March To The Stars

'Human sacrifice?'

'Well, Mardukan, mostly,' Roger said. 'Cannibalism, too.' He took another bite of apsimon and grimaced at the taste.

'I take it you find their transition ... unusual?' O'Casey asked Mansul.

'To put it mildly.' The IAS photographer wiped daintily at the spilled wine. 'All of the source material on the Krath religion insists that it's an ascetic faith, similar in some respects to Taoism in ancient China. Or, at least, that was the case when the original IAS team came through. Its sacrificial aspects were personal: meditation, and acts of generosity. They didn't even sacrifice turom!'

'Well, they sacrifice their slaves, now,' the chief of staff said flatly. 'And then they eat them. We saw the inside of the temples. And the kitchens and the bone pits.'

'Are all the slaves from the Shin?' the journalist asked.

'I don't know,' O'Casey admitted, 'and our local Shin guide seems to be missing.'

'She's tending to Cord,' Roger said. He glanced at Mansul. 'It's a long story.'

'I like long stories,' Mansul admitted. 'Once they're boiled down, they make excellent articles. Why don't you tell it to me?'

'Where to start?' Roger asked.

'Start at the beginning,' Pahner advised. 'Go to the end—'

'—and fill in all the stuff in the middle.' Roger nodded. 'Okay.'

'But maybe later,' the Marine added. 'We need to determine what happens next. Mr. Mansul, you came from the port?'

'Yes, and there are problems there, too.'

'Saints,' Roger said.

'Really? That I hadn't noticed. What I did notice was that the governor did not want any humans drifting out of the compound. He hadn't been apprised of my visit, and he acted like I was an Imperial spy. Frankly, I was starting to wonder if I was going to be an 'accidental death' when one of the locals offered to smuggle me out. I fell in with the Shin, and I was with a village south of Mudh Hemh when a Krath raiding party fell on the group I was filming. They took the Shin with them to Kirsti, but left me here, presumably for repatriation. Or maybe to wait for the governor to recover me. And then you happened along.'

'How were you 'smuggled out'?' Pahner asked.

'There are breaks in the defenses,' Mansul replied. 'Contraband moves in and out.' He shrugged. 'I was just one more package.'

'Now that's interesting,' Roger said.

'Isn't it, just?' the captain agreed.

'Oh, there's more,' Mansul said. 'There's a small ... colony, might be the right word ... of humans living among the Shin. Others who have run afoul of the governor's bully boys. There's about fifteen or twenty of them, and supplies are funneled to them from somewhere.'

'From where?' Julian asked.

'That I don't know, although I think the local chieftain does. These people aren't given to charity. He'd only be supporting the refugees if there was a reason.'

'Satan,' Kosutic sighed. 'Complicateder and complicateder.'

'Yeah,' Roger said. 'And no. The basics are the same, maybe even easier, if their security is so lax smugglers can move in and out at will. We need to get to Mudh Hemh and make contact with this Shin leader.'

'Pedi Gastan,' Mansul inserted.

'Pedi Gastan?' Pahner repeated sharply.

'Why, yes.' Mansul looked surprised. 'You've heard of him?'

'You might say that.' Roger's expression was a cross between a grimace and a smile. 'Truth being stranger than fiction, we rescued his daughter from pirates.' Mansul blinked, and the prince chuckled. 'But what I don't quite understand,' he went on, 'is why we didn't hear anything about this 'colony' of humans from her.' He gazed at the photographer with just an edge of suspicion. 'She's been very open with us, as far as we can tell, and she's never even heard of humans, much less anything about any refugees her father might be shielding.'

'I don't know why she wouldn't have,' Mansul said slowly. 'I only met the Gastan briefly, and my understanding is that the refugees' existence is kept very secret. In fact, none of us are allowed in Mudh Hemh at all. Instead, he keeps the 'colony' hidden away in one of the really remote vales under the eye of a very small clan. I was on my way there when my escorts and I ran into the Krath. I suppose it's possible that even his daughter might not know what he was up to.'

'I guess anything is possible,' Roger allowed slowly. Then he snorted. 'Of course, some things are more possible than others, and keeping a secret from Pedi strikes me as one of life's more difficult endeavors!'

'But it is possible,' O'Casey said. 'And if the Krath are in contact with the port, and if the Gastan knows it, then he'd have every imaginable reason to keep the Krath from finding out that he was, too.'

'But could he really keep it so secret that Pedi hadn't even heard about humans at all?' Roger asked a bit skeptically.

'Probably he could,' O'Casey replied. 'Don't forget that this is a pre-technic society, Roger. I know there's a trading interface between the Krath and the Shin, but every bit of information has to be passed by word-of-mouth, and I doubt very much the there's anything like a true information flow between the Shin and the people who keep slaughtering them as religious sacrifices. So even if the Krath know about the human presence here on Marduk, they probably don't discuss it with the Shin. Anyway, it's obvious from the way most of the Kirsti population have reacted to us that the existence of humans isn't general knowledge even among them.'

She shook her head.

'I'd say that it's entirely possible that the very existence of humans is restricted to the uppermost levels of Krath society this far from the port itself. In which case, it's probably entirely possible that the Gastan could keep the secret even from his own people. Of course,' she frowned thoughtfully, 'I'd love to know how this human managed to contact him in the first place.'

'You may have a point,' Roger conceded, and nodded to Mansul. 'You were saying before we interrupted?' he invited.

'Well, if you've rescued the Gastan's daughter, that should work out well,' the reporter said, trying not to show his relief as the hard light of suspicion dimmed just a bit in the prince's dangerous green eyes. 'I think he's on our side, anyway, but—'

There was a knock at the door, and then Poertena stuck his head in without waiting for permission.

'Beggin' you pardon, You Highness, but I need Doc Dobrescu right pocking now! Somet'ing's wrong with Denat. I t'ink he going nuts!'

'Go,' Pahner and Roger said simultaneously. Then they looked at each other for a moment before Roger gestured at Pahner.

'I think we're about done here,' the captain continued smoothly. 'Doc, you go. Julian, wring everything you can out of the prisoners about the rest of the route to the Shin lands. Sergeant Major, everyone else is on full rest and refit. I want us to be in good condition when we leave. Let's get to it.'

'And I'll go find out what's wrong with Denat,' Dobrescu said.

'Any ideas?' Roger asked.

'I haven't even looked at him yet, Your Highness,' the medic protested. 'And I'm a shuttle pilot, not a psychologist. I'll keep you posted, though.'

* * *

Warrant Dobrescu followed Poertena into the small supply office that the Pinopan and Denat had taken over and shook his head at the Mardukan.

'What have you been sniffing, Denat?'

'I'm fine,' the Mardukan said. He was shivering, his body sliming heavily, and a reddish bulge had appeared around the base of each of his horns. 'I'm sorry I snapped at you, Poertena. But I'll be fine. This will pass.'