Lyon's Pride (10 page)

“Do not rule out the possibility of reprisal,” Mrtgrts said. Behind it on the bridge, 'Dinis could be seen waving their forearms about, expressing their triumph at the success of the mission. Only Mrtgrts appeared dissatisfied and pessimistic.

“Reprisal with what, Mrtgrts?” the Rowan asked caustically, surveying the destruction on every screen. Then, putting both hands on the arm rests, she pushed herself to her feet. “If we are needed, call us,” she said to Captain Osullivan.

Thian caught the surprised expressions of Langio, Metrios and Yngocelen but he, too, rose, indicating that Flavia could join them. He paused by the captain's chair.

“Permission to leave the bridge, sir?”

“Of course,” Osullivan said, eyes widening at Thian's formality even as he shrugged as the Rowan disappeared.

“She'd be the last to admit it, sir,” Thian said, leaning
confidentially toward Osullivan, “but Grandmother had to expend more energy as focus than we did.”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

There is absolutely no reason for a T-1 to apologize or explain
any
action, Isthian Gwyn-Lyon!

Thian, catching Flavia's startled expression as she also heard the fierce reprimand, grinned at the girl.
No, Grandmother, but it is only courteous to observe ship protocol. And you
are
tired
.

The bridge door whooshed shut behind Thian and Flavia.

I might be but you are never to presume…

Grandmother, your husband gave me specific orders on the care and feeding of his favorite wife…

His only wife…

And the only Prime who can rule Callisto and you ARE tired
.

Fighting a war at any age is tiring
.

Flavia's little gasp of surprise caught Thian unawares. “Was that a war we just fought?”

Thian stuttered in surprise. “Well, a battle, certainly. What did you think you were going to do here?”

“Keep the Hivers from leaving this planet.”

“And that's not war?”

“It's analogous to clearing out vermin.”

“On rather a large scale,” Thian said, wondering at her curious calm.

“We have to do so often enough on Altair when there's been prolonged and heavy rains in the swamplands. Otherwise the towns and settlements would be overrun,” Flavia said quite matter-of-factly.

Your grandfather
did
know what he was doing
, said the Rowan in a tight tone to Thian and added a snort of amusement.

D
AD?
There was the special note in his daughter Laria's voice that brought Afra sharply to attention. He was alone in Aurigae Tower, making some minor in-system shipments. Damia was out hunting with Morag, Ewain and all the 'Dinis.

Yes, Laria?

Dad, just between us?
The unusual note of exasperation and self-doubt was one Afra had never thought to hear from the nearly twenty-three-year-old, confident and poised Tower Prime of the Clarf FT&T installation. On completing her training at Callisto, Laria had taken up her duties with a competence that even her perfectionist grandmother couldn't fault. Yoshuk and Nesrun, the T-2s who had originally run the Clarf Tower, had been shifted to Sef, the most major of the four Mrdini colony worlds. Laria had recently been assigned Clarissia Negeva as her assistant, a T-2, who had been trained by David of Betelgeuse. Clarissia was replacing Stierlman, who had not achieved
the necessary rapport with Laria. She'd had no trouble at all with the other members of her Tower staff; Vanteer, the T-6 engineer, or Lionasha, the T-7 station manager and expediter. Although there had been 'Dini-Human pairings on her home planet, Clarissia was unaccustomed to working with them and never gave direct orders to the six paired with the other three Station personnel who happily doubled as cargo handlers or whatever other functions could be done by non-FT&T personnel.

Clarissia's not working out either?
Afra asked.

I do better running the Station on my own, Dad
, was the tart reply.
She's been here nineteen weeks and she still turns pale when more than
our
'Dinis are present and you
know
that 'Dinis
notice
color changes. And she's been moaning about that carrier ever since it got here. Not
, and Laria's mental tone altered,
that I enjoy the sight, or more recently, the stench from it. Prtglm is definitely deceased. I'm beginning to think they don't intend to move it, leaving it there as a reminder that a Human was responsible for Prtglm's ignominious end.
Laria's voice had a grim edge to it, then confusion colored her thought.
There's ideographs all over it now. They're ancient ones and I can't recognize more than the slashes for dishonor. Tip and Huf won't translate: won't even answer me when I ask what they mean
.

Yoshuk's a scholar of their ancient forms. What does he say? Or have you discussed this with him?

I have and he says it's too obscure for him but he's still trying to find references. He does reassure me that they're not anti-Human
.

This is one of those occasions
, Afra said firmly but soothingly,
when you know that Humans don't interfere with 'Dini customs
.

The custom I can ignore if I wish, even if the reek is omnipresent
,
but I have to be very careful about transfers. Originally, Prtglm's carrier came down—hard—on the middle cradle. I was told not to move it to one side, but I didn't, for one minute, realize it was going to take up such permanent residence! I
could
have used that cradle a hundred times.
Once again her tone altered to one less assured.
Daaaad, does anyone there
know
why it's being LEFT? I almost don't blame Clarissia but I also
need
to understand what's going on about it—Prtglm, I mean—so I can deal with the reason it's been left there so long. Is it a subtle way of punishing me because I'm Rojer's sister…

I doubt that!
Afra replied stoutly.
'Dinis don't think in those terms
.

I sure hope so
, Laria replied, exhibiting some of the distress she had been covering.

I can ask Jeff…

I already did and he doesn't know but he doesn't have 'Dinis. Do yours know anything?

We never did get any more answer to queries about Mrdini penal codes than that the miscreants were apt to be shipped out…
Afra paused, since Laria would know what that could mean on a long trip. The cynical said that saved time, space and money and was an admirable use of expendables, but the thought made him shudder. He forced himself to more positive thinking for Laria's sake.
Remember Prtglm is, or was, guilty of several…errors of judgment even in the 'Dini lexicon, and certainly several against Humans. They don't want a repetition and that may be their way of driving home the lesson
.

When one's own son had nearly been a victim of Prtglm's coercion, it was very hard, indeed, not to take a judgmental stand. Once Afra knew that Rojer was responding to the discreet therapy of his grandmother, Isthia,
on Deneb, he felt less bitterness, a most unusual emotion for him, toward the misguided Prtglm. The latest report was that Rojer could now mingle with both Humans and 'Dinis without the intense grief/loss/deprivation reactions he had initially experienced. He was becoming more and more engrossed in his practical engineering studies. His uncle, Jeran, Deneb's Prime, was going to insist that when the Hiver ship that had been “appropriated” by the Rowan merge reached the investigation orbit at the Mars space facility, Rojer would have a place on that study team. Of course Rojer needed to meet the qualifications, but that had given him a definite goal and he was studying with good purpose and diligence to satisfy the requirements.

I
know
that, Dad, but to have that grisly reminder on my Tower field…

Afra could feel the anger flaring within his daughter's mind, an unfocused anger and so ambivalent that it was no wonder that she was under great stress.

You feel that Rojer should have obeyed Prtglm?

No, I mean, yes but…Prtglm just ought not to have required
Rojer…

Who was the only one who could have carried out Prtglm's plan…

Prtglm is—was—an old and revered captain and should have been obeyed. That planet should have been just…wasted.
Her tone was riven with intense animosity.
When I know how much damage the Hivers have done to 'Dini worlds, and hundreds of others, that…that Xh-33 really should have been…

When Laria could not find an adequate fate, Afra couched his suggestions in an ironic tone he rarely used with his children.

Exterminated? Fumigated? Wiped of life forms? Scorched beyond use?

There was a long pause.
Something like that, so that that planet could never be able to colonize, to massacre innocent life forms on any other planet
.

So? We must emulate their methods?

Well, just look what they did! Forcing queens of their own species out of that ship and then blasting them, without ever trying to find out why the ship came?
Indignation now colored Laria's anger.

That's very much a 'Dini viewpoint, Laria
.

It's not that I'm ignoring
other
opinions, Dad. Aren't I transmitting messages backwards and forwards every day?

You are, but are you listening to the content or just the context?

What do you mean by that, Dad? And what group do you support?
Her tone was aggressive as if any other than the position she espoused would be suspect.

Along with many other thinking folk, I find the data insufficient and most theories have at least one fundamental flaw. We may never
have
answers to half the questions we've asked because there is no communication. Observation is as open to interpretation as any other method of recording, since invariably the observer translates from his or her own experience
.

There hasn't really been that much useful observation either
, Laria said caustically.

Afra smiled, keeping his amusement well away from his argumentative daughter.

I disagree, Laria. The material recorded from Rojer's probes is still being analyzed…

All it shows is that the Hivers have not changed their methods or the dominant drive of their species in the centuries the 'Dini have known them
.

The 'Dinis never got close enough to a Hive world to make observations, or attempt contact
, Afra said patiently.
Laria's feelings were quite pent-up, by which he guessed she had had the tact not to discuss this with her Tower staff.

But we know what they do to planets. We know they've been doing it for centuries.
Laria sounded querulous.

We know what the 'Dinis have reported for the centuries of their struggle to avoid being “exterminated” and that was limited to destroying Hive ships in space. The planet Xh-33 is the only world which they, and we, have seen populated by Hivers. There is a lot more we don't know than what we do…even by extrapolation, Laria. What
exactly
upsets you, my dear?

I wish I knew, Dad
, Laria confided in what Afra recognized as a wail of conflicting loyalties.

It is not up to us to dispute the 'Dinis' right to punish their own
, he said gently.
We must not let our own moral integrity be weakened by conflict with theirs. We can expect that 'Dini reactions will not mirror ours. For one thing, Humans have not fought a sustained battle for centuries, a condition which certainly alters perceptions in a way we can't yet evaluate. That we have managed to pursue the joint purpose as far as we have and with as little friction as there has been…

You've reduced Prtglm to the status of “friction”?
Laria sounded appalled.

…is a matter of no little achievement. Prtglm caused its own downfall by exceeding orders from the High Council of Alliance: orders in which it and our captains had been thoroughly briefed and in agreement. Do you not see that much?

That's the easy part. What bothers me so is that Gil and Kat are dead, defending Rojer, when none of them should have been put in jeopardy in the first place. But Prtglm is
still
there!
I can't escape seeing its carrier and
knowing
what's inside and…

Suggest in your most off-handed manner the next time you have occasion to speak to either Plrgt or—who's its main assistant now—

Flgtm, and Plrgt's now Plrgtgl
.

Plrgtgl has been very efficient. I hear its name mentioned more and more. Suggest that the carrier is impeding the full use of the area available to you and is there not somewhere else that it can be placed for even more effect?