It did not bolster their confidence to see that Twi’win, now freed from confrontation with the Vrizan commander, suddenly appeared as uneasy as the two researchers.
“It is much easier to defy a captor when one only has to speak the truth. Unfortunately, that is the situation. I truly do have no idea where the humans have taken themselves. When the Vrizan appeared and made their intentions clear, the first thing I did was send armed personnel to watch over the specimens. They found them fled. As to their present location”—she gestured with all three hands—“what I told the foul Vrizan was true. I do not know where they are or where they might have gone.”
“Somewhere deep within the station.” Bac’cul felt no relief in his conviction. “Attempting to conceal themselves among the hydrologics, perhaps, or even the by-products treatment facilities.”
“It will not matter in the end.” A distraught Cor’rin was slowly resigning herself to the possible loss of at least one if not both of the two irreplaceable specimens. “You heard the commander. His intentions as well as his species may be distasteful, but the Vrizan are undeniably competent. They will find the humans.”
“Do you think the adult will opt to go with them?” Twi’win wanted to know. “If so, it will be a bad thing. Very bad.”
“A serious loss to Myssari science,” Bac’cul concurred. “He refused their blandishments on Treth.” Despite this observation the researcher did not sound confident. “This Vrizan strikes me as more persuasive. I cannot say what Ruslan’s decision might be. He has become settled with his life among us. But if they insist on taking the juvenile, I cannot envision a scenario where he would abandon the only other living human he has encountered since his youth on Seraboth.”
“Kel’les might know.” Cor’rin eyed her companions thoughtfully. “Where is Ruslan’s handler now?”
Under guard, they could not leave the conference chamber to look for the intermet whose permanent assignment was to look after the human. In any event they would not have had much time to search, because the Vrizan commander rejoined them much sooner than expected. The agitated rustling of his leaflike cranial appendages as well as the darkened color of his elongated visage reflected his frustration. At any moment his annoyance threatened to spill over into anger. His second-in-command and two additional armed aides appeared no less irritated.
“Your honesty is most irksome.” Though far from expert in the interpretation of Vrizan expressions, which were nearly as diverse as those of humans, Bac’cul felt that it was with great effort that the commander was withholding a desire to shoot one of the restrained Myssari. Any one of the restrained Myssari.
“We had no reason to lie to you,” Twi’win told him, demonstrating admirable poise.
Wide-spaced eyes zeroed in on her. “You had every reason to lie to us. Yet it appears you have not done so. Both the equipment we have and the personnel trained in its use have found no sign of the two humans. Nothing larger than a maggot escaped their notice. I must therefore conclude that the specimens are indeed no longer present within this illegitimate facility. This leads inevitably to the question of where they are at present.”
Risking spontaneous demise, Cor’rin chirped, “Not here.”
Penetrating eyes shifted their attention from the outpost’s commander to the outspoken researcher. “Restating the obvious does nothing to sate my curiosity while simultaneously shortening my patience.” The Vrizan came toward her. While taller and slightly more massive, he did not loom over her quite as much as did the human. “Perhaps you could be persuaded to reveal their present location?”
Sensing that his commander was on the verge of stepping beyond the bounds of propriety, his adjutant moved forward to place a limber hand on his superior’s arm. As whenever a Vrizan moved, the soft supple crackling of numerous joints was plainly audible. The aide murmured something in Vrizani that the Myssari did not hear clearly. Favoring Cor’rin with a bifurcated stare that could only be described as murderous, the commander stepped back.
“Perhaps,” the adjutant said, “in the absence of a visiting starship, the specimens have been moved to an orbiting station to await its arrival.”
The commander gestured impatiently. “You know that the Myssari maintain several such extra-atmospheric monitors. We tolerate them because we know of them. To my knowledge all are wholly automatic and devoid of the means to sustain visitors even on a temporary basis.”
“To your knowledge, yes,” the aide pointed out. “It is conceivable that our knowledge is imperfect, just as it proved to be inadequate regarding the presence of surviving human lifeforms in the city of Dinabu.”
“Just because our—” The commander paused sharply. “Dinabu. Of course.” Returning his attention to the quietly watching Myssari, his slit of a mouth grew wider. “Where better to hide the specimens than where the immature one was found? I should congratulate you on your obviousness.” He coughed orders at his subordinates, one of whom immediately commenced to spew a stream of instructions into an aural pickup. As the Vrizan moved to leave the conference chamber, the commander turned back to Twi’win and the others.
“I regret that it will be necessary to temporarily disable your communications and transportation capabilities. The respective locks and blocks that will be emplaced will automatically disengage in a day or two. By then we will have concluded our visit to your small outpost at Dinabu and, I believe, recovered our property. As to the matter of the adult human, we will discuss his future possibilities with him in a manner befitting the representatives of two civilized species. I promise you that no coercion will be involved. You will be informed of the outcome promptly.”
As soon as they were gone Bac’cul and Cor’rin confronted the outpost director.
“Were you telling the whole truth when the shameful Vrizan queried you?” Bac’cul was beside himself at the thought of losing not only the newfound girl but Ruslan himself. “Have you had them sent to Dinabu?”
“If so they must be warned, somehow, and moved elsewhere!” Cor’rin was as distressed as her colleague. “As quickly as possible!” Her tone was anguished. “But if our transportation is disabled, how can we—”
“Would that I knew their location,” a glum Twi’win interrupted the researcher. “What I told the Vrizan was the truth entire. I have no idea as to the present location of the two humans. This I do know: they cannot be hiding within the outpost. Vrizan technology is as advanced as our own; in certain aspects, perhaps more so. If the specimens were here, they would have been found.”
Bac’cul was baffled. “Then… where could they be?”
The outpost director turned away from the two scientists and toward the interminable mudflats that stretched away from the research facility in every direction. “Only one conclusion is possible. If they are not hiding within the outpost, then they must be hiding without.”
Cor’rin came up to stand and stare beside her. “Is that possible? Our pre-arrival studies suggested that the general environment is…”
“Hostile.” Swiveling her head more than halfway around, Twi’win regarded her dismayed visitors. “Generally, not unrelievedly, so. While my personnel never venture outside unless they are armed and properly attired, I suppose it is conceivable that one with an intimate knowledge of the Daribbian environment might be able to survive its threats without protection.”
“The juvenile!” Cor’rin exclaimed.
One of the director’s hands gestured in a broad sweep at the surging, sucking surroundings outside. “As nearly all of the human presence here was concentrated in their empty cities, we have expended very little of our limited resources on the study of the mudflats themselves. Aggressive lifeforms aside, they constitute anything but a hospitable environment. The great majority of our work has focused on the derelict urban centers.”