Saiko.
Colonel Sherwood must have been only seconds ahead of me, because one of the Enforcer sentries was still giving his explanation as I approached them.
"-just stood there as the other two came forward. That one-Saiko-has been coming out here before dawn the last few days-meditating, or something-and one of the neuters beckoned to him. He seemed to recognize the Falki, because suddenly he said 'he must have understood what I was telling him!' and handed me his scattergun. Before I realized what he was doing, he'd walked out there to meet them.
Garcia hit the alarm about then. We couldn't shoot without hitting Saiko, and-well, the others haven't attacked us."
"-just stood there as the other two came forward. That one-Saiko-has been coming out here before dawn the last few days-meditating, or something-and one of the neuters beckoned to him. He seemed to recognize the Falki, because suddenly he said 'he must have understood what I was telling him!' and handed me his scattergun. Before I realized what he was doing, he'd walked out there to meet them.
Garcia hit the alarm about then. We couldn't shoot without hitting Saiko, and-well, the others haven't attacked us."
Saiko stopped and turned, his escort doing likewise. "I'm sorry, Colonel, but this is too important. I think they must be willing to speak of peace with me."
"What? Why you?" Sherwood called, but Saiko had already turned his back and resumed walking.
I stepped to the colonel's side. "He believes all life in the universe is interrelated and should try to be at peace with itself," I explained. "He's apparently been talking to the village males about it; one of those walking with him looks like the male that changed yesterday. Maybe you should let him go to them."
"Like hell I'm not going to sit here and let one of my men be kidnapped-even a mystical idiot." Sherwood glanced around him. "Garcia, Daniels-go out there and bring him back."
Two Enforcers started forward-and the crossbows abruptly came up.
I wasn't the first to see it, but I was the first to say something. "Hold it!" I snapped. "Back off. Carefully."
The two men took a step backwards, and once again the neuters lowered their weapons. Sherwood turned to me, glowering. Strangely enough, he wasn't angry at my countermanding of his orders. "So that's how it is, eh? They want Saiko, and only him-and are ready to start something that'll get them slaughtered if we try anything else."
"You can't open fire, Colonel," Major Eldjarn, standing on Sherwood's other side, said. "I count a hundred twenty-nine neuters out there-that's nearly the village's entire complement. The females would go crazy if we killed all of them."
"I know that!" Sherwood snapped. "Hamedon! Call the pad and have them send up a spotter car. I want Saiko tracked if they take him into the forest."
"Corporal Saiko can take care of himself," Eldjarn murmured. I silently seconded him; nevertheless, my heart was pounding by the time Saiko reached the forest.
I had already noticed that the line of neuters resembled a flattened normal curve; that is, the Falkren on the two ends were the smallest, with the sizes increasing toward the center, where the largest Falki I had ever seen was standing. It was to this neuter that Saiko was led. The neuter stepped forward as the two escorting Falkren moved off to either side, returning to what were evidently their places in the line. Saiko bowed to the large neuter, and through the dead silence that had descended I could just hear his words:
"I greet you, honorable sir-"
The neuter handed his crossbow to the Falki next to him and charged.
Saiko had already seen one Falki surprise attack, and he was a lot nimbler when not sitting down. He fell to his right, rolling on a curved but rigid arm back to his feet, easily evading the attack.
The Falki charged again; again Saiko dodged, still trying to talk peace to his opponent. I expected the Falki to try another charge, but he apparently was out of patience. He bellowed something in his own language, and the next three largest neuters handed off their weapons and stepped forward.
All around me was the soft sound of cloth on flesh as scatterguns were raised. I wasn't aware I'd drawn my own weapon until Colonel Sherwood's hand grasped my arm, forcing the muzzle down. "Hold your fire," he ordered, frigidly calm. "We still can't shoot them."
The four neuters formed a box around Saiko, who had given up talking and now waited silently in an agile-looking stance. At some unseen signal, his attackers moved forward.
Saiko moved, too, stepping away from the center of the square so that the Falkren would not all reach him at the same time. The closest neuter swung at his head; Saiko grabbed the arm, pivoted in a circle, and dropped the Falki on his back. Two others reached him simultaneously; Saiko pushed one into the other and took advantage of their momentary entanglement to send the fourth attacker flying. By then the first Falki was back in the fray....
Sherwood was muttering something incredulous under his breath. Even I, who'd seen Saiko in action twice before, was impressed-I hadn't expected Aikido to be useful against more than one opponent at a time. The fight went on and on... and, suddenly, the largest Falki bellowed something.
The other attackers froze. Slowly, they straightened or got to their feet and returned to their places in line.
The big one stood facing Saiko in silence for a moment; then he, too, returned to the line. As if on signal, the neuters all turned and disappeared back into the forest.
Saiko watched them go. Then he started back toward the village, a puzzled and worried expression on his face.
Colonel Sherwood turned to me. "All right, Lieutenant, what was that all about?"
A growing suspicion was gnawing at me. "I'm not sure, sir," I said. "But I've got an idea. I suggest you send a patrol into the forest in-oh, say an hour or so, with instructions not to shoot unless in extreme danger. If they aren't attacked, I think we may have the solution to the neuter trouble for you."
Sherwood gave me a long, measuring look. "Daniels! I want six men ready for patrol duty in one hour."
The patrol was not attacked.
The twelve-passenger shuttle was a speck in the blue Falkwade sky. "One more and then it's our turn,"
Major Eldjarn remarked, shading his eyes as he watched for one of the other two shuttles to appear. "I still can't believe it. A week ago the neuters were trying to kill anyone who stepped outside the village, and now they're so cooperative Colonel Sherwood doesn't even need us any more. Here comes the shuttle." He lowered his gaze to me. "Are you going to loosen up and tell my why they changed?"
"Didn't the colonel explain it?" I asked, somewhat mechanically; my thoughts were elsewhere.
"No. He said he doesn't like repeating someone else's theories until he's willing to believe them himself.
And Saiko's been even less talkative than usual lately; he won't talk about it at all."
"No. He said he doesn't like repeating someone else's theories until he's willing to believe them himself.
And Saiko's been even less talkative than usual lately; he won't talk about it at all."
"Great. So how about letting me in on the joke?"
I sighed. "It's anything but a joke, sir. You remember that I suggested the neuters might be refusing to acknowledge our superiority over them? I was right. Shooting them simply brought out their own combat instincts; they saw us as just another kind of threat to be resisted, the same way neuters have fought threats to their villages for millennia.
"And then Saiko came along. He fought one of the neuters, who went and told the others, and Saiko was invited to what amounted to a showdown with the chief neuter."
"And Saiko won," Eldjarn nodded. "But we've been winning fights against the neuters for two years. Was it because Saiko was so much smaller than they were?"
"Not at all. But Saiko was using Aikido, a nondestructive form of combat. He didn't tear them up with scattergun fire or break bones with karate kicks. He defeated them without hurting them."