"That didn't work. In fact, I think the African nations have wracked up more fatalities among the Drassi and Emassi than any other race. Turnabout's fair play. Now, if that will hold when we've thrown out the invaders, it'll be the first wonder of the twentieth century."
Kris sighed in a hopeful breath. "I suppose it could happen."
"Might not until the twenty-first but we'll see. We've a few years to spare."
"So, where does that leave us?"
"Well, I'm not quite sure, since this is going to take a lot of planning and under difficult circumstances. We've got to wait until Baby and the KDM make it back. Then we'll have to somehow get some of the Emassi sympathizers to Botany so we can correlate plans and stuff."
"Lord, how'll we do that?"
Gino laughed. "Zay's started the process and, as long as we can keep bringing in the high-grade ore, no one's going to wonder where he's getting it. So he can check in as much as he needs to to mobilize dissidents:'
"What did he mean about being followed? By the friends of the Cat-teni he beat up?"
"Oh, him. He didn't have friends smart enough to follow us. But there are others, Eosi, in particular who might try," Gino said with a laugh.
"Probably will. But one of his Emassi friends gave him a chart of an asteroid belt so dense you could hide the entire Catteni fleet in it and they wouldn't be able to spot each other unless they knew exactly where the other ship is. There're so much heavy elements in the belt, supposedly, that it jams all signals. We can slip in and out of there neat as a whistle. In fact, that's where we're headed right now;'
Reacting subconsciously to being followed, Kris turned about in her seat but Gino laughed.
"Don't worry, Kris;' and Gino patted her knee. "Zay and I spotted them. Way back. We took off before they expected us to so they were late leaving the space station. They'll try to track us by the ion trail and let's hope another ship crosses ours and confuses them. Any way, we'll be in the asteroid belt long before they make it. You wait, Kris, you'll see."
"See if this so-called friend of Zainal's is setting us up?"
Gino shook his head. "Not Kamiton. You know how reserved Catteni are? Well, this guy all but kissed Zay he was so glad to see him. Not that he knew who he was at first… and in fact, damned suspicious because he had known Venlik, the Emassi Zay's pretending to be, and hated the man.
So there was a bit of an impasse at first. Until Zay removed the cheek pieces and reminded Karoitoh of a few details only the real Zainal could have known. You should have seen Kamiton's face when he realized who Zainal really was. And I like Karoitoh. He can smile, and he's got that same wacky sense of humor Zay has."When Gino noticed how dubious she was, he laughed. "Look, hon, I've been a good judge of people all my life and there's not that damned much difference between us and Catteni when you get down to basics."
Then unaccountably Gino blushed.
"Well, if you say so, G/no," Kris said, ignoring the blush since she had a good idea what caused Gino Marrucci's sudden embarrassment. There was indeed one very notable difference between Human and Catteni that she happened to enjoy exceedingly. And Gino had suddenly remembered that.
"I'll reserve my opinion until I meet him. If I ever do."
"I think you will;' the pilot said, recovering his composure quickly.
"He's the first one Zay wants to bring through the Bubble."
"Really?"
"YUP, because if they had a Missouri on Catten, Kamiton'd be from there. We gotta show him the Farmers' part of Botany and what we've managed to do on our continent before he'll really believe what we told him.
Humans speaking Catteni are not that uncommon these days, but Humans living beyond Eosi control need to be seen to be believed:'
Kris nodded. "Sometimes I don't believe it myself."
"Hell, kid, you were making it happen before I got transported."
"That doesn't change the fantastical aspects of it, Gino."
They were silent for a long while, watching the stars, then Gino pointed out some of the anomalous primary colors, and even one double star. They were so far away as to resemble opaque marbles rather than suns. Gino crossed his arms on this chest, a slight grin on his face, and shook his head ever so slightly.
"Never thought you'd be this far from our solar system, huh?"
"You got it."
"Hungry?"
"Something hot would go down well, food and drink, if you don't mind, Kris."
"Drassi hear, Drassi obey;' she said with mock humility and made her way back to the companionway. She had become so accustomed to the heavy gravity that a normal one had her bouncing along.
Snores from the various sleeping accommodations indicated that the others were well and truly asleep. She had the galley to herself and prepared enough food for them both. Then she remembered she didn't need to wear the lenses anymore so she took hers out, cleansed them once more before putting them back in the little container. She got an extra cup of water for Gino to get rid of his.
As she handed him his tray of food, he gave her a puzzled glance and then chuckled. "Excuse me, while I get my own eyes back." He put his lenses in the cup and put that to one side. 'I'll clean 'em later. I'm hungry enough I might eat 'em as hots d'oeuvres."
"Naw, they don't taste at all like oysters;' she retorted facetiously and started in on the stew she'd reheated for them.
SEVERAL HOURS LATER she decided that there was nothing to do and she would certainly know which lights indicated trouble in any section of the ship.
"Go get some rest, Gino. I can sit here and look at the telltales just as sensibly as you can."
"Not quite yet," and he pointed ahead, without taking his eyes from the sensitive scope he was using. "The pulsar I've been looking for. We make a course correction when we line up with that. Then I'Ll go get some sleep.
And wake Zainal up. He said to."
WHEN ZAINAL TOOK OVER THE BRIDGE, he first pressed his cheek against hers and kept one arm about her shoulders even after he had seated himself.
"Did Gino bring you… how does he put it? Up to speed?"
"Including your brush with another Catteni."
"He asked for it. But he's a mere nothing," and Zainal gave a contemptuous flick of his hand. "Getting Karoiron on our side was more than I expected. Tubelin, Kasturi, and Nitin can be valuable to us, but they don't have the connections that Karoitoh has. Or the family prestige."
"And?" she prompted.
He ruffled her short hair, tipped her face toward him so he saw she had removed the lenses. "You look much better with your own eyes. You did make a convincing Drassi."
"Noble Emassi, you are too kind."
Zainal chuckled in that bass rumble that made her grin. "Don't let that get around just yet. However, all four are due to go back to Earth for various tasks. If we could somehow get them in touch with our Humans there, we could begin to make the Catteni regret what they've been doing to your planet."
Kris thought that over. "But you're Catteni. And you said 'our' Humans."
"I like the way Humans think better than I like the way Catteni don't ever think."
"Some of them must. You do:'
"Luck."
"What are our chances of doing what you want? Getting rid of the Eosi, with or without the help of the Farmers?"
"I heard something I have never heard about an Eosi Mentat before," he said, his tone very somber and thoughtful. "The one who subsumed my brother went totally out of control and his juniors had a very difficult time reducing his… wildness. He's the one that wants to burst our Bubble no matter how long it takes:'
"Eosi can have nervous breakdowns?" She was astonished.
"I don't know about nervous, but Ix was dangerously out of control."
"What does it take to kill an Eosi?"
He gave her a quick look and a humph. "I've never heard that one has ever been killed. Though…" and he paused reflectively, "killing one has never been tried. They are well protected, both by the fear of them that is instilled from the time we understand anything outside childish needs. We don't even know how long an individual Eosi lives. Except that it needs to change hosts." '…