How could I put this in a way she could understand?
“Sometimes, when something occurs, did you know, deep in your gut, that it would happen?” I said. “Maybe there’s something wrong with an engine or a mechanic is lying to you about the work he did on an engine—”
Stari folded her arms.
“My mechanics never lie to me,” she said.
“Okay. Then you know something. You can’t explain how you know, you just do. That’s what he’s feeling right now. He knows they’re up to something. He’s seen the same expression on their faces a thousand times. He doesn’t trust them.”
“Nobody trusts a Changeling.”
I wasn’t getting through to her. I needed to push a little harder.
“During our whole journey to the shuttlecraft, Chax knew how to handle the Changelings we came across,” I said. “Without him, I never would have gotten anywhere.”
“Without him, you never would have been involved in this in the first place,” she said pointedly.
I held up my hands. Fair enough.
“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” I said.
Stari smiled to herself.
“Better to be safe than sorry,” she said. “I like that. Do you have any ideas on how we’re supposed to get this information out of them?”
“I guess by questioning them?”
Stari made a fart noise with her lips.
“Those two don’t know what the word truth means,” she said. “Every word they say is probably a lie. We can’t believe anything they tell us.”
“Then maybe we don’t need to question them,” I said. “Try running scans.”
“We already took their tracking devices away,” Stari said. “What else could it be?
She threw up her hands.
“Fine,” she said. “We’ll run the tests. But don’t be surprised if they don’t show anything. Is there anything else you wanted while I’m busy doing your bidding?”
I gnawed at my lower lip.
How was I supposed to say I wanted her to release Chax from his cell? I decided honesty was the best policy.
I told her Chax’s whole story—including his family back home and the Changelings threatening to hurt them if he didn’t do as they said.
“How do you know that’s true?” Stari said. “Let me guess. You have a feeling.”
“He wouldn’t lie about that,” I said. “Not to me.”
She wore a strange smile on her face. One corner of her lip curled up. It wasn’t an ugly expression. It was quite endearing.
“Fine. I’ll release him. But it’ll be your responsibility to watch him. If he breaks the rules or tries anything funny, he’ll be back in his cell before you can say— Two and three-eighths!”
She admonished a mechanic who attempted to tighten a bolt with the wrong tool.
Stari could be a live wire when she wanted to be. I felt sorry for the Changeling siblings already.
Okay, not really, but almost.
That was half an hour ago. When Stari returned, she had a dozen Yayora soldiers on her heels carrying Klang and Trang’s unconscious bodies into the medicenter.
The soldiers dumped them unceremoniously on separate beds. They clapped their hands and filed out of the room, joining us in the technician’s section. We could see the Changeling siblings through the observation window.
The technician flicked a bunch of switches and turned some dials. The beds slid into a large machine where multiple scans and their results flashed up on the monitors.
I recognized some of them—like the x-ray, MRI, and CAT scan. But there were a bunch of others I’d never seen before.
“See anything unusual?” Stari said.
“They’re in surprisingly good shape,” the technician said. “They’re a little malnourished but I don’t think that’s going to cause any long-term problems.”
Stari’s shoulder’s slumped. I understood. I felt a little disappointed myself. It didn’t sound like we were going to find the solution here.
“Thanks, doctor,” Stari said.
“I’m not a doctor. I’m just a technician.”
“You’re a wizard,” Stari said. “Thanks for trying. Appreciate it.”
“What now?” I said.
“Now we tie them up to some chairs and treat them to a nice ice shower,” Stari said.
“I thought you said they won’t tell you anything?” I said.
“They won’t,” Stari said. “But maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll let something slip.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. They never struck me as the kind of creatures to let anything slip. Except maybe their forked tongues.
“Hold on a sec,” the technician said. “What have we got here?”
He motioned to one of the monitors. I couldn’t tell if it was Trang or Klang.
“What are we looking at?” Stari said.
“This here,” the technician said, zooming in on a screen.
I peered closely at the image but I couldn’t understand what I was looking at.
Neither could Stari.
“What?” she said. “All I can see is a bunch of white stuff.”
“That’s why I almost missed it,” the technician said. “I suspect it was inserted that way so no one would see it. Let me do a complete scan and see if I can get a better image.”
The machine fired up again and even more scans uploaded across the screens. The technician turned the image along the x- and then the y-axis.
“Yep,” he said. “There’s definitely something there.”
He removed all the unnecessary details and highlighted the ones he wanted us to see, turning them bright pink.
Then he drew both the images together—one from Klang, the other from Trang.
The same object was lodged inside both of them. Whatever it was, it was partially concealed by their thigh bones.
“See?” Stari said. “You’re a wizard! What is it?”
“I’m not sure we’re going to know what it is until we get a closer look,” the technician said.
“A closer look?” Stari said. “You can zoom in?”
“No,” the technician said. “I mean a real closer look. You’re going to have to cut them out.”
I shared a look with Stari. Neither of us was excited about that proposition. But what other choice did we have?
The operating procedure was unlike anything I had ever seen before. There were no scalpels or saws, no face masks, or hairnets. An incision was made and there was little blood.
The procedure began with the nurses pumping the Changeling siblings with drugs. I began to wonder if the goal wasn’t
