Before I could respond, one of the guests peeled himself away from a group who looked as if they were working very hard at getting drunk.
He was a kakul and looked to be a little tall for his kind. He wore a blood-red toga, and after he crossed the small, ornate bridge over a stream, stood in front of us and crossed his pale, green arms.
His appearance struck me as being odd. Most kakul I’d seen were dark in color. They were either green, brown, or fell somewhere in-between. But none I’d seen had been pale. I wondered if the guy ever got outside.
“Such pretties…” Skrew whispered into the comm.
“What is that doing in here?” he asked as he pointed one long, pale-green finger at Skrew’s mech. “I don’t want that thing traipsing across the grass and flowers. Do you know what it costs to keep flowers like this in bloom all year? Are you stupid?”
Had he pulled a gun and taken a quick shot at me, I would have been less surprised. Here he was, two and a half feet shorter than me, no rifle or pistol, and he was trying to insult me? I wasn’t insulted—not even a little. But I was surprised.
“Is horkelberry?” Skrew breathed. “Is faaaaavorite.”
“And you are…” Nyna said, motioning for him to go on.
“I am the Chief Inspector of the Guard, you dolt, and I do not approve of you or anyone else bringing those monstrosities into the garden. They are only for outside use and do not belong in here among the civilized. Come to think of it, human, neither do you.”
Reaver came over with an angry look in her eye, and I knew that if I didn’t do something, she’d get the party started early. I wanted information, and I was pretty sure someone as important as the Chief Inspector of the Guard would have it.
I wiggled my hand a little, hoping Reaver would see it. She slowed her pace and stopped a few yards away.
“Is sad, though,” Skrew continued. “All stuff will be broken. All things dead when fight. Is pretty now, but then, for to make fire, screams, smash. Is sad. Maybe Jacob can make this at Yaltu house?”
I liked Skrew’s idea, and the jabbering vrak distracted me enough to laugh. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do.
The kakul’s eyes went wide and seemed to bug out of his head. His mouth curled down into a frown, and he took a couple of steps toward me, stopping less than a yard away.
“You dare laugh at the Chief Inspector of the Guard?” the kakul bellowed. The room went quiet and all eyes turned to us.
“I order you to remove that mech and your smelly companions from the garden at once! What is your name, guard? Wait, don’t tell me; you’re that new one, aren’t you? Cara… Curi… Carodona, right? That’s it, Caradona! Wait until your commander receives my report. I will include with it a demand that you be executed for your insubordination!
“In fact, I’m going to find out who trained you. Obviously, that guard failed as well. Who would hire a soft, weak human? You’re useless. You’re worthless. You don’t deserve to lick the cheese out from between my toes! If you were my slave, I wouldn’t feed you to a teloc!”
“Wow. Rude,” Nyna said.
I sighed. In typical bureaucrat fashion, the Chief Inspector had decided that instead of speaking like a professional, he’d toss around some threats and raise his voice to get his way. There was no logic to his words, only emotion. He was nothing more than a spoiled street-thug. There was no way I’d keep him on the payroll when the city was freed. Not after that terrible display.
He continued to rant about how unprofessional I was, something about my breath, and the exact manner, in detail, of my execution. Meanwhile, Skrew was trying to explain his plans for Yaltu’s new underground oasis. I’d already tuned both of them out, though. Nyna had gotten up from her position beside me. She’d donned the Spirit-Watcher and was wandering toward a short sculpture of a flower approximately the size of her head. She wrapped her hands around it, one on each side, and gave it a twist. When she did, it came loose, and something began to illuminate her face. Whatever it was, she was thrilled. She leaned forward and began touching it.
Timo-Ran joined her, peered down at what she was looking at, then back at me. He made a little motion with his head to indicate that I should join him and take a look at what Nyna had found.
Meanwhile, the other aliens in the room were inching closer. It was likely that such ass-chewings were rare in the gardens, and though they had everything they needed, what they really wanted was entertainment. The Chief Inspector was providing it by the bucket-full.
I’d heard enough. I didn’t like getting yelled at by someone who was in no way my superior, but I also had a mission to accomplish, and for that, I needed information.
“Listen,” I started.
Although I saw the strike coming, I let him finish it. When the kakul’s hand returned to his side after slapping me hard on the cheek, I calmly continued.
“I need some information,” I said. “And I think you’re the person who has it. Where is Tortengar?”
“How dare you speak of the Vizier as if you are friends!” the kakul hissed.
“Look at that one,” one of the females, a very human-like woman with a huge nose and gray-blue skin said as she pointed at Beatrix. “She has dangly things growing out of the top of her head. How embarrassing. She can’t even grow hair. It would be one thing if she had scales or horns, but what are those?” The women laughed.
“Maybe she uses them
