Flinx Transcendent Part 6

From where he was lying in a pool of heated sand, Eiipul IXb whipped around to stand bolt upright. Both ocular membranes fully retracted, he stared wide-eyed at an image that had appeared off to one side. Flinx needed no special visual equipment to grasp the meaning of the three-dimensional projection. It showed a trio of adults entering the complex via the main entrance.

"Quickly!" the brother hissed, gesturing toward Flinx and Kiijeem with one clawed hand. "The matriarch and companion coussinss have returned home early. We musst hide you until tonight."

"Why?" wondered Kiijeem even as he hurried along in his friends' wake. "Flinx-friend'ss fanciful facade fooled all of uss. Why sshould it not deceive your matriarch as well?"

"Well it might-but that iss not a chance my brother and I dessire to take," the sister retorted as they rushed hurriedly down a corridor. "A rissk not taken iss one whosse conssequencess need not be contemplated."

Flinx was not happy when the corridor became a steep ramp that descended one and possibly two levels underground. While neither claustrophobic nor fearful of subterranean realms, he didn't like it when he found himself confined to a place with no apparent escape route. Sealed with his thoughts in the dimly-lit storage room where his hosts left him, he felt trapped. It hardly improved his mood or his confidence when Kiijeem chose to depart along with the Eiipul siblings.

He was left with only Pip for companions.h.i.+p. Unlike her master she had no compunction about exploring the mult.i.tude of storage containers that surrounded them. The one advantage to his enforced isolation was that it gave him the opportunity to unseal the simsuit's headpiece. The touch of dry, fresh air on his face, the chance to respirate without having to suck air in through filters, was invigorating. He felt he was relatively safe in exposing himself. Kiijeem's friends would not have chosen the storage room for a softskin's hiding place if they felt it was likely to see any traffic.

Imprecisely, he could sense alien emotions overhead. They were mixed now. More aggressive, more challenging, than those that would have been generated by a comparable gathering of humans. Though he did not know the young Eiipuls well enough yet to unequivocally differentiate their feelings from the group of recently arrived adult females, he was able to easily pick Kiijeem's out of the considerable emotional haze. As always, it was strange to be able to perceive the emotions of other sentients while at the same time being unable to hear or understand a single word of what they were saying.

"What if the ssoftsskin iss lying?" While the family matriarch held domestic court at the far end of the eating chamber, Eiipul IXc challenged her brother and her friend with an anxious whisper.

Kiijeem looked up from his drink, confident that the newly arrived adult nye were too far away to overhear. "I believe he iss telling the truth."

"We know what you believe," Eiipul IXb responded with becoming curtness. "Your 'belief iss insufficient to abrogate the prosspect."

His friend set his drink aside, which was the proper reaction when challenged. "Are you thinking of divulging his pressence to the authoritiess?"

"I do not know what to think to do, Kiijeem." With a slightly dulled claw the brother picked nervously at the lower edge of his chin. "My insstinctive inclination iss to think all hiss talk of some va.s.st myssteriouss threat to the entire galaxy iss nothing but the ravingss of an adverssary who ha.s.s ssucc.u.mbed to madness. Hiss inssisstence that he iss ssomehow essential to confronting ssuch a colossal danger makess even less ssensse."

"Yet in hiss actionss and hiss wordss he appearss entirely rational and normal. For a human," his sister added hastily. "Which leadss to the inevitable corollary: what if he iss not mad? What if he sspeakss truth truly, as Kiijeem apparently believess?"

"I do not know, I do not know." Pried loose by the constantly probing claw, a dislodged snout scale now hung loose and unflattering from Eiipul IXb's chin.

"Well, fssankk-we will learn the truth tonight." His sister tried to rea.s.sure her sibling while at the same time maintaining a superior argumentative position. "If a loss of sstatuss, or worsse, iss to follow, it will not be uss who ssufferss firsst, hardesst, or longesst from an error in judgment."

She did not have to look in Kiijeem's direction for him to know who she meant.

Seated in the farthest corner of the dark storeroom, his knees drawn up to his chest, Flinx looked on in silence as Pip happily slithered over and around one container after the other, staring, sniffing, sampling. Though she employed all her senses in the course of her exploration, the minidrag was having a hard time divining the contents of the securely sealed shapes. Her indifferent master did no better. The sundry AAnn containers and complex labels held no meaning for him and little interest.

He had of his own free will placed himself in a difficult, dangerous position. By now the Teacher Teacher was likely safely outsystem, speeding through s.p.a.ce-plus in a fixed arc that would bring her reconfigured profile back to Blasusarr on a different angle of approach. His s.h.i.+p could not help him even in a dire emergency. He still had Pip, of course. And his own singular Talent, which had the disconcerting habit of deserting him when he most needed to make use of it. was likely safely outsystem, speeding through s.p.a.ce-plus in a fixed arc that would bring her reconfigured profile back to Blasusarr on a different angle of approach. His s.h.i.+p could not help him even in a dire emergency. He still had Pip, of course. And his own singular Talent, which had the disconcerting habit of deserting him when he most needed to make use of it.

He sighed. He would manage. Hadn't he always? But it felt strange. He was used to taking care of himself and not having to rely on the goodwill of others-much less the goodwill of a trio of unpredictable young aliens whose government was dedicated to everlasting Imperial expansion at the expense of the Commonwealth and of his kind.

Looking to his left, he imagined that Clarity Held was sitting there next to him. And was glad that she was not. At least she was safe, back on New Riviera and under the protection of Bran Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzex. In the absence of any friend save a small, empathetic flying snake he found himself drifting into depression. He did his best to displace it with antic.i.p.ation.

Time pa.s.sed slowly in the underground storage chamber. The interminable hours spent isolated in the gloom and silence would have driven the average human to distraction. Flinx was not average. And not, he reminded himself, strictly human. Not according to the disquieting discoveries he had only just made on Gestalt. Reflecting on that did nothing to lighten his mood.

His melancholy was interrupted, if not exactly relieved, by a change in the emotional atmosphere high above him. The tide of alien sensations that had ebbed back and forth all late afternoon and long into what he a.s.sumed must be evening began to fade until only the emotive signatures of the three youths remained. Yet despite their apparent return to isolation, none of them came down the rampway to escort him back upstairs or even to check in on him. Unable to take the risk of ascending on his own, he was reduced to helpless waiting and silent speculation.

Then a new emotional presence made itself known. Or rather, burst onto his consciousness. Not only was it more focused and resolute than any he had previously discerned in the residence, it was by far the most powerful he had perceived since first arriving on Blasusarr. Without question, a distinctive presence had entered the dwelling.

Shortly thereafter, Kiijeem and Eiipul IXc appeared in the doorway to the storage chamber, and he found himself ascending to confront it.

No one said anything, no words were spoken, as they retraced the ramp route back to ground level and continued on to the upper levels of the artificial b.u.t.te that formed the core of the residential compound. Flinx wanted to ask questions but, mindful of the earnestness that now enveloped his young friends, kept silent. He had the feeling that very soon he could ask anything he wanted.

They led him into a single chamber that occupied the entire top level of the dwelling. Long, narrow windows wound their way through the simulated rock walls like small streams that had been turned on their sides. Outside, night had settled over the city. Peering through a half-meter-high vein of weaving transparency Flinx saw that there was still just enough light to enable him to perceive some of the surrounding neighborhood. Stretching to some hills on the horizon, the replication of empty Blasusarrian desert was astonis.h.i.+ng in its authenticity. Only the lights that gleamed from within apparently solid cliffs and crags hinted that they were in fact hollow structures and not natural formations.

A voice rasped from the far end of the room. Rising from the resting stool on which he had been sitting, a solidly built nye rose to confront the arrivals. Formal but undeniably fond greetings were exchanged. At Kiijeem's urging Flinx was then thrust forward. His young friend's emotions had taken a decidedly atypical turn.

He was openly frightened.

Within the simsuit Pip was stirring against her master. She, too, sensed the threat posed by the emotionally forceful individual they were confronting.

Flinx's Talent had already provided the answer to one question: on the basis of his emotional depth alone, here was an AAnn with enough potential muscle to push through and secure the safe pa.s.sage off Blasusarr that Flinx required. Whether he could be convinced to do so would require more than just portentous words on Flinx's part. He became aware that Eiipul IXc was speaking.

"Flinx, make now an acquaintance with Lord Eiipul IX-our patriarch."

There was an admirable lack of condescension in the n.o.ble AAnn's response as he carried out the familiar formal exchange of throat-grasping with his tall guest. "You are a good friend of Kiijeem AVMd as well as my offsspring, I am told."

"Truly," Flinx replied. Despite mentally preparing himself, he was more taken aback than he had expected. Of all the AAnn he had encountered in person over the years, here was by far the most striking personality. The nye's piercing gaze, powerful grip, forceful emotions, and unusually broad physique marked him as physically as well as mentally exceptional among his kind. An individual, Flinx warned himself, not to be played. With this scion of a n.o.ble family only honesty would succeed. Which was fine. Honesty was all Flinx had to give.

Lord Eiipul indicated the twins. "I am informed that you have ssomething to reveal to me that I will find of esspecial interesst. I await your pressentation."

Nothing to be gained by hesitation, Flinx told himself. Without further delay he began to unseal the simsuit.

Lord Eiipul's reaction was instructive. As Flinx began to slip out of the suit and reveal his human self, the AAnn maintained his preternatural poise emotionally as well as physically. He did not call out, did not run, did not reach for a concealed weapon. Just stood and stared, taking in the astonis.h.i.+ng disclosure with a coolness that suggested he encountered such radical metamorphoses every day. His otherwise faultless deportment betrayed only the slightest hint of concern. Most humans confronted with a similar revelation would by now have run screaming, or at least exhibited the first signs of shock.

When Flinx eventually stepped out of the last of the suit to stand naked and exposed in all his humanness, Lord Eiipul looked him carefully up and down, thought a moment, and then turned to his female issue.

"Iss thiss the creature'ss true form, or iss there another AAnn insside a human ssuit?"

If not for the deadly seriousness of the situation, Flinx would have felt free to laugh. Not only was this nye mentally strong, the unexpected appearance of an alien softskin in his own dwelling had not cost him his sense of humor.

"I am entirely human." Flinx took a step toward the master of the residence while taking care to keep out of slas.h.i.+ng range of those mature talons and tail. "If you require it, further proof of species can be provided."

Lord Eiipul gestured third-degree understanding coupled with second-degree contempt. "That will not be required. I have encountered humanss before. In the brief time you have been sspeaking your sstink ha.s.s ssufficiently impinged upon the appropriate receptorss." His nostrils flared meaningfully as he turned to eye his uneasy, expectant offspring and their friend.

"You were correct. I do find thiss dissplay of interesst. Later we will find out how you arranged it." Raising the curved drinking utensil he was holding, he turned back to Flinx. "Before I have you killed," he said casually, "I need to know sseveral thingss, ssoftsskin. How you came to be on Blasussarr, how you managed to find your way into my home, and how you ssucceeded in convincing the mosst favored among my brood to find you worthy of not being sslaughtered on ssight."

"I'm a likable kind of guy," Flinx told him as Pip's head rose from his shoulder to lock on the adult AAnn. Lord Eiipul noticed the movement. He did not acknowledge the minidrag's sudden attention, but neither did he ignore it.

"Your ma.s.stery of a modesst tongue doess you jusstice," his host declared. "It will not ssave your life, but I confess I find it a remarkable disstraction. How come you by ssuch fluency in a language mosst of your kind dessp.i.s.se and the majority cannot manage?"

"I come by it honestly," Flinx told him. "By study, through life experience, and as one of your own."

Eiipul IXc leaned close to her brother. "Our ssuppossitionss were correct-the creature iss iss mad." mad."

Kiijeem looked on in dismay. This was not going as he had hoped. Had he been wrong to believe the softskin? If the human did not do something dramatic in the next minute or two, Lord Eiipul would terminate the confrontation-and likely the softskin as well, with consequences to his increasingly uneasy progeny and their worried friend that would be far from pleasant.

"I had not thought my perceptive abilitiess sso diminisshed with age." With slow deliberation the senior AAnn set his half-full drinking vessel aside. It immediately attached itself to a nearby freestanding clasper. His eyes never left the tall visitor.

"You look like a ssoftsskin, you sstink like a ssoftsskin, and desspite your esstimable command of our language, you sspeak with the oiliness of a ssoftsskin." As one scaly palm drifted above the other Flinx could make out the nano-instrumentation that had been etched into the nye's wrist scales. Lord Eiipul had no need to pick up a weapon-one had been embedded in the back of his left hand. "Correct me if I a.s.sume too much, but I pressume that you will alsso die like a human. But not before you have provided ssatissfactory ansswerss to the quesstionss I earlier possed."

Without hesitation Flinx advanced until he was standing within striking range. The reduced distance between them did not go unnoticed by Lord Eiipul IX.

"My formal name is Philip Lynx." He glanced over at the increasingly anxious Kiijeem and the two Eiipul siblings. "I am more commonly known as Flinx." Executing a flawless gesture demanding of first-degree respect, he added yet one more name.

"I am also called, and have been authoritatively recorded as, Flinx LLVVRXX-of the Tier Ssaiinn."

Talon-tipped fingers continued to hover above the muscular back of a hand that had been etched with lethal instrumentation. One set of nictating membranes flickered as Lord Eiipul blinked back at the uncannily self-possessed visitor.

"How do you, human, come to have knowledge of that noted Tier of eclectic artissanss? And how do you come by a name that, while common, reekss of validity?" Off to one side, his offspring were gaping at the mammal in their midst.

As for Kiijeem, he stood astounded and indignant in equal measure. The softskin had revealed much to him, but in all their nightly sessions together it had never once made known this naming. A true true naming. He was hurt by the omission. Of course, in withholding the information until confronted by an adult he considered to be his equal, the visitor was only doing what an AAnn of equivalent status would have done. This realization caused Kiijeem to view his human friend in still another new light. Without question his guest had told him a great deal. naming. He was hurt by the omission. Of course, in withholding the information until confronted by an adult he considered to be his equal, the visitor was only doing what an AAnn of equivalent status would have done. This realization caused Kiijeem to view his human friend in still another new light. Without question his guest had told him a great deal.

How much had he withheld?

"The name was given to me," Flinx explained, "when I was adopted into their Tier by the applicable family. This occurred not long ago on a world that lies between the Empire and the Commonwealth. A neutral world called Jast."

"I know of it," Lord Eiipul acknowledged. "Jusst as I know of the Ssaiinn. Your claim iss-quite a.s.stounding."

Eiipul IXb stepped forward, his tone deferential. "We had no idea! The creature deceivess uss! Until thiss very moment we did not ..."

"Lock your teeth!" Lord Eiipul hissed sharply. The young male retreated immediately and lapsed into silence. "Have ssome resspect for your ssuperior." Turning back to Flinx, his tone was solemn. "Your remarkable a.s.sertion sstandss unverified. What iss undeniable iss that you are a remarkable sspecimen of your kind, in wayss that are sstill to be learned. Along with how you ssucceeded in coming to Krra.s.sin. Would I be correct in a.s.suming that the informality and ssurprisse attendant on thiss particular encounter leadss me to believe that your pressence on Blasussarr iss not authorized by your government?"

"Wherever I find myself, I authorize my own presence," Flinx informed his host quietly. "Since n.o.body else seems to want to do so."

"Ah, chizzent chizzent. With every word you sspeak you mark yoursself as different from the resst of your kind. Will you drink with me before you die?"

Wary but willing, Flinx moved closer. "I'll drink with you even in the absence of death."

Careful not to strike the human with his tail as he turned, Lord Eiipul led Flinx to the far end of the room. Kiijeem and the twins followed at a distance. The tapering terminus of the top floor was dominated by a curving transparent wall many meters in height. It wrapped around the narrowing end of the artificial b.u.t.te like a port on a small s.h.i.+p. Through the sweeping transparency Flinx could make out other costly residences illuminated by their internal lights and the glow of a moon.

Calling forth two fresh containers of liquid from a concealed dispenser, Lord Eiipul took one metal cone and pa.s.sed the other to his guest. Flinx had no trouble using it properly. He had been drinking from similar utensils ever since he had arrived in Krra.s.sin.

"Sso-you are a member of a Tier and of a family. I have never before heard of or encountered ssuch a contradiction, not even in the fanciess of playwrightss."

Flinx lowered the cold container from his lips. "I believe I may be the first of my kind to be so honored."

That penetrating, experienced gaze fixed him in its predatory sights. "You conssider it an honor, then?"

Flinx further astounded his host by making the correct gesture to signify first-degree a.s.sent. "I consider it an honor to be accounted a member of any family, of any species, that would have me as a member of its Tier."

"And are you an artisst? Iss that how you gained thiss remarkable admission?"

"I can draw, a little. I can do many things, a little. In a time of serious personal need, the Ssaiinn showed me great compa.s.sion."

Lord Eiipul executed a gesture indicative of second-degree incredulity. "All artisstss are by definition more than a little unssound in their rea.s.soning. A Tier of artissanss ...," he hissed softly to himself. "If one ss.h.i.+ftss one'ss mind away from normal rea.s.soning, I ssupposse there iss a certain sskewed ssensse to ssuch a thing." Raising his drinking utensil, he saluted the visitor. "Iss that why you have worked to evade every imaginable ssecurity mea.s.sure and put your life at grave rissk to come here to the capital of the Empire? To practisse ssome bizarre variant of human-AAnn 'art'?"

In a way, the Lord nye was perhaps not so very far wrong, a startled Flinx found himself thinking. He plunged onward with his explanation.

"Lord Eiipul, there exists a threat to the entire galaxy: Empire and Commonwealth and all else alike. Thus far its existence and extent are known to only a very few humans and thranx." He indicated the staring, fascinated, and more than slightly awed trio of younger AAnn. "Now, because of my presence and my need, your progeny and their friend know of it. Any hope of countering this threat and saving all that exists seems to somehow center on me. This is not a responsibility I have sought and no one wishes it were otherwise more than I.

"As to why I came here-well, I did so because it's something that hasn't been done by any of my kind. Not like this, alone and uninvited. I wanted to see what typical AAnn life and society was like for myself, without an official escort. Now that I've done that, I believe more than ever that your kind are as much worth saving as my own."

"How magnanimouss of you." Lord Eiipul added an appropriate gesture of second-degree sarcasm. "How n.o.ble. No doubt we sshould be eternally grateful for your generouss approval."

"I speak solely as a friend and mean no disrespect." Flinx took a deep breath and tried to gaze as deeply into the n.o.ble AAnn's eyes as possible. "As to the danger of which I speak, I can if necessary offer incontrovertible proof of its existence."

"Can you truly?" was Lord Eiipul's diffident reply. "You have chartss sshowing the location of thiss 'threat'? Sstatissticss attessting to itss sstrength? Imagess, mea.s.surementss, relevant equationss?"

"No," Flinx admitted. "At least, not enough to convince you, or the scientists you would call upon to a.n.a.lyze such records. Such things are extremely limited in content anyway."

"Then," his host quietly demanded to know, "how do you expect mysself, or my more credulouss offsspring, or any other half-mature repressentative of my kind to believe a ssingle iota of what you are babbling?"

Flinx did not hesitate. "I think I can show you for yourself."

For the first time since Flinx had revealed himself as a stealth softskin, Lord Eiipul's emotions suggested a hint of uncertainty.

"Sshow it to me? How do you proposse to accomplissh ssuch? With what kind of insstrumentss?" it to me? How do you proposse to accomplissh ssuch? With what kind of insstrumentss?"

"No instruments." Flinx spoke softly, matter-of-factly. He had already laid claim to the extraordinary. It was but a small leap to lay claim to the impossible. "I have the ability to 'go' to the place from where the threat arises. It still lies behind a region of s.p.a.ce impenetrable to nearly all instrumentation. Over the years I have projected myself there or found myself projected there by-others. On occasion others have in this fas.h.i.+on shared the experience of contact with me. I have-a certain Talent." He looked past the quietly incredulous nye to the three staring youths.

"Kiijeem AVMd asked me to share this experience with him. I turned him down. Just as I turned down your own disbelieving offspring. The threat, the danger, the cosmic specter that I have come to call the Great Evil, is not something for an immature mind to touch upon." He returned his attention to his host. "There is risk involved. Each time I do this I never know if I myself will survive the experience."

For the second time that evening, Lord Eiipul IX set his drink aside. "You are a bold and beguiling member of your unfortunately benighted sspeciess, which ha.s.s the regrettable quality of having amalgamated with the detessted thranx. You will prove a fit and interessting ssubject for official interrogation and probable dissection, under which circ.u.msstancess I am ssure you will acquit yoursself admirably." His right hand moved toward the instrumentation embedded in his left wrist.

Flinx's right hand shot forward to grasp his host's left wrist and simultaneously block the mechanism that would summon aid. Each of the twins let out a warning hiss and dropped into a fighting crouch while a seriously fl.u.s.tered Kiijeem debated how he, as a guest, ought to proceed. Almost as soon as Flinx's fingers closed around the nye's forearm, Lord Eiipul twisted and spun. Flinx's grasp was cast off as the nye's tail swung around like a whip. It cracked through the air where the human's face had been an instant before.

Seconds later they stood confronting each other: Eiipul in the time-honored fighting pose of his kind, Flinx bent at the knees with his left leg in front of his body and his right slightly behind. Off to one side the three younger AAnn stood ready to attack, waiting for a sign from the one adult in their midst.

"I demand the right of challenge!" Flinx declared, adding the appropriate first-degree gesture. "As a member of a recognized Tier and honorable family, that right is mine to claim."

Breathing easily in and out, Lord Eiipul studied the incongruous presence confronting him in his own home. "Thiss iss not the sstreet, ssoftsskin. We are not sstrollerss on the central walkway, well met halfway between profession and home. I losse no sstatuss by refussing your challenge and turning you over to the appropriate authority."

Flinx smiled thinly. "Only in your own eyes." He nodded in the direction of the three youths. "And in those of your offspring, of course."

Eiipul found himself concurrently amused, impressed, and taken aback by this unexpected rejoinder. "You know more of our wayss than jusst how to sspeak them, sslug-thinker. Who could have imagined it? A ssoftsskin as ssly as he iss ssmart." Flinx saw toned muscles tense beneath s.h.i.+ning scales, sensed the rise in ancient predatory feelings that had yet to be bred out of the s.p.a.ce-going pseudo-reptilian species, and watched as the senior AAnn kicked off his finely made sandals one by one. "Look to your loinss, human!"

"And you to yours!" Flinx readied himself as his opponent's powerful thigh muscles contracted and the nye sprang at him, crossing the s.p.a.ce between them in a single leap.

Their intent laid bare by their emotions, Eiipul IXb and IXc each took a step forward. Their purpose was to aid their parent and end the fight as quickly as possible. Before they could even approach the two adult combatants they found themselves confronting something small, winged, and bright of body and wing. The minidrag hovered in the air before them, its jaws parted. Hesitating, brother and sister contemplated the flying creature. In their culture, a wide-open mouth was always to be considered a threat. What danger the alien organism posed to them they did not know. It was as foreign to their experience as the softskin currently skirmis.h.i.+ng with their patriarch. But they had been taught well.

When you are confronted by something that is much smaller than you yet obviously unafraid despite the disparity in size, it suggests two things. Either the being in question is bluffing-or it is not. There is usually only one way to find out where the truth lies.

Holding their ground and facing something entirely outside their experience, it appeared that in this particular instance neither brother nor sister was inclined to test which reality was the correct one.

Flinx found himself unable to guess Lord Eiipul's age. Not that it mattered. The n.o.ble was fast, perceptive, and a master of AAnn fighting techniques. His high-velocity attack employed frequent high kicks featuring extended claws, slas.h.i.+ng hands, vicious snaps of tooth-laden jaws, and that ever-present dangerously whipping tail. At least the latter was not equipped with an armored point, as Kiijeem's had been when Flinx had originally encountered his young host.

He could have tried projecting on his adversary. A touch of fear, a hint of uncertainty, a soupcon of indecision: any of these would have slowed the tornado of teeth, claws, and tail that Lord Eiipul had become. But in order to properly engage his Talent, Flinx needed a hiatus of at least a few seconds in order to concentrate. Eiipul did not grant him that much of a lull. The AAnn just kept coming; slas.h.i.+ng, cutting, kicking, and biting in an attempt to bring his opponent down. A human with no experience of AAnn fighting techniques would have already buckled, lacerated and torn.