Those Of My Blood Part 27

"I'm not controlled," said Inea, "because t.i.tus isn't afraid of me. Abbot's terrified of humans; t.i.tus understands humans. Abbot knows only his own purposes; t.i.tus knows others have the right to choose their own purposes too."

"Inea's not controlled," said t.i.tus, "because Inea keeps her word. You declined Abbot's stringer, but now I find you at the woman who has, in fact, been supporting you and me. And you won't even explain what you're doing here."

H'lim sagged, leaning on a console. He scrubbed at his face, and t.i.tus could see the ends of his fingers quivering. "I thought this place would be deserted. I only wanted to see if you were really doing what you claimed, if you really were what you said you were. A vidcom image is not data. I had to verify what you gave me. Can't you see that? Before I made them a message, I had to be sure!"

"Why would you doubt us?" asked t.i.tus.

"They said they'd make me a s.p.a.cesuit so I could go see the ship. They never did. It would be so easy to fake those pictures of Kylyd. The fragments didn't even have the name on them, after all. You might be holding all of us prisoner. You might be anyone, or allies to anyone, using me or my stock. Or the humans might. I don't know your species; I don't know who you are; I don't know where I am!"

"t.i.tus, you've got to take him out to the wreck. You said yourself the cameras can't pick up the name." And she explained why the cameras couldn't see the luren paint job.

t.i.tus asked, "If you saw the wreck, and the star maps, if you were convinced it's all true, what would you do?"

"Make the message they asked me to make."

"I'm not so sure that would be to our advantage."

"It would be to mine."

"Would the luren take this world from us?"

With genuine surprise, H'lim said, "No! It would-it would not be legal to do that."

"You're hungry. You'd have taken Inea. Who's to say some luren wouldn't come to prefer humans to orl?"

"It would not be legal. I'm glad you stopped me. I'm glad she stopped me. I'd face a dire penalty otherwise."

"Who out there cares about humans?"

"There are dire penalties for saying the wrong things to primitive peoples, too."

"t.i.tus," said Inea, "not everybody as hungry as he is would worry about which food is legal."

"I know." To H'lim, he said, "If taking humans isn't legal for luren, then where does that leave Earth's luren?"

"I'm no lawyer." H'lim sketched a shrug. It looked awkward, like something Mirelle had taught him.

"t.i.tus, we should take him to your apartment and feed him. It's hard to trust people who starve you."

t.i.tus was wondering how a "sheltered" stockman could suspect humans and Earth-luren of creating the infirmary room to trick him. And what did he imagine they would want to trick him into? What was going on in the galaxy to raise such a suspicion? Industrial intrigue? War?

"He's not so sure he wants my trust," said H'lim.

"No, it's not that," answered Inea. "There isn't much blood "eft, and there's no telling when there'll be more."

"Mihelich will have his first batch ready soon," said t.i.tus.

"But H'lim needs ectoplasm, and for that humans are as good as orl." H'lim looked aside and remained silent. t.i.tus added, "I did father you, H'lim, and I'll honor that commitment. But there's too much you don't know yet about life among humans. You've got to go back to your room and keep anyone from knowing you've been out."

"First I must go to Kylyd. There are things I need. If they've survived." t.i.tus felt a wild surge of Influence that cut off abruptly. "I haven't been able to sleep since you woke me. Your people may have changed, but I can't-"

"Oh, s.h.i.t!" t.i.tus interrupted. "Listen, it's been night since you woke. Abbot and I have been wakeful, too, but now the sun's coming up, so we feel ghastly, too. It's the magnetic-" H'lim had t.i.tus's vocabulary, but few concepts to go with the words. "We use a generator to relieve the discomfort and sleep. Abbot was making one for you. Didn't he mention it?"

H'lim shook his head. "On the ship, I have-"

"It's probably destroyed, or we'd have found it. Abbot's clever with machines. Work with him; he'll get the settings right for you. Now I've got to take you back-"

The outer door of the lab crashed open and armed Brink's guards in s.p.a.cesuits poured through, dartguns at the ready.

"Okay, H'lim, freeze!" shouted the leader, taking aim.

Moving very slowly, t.i.tus raised his hands and stepped in front of H'lim, muttering, "G.o.d alone knows what those darts might do to you! They don't hurt me." Aloud, he called, "Hold it, gentlemen. He was only trying to verify what we've told him of ourselves. You won't need the guns."

Behind the guards came a cordon of Biomed technicians in isolation gear carrying an isolation bubble. "I'm sorry, Dr. Shiddehara, but we've got to detain you and the ladyj too."

t.i.tus's heart pounded into his throat. He wouldn't be able to eat, or to bring H'lim nourishment. But then Colby, in uniform only, pushed through, shouting for attention.

"Listen! H'lim has been through the outer observation dome, the s.p.a.cesuit lockers, the arcade, the gym, and several refectories. No dome is untouched. Further quarantine is a farce.

Worse yet, he can make people see things-or not see them. That's how he got out of Biomed. He could walk out that door and we wouldn't know it until tomorrow when we tried to figure out why we'd been here dressed like this!"

"Dr. Colby," said t.i.tus, edging forward, "H'lim was scared we weren't leveling with him-especially when we didn't deliver the s.p.a.cesuit we promised. He had to check in person on what we'd provided through the vidcom. Wouldn't you have done the same? Has he hurt anyone?"

H'lim stepped out from behind t.i.tus. "Dr. Mihelich and I confirmed that there's no need for quarantine. And now I believe you've told me the truth, however unlikely it seems." He placed his hands on his knees, giving a sort of half-bow as he said, "Forgive me if I frightened you in return for the kindness you have shown me."

"You may," said Colby, "have condemned us all to live out our lives on this station. It could take decades for Earth to accept the absence of a health threat."

"You will have my cooperation in regaining trust." H'lim looked to t.i.tus with the barest whisper of Influence.

Recalling the paralyzing blast H'lim had generated on wakening, and his puzzlement over the faintness of Abbot's Mark, t.i.tus said, "As a physicist, I'm intrigued by H'lim's sensitivity across the electromagnetic spectrum. The human nervous system is electromagnetic, too, which could account for the odd effects he has on people's minds. Could those effects be a natural defense reflex of your species, H'lim?"

t.i.tus underscored "natural defense" with Influence, and H'lim, after an awkward pause, took the cue. "I've never met a species on which my fright has such an exaggerated effect. I know you're not my enemies, so it won't happen again."

t.i.tus said softly, to Colby alone, "Biomed and Cognitive Sciences will be fascinated to learn of a planet that evolved a dominant species with a reflex for becoming invisible when frightened. Dr. H'lim is a life sciences expert, and would help them." H'lim didn't blink at t.i.tus's according him the ubiquitous "tie "Doctor." t.i.tus asked, "Doctor, can you agree now to compose the message for the probe to send?"

"Yes. I can." H'lim glanced at t.i.tus acknowledging how t.i.tus had altered the mood of the crowd without Influence.

The hall door opened, and Abbot entered, halting on the top step to survey the tableau. He wore ordinary coveralls.

Colby didn't see Abbot. She knew that H'lim expected to survive the centuries it might take for his people to come, but that human knowledge of his language was too sketchy for them to verify what his message said. "We can accept such a message only on condition that from now on, you allow our cameras to record and monitor all your movements."

It's only sensible, thought t.i.tus with despair. H'lim's terror surged into rising Influence, and t.i.tus laid a hand on his elbow, feeling his tremor of hunger. How could he feed under surveillance? t.i.tus was determined not to let Abbot take over this time. He said, "We're asking H'lim to vouch for us, but we're treating him like a dangerous animal. I wouldn't vouch for people who treated me that way."

"t.i.tus," protested H'lim, "they are frightened." He addressed Colby, "You react to fright by using your power, and I react to your use of power by being frightened and using my power. In this small laboratory, can we not experiment with ways to prevent such a destructive cycle?"

"I don't think you understand how we feel about what you've done-or what we imagine you can do beyond that."

"Possibly not. But can you understand that I regret frightening you?" At Colby's cautious nod, he went on, "So let us break this cycle before it controls history."

"But I must have you under absolute surveillance. No other option is open to me." Her voice was hard.

"Allow me some freedom and some privacy with the chance to earn more by proving trustworthy, and I will aid you in every way I can. Deny me such necessities, and I will die."

Her expression altered. "Die?"

"My kind are not like yours. I have other needs. Are you so barbarous that you'd enjoy watching a death by deprivation? Is that why you revived me?"

t.i.tus listened open-mouthed. H'lim had caught the knack of manipulating humans so fast, t.i.tus wondered how much he and Abbot had been manipulated by him.

Abbot strode forward, threading between the Brink's and Biomed crews to stand beside Colby. "Some humans would enjoy watching such a death," he replied to H'lim, the whole room reverberating to his controlled whisper of Influence. "But I think everyone here is as offended by your remark as I am."

"Then I withdraw it." H'lim bowed again, this time with an Oriental flavor, yielding utterly to his grandfather.

Abbot said, not needing Influence with the deeply conditioned human, "Carol, I came as soon as I heard H'lim had left his quarters. I thought you might not realize he was so starved and so exhausted from being unable to sleep that his judgment has to be impaired."

Contrite, Colby said to H'lim, "Exhausted? And hungry, too. Together, they'd leave a human prey to fear and likely to overreact. Why didn't you say something-"

"I did ask to go to Kylyd."

Abbot said, "We didn't understand, but now I think I've got a solution."

"We have other business to settle first," Colby said, that hardness returning to her voice. t.i.tus sensed a shield go up within her mind, shattering Abbot's hold on her. Abbot stepped away from her, puzzled, unsure of himself for the first time since t.i.tus had known him.

t.i.tus said, "Abbot's solution to H'lim's insomnia might explain why H'lim feels his life is threatened by confinement and surveillance. After all, Abbot is the Project's foremost electronic engineer and H'lim's most remarkable distinction from humans is his electromagnetic sensitivity. Am I right, Dr. Nandoha?"

Some of Abbot's apprehension vanished. "In a way. I found that the beds aboard Kylyd are rigged to produce a controlled magnetic environment. If they were functional, no recorder could operate within the electromagnetic noise they'd set up-at east, none of ours could." He turned to H'lim, highlighting his words with Influence, "You want the cameras off because they're noisy, right? You want to move about the station because you require sensory stimulus of shirting magnetic fields, not just muscular exercise."

H'lim a.s.sented, guardedly, and Abbot cast a reproachful glance at Colby.

"H'lim," she said, "can you ever forgive us? We never intended to torture you. Believe that, and tell us what you need, but please understand we can't tolerate being controlled as you have done. We'll defend ourselves against it, even if it hurts you. We won't enjoy your suffering, but we won't suffer in your stead."

"That seems reasonable," answered H'lim.

t.i.tus said, "H'lim, do you understand the concept of giving your word of honor, the military usage of "parole'?"

"In your mind, these concepts define your ident.i.ty. It is even more central for us."

Colby gasped. "You can read our minds!"

H'lim flinched from her horror but denied, "I can't read minds. t.i.tus gave me his spoken language and later provided graphics. I understand some things, but am missing others."

"Then how can you twist our minds as you have?"

"t.i.tus is the physicist here, not I," H'lim answered.

"Physicist," said t.i.tus, "not metaphysicist." That second session with H'lim had been a major trial, and he knew he had not done well. H'lim still stumbled over words with multiple meanings or with concepts he didn't have.

H'lim shrugged, and went on, "I will offer my word, my "parole," thusly. Let t.i.tus and Abbot visit me, and me visit them. Let them, along with"-he scanned the crowd, appearing to select Inea at random-"this lady, determine the conditions in which I am to be kept. In return, I pledge that my power, such as it is, will never touch them. You'll be able to trust them, and if they judge I must be put to death, my defenses will not rise against them."

And he called us sly. He had given away absolutely nothing and claimed in return everything he wanted. t.i.tus said, "I'd trust him to keep his word-more so, perhaps, than if he'd promised to include the whole station in the pledge."

"I believe him, too," said Abbot, without Influence.

"I'll take his word for it," added Inea.

H'lim glanced at her sharply, then inclined his head. "But the ultimate authority lies with Dr. Colby, no?"

"Your escape tonight," said Colby, "and the method you used to accomplish it, are already recorded on Earth. Ultimately, they will decide your fate, and by now they probably believe we're in your thrall as well as disease-ridden. Nothing we say will sway their decisions."

An icy lump formed in t.i.tus's guts. They'll nuke the station! But where on Earth could they find a hot bomb? He said, "Meanwhile, we have to live together. We can't stand here and work out the details. After a couple of good meals and a night's sleep, we can negotiate more sensibly. Carol?"

Cautiously, she said, "It may be necessary for me to replace t.i.tus, Abbot, and Inea with others."

"I trust t.i.tus and Abbot well enough to keep this promise," H'lim said. "It's an extreme one, you understand? Perhaps I could accept someone else, but please don't choose at random. I won't extend a promise I might not be able to keep."

Colby stepped closer and searched behind H'lim's dark gla.s.ses for some clue in his eyes. Then she nodded. "t.i.tus is right. He's made his promise so small because he intends to keep it. But, H'lim, why do you trust these three?"

H'lim asked, "Is there anyone here who doesn't?"

The room stirred with nervous laughter, and from it came the distinct chorus of approval for the three. t.i.tus felt Abbot tense, undoubtedly feeling naked when he didn't dare use Influence. Finally, Colby said, "Well, I agree. And t.i.tus is right. It's been too long a day. We'll hammer out terms of parole at the department heads' meeting tomorrow, and I'll expect you to attend, Dr. H'lim."

"The family name is used with the t.i.tle for those who do original work in science? I should be then Dr. Sa'ar."

It was a small thing for him to offer, but it somehow softened the hostility in the room. "Dr. Sa'ar," repeated Colby, then strode toward the door, firing orders right and left. When the door finally closed behind her, she had posted four guards outside, guards who would follow H'lim about, both to protect him and to protect people from him.

Inea, t.i.tus, and Abbot were left with H'lim, who had stood ramrod straight through the whole confrontation. But now he sagged back against a desk, burying his face in his hands. "t.i.tus," he warned, "I'm so hungry."

Abbot opened his mouth, but t.i.tus cut him off. "I'll take him to my apartment and feed him. You and Inea go rig up his bed for him."

"You sure you can handle it?" asked Abbot of t.i.tus.

"I'll go with you, t.i.tus," said Inea.

"No!" protested H'lim. "Just-just get away from me, Inea. Please."

She stepped back. "You sound like t.i.tus!"

Abbot understood. He beckoned Inea. "Come on, let's not make it any harder for him. Life is going to be bad enough around here, after this." He led Inea to the door, trying to convince her to trust him.

As H'lim and t.i.tus followed, H'lim said, "I've panicked the herd with my inept.i.tude?"

"Yeah. You saw Carol shake off Abbot's lightest touch. It'll be a long time until she'll be unsuspecting again, and Abbot doesn't know how to manage without Influence."

"He's going to have trouble-feeding?"

"Maybe."

"I'm sorry."