Tc'a tc'a hani hani mahe kif kif
Mkks Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk Kefk
give go go go go go go
tell chi go go go go go
chi tc'a go go go go go
knnn knnn knnn knnn knnn knnn knnn
A cold wind went up Pyanfar's back. "Hilfy: get comp on that. Tirun, go to com one."
"Aye," Hilfy said.
Not a word of criticism. No outcry from the crew. The tc'a ship was out ahead of them, likely to foul their schedule; a tc'a official onstation was talking about knnn, and no one sane wanted them involved. No one could talk to knnn but tc'a; and tc'a talked like that, in matrices that had to be read in all directions at once. It spoke of two tc'a presences, one at Mkks, going, perhaps—(give a chi?)—to tc'a at Kefk; while knnn were involved all across everyone's motivations, and of two kinds of kif (Kefk-bound?) and two kinds of hani (gods, did it pick that schism up?) only one lot of kif was going to fight?
"... abort this lunacy!" a hani voice said, Rhif Ehrran from Vigilance, fairly yelling over com. "Aja Jin, pull us back!''
"You want what," Jik's answer came back. "Give time Kefk know we come? Sure thing they blow us to hell, Vigilance. You stay on course, stay on course, you hear?"
"Khoihktkt mane kefkefkti—"—from the kif: The mahe's agreeing with us.
"Aunt, comp's got nothing better. The tc'a's talking about notifying knnn and says that tc'a's going with us to Kefk. Comp's not sure about the rest, but it's got a conjecture—"
"Vigilance is on," Geran said, "wanting the captain direct."
"Refuse," said Haral.
"Call on three," Khym said. "It's Harukk. Their com wants the captain."
"Refuse: get Jik."
"Belay that," Pyanfar said, biting her mustaches and reading comp's conjectures on the tc'a, not far off her own. "Jik'II talk when he can. Give me output. Compose a message to the tc'a and tell it we go and it waits."
"Aye." From Hilfy, tautly. No ship talked to methane-breathers without filling out abundant official queries afterward. There were reasons. Like methane-breather logic, which could take something fatally amiss. They were different. Very. And went berserk very easily. Tc'a were the peaceful lot.
Knnn—were something else.
"Aunt—here's the set-up; approve it before it goes."
hani hani mahe kif kit tc'a t'ca
ship ship ship ship ship Mkks ship
go go go go go Mkks wait
danger danger danger danger danger danger danger
"Makes sense to me," Pyanfar muttered as it came up on the screen. "Log and send it. Send to Aja Jin: quote: We're on schedule and proceeding. We've advised the tc'a of navigation hazard."
"Jik's on already," Geran said. "He's saying go with it. Still go."
"Fine." It was not the answer she had rather have had, but it was the one she expected. Go with it. Go ahead. Take the chance.
Jump with a tc'a in their midst. Tc'a navigated like snakes. They were snakes. Come in at Kefk blind with a tc'a liable to pop out of hyperspace any gods-rotten-where off-mark and the faster hunter-ships plotting to overjump them in hyper-space. ... It was asking for disaster. Collision.
"We'll shine bright enough for Anuurn to see, if we kink this one," Pyanfar said. "Someone want to calculate the size of the fireball?"
"Gods-rotted bright one," Haral said.
"Vigilance advises us," said Khym, "she's filing a—"
Hysterical laughter broke out in sneezes, short and wild. They were hair-triggered. Hani. Hell-bent on course for kifish zones.
"What's that Ehrran think she is?" Hilfy cried over it all, as if there had never been kif, never been those awful days. Hilfy: youth and outrage. "What's been going on?"
"Welcome back, kid," Haral said dryly, never turning around. "You want a list?"
"Chanur's got trouble," Geran said, from Hilfy's right. "Ehrran's the name of it. She's after our hide. Any way she can get it. We don't cross her bows. That's the word on it. We take this jump, we thank the gods this time we're coming in a little slower than that ship of Ehrran's. She'll be in front of us at Kefk. Don't want her on our tail, no thanks."
"Prefer the kif instead, huh?"
A small shiver in the air.
"Gods-rotted safer," Tirun said. "Temporarily."
Silence then.
"Niece," said Pyanfar. "We don't forget either."
Silence still.
"What after Kefk?" Hilfy asked then, finally, in a normal voice. "Where do we go? You got an idea—captain?" Respectfully. "Have I been left out of briefings?"
Pyanfar flexed her fingers on controls, worked her elbow
in the stress-brace. Drew a whole breath. "Some. You want it in a capsule? That engine-pack back there, this fancy new rig—nothing's free, is it? We're in hock, Hilfy Chanur. Nothing money pays for. And that Ehrran business—''
Lines trued up. They were on, headed for their mark. The tc'a was out in front of them now, having gotten up to its speed: no more turns now, even for it. Nothing but a knnn played games with physics.
"Gods-rotted tc'a's going to be in front all the way," Pyanfar said. "Gods only know where it'll be after jump. I can tell you this. Jik's got an idea he's going to fake an ID signal at Kefk—break through there a shade ahead of the rest and get that scan for us before it shuts down."
"Gods," Tirun said. "How much ahead?"
"He didn't say. No schema. Nothing. I tell you this, if he doesn't make it, we got trouble. Real trouble. We got a nest of kif for one thing. We got some other things too. What are we getting on com? We got some quiet out there?"
"Nothing worth listening to," Haral said. "Lot of kif stuff."
"Vigilance has stopped transmitting," Geran said.
"So's Aja Jin," Hilfy said.
"All right. Geran, I want you com backup right now; take number one scan after jump."
"Got it."
"Hilfy."
"Aunt?"
"You asked about Ehrran. I'll tell you what I've guessed so far in this business. Our troubles aren't just bad luck. They've been coordinated."
"Ehrran?"
"Oh, higher than that, imp. We settled that dustup at Gaohn, we busted our hani enemies out of Kohan's way, drove Tahar clan into near collapse,-pushed Moon Rising into exile—We brought mahendo'sat to the homeworld, we brought humans and we brought knnn, which sets off the isolationists back home right proper, doesn't it? Naur. Her bunch. Llun clan got chewed up helping us at Gaohn; so'd others of our friends. Tahar, enemy that they were— we broke them and broke their power over their allies; and that left vacuum, and that let some other clans move up in the han."