Chapter Twenty-One Arturo #3
I hesitated. I wanted to bring them—they knew a lot more about this planet than we did, and could answer questions for Command we might not even have thought of yet.
“We don’t have a spare seat in our ships,” I said, “so you’d have to ride in the cargo space. It won’t be comfortable.”
“That’s fine,” Dayan said.
I nodded. Putting Dayan in the cargo space of a ship was risky—whoever flew with them wouldn’t be able to eject in case of emergency without killing them. But if we could get off the planet peacefully, without combat, that wouldn’t be a problem.
“We’ll need a report prepared,” I said. “Something we can show her that talks about what a great job she’s doing.”
“A great job oppressing my people,” Dayan said dryly.
It wasn’t the message I wanted to send either, but it might be the most effective. Such a report was solidly in Suki’s skill set, with all the notes she’d been taking. “There’s a member of our team who could write one,” I told Dayan. “But you haven’t met them yet.”
They looked surprised. “There are more of you in the city?”
“Sort of.” I sighed. If Dayan was coming with us, they had to adjust to the idea of alien allies. If they couldn’t accept it, we might be better off leaving them behind. “Did Nedd and Sadie tell you we are allied with aliens?”
“They mentioned that,” they said, not seeming thrilled—but they’d stayed after learning this news, so that was a good sign.
“I want to introduce you to one of them, but first I need to be sure you understand that this person is working with us. They are not to be harmed in any way.”
“You mean you don’t want me to wrap my light-whip around them and haul them into a dark alley,” Dayan said.
Nedd smiled. “For example.”
They sighed. “I won’t hurt your allies. My issue is with the aliens who are kidnapping my people, not with any who work with you.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I said, and the zipper on Alanik’s pack slipped open, and Suki poked her head out. Alanik turned, sheltering Suki from view of the path, though the park appeared to be empty at the moment.
Dayan startled, staring at Suki with wide eyes. “What is that?”
“Suki is a kitsen,” I said. “She is a xenoanthropologist.”
“Greetings!” Suki said. “I am already composing this report!” She returned to the bag and tapped away on her data tablet.
“You have an alien xenoanthropologist in your backpack,” Dayan said.
“We have several aliens in our backpacks,” I said, opening my own bag so they could see Naga inside.
“What is that? Your team diplomatic specialist?”
“Sometimes I think so,” Nedd said.
“Navigation specialist, actually,” I said.
“Actually!” Naga added.
Dayan looked incredulous. They obviously didn’t know that the taynix was our hyperdrive, which made sense. The Superiority had suppressed that knowledge for centuries.
“Okay,” Dayan said. “So you travel with tiny alien creatures who are your allies.”
They’d taken that news all right, so it was time to divulge the rest.
“And maybe a few who aren’t so tiny.”
Dayan stared at me expectantly.
“Do you want to show them?” I asked Alanik.
Alanik gave Dayan a wary look, but then she turned fully away from the path, and the glamour dropped from her face, revealing her purple skin and the white bone ridges across her cheeks.
Dayan’s hand went to their light-whip. They still hadn’t returned Nedd’s and Sadie’s pistols, so I hoped we weren’t about to get into a firefight in the middle of the park.
“Are you all aliens?” they demanded.
“No,” I said. “Only Alanik and Gilaf.” I indicated to where Gilaf stood watch. “The rest of us are from another colony of humans, I promise.”
Dayan regarded us all with suspicion, but they did take their hand off their light-whip, which I took as a good sign.
“If you don’t want to come with us—” I began.
“No, I do,” Dayan said. “My people need to be freed, and you clearly have more resources than the gladiators.”
They sounded a bit reluctant, and I couldn’t blame them. This was a lot to take in.
“All right,” I said. “Glad to have you on board.”
Alanik restored her disguise and turned her translator pin back on. “Are you ready to call Ivy?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to hyperjump to the ships, in case that allows Ivy to pinpoint our location.
We’ll hike back and call her from there.
If our call provokes her to attack us again, at least we’ll be ready to return fire.
No scrambling to defend ourselves. That also gives Suki ample time to finish her report. ”
“Copy, Amphi!” Suki said from Alanik’s pack.
“Where exactly are your ships?” Dayan asked.
“Downriver,” I said. “Hidden in the woods, walking distance from the city.”
“If we’re going downriver, canoes would be faster,” Dayan said. “I know a place we can rent some.”
“What’s a canoe?” Sadie asked.
I was glad she asked, because I didn’t know either.
“Small boats, with paddles,” they said. “Do you not have canoes where you come from?”
“We don’t have rivers where we come from,” I said, which was true for all of us except Suki.
“We get to ride in a boat!” Sadie said.
Alanik looked significantly less thrilled.
“Let’s move out,” I said. “We don’t want to keep Ivy waiting.”