'Curious, probably.'
Karyn and Jacque lay on their stomachs at the crumbled edge with the long-barreled carbines they had taken from the combat car. Selmer Ogram and Erich Frakes were crouched farther down toward the comer of the building. Frakes held something Paul didn't recognize—a short, wide-mouthed tube with a shoulder saddle and an oddly shaped firing device. A brown canvas pouch lay at his feet.
'Grenade launcher,' Karyn explained when Paul asked about it.
Paul felt the blood drain from his face. We've never had to hurt any of them, Selmer had said. But it's only a matter of time.
'We think they're sonic grenades,' Karyn went on. 'With luck, they'll only knock the kids out for a while.'
'But you aren't sure?'
Karyn shook her head. 'We'll find out when we use one.'
Feeling slightly sick, Paul turned and went down the stairs to the inner chamber. Dorland paced back and forth in front of the chauka with his hands clasped behind him. Elli was in her usual position above the chauka, swaying gently as if to music that none of the others could hear.
'The kra'ith,' Dorland said, 'is made up of youth as well as older individuals.' He spoke slowly, as if he'd just now grasped a point Elli was trying to get across.
* (Group/touch) kra'ith Dorland is (acceptance)*
Paul hitched himself up onto the pedestal in front of the chauka. He felt a twitchy urgency.
'Getting anywhere?'
'She still won't say much about Lord Tern,' Dorland said. 'But I found out one thing about him. He's Tal Tahir.'
'He is? Then Elli—'
'She's Tal Tahir, too. The males are a lot different from the females. I couldn't get it all—it came in a flash, and she wouldn't repeat it. But my guess is the males evolved as the workers and the food gatherers, while the females were more sedentary. They probably cared for the young.'
, 'That's all you've been able to find out about Lord Tern?'
Dorland nodded. 'All she wants to talk about is the kra'ith.'
'That doesn't help us. We don't even know what it is.'
'I'm getting an idea about it,' Dorland said. He spoke carefully, his eyes thoughtful. 'It's obvious the kra 'ith is a basic part of the Tal Tahir social structure. I think the closest human word for it is family'
'The kra'ith consists of parents and their young?'
'Maybe. But I get the impression there are levels of kra'ith. One level is the family group that lives in the domes. Another level may be a group of
domes—'
'A quadrant sector?'
'That's my guess. I don't know how many levels there are, but I know they're all connected.'
'One big happy family.'
'Something like that. Everything the Tal Tahir do is for the common good. They never think of the 184
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individual.' Dorland paused, and his eyes returned to Elli, who stood silently above the chauka. She watched them intently with the sensor nubs pulled back against the flap. 'Working for the common good is why the kra'ith exists. For the Tal Tahir, that means dedicating every action toward the well-being of the youth.'
