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"The other Union members won't let that happen!" I sputtered at him.
"Of course they will. Who will tell them what we are doing? Not you. They will think Earth Alliance's decline is the natural progression of your irrational, primitive nature. Humanity is merely an insignificant dust speck on a plan that has been in process for hundreds of years. Your DNA merely allowed it to take a swift step forward. You are correct: our Minders cannot monitor members outside the Zones. Their reach does not extend far enough. Your illegal presence has enabled us to remedy the problem and rein in the last of the resistant members. We have something much more substantial than petty conspiracies or tampering with economics to use against them. Their collaboration with a Human on this world could destroy them. It was what we needed, and you, Vivi Zant, gave it to us. Now all of them except the Proambu—who are cowards and who do not act against aggression—will do what we tell them to do." His thin lips split to reveal sharp gray teeth in what I guessed represented the Endar version of a triumphant smile. "Soon you and the pitiful faction helping you will be swept up and disposed of, and no one else will ever know any of this. They will only see the results."
All I could think about was protecting the tiny circle that had formed around me on this world. "There isn't anyone else—"
"Don't waste your oxygen on a lie. You are a spy, and you have collaborators on this world!"
"That's ridiculous! You know how I came to this world."
"I also know, now, how you escaped down the loading umbilical into our warehouse system and eluded our detection equipment while making contact with certain individuals on this world."
"I stumbled in the dark and followed some vermin out."
"Vermin, yes, but not the kind you wish me to believe. You Humans think you are so clever. You inspire others to dare think the same way." He flexed a gray hand, gesturing to the city beyond his walls. "While we speak, your allies are inciting riots around the Das to distract us. They underestimate our response to social unrest on this critical day. I have declared a state of martial law over the entire city and port. We have the means to enforce it and we will deal ruthlessly with anyone found in violation. No one is allowed to embarrass the Primacy!"
Had Duff really called up the city for protests, to create a distraction and stretch Endar resources after I missed my connection with the others? If so, it was a noble effort, but it was also a waste of resources. He and the others could not rescue the kid and me inside the Grip.
Judging from the gleam of anticipation in the High Jerak's eyes, the citizens of this city were about to encounter a ruthless retaliation from the Sat Quar.
He continued. "Colonel Mathet Waa Silvec and his ridiculous dark ops team will meet with an accident this day. Unfortunate. Your little astrogator accomplice is quite a treasure. We have always wanted to take one apart and find out how it works. Regrettably, her abduction is too risky at this time. The Tabi value them highly, and, since our hold on their officials is not yet firmly established, her disappearance could stir resistance." He shrugged. "We will find another one in the future. This one must die today, along with anyone else on this world that has come in contact with you."
Saura... I couldn't force a sound through the tightness in my throat.
"You and your blight are ending, Captain Zant. The downfall of the Earth Alliance has begun even as they arrive here. Now," he leaned in, putting his face close to mine again, "I want my original back. Where is the child?"
I stared straight into his red eyes. Not because I was any kind of bold—I was a quivering mass of terror—but because I was afraid I would look at the kid and he would realize she was in the room with us. I suddenly, desperately, wished we did have some connection. I mentally screamed for her to get out. To go find Saura and warn her... "I don't know."
Seok straightened and turned away. For a moment, I thought he saw Lirilune, but then I realized he was speaking with someone beyond the room. His tone was too low for me to hear what he said. He started to turn back, twitched, listened, and began to talk again. This time he raised his voice and spoke in the sharp way he had addressed his guards and me. "It is not his concern! Tell him to focus on his task!"
With an abrupt movement of dismissal, he returned his attention to me. "We have a little time before I must put you on a ship to one of our science facilities."
"You can't kidnap a citizen of the Whooex Union!" I stammered.
"Who is going to stop us? No one will file a report on a missing Human who was never here."
He was right; the Tabisee would never acknowledge my existence, and I would not implicate them—at least, not until I arrived at his so-called science facility and underwent questioning.
"I could forgo the pleasure of working with you except for one thing," he continued. "I want the Makima child you pulled from the airlock on Idwal!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then, much to my pleasure, it is necessary to encourage your cooperation."
My time advantage evaporated. "I demand proper representation..."
"Strip it!" he ordered.
For a moment his words confused me, then his intention sunk in. "Aw, no!" I exclaimed. "Don't—"
Too late. One of the Endar guards caught something beneath the collar at the back of my shipskins and gave a hard tug. The material tightened on my neck, cutting off my air.
"Don't," I gasped. "There's an easier way—" I tried to pull an arm free of Endar claws. If they insisted on removing my skins, there was a place on the left cuff that would relax the fabric for removal. They didn't have to damage—
The material abruptly gave way against the edge of the Endar tool like a razor cutting silk, splitting down the back and exposing my skin to the air.
Outrage seized me. First the "Hand", then my wetware, my awaysuit, and now my shipskins—all of the things that were almost impossible for me to replace. The bill for this job kept adding up, and that didn't include the devastating loss of my partner.
The guards shucked the skins off me like they were peeling a Sol banana, leaving me standing in my skivvies.
"You owe me for those," I snarled at the High Jerak's back.
He was bent over a counter full of containers, searching through them. "Put it in restraints," he ordered over his leather-bound shoulder. "Pad the cuffs well. We do not want it to tear off an extremity."
The guards clasped my bare shoulders and dragged me to a contraption previously obscured by a row of lab equipment. It looked similar to a ship's launch couch, with all the pads, straps and belts, except the fasteners weren't made for the occupant to release them. One guard held me while the other inserted thick gel strips into the cuffs and headrest. Despite my struggles, the two easily held me down and fastened my head, wrists, and ankles into the restraints while the High Jerak removed the cover of a small jar with long, knobby fingers. He brushed a fingertip lightly across the material it contained.
It came away with a thin smear of brilliant purple on the gray tip.
He walked over, the finger extended. "Do you know what this is?"
I flexed my wrists and ankles against the restraints. The soft grip could hold something far stronger than a Human. A puny spacer sure wasn't going to break loose. "No."
He moved his hand, lifting the finger closer to my face so I could see the purple stain. It looked slightly luminescent.
Glowing, luminescent purple could not be good for me. I twisted in the restraints.
"This is ndu. A perfectly harmless sounding name, yes? For Endar, that's what it is—a perfectly harmless life form. It is my favorite organism, exclusive to my homeworld. A bit of color from home. My people are immune to its effect." He waggled the finger to hold my attention. "The rest of you...are not so fortunate."
He leaned in close and I caught a whiff of scent like cold, sweating metal. Was it the Endar smell of anticipation at another creature's pain? If so, it was not something I wanted to get familiar with. "It only takes a tiny brush on the surface of the skin. The ndu organism locks onto the nerves and feeds on their electrical impulses. You will feel a certain numbing effect. That is not its charm, however. It secretes the waste it generates from feeding back into the nerve tissue beyond its attachment point. I'm told the byproduct creates a pain that feels like the burning heart of a star. The more stress you feel, the more the ndu can feed. And excrete. A dangerous, deadly cycle." He raised the finger and looked at the smear. "I do not know. Some creatures are prone to such exaggeration."
A trickle of my sweat found the corner of my eye. No matter what you have heard, everyone breaks under torture. Some EA special agents have a chip inside their head that can cut off the pain center of the brain if agony reaches a certain level. It can even kill them under certain circumstances to protect what's in their head. But not a low-level grunt like me. My tech only dulled a level of pain to get me through a bad day—such as losing a hand to a plasma blast. I wouldn't withstand torture for long. But I wasn't giving anything up. Not here, not yet, at least.
"Humans can't think through intense pain."
"Few creatures can." He shifted his hand, and I realized he held another small jar in the crook of another finger. "This will neutralize the toxin the ndu secretes and prevent you from going into shock. It works quickly—once it is applied. Save yourself some pain, Captain Zant; tell me where the child is."
"And deprive you of the hunt? No." Was I insane, taunting an Endar while it held torture powder over me?
He stood still for a moment, studying me, then he cricked his head in an odd, jerky motion. "She is here, on this world."
Damn me for a fool! It had to be a lucky guess on his part, but the twitch of my facial muscles must have reinforced his observation.
"Helpful," he said, "but I think we can narrow it down more." He paused expectantly.
The cricket track from the Xix hospital recovery room would have sounded loud in this silence.
The High Jerak nodded. "This is good. I was hoping for some tiresome Human bravado." The bony finger descended—not for the surface of my arm, but for the bare skin on the back of my right hand. I pulled against the restraints, trying to break them, to no avail. I felt a light brush midway along the back, over the tendon of my middle finger.
My heart thundered in my ears. Three. Four. Five.
Maybe the ndu didn't work on Humans.
I felt a sudden tickle of itch in the area of the purple smudge and the screaming began.