More Than Fire

As Kickaha left the room, he admitted to himself that he was stymied. The situation was a Mexican standoff. Red Orc was suicidally stubborn. Though he'd been offered a deal far better than he deserved, he'd rather die than lose his memory and, thus, his precious identity.

Kickaha went to the control room, a huge chamber with a very deep carpet on which were various mathematical formulae. The Khringdiz was sitting on a chair before a panel with many displays and controls. He wheeled his seat around and looked up at Kickaha. "It seems that you must either kill him or imprison him until he dies."

"Keeping him locked up is a bad idea. Sometime during the thousands of years he may yet live, he'd find a way to escape. I hate to think of him on the loose again."

"My advice is to end his misery."

"Misery?"

"Yes. Sometimes, so I've been told, he is quite calm, at one with himself because he feels superior to all other humans. Then he is even kind to people. He believes that he is truly a god. But this feeling only lasts a certain time. He tortures himself because he ca

"Now he is given the opportunity to erase that madness, to start over again. But despite his misery and suffering, he loves his madness. He ca

Kickaha laughed loudly, then said, "Thank you, Doctor Freud!"

"Who?"

"Never mind. But, though nonhuman, you certainly seem to know much about the human psyche."

"I'm convinced that there is not a significant basic degree of difference between any two sapient species, or among the members of the same species."

"You may be right. Anyway, I gave Red Orc a most generous offer, considering what he's done. He isn't going to accept it. That's that."

Khruuz rolled his huge eyes upward. Kickaha did not know what that meant. Disgust? Wonder at the craziness of human beings?

The Khringdiz said, "Red Orc was trying to make you suspicious of me when he told you to watch me. I hope that you dismissed his warning for what it is, a lie."

"Oh, sure. I know what he's doing," Kickaha said. "He's always in there pitching."

Damn Red Orc! he thought. He's brought up from the deep of my mind what's been lurking down there. I knew it was there-I'm never entirely without suspicion-but I just had no valid reason at all to suspect . Khruuz of evil intentions. I don't have any now. I should rid my mind of Red Orc's warning-though, come to think of it, Manathu Vorcyon did say that I might trust the Khringdiz too much. But she admitted that she didn't have any basis for her remark. Except that you shouldn't trust anybody unless they'd been through the fires with you, and maybe not even then.

Usually, I breathe in suspicion with the air. But Khruuz had such impressive credentials for hating the Lords. I don't doubt that he has. But who else does he hate? All humans? Could he be as crazed as Red Orc but have much better control at concealing his feelings? I certainly can't accuse Khruuz. No basis for doing that.

But it's possible he's up to something I won't like at all. How do I determine what he really thinks and feels? I could lock him up, keep him out of the way. But I need him badly, and I'd be unfair and unjust if I imprisoned him without good reason.

Ah! Idea! Ask him to submit to a lie detector! No. He might be able to fool the machine or any truth drugs through mental techniques. If Red Orc can do that, Khruuz probably can do it. Anyway, his metabolism and neural reactions probably differ from those of humans. The machine or the drugs wouldn't work as they do with us. If I ask him to volunteer, I'll mightily offend him. I just can't do that. Or should I do it anyway?

He looked at the Khringdiz and wondered what was going on in that grasshopper head.

Khruuz said, "Do you plan to execute Red Orc soon?"

"I haven't made up my mind. He should be killed. But I hate doing it that's my weakness-and I'd have to do it personally, press the button to flood his cell with gas or whatever. I won't delegate it to someone else. That's a coward's way."

"I do not see that it is," Khruuz said. "Do you yourself kill the animal that others serve you on the table?"

"I usually kill my own meat. But you have a point. Not much of one, though. Red Orc is not an animal, despite what many say about him. And despite the fact that he intended to kill me and then eat me as if I were an animal."

"I hope you soon resolve your dilemma," the Khringdiz said. "Meanwhile, I have been thinking that I should return to my world and stay there for a while."

Red Orc's warning was a hand plucking at his mind as if it were made of harp strings. The music-discord, rather-was high notes of suspicion. Damn Red Orc again! But he said calmly, "Why?"

"As you know, I've been trying to get through Red Orc's access codes here to enter various sections of the computer. His data banks may have the information we need to make another memory-uncoiling machine and to operate it. If so, we can strip him of his memory to any age we select, and thus avoid the unpleasantness of executing him. But there's another far more compelling reason. He may be lying when he says that he has not stored that part of Anana's memory that he took from her. It may be in the bank. If it is, we can give her memory back to her."

Kickaha was so excited that all thoughts of doubt about the Khringdiz scattered like a flock of birds under gunfire. After all, what evidence did he have that Khruuz was plotting something sinister? Not a bit. The Khringdiz had been invaluable in the conflict with Red Orc. Moreover, he was a likable person despite his monstrous features. "Do you really think so?" he said.

"It is possible. We ca

"I could kiss you!" Kickaha cried.

"You may do so if it pleases you."

"I should have said I feel like kissing you," Kickaha said. "I was speaking emotionally, not literally."

"But I need to go to my planet," the Khringdiz said. "I have an enormous amount of data stored there, data inherited from my ancestors and data stolen or taken from the Thoan. There is much there of which I am not aware. It's possible that I might not only find the means there to crack Red Orc's codes, but find data on building memory-uncoiling machines. Who knows?

"Also, our friend, Eric Clifton, must be very lonely. I will transmit him to here so that he will have human companionship."

"Oh, man!" Kickaha said.

"What?" Khruuz said.

"Nothing."

"I've noticed that when you humans say `nothing' in the context of your conversation, you mean 'something.'"

"Very observant of you," Kickaha said. "But in this case, I was struck by a completely irrelevant thought. Something I'd forgotten to do, that's all."

His suspicions of the Khringdiz had been like a bag of garbage he'd thrown from the beach into the ocean. It had drifted off, almost out of sight, and then a tidal wave had picked the bag up and hurled it back against him, knocking him off his feet.

He said, "That's damned decent of you, considering Clifton's feelings. But I'd rather he stayed with you for a while."

"Why?"

Kickaha was taken aback. Mentally, he stuttered. But a second later, he said, "Clifton can't help you with anything technological, I think. But he can be helpful in other matters. As for companionship, you need that, too. . And Clifton likes you. Also, I'm sure there are things you could tell him, enlighten him. He's intelligent and eager to learn."