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‘OK,’ I said. ‘I guess that’s fair enough.’
‘Beg pardon?’ said the Exxoh, looking at me with an expression that hovered somewhere between suspicion and surprise.
‘Look, I don’t mind either way. I only came along on this ride because I was bored back home. I’ve done the Duty thing, and you’ve done the bad guy thing back, and I can honestly say to my friends that I tried. Now I get to eat great food, drink new stuff like this coffee, and I get to try to play with all these great new toys. How do I lose?’
The Exxoh still looked as though he didn’t buy my story, and who could blame him? It was a little farfetched that I would turn around quite so quick, but he didn’t know me and he couldn’t tell if that was just the way I was. ‘So how do you suggest that we proceed?’ he asked.
‘Well, like you and that Naal guy - ’
‘Commander Naal,’ the Exxoh interrupted, his tone slightly reproving.
‘Right, him. Anyway, like you said maybe I’m not the sharpest tool in the box right now, so it sounds like I need to do some practice, like exercise?’
‘You are suggesting a return visit to the Cmdr. Naal’s laboratory?’
‘Unless there is anything else you were planning on showing me today?’
‘I was thinking of taking you down to the hold, to see if there are any other sections that you can get us access to, but perhaps you are right. Perhaps more time in the laboratory would be a good idea, and we can put the hold visit off to another day.’
He rose from the table and took a few steps over to the double doors. Pulling one open a crack, he spoke to someone on the other side. ‘Arrange an escort to take young Garret here to see Cmdr. Naal. There’ll be a message to take too. No, no I don’t need a runner, the guard can take it.’ He turned back to me. ‘I suggest you finish your coffee. Your escort should be here soon, and I wouldn’t want you to keep them waiting. I’ll call in later this afternoon to see how you are getting on.’
‘All right,’ I said taking another swallow from my cup and pushing it aside. I wiped my mouth on a napkin then stood up expectantly, eager to get on with the day. The Exxoh poured himself another cup of coffee, then gave me a calculating look over the lip of the cup as he took a mouthful. I met his gaze and even smiled back a little.
The escort arrived. The Exxoh pulled one of the soldiers a little further into the room then spoke quietly into his ear. I was sent off with the soldiers while The Exxoh seemed to be happy finished off the breakfast.
Once we got to Naal’s office, I was told to wait while the one with the message went inside. I heard a muted conversation, then the door opened and Naal came out. He didn’t look pleased to see me. ‘I really don’t think there is very much point to this, young man, but if this is what the Exxoh wants, who am I to argue.’
He dismissed the two guards and told me to follow him, then took me to the workroom. ‘In here,’ he snapped, then he called to one of the people working there. ‘You. Walter. Come here.’
A pale faced young man, beyond thin but with an open face, ready smile and a wild bush of blonde hair, hurried over from the other side of the room.
‘The Exxoh has instructed us to let this youth,’ his mouth worked as thought the word didn’t fit, or was reluctant to come out, ‘practise using some of our equipment. Work with him. See what you can do.’ And he stalked off as if I had offended him.
‘Was it something I said?’ I asked as I turned back to Walter. He flashed a nervous grin back at me.
‘Could be. I think it could be that he doesn’t like taking commands from the Exxoh. Especially in an area where he thinks he knows more.’
I didn’t really understand the politics, so I nodded and made a small smile.
‘So you are the new Emissary?’ Walter asked, leading me deeper into the workshop.
‘How did you know that?’ I asked. Naal hadn’t mentioned it.
‘Guessed. Who else would be practising in here?’
‘There must be someone else.’
He shook his head. ‘No, not really. We try stuff out on each other from time to time, just to see if there is any change, or if someone has picked up a ghost of the ability from somewhere in the gene pool, but we never manager more than a flicker.’
‘So what do you do here in between Emissaries?’
Walter chuckled. ‘Try to find ways to bypass the neural command system. We experiment on machines that we don’t need, or that are broken.’
I remembered the poor little ‘bot that someone had tortured in the big all outside and felt a little flash of anger, but I tried to keep it away from my voice and my face.
‘Getting anywhere?’
The good humour faded, and Walter seemed about to speak before thinking better of it. ‘No offence, but I probably shouldn’t be talking about that with you. Not yet, anyway.’
We reached a machine that I had used yesterday, that Naal had called the analyser. ‘We can start with this,’ said Walter, then he looked at the mesh cover that went over my head and the connections where it joined onto the machine. He made a ‘tut’ing noise. ‘People don’t seem bothered with the basics sometimes. Sit here. Don’t move. I’ll be back in a few minutes.’
I resisted the temptation to wander around and contented myself with looking at things from a distance. I hadn’t really got a good look at the lab when I was there the day before. I had been too busy rushing from one event to the next. The first thing I realised, thought, was that it was not as shiny and sparkling as I had thought it at first. It was similar in size to the equipment shed we had visited outside the Halls of the Dead, and there was a relatively clear space up the middle. Along each side were alcoves in various sizes but - again like the equipment shed – all the same depth. Only the width varied. The walls between them were mostly quite low, and you could get an idea of what was going on within each. There were lighting strips hung from the ceiling, with smaller, brighter panels where extra illumination was needed. The air smelt of fresh oil and electricity.
Walter was back in a couple of minutes, arms full off bottles, rags and tools. As I watched, he cleaned the outside of the cabinet and the mesh, then even took the cover off the machine and worked around inside it with a device that blew sharp gusts of cold air, blasting dust away and making us both sneeze. When he had finished reassembling the box, Walker put the mesh back over my head and announced it was time to try again.
‘So I just think as hard as I can?’
Walter pulled his mouth down at the corners, held out his hands with the fingers spread and rocked it back and forth. ‘I heard the old man tell you that yesterday. That’s what the instructions say, but it doesn’t sound right to me. I mean, what are you supposed to think about?’
‘So ... ?’
‘I was thinking about it after you had gone. Seems to be there ought to be something you are trying to do, some obstacle you need to try to batter your way through.’
It was a good idea, and I nodded slowly. All I needed to do was think of the obstacle. I visualised one of the doors that had been used to seal my people into their tiny little world, and I pushed. I saw Walter, slightly panicked look on his face, realise I had started before he was ready and he quickly pushed a button. I was already too far in to start again, and I hoped the machine would catch up with me. I don’t know how much time had passed before he tapped me on the shoulder and waved to let me know I should stop.
I sat back in the chair as he took the mesh from my head, then he attended to the machine and let out a low whistle.
‘That’s quite an improvement. I think. I have to go get Cmdr. Naal to check this.’
Naal was brought over, complaining and fussing, and as he got closer I heard the second half of a conversation.
‘... quite impossible. It simply doesn’t work like that.’
‘I swear, commander. I saw the reading from the test yesterday, and today the score is half as high again.’
‘What did you do to the machine? Have you interfered with it.’
‘All I did was clean it, sir. I cleaned the contacts with alcohol, and blew the dust out of the innards.’
‘I’ve told you before about tampering, ensign.’ Naal turned on me then. ‘What did you do different. Why did you hold back yesterday? Speak.’
I didn’t want to drop Walter in trouble by telling about the idea he had come up with, so I shook my head and played dumb. ‘Nothing, sir. I just thought very hard, like I did yesterday. I didn’t do anything different.’
Naal looked at me. I didn’t like his expression, which was devious and cunning. ‘Perhaps not. But continue with this ‘practising’ of yours. There may be some benefit to it. Play with some of the unknowns, see if you can divine anything about them.’
After a final glare at Walter, he stomped off.
‘Did I do the right thing?’ I asked. ‘I didn’t think you would want me to tell him you came up with the idea about opposing something.’
‘Probably. He doesn’t take kindly to anyone looking smarter than him, which isn’t difficult. The report about your startling progress is probably already in the hands of a runner and headed for the Exxoh’s office. And he’ll take all the credit.’
‘So what are these ‘unknowns’?’