“I haven’t missed today’s feeding, then.”
Her expression grew more serious. “It seemed to me they were waiting for something. I guess they wanted to get you. Now they’ve got all of us.”
Quint added, “Now they can do whatever it is they intend to do.”
“Did you know there are other humans in this camp?”
“Others? No!” Frede said.
“I haven’t seen any,” said Quint.
“They seem to be scientists. And they’re working with the Skorpis.”
“Willingly?”
“I don’t know.”
“You there!” a deep Skorpis voice bellowed. “The one called Orion. To the gate.
I went to the gate, my officers and most of the remaining troopers trailing after me. The one who had called me was the security officer. I recognized her face and the insignia on her cinnamon brown uniform.
“Take him out of there,” she commanded the guards. “I have a few questions I want him to answer.”
I shot a glance back to Frede and the others. “Guess I’ll miss today’s meal, after all.”
They marched me to the security officer’s office and sat me in a chair that was a size too big for me.
“At least your uniform is dry this time,” the security officer growled as she sat behind her desk. Two big guards stood behind me. My “uniform” was still nothing more than the shorts I had been wearing since she had last seen me.
“The other humans know nothing of you, even though some of them were willing to lie on your behalf.”
“They are scientists,” I said. “Not warriors.”
“And you?”
“I am a warrior.”
“Why did you come here?”
“To this planet? To set up a base from which we would attack you.”
“And after your base was destroyed, why did you try to infiltrate this base of ours? One human, alone?”
“My orders were to destroy your base. I was scouting to see how I could accomplish that.”
“Scouting alone?”
“Yes.”
“And you intended to attack this base with fifty-two warriors, no heavy weapons, no support?”
“Yes.”
She glared at me out of her yellow cat’s eyes. “I don’t believe you. Not even a human would be so stupid.”
I temporized. “I knew you had nuclear weapons here. I thought I might set one off and wipe you out.”
“And kill yourself doing it.”
With a shrug I replied, “You’re going to kill me anyway. What difference does it make?”
She radiated suspicion. “You came to this camp to make contact with the other humans. At least some of them are traitors, working against us. You will tell me which ones they are.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t even know there were any humans here when I infiltrated your camp. It was a shock to me. I still don’t know what they’re doing here.”
“I don’t believe a word you say.”
“You have lie-detecting equipment, don’t you? Or truth serum?”
Slowly she raised one hand and unsheathed her claws. “I can get the truth from you with these.”
“You have the truth from me,” I said, trying to remain calm. “No matter what you do the truth will remain the same.”
“We will see.” Then she added, in a growl, “You struck me. Then you ran away. Such a disgrace must be avenged.”
The two guards grabbed my arms and twisted them painfully behind my back. The security officer rose from behind her desk, holding her hand full of claws in front of her like five surgical scalpels. If a cat could grin, she was grinning. I heard a low growling purr from deep in her chest as she came around the desk toward me, eyes glinting.
My senses went into overdrive as adrenaline poured into my bloodstream. My arms were pinned behind me by the guards, but I pushed myself to my feet so fast that they eased their grip on me slightly to grab my shoulders and force me down again. That slight easing was all I needed. I twisted violently enough almost to wrench my arms from their shoulder sockets, but the pain was nothing. I yanked one arm free, although the guard’s claws raked bloody trails along its length.
I kicked the security officer in the chest, bowling her over backward against her desk while with my free fist I clubbed the guard still holding my arm. The other guard sank his claws into my shoulder, growling. I spun around and caught his chin with the heel of my hand, then drove a crippling blow to his windpipe. He sagged to the floor, gurgling blood, as I whirled to face the first guard, who was reaching for the pistol at his waist.
I grabbed his arm, twisted it so hard I felt bones snap, and shoved him into the security officer. She was still draped half across her desk. She pushed the howling guard away and pawed at her holster. I was much faster and snatched the gun out of her hand.
She glowered at me, blazing sheer hatred, as I held the pistol leveled at her face.
“I have told you the truth,” I said. “I could kill you now but that would not change the truth of what I have spoken.”
Another pair of guards bolted through the office door, saw that their commander was under my gun, and froze in their tracks.
“I won’t willingly allow myself to be sliced up just because you want to find nonexistent traitors,” I said to the officer. “I told you the truth. It was a total surprise to me that you have humans in this camp working with you.”
I handed her the pistol. She grabbed it and started to swing it at me.
“And I bear a message from the Old Ones,” I blurted.
She stopped in midswing. “The Old Ones? The creatures in the sea?”
“Yes,” I said.
She hissed. But she put the gun down on the desk.
Chapter 13
They carried the injured guards away as the security officer fumed and snarled and slowly regained her self-control. At last she used the comm unit on her desk to speak to her superior, the base commandant. Within a few minutes I was brought to her office.
The bearded human, the one called Delos, was already there. The base commandant seemed older than the other Skorpis I had seen. The fur of her face and hands was graying. Her uniform was a pale blue, crusted with ribbons and decorations. The human scientist still wore gray shapeless coveralls.
“Is that all the uniform you have?” the base commander growled when they shoved me into her office.
“I’ve been swimming,” I replied. “With the Old Ones.”
Delos nearly jumped out of his chair. “The Old Ones? You’ve been with them?”
“I’ve spoken with them. They have a message for us.”
The base commander waved the security officer out of the room. “I’ll call if I need you.”
Once she had shut the door, the commandant got up from behind her desk and indicated the table on the other side of her spacious office.
“Sit there,” she told me. Delos got up from his chair in front of the desk and joined us. The table was too high, the chair too big, for me to feel comfortable. It was like being a child at an adult’s table. I felt small, almost humiliated.
Delos did not seem to mind the furniture at all.
