Acorna's World Part 9

"This is the design registered to the . . . the ship Kaarlye and Miiri took when they went in search of their sons?" Neeva asked.

Liriili nodded reluctantly.

"You are sure?"

Liriili's eyes were reddened and slightly bulging, as they had been since the return of the pilgrims and the ancestors. She had not been a pleasant shipboard companion. No number of Linyaari horns could cleanse the atmosphere of her energy field, which was so discordant as to upset the harmony of even such a close-knit crew as the Balaklire's.

"I should know," she said hollowly. "I watched that transmission and checked over the information Thariinye had gathered from the files over and over again. It's not as if I made my decision lightly, you know. I was doing as I always have done, acting with the good of our people in mind, and this is the . . ."

"Yes, yes," Khaari, who was not a diplomat, said shortly. "Thariinye and Maati's ship lies in pieces, and we have found traces that indicate the Coru)or, containing Kh.o.r.n.ya and Aari, was in the vicinity of the armed Khieevi ship that wrecked the Niikaavrl. Khieevi spoor is all about, and here is the pod belong ing to Kaarlye and Miiri, but this -whole situation is still all about how badly misunderstood you. are."

Liriili gave her a sullen look and sniffed. "Whatever . . . but since everyone you've mentioned except the Khieevi -who made these trails are no doubt dead, perhaps -we could end this futile mission and return home?"

"I'm surprised you want to," Neeva said. "In your place I would be considering a long mission that sent me to the farthest galaxy imaginable, preferably one where no one ever heard of me."

"That is your nature," Liriili said. "It is not mine. I am not a s.p.a.cefarer."

"You are now," Melireenya said. "I can't believe you can look at all of this without some feeling of compa.s.sion, some sadness perhaps, even remorse in the case of Maati and Thariinye."

"If you think the arbitrary decision of a council influenced by an influx of my enemies is going to make me feel guilty, you are very much mistaken. I did what I thought best for the good of the planet. If harm befell anyone because of my decision, then it is the Khieevi who are at fault, not me."

Khaari rummaged in the pod and pulled out the tiny capsule that kept a record of its flight.

In the ship's shuttle, they did a low flyby circling the planet. Though they looked carefully, they never found another biped lifeform on the planet's surface, dead or alive.

Back in s.p.a.ce once more, they discussed what should next be done.

"We must -warn our allies of the impending Khieevi threat," Neeva said.

"The same -way they warned us of the fake Federation troops?" Khaari asked -with a trace of bitterness lingering from that betrayal.

"Those enemies -were only human beings," Neeva said. "Bad ones, admittedly, but still merely human. And they tricked our allies. It "wasn't right, what happened to our people as a result, but letting the Khieevi overtake any civilization without -warning would not be right either."

"I suppose not. Should I begin a broadcast?" "No!" Liriili said, "You will lead them straight to us, and from us to narhii-Vhiliinyar."

Neeva sighed. "I'm afraid I have to agree -with you, Liriili. No, silence is still necessary this close to recent Khieevi depredations. I'm afraid we must deliver at least the Erst of our warnings personally."

They returned to their ship, docked the shuttle, and plotted a course that would take them toward the inhabited planets closest to their homeworld.

The ConDor transmitted broadcasts on all channels to all worlds and s.p.a.cecraft within range about the Khieevi threat. The Linyaari response to their message proved to be typical- not a single reply came from any of the planets they'd targeted. But three days and a two wormholes away from the blue world, Acorna was startled and delighted to see Calum Baird's face on the corn screen and to hear him say, "This is the Acadecki, Con<)or. read="" you="" loud="" and="" clear.="" acorna,="" what="" in="" the="" cosmos="" are="" you="" and="" that="" ;unk="" ship="" up="" to="" now?="" didn't="" we="" teach="" you="" better="" than="" to="" play="" with="" the="" khieevi?="" they're="" not="">

"Roger, Calum," Acorna said, baring her teeth at her beloved foster father, who was likewise baring"his teeth at her. Before they could say more, however, other faces and signals replaced Calum's in quick succession.

Becker, hearing the unfamiliar voices, came running to the bridge, followed quickly by Aan and their Linyaari guests and Mac.

"d.a.m.n, are we back in the Federation already?" Becker bellowed. "We musta taken a wrong turn at the last wormhole. I told you that was a left, Aari."

Aari, who was used to Decker's odd expressions said, had picked up a couple of them himself. "I am sorry, Joh," he said. "I must have done the wrong thing while attempting to determine which turn signal to activate."

Maati stared wide-eyed at the faces on the screen, while Kaarlye and Miiri looked alarmed and Thariinye began translating with only a trace of his former pomp.

The younger male had changed his att.i.tude quite a bit since being captured by the Khieevi. At first, right after he'd been rescued, he had retreated into himself, uncharacteristically tremulous and reticent. All Maati's goading, Becker's scolding, and Acorna's kindness couldn't reach him. But Aari had been wonderful with him, encompa.s.sing him in an exclusive wordless empathy extended from the first and heretofore only Linyaari to survive capture by the Khieevi to the second. Thariinye had responded to Aari's help with relief and something like hero worship. He'd had a taste of -what the Khieevi were capable of, and couldn't begin to imagine what Aari's ordeal had been like. The bond was clearly healing for them both.

Aari had begun to speak with his parents and Maati of his time alone and with the Khieevi on Vhilnnyar. Some of what he described was new to Acorna and even to Becker. Now that all of them had had such a close shave-Becker's description, but an apt one-with the Khieevi, everyone understood Aari's experiences much more fully. They were horrified for him, of course, but their reaction was one of grim comprehension, not shock or squeamishness.

With his new air of self-a.s.surance, Aan faced the parade of faces on the com screen with a degree of comfort he'd never exhibited in the past.

Once everyone had been hailed, Acorna switched back to Calum. "Delighted as I am to see you, what are all these ships doing here?" Acorna said.

"We re en route to join Haz and his caravan at the House Harakamian Moon of Opportoooonity," Calum said, deepening his voice into a parody of a Scottish brogue. "It's on that moon you used as a base of operations to rescue the folks Ganoosh and Ikwaskwan captured."

Becker chuckled. The wily Hafiz's l.u.s.t for trade reminded him of his own for salvage. "His timing coulda been a little better," Becker told Calum. "According to-uh-our informant, this whole sector will be crawling with Khieevi before long. On the other hand, if the old pirate had waited till later, there wouldn't have been anybody to trade with, so we'll just have to deal with it, I guess. I presume you're up for a bit of haggling over rescuing the galaxy once again?"

Caravan Harakamian had come to rest at its destination after sailing through vast distances of s.p.a.ce. Along the way it stopped at various watering holes and oases to refuel and pick up a few forgotten but essential supplies, experts in various fields, security personnel, and general shopping. Its s.p.a.ce-going "camels" were fat with the finest cargo by the time they arrived at the desolate moon.

In less time than it took the genie to build the castle of Aladdin, Hafiz and his colleagues in commerce had erected a gigantic trade center. Hafiz used his own hologrammatic magic to disguise the envirobubbles as giant Linyaari pavilions, such as those described to him by Acorna and Aari. From the inside the bubbles were all blue sky and flying birds, -waterfalls and forests and mountains in the distance. In the foreground was the flowering vine of goods and services, the commercial center that House Harakamian erected solely to attract the Linyaari and their allies to what Hafiz fondly hoped would be an exclusive trade agreement.

Calum Baird had taken charge of leading a second expedition of technicians who set up relays between the new sector and the old one, specifically Laboue and Maganos Moonbase.

Rafik, Gill, Mercy, Judit, Pal, Johnny, and Ziana ensured that the kids who came from Maganos Moonbase and the crew of the Haven were given all possible learning opportunities. Some of the older children were now of age for university training. Those whose brains had been damaged by deprivation or who had been kidnapped into slavery so young that they were still catching up on their educations remained on Maganos Moonbase in the care of trusted teachers and some of the more gifted older children. They would help coordinate future supply caravans, and the transmission of orders from the new Moon of Opportunity, as Hafiz had dubbed his trading colony.

Dr. Hoa's weather wizardry created a climate both varied and pleasant, cycling through a temperate change of weather every thirty days. With the resident botanists, he came up with species well adapted for several days of warm rain with intermittent hard rain, interspersed with brilliant warm sunshine, followed by crisp autumnal days that caused the special trees to turn bright red and gold and drop their leaves before the snow that fell only on the lawns and in the mountains on the recreational portion of the moon, where residents and guests were provided with skiing, s...o...b..arding, ice skating, sledding, and ski lodge activities.

In another part of the resort area, specially tailored palms swayed above a "white sand beach onto which surfable waves glistened and slid under sailable winds. Provisions were made for the alien recreational activities Hafiz had knowledge of as well, vine swinging (for the Limurian jungle dwellers), mudrolling (for the Porcinian beings of the Greater Ursine constellation), and of course, high and low gravity events-long distance jumping sports and soil diving among them. Hafiz's brochure promised that more exotic entertainments would be offered later.

His hologram wizardry also made the hotels playgrounds for both the children and the sophisticates, offering a variety of fantasy-oriented suites and facilities, even holographic houris. He was a bit surprised that Khetala, who had been reeducating former pleasure house employees, took it upon herself to visit the holographic harems of the houris. While there she attempted to convince the denizens they were being exploited and should perhaps take up courses in accounting or business management to empower themselves.

That was his first inkling that perhaps his colony was beginning to seem a bit too frivolous for some of his a.s.sociates. But of course, the guest facilities had to be in place before the university and healing centers could be completed.

Karina ordered up the initial hologramatic ambience for the healing center. She also spent a fortune on crystals, candles, gauzy draperies, drums, incense, amorphous music, and real greenery and fountains. Hafiz was allowed to embellish her setting with his holograms, but she insisted on the genuine article as far as plant life and water features went, "for the ozone and the extra oxygen, beloved. One doesn't get that from a simulation."

A large portion of that pavilion was kept barren however, awaiting the arrival of the first Linyaari trade partners, who would of course have their own specifications.

Thus was all in readiness for the first trading partners. Hafiz and his staff waited. And waited. And waited.

Signals had been sent on all frequencies to all planets in the sector. Calum Baird and his technicians finished their work installing the appropriate links and relays to allow swift communication with Maganos Moonbase, Laboue, and all other previously known Federation worlds, moons, and s.p.a.ce stations. But until Calum and his fleet intercepted the Condor's signal, not a single response did the newly created facility receive.

Finally these last ships docked and by the time their crews were welcomed and rested, the Condor, its sides virtually bulging with cargo and expanded crew, waddled into port to squat beside the other, sleeker vessels.

Becker gave a low whistle as the crew, including RK, descended on the spanking clean robolift.

"Will you look at this spread?" Becker asked. "Your old uncle has done himself proud, Princess."

Acorna wasn't listening. She didn't even wait until the robolift touched the ground before jumping off and flying into the collective arms of her uncles and old friends from Maganos Moonbase.

Hugs, kisses, tears, and exclamations flowed freely and to Maati, seemed to sadly contrast to her own reunion with her brother, mother, and father.

Finally, Hafiz Harakamian, mindful of the presence of four horned Linyaari and Aari, whom he had met before, detached himself from the storm of sentiment and greeted his new guests.

He was flanked by Karina on one side and Nadhari Kando on the other. As chief of security, Nadhari considered it her job to be with Hafiz in any crowd and put herself between him and harm.

"Welcome to my pavilion, and to this Moon of Opportunity, honored guests, Captain Becker, and er-crewman?" Hafiz said with a glance at Mac.

RK leaped onto Nadhari Kando's shoulder.

"It's that Makahomian warrior lady again. h.e.l.lo, there," Becker said, perhaps a bit eagerly.

Nadhari gave him a slow smile and streked RK's plumed tail. "I see the sacred cat has brought you safely through another journey, Becker."

"Yes, he was a lot of help," Becker said, reaching over to stroke RK too, and incidentally brush his fingers against Nadhari's sculpted cheekbone resting against the cat's side. RK growled and batted at him. "The hero of the whole thing actually," Becker continued. The growl lowered. "In fact, if he hadn't alerted Aari to the fact that the Khieevi was after Acorna, and then come back to lead me and Mac to where the Khieevi and Aari were duking it out, we probably would not be the hale and healthy party standing before you now."

RK was purring now.

Hafiz, who had been trying to ignore Becker to court the Linyaari, suddenly turned to him, very pale despite the artificial sunlight in his offices. "Khieevi? You encountered Khleevi!"

"Yeah, got a couple of dead ones up top," Becker said, jerking his thumb toward the Cow)or.

Acorna rejoined the crew, her friends and relations surrounding them all now as they strolled off the robolift and toward the sumptuously appointed reception area. "Uncle Hafiz, we will need to establish some sort of laboratory to study the dead Khieevi and to a.n.a.lyze a substance we discovered on another world."

"You need establish nothing, 0 flower of my family tree," Hafiz said. "We have the best of all laboratories here at your command complete with all the most advanced devices and equipment."

"And we have some top Linyaari organic chemists in our crew, Uncle," Acorna said with a nod to two of the newcomers, "Allow me to present Kaarlye and Miiri, father and mother of Aari and Maati."

"We are honored," Hafiz said. "And our laboratories of course are at your disposal. Just across the garden of a thousand succulent sweetgra.s.ses and flowering fountains you will find luxurious pavilions designed with Linyaari tasks and requirements in mind." He clapped his hands and porters appeared. "When you have rested from your journeys, we will dine."

"No time to rest," Kaarlye said brusquely. "We must a.n.a.lyze this substance at once. When it is warm, it spreads rapidly."

Becker stopped the porters at the robolift. "Wait a minute, folks. We didn't come with a lot of baggage and I think my crew and I had better unload the sap and the -uh- prisoners. You might want to stand back. They stink. A lot. As for RK, Mac, and me, -we're staying aboard the Coru)or."

Nadhari lifted an eyebrow and made a very unconvincing pout with her mouth. RK laid his ears back and wrapped his tail possessively around Nadhari's neck. "Unless of course the cat has other ideas," Becker finished lamely.

That night a sumptuous meal was laid before them.

Under an open canopy, silvery platters of meats and sweets nestled among opulent arrangements of flowers and plumed gra.s.ses upon a long low table nestled within a bank of tufted divans covered with poufs of paisley silks and velvets. These topped thick soft rugs of various harmonious patterns and jewel-like hues.

Becker and his new crew sank into the divans and following Hafiz's lead, Becker, Karina, Dr. Hoa, Acorna's non-Linyaari family, and Nadhari Kando plucked succulent items from the trays on the table. Meanwhile Acorna, Aari, Maati, and the parental units grazed on the flower arrangements. Becker was a little startled until he realized that this was the intended purpose of what he had thought of as an overabundance of centerpieces. The old man had simply seen to it that the Linyaari "dishes" were arranged as appealingly as the savory morsels offered to the other guests.

"Uncle Hafiz, you are amazing," Acorna said. Becker was pleased to see that after the strain and danger and hard work the girl had recently endured, she looked as fresh as some of the flowers she was eating, glowing with happiness at being among her old friends again. "How long did it take you to build this installment, anyway? " Her eyes took in the gently lit garden with its fountains and mountainous background, the spired and domed palaces that formed Hafiz's chief residence and several of the hotels and office buildings besides. Overhead stars twinged-not any stars Acorna had ever been among but artful stars, placed with an artistic interpretation of constellations and formations Karina had deemed auspicious.

"Little more than the twinkling of an eye, dearest child, that and many, many, many trillions of credits, of course."

Becker was seated on the end of one divan, Nadhari Kando on the adjoining end of another, the Condor's first mate still wrapped complacently around her neck like a living fur collar. Every once in a while a forkful of fish eggs or meat didn't make it all the way to Nadhari's mouth, however, as a paw or a set of feline teeth intercepted it.

"But enough of my little pastimes," Hafiz was saying while Becker was admiring the line of Nadhari's jaw and the curve of her neck, "I am consumed with curiosity to know how it is that you actually have two dead Khieevi with you?"

"Oh. Them," Becker said. "Well, they're survivors. I mean, they were survivors. From the crash of their ship. The one we caused since, you know, they had just finished shooting the kids' ship out of the sky."

"And by kids you mean . . . ?"

"Maati and Thariinye," Acorna put in. "They apparently decided at almost the same time we did to search for Maati's and Aari's parents on the blue world. But the Khieevi had the same idea, and had already launched an attack when we arrived."

"Tell me, Captain, I am intrigued," Nadhari said. "What powerful weapons do you carry on that salvage ship of yours that vanquished a Khieevi vessel?"

"Yes," Hafiz said. "Please, tell us. If they are that effective, I will order many for the protection of our moon."

Becker gave Nadhari a smile that urged her to wait a moment and answered Hafiz, "Well, sir, it is true that I have a bunch of very lethal weapons on the Condor. Some of them even work. Or would, if I had them a.s.sembled and installed. Which I didn't. So then Acorna here says, what about using the tractor beam?"

A smile played at the edges of Nadhari's mouth, which was the only thing about her with any extra flesh-her lips were sculpted but pleasingly plump, at least they were when relaxed. He seemed to recall seeing that same mouth set in a hard grim line above the jut of that firm and shapely jaw. It would have had him quaking in his gravity boots, if he thought she had any quarrel with him. But she didn't, and RK's tail tip flitted playfully from her shoulder bone to jawline to eartip, as flirtatious as a courtesan's fan.

"Captain, surely you have not acquired enough cargo by now to act as another slingshot bomb with which to fell your enemies?"

"Oh, no, ma'am. Not slingshot this time. We-uh-skipped 'em like a rock and then played crack the ship with their sorry carca.s.s. Worked good, too, didn't it, crew?"

"Yes, Joh. Good," Aari said.

"Except for the survivors. We didn't know there were two at first," Becker said.

He regaled the table with the story of the questioning of the injured Khieevi while interweaving the story of Maati and Thariinye as if he had understood every word they spoke of their ordeal or had been with them while it was occurring. He gave it a few flourishes here and there and ended by saying modestly, "So I blew a hole through the b.u.g.g.e.r, but Aari here had already pretty much finished him off."

"How?" Karina Harakamian asked.

"Why, by giving him a great big old hug. See, that Khieevi was so purely mortified by all that Linyaari sweetness and light Aari was extending to it just because he's of such a highly evolved nature, that I figure the Khieevi came down with a monstrous case of sugar diabetes on the spot and it was such a shock to its system it curled up its toes and died."

Karina clasped her plump, beringed hands over her heaving amethyst-veiled and amethyst-encrusted bosom and sighed, "How thrilling! And what a triumph for the light!" Then she glanced around at the stolid Linyaari faces, and at Becker's determinedly innocent one. He was trying to keep his mouth from twitching. "Wait a moment. Is that true?" she asked.

"Not a word of it!" Becker exploded with laughter. Karina was exactly the kind of audience he loved. Gullible. "Well, the thing did curl up and die and it was because of something sticky as sugar, but not sweet. It was this sap stuff we picked up on some planet full of vines. But I had you going there, didn't I?"

Nadhari shook an admonitory finger at him, "Naughty, naughty, Captain. But I must say, I'm very impressed. You and your crew of pacifist *warriors vanquishing such formidable foes without so much as a real weapon among you-"

"You're forgetting that I blew a hole the size of the cat through that thing," Becker said, slightly offended at being lumped with the pacifists.

She shrugged like a panther rippling its muscles in preparation for a longer stretch. "Oh that. A mere coup de grace. But your ingenuity and wit amaze me. Anyone can win by force of muscle or superior firepower. But winning because of strategy and the ability to turn whatever you have at hand into a weapon, I find that-very, very impressive."

"You W Becker was surprised at first, then amazed, followed by stupefied. Him? Impress heri She was absolutely the most impressive woman he had ever seen in his entire life and fascinated him at the same time she scared the bejesus out of him. He hadn't done anything she couldn't do with both hands tied behind her back, but it was nice to hear it anyway.

"Absolutely." He couldn't tell if it was her or RK purring. Both of them were regarding him through slitted eyes.

"I certainly do. You and I should discuss-strategy."

He -was flummoxed. The truth was, he never stuck around for courtship or seduction much past the brief encounters in the pleasure houses-hadn't since he was younger and encountered all the ladies who wanted a good time but thought spending any part of it on a salvage ship beneath them. Nadhari Kando knew where he lived. She'd been there. "I-uh-I'd really like that. I need to check in with Mac though-that's the KEN-640 unit-he's repairing the corn unit on the Khieevi shuttle so we can maybe monitor their movements-"

"By the sacred whiskers, you think of everything, don't you?" She moved closer and offered him an olive. He held out his hand but she held it with two fingers and her thumb and waved it teasingly till he opened his mouth, then she popped it in. He could definitely get used to this. Her scent was a mixture of musk and citrus, and something like a forest after a rain. He liked it. He held out an olive for her.

"And I-uh-I guess I should get RK back, too. He hasn't had his usual eighty hours of sleep today."

"Oh?" she said. "That's funny. He's been communing with me. He -wants to stay with me tonight."

"Well, if that's not just like a cat!" Becker exclaimed, dropping the olive back onto his plate in his consternation at his first mate's defection.