Zero Recall (48 page)

“Nothing,”
the Human
said. 

“Commander—”

“Goddamn it it’s
nothing!”

Softly, Daviin said,
“I’m
your Sentinel, Joe.  I can smell the fear on you.  What’s going on?”

“Tunnels,” the Human
whispered.  He probably hadn’t meant for Daviin to hear it, but there wasn’t
much Daviin didn’t hear.

“What about tunnels?”

The Human’s face twitched
and he gave Daviin a startled look.  Then, quietly, he said, “I’m afraid of
tunnels.”

Daviin glanced both ways,
then lowered his head to the Human’s height, until their faces were ninths
apart.  In a whisper, he said, “You are playing with me.”

“No.”  The Human squeezed
his eyes shut.  “Ghosts, no.”

“Then what?”

He opened his eyes. 
“I’ve seen the blood already.”  It came out in a whimper.  His whole body gave
a sudden tremor, like he had been hit by a sudden draft.

Daviin wasn’t sure what
to make of their Prime’s sudden disintegration.  “Is this because you poisoned
yourself on Earth?  After-effects of watching your brother’s execution?”

Joe laughed.  It had been
loud enough that, should any Dhasha be within two hundred rods, they would have
heard it like a dinner bell.

Daviin grabbed the Human
by the shoulders and slammed him against the wall.  Using his private channel,
he shouted,
“You’re fooling with our lives here, Human!  What’s the matter
with you?!”

Joe shuddered. 
“I
can’t do this.”
  He squeezed his hand into a fist and sucked in two huge
breaths that sounded dangerously like they were near sobs—or he was going to
start hyperventilating.

Daviin released him
violently. 
“You will, because I didn’t Sentinel myself to a coward.”

The Human nodded his
head.

“
No!”
Daviin
snapped. 
“I didn’t.  And if it turns out that I did, I can negate my
contract in an instant.  Technically your slavery was cowardice in the past, so
I’ve let it slide, but if you don’t finish this mission because you’re huddled
in terror, Human, it is the last you will ever see of me.  I swear it to the
Ayhi’s graves.”

Joe watched him a moment
in silence, then glanced back at the tiny entrance to the slave tunnel.

“So,”
Daviin said,
“Can you finish the crawl?”

Joe peered into the
tunnel, unmoving. 
“I don’t know.”

“Yes or no, Human!”

Joe tore his eyes from
the descending darkness and returned them to Daviin’s face. 
“Yes.  But I’ll
need one hell of a drink afterwards.”

“Human,” Daviin said,
gripping his shoulder, “Get us out alive and I’ll buy your drinks myself.”

#

“A Jreet, a Grekkon, an
Ooreiki, a Baga, led by a Human.”

“What the hairy fuck is a
Human?”

His assassin cocked his
head and considered.  “Small bony biped, scaleless, average intelligence, known
for their linguistic abilities.  I tagged the Jreet, as he will be your main
danger, but the Baga might also prove to be an irritation if he escapes the
first assault.”

Lavik snorted.  “I am not
afraid of a glorified worm.”

“The worm in question
weighs approximately two thousand lobes.”

Lavik grinned.  “An old
one, eh?  Should be fun.”

“Sire, I greatly
recommend you don’t fight this Jreet personally,” the Huouyt immediately
warned.  “Send one of your underlings, one of your heirs, someone you don’t
mind—”

“Oh, shut up.”

The Huouyt made a face,
but did not look up.  He remained in silence, staring at some point on Lavik’s
leg.  It was obvious he was going to take him literally.

Lavik sighed.  “You’re a
true itch, Huouyt.”  He glanced at the captive, whom his assassin had trussed
up like a farm-bred Takki.  It was in his natural form, three semi-aquatic legs
and two paddle-like arms bound together by ultra-thin wire.  It was having
trouble raising its long, neckless head from the ground, but he was attempting
it anyway. 

Lavik found it amusing to
see a Huouyt in natural form.  Their long bodies and tapering heads always
reminded him of a kreenit penis.  “Tell me of the prisoner.”

“We should kill him,” his
assassin said immediately.

Lavik cocked his head at
the Huouyt, sensing something deeper in his subordinate’s words.  “Why?” 

“He’s a Huouyt.  He can
change the shape of his body.  The moment we take our eyes off of him, he’ll be
free of his bonds.”

“That’s why we have Takki
watching him.”  Lavik returned his gaze to the prisoner trussed up across the
room.  The captive had been cursing the other Huouyt non-stop for the last
hour, making interesting comments about his heritage and breeding habits. 
“Besides.  His antics amuse me.”

“At least let me silence
him,” his subordinate said stiffly. 

“No.”

“Sire, I humbly request—”

“Request denied.  What
has he told us so far?  How goes the war?”

“He told me nothing,” the
Huouyt said.  “Refuses even to tell me his name.”

“Oh?”  This perplexed
Lavik.  “Huouyt aren’t exactly the most loyal creatures in Congress.  You must
not be asking him the right questions.  Most Huouyt would jump at the
opportunity to betray their mates in order to save their own lousy hides.  When
the Vahlin destroys Congress, the whole species should be added to the food
supply.”

“Of course,” his assassin
gritted.

Lavik grinned at the top
of his assassin’s Takki-patterned head.  He enjoyed provoking the Huouyt—it had
been one of his only amusements the last few weeks.  “I thought the
Congressional Prisoner Act allowed its soldiers to give their names to the
enemy.”

“This one refuses.  He
spits at my questions, regardless of what drugs I use on him.”

“Interesting.  The drugs
have no effect?”

“He can nullify them,
sire.”

This gave Lavik pause. 
He had heard of such things before, but if it were true, it would mean their
guest had once walked the halls of Va’ga.  A cold itch began to snake under his
scales as he watched the prisoner, who had gone silent to listen to their
conversation.  One eye the normal blue-white, the other purple.  Lavik had
heard of something like this before.  “Is it possible he’s faking it?”

“No, sire.” 

“But you drugged him
once.”

“I surprised him and used
a dose that would kill a hundred Jikaln to incapacitate him.  He’s got a strong
resistance, probably somehow linked to his…deformity.”  His assassin’s distaste
was clear.  “However, the dosages I’m giving to him—he’s got to be nullifying
them.” 

“He could be
Va’ga-trained,” Lavik noted.  “Their resistance is quite high, I’ve been told.”

The Huouyt made a
derisive sound.  “Not hardly.  Not with his...disgusting appearance.  Va’ga
would not let his filthy body pass its gates.  Congress must have simply
inoculated him with antidotes to my drugs.  I’ll have to resort to alternative
methods to extract the information we require.”

“No torture.”

“Sire, he will not answer
my questions…”

“Then you weren’t asking
the right questions.”  Lavik strode to where the prisoner lay, scattering his
Takki guards.  The enemy stared up at him with two different-colored eyes. 
Interesting.  Lavik had never seen such a thing before, and yet it was still
tickling some buried memory.

“I’ll make you a deal,
Huouyt.”

“I do not deal with
Dhasha slime,” the prisoner retorted.

Lavik laughed.  “Oh,
that’s a pity.  You would’ve liked this one.  You see, I was about to offer to
tell you whatever you want to know about your situation.  I know you crave to
know who betrayed you.  You want to know how many Dhasha I’ve got with me, how
many tunnels are blocked off.  I’ll tell you.”

The Huouyt’s purple eye
became suddenly alert.  He obviously still thought he had a chance of escape. 
“And what do you want in return?” 

Lavik sighed.  “I want to
know who’s winning.”

“We are,” the Huouyt said
automatically.

Lavik sank to the ground
before the Huouyt.  “You and I need to come to an understanding.  I’m not
letting you escape, Huouyt.  Not while I’m alive, anyway.  Further, the only
way you’ll continue to live is if you answer my questions.  I won’t torture
you, won’t force your responses in any way.  If you fail to engage me
sufficiently, I’ll just kill you.”

“Then kill me.”

It actually sounded as if
the Huouyt was serious.  Lavik laughed.  “Have you already forgotten the deal I
offered you, Huouyt?  You have a chance to gather the intelligence that could
possibly give you the edge you need to escape.  For every question you answer
of mine, I will answer one of yours.  Simple enough?”

“Who gets the first
question?” the Huouyt asked warily.

Lavik laughed.  “Oh, I am
not that foolish.  I’m the host.  I do.”

“And how do I know you’ll
tell the truth in return?”

“I will.”

The Huouyt eyed him a
moment, then said, “Ask.”

“Who’s winning?” Lavik
asked.

“You are.”

Lavik found himself
liking this creature.  “Let’s try this again.  Who’s winning?”

The Huouyt watched him
keenly before he said, “I don’t know.  In the first wave, you lost twenty-two
princes.  We lost all but two thousand groundteams.  We can wear you down, but
you’ll probably work your way through Planetary Ops before you fall.”

“Ah,” Lavik said.  “Then
you don’t know the Vahlin.  Go ahead and ask, Huouyt.”

Immediately, the Huouyt’s
mismatched eyes flickered to Lavik’s subordinate.  “Where’d that spineless
traitor come from?”

“A gift from the Vahlin,”
Lavik said.  “He told me I’d need one to defeat your team.”

The Huouyt scanned
Lavik’s face fearlessly, a look dangerously close to ka-par, then nodded. 
“Ask.”

“What’s been said in the
Regency about using an
ekhta?
”

“They refused the Ground
Force’s request to use it,” the Huouyt said.  “The politicians are squabbling
over who gets Neskfaat when we rid it of Dhasha, and there’s talk the Vahlin
will destroy more planets post-mortem if we bomb you.”

Lavik grinned.  “As he
will.”

The Huouyt watched him in
silence, weighing his reply.  Then, softly, he said, “How does the Vahlin know
where and when we’ll arrive?”

“Do you know of the
Fourfold Prophecy, Huouyt?”

Anger flashed in the
Huouyt’s face.  “If this is a way to distract me—”

“The Fourfold Prophecy
predicts a race will one day rise up against Congress and win its
independence.  Lesser-known is that the Prophecy also predicts that the leader
of this race will have the powers unto a god.  The Vahlin is that leader.”

The Huouyt’s face
remained unreadable.  “You believe the Vahlin is a god.”

“He is,” Lavik agreed.  “How
else could we have known your leader would change your drop coordinates at the
last tic?”

“Our leader betrayed us,”
the prisoner said immediately.

“Ease your mind, Huouyt,”
Lavik assured his guest.  “Your leader is just as oblivious as you were.  You
can’t do battle with a creature that can see the future.”

“So the Vahlin is using a
Trith.”

Lavik laughed.  “You get
ahead of yourself.”

The Huouyt watched him,
then nodded.

“I’m told this is your
third time down a den.  Did you kill the princes, or was it another of your
team?”

“I killed one of them.”

“How?”

“Is the Vahlin using a
Trith?”

“No.  How did you kill
the prince?”

“Poison.  A lethal dose
of
ooma
secretions.”

“You carried it with you
or made it yourself?”

“When was the last time
you spoke with the Vahlin?”

Lavik found himself
growing irritated.  “What do you care of the Vahlin?  You’re going to die here,
Huouyt.  You should be asking of your companions’ fates, your means of escape,
the strength of my forces.”

“Answer me or the game
ends.”

“Ten days.”

“I made the poison
myself.”

“I’m told that’s
impossible.”

“How did the Vahlin
originally contact you?”

Lavik peered at the
Huouyt, not liking the way he was fixated on the Vahlin.  He had thought the
creature would ask about the tunnels, solidify his situation in his mind. 
Instead, he was interrogating him on subjects he had no right knowing.

But the creature was
never going to leave the tunnels alive, and Lavik was bored out of his mind
with waiting.  If nothing else, he could simply kill him as soon as he had
learned what he wanted to know.

“The Vahlin contacted me
via courier.  Gave me predictions and told me to watch the news.  Once he’d
convinced me, he sent another message summoning me to Neskfaat.”

“So you’ve never seen the
Vahlin?”

“How did you create that
poison, Huouyt?”

“I’m Va’ga-trained.  Top
graduate of my class.  I can use my body chemistry to reproduce two thousand
six hundred and thirty-seven different chemicals with effects varying from
lethal seizures to a mild a muscle relaxant.”

Lavik felt his scales
tighten against his chest and he had to resist the urge to pull his legs away
from the assassin. 

Beside him, his servant
snapped, “
You’re
Va’ga-trained?  You lie.  They don’t waste their time
with the deformed.  What’s your name?”

“Leave,” Lavik said
quietly.  “Go monitor their progress.”

“But I should not return
to his group without at least knowing his name—”

“
Leave!
”

His servant did.

“So you’ve never seen the
Vahlin?” the Huouyt repeated.

Lavik got to his feet. 
“The game is over, Huouyt.  Make peace with yourself.”  He lifted a paw to
slice him in half.