"Probably," Alison agreed. "Off you go now. But be careful."
"I will." Getting her bearings, Taneem turned toward the bow and headed for the forward group of staterooms.
CHAPTER 14
As always, Taneem took her rime, checking each grille as she passed. As always, her excessive caution proved largely unnecessary. Now that the Essenay had been docked and the immediate crisis was over, both crew and passengers were relaxing again. Certainly none of them seemed to have the slightest interest in the air ducts running along above their heads.
During her most recent investigation of the ship, just after she and Alison had escaped from the safe, Taneem had noted that most of the forward cabins were occupied by Brummgas, usually four to a room. Now, with all the aliens having been sent to the Foxwolf, their places had been taken by human Malison Bang soldiers.
Still, even through the confusing mix of other human scents wafting through the ducts, it didn't take her long to find Harper's new home.
Back in the office, both Harper and Neverlin had mentioned Harper's desire to rest. But as Taneem eased an eye around the edge of the grille, she discovered he wasn't resting at all. Instead, he was walking slowly around the room, his hands running gen-tly over the walls and furnishings, his head moving back and forth as he looked closely at everything.
His movements seemed strangely familiar. Taneem frowned, trying to figure out why.
And then it hit her. Just as Alison had done on their very first visit to this ship a month ago, Harper was searching for hidden microphones and other spy devices.
Carefully, Taneem settled down into a comfortable position inside the tight fit of the duct. This would, she knew, take some time.
It didn't take as long as she'd expected. Within fifteen minutes Harper had finished his sweep. Still looking around as if making sure he hadn't missed anything, he took off the white uniform jacket he'd been given and sat down on the edge of the bed.
But he didn't lie down. Instead, he rolled up his shirtsleeves past his elbows, exposing his forearms. Holding his left arm close to his eyes, he placed the fingernails of his right hand against the inside of his left wrist.
For a moment nothing happened. Harper held the pose, his fingertips making small movements against the skin as if he were scratching some delicate itch.
And then, to Taneem's horrified astonishment, he peeled the skin straight back off his arm.
Taneem gasped, her tail twitching violently in reaction. The tip hit the inside of the duct, giving off a muffled metallic clang.
Harper's head jerked up, his right hand still gripping the flap of skin. His eyes darted around the room, his face suddenly grim and deadly.
Taneem froze, afraid to breathe. For a long minute Harper continued his visual sweep. Then, to her relief, he lowered his eyes again to his forearm. Resettling his grip on the flap of skin, he continued pulling it away from his arm.
And now Taneem saw what she should have spotted in the first place. He wasn't pulling off his own real skin but merely a flap of something that looked like skin.
And as the flap came free, she could see several small, flat objects embedded in the flap's underside.
Neverlin had warned Frost to search Harper carefully. It looked like Frost hadn't been careful enough.
The strip of false skin extended nearly the entire way from Harper's wrist to his elbow. He finished pulling it off and laid it beside him on the bed, then spent a minute vigorously rubbing the real skin that had been covered by the patch. Switching arms, he removed another strip of skin from his right forearm and laid it beside the first.
Again, he took a moment to rub at the arm where the strip had been. Then, removing a slender item about as long as one of Taneem's claws from the first strip, he stood up.
And headed directly toward the room's air grille.
Taneem was back up into a crouch in an instant, easing her way backward down the duct as quickly as she dared. Before she had made it to the next corner she could hear the faint sounds as Harper began unfastening the screws holding the grille in place.
She made it to the corner and backed around it, not stopping until she was completely out of sight of Harper's room. "Alison!" she whispered urgently.
"What is it?"
"I think he heard me," Taneem said, feeling scared and thoroughly miserable. It was like her first time in the air ducts all over again. "I'm sorry—I made some noise when he started peeling off his skin, and now he's opening the grille—"
"Slow down; slow down," Alison cut her off. "What do you mean, he peeled off his skin?"
"On his arms," Taneem said. "Only it wasn't real skin. Only I didn't know that, and I gasped, and now I think he's coming in after me."
"Okay, just relax," Alison soothed her. "First of all, he's way too big to get anything but his head into the duct. Can he see you where you are right now?"
"No," Taneem said, feeling her heart slowing down a little. Looking down at her paws, she saw that the extra blood from her panicked reaction had turned her gray scales black. "No, I'm around a corner."
"Good," Alison said. "Now tell me: did he jump up and head for the grille as soon as you made your noise?"
From the direction of Harper's room came the faint sound of the grille being pulled free of the duct. "No, he finished pulling off the skin first," Taneem said, lowering her voice a little more. "Then he took out something from the inside of one of the pieces and came over to the grille."
"Then I think you're okay," Alison said. "Just hang there a minute and listen."
Taneem nodded, feeling herself calming down. If Alison wasn't worried, she probably shouldn't be, either. The scales on her paws, she noticed, were starting to go back to their usual gray.
For a moment there was silence. In her mind's eye Taneem saw Harper with his head sticking into the opening, looking both ways down the duct.
She flicked her tongue out a few times, tasting the mixture of human and unidentified scents flowing through the ducts. Some Earth animals, she'd read in the Essenay's encyclopedia, could smell or otherwise sense fear and anger. Distantly, she wondered if a properly experienced K'da could do the same.
And then, she heard the sound of the grille being put back in place. Another minute of scratching as the bolts were replaced, and then all was silent again.
She waited another minute, just to make sure. "Alison?" she whispered. "I think he's done."
"He didn't spot you?"
"No."
"Good," Alison said. "Okay. I want you to look back around the corner—carefully—and tell me what you see."
Taneem frowned. What could there possibly be to see besides an empty duct?
But Alison knew about these things. She must have her reasons. Moving forward, Taneem eased her head back around the corner.
The grille, as she'd guessed, was indeed back in place.
But the duct was no longer empty.
"There's something there," she said, frowning even harder. Was that what she thought it was? "I think—Alison, he's put the two strips of skin into the duct."
"That's what I thought he was up to," Alison said, sounding grimly pleased with herself. "He got the stuff in past Frost okay, but didn't want to risk getting caught with it on him. Literally on him, in this case."
"What is it?" Taneem asked, eyeing the strips with a mixture of fascination and distaste.
"Let's find out," Alison said. "Why don't you scoot over there and grab them?"
Taneem felt her whole body go rigid. "What?"
"Keep your voice down," Alison admonished. "What's the big deal? You sneak over, you pick up the goodies, and you get out. Couldn't be simpler."