Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (4 page)

"Perhaps he wishes to travel in comfort," Taneem suggested.

"There's that," Alison agreed dryly. "Malison Ring ships aren't
known for the kind of luxury Neverlin's accustomed to."

"Malison Ring," Taneem said, her voice suddenly thoughtful.

"What about them?"

"I was just noticing the curious similarity between your names,"
the K'da said. "Alison, Malison. Odd that I never noticed that before."

"Pure coincidence," Alison assured her. "
Malison
is an old
Earth word meaning a curse. I presume General Davi was thinking he
would be a curse to his enemies when he set up the group twelve years
ago."

"They began so recently?" Taneem asked. "I assumed they were older
than that."

"Not this group, no," Alison said. "But they certainly aren't
Davi's first experience with mercenaries. He worked for two other
groups, and was one of the commanding officers of a third before he
started his own."

The K'da cocked her head, an odd-looking gesture as she lay
flattened against Alison's skin. "You seem to know a great deal about
them."

"Not really," Alison said. This was starting to drift toward
dangerous territory. "Everything I just told you is public record."

"Is General Davi's voiceprint also public record?"

Alison grimaced. She'd hoped Taneem had forgotten that part of the
trick she and Uncle Virge had pulled on Frost and the Chookoock family.
"Like I told Uncle Virge, my dad got that for me. The voiceprints and
tonal patterns of important people can come in handy."

"As we saw," Taneem agreed.

"But that's neither here nor there," Alison said, training her
light on the inside of the safe door. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

There were, as she'd noted earlier, several small holes in the
inner sheet metal. In the single hurried glance she'd had before
shutting them inside the safe, it had looked like the holes would give
her access to the lock mechanism.

It took her less than a minute to discover that they didn't.

Don't panic
, she ordered herself firmly as she probed
around inside with her fingers. The holes had to be there for
some
reason, after all. If she couldn't manipulate the lock itself, perhaps
there was an emergency release back there somewhere. All human-designed
safes this big had such releases, in case someone accidentally got
locked inside.

But she couldn't find any such switch.

"Is there trouble?" Taneem asked softly.

"I can't find a way to spring the lock mechanism," Alison told
her. "We're going to have to try something else. Something a bit risky."

The K'da shifted position on her skin. "I'm ready."

Alison grimaced. It was more than just a little risky, she knew.
But with their air running out, it was all she could think of. "You
remember that trick Draycos has where he can lean over a wall, like you
did just now, only then fall all the way over and come out the other
side?"

"Yes, of course," Taneem said cautiously. "He also said no other
K'da in history has ever had such an ability."

"I know," Alison said. "But I think you can do it."

"I can't," Taneem said, an edge of fear starting to creep into her
voice. "I'll fall off and—I'll
die
, Alison."

"You won't die," Alison said firmly. "You can do this as well as
he can."

"I can't," Taneem insisted. "Draycos is a powerful poet-warrior.
I'm not."

"It has nothing to do with Draycos's warrior training," Alison
said. "It has to do with you and me. You as K'da, and me as human."

"I don't understand."

Alison wrinkled her nose. This was hardly the time and place she'd
planned on springing this on either of the two K'da. But under the
circumstances, Alison didn't have much choice. "I know Draycos has been
walking you through the encyclopedia section of the
Essenay
's
computer," she said. "Has he shown you the drawings and paintings of
dragons from Earth legends?"

"I've seen some of them, yes."

"Didn't it strike you as odd that we would have so many legends of
that sort?" Alison asked. "Especially from so many different cultures
and peoples?"

Taneem had gone very still. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Alison took a deep breath. "I'm saying that I think the K'da
originally came from Earth."

"That can't be," Taneem said. "Draycos told me his people are
coming here from a far distant world in a very different part of the
galaxy."

"And so they are," Alison agreed. "But he also says the whole
group of them were kidnapped from their home world by passing slavers
thousands of years ago. I think they just don't realize how far they
traveled before they were able to fight their way free."

"And what of my own people?" Taneem asked. "The Phookas living on
Rho Scorvi?"

Alison grimaced. Those Phookas weren't living on Rho Scorvi
anymore, she knew. She and her associates had made sure of that. "You
were probably survivors of one of the battles the slavers used you
for," she said. "You found the Erassvas—or they found you—before your
time limit was up and discovered they could serve as hosts."

There was a rhythmic tapping against Alison's leg as Taneem
twitched her tail restlessly. "No," she said. "This can't be. You're
just guessing."

"There is some guesswork involved, yes," Alison agreed. "But I've
got at least one bit of evidence on my side. Do you happen to remember
the name Draycos said their original hosts were called?"

"The Dhghem."

"That's right," Alison said, vaguely surprised that Taneem would
remember such a jaw-cracker of a word. "A while back, just for fun, I
looked it up. Turns out it's the old Indo-European root word for
human
."

Taneem didn't say anything but just kept tapping her tail against
Alison's leg. "I'm not the only one thinking along these lines,
either," Alison went on. "A couple of nights ago, while we were waiting
for Frost to start moving the Brummgan mercenaries, I caught Jack in
the dayroom looking through some of the old Earth dragon legends."

"But how can this be?" Taneem asked at last. "We aren't like any
other Earth creatures."

"You aren't like any other creatures, period," Alison said. "I'm
just saying it looks more and more like you were originally designed to
be companions and friends to human beings.
Specifically
to
human beings, in fact. That's why Draycos can do things with Jack that
he couldn't do with the Shontine. Certainly things you and the other
Phookas couldn't do with the Erassvas. With a human host, you're
finally becoming the way K'da were truly meant to be."

"You say we were designed," Taneem said. "Designed by whom?"

"No idea," Alison said. "Passing aliens, some ancient human
civilization's genetic engineers, God Himself. Take your pick. The
point is that you and I are the same human/K'da team that Jack and
Draycos are. If Draycos can drop safely off Jack's back over a wall, so
can you."

"Perhaps," Taneem said. "But whether you're right or wrong, we
have no choice, do we?"

"Not that I can see," Alison admitted. "I'm sorry."

The tapping tail slowed and then stopped. "Then I will do it."

"Thank you," Alison said. "All right. You remember that it was the
third and fourth indentations. The combination is
three-seven-twelve-nine-twenty. You line up the little diamond on the
rotator with the right place around the rim, push the center of the
rotator until it clicks, then go on to the next one."

"I understand," Taneem said. "
Twelve
is the one and two,
correct?"

"Right, but the dial isn't marked with human numbers," Alison
said, feeling a fresh layer of sweat ooze out onto her forehead. She'd
worked with safes for so long that she didn't even think anymore about
the fact that most of them used entirely different number systems.
"When I say
twelve
I mean the twelfth symbol around from the
top. I think it's a squiggle with a short line angled through it. The
very top symbol is what I call twenty, the symbol just to its right is
one, the next is two, and so on."

"I see," Taneem said. "I should have realized that. I'm sorry."

"No problem," Alison said. "You ready?"

"Third and fourth indentations; three, seven, twelve, nine,
twenty," Taneem said. "Yes, I'm ready."

"Then let's go for it," Alison said, pressing her back firmly
against the metal again. "Good luck."

She felt Taneem move into position, peering over the wall. There
was a moment of anticipation that reminded Alison somehow of her first
experience gazing down from the end of the swimming pool's high-dive
board.

And then, suddenly, Taneem was gone.

Alison twitched violently in reaction. The movement bumped her
head against the self-destruct bomb set into the safe's ceiling.

She rubbed gingerly at the spot. As if she'd needed that reminder
that her fate was now directly tied to Taneem's. If the K'da had fallen
wrong and disappeared into that strange fourth-dimensional space, then
Alison was also dead. Either her air would run out or someone else
would open the safe and the bomb would blow her head off. . . .

She was almost startled when, with no fuss at all, the safe door
swung open at her feet.

She blinked sudden tears of relief from her eyes as Taneem's
gray-scaled face peered in at her. "You were right," the K'da said, her
jaws cracking open in a wry smile. "Number twelve
was
a
squiggle with a line through it."

"Ah," Alison said, filling her lungs with fresh air as she worked
her way out of the safe. Stretching stiff muscles, she looked around.

The room was dark except for the handful of small red night-lights
marking the door and the tastefully concealed emergency kit. Another
door led off one of the side walls, its lack of red night-lights
showing that it wasn't an exit.

"What now?" Taneem asked quietly.

"Shh," Alison warned, touching her finger to her lips. She pulled
out her mascara tube again as she moved carefully to the door. If
Neverlin had any brains, he would have left guards outside in the
corridor.

He had. Two of them, she guessed, from the sounds of their
breathing.

Just as carefully she backed away again to the farthest corner of
the office. Taneem, her silver eyes glittering in the darkness, padded
silently over to join her.

"There are bad people out there?" the K'da murmured.

Alison nodded. "Two, I think," she said. "But don't worry. It
doesn't sound like they're planning to come in and snoop around."

"Unless we give them reason to do so."

"So we make sure we don't," Alison said, trying to think.
Originally, a quiet look around had been first on her list of things to
do. Once she had some idea of how many men and Brummgas were aboard,
she would have a better idea of where the two of them might be able to
hide for a few days.

Unfortunately, both parts of the plan required her to leave the
office. With a pair of Malison Ring mercenaries standing guard a foot
outside the door, that was going to be a little tricky.

"I see no place where we may hide for long," Taneem said into her
thoughts. "Unless your breath mask can be restored?"

"It can be recharged somewhat, yes," Alison said. "But not
entirely. Certainly not enough to get us through a whole day or more in
the safe."

"Then we must find a new place," the K'da concluded. "Shall I
begin a search?"

Alison frowned. Then, suddenly, she understood. The last time they
were aboard, Taneem had taken herself on a brief tour of the ship's
ventilation system. "It could be dangerous," she warned. "And not just
from the ducts themselves. If anyone spots you, we're both dead."

The K'da twitched her tail. "So will we be if we stay here."

"I can't argue with that," Alison conceded. She looked around,
spotted the vent in the wall just below the ceiling. "Let's get the
grille off."

Three minutes later, Taneem climbed up on Alison's shoulders and
cased her head and forepaws into the open vent. "It looks clear," she
said, pulling her head briefly back out again to look at Alison. "I'll
be back as soon as I can."

Alison nodded. "Good luck."

Taneem put her head back into the opening. Pulling with her
forepaws, she slid the rest of the way in, and with a flick of her tail
she was gone.

Pulling out her flashlight, Alison turned it to its lowest setting
and put it into the duct to give Taneem something to look for when she
headed back. She then put the grille back into position, fastening the
bolts just tightly enough to keep it in place.

And once she'd done that, there was nothing for her to do but wait.

She waited for a grand total of maybe two minutes. Then, being
careful not to make any noise, she set out to explore the office.

The last time she'd been in here, when Frost had had her break
into Neverlin's desk safe, he'd kept her in the main room. Her first
task, therefore, was to see what was beyond the side door.

There were, as it turned out, two other rooms in the suite. One
was a private washroom, the other a secure communications nook with a
direct link to the ship's radio and InterWorld transmitters.

There were, unfortunately, no exits from either room.

She got a drink of water from the washroom and then returned to
the main office, a fresh idea occurring to her. It was right after
she'd opened this particular safe that Frost had fulfilled his part of
their bargain and given her the satchel she'd gotten from Virgil
Morgan's Semaline lockbox.

More important, that was the point where Frost's interest in the
Advocatus
Diaboli
's various safes had suddenly stopped.

Something in that safe had apparently been very interesting to
Neverlin's ally. It might be worthwhile to see what that something was.