Conquerors' Heritage

And then, so suddenly that she was almost caught unprepared, the needle was free. Catching her balance, she quickly slid the sampler back into position beneath the box. A handful of Elders had drifted in to watch the experiment on Prr't-casst-a's fsss; she could only hope that none of them had happened to notice her part of it. If they had—

Abruptly, an Elder appeared in front of Thrr-gilag. "Are you Thrr-gilag; Kee'rr?" she demanded.

Out of the corner of her eye Kl

"Message for you," the Elder said, her voice curt. "Wait here."

She vanished. Thrr-gilag looked at Kl

His expression relaxed a fraction. "Yes," he agreed. He offered her the spoon under the box again, turning it around as he did so. Deftly, Kl

And then the Elder was back. "You're ordered to return at once to Unity City," she told Thrr-gilag. "By order of the Overclan Prime. End of message."

Kl

The Elder vanished. "By order of the Overclan Prime?" the protector echoed. "I thought you said this was a small experiment."

"It is," Thrr-gilag said. "But there are other projects I'm also involved in."

The protector frowned at him; and then, suddenly, he got it. "Thrr-gilag; Kee'rr," he said. "Sure. You were the speaker for that searcher group on Base World Twelve. The ones with the alien prisoner."

"That's right," Thrr-gilag said. "Now, if you'll set us back down, please, I have to get a flight for Oaccanv."

For a long beat the protector gazed hard at Thrr-gilag's face, and for that same long beat Kl

But to her relief the protector merely shrugged. "Sure," he said, swinging the mesh door down over Prr't-casst-a's niche and sealing it again. He looked over the guardrail and gestured to his partner, and the platform started down.

A hunbeat later they were walking down the flagstone path toward the predator-fence gate. "Well?" Prr't-casst-a muttered, hovering beside Kl

Kl

"I will." Prrt'-casst-a paused. "Thrr-gilag, what is this summons by the Overclan Prime?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Thrr-gilag assured her with a confidence Kl

"In the meantime, you need to keep up your pressure on the Dhaa'rr and Prr leaders to postpone or cancel the ritual of fire," Kl

"I'll try," Prr't-casst-a said, her voice trembling. "Kl

"You can start by getting that message to my brother," Thrr-gilag said, gently cutting her off. "And after that perhaps you'll get hold of a travel communicator for me. I need to catch the next flight out to Oaccanv and Unity City from this part of Dharanv."

"Right," Prr't-casst-a said, pulling herself back from the edge of maudlin sentiment with obvious effort. "Right away."

She vanished. "So," Thrr-gilag said, looking at Kl

"Not really," Kl

Thrr-gilag grunted. "I just hope it works," he said darkly. "I can't help thinking that if it was really this easy, they ought to be taking cuttings this way all the time."

Kl

"You're probably right. If it works, maybe we'll write up a procedure paper on it sometime."

"Sure," Kl

"Probably something to do with our mission to the Mrachanis," he said. "Maybe they're moving the departure up a few tentharcs or something."

They had passed the gate and were heading for the railcar stop when Prr't-casst-a reappeared. "I have the pathway to Thrr-mezaz," she said, her voice tight. "I sent the message, but he wants to speak to you."

"Sure," Thrr-gilag said, throwing a frown at Kl

Prr't-casst-a vanished. "You think there's trouble?" Kl

"Sounds like it," Thrr-gilag said. His expression was grim, his tail suddenly spi

Prr't-casst-a returned. " 'Father's been trying to get hold of you for nearly two tentharcs, Thrr-gilag,' " she said without preamble. " 'You need to head back to Oaccanv immediately.' "

Thrr-gilag's hand groped for Kl

The delay this time seemed to drag on forever. Kl

Prr't-casst-a returned. " 'He wouldn't say,' " she quoted Thrr-mezaz. " 'In fact, he really didn't tell me anything at all except that he needed to see one of us as quickly as possible. He was worried, though. Really worried. I could tell that much.' "

"He probably didn't trust the pathway he was on," Thrr-gilag said. "All right, look, I've just been summoned back to Unity City anyway. I'll try to find a way to get over to him."

Prr't-casst-a vanished, returned a hunbeat later. " 'All right. You want me to call him and let him know?' "

"Yes, you'd better," Thrr-gilag nodded. "You can get a much more secure pathway than I can. No telling what kind of leakage we'd get if I tried calling him from here."

Kl

Prr't-casst-a returned. " 'All right. Any idea how you're going to deliver your package to me?' "

"Not yet," Thrr-gilag said.

"Actually, I have an idea," Kl

Prr't-casst-a looked a bit confused. "Do I repeat all of that?"

"Yes," Thrr-gilag told her. "Just make it clear along the pathway that Kl

"All right."

She vanished. "What idea is this?" Thrr-gilag asked Kl

"That I go out to Dorcas and deliver it to him," Kl