Amos sighed. I suspect my young cousin's mother is one of those who are immune to shame. Else she would be unable to use it so effectively as a weapon.
Aloud: "Just before we were captured by the Kolnar I asked Soamosa how she would like it if the people looked on her as a prophetess. And, of course, being a modest maid, she said she was no such thing and surely no one could take her for such. But now, I find myself seeing her in just such a light. For she truly loves this Karak and it is just as plain that he loves her. It seems to me, my brother, that she has given his humanity back to him. Perhaps we should try to join her in this task."
"My Lord!" Joseph groaned and then drew his breath in a great gasp. "Just because one of that demon breed shows signs of being human does not mean the rest are salvageable."
"He has a point, Amos," Joat said.
Amos didn't laugh, but the smile was still there in his voice,
"God does not challenge us by presenting us with circumstances that we welcome. And if Soamosa's family disowns her, I shall not. She shall be my heir, and I shall support her with all of my heart."
"She is too young to make such a decision, Benisur."
"Joseph, you would not be making such an objection if I had decided to marry the girl myself. Now would you? In fact, when it was arranged for her to accompany me, it was you who smoothed out so many of the details. Wasn't it?'
Joseph was so silent that Joat glanced down at him, wondering if his suit mike had broken down.
Then he said, "You would love having children, my brother," in a quiet voice filled with pained dignity.
Joat felt a little spurt of outrage. Channa's not that old! she thought. She'd always suspected that Channa was just working out her contract before she ran off to Bethel with Amos. All she needs is a little time.
"Prophet is not a comfortable family business," Amos observed. "I am not sure that I ought to have children. I might enjoy having them, but I am not so sure that they would enjoy being my offspring. Channa and I have discussed this and we feel that perhaps we should adopt our children."
Joseph was silent again. The kind of silence that fills a room with powerful, undefined emotion.
"On behalf of adopted children everywhere, Amos, go for it," Joat said with a smile.
"I shall," he said. "As I have said, I will adopt Soamosa. And her children and Karak's shall be my grandchildren. As she is my cousin, they will share the same blood as I." He paused. "Interesting. That would mean that Belazir and I would share the same blood."
"NO!" Joseph roared.
"Ow! Joe! Watch the volume control!"
"You go too far, my Lord."
Amos sighed. "Yes, perhaps you are right, my brother. But perhaps also, there are other Kolnari like Karak who do not wish only to kill and to steal. This could be a sign of hope for them and the beginnings of peace for both our peoples."
"Is it all right this trip if we at least hurt the Kolnari's feelings?" Joat asked dryly. "I'll really miss that sense of closure I'd get otherwise."
Amos laughed. "I have not lost my mind, Joat. I merely present a new idea. This may not be practical; and in any case, you have my cheerful permission-both of you-to annihilate Belazir t'Marid and as many of his followers as seems convenient, while you pursue your mission."
"Good luck, Amos." She shook her head in wonder.
"We will discuss this upon my return, Benisur," Joseph growled.
"It pleases me to think that I have given you still another reason to be cautious with your life, my friend. I look forward to our conversation."
"Joat?"
"Hey Rand, what's up?"
"Your ETA is twelve hours, correct?"
"Well, thereabouts, anyway. Depends on what we run into. Why?"
"Yoered Family anticipates being at those coordinates in fourteen hours."
Joat raised her brows. Not that she'd doubted Yoered's professionalism; but this kind of timing indicated a high level of commitment for what was a fairly casual contract.
"Well, I'm impressed. Clenst must be paying a premium."
"They are," Seg assured her. "It might be wise to coordinate your efforts with them."
Joat rolled her eyes. "You mean subordinate my efforts to theirs. No way,!T'sel. Two hours could make a major difference in Sperin's life span. You tell your flunkies to watch out for us. Out." She cut contact with the Wyal before anyone could protest.
"Give them back their humanity?" Joseph murmured in stunned tones.
"Poor Amos," Joat said. "The trouble with giving people back their humanity is that a lot of the time they don't want it returned." Crikey, the last thing a thief and murderer wants is an active conscience. Poor Amos.
"But the Kolnari? Has my lord gone mad?"
"No Joseph. You're just looking at the down-side of loving a living saint. They will do uncomfortable things."
"But the Kolnari?'
"Yeah. Let's plan what we're actually going to do when we find them," Joat said, cutting off what she recognized as an endless conversational loop.
"Perhaps we should try giving them back their humanity."
She laughed. "Yeah, then we'll shoot 'em while they stand there frozen in shock."
Joseph chuckled.
"I should not laugh at the Benisur," he said. "But truly, this is beyond everything."
"One thing at a time, Joe. You can talk him out of it when we get back."
She ran through the data again. Their plans were actually as set as they could be, on what amounted to-It is not a suicide mission. Joat had gone through her copy of Janes's All the Galaxy's Spaceships, a gift from Simeon, and found Belazir's flagship. It was not quite a light cruiser; a destroyer-leader, built to command a flotilla of lighter craft, a Central Worlds Navy vessel, heavily refitted for Kolnari use. Probably it had once been a Navy surplus ship owned by a planet the Kolnar had stripped, then destroyed.
She'd called up the schematic and Kraig had guided them through it.
"Avoid the A and B corridors if ya can, that's Kolnar territory, an' they like to hassle anyone that doesn't belong there."
He indicated where the brig was located. A fairly large section of the ship deep in its center. And he enthusiastically described what he knew about their security system.
"It's fantastic, man! If they ever went straight they could make a fortune designing security for rich guys."
He'd recited the security codes and their answers so that Rand could record them. And Rand had made up a program that would answer the question asked, regardless of the order in which the codes were presented.
"Security's pretty light on the decks the mercs use," Kraig had told them. "I mean who's going to be stupid enough to sneak…" He'd blinked at them. "Hey, I din't mean anything." He'd apologized for several minutes before they could convince him they weren't offended.
Joseph dubiously eyed the large ball of ice Joat held ready in front of the lock.
"This is your secret weapon?"
"Yup."
"A snowball?"
She chuckled. "The ice is imbedded with approximately ten thousand transmitter/receivers which will be dispersed at a controlled rate determined by the speed at which the snowball is traveling. We're going to push it right through Kolnari space and mess up their communications big time."
"They will blow it up, Joat."
"And if they do, some of the t/rs will be destroyed. The rest will be in a good position to do what they're designed for. It'll work, Joe. Trust me." She looked up at his scowling face. "Seg was really impressed."