The Dragon Never Sleeps

— 140 —

Lupo Provik disentangled himself from Two. He went to a window. Beyond lay the world he had chosen as the seat of his stolen empire. It was a beautiful world, still untarnished. He meant to keep it that way.

"You're brooding again."

"I suppose."

"One and Four again?"

"Yes." The news dribbled in. The Ku seemed to have done everything but get the hostages away.

"It was a thin hope."

"I know. I know. It had to be done. And they volunteered. But knowing that doesn't fill the hole in here." He studied the forest that swept up his mountain. "Now we're safely out, I can't help wondering if it was worth it."

Two understood. "It was. This isn't Tregessser Horata DownTown, where you'd be dead by now if you hadn't reached up and grabbed. And none of the rest of us would have lived."

"I suppose."

"If you have to brood, worry about how we're going to keep the Guardships from finding us."

"They'll be too busy picking up the pieces and holding the Rims."

"If you can't do anything constructive with your mind, come do something useful with the rest of you."

— 141 —

WarAvocat was wounded. Lady Midnight did not remember him. And she had aged. It was terrible to look at her and recall the beauty that had faded. So he looked at the other woman, who had come aboard as haughty as a queen, unafraid, contemptuous.

He could not fathom her attitude. It seemed misplaced. "You're not in the Tregesser Pylon," he told her.

"Which renders me vulnerable to maltreatment. It doesn't change who's quality and who isn't."

Ouch. He lifted an eyebrow. "Why did you leave your companions? Why should you expect any mercy?" She radiated something intensely sexual. He wondered how she would be.

"The Ku and his bullies are determined to go out in high Ku style. They want to die. But they also want to make a fool of you for as long as they can."

"They haven't done a bad job."

"They've forgotten something in the heat of their game. Getting the Outsider fleets to suicide only gets rid of the fleets. The point of the war for the methane breathers is to buy time while they ready a place to hide."

WarAvocat frowned. "There is no safe place."

"Wrong. We spent a year there. But I can't tell you where. Only the Ku knows. And he has no reason to tell you."

He quizzed her. She was forthright. But why? He asked.

"I have people on that rider, including a son."

There it was. She wanted to cut a deal. "I'll think about this." Long enough for them to get real hungry out there. If shipboard politics permitted.

Three days. He had not made a dent in Midnight. The Tregesser woman had been easy, and interesting, but inclined to manipulate. She overvalued her skills.

She was strange. In the usual loose confinement, she roamed around muttering like a madwoman.

He did not think she was crazy. She was up to something. She got around too well, too, like she knew where she was going....

Ku wearing captured combat gear invaded a rider bay and carried off shipboard rations. He had not anticipated that. They were daring. They could become lice on the body of the Guardship.

Were they trying to force something? More likely they had no choice. Midnight and the Tregesser woman had come aboard gaunt.

They were vulnerable out there, even if they were indetectable. He had options. He sent fighters to pepper the area with 40mm CT. Afterward, he sent a message. He wanted the methane breathers' final redoubt.

Instant uproar. The Deified did not want deals. They wanted revenge. Living crew did not want campaigns, they wanted Starbase Dengaida, to get Gemina into therapy.

The Valerena's muttering paid off sooner than she expected. She took a turn in a remote corridor and there was Tawn. Had to be, though it was female. It had that look.

Its being female was a surprise. That would make seduction more difficult. And this Tawn, on a Guardship filled with the Living, would be less naive.

WarAvocat waited uneasily for the Ku's representative. Provik appeared to need no guide. Disturbing. "Do you have yourself under control, Colonel?"

Klass nodded. She knew she was a psychological counter. She was tough. She had come out of the tank knowing she had been killed and had gone to find out how and why. She was ready to hunt the Ku. Maybe too ready.

Why was Provik with the Ku? They had lied skillfully at P. Benetonica....

The air asked his attention, communication for his ears only. He listened, accessed the surveillance on the Tregesser woman's quarters. She was having a conversation with someone who was not there. Bizarre. He would have to give that more attention.

Provik arrived. He was direct. "The Ku says he'll give you the location and a method of attack if you'll give him Midnight and Valerena Tregesser and turn your back while he disappears."

"Maybe he'd like another shower of CT."

"He might worry if your gu

"I see. So. You once said, ‘We have our own politics to survive.' I have my own politics to survive."

Provik shrugged. "All the same to them. They've made up their minds to die. They won't bargain."

He had feared that. Damned Ku style. "And you Tregessers?"

"We wrote ourselves off way back. We have nothing to gain from you."

Too true. Life was the only chip he had on his side of the table. And they would not play for that stake. He glanced at Klass. Provik seemed untroubled by her presence.

"We have an impasse. I don't know how to break it."

"Ask Gemina."

Crew were troubled enough. If Gemina offered an unpopular suggestion... Even so. "Access, Gemina. You have been monitoring. Respond to Mr. Provik's suggestion, please."

It was a long wait. Bad. It might mean.... It did.

"Enlist the Ku according to recent fleet directives. Assign them detached duty with orders to report at an unspecified date."

Impractical. "The Directive disallows anyone who has stood in arms against Canon."

"Hire him as a special operative, independently assigned, under suspended death sentence."

Interesting. Gemina understood Ku warrior psychology. Enlisted, their concepts of faith and honor would compel them to fulfill whatever obligation they undertook. It would lay a fat temptation before Kez Maefele, who wanted to get his people out. The unspoken agreement would be no commentary ever about what had happened to Starbase.

"Do you understand the undertaking there, Provik?"

It would not be politically acceptable, but he could order it. If he did not mind putting his Deification more at risk than it was.

Once he had been ready to risk it to get the Ku. Must he now risk it to silence an enemy more terrible and repugnant?

"Tell the Ku I'm considering dealing. On about those terms. If he convinces me totally that this Outsider hideout is dangerous."

"I see the angles, Strate." Provik walked out.

WarAvocat looked at Klass. "Well?"

"You haven't kept up on my work with the Meddinians."

"I haven't had time. What have I missed?"

"Seeker claims it's critical that we beat the Godspeakers now, before they dig in. If we don't, we'll never beat them completely. They'll devour us in the long run. He says. In fact, he goes on like we may have missed our chance already."

"I'll review the material. See what you'll need if we have to deal with the Ku the hard way."

"Yes, sir." She went.

He reviewed the material though he was too tired to concentrate.

Turtle said, "Let me think," after hearing Provik's report. The snare was patent. They would turn him into a living endorsement for the fleet.