But even as he realized what he had to do, he knew with a sinking feeling that the task was beyond his capabilities. There were too many letters there, and his visual memory was simply not good enough to hold their shapes over the hours or days that might elapse before he could show them to Jack.
He would try—he would certainly try. But he knew that he would fail.
Unless...
He smiled grimly to himself. No, he couldn't memorize the letters' shapes. But perhaps there was another way. A way that only a poet-warrior of the K'da could use.
Gazing at the symbols as the stretcher was rolled toward the ship, he set to work.
Chapter 16
The first thing Jack noticed as he worked his way slowly back toward consciousness was that his neck felt funny.
Not that it hurt. It didn't, really. But it definitely felt funny.
Abruptly, he realized why. He was sitting upright in a chair, with his head bowed down toward his chest. The funny feeling was coming from the back of his neck, strained as it was by the pull of his head.
He was fully awake now. But that didn't mean the rest of the world had to know it. There were soft voices carrying on a quiet conversation somewhere nearby, and there was an equally soft light showing against his eyelids. Maybe if he let them think he was still asleep, he would learn something that would help him get out of here.
Or even figure out exactly where 'here' was.
It might also be a good idea to take a quick inventory and see what kind of shape he was in. Aside from his neck, which was starting to feel a little stiff now, nothing hurt. Not even his shins, which should still be tender from Draycos's misfired balcony leap. The fact that they weren't meant he'd been kept asleep for at least a couple of days.
A couple of days of travel time? Probably.
Which, unfortunately, meant he probably wasn't on the Vagran Colony anymore.
So much for getting to the spaceport where the Essenay would be waiting. He hoped Uncle Virge had figured that out by now and gotten off the planet.
The lack of pain was the plus side of his physical condition. On the minus side, his stomach felt very empty. Being asleep without eating for a couple of days would do that, too. With his nose six inches from his chest, he also noticed that he was starting to smell a little.
So they'd drugged him with something, tossed him aboard a ship or transport, and lugged him some unknown distance across the Orion Arm. The big question was, where?
The other big question was, why?
'Good afternoon, Jack,' a voice said.
It was all Jack could do to keep himself from jerking with reaction. If he lived halfway to forever, that was one voice he knew he would never, ever forget.
It was the cold, heartless, snakelike voice he'd heard on Iota Klestis. The voice of the man in charge of the group sifting through the wreckage of the Havenseeker.
Maybe even the man who had ordered the K'da and Shontine ships destroyed in the first place.
'You can lose the act,' the voice said, going even colder with impatience. 'My instruments tell me you regained consciousness some thirty seconds ago. Don't waste my time.'
Slowly, blinking his eyes a couple of times, Jack raised his head.
He was in a small but very nicely furnished room, seated in a chair across from an ornately carved wooden desk. The way the furniture was fastened down, he guessed he was aboard a spaceship.
A group of lights on the desk had been arranged to shine directly into his face. They weren't painfully bright, at least not once his eyes adjusted to them, but they were more than bright enough to wash out his view of whoever or whatever was seated on the other side of the desk.
He also noted that his hands, resting in his lap, were handcuffed together. He'd missed that in his earlier inventory.
'Okay,' he said, squinting his eyes a little against the glare of the lights. Fleetingly, he wondered what had happened to Draycos, then put the thought out of his mind. He had enough troubles of his own right now. 'I'm awake. What now?'
'I want your uncle,' Snake Voice said, his voice coming from behind the lights. 'Where is he?'
Jack grimaced. Obvious, of course. They were busy cleaning up loose ends, and Uncle Virge and the Essenay were a very sizable loose end. 'I don't know,' he said.
'I'd advise you not to lie,' Snake Voice said, his voice going still colder. 'We know perfectly well that he didn't simply desert you on Vagran. You either have a prearranged rendezvous point, or else there are several possible places where you can meet. I want the list.'
Jack shook his head. 'Look, I really don't know where he is,' he said, putting some pleading into his voice.
For a moment Snake Voice sat quietly. Jack forced himself not to squirm, wondering what would be next. A major interrogation, probably, as they tried to find out who else he might have told about the K'da and Shontine.
Then, of course, they would kill him. When he didn't come back, he wondered distantly, would Uncle Virge be smart enough to go to the Internes Police with his story?
Would they believe him even if he did? A ship's computer wasn't exactly a legal witness.
