Chapter 34

"Well, Amanda," Igwanda said as the final echoes of the lander's engine noise died away. "We have probably about forty-five minutes before they get everything coordinated aboard the Gardener. I do not want to take a great deal more time than that; sunset is only about two hours away and we need to establish our safety before dark."

"Can't we simply jam their signal again overnight?" she asked.

"If necessary," he replied. "I am reluctant to do so, however. I am certain they are frantically searching for some way to overcome or bypass our interference, and the longer they are exposed to it the better their likelihood of success."

"All right," she said. "But before we begin ... Carlos, you were very nice to John on the lander. Frankly I was surprised. But I, too, blew it, and without his excuse; I'm a lot of things, but I've never regarded myself as an ungrounded idealist. You were right all along, and I was wrong. For that I most abjectly apologize to you."

"Accepted," he said brusquely. "Please put it from your mind, as I already have; we need to look to the future."

"Yes." She paused momentarily as if searching for more to say, then shook her head. "All right. What's your plan?"

"I intend to isolate a single native and restrain it—that is, keep it with us. This should not take much physical restraint, in their present state they seem quite docile. Then we must try to clear the area of others, so that we will not be assaulted immediately. The pavilion"—he gestured—"seems the most logical place to commence our interrogation when the interference is stopped. Do you have a better alternative?"

"That seems good," she said. "But which native? Joe, or one of the others we've been dealing with?"

"I doubt that it matters. All are linked to the same data base, and it will be too tedious to search for a familiar individual among these so-similar faces—if indeed any of those we dealt with before survived the carnage. That one there will do." He indicated a nearby alien meandering aimlessly across the clearing.

It took longer than Igwanda had expected to isolate the two of them and their captive in the pavilion. Deprived of the bulk of their mental abilities, the natives spooked easily enough; a simple shout was enough to send them scurrying. But that same shout served to attract others from further away, and at the same time badly frightened the one they were holding, who had to be forcibly prevented from running. Finally they began making careful laser shots into the ground in front of natives entering the clearing, and gradually dispersed them.

"Colonel, do you read me?" at last came Chavez' voice in his ear.

"Yes, you are clear, Sergeant," said Igwanda. Meiersdottir nodded that she, too, could hear him.

"Colonel, I really don't like this at all," the sergeant started. "I don't think—"

Igwanda was thoroughly tired of being challenged by his subordinate. "Sergeant, that will do. The time grows late, I am weary, and we need to proceed. Now—"

"But, Colonel!" protested Chavez.

"I said enough," said Igwanda coldly. "Do you need me to relieve you?"

There was a pause. Then, just as Igwanda was ready to erupt: "No, sir."

"Then I expect you to follow orders without pause or discussion. Is that understood?"

A shorter pause. "Yes, sir."

"See that you do. In a moment I will give the order to cease the jamming signal. After you do, have others search for the prime locations; you remain in constant linkage with me. Do not—I repeat, do not—utter a single sound, except to relay the prime sites as they are located. If and only if I order it, resume the interference immediately. Also do so if you hear any weapons fire. Otherwise do nothing. Clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Sergeant, it is vital that you follow these orders to the letter. Our lives depend on you. Can you curb your evident disagreement with my course of action sufficiently to do that?"

"Yes, Colonel." This time without any pause.

"Very well." Igwanda took a deep breath. "Cease the interference now."

The response was not quite so immediate as when Zo had begun the signal—boot-up delay, Igwanda thought—but within seconds there was a sudden change in the demeanor of the alien in front of him. There was also, nearly as quickly, an ominously purposeful stirring in the surrounding overgrowth.

"If you attack," said Igwanda clearly, "the others will return. They will kill you and they will kill your mothers."

The native stiffened visibly, his eyes dilating as wide as Igwanda had ever seen. In almost the same instant the overgrowth grew abruptly silent. The silence stretched out to fifteen, twenty, nearly thirty seconds before the alien broke it.

"You Eeghanka," he said in an almost incomprehensibly thick tone.

"Yes."

There was another, shorter pause. "Khuat... ," he began, followed by a string of sounds that Igwanda found incomprehensible.

"Say it again, slowly," directed the colonel.

It took three tries before he could decipher it: "What you know of mothers?"

In about the same moment Chavez' voice sounded in his ear. "You were right, Colonel, one site's in the original building—or not in it exactly, it's underground. Several meters. We've found four others so far, and we're still looking. One's at the mine. I'll have to describe—"

Ostentatiously Igwanda raised his hand to his face as if it were a microphone. "Later Sergeant; if I need I shall ask. But be ready to describe them succinctly, time may be important."

He dropped his hand and stared at the native. "Your mothers are there." He pointed. "In your first building. Under the ground. They are in other places, too. We know those other places. One is where you mine the iron. Do you need me to tell you more?"

"No."

"You know our weapons. Do you believe we can do what I have said?"

After a pause: "Yes."

"We can use our other weapon, the one we used before. The one that works in your thinking. Do you wish us to show you?"

Quickly, "No."

"We must talk now. In peace. Will we speak through this one?"

A brief delay. "No. Joe." It was followed by another garbled group of sounds that Ig­wanda could not understand. He shook his head and put out his hands in a shushing motion.

"Wait," said the native. "Joe come." With that he turned and began walking away. He disappeared into the overgrowth and the field was deserted for a moment; then another native, followed almost immediately by a companion, emerged and headed purposefully toward the pavilion.

Joe.

And Akakha.

"My mouth more easy your words," said Joe as he reached them. He looked closely at Meiersdottir. "Agnanga," he said. "You wear guard things. Why?"

"Joe, you know why," she said.

"You not ... I not understand."

"Why does Akakha come?" said Igwanda.

"You two," interjected the native guard. "We two. Also..." He trailed off and gestured to himself.

"You are not all the same," said Igwanda.

There was silence for a moment. "No," Joe admitted. "Different, all. Like you."

"Not like us," said Meiersdottir.

"Like you some way," said Joe. "Some part."

"We will talk of this later," said Igwanda firmly. "First, do you understand what I said about if you attack?"