There was a long silence. Ukatonen and Tomas regarded each other appraisingly.
Tomas laughed. It was a long, deep laugh that broke the building tension in the room. Even the lines on Eerin’s face eased. In that moment, it was obvious what drew men to follow Tomas.
“We will have to trust each other, then,” he told Ukatonen. “You will heal me, and you will have your freedom. Yes?”
Ukatonen looked at Eerin and Moki for a long moment, then nodded.
“Good. When do we start?” Tomas asked.
“We can begin now, if you are ready,” he replied.
“I am ready,” Tomas said.
Ukatonen held out his arms to* begin the link. “I have a plan,” he told Eerin and Moki in skin speech. “Follow my lead.”
Surprised, Eerin hesitated for a moment, then reached out to link with Ukatonen. Moki followed suit.
The link was a roil of emotions. Tomas was a swirl of bloody violence. Moki struggled to keep his fear and anxiety under control, while Eerin fought to suppress her anger and fear. Ukatonen reached into Tomas, and rendered him unconscious, a simple physiological trick. But there was nothing he could do for Eerin and Moki except wait for them to calm themselves. When the link was finally calm enough for him to be heard, Ukatonen sent a flood of reassurance and a sense of anticipation. He was pushing as hard as he could, yet it barely affected the tenor of the link. But it was enough— Eerin and Moki both responded with cautious optimism. He would explain when he emerged from the link.
Then Ukatonen turned his focus to the patient. The cancer was deep and widespread. It was a testament to the strength of Tomas’s will that he could appear as healthy as he did. It would be dangerous to underestimate this man.
Ukatonen released the killer cells that would clear away the cancer. With the help and support of Moki and Eerin, he reversed as much of the damage as he was able to, given his own fragile state. When he had done as much as he could, Ukatonen created a temporary pain block. Tomas would wake in pain in the middle of the night.
It was a strange thing to do, and in response to Moki’s puzzlement, Ukatonen conveyed anticipation. This was part of his plan. Then he sent a feeling of caution and urgency. He was going to do something. They needed to be ready.
Ukatonen woke Tomas and broke the link, hoping that Eerin and Moki understood him. Moki glanced at Eerin as her eyes opened. She looked at Ukatonen and moved her head in a fractional nod. They were ready to follow his lead. He only hoped that his plan would work.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Tomas?” Ukatonen asked. He felt drained. The link had exhausted him.
Tomas sat up in bed. “Better than I have in months,” he said. “It’s really amazing.”
“The pain block may wear off in a few hours,” Ukatonen told him. “If you start to hurt, call us, and we will come and reinstate it. You will heal faster if there is no pain. I have done all that I have the strength to do today. I will do more healing in a couple of days, when I am stronger.”
Ukatonen swayed suddenly on his feet, his color paling to a silvery white. “Be ready,” he said in skin speech. “Watch my skin.” He collapsed, going into convulsions, his skin becoming a riot of color. “I am all right, but pretend I have done too much,” he said, the symbols jumbled in amongst the swirls of color. “Get me into another room.”
“Ukatonen!” Eerin cried. “What’s wrong?” She looked up at the guards, who had their guns drawn and pointed at them.
“He’s done too much,” Eerin explained. “He needs food. Honey, sugar. Anything sweet. Please! Now! If you don’t do this, he will die,” she pleaded. “If that happens, he cannot save you,” she told Tomas. Ukatonen went suddenly limp, his skin pale silver.
The guards looked at Tomas, who nodded. “Take him out of here, now. Do what they say.”
“We’ll carry him,” Eerin said.
“Let my arm drop,” Ukatonen said in skin speech. “I will be dripping something out of my allu.”
Ukatonen let one arm droop down toward the floor, and released the first drops of the precursor to a potent sleep drug. It had a faint, acrid odor, but the nose-blind humans didn’t seem to notice the smell.
“This way,” one of the guards said. “Take them to the cafeteria. Put him on one of the tables.”
“Good,” Ukatonen said, still in skin speech, “a good place. Everyone goes there.”
They laid him on one of the tables, and a guard came running up with a container of sugar from the kitchen.
“Here,” he said, handing it to Eerin.
Ukatonen explained what he was doing in skin speech as Eerin opened his mouth and began pouring sugar onto his tongue.
“Tonight, when Tomas has us brought in to relieve the pain, I will release the second part of the drug. They will fall asleep, and will not awake for several hours. Link with me now.” He let his skin fade back to a neutral celadon color.
“Thank you,” Eerin told the guards. “It’s helping. Now we need to link with him.”
The guards looked at each other, and then the one in charge nodded. They linked briefly. Ukatonen showed Moki how to synthesize the precursor substance he was producing, then broke the link.
His simulated convulsions over, Ukatonen opened his eyes. He sat up, slowly and painfully. It was not really acting: the link, and then the false convulsions, had drained him. He was exhausted.
“Are you all right?” Eerin asked.
Ukatonen flickered agreement. “Food. I need food,” he said aloud.
“So do the rest of us,” Moki put in. He began letting some of the clear, synthesized precursor substance ooze from his spurs onto the table, where it evaporated quickly.
Their captors brought plates heaped with food— 6eans and rice, with fresh fruit and vegetables. They stuffed themselves. And all the while, the precursor oozed from the Tendu’s spurs, dripping onto the floor, or spread surreptitiously onto the tabletop. The substance was highly volatile and would evaporate and spread throughout the building, where it would be inhaled and absorbed by every single person inside.
“Could we go to the bathroom before we are put back in our cells?” Ukatonen asked. “I’m afraid there is some urgency.”
The guard in charge nodded. Ukatonen left a trail of precursor on his way to the bathroom. He let a small puddle of it accumulate on the floor of the toilet stall, and wiped some on the door handle and faucets. They brought him back to the cafeteria, and then escorted the prisoners back to their cells. Ukatonen stumbled and fell just outside the building, leaving a faint stain of precursor on the walkway. As Moki bent to help the enkar up, he sprayed some on the grass.
“He’s still weak,” Eerin said. “We should stay with him.” The guards hesitated, then one of them conferred with someone on his coram unit.
“Only the little one may stay. There will be a guard outside, in case there is any trouble.”
Ukatonen caught a glimpse of Eerins anxious face as they led her off to her cell. He hoped she would be ready to act when the time came.
Ukatonen was asleep when their captors came for them. The guards escorted them to Tomas’s room, where he lay sweating and pale in agony.
“Stop the pain,” he commanded.
Ukatonen nodded at the others, and they linked with Tomas, putting him under immediately. Ukatonen cleared their systems of all traces of the precursor to the sleep drug he had released earlier in the day. Now the second half of the drug would not affect them. Then, on a prearranged signal, they unlinked. He and Moki began releasing the second half of the drug from their spurs. The light, volatile compound diffused rapidly through the room. It had a peculiar, almost flowery scent. He heard the muffled thud as their guards fell to the heavy carpet.