was no reply from inside the cruiser. She would have to go on without him, hoping that he would be able to pull himself together. She was glad that the cruiser was encoded to her so that he couldn't leave without her. She called to him again, wondering if she should force her way inside. What was wrong with him?

Finally, deciding that he might just need time alone, she turned back towards the building a few hundred meters away, obscured in the mist. A Guardsman security man had avidly watched the entire scene. "Officer Astri is indisposed right now. Call me if he leaves the ship. I'll be in the processor."

"Sure, Lieutenant." The man laughed. "Sure he won't get scared if I talk to him?"

"Keep your remarks to yourself. I saw a Rian make a man pull out his own tongue with a nod of his head. And he cried afterward, too."

The man looked a little more carefully at the cruiser exit as Gael left him, passing the big Guardsman ship. She smiled as he held his weapon a little higher. Good. It would give him something to think about.

The ore processor covered an area larger than the whole Guardsman freighter. Higher than most structures, it blotted out the sky as she neared it. It was dark and dirty and smelled of scorched ore. It could process a billion tons of ore a year and it had been there since ENDO and ECHO were in their infancy, founded by Central.

No living creatures had ever worked there and probably few had set foot inside. The ore was picked up every forty-five days. The primary ore base was mined from the inner core of the planet, then synthesized into fuel that powered most of the known worlds. All of the work was accomplished by robotic mining equipment employed once Central had found that no living organism could survive in the environment created by the process. If the plant had still been operating, they would have all been forced to wear life suits.

The planet's air had cleaned up so rapidly. Gael stopped, using a hand scanner to analyze the air. Almost miraculously so, considering the level of damage the land showed and the short time the plant had been shut down. She walked in through the huge open doors, completely engulfed by the structure. Following the sound of voices towards the working group in the plant, she made a mental note to check previous time scans on other operations.

It could just be that the world had a better than average natural filtration system. Or could it be that the operation had been down longer than they'd thought? It was vital to remember that Guardsman was doing its best to make the scene something more than natural. Could they have filtered the gas out?

"Senfald." She joined the group around the main computer station. Handheld lights were everywhere in the darkness.

"Lt. Klarke." Denby's assistant walked towards her. His face was illuminated briefly by the lights coming up, then shutting abruptly back down as they tried to restart the power. "It seems to be a very simple solution."

"Really?"

"The main power link was fried and shorted out everything else along its path. The links are routinely checked but there was a batch of bad links from a few years back. One of them might have ended up here. I've got them working at it."

The lights came on again, to a cheer from the group, only to dim down to near darkness.

"That would be welcome news," she agreed with enthusiasm. "No sign of sabotage?"

Senfald's face blushed faintly red. "Look, Lieutenant. I don't know anything about that stuff. I know how things are supposed to run and how to make them run again. You and Officer Astri will have to decide about any sabotage."

Gael randomly scanned the area and saw a thin, iridescent pile of what looked like leaves. She touched them where they lay on the computer console, noticing that an even bigger pile had been swept on the floor. They felt like gauze in her hands and crumbled at her touch leaving nearly transparent dust that shimmered in the brief light. She flashed her own hand light on them. "What are these?"

"I don't know." Senfald walked away to supervise an intensive search of a cable line, then returned. "They're everywhere. Might be some kind of residue."

"Residue?"

"You know. From the ore production. Like the powder they found on that operation on Delta's dead planet. You guys shut us down for three years only to find out that it was residue from the combination of the dust and the ore phasing."

"This isn't powder." She picked up another handful of the substance. "We're going to have to have this analyzed before we start production up again."

Senfald swore softly. "A delay here, Lieutenant, will cost billions more than it's already cost. No one is going to be very happy about that."

"I won't be very happy if it starts back up again until I know what this stuff is."

"We can test on the freighter," he suggested. "Or we can have the equipment brought down here."

"That's fine. I want to have this over as much as you." Maybe more. She thought back to the strangeness of the whole mission. Kat's sudden bout of weird empathy made a quick solution even more desirable.

That seemed to pick Senfald up. He actually smiled at her. "It's been one helluva trip."

"So let's get this stuff identified and get back to our lives as quickly as possible." She returned his smile.

"You got it." He signaled to a woman over her shoulder. "Where's Officer Astri?"

"He's doing background on the cruiser." Gael didn't feel up to trying to explain a situation that she wasn't sure she understood herself. "I'm going to take a look around the area outside."

"I could have someone go with you."

The lights came up brightly again then went totally black. Senfald groaned.

"You need all your people here to get this done. I just want to look around."

Gael went back out into the gray mist, adjusting her vision from the dark interior of the plant. Everything was so flat, so dark. It seemed likely to her that anything out of the ordinary would stand out flagrantly. How hard could it be?

She started out by checking through the few smaller outbuildings. They were mostly full of tools and old batteries. There was nothing unusual. She dusted off her hands after securing the doors. Peering through the heavy mist, she could make out the few remaining pieces of odd machinery just outside the processor. They looked as though they'd been there since the plant was built and were retrieved. Museum pieces. She touched one of the hulks thoughtfully.

The distance beckoned and she started walking along the exterior wall of the processor. None of the sounds from the interior permeated the thick wall that was damp and cool under her hand where she touched it.It was a strange, eerie emptiness, one that cried out for sound and life but would possess neither for another hundred years or so while the ore operation was working. Kat was right. It was unnerving. Was this world ever the lush green of the tapestries?

It was impossible not to think about those life forms that had existed there so long before. She wondered what they would have thought about their once beautiful world being used in that way. It was impossible, standing there on that world, not to wonder what had happened to them. It was a question historians had asked for the past five hundred years.

Gael heard a sound and turned sharply, her hand at her side for her weapon. She suddenly realized that she was a long way from the plant entrance. She'd walked farther than she'd intended. Not keeping her mind on the job. She checked herself and took out her hand scanner to measure the amount of particles in the air. She wished there was a natural body of water but those quickly evaporated on ore worlds. The stark brown walls of the processor rose to obscure the sky from her sight. Her eyes were drawn to the distance. Mountains formed the grim sky drop crumbling down to black pits that looked a little like caves from the distance.

She recalled how the tapestries she'd seen had been found in caves. Probably those long dead creatures had lived and died there under the shadow of those immense mountains. There might have even been fresh water buried in those hollows. She briefly considered walking to those dark holes in the ancient mountainside, then reconsidered with a shiver.

They were probably further off than they appeared anyway. And she had to get back. Someone would be looking for her. They might be worried about her. She had been gone a long time. Her feet were sore and she was tired. There was no point in going further. A hundred reasons pushed into her crowded thoughts telling her to return.

Turning back, she felt the faintest impression of those delicate wings fluttering against her mind. Kat. She thought about him, wondering if he were reaching out to her. She started back towards the landing site and the entrance to the plant, glancing back only once the way she'd been. The mist shrouded everything as she moved away.

Kat was waiting at the processor's doors. The bright blue of his uniform caught her eye at once. The gray of the Guardsman's uniforms blended in totally with the landscape.

"Are you-uh-feeling better?" She glanced at him cautiously.

He looked pale but in control. His golden hair was plaited tightly away from his face. The blue of his eyes was painful. "Better. Yes, but strange. I can see you. But for the first time in my life, I can't feel your presence. There's a haze in my mind like the haze on the ground."

"Do you think you should go back to the freighter?" She was concerned despite herself.

"I think I'll be fine now, Sadah. What did you find out there?"

"Nothing. It's as blank and empty as it looks. I've been to moons that were considered dead but nothing like this. There's just nothing."

"Including no signs of Bonding agents?"

"No signs of life at all for a very long time. Have you been in the plant?"

"Not yet." He shivered as he looked around himself. "The destruction is so total."

"But necessary, I suppose, until they find another way to process fuel. Or find another source." She walked through the doors to the plant's dim interior.

"Necessary?" He followed her, maintaining control only with an iron clamp on his emotions. "We should put aside everything else until we find a way not to do this to another world."

They entered the shadowy recess together, finding the workers where Gael had left them. Lights were up in most of the plant, picking out the forms of the workers as they moved. She looked around for Senfald. "Anything new?"

"Nothing," Senfald said with a smile. "Better news would be hard to come by."

"Do you have an idea of approximate start up time?" Kat looked around at the operation.

Senfald glanced at Gael who frowned.

"I haven't had a chance to brief him yet," she answered his unspoken query.

"There's this stuff." Senfald moved to the console and lifted it in his hand. "Lt. Klarke seems to feel it should be tested before start up."

"Indeed." Kat stooped to pick up a handful of the shimmering substance, testing its weight and feel with his fingers.

"Do you have any feeling from it?" She bent down beside him taking advantage of Senfald's absence as he turned away to answer a tech's question.

"It is as void and dead as this planet is to me," he told her bluntly, standing and dusting his hands clean of the stuff. "I can feel nothing."

"How can that be?" she whispered as Senfald moved away, discussing the frozen console with another worker. "I've never heard of a Rian who couldn't feel everything around them."

Except for a Rian that had been dosed with Rissan. She suddenly felt very cold and withdrew in silence, not wanting to press the matter. Had Denby already started his program against Kat before he'd told her? She wished she'd said something to him sooner about the drug. It still rested in her pocket against her leg benignly but with all the portents to disaster.

Kat looked away from her. "I don't understand, Gael. But it's like suddenly being blind."

She was relieved that Kat couldn't sense her thoughts just then, more so than any other time. She hadn't been exaggerating when she'd told Denby that she'd heard of Rians murdering people they'd found in possession of Rissan. She wasn't afraid of Kat but she would have a hard time explaining why she was carrying the drug. While Rissan wasn't illegal, ENDO wouldn't appreciate the scandal it would create between themselves and their ECHO counterparts. It could conceivably have implications that would involve Ria itself.

If Kat had been given a dose of Rissan, it would probably wear off in a short time and he would be none the worse for the experience. The only cases she'd heard of Rians being permanently affected by the substance were cases of long- term use. Denby couldn't have had more than one or two occasions to use the drug.

She would have to wait and let the whole thing cool down. Perhaps the best thing would be to turn it all over to Central with Denby. The Rissan could be considered evidence if she tagged it and stored it away. Denby couldn't be prosecuted for having the drug but he could be for threatening an ECHO officer with it.

Senfald had returned and was relating his idea of residue to Kat, who looked as skeptical as she'd felt. He turned eager eyes to her. "Lt. Klarke thinks it's possible."

"Possible." She agreed half-heartedly.

Kat raised one brow, turning to her. "Really?"

"Do you have a better explanation?"

"I think you have the right idea about testing," he concluded. "How long will it take?"

"A few quarters," Senfald told them, "or as soon as possible. The testing equipment isn't all that it should be. Guardsman is keener to extract the ore than to test it."

Kat knew that was true. "They're very good at what they do, my friend. There's nothing to be ashamed of in supplying fuel to most of the system."

"What can we do, Senfald?" Gael watched the activity around them.

"Samples are on their way back to the ship." He nodded towards the door. "We seem to have the cable and lines clear so everything here is ready. We can't start up until we're clear of the planet, of course."

"You have everything well in hand," Kat complimented. "We'll make another scan of the perimeter then check back with you."

Chapter Eleven

"Let us know when you hear anything from the freighter." Gael wasn't enthusiastic about examining the perimeter again but she followed Kat out into the muted sunlight. The freighter ship was gone along with the man who'd been standing guard with it.

"A storm seems to be building." Kat pointed towards the dark line of clouds on the tops of the distant mountains. His eyes narrowed. "I'd like to go back over the area that you followed along the plant walls."

"Is something wrong?"

"No." He passed a hand over his face. "I feel...something. I can sense something that's just out of reach. I felt it the moment we landed; then it became clouded by emotion. But I feel it again now and it seems to be located in that direction. Did you feel nothing? Sense nothing?"

For an instant, Gael thought about the faint flutter she'd felt in her head just before she'd turned back.

"Tell me, Sadah," he coaxed. "It could be the answer to the puzzle we both feel is here. I know you're uncomfortable with it but tell me."

"It was just a feeling." She thrust her hands into the pockets of her gray overalls then as quickly took them out again after feeling the vial in the enclosure. "I don't know what it means. Dammit, Kat, I don't want it to mean anything."

"What was it like?" He took her hand and started walking out towards the horizon. "Try to find a word for it."

"It was what I feel when you -- " She jerked her hand from his. "I thought you were trying to reach me." She stopped when she saw the smile dawn on his face. "Don't think that means anything. I was just wondering what had happened to you and I had that feeling."

"There's nothing wrong with this." He tried to reassure her. "There would be nothing wrong with you trying to reach me with your mind. Perhaps it begins to be our answer."

"How?" She fell back into step with him as he continued along the wall of the plant.

"Because there is something here." He looked past her to the mountains. "Yet when I try to touch it, it's gone. There's a strange emptiness again."

"But there is nothing living here. The scanners monitor everything and there is nothing here but this plant and the ore." She wanted to tell him about the Rissan then, sure that the drug was probably causing delusions of some sort. Far from saying it though, she even buried the thought beneath a layer of ENDO regimentation. No way was she taking a chance on him finding out.

They followed the outer wall of the processor to the point where Gael had turned back. The black clouds continued to build into a huge wall that covered the top half of the mountains. With no trees, no cover of any kind, the normally heavy rainfall that accumulated during a planet's storms would come in a wash of water.

"I think we should head back, Kat." She felt a growing panic as the sky darkened.

"Is this where you turned back before?" He stopped beside her.

"I think so."

He started walking again and Gael followed reluctantly, the feeling of dread growing with every footstep. "You know if it rains here, it will flood. There's nothing to stop the runoff. We need to go back to shelter."

"Is that all?" He continued to walk. "What reason turned you back before, Sadah?"

"What do you mean?" She quickened her pace to keep up with him. "I turned back before because I heard a noise and no one was there. I started thinking about how far out I was and that someone would be looking for me."

"Someone? You have been on worlds like this alone, Gael. Who would be looking for you? How far out were you?" He stopped shortly and faced her. "You were responding to someone else's directions."

"Someone else?" By this time, she was barely able to keep herself from running back to the cruiser.

"There are thoughts here besides our own and not random thoughts but ones that are controlled and centered on getting us away from here. What are you feeling now?"

"I feel that we both know what can happen in situations like this. A flash flood can come up and we'll both drown. We need to go back, Kat. There's nothing here." She stopped and dared to put her hand on his sleeve, stopping him as well. "It's not what you think."

"Are you saying you know what it is?"

She sighed. She was going to have to tell him. "There's something I need to tell you. Something I should have said before. I just didn't know how."

"Find a way." He stood very still, watching her intently.

"When Denby approached me on the freighter, he wanted to help me by giving you Rissan and in turn, I'd help him give Bonding a bad name." Why did he make her feel like a cadet? She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin defiantly. It wasn't her fault.

Kat didn't laugh for once. His eyes were almost black in the face of the oncoming storm. "Rissan."

It was an unpleasant memory that Gael had threatened him with that same drug earlier in their meeting. She felt guilty but she didn't back down from his gaze. "I told him no. But I think he might have already dosed you."

"What makes you think this?" His Rian accent was more thickly pronounced than usual.

It was all the evidence of his anger that she needed but she felt compelled to go on. She took the vial out of her pocket. It was only half full. She felt the evidence spoke for itself. "I'm sorry. I would have told you sooner but -- "

"But?"

"I didn't know how to suggest it. Then when that happened when we landed and you said you couldn't sense anything and now, you sense life on an uninhabited world -- "

"You made the decision that the Rissan was affecting me."

She assented silently, grabbing him and urging him back to the cruiser, away from the mountains.

He grasped her tightly by the arms, as though he would shake her. A fleeting shaft of sunlight glinted down on his hair and the twin bracelets on his arms. His eyes were piercing, anger sharpening their gaze as he stared at her. Then he turned away.

Gael watched his retreating figure and sighed. At least he hadn't tried to kill her. He was heading back to shelter. Away from the mountains. She felt a rush of approval. His name caught in her throat, not quite reaching her lips. A tiny rush of emotion ran through her, almost fear, and she ran after him as the storm broke on the barren land.

It was like being trapped, caged by the awful fury of the storm. The rain lashed at the cruiser with such ferocity that Gael wondered if the weight of the ship would hold them there. The wind howled like demons. She huddled under a lightweight blanket on the ship's floor, feeling like so much driftwood in a dead sea. The COM was shut down for the night that came down black and terrible. Senfald and his workers were closeted in the ore processor, working through the storm to finish up by the time it cleared.

The ship hadn't tried to return from the freighter after the storm broke but Amato had reported down that the tests were slow but continuing. In the morning, they would know what the substance was in the processor and if the storm abated, they would all be well away from the planet.

The tests were obligatory, Gael told herself, staring wide-eyed into the dark cruiser. She was doing her job. She felt certain they would turn up nothing. What else could there be after so long? In the meantime, she waited for Kat to do or say something. She was starting to get worried. While she'd heard about Rians killing people who possessed Rissan, she'd also heard stories about agents who were forced to kill Rians who were crazed by the drug.

Since they'd reached the ship and Senfald had reported that they were all right but staying in the plant for the night, Kat hadn't spoken. He hadn't moved from the small cargo area that was closed off from the bridge. A faint, pale light glowed just at the sides of the door but there was no sound. No movement.

Gael had expected him to rant, possibly to throw things, including her, across the cruiser. He had to be angry. Rians weren't that different than anyone else. Yet Kat had gone into the small room and closed the door softly behind him. She'd tried to talk to him through the door. No response. She went back through the files, updating the reports she'd send to Menor when COM was up after the storm. She paced and swore.

It was better than him losing complete control. Rissan crazed telepaths were incredibly strong and impossible to treat. If Kat lost control --

Finally, she ate some rations put aside for an emergency, put on her one remaining good uniform and curled up with the blanket in her pack. The djine stains had been cleaned out of her uniform on the freighter. She wished all the unpleasant moments between herself and Kat could be swept away as easily.

He could set her off better than anyone she'd ever met. What a time to discover that she had a soft spot for Rian telepaths! He looked at her and held her hand and she was lost in those blue eyes. She didn't kid herself that it was all smoke and illusion. She was attracted to him.

She glared at the closed door. She had always kept away from things she couldn't understand, things that she couldn't control. She didn't understand Kat and sure as hell couldn't control him. And she couldn't get away from him until the mission was over! She wished she could work out or spend time and energy on the practice field. She wished she was anywhere but that accursed planet with a temperamental Rian!

There were only two Try-sting left and she was out of djine in the ship's stores. It was possible twelve hours would get her through but she decided to wait it out. She was tired but too angry to sleep, artificial stimulants or not. Her back felt like a joining piece of metal against the cruiser's hull. Her eyes burned staring at the cargo door. Maybe confronting him crazed would be better than this! When the hell was he going to surface?

Something hard bounced against the side of the ship, bringing her to full alertness. She glanced at the panel. It was still night and the storm still raged. She wasn't sure if she'd slept after all or simply sat there too angry to notice the passing of time. She took a drink of some of the nasty stuff the ship had to offer. Kat. She forced herself to think clearly. What are you doing?

Is there a problem?

Gael groaned. Not again. There it was, the faint flutter in her brain, that breathless feeling in her chest.

You called, Sadah. I simply answered.

"You could have answered out loud." She threw the empty cup at the cargo door.

Only silence greeted her outburst.

The light still glowed around the doorway and the quiet began to grow as ominous as the raucous storm without. She got to her feet in one quick movement, throwing the blanket aside. The cargo door couldn't be locked. They were going to have it out before the storm was over. There was no reason to prolong --

Gael stood in the doorway. The small door slid open at her touch. The light that had lined the opening became brighter, taking on a bluish tinge. Kat sat in the middle of the room, wearing nothing, or as close as she could tell to nothing. The light glowed from behind him or within him. His eyes were closed and his hair gleamed across his pale shoulders. Her breath caught at the aura of power that surrounded him making his body appear to shimmer in the darkness. Whether it was psi power or some personal power, she wasn't sure. He could be a god.

No god, Sadah. Just a man.

"I'm sorry. I'll go -- " Go where? She desperately wanted to stay there with him.

Sit down, Gael. Please. Don't run away.

"I can't." She turned away. I can't do this.

She felt his hand on her shoulder and turned back to face him. His eyes were a color, indefinable by any words that she knew. She felt as though they looked somewhere inside of her that she had never been.

Don't "do" anything. Allow me.

She felt his hands on her hair and she closed her eyes.

He smoothed the perpetual wrinkle between her brows. His touch was like a current, electrifying her, her uniform sliding from her along with her thoughts and doubts. He touched her everywhere, leaving a tingle of awareness along the length of her body. She could never remember feeling so alive, so free of herself and the world around her. Yet there was a hint of fire there that started to warm her in other ways --

There is that too...but for later. For now, come with me. Trust me. Take my hands --

She wasn't sure at first what had happened. One moment, they were together in the cargo room and the next, they were outside the cruiser. They were above the cruiser in the rain and the wind but the elements didn't seem to be touching them. The night was black and endless. The sky stretched forever past the planet and toward the stars. Other worlds waited. There was no time there. No today, yesterday, or tomorrow. She could ride the currents of the storm and feel the pulse of life around her.

There was more than she'd thought, more than she'd seen. She looked at Kat and saw him as if for the first time. He was more than just a man. He was an entity of light and beauty. She was more than just an orphan from Farga. The light of her entity was incredible to behold. That she had lived for so long and never known.

A wild moment of exhilaration consumed her before it occurred to her that they were dancing on air far above the cruiser's dark hull. Common sense and self- preservation began to exert its influence on her. Kat's hands were on hers. She looked into his eyes for reassurance but could find none. She felt herself falling towards the ground and screamed once, losing sight of everything but the dark ground coming closer. She hit hard, feeling a quick wave of nausea.

Nausea? She dared to open her eyes. She should have been squashed on the ground, not feeling anything. Instead, she was back in the cargo area, lying naked on top of her own clothes. Kat sat in the same position he'd been when she'd first entered. Had it been a dream?

No dream.

"My clothes are off. I guess that wasn't a dream," she said aloud for her own peace of mind. What happened to her?

His eyes opened and the light went dim. "You lost faith, Sadah. Forgive me. I knew you were not ready for this experience. I sought to show you what you could be...with patience and guidance."

Kat watched as Gael rose gracefully from the floor, sweeping up her uniform with one slender hand. Part of him tightened painfully at the sight of her and he smiled. It had been too long since he'd found anything about a woman to arouse him. This woman whose spirit joined so perfectly with his own would bring him other pleasures as well. And how he would pleasure her!

Gael pushed her hair back from her face and pulled her uniform into place. "Thanks for the experience but if it's all the same to you, next time yell at me or knock me down. I'd enjoy it more."

Kat followed her out of the cargo area and to the bridge where she took out the last of her Try-sting tabs. She would have taken them but he stopped her, his hand sliding over her own. He snatched the tabs from her hand before she could react. "If you were Rian, you wouldn't have cause to doubt your self or your abilities."

"If I were Rian, you might be right," she replied evenly, though the effort showed in the tightening of her lips. "But I'm not. I'm Fargan and I'm ENDO. None of this..,this stuff is compatible with anything that I am."

"And yet it's a part of you. You've seen and felt it."

"So you say."

"You're not convinced?"

She looked at him sharply. "I've seen Rian mind magic. "

He searched her face and saw the anger and fear in her eyes. "You aren't so simple as to think I've used magic on you, Gael. I won't let you deny what's happened to me or yourself this way."

"The only way you'll ever prove to me that any of this is real is when you're back on Miccah and I'm drunk in my bed at ENCOM and I start to hear other people's thoughts. I'll call you when it happens. Until then -- "

"You're a hard, stubborn female! Are all Fargan women so?"

"I don't know," she replied easily. "I've never met another Fargan woman -- not since I was a child. You'll have to go there to find out."

"You haven't been back to your home world in twenty years?"

"No. I haven't. And I don't plan on it happening. I'll take those now." She nodded at the pills in his hand.

"These?" He opened his hand to allow the orange dust to filter through his fingers to the floor.

Gael kept herself from doing him violence with an effort, going instead to where she'd left her blanket and wrapping it around her. She shut her eyes as she sat down on the floor.

"Pretending to sleep?"

"Yes."

"It's amazing you can sit still, Gael, Sadah." He sat down at the console and began to monitor the storm.

There was silence except for the noise of the storm outside the cruiser while long moments passed.

"Kat?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you all right now? I mean, really -- "

"I'm all right. And I'm touched by your concern."

Gael turned her head away and didn't speak again. Infuriating Rian! She peeked out from under her blanket. Infuriating naked Rian!

Kat smiled, letting the silence lengthen. He closed his eyes and reached outside the cruiser carefully with his mind.

Chapter Twelve

It was nearly daybreak on the planet when a bleary-eyed researcher found the answer. The freighter, hovering far above the planet, was thrown into instant alert. Captain Amato didn't take time to dress in her uniform before she bellowed at the young Fargan boy to follow her to the lab. "Well?"

The researcher shook his graying head. "It's not good."

"Just get on with it."

"It's some sort of living material or at least the decayed remnants of living material. I don't really know what kind. ENDO or ECHO will probably have to sort that out."

The breath hissed from Amato's thin chest. "How long?"

"Oh, probably about the same time as the original breakdown of the ore processor," he replied casually, enjoying seeing the woman uncomfortable.

"Let me see." She pushed him away from the equipment, studying the material with a jaundiced eye. She turned to Toine. "You. Get Denby."

Denby had been enjoying the captain's hospitality since the others had departed for the planet. Amato's dislike of the ENDO officer made her action a vengeance and a rebellion. He left the young female crewmember sleeping in his bedport, wrapped a short robe about himself then followed Toine to the lab. He blinked in the harsh lights of the white room. "Amato?"

"It's worse than we thought," she told him with no preliminary. "Take a look."

"What is it that I'm seeing, Captain?" He looked at the material in the protected environment.

"The remains of a living creature." The man had the mentality of a steel pipe.

"Are you certain?"

"The equipment made the diagnosis," the researcher replied. "I simply reported it. The information will be transmitted directly to ENCOM from here."

Denby looked at the researcher with panicked eyes. His hair was wildly disarrayed around his florid face. "Has it already been transmitted?"

The captain looked at Denby closely, trying to fathom his thoughts.

The researcher yawned. "Well, not yet. I wanted you to have a look at it first but I have to send -- "

"No! You, boy, go to your quarters. And you -- " He faced the researcher. "You've done your job here. We don't need you anymore."

When the two were gone, Amato sidled up close to Denby, assessing him slyly. "What do you have in mind, Alan? If we don't report the findings, she will."

"Not if she doesn't know."

The captain laughed harshly. "How would you suggest we keep her from knowing? They won't allow the plant to restart operation without these findings."

"They can't be altered?" Denby grasped for any relief.

"ENDO would know at once. She isn't stupid and this equipment is second nature to them."

"Then there's only one answer."

Amato eyed him sourly. "That's not what I see, Denby. I have a career -- "

He grabbed her roughly, shaking her, then flung her to the floor at his feet. "There won't be a career left for anyone after this fiasco, unless we do some fast thinking. Guardsman rewards initiative, you know."

She was at him in an instant, a small, slender knife at his throat. "Don't ever touch me again, you stupid pig. I know what this means. Total close down of the operation. ENDO and ECHO overrun the place looking for something that left this material behind. There would probably never be any ore taken from here again, even if they don't find anything."

"That's why we have to act, Amato." He held her gaze and eased her hand away from his neck. "We can't let this happen. If this operation closes down because of this stuff, Guardsman will ruin both of us."

"What do you know that you aren't telling me, Denby?" She moved away and sheathed her blade.

"When we lost our bid for Planet 9, Guardsman lost one of its last chances to stay in business. The ore operation on Parsis 3's dead moon is all but tapped out. If we lose this planet, Guardsman will cease to function. We need time to locate new resources but we can't do that without funds."

"So. They're willing to do anything to keep this operation alive? Anything?" The wheels began to move slowly in her brain.

"I have authority to do whatever is necessary to get this operation going again and to put enough blame on Bonding that Central rethinks their contract on Planet 9."

"What does that include?"

He looked her straight in the face. "Restarting the ore processor before the storm subsides on the planet. They won't be able to get a message off the planet and once the processor is in operation, without the proper gear, ENDO and ECHO will lose two of their top agents."

"What about our people? Senfald is down there with a crew of twenty. They only just finished the repairs and are ready for start up."

Denby smiled. "I can stand the loss, Captain. What about you?"

"How will we explain their deaths to Encom? ENDO and ECHO officers don't just die without a good explanation."

"I have all the proof we need that Bonding agents killed the two officers and the Guardsman crew on the planet because they found out about the Bonding sabotage scheme."

"You're more clever than I gave you credit for being, Denby." Captain Amato smoothed her hands down her thin body. "You know I'll back you up. Whatever you need."

"Let's contact your crew." Denby warmed to his subject. "We can restart operations from here?"

"Of course. I'll clear the control room and handle it myself."

"Wait for my signal."

Toine waited until the other two had passed him in the corridor. Neither one saw him. He had to find a way to warn Gael. Maybe there was still time.

***

"It can't be repaired without a part from the freighter," Gael told Kat, wiping the rain from her forehead, leaving a wide swath of black dirt that already covered the cruiser. The rain was still coming down but not as harshly. It quickly erased the mark, leaving her face wet and shiny in the dim light.

Morning had come bringing some let up of the weather but not enough to try to send a ship down from the freighter. Adding to that, when Gael tried to power up the cruiser, she found that the storm had been more than just sound and fury. A large chunk of rock material had been flung against the outer hull rupturing a critical closure that would leave them vulnerable to loss of pressure as they left the atmosphere.

"We'll have them send it down with the material results. I'd like to check on the processor work."

She nodded and followed him to the plant. The building was washed out brown in the gray morning. The wind still whipped wildly, catching at their clothes, the ECHO blue and ENDO red of their uniforms bright beneath their waterproof garments.

"It's finished." Senfald met them at the door. "I sent up the test results a few hours ago and they check out. We're ready for start up as soon as we get the lab answers."

"They're still working on that?" Gael was surprised. "Those results should have been ready during the night."

"I told you, Lieutenant. Our traveling equipment isn't what ENDO or ECHO would be used to. We hardly ever do research. They just need some time."

Gael wasn't convinced. There was an obvious need to light a fire under someone on the tests. She started back for the cruiser when Senfald's COM link came up.

"Maybe this is the tests now." He smiled, going for the COM.

Amato's face was indistinct but visible on the channel. "We need start up confirmation from you again, Senfald."

"Right away, Captain." He shrugged at Gael's arched brow and went to the control panel.

"Captain?" Gael hailed her. "Are those test results done?"

"No, Lt. Klarke. Our equipment is not up to your standards, I'm afraid."

"So everyone keeps telling me. However, Captain, we must have those results before start up can occur. I'm sure Guardsman wants that to happen as quickly as possible."

"You're right, of course," Amato agreed smoothly, "and as soon as we can -- "

Kat pushed the captain's droning voice from his senses. He'd heard a voice clearly and it wasn't the captain's voice. He tried to separate it from the emotional turmoil that suddenly engulfed the group on the planet. "The young Fargan boy. He -- "

Gael watched him as he ran off through the plant towards the cruiser, wondering what was wrong. The rest of the crew that hadn't been with Senfald joined the group that was at the control panel. She decided to leave Kat to sort out his own problems and followed the techs.

"There's a problem," Senfald told her as she reached him. "The control panel is jammed. The ore processor is set to begin operation."

"Cut the damned cable," a large man yelled from Gael's left side.

The group was loud and angry, clearly frightened and anxious.

"Wait." Senfald smiled weakly. "Wait a minute. They have control on the freighter. They can switch off from there."

Amato's image wavered on the COM link but her voice continued. "We cannot receive your message, Senfald. Send again."

"It's all right," Senfald told them all. "I'll send the distress pattern on the com link. Even if they can't get -- "

The lights came up and the sounds of a fully processing plant began to come to life around them. A deep whirring sound coming from below them in the ground announced the beginning of mining operations. It would only be a matter of minutes before the release of the deadly gases that had devastated the planet's surface.

Several of the workers ran for the cable area with laser clippers in hand only to be turned back by the already focused protection grid. "We waited too long! This place could hold off an army."

Gael pushed Senfald out of the way as he stood at the control, stunned. She took out her weapon. Aiming for the control panel, she systematically destroyed all the control functions until all that remained was a ruined black mass.

"What now?" She turned to Senfald impatiently.

"The ore begins to be processed and the gas kills us all."

"What about destroying the main processor unit?"

"It won't work. It has a protection grid that would block you."

"We'll have to take that chance," she yelled over the noise of the processor. "Start getting your people to safety on the cruiser. Try to contact Amato."

He stood there, not moving, staring off at the COM link that was dead by then.

"Move it!" She screamed the command at him. "There's no time!"

He came to life finally and started to round up the group while Gael ran for the processor platform. The shouts of the terrified workers screamed through the plant over the grating sound of their own deaths; the mining of the brown-black ground far below the surface.

Gael reached the processor unit and searched for the most vulnerable place to stop its operation. There wasn't enough power in her weapon to destroy the entire assembly. She had to pick her shot carefully. It had to be in the main power distributor. She started coughing in the stench that was already rising from the fathomless blackness of the pit.

Taking deadly aim, she fired at the power coupling, discharging the entire weapon into the gray metal. There was a popping sound she could hear clearly above the other sounds in the plant. Then the protection grid retaliated, returning her fire back at her in the form of energy waves. She dropped down but not in time to miss the ripples sent throughout the entire space. The force hit her full on, knocking her to the dirty floor, unconscious.

Kat felt the blast hit Gael like a blow to his own body. Sickened by the force of the energy wave, he dragged himself to the cruiser.

The first group of crewmen nearly trampled him in their haste to get inside to safety. He ignored them, pulling back from his attachment to Gael after realizing that she was unconscious but not in immediate danger. He punched in the link on the COM panel and the young Fargan boy's face came up on the screen.

"You are in danger," he was repeating over and over in Fargan, like a chant. "They mean to kill you all. You must leave the planet now."

Kat couldn't understand him but could sense the warning from the words. He felt an intense buildup of power that had nothing to do with the mining operation. The power washed over him as though he were not in its path.

The bridge of the cruiser was crowded with the crew from the plant. The man nearest the door closed it on another group of frantic survivors. "There's not enough room. We'll all die if we don't close this door."

The gas in the plant was reaching a dangerous level. There wasn't time to argue with the man and protect Gael. It took time to construct a shield -- precious minutes that would keep her safe until the air cleared. Until then --

The men in the cruiser were never sure afterwards what happened to them. It was like a piece of their lives had been taken away, not to be found again, as Kat summarily took their normal mind function and left them sitting on the floor like un- animated puppets. The door opened and the rest of the crew came aboard, gratefully finding room to stand beside their slack jawed companions.

Kat began to piece together a shield that would keep the noxious gas away from Gael's inert body. The Fargan boy's voice continued to scream at them, bright tears wetting his face. He stopped and looked to one side. A high-pitched whine replaced him. Then the link went dead. The power that had passed them flowed back to the planet's surface.

Kat felt the strength, heard the screams of the freighter as its outer hull was breached, the inner hull divided. The Guardsman freighter with all her remaining crew was gone. He felt their surprise, saw their desperate efforts to stay alive, tasted their fear. Then there was nothing. Close to fifteen hundred people were dead. Their death throes burned through his mind even as he tried to save Gael. He pushed them away, tried to concentrate.

The impact of their combined terror and pain was too strong. He stabilized one part of his mind only to have another embrace the chaos. The shield was weak, ineffective. Gael's breathing was shallow and pained as the gas began to destroy the tissue in her lungs. He called to her, trying to pull her back. By combining their strength, they could hold the shield. She had to hear him. Frantically, he pushed at the outer edge of her consciousness but couldn't find a way to enter. She was closed to him, dying. He felt the velvet blackness coming slowly over him and he fought it back. No! She couldn't die. He wouldn't let her go, would never find another --

The crewmen gathered around him as he slid slowly to the floor.

***

Gael awakened slowly, her body in a cramped, fetal position. She couldn't move. She tried to draw breath into her burning lungs only to cough it out again. Kat?

There was no response. In all that dark space, there was only emptiness. She was drowning, gasping, trying to get up. Something was pinning her tautly to the processor floor. She opened her eyes and saw a face close beside hers. She imagined that round black eyes looked at her quizzically through a haze of smoke.

Gael reached out her hand to touch the face and it moved quickly away. She closed her eyes again and surrendered to the lack of oxygen in her brain. The noise of the processor settled down to ominous silence around her.

Chapter Thirteen

Kat wasn't conscious, yet he felt the pull to reality. He floated in between both worlds and wondered who had called to him. It was a definite summons, a command to return. His eyelids felt weighted and his brain was filled with cobwebs and shadows. In all of his life, he'd never fully lost consciousness. It was a function of Rian brain patterns not to allow full loss. But he could find no other answer. Time had passed, time he could not account for inside of himself.

Carefully, he slowed his breathing and quieted his heart. His body was cool and unmoving as he left it. He had been lying in a corner of the cargo area as though thrown there to be out of the way.

He would never know the struggle a few had put up not to have him thrown off the cruiser after he'd passed out. The crew had finally agreed to put him in the cargo area and had taken possession of the cruiser. They were arguing about how long the effects of the gas would last in the air as he passed them, going between them. There was enough food and water on the cruiser for several days for the two it was meant to hold. For the entire crew, the rations would last only a few days, at most.

A COM officer had already discovered that without the freighter to relay their messages, the cruiser's link wasn't strong enough to reach outside the immediate area of the planet. They were confused and didn't understand what had happened to the freighter.

Duty argued with Kat that he should stay and talk with the survivors. He could have allayed their fears and soothed their panic. But he found that he had to know what had happened before he could help anyone else. He left his body there and went to find Gael.

He called her name and heard no response, not even anger. He attempted to locate her in the plant but there was no imprint of her being there. It was as if she'd vanished, leaving no energy trace. Even if she were dead, there would have to be some psi memory of her. There was nothing.

He entered the processor area, terrified of what he'd find. The operation had shut down. Probably with the freighter's destruction. He felt the darkness in his soul as well as around him. What had gone wrong? Repeat of the incident suggested some sort of power surge between the ore processor and the freighter. Yet he found it hard to believe there could be enough power there to destroy the ship.

Near the COM link, he found Senfald's body. The gas had overcome him. His narrow face was a pasty gray color, withered by the gas fumes. He turned away. He found Gael just off to the side of the processor unit where the blast had thrown her. The red of her uniform was barely visible under a thick shell that covered her. She was pulled up tightly, knees to her chest, head tucked down. He couldn't tell if she was alive or dead.

Most importantly, even though he could see her, he couldn't feel anything from her. It was as though; whatever the shell was that covered her, prevented even energy from escaping. It wasn't a mind shell but a translucent wall around her body. He called to her again but there was no movement. No response.

With a thought, he returned to the cruiser. Re-entering his body was not the traumatic experience it had been for Gael. As a child, he was taught the right way to exit and the only way to re-enter. Impatience made him angry at the intolerable slowness of recovery. To regain use of his arms and legs took too long. It was a process he'd never been anxious with before. He couldn't blame Gael's emotional energy mesh for the feelings that engulfed him. Pushing himself to the limit, he walked out the cargo room door. There was no time then to understand what his impatience meant. There was barely time to return and help Gael.

Three of the men in the front were fighting. One man pulled out his laser knife. His hand hit the COM panel, sending up a shower of sparks. Most of the crew was cheering the fight on and barely noticed Kat's entry.

"Enough!" He stopped the fight as they turned to look at him.

"There's nothing on this damn planet and the freighter won't answer the COM."

"The gas'll kill us way before we have to worry about it."

He looked each worker in the face steadily. "The freighter is gone. It was destroyed when the processor started up. For now, we're alone on the planet. We'll have to try and survive until help can get here."

"How long do you think that will be?"

"Perhaps two days. Perhaps more."

"What kind of answer is that?" The frightened survivors wanted answers.

Kat was impatient to reach Gael. "The only kind you're likely to receive. For now, the air has cleared. We don't have to be confined here any longer."

"It's only been three days." The questions continued, gaining strength from the group. "How do we know if the air is clear?"

Kat was stunned. Three days! What had happened to him? He would have to deal with the immediate issues first. "Have you checked the sensors?"

The group watched him as he made a show of going to the control panel and pressing a few buttons.

"There. You see? The air is clear." He smiled at them as though they were children. Then he opened the cruiser door. They watched him carefully as he walked outside, half expecting him to start choking. But when he advanced confidently towards the plant, the group left the cruiser quickly.

Glad that there were no mechanics that would have known that the sensory equipment was offline, Kat made for the processing unit. He was followed by a few of the crew that were looking for Senfald, noticing that he hadn't been on the cruiser. They stopped at his body, leaving Kat alone to find his own dead. No one had failed to miss the bright ENDO red uniform.

It would have to be a miracle for Gael to be alive. Kat steeled himself for the moment. Yet something told him that she wasn't dead. Not yet. Hurry!

The gas was deadly poison. The substance around her was unknown but it was doubtful that it could have kept the gas out. When he touched it, Kat quickly drew back his hand. It burned as though it were on fire. Some living creature had given its life to construct this membrane that housed Gael's unmoving body.

"What is that?" The crewmen left Senfald's body and joined him.

"Looks like some kind of...wait a minute. It's that same stuff that's all over here. Just that this is whole or whatever." The other man bent down and lifted a piece of the glossy resin-like substance from the floor. He held it up to the one that was in place there and the pieces matched.

Kat took it from him and held it lightly, feeling that same awareness. This had been part of a living entity once. The pieces on the floor were older. Life had been gone longer from them. The larger shell had only been dead a short time. Probably since the freighter had been destroyed.

"Is she alive?"

Kat tapped at the shell with a hand tool from the floor but there was no movement.

"We could try this." The younger man held a laser knife. He plunged it into the hard matter and tried to move it in and out. There was no real progress. But there was a crack in the field.

***

Gael had been dreaming.

There was a beautiful green mountain near a sparkling stream. The water was crystal pure. Sunlight dappled its gray depths and tiny green plants waved along the rocky bottom. There were flowers everywhere. She had never seen so many colors or smelled so many sweet fragrances. There were more mountains in the distance, pale mauve against a brilliant blue sky.

She looked again and the blue of the sky was there in a man's eyes as he watched her. She was drawn to him, walking slowly, sure that she knew him but not certain of his identity or her own. "Hello." She didn't recognize her voice.

Kat closed his eyes just an instant to thank whatever, whoever had graciously kept her alive. He felt an answering reply. Like a chime it filled his mind and then was gone. He looked at Gael again, standing close to him in the sunlight. Her eyes were searching his face. "Do you know me?"

She stared at him a little more closely. "I think so but I'm not sure. Do you know me?"

"As I do my own soul. Gael Klarke, Lieutenant, ENDO. Fargan birth. Bane and joy of my life. Do you remember?"

She frowned. Her gaze flew to encounter his own. "I remember seeing someone. A face with round black eyes. I was choking. The gas -- "

"I believe the lack of oxygen has placed you in a coma. It will take effort on your part to revive."

"I tried to wake up before." Her voice held a quiet dignity. "I couldn't find the way back."

"You must try again. Take my hand. I can lend you strength."

She shook her head slowly and backed away from him a step. "I have to do this alone. I've always done everything alone. Can't you see that this is important to me?"

"Can't you see that you are no longer alone? That you will never be alone again?"

She stared at him silently for an instant. The clouds shifted in her mind. It had nearly been lost to her but she suddenly remembered this man. She reached forward and took his outstretched hands. "Let's go. I have a feeling I'm going to have a terrible headache."

He smiled, then was serious. "You'll have to concentrate. Your consciousness is buried deeply; only a spark keeps you alive at this moment. It will be hard to fight your way back."

She held his hands tightly. "Thank you for coming for me, Kat."

"Always." He nodded solemnly.

She closed her eyes and tried to find her way into her body. She could feel its stiff, cold form on the hard floor. There was some pain, a blinding flash of light that cut through her like a knife. At first, the nearly dead being she was being asked to reanimate repelled her. The body was damaged, not so severely as it had seemed but it had been inactive for almost too long.

She forced herself into the blackness. For one long moment, she was alone in that darkness and fought to breathe. Then she heard Kat calling her name. Slowly she opened her eyes, making them focus, pushing life back into her limbs. She was looking out at Kat and a few of the plant crew through a tapered window. The view was fuzzy. There were colors where there shouldn't have been any. She tried to move but she was trapped in something hard that enfolded her lovingly. There wasn't much air inside the shell. So this is how a fish feels.

This isn't the time for humor, please. We can't break the shell from the outside. You must try from within.

Gael pulled her leg up a little closer to her chest and kicked as hard as she could. The little dome gave some but not enough. She tried both legs, kicking hard. The reverberation through her body was terrible. She balled up her hands and punched at it but it remained firm around her.

She examined the shell from her vantage point, the angles and the curves of the sides where it met the floor and vanished. She closed her eyes again, drawing from a remote well of anger and frustration as she'd taught countless recruits. She flattened her hand and drew breath into her lungs. Now!

Kat couldn't hear the cry she made through the shell but when her hand pierced through, he grasped it firmly, adding his strength to hers. She ripped through in another spot then peeled back the rest of the covering. Taking a great lungful of air, she pushed through, feeling Kat's hands pull her free. Being born was no easy task.

Kat didn't let her go. He picked her up and carried her, despite her weak protests. All that had remained of her strength had gone into that birthing. She saw Senfald's body as they passed him.

"He was a good man," she murmured and felt Kat agree.

He took precious water from their stores and a few mouthfuls of food. The workers, he noted, watched but didn't speak. Their eyes followed him resentfully. That was enough, even without sensing their feelings. Most of them resented that they'd found her alive. One less mouth to feed.

"I can't believe it's been three days." Gael hated the slight quiver in her voice. She'd been equally angry when her legs had given out on her after getting out of the shell.

Kat looked up into the gray sky. "Not even a residue of gas left in the air. It's as though it didn't happen."

"How is it possible?" She drank water slowly. "Even that small amount of gas should have taken a week to clean up."

"And you." He looked back at her. "You're something more than a miracle."

"Why me and not Senfald? Why am I still alive?"

"Certainly there's a reason. I'm sure we'll know before we leave here."

"Kat." She swallowed hard, trembling despite her best intentions. "Tell me again about the freighter."

In a few words, he explained again that surge of energy that had passed between the planet and the freighter. "It was as if the boy knew what was going to happen."

"Or knew what preceded it anyway." Her mouth was bitter with the sense of Toine's loss.

"What could've happened? What sort of power surge could that thing give off to cause that kind of damage?"

There wasn't time to reply as an angry group of workers came upon them.

"Senfald's dead." The worker spoke without preliminary. "That makes you two in charge. So? What do we do besides wait to die?"

Gael stood on shaky legs that she hoped she did a good job of disguising. Kat stood just behind her. "We'll divide up into two groups to work on our two main problems."

"Two?" The livid scar across the front of the worker's face stood out like a red weal.

"Water and food. And a way off this planet." She glanced at Kat, knowing there was no time then to continue their conversation. "We'll divide into two groups. Half of you with Officer Astri, the other half with me. Anyone with com link experience?"

Survival had become paramount in everyone's mind.

Chapter Fourteen

Kat and his group of the remaining crew took Senfald's body to be buried in the rough, acrid soil. Then they started out to scour the area for anything that would help keep them alive until they were rescued.

Gael took the other group to work on the cruiser. Fortunately, one of the men had worked on COM equipment before. She had him working on the idea of hiking the range of the link to reach the closest civilization.

Trying to repair the ruptured hull was a waste of time but it gave everyone else something to do besides panic. The one real hope was that the freighter had time to get out some small message before it was destroyed. Even that was a thin reality. Gael squinted up into the listless sun that hung overhead.

When she'd heard that she'd been trapped in that shell for three days, she'd done a quick mental calculation. Help would have already arrived if the freighter had sent out a signal. That meant that some alert person, possibly Menor when he didn't receive a report from her, would have to send out a team for them. But it would most likely take more time than they had food or water.

Already tempers were high and tolerance low. The entire group had the stench of doom about it. The crew had never spent much time in survival training or maintaining any form of discipline besides doing the hard labor on mining sites to repair processors. They didn't work well as a team and their respect for Gael or Kat wasn't the kind that would allow them to make or carry out decisions for the good of everyone. There had already been thefts from the food stores and bullying by the meanest of them to take what little some of the others possessed.

Gael had to physically pull two men apart as they were working on the hull and had received a knife wound for her trouble. She resisted the temptation to beat the scar-faced man with the nearest rock. He'd started the fight as he had several others. She could tell by his brooding glances that it wasn't over between them.

As darkness fell, Kat and his team returned with a few more precious drops of water. The rain had washed away on the top of the barren soil almost as fast as it had fallen. There was no sign of food.

"Biggest damn brown bunch of nothin' I ever saw." One of the female workers snorted as she returned with Kat.

"We're gonna die here." Another worker spat into the tense air.

"Maybe so." Gael pushed her way through the rapidly gathering group. "But we might as well eat first."

They passed out the rations slowly, everyone aware of the meager portion and the small amount that was left. There was some grumbling but everyone was too tired to do much of anything but eat and fall asleep. Kat took half of the group into the processor for the night. The others would sleep in the cruiser that night then switch off the next. By doing that, Gael hoped to give each group a good night's sleep. Morning was going to come too quickly for empty stomachs and short tempers.

She sat at the COM panel long after all the others had gone to sleep. As a cadet, she'd built a communication device more complex than the one in the cruiser. She'd taped and patched others together countless times. They should have been able to increase the distance they could send even if they couldn't receive. They should have been able to get out some sort of signal. But there was only a hum in the panel. It was like the whole system had been taken off line, not just the freighter.

Her stomach growled and her head hurt. She switched off the panel but knew sleep would be impossible. Besides the stench of ten unwashed bodies in the tiny cruiser there was also the competitive snoring, each one louder than the one beside him.

She took her blanket and her pack outside and went to find a comfortable rock, closing the door to the cruiser behind her. Most of her survival training had been outside anyway. It was a good time to see how strong those skills were in a real situation.

The night air was clean. The smell of the ground, damp and pungent, was better. There were no wild animals to worry about and the temperature was pleasant. If there was just some food and some of the rain hadn't run off, it wouldn't be half bad. She shifted her arm that had been cut, trying to find a comfortable place. She should have cleaned and bandaged it.

"I knew you would neglect this." Kat came to sit beside her. He carried a compact first aid kit. "You're an excellent commander but leave no time for yourself."

"Do you have anything in there that will boost the link between us and Encom?" she asked pointedly.

"No, perhaps not. But it might keep you alive until help comes."

She faced him in the pale starlight. "You and I both know that it won't happen in time. If the freighter didn't get off a relay, we're stuck until someone loses patience."

"And are you also precognitive?"

"I'm experienced. That makes it worse."

"How?" He eased the sleeve up on her arm to expose the skin beneath it.

"On Quella, two years ago, we were on a routine surveillance, checking for roan cutters who were damaging the rain forests. We were shot down in the middle of nowhere, forced to land in the jungle. It was two weeks before they thought to send someone in to check on us."

"But you did have food and water. Perhaps they knew this and weren't as anxious about you as you were about yourselves. ENDO isn't famous for being overly concerned about their agents."

She winced as he applied the sterile spray to the wound, sealing it and killing any micro organisms. "Maybe not. A Quellan Ha'lt snake bit my partner almost as soon as we left the cruiser. She died three days later and it wasn't a pleasant death. They could have saved her if they'd gone ahead and come after us."

"And you believe we'll die here?"

"What do you believe?" She snatched her arm away from his hold and pulled her sleeve back to her wrist.

"Feeling better?"

"Yes," she admitted. "You're a good medic, Sadoh. Thanks."

He looked up into the might sky. "I don't believe we're alone here, Gael. As soon as we can find the others, we'll find out how they survive. I feel they must require water and sustenance just as we do."

Gael was stunned. "What makes you say that?"

"I couldn't tell you earlier but the shell that covered you was a part of an entity. Something gave its life to save yours in protecting you from the gas. Others called me to find you when you would've died if you'd stayed inside the shelter any longer."

"Others." She said flatly but saw again in her mind the creature with the round black eyes.

"So you did see one of them." He picked up on her mental picture.

"I thought it was Senfald at first, I thought -- "

"I believe that whoever these creatures are, they saved you. Perhaps because I expressed a desire to help you but couldn't. Or perhaps they have their own reasons."

"Couldn't? Why couldn't you?"

"When the freighter exploded, the thoughts...the fears and the anger of those fifteen hundred people were overwhelming. The Fargan boy,,.when I returned to the cruiser while you tried to stop the processor..,he was trying to warn you of danger. I couldn't understand his words but I could feel his fear for you."

"But you couldn't understand how or what?" Gael keenly felt Toine's loss and her inability to keep him safe.

"There was no time for me to understand him. He was terrified. Then, as suddenly, gone." Kat packed up the first aid case. "I felt something. A force, energy, emanating from the planet. It passed by me and I believe it destroyed the freighter."

"That would be a helluva force. Weapons would have shown up on a scan of the planet. It wouldn't have mattered where they'd hidden them. Bonding -- "

"Only weapons forged by our hands. Not weapons of the mind. I believe that the race that's here is telepathic. They are unified in purpose." He paused and drew in a deep breath. "They've prevented me from communicating with ECHO. They were willing to do whatever they had to do to keep the ore processor shut down."

She hated to ask but, "The Rissan -- ?"

"There is no Rissan in my system," he assured her briskly, "I attuned myself to the energies of this place. It created a harmony in me that I've never felt before but there is still something preventing me from knowing everything. I can feel them. I know they're here. The remains of what we found in the plant were from their first attempt to destroy the processor. But I can't get through to them or discover who or where they are."

Gael considered his words silently, gazing out over the darkened landscape. "Why didn't they just let me die then, Kat? Why bother to give up one of their lives to save me?"

He sat back against the massive rock formation, staring up at the stars. "I don't know the answer to that. Perhaps they find you interesting. Perhaps they were just unable to save Senfald."

"Or perhaps it's you. You were the one concerned with my survival. If they are a psi race and they can understand you, you could ask them to bring us food."

"I don't think they intend us to know that they're here."

"They've given that away already," she argued pensively. "They must be incredibly naive."

"If they see it that way, that's true. If we all die with the knowledge before anyone else can get here -- "

"You could try to contact them anyway."

"I've tried many times. Perhaps you should try, Gael."

"I'm not an ECHO telepath. And I'm sure anything that's happened has been because of you." She held up her hand as he started to protest. "Not that you necessarily did it on purpose, Kat. And perhaps it's been because of the dreams."

"You've spoken of the dreams before," he recalled outloud, turning to face her. "What dreams are these? They could be important."

"Just dreams." She shrugged, refusing to be pulled into another discussion of her psi ability. "Everyone dreams. It doesn't make everyone telepathic."

"I won't force you," he surprised her by saying, "but you should know that dreams are quite often the beginning of a young psi mind."

"Young psi mind?" She scoffed. "I'm no kmar."

"In ways you are. it's just that you're locked into a much larger frame."

She took in a deep, steadying breath of night air. "Go to sleep, Kat. This was too much for me on a full stomach. In my present condition. I'm likely to forget my good manners."

He laughed as he left her to return to the processor plant. The sound floated back to her through the darkness. Good night, Sadah. Dream of food.

Gael hunched down into her blanket and shut her eyes, willing herself not to dream.

Chapter Fifteen

It couldn't have been more than a few minutes. The sky was still dark but along the horizon it was tinged pink, the mountains covering the first glare of the sun. Someone was shaking her, calling her name. The night had grown colder and she shivered as she sat up to answer.

"They're gone. All of them. We've looked everywhere we could before daylight but there's no sign of them."

"Who's gone?" She yawned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Fris and I went to get them and there was no one there. They're all gone. The processor is empty." The young man who spoke was breathless, gasping for air as he tried to tell her.

Gael stood quickly. "The crew in the plant?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, Lieutenant. We're the only ones left."

"Did you check the storage area?" She thought ahead. Kat was in the processor. They could have taken all the supplies and found a way to take him out of the picture.

The boy with Fris looked at the other young man as though it hadn't occurred to him. The two ran off, Gael immediately behind them.

Lights came up on the cruiser. The crew inside groaned and tried to ignore them as Gael and the two others checked the supply room. Everything was as they had left it the night before. She switched off the lights. It would be just as well to keep everyone from knowing what had happened until they had to know. "Let's go into the processor."

They nodded and followed without a word.

The plant was black as deep space. The power had been cut to the lights as well as the processor. Gael rigged a light cord from the cruiser to allow at least enough light to search the plant. The great shadowy hulks of dead machinery were strangely menacing and unreal.

It didn't help to think of Senfald and Toine and the shell that had trapped her as well as saving her life.

"Lieutenant?" Fris called her from near the remains of the control panel.

Gael hurried to their side, noting with a jaundiced eye that their idea of searching the place included staying close enough together to touch each other. "What is it?"

"Goldive's lucky charm." He held out a shapeless lump of metal.

"Are you sure?" She turned it over in her hand but it didn't look like anything to her.

"Positive. He takes it with him everywhere."

"He could have dropped it." She wondered if it were possible that Kat could have taken the group out to try and search for his mysterious race that inhabited the planet. It was conceivable. "I don't see any signs of a struggle. They might be out on early recon."

The one thing that did disturb Gael was that all their packs were still there. They'd left their water rations, personal belongings, everything. Even Kat wouldn't expect to take them out with nothing. Yet the dusty floor was clean around where they'd been the night before.

Gray light was filtering through the sky when they emerged. Thunder rumbled distantly. The watery sunlight was giving way to another day of storms. The crew from the cruiser was just starting to emerge, their glances catching on the trio that left the processor.

"They're gone." Fris' friend rushed to tell everyone else.

"Gone?"

"What'd they take with 'em?" Someone demanded loudly.

"What are you gonna do about it, Lieutenant?" Casth, the scarred man who'd accidentally stabbed her the day before, demanded.

"Do?" She faced them calmly. "I'm going to work on the cruiser while it's not raining. Then I'm going to eat something and I'm going to look for a way to catch some rain to drink. Any other questions?"

"What's to stop any of us from leaving?"

"If you want to go out there into nothing, that's your choice. But supplies stay here."

He drew his knife on her, slashing at her with it as he tossed it lightly from hand to hand. "You want to take me out, Lieutenant? Come on, if you think you can. I'm not afraid of you or that ENDO uniform."

Gael saw the looks on all the other faces. If she lost authority here, she lost everything. It had come down to every officer's nightmare, a situation that would require her to best a man in combat to prove her command. She took one step towards the man. He jumped at her, a big body and wildly flailing arms.

With a short kick, she disarmed him, sending him sprawling in the dust. He came up snarling, not able to find the knife but trusting that his weight and size could overpower her. She waited confidently, standing still until his hands were on her. She moved suddenly; a blow to his throat that caught him off guard. He fell to the ground hard, groaning and coughing. He didn't get up again.

The thunder that had been distant rolled in closer and the wind was warm with drops of rain. The rest of the group looked at her warily. "We'll divide into groups." She looked each tech in the eye. Where are you, Kat?

***

Collecting water once the rain began was the only successful part of the entire operation. The COM panel stubbornly refused to yield any higher output even with the cruiser's full power behind it.

Gael stared at the wires under the panel for the tenth time as the unit blew itself out. It should have worked. It was as though something or someone wouldn't allow the signal to leave. Feedback was destroying the couplings much as Kat had destroyed the main coupling at Miccah. His theory was beginning to make sense despite her every intention that it shouldn't. Were they being prevented from reaching anyone off the planet?

She shook her head wearily and put the thought aside. She had enough problems with the things she knew were happening. It was late afternoon according to her calculations. It was impossible to tell by the sky if it was morning or night. The rain was less wild than the first storm and there was no wind.

There was also no sign of Kat or any of the missing workers. She could feel the others growing tenser as the day dragged on. Watching the storm, waiting as if they thought whatever had come for the others would come for them. Casth hugged the shadows, whispering within his own sullen group. They were just waiting for the right time.

There wouldn't be any sleep for most of them until Kat returned or another event took the place of his disappearance. Gael knew a few of the remaining crew felt she should send out search parties for the missing group. If for no other reason, Fris had argued, than to know what happened to them. In other words, Gael correctly interpreted; to be sure it wasn't going to happen to the remaining crew.

Despite their fears, or perhaps because of them, she felt separation at that point was unnecessary. It could even prove to be more dangerous than sitting on the primed weapon she felt the crew had become. Most felt the loss of half the crew was for the best. After all, there were ten less mouths to feed.

Yet she couldn't help but notice that hands strayed often to whatever weapons were handy. Sudden noises made everyone jumpy. Rescue was still an option. This wasn't an ordinary mission. Surely ENCOM would be wondering what had happened by then? Menor should already have someone on their way to the planet. Destruction of the Guardsman freighter was no small thing. Central or Guardsman, someone was bound to investigate. Soon. So why was she so nervous?

There was a desperation to her movements that was tangible. She'd been in situations similar to this one before and had come out all right. She knew the answer. Something had been wrong from the beginning on this mission. The pieces wouldn't fit together. There was an important missing link that hadn't been given to them. It might have been that link that had caused the rest of the crew's disappearance. It was a link powerful enough to have taken Kat.

She went over the cruiser info disk of Toine appealing to her, again and again. She saw his tear streaked face, heard his warning. She was in danger. Someone was trying to hurt her. The danger he spoke of wasn't what had destroyed him, of that she felt certain. There was something else going on up there. Was it possible Amato and Denby had been plotting some action against them on the planet? Had Toine overheard them?

If so, what had happened? Some overload on the freighter? And what of Kat's feeling of destructive power coming from the planet? Impatiently, she switched off the info disk. It was almost morning again. No movement had come against them during the night. Nothing had happened out of the ordinary.

She felt Kat's loss down to her weary bones. She wasn't sure how she knew but she knew that he was still alive. But where? And if he was alive, why couldn't he communicate with her? Rians could communicate through deep space. If he was still on the planet, he should have been able to contact her with barely any effort.

Her head ached and her eyes burned. She hated the whole situation. Nothing made sense. Nothing fit into place logically as she'd come to expect of every situation. Most of all, she hated that she was worried about Kat. ECHO agents were well trained. He could take care of himself, probably better than any of the rest of them. But if that was the case, then where the hell was he?

They worked harder on extending the link out far enough to reach Land's End. Circuits blew out. Power transfers fused. Gael was replacing the third cable when she heard the scuffling not too far from her feet. Cable in place again, she slid out from beneath the panel.

Fris, the young man with COM experience, was watching two others fight across the bridge.

"What the hell are you doing?" she stood up and demanded. "If you two damage the cruiser any further, we won't have any place away from the flood water except on rocks out in the rain."

They glared at her and grumbled but moved away from each other. Gael would have given a year's salary to have trained ENDO agents there!

"I caught him stealing food." The smaller man wiped the blood from his mouth.

"It was just a taste." The other man pushed away from him. "It wouldn't have saved anyone's life if they didn't eat it. I didn't get as much as everyone else last night."

"You don't know that," Gael told the food thief. "Get your gear on. You're going outside to help with the water."

The man threw her tired, dangerous looks but did as he was told.

Gael sat at the panel with Fris, not looking at the controls. How much longer could she keep it together? They were down to enough food for each of them to have a mouthful that evening. After that, there were very few options. The cruiser couldn't leave the atmosphere. The planet was without even the smallest bit of greenery. There were no animals. No insects. They had plenty of water stored in containers that would probably last longer than they would. At most, they could probably go two weeks without food.

She had to assume that the freighter hadn't signaled before it was destroyed. But she knew help would be coming if they could just hold out until it got there.

Bryn, one of the steadier techs, came in with rain dripping off his hooded gear. He carried a bottle of water and drew a scanner from his pocket. "You're not gonna like this, Lieutenant."

"Then don't tell me." She groaned. "What now?"

"This water. The scanner shows dangerous levels of particulates in the rain we caught."

Gael glanced at him and he blushed slightly, his wet, dark bearded face looking uncomfortable. "I spent some time in an Enviro group on my world before I joined Guardsman. Enough to know poisoned water when I see it."

She took the bottle and the scanner from him. "Just enough to kill you slowly. Nothing quick...a week or two."

He nodded grimly. "That's what I thought."

"Poison."

They both looked at Fris who shook his head and turned back to the panel.

"We have to have water." Gael gritted her teeth. "Food we can manage for a while. We'll have to take our chances with the poison. The effects should be able to be reversed when help comes."

"Should we tell everyone?"

"Hold that." Gael replied as she put down her tools. "We don't all need to know about the water. Everyone's strung out enough as it is."

Bryn nodded grimly. He returned the scanner to his pocket, put his rain gear back on and went outside.

He didn't like her response. That was obvious. Gael considered that if help didn't come before the two weeks were up, poisoned water might be a blessing.

She worked with Fris silently again on the COM link. As quickly as it seemed that they should be able to transmit, another part burned out or shut down. Gael lay under the panel, patching, rewiring. She closed her eyes, hopelessly frustrated.

"Lieutenant?" Fris wondered if she was all right.

She looked up at him. "I think we should wait until the storm lifts. We aren't getting anywhere like this."

He agreed. "That could be what's causing the weak signal."

She looked at him doubtfully, catching herself as a stray thought passed through her. She found herself momentarily caught between their two forms. She saw herself, sitting beside him at the control panel. She was looking out of his eyes, thinking his thoughts. Who was she? Where was she from? He was afraid to ask such a personal question in the situation. She was attractive in a strict, pure boned fashion. The scar was --

Gael snapped upright suddenly, severing the wordless bond. Just what she needed, some damn psi stunts trashing what control she had of the situation. "I'm going out." Gael left the cruiser before she could receive anything further from him.

Chapter Sixteen

It was raining outside, not so hard as steady. The rain was warm in the twilight mist. Gael jammed her hands into the pockets of her rain gear, glaring out into the coming night.

What was wrong with her? Kat couldn't be affecting her. Yet she'd sat there with that young boy and known what it was to be him. She'd seen herself, her uniform dirty and torn at the sleeve, the deep frown between her eyes. Her hair needed trimming and just the few days of too little food was making her face look gaunt.

It was different than a mirror. There was an overlay of what Fris thought about her. There were body parts where she had never had them. She was acutely aware of a feeling of power that the boy saw in her.

She breathed in the wet air, walking around to the side of the cruiser where the water brigade was working. The rain fell harder and the ground began to squelch under her booted feet. A muddy, blood tinged face came up at her from the gloom, making her retreat a step. Her hand went to where her weapon should have been. Of course, there was nothing there. The weapon lay dead on the processor floor where she'd dropped it.

The man fell into her arms, catching desperately at her to keep from falling to the ground. "They're gone. They just left. I couldn't stop them." It was Bryn. He had a laser knife wound in his arm and his face was slashed.

He collapsed totally on her. She half dragged-half carried him to the cruiser. Fris ran to help her at the door. They removed his muddy clothes and wrapped him in blankets then cleaned his face and his shoulder. "Will he be alright?"

"It's not deep." Gael handed him the first aid kit. "Seal the wound. I'm going to check outside." She walked quickly, carefully, to the side of the cruiser.

There were tracks this time, leading away from the cruiser towards the open plateau that stretched out endlessly away from the mountains. They'd taken their gear and the water containers with them.

She cursed fluently, knowing there weren't enough words in any language to express her frustration. If it were just the six workers, she would say let them go and good riddance. But they needed those water containers. They were the only things that could hold water and there was no way of knowing when it would rain again.

Against her better judgment, she knew she would have to go after them. She broke the news to Fris and the other three workers in the cruiser. "We don't have much choice."

"Why? There wasn't enough food anyway."

The young man next to Fris nodded. "I agree. We can make what we have last longer without them here."

"We can't live very long without water," she reminded them all. "I don't care a damned bit what happens to them. But those containers were the only thing we could find that would hold water. If we knew that it rained everyday, that would be fine but none of us know the weather cycles here. It might not rain for another month."

Gael avoided Fris' knowing eyes. If it would do any good she'd tell them that the water was poisonous. Two weeks at the most. Nothing mattered after that --

Albert nodded. "I'll go with you, Lieutenant. We need those water 'olders."

"All right then. We'll keep two of us here. Fris and Bryn. Albert and Damie will come with me. That way if help does come, we'll be covered."

"I couldn't stop them." Bryn groaned and repeated, opening his eyes.

"You did what you could. We'll take care of the rest." She looked at the remaining four men. "We'll divide what's left of the food."

Gael and her group took all the provisions they could find that might be needed on the rugged terrain. With the cruiser for shelter and a moderate amount of energy in the batteries, Fris and Bryn would be better off than the group going out.

"I've got this beacon that I'm switching on...now." She turned the tiny monitor on. "Any tracer should be able to find it just about anywhere on the planet."

Fris nodded gravely. He'd never been charged with anyone else's life. "If they come, we'll find you, Lieutenant."

Gael and her group followed the first group's tracks across the plateau, the mist actually making their prints easier to find on the damp ground. They moved without speaking, each with their own thoughts. Night settled in swiftly bringing heavier drenching rain with it. They slept sparingly on a high rock pile, washing down a mouthful of food with a handful of rainwater.

Gael listened to the fitful groans and snoring of her companions, watching the rain drip off her heavy hood. The night wasn't cold but she shivered, pulling her knees up closer to her. She wrapped her arms around her stiff legs. She rested her head on her knees, exhausted, and closed her eyes.

Her dreams were full of color and flickering light. Someone was calling her but she couldn't find a way out of the whirlpool that threatened to pull her down into its depths. She opened her eyes and saw a dark form, silhouetted against the colors. "Kat? Is that you?" Kat?

There was no response. She felt the wild beating of wings within her and forced herself to concentrate. What was it that Kat had said about her dreams being important?

Kalatri Astri. She called his name in her mind and heard the echo along the tingling nerves in her body.

Gael?

She shivered, knowing the timbre and feel of his voice inside her, eagerly reaching out to him. There was a sound, like a faint chiming, in the wind. Slowly, it filled her mind, sweeping away the sound of his voice. She clung fiercely to Kat's energy, that feeling of his presence, trying with all her pent up frustration to call out to him again.

But she was alone on the rock face with daylight coming slowly over the horizon. She sighed as she faced the pale yellow sun climbing up the mountain peaks. Was Kat alive? Too inexperienced in the use of psi, she'd felt something. But was it Kat?

She awakened the men wearily, feeling their reluctance to give up that other world within herself. They decided against eating right away since there was only a mouthful of food left for each of them. The flooding of the night before had washed away any sign of tracks from the men they were following. Water had begun to collect in spots forming small pools between cracks in the rock formations. It was clear and cool as they drank it but there was nothing to fill their empty stomachs.

"I think we should head towards the mountains," Gael told the other two. "It's more likely that they would head for a distinguishable landmass than track around in circles down here."

Albert and Damie both nodded and followed her without a word. She could see by their eyes that they were almost beyond caring. They'd come along with her as something to pass the time until they died.

The day was threatening to be hot along the treeless plateau. The mountains would offer a cool relief and high ground in case of flooding. If they could make it. She didn't like the sound of surrender but there wasn't any realistic alternative. They could live without food for a while but even the most seasoned troops would resist heavy trekking into the mountains on an empty stomach. The water problem seemed to be solved, at least until the poison killed them. They needed help soon.

Menor! You could have someone on their way here now. We can't hold out here forever.

She refused to think about the two weeks she'd spent in the jungles of Quella or her partner's face as she'd died. At least there were no snakes on R-12. She stumbled after her companions.

The day dragged on interminably. The sun beat down with a vengeance forcing steam from most of the water left behind the day before. The plateau glittered in the fierce sunlight, blinding them as they moved like sleepwalkers, one foot in front of the other. They sat down wordlessly by the blue shade of a rock face and shared the last of the food, no more than a few morsels each. The two men dozed in the shade.

Gael couldn't keep still. She wandered the cliff side, wondering how long it would take for the planet to regain any use of its land. The soil was completely lifeless. The water, even though it had been stagnant, showed no signs of vegetation even in the sun. The air was clear. That was still a mystery to her.

At best, it should have taken weeks to clear the air on the planet but it probably would have been months. It had taken less than two days. But the water was affected. Once again, she was stopped by the oddity she felt about the mission and the world where they were stranded. Reaching up, she swung over a small ravine, grabbing at a rocky handhold for support. She didn't really notice where she went.

Suppose, she sorted through her thoughts, that there were people, a race, forgotten by everyone. It wasn't possible. All of her training told her that she was starving and desperate for answers. No one could have survived for a thousand years on that planet with the ore processor killing everything.

She started again. Suppose, somehow, a race had survived for all those long years on this planet. Central, ENDO, and ECHO had allowed mining, not knowing, possibly not caring. There was no denying that the synthetic fuel produced there was richer than most.

They'd sent in two agents whose one thing in common was a specialty in dealing with unknown races. Kat had said that he was communicating, in a way, with someone or something. If there had been survivors there, they would be angry, possibly hostile towards all of them.

It was difficult for her to equate hostility and those tapestries she'd seen that had been found in the caves on this world. Was it the same race? Unfortunately, she was running out of time and there were still too many questions and not enough answers. She re-crossed the ravine and glanced down into the rushing clear water that filled the ragged drop.

She saw the first group of men from the cruiser. Water containers were still around their necks. They floated, facing the sky, in a shallow pool of water formed by two immense boulders. Their bodies were bloated and bluish colored. Their eyes were open and empty.

She counted them. It was all six workers. It was possible they'd been washed into deep floodwater during the storm the night before. She sat down on the edge of the rocky precipice and concentrated, trying to form a clear picture of what she was doing, what she was going to do.

Twenty years of training shored her up. There was a dogged pragmatism to her nature that refused to be bested, refused to believe that there wasn't an answer to their dilemma. She had to face the hard facts. The six crewmen were dead. It was probably true that Kat and the other ten from the processor were dead as well. Only wishful thinking had put him in your dreams last night.

Gael liked Kat. She found him attractive. He was --

Her mind strayed and she pulled it back. Unless she began to understand what was going on, she wasn't going to live to find anyone or anything attractive again. She was alive, along with four others but there was no food. There was enough water to survive. System damage would be minimal from the particulates if they came in time. Even if it took two weeks for Encom to get someone there, they should be able to survive that long. They'd have to hike back to the cruiser, try and sleep as much as possible until help came.

She felt the dulling of her senses. Lack of sleep, food, and exposure was working against her. She got up and circled back to where she'd left the two men by the rock face. It was possible they could still go down the rocks and retrieve the water bottles before going back. The idea was practical, if repugnant, but their need for the containers hadn't diminished.

Albert cried when he saw the dead men. Damie merely nodded then stared off out at the mountains for long minutes.

"We havta take 'em back, Lieutenant." Albert said finally. "Can't leave 'em there."

Damie looked at Gael and nodded. "I'd want you to take me back. We can't leave them here. It wouldn't be right."

Despite Gael's reluctance, they ended up hauling the six bodies out of the water and up the rocky incline. It was back breaking work. The bodies were heavy and awkward. They tied the bodies together. It was the only way Gael could think of to get them back across the rugged ground. It took the combined efforts of the three of them to pull their weight wrapped in thin waterproof jackets.

Albert was silent but tears ran down his rough face. He didn't look back. He didn't look at Gael or Damie.

Gael trudged between them, too exhausted to think. The sun cooled and darkened to night. Still they walked, pulling their burden behind them through the mud, over stone.

Damie broke down just in sight of the cruiser. He fell on the wet ground sobbing, pleading with someone to kill him and get it over with.

Albert continued to walk, not noticing or caring that he'd left the other man behind. His shoulder muscles strained with the extra burden.

"I'll send someone back," Gael promised, her voice raspy. "Stay here, Damie."

The cruiser lights came on dimly and someone shouted as they came nearer.

"It's them," Fris yelled back to Bryn.

Gael didn't hear a reply but concentrated on pulling her weight the full measure. When she didn't think she could move another muscle, she felt Fris pulling at her arm.

"Let go, Lieutenant. That's far enough." He unlocked her stiff hands from the rope.

Albert had fallen to the ground, not crying or speaking. He stared at the cruiser, his hands still on the ropes that were dark with his own blood.

"Damie." Gael ground out harshly. "We lost him back there."

"Is he -- ?"

"No, he's alive. Just -- "

"I'll find him. Stay here." Fris was gone only a few minutes but Gael and Albert had both lost consciousness before he returned.

Chapter Seventeen

Bryn went back with Fris again at daylight but there was no sign of Damie.

Gael fought the voice that called her, the hand that shook her painful shoulder. But the call to consciousness was persistent.

"Lieutenant." Fris shook her again.

She groaned and reluctantly opened her eyes. Sunlight dimly reached her through the open doorway. Every part of her body was raw and strained. She groaned and closed her eyes again when she remembered why.

"Are you all right? Can you stand?" Fris leaned down close to her.

"Is she dead?" Bryn asked Fris, looking at her.

"Unfortunately, I don't think so." Gael opened her eyes and looked at them.

"You've been out all night and some of the day." Bryn told her in an anxious voice.

Gael reached hard within herself for some reserve of command strength that she hoped was left to her. "I'm all right." She tried to sit up.

Bryn reached to help her. She stifled the anguish that came to her lips as she moved, every muscle on fire. She was inside the cruiser on the floor, a jacket covering her. "What's happened?"

"You collapsed. We brought you in here. Albert was here but he left during the night."

"We couldn't find Damie," Fris added quickly. "And now Albert's gone too."

Gael got to her feet slowly, her head pounding. "We have to look for them. They might be wandering around out there, out of their heads. We have to stay together."

They searched. The sun came up slowly, weakly. They stayed within sight distance of each other easily on the flat surface of the plateau. But there was no sign of Damie or Albert. The men were gone.

Gael continued to search, calling their names until she was hoarse but there was no reply and no sign of them. Nothing was left behind. There were no tracks in the mud that led away from the rocks. It was as if they'd never existed. She felt giddy at first, lightheaded. It was like being in a bad dream. People didn't just vanish. Yet they were gone with no explanation, like Kat and the first ten workers from the processing plant.

Fris and Bryn had moved out of eyesight. Would she return to the cruiser only to find herself alone? Checking the transmitter at her waist, she turned back the way she'd come. If they were all gone, she would wait for rescue by herself. Better yet, maybe they would come for her. She was convinced now that there was someone or something hiding on the planet. They had taken the others and probably killed them.

They would find her no easy prey, she vowed, although how they'd managed to get close to Kat was still a mystery. Perhaps it was more of the mind games they'd worked on him when the cruiser had first landed or that Rissan had weakened him without him realizing it.

He'd seemed stronger after his time alone on the cruiser, but perhaps that was only temporary. In any event, she would be the hardest damn thing the natives from that world would ever had to handle.

Fris and Bryn weren't waiting at the cruiser as she'd silently prayed. They were all gone now. She was truly alone. Quickly, she pulled everything from the cruiser that she could possibly use and set up the tracer from the console on the plateau. If they came too late, ENDO would know she'd been there. With the cruiser stripped, she set the controls to auto and readied it to take off. There wouldn't be much left but the fireworks would be spectacular. Once the cruiser got up out of the atmosphere, the fracture in the hull would cause it to explode. The COM link couldn't reach Land's End but the tremors from the explosion would jolt their sensors.

She climbed out of the ship, stepped away, and switched on the hand control. The cruiser started up slowly into the twilight sky. Gael watched its lights until it was out of sight. She realized that blowing up the ship was the last act of a desperate mind. Was it her last hope of survival or her best?

As the sun set, she made camp, her back set against a flat wall of rock. She sharpened her knife and stared out into the night, refusing to allow herself to think about anything but her survival. There had been hard times in her life, times when she wasn't sure if she would make it. She'd won the knife she held in a fight when she was eight years old and living on the dirty streets of R'agus, the only city on Farga. She'd never known parents or a home besides the shadowed streets. She'd learned that she had to fight for even the most meager scraps of food and clothing. Yet she had survived and she had joined ENDO. She'd lied about being a slave and she would've killed to get off those streets.

Perhaps none of the others on the mission had needed to face those fears and win as she'd been forced to do so long before. Gael Klarke was a name she'd taken from a wall poster in an alley because she'd never had one of her own. She was a survivor.

***

They came during the night. There were too many of them for Gael to count. She'd heard them coming from a long way off. Perhaps since she was alone, they thought she'd be easy to take. They were wrong.

Rising from her cloak like an avenging angel, she struck down a dozen of them. They seemed confused, finding her retaliation unexpected. They quickly melted back into the darkness. Though she would have liked to follow them and put an end to it, she knew the strategic value of her position. She cleaned her knife and folded her long limbs back against the rock.

In the morning, after no further attacks, she drank a little water and faced the prospect of another misty, rainy day. There were no bodies on the rock face around where she'd been during the attack. There was no blood. Not a rock was disturbed.

That was how they did it. A sort of ghost warrior tactic probably meant to frighten and disarm. She pulled her wet weather gear close around her and started towards the mountains again. She felt certain the answers lay in their shrouded heights that had seemed so fearful to her.

The storm gathered force as the day wore on, breaking long before Gael could hope to reach higher ground. The wind was stronger, pushing her back as it whipped her fiercely. It threw gravel and soil into her face. She pulled the cloak down so that only her eyes were visible, pushing one foot in front of the other against the wind. She was bent nearly double with the force of the slashing rain when they struck again.

It was like they'd dropped from the sky, falling on her with the force of a mountain, pushing her to the ground. She tasted blood as her teeth ripped at the inner flesh of her lip. Water and mud choked her as she tried to breathe. She tried to get her legs under her to stand. She fumbled for the knife and got it as far as her side. A terrible blow to her hand made her drop it.

Bones were crushed and broken. Gael screamed her pain and fury into the wind and rock. She kicked at one of her assailants, thrusting up and hard, only to feel the body give way to the ground. More weight dropped on her. There were too many of them.

She coughed, taking in water. A hand roughly grasped her head by the hair and lifted her face from the ground. She couldn't move; couldn't see, blinded by mud. Her chest hurt. Broken ribs. Her mind considered the pain in a detached manner. Her hand was broken, possibly the wrist. Rain coursed down her face like tears that she would never have shed.

She saw a face in a flash of broken light, opened her mouth to speak then a fist struck her hard against the side of the head and the pain and anger became darkness.

***

Gael was conscious. She was alive. But she couldn't move. She wasn't in pain. That surprised her. She could remember those last few moments before the darkness and that face. Her eyes closed and the sounds around her became dim and distant. Several other moments of consciousness came and went while Gael struggled to stay alert. Despite the soothing sounds that floated through her mind, she pushed at the edges of her awareness.

Kat had pulled her out of the coma when she was trapped in the protective shell. He'd showed her the way. She had to search for the light and the gritty feeling of pain. Slowly, little by little, she felt the clouds leave her brain clear and clean.

Kat.

I'm here.

Where?

They won't allow you near me as yet. Be patient.

They?

There was no response. Gael strained her eye muscles trying to see as much as she could from side to side. She appeared to be standing upright. The room was vast, shadows and vapor. Was she alone? There was no way to see beyond her immediate vision. She could wiggle her fingers and toes just slightly, enough that she could feel a soft, padded substance that enfolded her, imprisoning her.

Where was she? Was this how all the others had vanished? She heard sounds, shuffling...or the muffled beating of...wings? Someone was coming. There were other sounds. A low moaning. Snoring?

It could be speech muffled by the same substance that was plastered over her mouth. The sounds were scattered, random. She stood, resolutely silent, careful to keep her eyes down even while she scrutinized every sound that was made around her. She'd shrugged off all of the drugged feeling that had trapped her.

Kat's race of R-12 planet dwellers had trapped them all, neatly and effectively. All that remained was to wait for their next move. If they were expecting her to beg, they would be disappointed.

The beings that entered her field of vision were small. They were very white skinned with the same soft rounded head and large black eyes that she remembered seeing that night at the processor. Kat's secret race? Hardly the warriors she'd been expecting. They were very thin and frail, almost childlike in manner. Had one of them saved her life at the processor? Had it been these creatures that had delivered the beating of her life at the plateau?

Two of them came to stand directly in front of her. Their black eyes were shiny and fathomless. Curious. She sensed pity and alternately, deep fear. She didn't understand. Since she was their prisoner, she'd expected triumph or mockery. What did they want from her? They looked at her carefully, scrutinizing every line of her face. The black eyes stared intently at her then looked away at each other quickly.

Gael felt like an exhibition in a museum. Was that what she was to these people? She heard a sound. It was swelling, bell-like, in her brain. It was growing but not abrasive. She could feel it flow from them through her body in its mummy wrapping. They were communicating. Not with her but with each other. The tones were high then low, flowing and short. They looked at her then at each other, the sounds changing through her mind.

She couldn't understand what they were saying but knew conversation when she heard it. There had to be a way to talk to them. She could tell them who she was and that their presence on the planet changed everything. If they were afraid of the processor, she could assure them that they had nothing to worry about.

Excitement warred with the need to be free. This was a new race of people. They'd survived here despite the processor for generations. There was so much to be done, so much to learn. But she was their prisoner and the fate of the other crewmembers, including Kat, was still a mystery. Her first priority had to be getting free and securing the release of the others. Why couldn't Kat communicate with them? This type of work was his specialty. Where was he?

Even as she thought of him, he came into her immediate field of vision. He wore flowing white. His golden hair was loose around his shoulders. He ignored her completely, standing just to one side of her so that she had to strain to see him. She pushed her peripheral vision to the maximum just to make out his face.

He came closer to her. His eyes glanced off of her face without recognition. Not a flicker of interest passed his smooth, beautiful features. Was this a game? Surely it wasn't an ENDO-ECHO competition between them. She wanted to scream out and hit something. What the hell was going on?

Calm down. She forced herself to take a deep breath. She veiled her eyes with her lashes, not daring to look up at him. Slowly, painstakingly, she created a detachment from the situation. Emotionally charged, she would do herself no good. She had to think, not feel. She wished their chiming thoughts would leave her brain or alternately, that they would make some sense.

Why didn't Kat talk to her? Did they have some control over him? She'd have to take charge. They'd found a way to keep her from feeling what they'd done to her. Gael knew otherwise. And she knew that pain could be an ally.

She controlled her breathing, pushed feeling into her numb toes and fingers, concentrating on the pain that coursed through her as she opened her body to it. With pain came strength. She shored up her defenses. She could feel the swelling on her eye and the side of her face where the beings had hit her. The side of her mouth was cut and a trickle of blood slid down her chin. Ruthlessly, she made herself feel the break in her wrist and the crushed fingers of her right hand. The broken rib in her chest suddenly made breathing a tortuous process.

Gael looked up, her eyes glazed with pain. The creatures were massed in front of her, their eyes wider, if possible. They stared at her. Their chiming language came faster and higher as though they were excited. Gael dared a glance at Kat, stunned to find him changing before her eyes.

In his place was a being, illuminated within itself, wings unfurling from its back. There was a resemblance to the others standing in front of her; the same black eyes and rounded head. The winged creature held the smaller ones close around it like offspring. Together they watched her, obviously troubled.

Gael breathed in quick, shallow gasps, determined that there would be no illusion. She had been seriously hurt in that fight. They wouldn't drug or quiet her with their chiming thoughts. The fact that they'd thought to try and trick her into believing that Kat was all right made her escape even more important. Surely if he was able to function, Kat would have communicated with them. They'd seen him. Had they tried to force him into their service and failed? The thought of him being injured or dead made her impatient.

The creature with the wings came up closer to her. She stared furiously back into those depthless eyes, refusing to back down. The being did the same, turning its head curiously as though trying to understand her.

A surge of amazement came on her. She blinked, realizing that she felt the creature's emotional state even though she couldn't understand its language. For just an instant, as she had with Fris on the cruiser, she could see through the other being's eyes. Through a haze, she could see her own scarred and bleeding face.

Unlike the experience with the Guardsman tech, the winged creature's life processes were not adaptable to her own. Too late, she realized that there was not enough energy in her present state to keep her hold on consciousness. Her vision faded and with it, she felt herself slip back into darkness.

Chapter Eighteen

There were no dreams of pretty tapestries, no slow transition from unconsciousness. One instant she was out and the next she was awake, surfacing, as though she'd been drowning.

She gasped and sat up straight, wincing as she felt the hot, sharp pain knife up through her side.

"Kalamir, Sadah." Kat greeted her softly, sitting beside her.

The large soft padding that had swaddled her from her bruised body was gone. She glanced at her dirty uniform and grimaced. At least she was free. She groaned and lay back down slowly on the cushion. Her head ached and her mouth felt like it was full of grit. She would have given a year's salary for a mouthful of Fargan rum and a fully charged weapon. She felt his hand on her arm. Long fingers put a cool container into her hand. "It's not rum but will clear your throat. As to the other -- "

"I don't want to play these games anymore," she told him, her eyes still closed. "Whoever you are, find someone else."

"Gael." He spoke lightly, a dry humor in his tone. "You play these games too well to give them up. Drink. You'll feel better."

She looked at him, trying to see through the illusion. He was wearing the white robe she'd seen before and his hair was loose on his shoulders. All right. She'd play along until she saw an opening. She might not have a weapon but she was never helpless. "Oh, Kat! How can I know if it's really you?"

"An ingenuous question." He ignored the insincerity of her tone. "If I were not myself I'd attempt to mislead you."

"That's not the answer." She sat up despite the pain and glared at him fiercely. "What do you want from me? Who the hell are you?"

"Take the liquid, Sadah," he urged. "Drink and we'll talk."

She took the container from him then dropped it on the floor. It fell from her fingers and struck noiselessly on the padding at his feet. "You must know that I'm not going to eat or drink anything until I get some answers. Why am I here and who are you?"

He bent to retrieve the container and she quickly moved her good hand to his throat. "The ENDO calis ona," she murmured, "the death move."

He looked at her from dark fringed eyes that were narrowed in pain. He didn't move but her vision blurred as she was slammed back into the cushion. She gasped at the pain, not moving again as he sat back down beside her.

"But as I told you, no physical move is as effective as a trained psi." He took her hands in his own long, slender ones, ignoring the shock of contact. "Tell me, Sadah. Who do you think I am? For once, you must trust more than just your eyes."

There was the faintest flutter in her mind, then a warmth and color that bathed her tortured senses. Touching him was like a sigh on a summer's day. She opened her eyes and looked slowly into his so blue gaze.

"Gael?" He said her name quietly but with an underlying passion that heated his simple return.

She threw herself into his arms, resting her cheek on the smooth white robe at his shoulder. It was like being home, a feeling she'd never known even at ENDO. "Don't expect me to apologize for that. What the hell is going on?"

He watched her vainly try to adjust her body so that the fractured rib didn't hurt. It was useless. He calmly reached for her and settled back against the wall with her head on his chest. His eyes closed for just a moment when she was finally still against him, feeling her relax. With gratitude, he rested his head on hers. Thank you.

She sniffed, hearing his heartbeat under her ear. She touched his silky bright hair that lay near her face. "For what?"

Coming back to me.

Oh.

Oh? Something more, please? I feel like I've waited a lifetime to have you near me again.

"Kat -- " You scare me.

He laughed, a gentle, easy sound. "I thought that also. Until I realized that real fear was the concept of never seeing you again."

Gael refused to consider her own thoughts in that direction. She moved her hand slightly and stopped in wonder, staring at her wrist and fingers. "They aren't broken."

"Now that, Sadah, is a wonder. How did you do that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you guessed? These people have used illusion and not a small amount of psi energy to bring us all here. You weren't really attacked by anyone except in your mind."

"But I'm injured. My rib and my face." She reached up and touched her face but there was no swelling around her eye and her lip wasn't bleeding. "But it was so real."

"The Chrysalines thought so." He smiled down at her. "They knew you couldn't have been truly injured. Yet as you forced yourself to regain consciousness, your face grew discolored. They felt the pain of your real injuries. You projected that pain to them and you caused the injuries that you believed to have been done to you. They were horrified."

"How could I have done that?" She was amazed.

"You have a rare and special talent. You've crushed it down inside of you for so long that it almost died."

"But you." She turned slightly to look at him, wincing although he told her that the pain wasn't real. His beauty dazzled her and the warmth in his eyes reached down inside of her. "You saw this in me from the moment we met. I don't understand. How could I hide it from everyone else, even myself, and not from you?"

He touched the scar on her cheek, etching in his mind each line of her face, wanting to lose himself in her dark eyes. "You are a compliment to my own psi energy. I can't stop you from touching my mind, my emotions. You are a part of me."

"I could have gone along all my life and never known." She reached out a hand to touch his face.

"No." He shook his head, putting his lips to her palm. "At some point, you wouldn't have been able to shield this energy from yourself or ENDO. I have merely been a catalyst."

He lowered his head slightly, his hair sliding across hers, meshing the strands. His eyes were intent on her face. His lips met hers gently then he smiled. "I have heard stories of the tribesman on Farga, the untamed ones that dwell outside R'agus and the government rum trade. Perhaps you're descended from one of those people. Their psi is the stuff of myth and legend. Yet perhaps it's real."

She lowered her eyes, some of the warmth leaving her.

Gael?

I am descended from the alleys, from slaves. I killed a man to win my knife. I stole food from sick children. She lifted her hand to cover the scar on her face, not looking at him. "I lied to become an ENDO agent. I ripped the slave mark from my face and I took a name that I saw once on a wall. I would have killed to get away."

"You are descended from misfortune and pain that made you strong and alone. You are strong still, Gael, but you are no longer alone. You've covered a part of yourself so that others wouldn't see but like this scar, it is a part of you." He took her hand in one of his own and bent his head to touch his lips to the scar she'd hated forever. A part of me.

Gael looked at him and she knew that what he said was true. But she wasn't willing to give up all she had been yet for what she could be.

In time. Old habits die hard.

Her eyes fell from his face to her tattered uniform. There was still a job to be done. "Chrysalines?" She looked back up at him, duty clearly written in her face. She pushed everything else aside and put their conversation back on their mission.

Kat was not to be led so easily. His eyes filled her vision, the blue so intense that she shivered, not able to look away. Surges of energy flowed through her, warming her and shifting something deep inside of her. It changed subtly to a sweet ecstasy that made her groan and move against him.

Rian mind magic?

Our magic, Gael.

"But business first? Until later then." He withdrew from her emotional field, leaving her breathless. "I shall attempt to explain the problem to you."

Please. Allow us, Sadoh Kalatri. Three of the smaller beings entered the room, their black eyes shining. They had, obviously, monitored their conversation and knew when to enter. They wore white robes similar to those Kat wore but their short bodies were bulky under their garments as opposed to Kat's slender height.

They came towards them. Gael felt the harmony surrounding them reach out to encompass her as well. She heard their chiming language in her brain but couldn't make sense of the sounds. Yet just a moment before --

Together, we can understand, if you will allow me to help you.

She looked at Kat, still surrounded by her fears. It seemed impossible to trust that this was happening yet inconceivable for her to ignore it. She broke down, feeling a shudder of awareness ripple through her as he touched her. "All right." All right.

The Chrysalines looked from one to another, concern clearly drawn in their regard of them. She is well, the female?

She is well. She wishes to hear your story. Will you tell her now?

We will. It is she who touched us from so far away. We know this now. They bowed to her slightly. We felt your coming. You have come to save us.

Gael glanced at Kat then back at them. If I can.

The Chrysalines' storytelling was more than words, much more than a painting being created for her with light and color within her mind. Their telepathy included the scents of their once green world, the cries of the birds, the wind and the rain. Their memories were the tapestries she'd seen, the visions that had haunted her. Her dreams.

Long ago, long before there was government, as she knew it, before Central had come and found nothing on that world, the Chrysalines had lived there in harmony, at peace with themselves and others. They were an old race, taking generations to mature from gestation to adulthood. The tapestries that had so confounded the ancient explorers were their works, the art of the last generation to survive. They spent their childhood as the beings there before them. Eating, weaving, preparing for the next generation.

Fortunately for the race, many had gone into the caves for shelter when the intruders had first come. By the time they returned to build the ore processor, an underground habitat had been established. A large delegation had been left behind to try to communicate with the off-worlders. They struggled to understand the strange creatures' frantic building. All attempts at communication failed. At last, the strange creatures had left. Then the processor had been started from the ship that hovered above the planet.

All the Chrysalines left on the surface had perished in the noxious ore dust. The ones that remained were in their next form that would last for several hundred years. Only recently had those cocoons begun to open. Many were lost to the slow spread of gas that permeated through the higher caves. Only the deepest cave dwellers had survived. We are those survivors. We number fifty. We were awakened to our new existence by our sole mature manifestation, Ardoc.

Gael was shocked and sickened by their story. There is only one adult?

Only Ardoc, whom you met.

Their minds chimed together to show her Ardoc, the winged adult who'd masqueraded briefly as Kat, taking the image from her thoughts. We awakened to a world that had been destroyed by toxic fumes by a people we did not know on worlds we had only dreamed of. There were some stores of food that were closely monitored for our survival. Then there was the enemy.

The ore processor, Gael confirmed.

We were ignorant of its power, fatally so for many of our brothers. Then we found we did not need to kill it with our bodies. We could destroy it with our thoughts.

As you destroyed the freighter, Kat joined solemnly.

They attempted to bring the creature back to life, to destroy what chance we had for the future.

Fifteen hundred lives, Kat sighed, lost.

Gael felt their depth of sorrow but also their commitment to preserving their own kind.

We called out to your people after the creature was silenced. They sent you to us. We felt your coming and attempted to have you understand so that you would feel welcome here among us.

My dreams. Gael shivered, thinking through with them what she could recall of the fragments of those vivid illusions.

Others not so dedicated to life came with you. They would have destroyed our world and taken your life as well. We could not allow this to happen.

The Chrysaline that saved my life?

He determined to enter his final transformation sooner than he should to keep you from the poison. It destroyed him. You are here with us now. Safe from those others. You can save us! The trio looked at Gael and Kat eagerly, projecting their visions of hope and salvation.

We must speak alone, Kat told them. We will decide what can be done.

The Chrysalines left them. They bowed in imitation of Kat's own elegant movement.

Chapter Nineteen

When they were alone, Gael paced the floor restlessly. "How could this happen? Weren't ENDO and ECHO set up to prevent this kind of tragedy?"

"Apparently, all of this took place before the advent of environmental concerns. The ongoing rush for cheaper, better ore is still trying to push us through preliminary scans on Planet 9. That's why the separation between ENDO and ECHO is so important."

"Why didn't they contact you, Kat, instead of trying to reach me? I'm no psychic. You could have helped them."

"You were open to their call," he explained. "On Ria we're taught, perhaps wrongly, that one must control psi energy, not reach out to embrace the general population for fear of personal violations."

She glanced at him. "Not that those teachings have stopped you when you thought it was necessary."

"As I told you, I do what I need to do. But I would never have been open to the Chrysalines' impressions as a newly awakened psi."

She grimaced at the term but didn't argue with his assessment. "So what do we do now?"

"Do?"

"We have to stop Guardsman from restarting the processor. ENDO has to know about the situation here. We have to get off this planet."

"The Chrysalines believe our lives are in danger if we leave here. They won't allow us to leave. They brought us down here to their caverns to protect us."

"But they wanted us to do something to help them," Gael protested. "What can we do from here?"

"We must be creative." Kat smiled. "If the Chrysalines have managed to do all that they have from here, surely we can manage their rescue."

"Can't we reason with them? Explain somehow?"

"How would you explain this destruction?" He waited, one eyebrow raised as he watched her walk quickly across the floor.

"They must know we aren't all ready to destroy their planet for ore or they wouldn't have asked for our help. What happened with the freighter was an accident."

"Was it, Sadah? The Chrysalines were monitoring the freighter when the accident happened. It's in their minds that when the captain and Allen Denby found that there was life on this world, they agreed to sacrifice all of us to conceal it. To restart the processor knowing they would have time to process millions of fuel cells before an investigation could take place."

"Are you certain of that?"

"They are certain, Gael. I'm certain of that. How do we explain that there is good left in a race that would destroy its own people, to another race who have already been destroyed by them?"

"All right. But we'll have to be damned creative!" She stopped pacing abruptly and shook her head. "If I wouldn't have destroyed the cruiser we might have been able to convince them to allow us some communication."

"They've stopped all communication to and from the planet. It was part of the protection of themselves and us."

"Where are the others?" She stopped to consider Fris and the rest of the crew.

"Except for the six that drowned, they are all in a controlled sleep," he answered. "Where you would be right now if you hadn't manifested those psi battle scars."

"The cocoons." She nodded. "Well, at least they aren't hungry."

"Or thirsty?" He smiled down at her and took her hand. "Your mouth is dry like dust and your stomach is touching your backbone. Come, let's eat and drink before we solve these problems. Perhaps we'll think more clearly."

"But they have so little." She frowned, concerned.

"We'll see that they have more soon, Sadah." He tugged at her arm gently, pulling her reluctantly behind him. "You're looking quite skeletal."

"I suppose you've been down here eating and drinking clean water since they brought you here?" With a shock, she realized that it had been over a week. She looked at the purity of his white robe and the torn remnants of her filthy uniform.

"Yes! And bathing." His words made her mouth curl derisively as he led her through a long, low cavern.

The walls were bare, white misted with something that resembled moss. The ceilings were low and coated with a silvery trail.

"Why weren't you in one of those cocoons?" she demanded irritably.

"I was at first, if that makes you feel better. They spoke with me shortly after I got here and freed me to learn what I could teach them of us."

"How did they get you here, Kat?"

"They're powerful in their illusions, Gael, as you well know." They had to stoop to go through several doorways. "Each of us was taken by our own thoughts. I was following what I believed was your voice calling for help. I was in the mountains before I realized the ruse. Their control of their illusions as well as their psi energy is total. They link to form one thought, then Ardoc projects that thought where he deems best."

"That makes Ardoc a powerful leader." She considered the consequences to the outside worlds. "I hope he's a wise one as well."

"He's very old, perhaps five hundred years or more. He was waiting for the last of his race to be born with little food and less hope on a dead world." Kat's voice deepened with emotion. "When I met him, I wanted to weep."

They emerged into a cavern suddenly, deep and lush, that seemed to flow back into the depth of the planet with no end. It was warm here, sultry, with the scents of flowers and the splash of water. Everything was green and alive. It was a tribute to the far-reaching foresight of the ancient Chrysaline people who had found the cavern and cultivated it so long before.

"It's unbelievable!" She sighed, overwhelmed by the beauty and vibrancy of the place after the despair and death of the world above. "They could farm here and feed thousands. They wouldn't have to worry about the surface until it had time to heal itself."

"They aren't farmers." He smiled at her optimism. "The term has no meaning for them. They've always lived off the land. The trees and the plants are their sustenance. They take food as they find it. Anything else will have to be taught, if possible. Bartered for, if not."

"ENDO and ECHO could teach them." She frowned, pushing her brows together. "Well ECHO could teach them. This really isn't a job for ENDO. The planet could be maintained for them. We have so much to learn from them."

"First we must convince them that we can help if we can reach our world. For now though, there's a path to the river through there." He pointed the way. "I'll find you a clean robe and some food."

Gael watched him walk away with a sinking heart. He disappeared around a bend in the path. She hated the way she'd grown attached to him. She didn't want to let him out of her sight.

We are never apart.

His thought was curiously soothing. It was hard to imagine feeling that way about a psi contact but she knew her life was never going to be the same again. Savagely, she ripped her uniform off and waded into the warm river. She submerged herself and scrubbed at her dirty hair, the grit of too many days floating away in the current.

When she was clean and her skin tingled from the cleansing water, she swam a little, away from the bank. It was then that she noticed the group of Chrysalines standing off to one side on the shore. She felt their curiosity as they watched her, hearing their chiming voices in her head. For the first time, she didn't feel resentful of their intrusion into her thoughts.

Since the Chrysalines had expressed their story to her about their planet, she found herself waiting, wanting to understand their unspoken language. Her mind felt like a flower unfolding slowly, carefully to the sun. Still wary but suddenly willing, and not so --

Afraid?

Slowly, she stood in the swirling green water. She walked towards the shore where Kat waited, a white robe over one arm. She pushed her hair back from her face with a careless hand, water rivulets running down the lean length of her body.

His eyes were like the bluest sapphires watching her, his face carved in the likeness of an angel from the ancient's heaven. Shimmering waves of heat poured over her from him and daringly, she returned them, taking the robe from his hand as she stood before him.

"You learn quickly." His voice was a little breathless as he touched her tremulous smile with a gentle hand.

She made the traditional Rian obeisance to him. "My teacher is excellent, Sadoh."

"Your injuries are better?"

"I can still feel where they were but yes, they are better."

"There's food." He started up the path. "Basically fruit and some wild grain products I found. They'd either forgotten them or had never known that they were edible."

"They're so simple, almost childlike. Yet they have incredible power."

He agreed. "It's amazing that they survived. They're the most passive of people, the most mild. Yet they destroyed the freighter as one."

"They were fighting to save themselves and their children." She defended the Chrysalines, hearing the tone in his voice that expressed the absolute abhorrence of the taking of life. "People will do things they would never do any other time to protect their young and their homes."

"I can help them, Gael. But I can never forget the tide of emotion, the fear and anger of those deaths. I've felt the death of one or ten but so many. It was like -- "

The falling of rain? Each drop, the precious soul of another being, released into the universe before its time. The waste so absolute.

They both turned to see the winged Arcon waiting for them. His wings were like gossamer, almost too ethereal to uphold his slender form. Around him were several more Chrysalines.

Gael recalled her earlier perception that the others were like his children. It had been a true observation. She inclined her head in respect for his age and dignity. Arcon could speak to her without Kat's help.

The smaller Chrysalines scattered, returning with various foodstuffs contained in beautiful woven bags. Water containers that were shyly offered to her seemed to be made of the same substance they'd found in the processor.

Arcon made a gesture and they all sat down on the warm, damp ground to eat. Needless death is tragic.

Yes. Kat agreed slowly. My soul cries out for them all.

Your soul. Arcon's intense stare was leveled at Gael. Your being does not cry. But it thirsts for justice. It angers at any senseless act. It is the soul of a warrior.

Perhaps. She returned his regard earnestly.

His eyes were like an old tree during a long winter, a rare shade of gray with the center green. It is good. Worlds need both tears and stern justice. He regarded both her and Kat seated beside her. You have strength together.

Gael watched him glide away then turned to Kat. "His face -- "

He nodded. "Like the ages."

"Or the mountains." She shivered. Weathered lined, formed by generations of his people, their struggle plain in his eyes.

"We'll find a way, Gael." Kat gripped her hand more tightly. "They won't suffer again."

Neither of them spoke while they ate the light grain in the tranquility of their surroundings.

But over the fruit they argued. Kat's plan wasn't viable in Gael's eyes.

"You see everything in military format," he told her bluntly. "Some things aren't solved by strength of force."

"We can't just sit here and farm for them, Kat. As much as I understand that they need the security of knowing that they'll be fed and their children can be born, we'll have to deal with Guardsman and ENCOM as well as the ECHO and Central Alliance. The disposition of this world depends on what we do next."

"And that is?"

"Find a way to convince the Chrysalines that we can protect them. That our individual groups will work for them if they let us get in touch with them."

A small group of Chrysalines approached them, their eyes wide on them as they spoke aloud. Kat took her hand and Gael nodded as the group offered to take them through the rest of the caverns.

Gael wished for the freedom of her uniform as she held the bulky white robe away from her feet, following the Chrysalines. The paths were mostly smooth but some were steep and awkward to negotiate. She watched Kat move down the path, seemingly not inhibited by the garment. His movements were graceful and elegant. Of course they wore robes a great deal of the time on Ria.

Kat took her hand as they entered a warm, dark hollow. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the change. The phosphorescent gleam in the outer cavern was gone here. Nothing living grew there. The rocky plateau was dry and harsh. Along the walls hung white cocoons, Chrysalines waiting to be born. Some of them were shriveled and destroyed.

They will not be born. In the higher caves, all of the young have been lost this way.

With a feeling of deep sorrow, Gael and Kat followed them out of the cave and along a steep ledge. The hard, colored shell was the final transformation from the young into the adult form. They explained the details of the process. It was a natural part of their existence. Gael wondered if it was painful but was assured instantly that it was not. It was simply a change from their present form into a shell that contained their essence, ready to emerge when enough time had passed for maturity.

There were only a few of those shells that survived in a larger cavern high above the water and trees. Gael recalled that one of these near adults had given its life for her. Her resolve strengthened that they must find a way to save the race for the future. She wanted to see another adult born on this world, one for the life that had been lost for her.

Other caves were busy with activity as the Chrysalines still sought to preserve the images of their world on their stunning tapestries. These were constructed of the same fiber as their robes, spun by the Chrysalines from their own bodies when it was time for one of the young to be born. The fiber contained their eggs that would become the next generation. The remnants were dyed and formed into cloth for their tapestries as well as their robes and food containers. Nothing was wasted.

Gael looked at the tapestries being created. Some were of the green cavern with its water and trees. Flowers glowed in the light of their artificial sun. Most were dark. Black and gray, with images of death and hopelessness for the future. She looked into the eyes of one of the smaller Chrysalines whose pattern was one of gray shadows. She wanted to speak, to reassure, but the words wouldn't come and she turned away. How could she promise a future when she wasn't certain that there would be one?

The Chrysalines' act of protection was a strong act of aggression that could lead to war unless it was handled correctly. Nothing of the sort had happened in Gael's lifetime. It was difficult to predict how Central would react. She heard the excited chiming in her head and glanced at Kat but he was listening as well. She didn't know what they were saying but she could feel their fear. "What is it?"

"It may be too late." He got up quickly from the rock where they'd been sitting. "Guardsman has sent another ship. A warship accompanies them from Central. And they plan to restart the processor."

Gael shot up. "Which the Chrysalines won't let them do."

"We have to stop them." He ran towards the outer corridor.

Gael followed him down the treacherous path, through the corridors and into a small chamber that was filled with fearful but determined Chrysalines.

Chapter Twenty

Arcon was slightly above them all on a rocky pinnacle, his wings shimmering with his anger.

"Take my hand." Kat stood beside Gael in the crowd.

The chiming sound became language though the emotions behind it were more chaotic. Apparently, many of the Chrysalines were urging Arcon to simply get rid of the outsiders that hovered over their world.

You cannot. Kat entered into the fray. To kill without reason, without warning, is murder. There are many beings on the ships. You must give them a chance to leave.

The voices became blurred in the ensuing argument. Clearly, they were divided. Some wanted to fight. Others called for peaceful negotiation.

And what is your voice, sister warrior? Arcon singled Gael from the group with his eyes.

The chiming voices became silent. They waited, impatiently, for her words.

She clutched Kat's hand tightly. The Chrysalines were on the brink of a war they couldn't win. What she said could make a difference. It had to be good.

Very good, Kat agreed.

What has been done to your world is wrong, Gael began. It is also a mistake that can be corrected without the use of further violence. Let me talk to them. Let me tell them of your power. Let me persuade them. If I can't, then we will have no choice but to fight.

Kat freed her hand as though it were a snake. He stared down at her with blue fire in his eyes. "What are you saying? The compliment of those ships is at least as great as the freighter. They can't be killed because they don't agree with what we think is right."

"The best we can hope to do is gain some time. We have to get ENDO and ECHO here, Kat. Central will destroy this planet if there's another incident."

"It would be better to keep the processor shut down. They can't hurt the Chrysalines without it."

"These people don't sound to me like they are going to be happy babysitting the Guardsman ship while they constantly try new and innovative ways to destroy their world. We have to get them to help us send a message and we have to hope we can make ENDO and ECHO understand." Gael glanced significantly around them at the angry faces, the frightened eyes. Defiantly, she took his arm, daring him with her eyes to retrieve it.

Arcon and the others were watching them in amazement.

We can work this out. No one needs to do anything desperate yet. She stared fiercely into Kat's angry face. His eyes blazed into hers but his hand clasped her wrist tightly. They might have been in a stance of mortal combat to the Chrysalines who watched them. We must find a way to get word to our leaders.

We will try to communicate with the beast, Arcon agreed, despite muffled protests from some of the others. We trust you to know the words. Make them understand.

Gael's gaze, locked with Kat's, became narrowed and blurred. She heard herself call his name and felt his arms go around her as she slid to the floor. Kat protested that she wasn't ready but it was too late. Lightheaded, her heart pounding loudly as though she'd made too rapid a descent in the cruiser, she saw his face waver before her eyes.

It was very dark, cold, and empty. She rushed through a void, spiraling upward faster until she thought that she would fly apart. She felt him there, anchoring her, holding her. Everything around her exploded. Bright lights whirled, then righted themselves. Someone shouted.

Stunned and speechless, she found herself on the Central ship, on the bridge. A full crew of officers stared wordlessly at her.

"Who are you?" One man stepped forward boldly. "How did you get here?"

Gael cleared her throat and looked at them, trying to get her bearings. "I'm-uh- Lieutenant Gael Klarke. ENDO. I need to speak to whomever is in charge of this mission."

No one moved. She felt her resolve shorn up by the countless lives depending on her. Her head came up and her eyes blazed. "I want to speak to your captain. Now!"

"Captain Hiro Onsetia, Lieutenant." A short, round man came forward. "How did you get here?"

"That's a story we don't have time for, Captain. You must abort this mission; a mission I might add, that is illegal at this time."

"Illegal?" He snorted. "On whose authority? We have orders to restart this processor, Lieutenant. The orders come directly from Guardsman control. We followed a freighter that has been lost -- "

"Destroyed, Captain," she interrupted impatiently. "As you will be if you persist. There are life forms on the planet below. They won't hesitate to destroy you if you make any move to restart the processor. This is the only warning you'll receive."

"Life forms?" The captain laughed. "Lieutenant, Guardsman has mined this planet for hundreds of years. There are no life forms down there."

"Captain," Gael continued, "if my authority as a senior ENDO officer isn't enough to make you change your mind, contact ENCOM. The Chrysalines will wait while you do."

"Security!" The captain called out. "Take this woman into custody until we can validate her claims."

"That's not possible." She watched as two, armed men approached her.

They tried to take her into custody but found that there was nothing on their bridge but the sight and sound of her.

"I'm here with you only by the good graces of the Chrysalines. Contact ENCOM, Captain."

"My order stands." Captain Onsetia set his chin. "Are we in line?"

A young woman whose gaze never left Gael's form affirmed that they were in line with the planet.

"Then start the processor."

Let me help. Kat's thoughts meshed with hers.

What can you do?

We can stop them, at least temporarily. I can show you what to do. Work with me.

Gael closed her eyes, her training rebelling for an instant. She felt the smooth warmth of Kat's energy join hers. She adjusted, letting the thoughts flow, following the outline of Kat's plan.

The man at the control panel would have followed the captain's order to restart the processor but suddenly, he was seized by an intense urge to find something, something that was missing. He wandered from the control area.

The two security guards who were at Gael's side, found themselves grasping each other while Gael's form had moved towards the captain. Rushing to his aid, the two guards lunged at Gael, taking the captain to the floor in her place. The ensuing fight on the bridge was loud and furious, dragging the whole bridge crew into the mindset. Sparks flew from the control console as weapons fire razed the inner hull, bringing the ship's basic power down to life support.

"That should keep them for a while," Gael reported as she found herself back down on the planet.

"We need to contact ENDO and ECHO. We can only keep them at this for a while."

I am not satisfied with this communication, Arcon told them. There is no understanding. Only trickery.

With time will come understanding. We need to contact our leaders, others who can help. Give us this time.

Gael could feel Kat's impassioned plea for the Guardsman's lives shiver through her new- found awareness.

They are not able to function, Arcon decided at last. The beast has not been brought back to life. I will grant this time for peace between us. Contact your friends.

Chapter Twenty-one

ENCOM wasn't quiet. Nothing was settled but there was only so much one being could do. Menor had just decided that he was one being who'd done enough for the night. He moved restlessly to his bed.

The past few days had been a nightmare. Since the beginning of the investigation of the disappearance of the Guardsman freighter, ECHO and ENDO had been in collective chaos. He had pushed aside his own personal sense of loss over Gael's death to deal with the backlash that had strained relationships between the two organizations.

When it was learned that the mission had been kept secret from all but a few key individuals, there was a general call to arms. Central had put their hand into the affair as well.

Why not? He stirred restlessly, trying to find one short night of peace. There was a Guardsman freighter with its entire complement missing along with ECHO-ENDO agents! It was a disaster! And Lanier had left him to clean up the mess, staying silent in her quarters.

Menor?

He opened his eyes, blinking furiously, then he sat straight up in bed. "Oh -- oh my. Oh, Gael. I've dreamed of you so many -- you're dead?"

"Not exactly." She frowned. "Get yourself together, Menor."

"You look like an angel." His eyes widened as he glanced up and down the white robe she wore. It seemed to shimmer in the dim light.

"My uniform was destroyed and the Chrysalines gave me this robe. Menor, I'm not dead. At least not yet. I need your help."

"What can I do? Who are the Chrysalines?"

"It's complicated but you need to order a cruiser for yourself and Lanier. Now."

"What? A cruiser?"

"I need you to be at the Chrysalis planet, R 12, as soon as possible. I'll give you the details as you travel."

"Lanier -- "

" -- will meet you at the dock. I've already seen her. Just get ready and leave right away. So many lives are depending on you."

Menor had a hard time taking it in and wasn't sure after Gael had left if he'd dreamed the whole thing or just hallucinated it. Of course, he wasn't going out to that planet, what had she called it? Chrysalis? The thought of space travel made him nauseous.

"Menor!" His private channel blinked at Lanier's impatient voice.

He pushed the network switch and pulled his blanket up over his nightclothes. "Yes?"

"You aren't ready yet?"

He couldn't believe it! Her hair was uncombed and she was wearing a fuzzy robe in a strange shade of purple.

"For goodness sake, Menor. Stop staring and get moving! We must be on our way. I've ordered a cruiser at Dock 27. I'll meet you there." The channel went dead.

So it was true? Or at least Lanier believed it was true. Gael was alive and she had visited him. He threw some clothing into a pile on his bed and dressed with a speed he hadn't known he possessed. On the way to the dock area, he realized that he'd forgotten his shoes but there wasn't time to go back for them. He surprised a young cadet at the docking platform. "I-uh-need your shoes, Agent."

He seemed about the right size. Menor could only hope he wouldn't question his authority and force him to explain the situation. The young man didn't turn a hair. He took off his shoes and handed them to Menor, not so much as a smile playing on his lips. "Thanks." Menor smiled sheepishly, taking the shoes. "I'll see you get some new ones -- uh -- " He read the man's name tag, "Jackson."

"Thank you, sir," Jackson replied calmly.

Menor marveled at ENDO training as he shuffled along the docking area. The shoes were a size too large.

Lanier was already waiting in the cruiser, a larger model than Gael had left in since they would have a pilot and an armed escort for Lanier's benefit. The councilwoman had a private cabin as well. Menor would have to make do with sharing quarters with the other three officers. "If we are cleared, let's go!"

"If I might have a moment in private?" Menor approached her.

"Message coming through for you, Councilwoman," the pilot told her from the COM panel.

"I'll take it on my screen." Lanier motioned Menor into her cabin.

"Kalamir, Sadah Lanier." Juroh, the only Rian ECHO leader, greeted her. "I trust you had a similar experience this night?"

Menor couldn't believe his eyes as he took in the sight of the Rian dressed in a sleeping robe, his hair standing on end. He had clearly left his bed only moments before. Was everyone going mad?

"Indeed we have, Juroh, Sadoh," she replied, delighted. "It was your Officer Astri, I presume?"

"Yes. We have mourned him, thinking him dead but he has found his way back to us. Your Agent Klarke?"

"Alive and well. Only detained while this happened. It's as we feared." Lanier frowned. "Can the damage be reversed?"

"We don't know as yet. Kalatri has asked us to wait for further information as we come to the planet. Chrysalis." He raked a hand through his dark blonde hair as his stately, handsome face altered suddenly.

"Chrysalis." She nodded her own graying head, smiling tremulously. "I'll leave you now, Sadoh. I must prepare for our visit. I'm sure there are some things you must attend to?"

"Indeed." He returned her smile with a dazzling one of his own. "Until later, Sadah."

The screen went blank. Menor thought Lanier's shoulders slumped slightly then she pushed herself upright and turned to face him. "Yes, Menor?"

"This might not be the right time -- "

"It probably isn't but continue."

"What's going on? Why is this mission so strange? Gael." He blushed." Lieutenant Klarke asked me much the same thing. I didn't know what to tell her except what you'd told me. I mean -- "

"And that's all I wanted you to tell her. We're nearing the conclusion to all this, Menor. The Chrysalis planet. It will explain everything."

Menor thought he would have to make do with that crumb when the screen lit up behind her. Gael, accompanied this time by Kalatri Astri, came up on the COM.

Lanier turned abruptly, going to the panel. She tried to adjust the control. "You're very blurry, Lieutenant. Your signal is very weak."

"We aren't exactly transmitting by conventional means," Gael explained. "The Chrysalines have amplified Officer Astri's own natural ability to telepath across space. We're sending this message simultaneously to ENDO and ECHO as well as Central government. This is too important for any one agency to contain."

"We understand," Lanier agreed. "Please continue."

"I believe you do understand, Councilwoman. You and Juroh. You both set this up together because of messages you received telepathically from the Chrysalines before the processor was shut down."

Menor was stunned.

Lanier only sighed. "Yes. It's true. It's been an impossible situation. We weren't able to determine the full extent of what had happened, especially not personally, without causing undue speculation that would hurt the situation more. We knew what was likely to happen with Guardsman and the processor if they went in alone so we sent you two in, hoping the Chrysalines would be able to contact you."

"What we don't know, Kalatri," Juroh entered, "is what went wrong?"

Briefly, Kat tried to explain the situation. "They are far more powerful than we are on Ria as individuals because they've centered their thoughts on the only adult, Arcon. Their strength is magnified from him to their desired destination."

"And they destroyed the freighter?" Lanier shuddered at the thought of the repercussions.

"It was Guardsman's illegal activity that caused their destruction." Gael clearly underlined the circumstances. "Captain Amato and Alan Denby both knew that once life forms had been discovered on this planet, ore mining would become impossible. They tried to destroy the Chrysalines and us. The Chrysalines simply reacted, protecting their world."

"That will be for the courts to decide after an investigation, Lieutenant," the Commander who was monitoring the transmission from Central curtly reminded her. "In the meantime, what actions have been taken?"

"We've convinced the Chrysalines that the new Guardsman ship that's been sent to restart the processor will be stopped by our agencies. We've told them that we value their world and their lives." Gael felt the pull back to the planet and hurriedly ended her transmission. "There's a problem here. We'll pick up when we can."

"It's the warship," Kat told her as she returned. "They've trained their weapons on the planet."

"What are their markings?" Gael tried to stand but found that her knees were like rubber bands, buckling under her.

Kat supported her with an arm, looking towards Arcon.

They mean us harm, my friends. I cannot allow this.

Wait. Kat made a bid for his attention. I can stop them without violence.

Arcon turned his aged face, haggard with emotion, back towards Kat and Gael. What can you do?

Kat looked into Gael's eyes. "Together, I'll show you what I did on Padda firsthand. Coming?"

She nodded and closed her eyes, following his lead.

The warship was full of mercenaries that Guardsman had hired to protect the freighter. Its weapon systems were already powered up and ready to fire. The freighter had contacted the captain of the mercenary ship and demanded that he protect them. The response was to be a strafing of the planet, careful not to hit the processor.

Gael surfaced with Kat in the midst of them. What should I do?

Follow, Sadah. In whispers, Kat began to implant the idea that the ship was slowly being filled with poisonous gas. The only answer was to board the escape shuttles and head down to the planet. The thought picked up speed when Gael joined him, finding little or no resistance from the crew.

I could've told them that they were all Derkan Wart hogs. The idea amused her.

Careful, Sadah. Kat warned her. Or they will be snorting and clawing the floor. Keep your attention focused on this one thing.

In a timely manner, a great herd of sleepwalkers were headed down to the planet's surface. Once there, they would be stranded until someone of authority came. The warship emptied out and waited silently. Gael felt the sudden surge of extra energy Kat put forth and wondered what he was doing.

I've destroyed the crystal couplings in both ships, Sadah, he calmly informed her. That should last now until help can arrive.

Gael and Kat, together with the Chrysalines, put their energies together one last time to resume contact with their people. Briefly, Gael outlined what had taken place and what they'd done to avert further complications.

"What?!" the Central monitor thundered. "Under whose authority was that mission being carried out? There has been no order given to clear restarting of that processor."

"We've been told that the ship is here under direct Guardsman control. We wanted the Chrysalines to understand that this is not our policy."

"Of course." Lanier agreed quickly. "We'd like to talk with the Chrysalines, to tell them of our goodwill."

"Where is that Guardsman ship? Is it in working order?" The Central commander was not pleased with losing his authority over the situation.

"We've created only a minor disturbance for them until you can arrive but the ship has been unharmed. They do have relay capability now. If you could send them new orders -- "

"I believe I can take care of that. I've heard enough for now. I'll expect details on this as soon as possible." Central monitoring went down.

Lanier sighed heavily and Menor dared to breathe.

"The planet can't be able to sustain life." Menor considered out loud.

"Indeed not." Kalatri quickly responded to him. "They've created an underground refuge that has been under constant deadly stress. Many of their young are dead. ECHO will want to start a farming colony at once, trying to help re-build the above ground area as well as find ways to feed and protect the Chrysalines while they go into their new transformation to adults."

"I'm quite certain ENDO will want to have a hand in that as well, Officer Astri." Lanier intervened smoothly.

"But ENDO will have no war to fight here, Lanier, Sadah," Juroh added. "Farming, replanting the land is more ECHO work. I'm sure Central will -- "

Gael sighed and put her hands to her head, trying to ease the ringing. ECHO and ENDO would always be the same. And this mind stuff was more draining than she would've thought.

I feel satisfaction with this, Arcon told them. There will be new young ones. Our lives will continue.

"And ECHO and ENDO will continue to fight over who will do what." Kalatri observed wryly.

"As long as we get the job done." Gael yawned. She was still sitting on the rocky floor, almost on top of Kat. It had been easier finally to sit than to try to continue standing. She felt an overwhelming drowsiness pass over her and succumbed at last to sleep. Her head fell softly to Kat's chest.

Learning is always difficult. Arcon observed her sleeping form.

Indeed. Kat agreed, holding her to him.

She will not stay, you know. She cannot.

I know.

Chapter Twenty-two

Gael awakened to a feeling of awareness that she'd never known. Everything around her was alive with nuances and colors she'd never seen before. There were vibrations in the white woven robe, in the pale rock wall. It made her want to smile and she did until she remembered her opinion of the happy ECHO telepaths.

She sat by herself for long minutes, thinking about her past and present feelings. All of this was wonderful and there was a great deal to learn from the Chrysalines. But was it what she wanted? Kat said that she had little choice. Many people had felt the same way about living on the streets. She'd proven them wrong. It was possible that it could be the same way with this new life. Was she ready to give up her old life for this happy, let's-work-it-out, watch your every thought, group?

A Chrysaline entered the small room, bowing slowly, bearing a woven bag full of fruit.

Gael stood and returned the action, gratefully accepting the gift. The chiming that followed was accompanied by a series of curious glances. It took a few minutes but eventually, Gael caught the idea that she was being asked if she was ill. She smiled and tried to mime her way into good health.

If I may be of assistance?

Gael looked up at the understandable thought pattern and smiled at Arcon as he swept gracefully into the room. She is fine. He told the other Chrysaline. She will eat the fruit and she will be happy.

She wished it were that simple.

The smaller Chrysaline bowed again and left them alone together.

Arcon watched her for a moment as she ate a piece of fruit. I could help you so that you would be able to understand them all.

I appreciate your generous offer, Arcon. Perhaps later?

You have much in your thoughts. And you are not comfortable as yet with mindspeech.

It's not easy for me. Weapons I understand, the discipline of drilling and regimentation. I understand the body, Arcon. I don't know if I want to understand the mind.

What is there to understand, young one? It is not so different than being a warrior.

Gael smiled, not wanting to disagree with him.

There is anger and pain that you must release. All your years of fighting have not changed this. Perhaps the way does not lie in weapons and regimentation.

Perhaps not. She didn't look up at him and the kindness she could feel would be in his eyes. But it's the way I know, the way I trust. Possibly the only way I can live.

That would be a sad waste of your potential, young one.

"I suppose so." She heard the soft sound that his wings made when he moved, knowing he was gone.

Juroh and Lanier had arrived on the planet during the night. The rest was easy as they organized and gracefully met the Chrysalines. With the speed and diplomacy of long years' practice, they won the trust of the people in the caves. It was only a matter of hours before recruits as well as equipment had started to arrive.

Technically, Gael's job was done. Lanier hadn't dismissed her as yet. She wandered through the caves, suddenly alive with the sounds of strangers, knowing she should leave. She wanted to see Kat, yet she dreaded that each turn in the caverns would bring her face to face with him.

Lanier finally sent for her. Gael went to her, watching in amusement as the older woman waded through a woven sack full of paperwork. "Lieutenant. It's good to see you."

"Good to see you too, ma'am."

"Is there a problem, Lieutenant?" Lanier questioned, not looking up.

"No, ma'am. Just wondering about reassignment. The-uh-mission is pretty much over."

Lanier looked up at that. "There's a cruiser leaving for ENCOM in a short while. You could be on it, if that's what you want."

"Well -- "

Arcon entered the room and stared at her. The ship is leaving our world. Will you not stay? We have much to learn from each other.

I am sorry.

Aloud to Lanier, she outlined her responsibilities. "There will be reports to file and personal meetings that have to be dealt with. Depositions. I'll need to go back to ENCOM until everything is settled."

"That's fine." Lanier looked between the winged Arcon and her favorite agent. "I'll be expecting a full report from you. Perhaps I might prevail upon you to undertake some meetings for me while you're there."

"I'll be glad to, ma'am."

"You're dismissed then Lieutenant Klarke. Have a good journey back."

Lanier watched Arcon leave behind Gael. She couldn't clearly understand him yet but she knew she would eventually find out what was wrong. One thing she didn't have to be psychic to understand. She motioned for her aid. "Send for Officer Astri. I need some help translating."

***

Kat stood in one of the high caves overlooking the lake area. He watched as Gael walked by so far below. She was leaving, not even saying goodbye.

You will let her go? Arcon stood beside him.

I will let her go, Kat affirmed. And hope that she returns.

***

Before Gael left the planet, one of the Chrysalines gave her a tapestry, chiming through her mind, black eyes shining and huge in the white face. She clutched it tightly as she boarded the cruiser but didn't open it to look at it.

She didn't look back or wonder why Kat had let her avoid him. She needed time to sort through everything that had happened. The commitment that seemed to be expected of her was more than she was willing to give at that time. Had Kat been able to sense that from her?

It was a long journey back to ENCOM on the shuttle. It stopped at every station and port along the way. Gael had her own cabin since she was officially on ENDO business so she missed the jostling and crowds that sprinted from place to place. She spent her time thinking, sleeping, and staring out the tiny port window. The awareness that had seized her after her mental mesh with Kat and the Chrysalines had slowly left her. She went from euphoric to numb.

She unwrapped the tapestry just before they reached ENCOM. Half of it was dark shades and dead trees. The other half was bright and colorful. A faithful likeness of Kat's long, blond hair and his blue uniform stood beside her own figure with its dark hair and red garment. She knew from her time there that any dyeing of the individual threads was time consuming and required strict patience. The weaver of that picture had worked long and hard on its finish. That they had done it in so short a time was nothing short of remarkable. She refolded the material carefully. It was another souvenir to add to her modest collection. She'd been all over the known system in her twenty-year service.

Everywhere except for Farga. Not that she had any intention of going back there. She wasn't sure what had made her think of her home world. It was time to put the past few weeks behind her. The lights of Selim-3 were off her side of the shuttle when she gathered her gear together and made for the exit.

It took only a short time back at ENCOM before she fell into her regular routine. Despite the hearings and hours of explanations, Gael returned to teaching her classes and spending time with her friends. She worked out harder and took to the practice field at odd hours of the day and night. Her frame retained its almost gaunt sparseness weeks after her return.

She spent an almost constant two weeks testifying before hastily convened groups. Central and ENDO wanted to know the story behind the Chrysalis planet. Kat had left it to her, making himself incommunicado on the planet under the guise of helping to resettle the Chrysalines. Not once did he try to contact her even though fields of transfer were open between the planet and the rest of the system. Not once did she seek him out, holding her thoughts tightly to herself.

Lanier's part in the scandal was passed over quickly. Her biggest crime was being found out as a telepath by an unsympathetic ENCOM. She wasn't kicked off the Council as everyone had expected but there were rumors of her retirement.

ECHO awarded Juroh and Kat their highest honor. Kat didn't attend the ceremony. Praise for their deeds was on everyone's lips. Juroh and Kat were in the right place with the right group. Gael saw their pictures on the vid screen as she passed through the corridor late one afternoon.

Lanier called Gael for a private meeting on Selim-3 after the Central hearings had absolved any guilt from the Chrysalines. They'd acted with their only possible means to save themselves. The closed proceedings also absolved ENDO- ECHO and Central of any wrong doing in not keeping up with the planet. New laws were passed quickly stating that all worlds had to be checked on regular intervals for life forms of any kind. Fuel dealers groaned when they realized that the new laws would stiffen the price of synthetic fuel.

Gael read about it all with a detached amusement that was difficult to tell from boredom. She was tired. She realized it in the shuttle from ENCOM to Selim-3's surface. Her life was as it had been before the mission to Chrysalis. Nothing had been missing before. There was nothing missing now but everything had changed.

"It's so good to see you in person." Lanier greeted her gladly, gesturing for her to take a place with her in the sitting room of her luxury hotel room.

The room was pleasant enough. Sunshine streamed through the windows as she sat down on the green chair. Gael accepted a cup of green tea from her. "It seems like a long time since we talked last without a view screen between us."

"I want to apologize for this trying experience, Gael," Lanier began without preamble, not bothering to pour her own tea. "You see, until the Chrysalines reached out to me, I had no idea that I possessed any telepathic skills. Once I was convinced of their sincerity, I knew you were the only person I had felt a similar experience with at any time. I have a deep respect for you. But it was more than that. The importance of the whole mission rested on that feeling."

"I understand." Gael nodded, knowing the experience from personal happenings. "I wish you could've confided in me."

"I was afraid the whole thing was nothing more than an illusion at first," Lanier joked with a husky laugh. "Juroh and I met and agreed it was best for you and Officer Astri not to have any idea what to expect. You were unbiased then, you see."

"And unprepared." Gael set her cup down on its dainty saucer.

"Yes, there was that as well. But can you think of anything you would've done differently if you'd known?"

Not gone. Gael checked her thought, more careful of random thoughts since her time with Kat.

"The very idea was ludicrous. How could there have been living beings still alive on that world? The Chrysalines wouldn't have taken you into their confidence any sooner." Lanier looked at the younger woman shrewdly. "I understand Officer Astri tried to get out of the assignment as well. I hope you settled your differences?"

Gael could feel the stiffness on her face as she sipped her tea. "I don't think any of the differences between myself and Officer Astri influenced our judgment on the planet. As you know, ECHO and ENDO just have different ways of looking at the same thing."

"Indeed they do." Lanier didn't pursue the subject. Getting to know Kalatri Astri in her weeks on the planet had supplied her with all of the answers. "I have a bit of news for you. ENCOM has agreed to consider a branch of ENDO that would include highly skilled telepaths. It's a departure, I agree. I might be persuaded to head it."

"That would be wonderful, ma'am. I wish you luck. Any formal word on Guardsman?"

Lanier looked slightly disappointed but pushed on quickly. "They will be fined substantially and will have to support the families of those that died. Nothing too strong. We still need them, I suppose."

"Yes." Gael wished she could end the interview quickly. She was uncomfortable suddenly with Lanier, not knowing what to say.

"What will you do now?" Lanier asked, sensing Gael's uneasiness. Unlike Gael, she had taken Arcon up on his offer of helping her to cultivate her own budding telepathic skills. What she'd learned hadn't been earth shattering but it had already proved useful in dealing with other diplomats. Juroh. She smiled slightly at his name.

"I'm going to take that vacation that I gave up." Gael was vaguely aware of feeling that Lanier knew more than she was saying. "A year, if you remember?"

"I do indeed. If you need me, Gael," she reached over and touched her hand, "you know where to find me."

Gael returned her smile stiffly, closed to any other impression from the woman. Where there had been a shield before, there was a firm wall, rigidly maintained with fear and discipline.

Lanier watched the stiff, straight back leave through the doorway, the ENDO red uniform crisp and correct. She sighed and decided to call Juroh, wanting to tell him the news. She had wanted to help Gael but she could see that Gael was the only one who could do that.

Chapter Twenty-three

Had she and Kat settled their differences? Gael had wanted to laugh at the phrase. Thinking back on the interview, she realized how much she'd wanted to hear some word about him. She'd left him there on Chrysalis because she felt that he'd wanted something more from her than she was willing to give.

If he'd just wanted to be her lover, it would've been simple. She wasn't as sexually active as many of her friends but she'd spent time with many men in her life. Being his lover would have been easy and overwhelmingly pleasurable. There was no doubt of that in her mind.

But Kat, being who he was, wouldn't have been satisfied with just the physical. Gael understood that was why he'd chosen to give Captain Amato a dream lover rather than the real thing. Rians were a spiritual people. They didn't give themselves lightly. Gael found that in this case, she couldn't give herself at all.

Lanier had kept Gael from being linked with any telepathic dealings. She was still in good stead at ENDO. A hero, in fact, looking forward to a raise in station.

A hero with feet of clay, she realized, as time passed. Even though she was separate from Kat, she had to acknowledge a change in her life. That feeling of being able to see from someone else's eyes kept recurring. When she met a few of the Central Alliance's leaders, she had immediate exposure to their secrets, their intimate lives. There were things she hadn't wanted to know but couldn't seem to stop.

She prowled the complex restlessly. No activity seemed to exhaust her enough. Her mind raced ahead of her will. She knew her life would never be the same. Worse, she knew she would have to have training to be able to live in this new and untried way. But she had to be certain. Her childhood had taught her one very important lesson that she would never forget. It was imperative to know the truth about herself and to face it. She was strong enough to handle it. She had pulled herself up from the streets in R'agus and reluctantly, it was there that she returned to find her answer. Arcon had hinted towards that at the beginning of the journey. Gael grimly followed his lead.

There had been that grain of truth in the Chrysaline's words to her. Pain and anger had made her who she was and she'd have to be able to give those up to become what she could be. She realized that she had never returned home for that reason. The memory of her childhood was strong within her. It was a fear that kept her going, reminded her who she'd been.

To go back might be the chance to see Farga and herself in a different light. Could she weaken her constant companions from the streets? Pain and anger were the brother and sister that pushed at her when she was scared and loved her when she was alone. Was she willing to truly be an orphan?

Could she face that? she asked herself as she received permission to land the cruiser at R'agus docking port. She almost changed her mind, almost took the cruiser away and never went back. But Kat's voice, the mystery of their mind mesh, kept her going. She'd have to find her answers one way or another.

***

Fargan officials were outwardly suspicious, even though ENDO officers were not infrequent visitors. The only place to legally drink Fargan rum was on Farga in one of the dirty little taverns. Gael's Fargan birth was what bothered them. She wanted to put a hand up to hide her cheek as they coldly assessed her. Then she reminded herself who she was and where she'd come from. Her chin lifted. Arrogance replaced timidity. "Is there a problem?"

"No." The reply was careful. "Pass."

She went slowly through the line off the dock. But she could feel their eyes on her back. She didn't give them the satisfaction of looking back. The streets were dark and dirty, as she remembered. They brought back memories of death, of stealing for survival. She'd slept in trash collectors, in burnt out buildings. She'd never known her name, if she had one. Or her parents, whatever happened to them. She had known the loneliness, the desperation and the gnawing fear. She had never known, until she'd forced an ENDO recruiter to take her with him, what it was to have enough food, to be warm. Or dry. Or safe.

Nothing had changed. There was a tavern on every street. Cold, metal buildings glinted in the orange light. Bodies lay in the side streets, covered in dust and old papers and little else.

A hand clawed at her foot from the open grate in the dark street as she walked by. Without a thought, she kicked it away. Her face hardened as she pulled her dark cloak closer around her. All of these things swept by her in the open streets. The smell of rum and of hopelessness pulled at her. There were cries from the shacks and calls from the corners for mercy. In all her most vivid nightmares, she didn't remember this place being so terrible. She didn't realize it was so much a part of her.

They spoke of creating a new branch of Endo that would allow telepaths. Gael felt that to acknowledge this new part of her meant being ready to give up the old. ENDO had saved her life. Without it, she would have been Toine, someone's slave, if she'd been fortunate enough to live that long. The hard work and training had helped her build her life when she'd escaped from Farga. Would she have been able to do the same if ECHO had found her and had sensed her telepathic abilities?

A young child, face encrusted with dirt and open sores, called to her. Long, matted hair framed a face pinched with cold and gaunt with hunger. She thought of Toine, of herself. She would have reached out a hand. The light caught on the edge of a chipped blade, not unlike the one she'd carried as a child.

"I'll take yer purse," the child spoke in gutter Fargan.

Gael stepped back, emotional pain gripping her like a vise. She started to take the knife, thought to grab the child. But this wasn't the way. If the child had a chance to survive, she would have to do whatever she could, whatever she had to, possibly far worse than filching a stranger's purse in a dark alley.

Gael flung her belt wallet to the child's eager hand.

"Best not to walk here, keisha." The child used the Fargan word for slut. She laughed as she ran away.

Gael shivered through a cold night on the streets of R'agus, hidden in an alley cache, searching for something she wasn't sure she could name. The answers to her life and future surely, but something more that was at the periphery of her mind. She stared out into the orange-gray darkness, her dark cloak wrapped around her. A crippled woman searched the trash nearby, never seeing her. The smell was intolerable but the cold wind raced past carrying paper and some of the stench with it.

She thought of Toine, of the child she'd let rob her and the countless young children like them she'd known growing up here. The thousands more that would be born and die here too young, with no chance to escape. Her mind wandered to Kat. In all her life, she'd never known anyone like him. She'd had her moments of intimacy with others. There were always other ENDO officers and the occasional civilian she'd met on assignment.

Kat was more than that, more than someone she could quickly put aside. He'd taken a place inside of her, an empty place she'd never considered anyone filling. When he said that she would never be alone again, she'd believed him. Even during that long night in R'agus, she felt him with her. There was no fluttering of presence in her mind or the warmth of his touch. Just a calm, sure place inside her that told her that he was someone she could trust with all of it.

And slowly, she began to understand how she had changed. ENDO was an important part of her life but it didn't have to be her entire life. She was older and stronger. She wasn't that young girl who'd ripped the slave brand from her face or the frightened thief from the street. Farga was a part of her but it was no longer a cancer eating at her fear and anger. Those streets had made her strong, not destroyed her.

ENDO had given her a means to express that strength. ECHO would do the same in a different way, but as Kat had insisted, she would have to be free of her fear first. With a deep breath, she let it go along the dark streets that night and the wind whipped it away. She was empty, vulnerable. But free in a way she'd never been before.

Just before the white Fargan dawn, a figure swaddled in rags with bare feet approached her. A hand, gnarled and wrinkled, rested on the head of a black wooden cane. Sister.

She sat upright, hearing the Fargan word spoken gently within her.

Daughter.

Who are you? Gael demanded. Do you know me?

There was laughter, like rain falling in the forest. As I know the trees and the sky. As you have come to know your own heart.

Who are you?

I am your father. Your brother. We are of the same blood. Of the night and the stars.

Where have you come from? Stay -- talk with me.

You will come to find me -- to find us. And yourself. Not now but later. When you are older and stronger. We await you.

Gael blinked and he was gone in a swirl of brown dust and dim light. Had he really been there? The black cane lingered there in the street. She pulled her cloak tightly about her and went to pick it up. It was heavy, with deeply inlaid carvings from top to bottom. He had brought it to her; they had left it for her. It was her heritage to claim, her birthright. It was her tie to the return that the old man had promised. She shivered, sensing that she had received what she'd come for. Staring into the pallid Fargan sun, she knew it was time to go.

By day, R'agus hid its seamier side. The towers gleamed and the streets were sprayed to wash away any unpleasant reminders of the night. Gael emerged from the shadows as the rum workers were marched by on the way to the fields. Most were prisoners. Some were native Fargans who'd never known any other life. They'd traded their freedom for a chance to survive off the streets. All wore the slave brand.

Wet, cold, shaken, yet strangely elated, Gael concealed the heavy wooden walking stick in her cloak and dared the authorities to question her. She looked back on her home world once. The darkness of her memories and the strength of the promise were within her. Then she turned away and walked quickly through the port area to her waiting shuttle.

In the archives of the ship's computers that Menor was nice enough to grant her access to, she found reference to the ancient tribes of Farga. They had wandered away from civilization hundreds of years before she'd been born. Apparently, the original colonists had no scruples about the rape of the innocent world they'd found or the enslavement of its people. The newly created Fargan government, really nothing more than a handful of free traders with high tech weaponry, had stolen the native's rum then grown fat on the profits they'd found from its sale. The native Fargans were enslaved or killed, forgotten after only minor skirmishes. Their labors had created the shining towers of R'agus.

There were the usual myths of telepathic encounters and tales of flying. Talking to trees and animals was common in every ancient culture. It was nothing that every religion on every planet didn't claim. The tribes of Farga were thought to still exist in small, scattered areas throughout the planet despite the government's best efforts to bring them in for "co-habitization".

The computer listed the word as meaning the process of teaching to live within the bounds of accepted society. Gael read it as death and slavery. Any true data gained from research of actual encounters hadn't been available for hundreds of years. No one, it seemed, had ever actually seen a tribesman in the wild and come back to tell about it.

The singular piece of evidence she'd managed to conceal from Fargan authorities rested in her lap. It possessed energy, a life of its own as she touched it. The emanations were too strong, too wild for her to maintain contact for long. Someday it would be the answer to her questions. According to what museum info disk had to offer, it was thought to be the voklava's magic stick, his wand of power.

Gael felt certain that she had seen a tribesman. Could she be of that rare and mythic Fargan race? Most Fargans weren't known to be telepathic. But hadn't the tested ones been descendants of off-worlders rather than the natives? Kat's surprise at her being able to keep her telepathy a secret from ENDO was real. Was this a remnant of her tribal heritage?

Just to prove something to herself, she had insisted on being tested just after she'd returned from Chrysalis. No electronic test, no human telepath inspector could detect that as they questioned her, she could tell them what they'd done earlier that day. It couldn't be counted as a skill. It had been an unconscious protection on her part. Certainly, someday, when she'd mastered it, it would change ENCOM's ideas on psi testing.

She needed to be able to handle the strength inside of her as she handled her weapon or her knife. She needed a good teacher. Someone she could trust. She knew where to find him. The trick, however, was in trying to return to Chrysalis.

Chapter Twenty-four

The planet was off limits to everyone except for some workers and a few high level ECHO officials. When word of the new planet had reached the system, everyone wanted to be there. Central was trying to keep away the curious and the thrill seekers until the Chrysalines had a chance to be able to absorb some of the culture that they'd left for so many years.

Gael had already seen holos of Arcon for sale in the port at R'agus. The market moved quickly. Even Central and ECHO would only be able to protect the Chrysalines for a short time. She'd been denied access to Chrysalis since her ENDO status registered her as vacationing. She'd tried to get through to Lanier to gain access clearance but couldn't reach her. Menor was away as well. That left ingenuity.

She wasted no time in heading out for Land's End. As the closest access point to the planet, any trade or employment would come from its dubious denizens. The mammoth hulk of a station was a free port. Its laws bordered being non- existent and its reputation stood firm. Warm a seat at any bar long enough and you'd find who or what you were looking for. A little bit of everything passed through Land's End.

There was talk of a disaster on Joppa where many of the for-hire workers were heading. Gael shook her head at the thought of losing the singing trees of that world. It wasn't hard to hear word of Chrysalis and it didn't take very long. A Guardsman team was looking for a few good workers to replace the few that hadn't made it to Land's End. There had been a fight just after leaving their home base and the injuries had been extensive. Guardsman, it seemed, was recruiting convicts again despite ENDO's warning about the consequences.

They were heading down to the Chrysalis planet to dismantle the ore processor. A rough looking Quellan offered high pay and a quick job to anyone interested. Most workers, knowing Guardsman's reputation for cheating on their wages and long, boring hours on deserted planets, kept away. Gael ignored the breach in the law, her ENDO reds tucked away in storage at the station. It suited her purpose keenly that Guardsman wasn't interested in her background. She joined the group in only a few minutes.

The team was a tough group of men and women that had obviously been tested specially for the job. They lacked even the finesse of the Guardsman crews she'd met before. These were prison inmates that had been offered a chance to work off their sentences. Gael held her own with them, wearing the gray Guardsman garb once again. She'd heard it all, seen it all in her travels. She could out curse a Galator and out drink a Quellan.

No one who had seen her touch a knife doubted her skill at that either. She kept her distance from the others, not encouraging any conversation. She'd always known that the scar on her face did wonders for her prestige.

They climbed aboard a shuttle and headed down to the planet. Most of them were too drunk or drugged to care what happened to them. Freedom was a heady feeling to someone who hadn't seen daylight for years. Gael held her head down when she saw that Fris was in charge of the operation. He looked a little leaner than she remembered, maybe a little tougher. Certainly none the worse for his experience at the hands of the Chrysalines. He stood at the front of the shuttle and ticked off the rules and regulations that were to be observed on the planet.

The man beside Gael snored loudly and another worker grinned and belched. Most of the others laughed then went back to sleep. Fris gave up finally, reviewing a notebook he carried tightly. Gael recognized it as the ENDO handbook. Was Fris planning to test for the corps? She stored away the information for the future. A word in the right ear went a long way. He had something to learn about command but Fris was a good man. As Senfald had been, as Toine would have been, given the chance.

There was no command set up on the planet as yet. Approaching shuttles simply circled and landed when they saw an opening. Only ECHO...no, that wouldn't do. Not if she was going to be a part of the group. She smiled slightly to herself. Maybe they would be willing to take a few helpful suggestions.

The landing was bumpy. Gael couldn't say much for Guardsman pilots but they were all still in one piece. The group straggled out into the watery sunshine. Fris counted them carefully then began issuing orders.

"We'll be organizing over there." He pointed towards the processor. "We'll divide into groups. You aren't allowed to have drugs on the planet." He spoke to the man beside her. "You'll have to surrender that."

"You want it?" The man's slurred speech testified against him. "Come and take it."

Gael was watching another shuttle unload a few meters away. Her plans to quietly leave the group at the processor and sneak away to the caves seemed a little too simple now that she was there. It could take days to get away. A large group of enthusiastic ECHO agents were greeting a delegation of Chrysalines and --

Fris started towards the man at her side. The worker was twice his size and drugged. A weapon probably wouldn't dissuade him. The enraged worker lunged at him, bearing him down to the ground. Gael, not wanting to help or hurt Fris' moment, moved deftly away.

Arcon hovered off to one side of the ECHO group, his wings gilded in the sun. His face wore an expression of pleasure as he met the youths. Gael heard Kat's voice and looked for him, hungry for the sight of him. He was there, dressed in spotless ECHO blues as she had first seen him. His long hair was loose and golden in the light.

She felt her heartbeat accelerate then heard the resounding snap of an open laser knife. The worker who had tackled Fris was holding the knife in a deadly stance. She glanced around but didn't want to give herself away. Not stopping to consider what she did, Gael used what small amount of psi control she had to take hold of the man's mind. She forced the knife from his hand, and then sat him down on the warm ground.

Fris looked on in disbelief, wondering what had happened. The other workers crowded around, hoping something more was going to happen. Gael, at the inside of the ring, had only wanted to stop the fight.

Kat, greeting the ECHO recruits, stopped in mid-thought, leaving the eager young men and women standing beside their shuttle.

Arcon smiled as he watched his headlong flight towards the Guardsman group. I felt it too, my friend.

Kat burst through the ring of shouting workers. He saw the man sitting on the ground and searched the faces around him.

"I'm sorry, Officer Astri." Fris was apologizing, trying to control the group. "I'm not sure what happened. They just went berserk and I -- "

Quiet! The command was foremost in their brains. The laughter and jeering died at once.

Gael glanced up, her eyes catching his as he scanned the people in the group. Kat.

"Lt. Klarke?" Fris was bewildered, when he saw her face. "Is something wrong?"

"It's all right, Fris." She stepped forward and glanced down at the man on the ground. "He won't give you any more trouble."

Kat stood before her, his hands behind his back. The blue of his eyes blinded her to anyone else. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant Klarke. I hope your journey was successful?"

She nodded, sure there was a silly grin on her face like all the ECHO agents wore. She didn't care. "It's good to see you again, Officer Astri." She made the Rian obeisance. "Kalamir, Sadoh."

He returned her salute. "Would you like to tour the new gardens?"

"Thank you." She didn't care that Fris would never come to understand why she'd been there in his group.

"What brings you back to Chrysalis, Lieutenant?" Kat maintained his composure only with the strongest of wills. Lanier had told him that Gael had rejected her idea of the psi group of ENDO and left for a vacation.

"I've returned recently from Farga." She walked with him past the stunned ECHO agents, not realizing that they recognized her face.

"R'agus, I believe." It took you too long to return.

I had some things to do, to understand.

"And now?" Kat found that he didn't like the game as well as he'd thought.

"Now I find that I am in need of a teacher, Sadoh." She kept the pace calmly, not disliking his frustration.

I cannot be your kmar.

She gazed out towards the mountains and saw the beginning of green on the once dead world. Their progress had been remarkable in her absence. "I've come back to study with Arcon. He offered to teach me."

Kat nodded, accepting, if somewhat bitterly, that he couldn't do this for her. He couldn't trust his voice to speak or his thoughts not to betray him.

But I return to you for love.

His eyes burned on her face. "Your Councilwoman Lanier has told me that Arcon is merciless but effective."

Kat? The game suddenly lost its appeal for her as well and she lifted her frowning face to him.

He took her hands. "As I told you, Gael." You will never be alone again.

Gael only realized then that she'd been holding her breath. She warned him, "I don't think I can be one of the happy ECHO agents."

"I wouldn't expect so great an effort on your part. But if there is no further business between us, my love?" His gaze shimmered between them, wild with the heat and promise of more, shivering through her.

"No," she whispered. "I'm on vacation."

"Then permit me to show you a very private part of the garden."

Arcon nodded as he saw them disappear into the tiny new garden area. There was strength between them.

~ The End ~

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