Judgment at Proteus

FIVE

The couch was too short for me to stretch out comfortably, but I was able to take off the cushions and lay them out on the floor instead. That, along with the extension provided by the pillow I’d taken from the bed, made my pallet long enough to serve as a tolerable sleeping platform.

It was colder on the floor than I’d expected, and even wrapping myself up in my blanket like a burrito left me on the cool side of comfortable. Fortunately, a few minutes after I got settled Doug seemed to realize I was in for the night and padded over to lie down beside me. He wasn’t exactly cuddly, certainly not in the way a real dog would be, but the radiated heat was welcome. Besides, I could hardly feel his hard pineapple hide through the blanket.

Emikai and a pair of Jumpsuits arrived precisely at nine o’clock the next morning. Bayta and I were ready, and together we headed off through the station’s labyrinth of corridors, glideways, elevators, and bullet trains. I tried to keep track of the twists and turns, but within the first ten minutes I was thoroughly lost. If for some reason Emikai refused to guide us back home, we would likely be sleeping in somebody’s doorway tonight.

I’d seen dozens of courtrooms over the years, and the Proteus version was right up there with the best of them. Tall double doors led into a chamber that was large and imposing, with a high and long judge’s bench at the far end and only marginally less grand places for the prosecution and defense. Unlike the usual high-class wood-paneled Human courtroom, though, this one was done completely in dressed stone, from floor to ceiling, extending even to the seats and tables. Fortunately, the seats had been furnished with cushions and back rests.

Hchchu was waiting, seated at the prosecutor’s table with no fewer than four readers spread out on the table in front of him. Either he was planning to refer to four separate versions of Filly law or else he didn’t trust bookmarks for retrieving the relevant pages. Minnario was also there, peering at his reader as he hovered in his chair at one end of the defense table.

More interestingly, at least to me, the judges also were already seated, a marked departure from the Human custom in these matters. There were four of them, each dressed in an identical outfit of layered gray and dark blue with elaborate shoulder points and collar and sleeve tucks, the whole ensemble topped by a floppy hat. I’d never seen such garb on Fillies before, not even in pictures, and as Emikai ushered Bayta and me to the defense table I wondered if the clothing was something out of the Slisst Protocols. Something I might want to ask about later.

“You will sit with your attorney,” Emikai murmured to me as I started forward. “But your assistant must wait back here with us.”

I looked at Bayta. “I’ll be all right,” she assured me. “Go on.”

I nodded to her and crossed the expanse of stone toward my seat. Way too much empty space, I knew, for the kind of economy of scale demanded by anything built in space. The open area probably served as a visitors’ gallery during high-profile cases.

[You’re late,] Minnario chided quietly as I sat down on the stone bench beside him. There was a scuffling noise, and I looked down as Doug and Ty settled themselves comfortably on the floor beside my seat. Apparently, whatever order or mistaken assumption had briefly kept Ty with Bayta last night was all over now.

“I make it three minutes till,” I told Minnario.

[The guardlaws and your opponent are already here,] Minnario countered. [By arriving last you’ve given up any challenge to the high ground.]

I was opening my mouth to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean when the Filly at the far end of the judges’ bench gave a startlingly bird-like trilling whinny. {The groundstage is begun,} he announced in a loud voice. A loud and familiar voice.

I took a second, closer look. I was right. The judge was none other than Usantra Wandek.

Minnario nudged me and pointed to the table in front me. I looked away from Wandek, to see that a section of the table had lit up with an English translation of the Fili. It made a nice counterpoint to the Nemuspee translation running on Minnario’s chair display. {You of the adversaries are met to seek truth, divide honor, and find justice,} Wandek continued. {We of the guardlaws are met to hone the sword and guide the spear.}

I grimaced. Not exactly the conversational direction a defendant liked to hear from his judges. “Is this standard courtroom procedure?” I murmured to Minnario.

The Nemut twitched his fingers in a shushing motion. {If any here has words of confession or remorse, let him speak now,} Wandek continued. His eyes were steady on me, but that might have been because he’d spotted me talking over his speech. I held his gaze, and after another couple of seconds he shifted his attention to Minnario. {You speak for this adversary?}

[I do,] Minnario replied. Now that the proceedings had begun, I noted that the table was also running a translation of his Nemuspee.

{And you have studied the rules and precedents of the Slisst Protocols?}

[I have.]

{Then you should already be aware that adversaries’ companions are not permitted on this ground,} Wandek said, giving a sharp nod toward Bayta.

[She is not merely a companion, but a witness,] Minnario pointed out.

{This is the groundstage,} Wandek said, his tone the annoyance of a teacher trying to deal with a slightly dim student who keeps making the same mistake over and over. {Witnesses are not yet to be examined.}

[I understand,] Minnario said calmly. [But Mr. Compton is on trial for a crime that can carry the death penalty. In such a case, Protocol Fifty-seven states his life partner may be present for all proceedings.]

I sat up a little straighter on the stone bench. My life partner? That was stretching reality a bit far.

Wandek wasn’t buying it, either. {I see no ring, mark, or sash,} he said pointedly.

[No such indicators are necessary,] Minnario said. [They are Humans, and Human custom provides for what is called common-law life partnership. All that is required is a period of cohabitation and a commitment to one another.]

Wandek looked at me, and I worked hard to keep my face expressionless. Minnario was definitely playing fast and loose with this one, especially the cohabiting bit. But sifting through Human legal terms was tricky enough for Humans, let alone Fillies. And if it kept Bayta and me together through this mess, I was willing to play along.

{Very well,} Wandek said at last. I could tell he still wasn’t buying it, but at the moment he didn’t have anything solid to hang his suspicions on. {Until the court has had an opportunity to assess the validity of your claim, she may remain.}

He looked down the table at his fellow judges. But none of them seemed inclined to go any further out on this particular limb, and after a moment he straightened up and nodded to Hchchu. {Proceed,} he ordered.

Hchchu nodded back. {Proper form states that a list of charges be the first item under consideration,} he said. {But in this case, we must first establish who, in fact, my opponent truly is.}

He lifted one of the readers and tapped a button. Beside the running translation on our table, a repeater display lit up with an image of my diamond-edged first-class Quadrail pass. {His Quadrail pass identifies him as Frank Compton of New York City, Western Alliance, Earth, Terran Confederation,} he continued. {Yet this document—}

{Which sector?} the judge beside Wandek interrupted.

{The Terran Confederation has only one sector,} Wandek told him.

The judge gave me an odd look, probably wondering how Humans dared even show their faces around the galaxy with such a pathetically small tract of real estate to call our own. {Proceed,} he said.

{This document, in contrast—} Hchchu tapped the button again, and my Quadrail pass was replaced by my fake Hardin Industries ID card {—names him as Frank Abram Donaldson. This speaks of duplicity and fraud.}

Wandek turned to our table. {Does Chinzro Hchchu’s opponent have a parry?} he asked.

[We do,] Minnario said. [At heart is our opponent’s contention that having two names is an intent to deceive this court.]

{Do you take us for fools?} the judge in the fourth position demanded. {Humans are not Cimmaheem, who randomly take different names at different lifepoints.}

[I did not imply that they were,] Minnario assured him. [To repeat: Mr. Compton’s intent was not to deceive this court. As a security agent of the cross-galaxy corporation Hardin Industries, it is necessary at times for him to conceal his true identity from his opponents.]

{No Human corporation can be considered truly cross-galaxy,} the third judge said disdainfully. But he nevertheless nodded and made a note on his reader.

{Parry accepted,} Wandek said. {Riposte?}

[Yes,] Minnario said, turning toward Hchchu. [I claim that from the evidence thus presented, Chinzro Hchchu had no reason to suspect my client of the crimes for which he is accused. As a second riposte, I claim that the evidence he presents is improper and flawed.]

{Explain,} Wandek ordered.

[Chinzro Hchchu states that his evidence comes from a Filiaelian scholar who traveled to the Human world of New Tigris to retrieve the bodies of the six santras and investigate the circumstances surrounding their deaths,] Minnario said. [But the information she collected pertained to a Human named Mr. Frank Abram Donaldson.]

{Which is one of Mr. Compton’s assumed names,} Wandek reminded him.

[But from the evidence presented, Chinzro Hchchu could not have known that at the time Mr. Compton entered Kuzyatru Station,] Minnario said. [Mr. Compton entered under his own proper name, with proper identification.] He looked at Hchchu. [So I ask: for what reason of expectation did Chinzro Hchchu search Mr. Compton for other identity papers?]

It was, I decided, a damn good question. From the suddenly wooden texture of Hchchu’s face I gathered he thought so, too. {A valid question,} Wandek agreed. {Parry, Chinzro Hchchu?}

{I have another source of information concerning Mr. Compton’s identity and crimes,} Hchchu said reluctantly. {It was this source who informed me that the Frank Abram Donaldson of the scholar’s report was the same as the Frank Compton soon to arrive aboard Kuzyatru Station.}

[The name of this source?] Minnario asked.

{At this time, I’m not at liberty to disclose it,} Hchchu said.

Clearly, Minnario had been expecting that reply. [The Slisst Protocols specify that a defender must have a clear view of all weapons in the opponent’s array,] he said. [Unless the identity of this source is revealed in a timely manner so that I can assess its strength and temper, I must request that the attack against my client cease without risk of blood, honor, or spirit.]

{I ask time to consult my source,} Hchchu said before any of the judges could respond.

Wandek murmured something down the line of judges, and received other murmurs in reply. {You have one day to lay this weapon on the table,} Wandek told Hchchu. {We will reconvene on this field at this same time tomorrow. The groundstage has ended. The opponents may leave the field.}

Silently, Hchchu stood up and began putting his collection of readers into the pouches of a belt bag fastened around his waist. I started to stand up, stopped as Minnario laid a hand on my arm. [Wait,] he murmured. [You were last to arrive. We must similarly be last to depart.]

Hchchu finished his packing and strode down the center of the room, not looking at either of us, and disappeared through the double doors. As they closed behind him, the judges gathered their own paraphernalia and filed off their bench, Wandek bringing up the rear as they too marched toward the doors. Like Hchchu, the first three judges ignored us, but Wandek paused as he passed. “Come by quickly,” he murmured. “Ms. German’s condition worsens.”

I started to speak, again stopped at the touch of Minnario’s hand, and watched as Wandek followed the others out through the double doors. “Now?” I asked, standing up.

[Yes, we may depart,] Minnario confirmed, making no move to maneuver his chair away from the stone table. [But there are matters we need to discuss. This is as good a place as any to do so.]

I looked at the double doors, thinking about what Wandek had said about Terese. But Minnario was right, on both counts. With our quarters possibly bugged, and me with no faith whatsoever that an attorney/client conference room would be any cleaner, the courtroom itself was probably our best bet. Especially a courtroom made entirely from stone, which would make hardwired microphones extremely hard to install.

And to be doubly sure …

I stood up and turned back to the doors. “Thank you for your assistance, Logra Emikai,” I called, beckoning Bayta toward me. “I need to speak with my attorney for a few minutes.”

Emikai hesitated, then nodded. “Very well,” he called back. “But I’ve been informed that there are new developments in Ms. German’s case.”

“Yes, I know,” I said. “If you’d like, go on ahead and assess the situation. We’ll find our way back from here.”

“Very well.” Emikai pushed open one of the doors and ushered the two Jumpsuits ahead of him out into the corridor beyond.

“We can find our way back from here, right?” I asked Minnario.

[Of course,] Minnario said. [There are directories at each major intersection. Touch the green emblem, speak your destination, and follow the directions you’re given.]

“Oh,” I said, feeling more than vaguely foolish as Bayta came up to us. “I must have skipped that page in the guidebook.”

[Now we may speak?]

“Sure.” I pointed toward the judges’ bench. “Up there.”

Minnario looked at me in astonishment. [In the guardlaws’ positions?]

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” I said. “If there’s any place in a courtroom guaranteed not to be bugged, it’s the place where the judges discuss their side of the case.”

[You may be right,] Minnario said reluctantly. [All right, but we must be quick about it.]

We crossed to the stone table, Doug and Ty padding along behind us, and I climbed up into the place where Wandek had been sitting. “Plenty of room,” I pointed out.

“That’s all right,” Bayta said, standing beside me as Minnario stopped his chair at her side. “What exactly do we need to discuss, Attorney Minnario?”

[To begin with, Chinzro Hchchu’s mysterious information source,] Minnario said. [Have you any idea who it might be?]

“Emikai and Dr. Aronobal are the most likely suspects,” I said. “They were both on our super-express Quadrail, which gave them opportunities to see me in action, and both were on Earth when the reports of the New Tigris incident filtered in. Either of them could have put those two pieces of data together and come to at least a suspicion, if not a conclusion.”

“Could they have obtained a private police report?” Bayta asked.

“Assuming they have a top-level contact in the Filiaelian embassy, sure,” I said. “I’m more interested in who exactly this Filly scholar is that Hchchu mentioned, and how she was conveniently on hand in that part of the galaxy to go around collecting bodies and evidence.”

[I have her name,] Minnario said, scrolling through his reader. [But I’ve done a search, and she seems to have no connection to Chinzro Hchchu or anyone else aboard Kuzyatru Station. It appears she was simply on Homshil when the report of the santras’ deaths reached the Assembly, and as the nearest Filiaelian with governmental connections she was ordered to delay her return and travel to New Tigris.]

“So she has no actual expertise in police procedure?” I asked.

[None,] Minnario said. [And to tell you the truth, it shows. Her report’s full of oddities, curiosities, and the occasional contradiction.] He smiled lopsidedly. [Those are technical legal terms, of course.]

“Like the laying out of weapons that Usantra Wandek mentioned?” I asked.

[The Slisst Protocols are filled with such expressions,] Minnario said. [They came from the ancient Filiaelian mode of honor-satisfaction via combat, and retain much of the same form and language. That’s why the overseers are called guardlaws instead of judges. They don’t so much rule on the case as watch what Chinzro Hchchu and I do and award the verdict on the basis of the strength and validity of our arguments.]

“Like martial-arts referees awarding points,” I said, nodding. “Not so different from the way a lot of Earth courts work, actually. Can I assume the Protocols won’t degenerate at some point into actual armed combat?”

Minnario laughed, a sort of pleasant rippling-brook babble that I’d heard before only in recordings. It sounded even more cheerful in person. [Be of confidence,] he assured me. [Filiaelian society is far beyond such primitive behavior.]

“Glad to hear it,” I said. “So tell me more about the scholar’s report. Starting with how I managed to get saddled with six murders.”

[You didn’t commit all the murders?] Minnario asked. [I’m your attorney, you know—you can tell me the truth without fear of bias or betrayal.]

“The truth is that I didn’t commit any murders,” I told him firmly. “I may—may—have killed one of the Fillies in a firefight, but I’m not even sure about that.”

“Which they started in the pursuit of criminal activities,” Bayta added.

Minnario made a sort of hissing sound. [Incredible,] he said. [Santra-class Filiaelians.]

“Evil comes in all shapes and sizes these days,” I said. “And as I say, even that one killing is questionable. I was in the middle of a bunch of cops at the time and all of us were trying very hard to get to the santras before they got us. You’d have to do ballistic and residue tests on all our weapons to figure out who shot whom, and I’m not sure the New Tigris cops even bothered.”

[I see,] Minnario said thoughtfully. [Well, as I said, the scholar’s report is full of problems. It shouldn’t be a problem to pick at it until it falls apart.]

“I’ll hold you to that,” I said. “Was there anything else?”

[I have no other questions, no,] Minnario said, easing his chair backward. [Now that I have possible names for Chinzro Hchchu’s information source, I can begin backtracking and hopefully have some material on hand when he officially reveals the name.]

“So as to have your sword in the en garde position?” I suggested.

Minnario laughed again. [Indeed,] he said. [I should have known that a Human would have little trouble adapting to the legal flavor of the Slisst Protocols. Your recent history’s still so bloody.]

“Thanks,” I said dryly. “I think.”

His smile faded. [Speaking of blood, did I hear Usantra Wandek say that your companion’s medical condition has worsened?]

“Yes, and Bayta and I need to get back there,” I said.

[Do you wish me to escort you?] Minnario offered. [But no—you can surely travel to her side faster by yourselves.]

“Probably,” I said. “But if you’d feel better traveling together…?”

[No, no, I’ll be fine.] He looked ruefully down at his chair. [Someday, Mr. Compton, I’ll be free of this chair.]

“Absolutely,” I assured him. Though if he figuratively bloodied Proteus’s assistant director by beating him in this ridiculous trial by verbal combat, it might be a long time before anyone aboard the station found the time to treat him.

Firmly, I shook the thought away. Surely Hchchu wouldn’t be that petty. Even if he was, I could only deal with one crisis at a time. “Then we’ll see you later,” I said, sliding off the stone bench and taking Bayta’s arm. “Oh, and this time will you do me a favor and leave your comm on?”

[I will,] he promised. [My regards to your friend.]

The green directories worked exactly the way Minnario had described. I used them four times on the trip back to Terese’s medical dome, the last three times just to double-check my memory, and I felt a flush of warmth in my cheeks each time I did so. I really should have picked up on that on my own.

We arrived at the door to Terese’s building to find Emikai waiting for us. “How is she?” I asked.

“I am not certain,” he said, beckoning. “Come and see.”

Dr. Aronobal was waiting in Terese’s room. So, to my mild surprise, was Usantra Wandek, dressed now in his doctor’s tans instead of his guardlaw outfit. “Mr. Compton,” he greeted me gravely. “It’s good of you to come.”

“Nice to see you again, too,” I said, shifting my attention to the bed. At first glance Terese didn’t seem to have changed much since our last meeting, though she was hooked up to more wires and monitors than she had been before.

But on my second look I noticed her sunken cheeks, the dark circles around her eyes, and her slightly sallow skin. “Hello, Terese,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

“Crowded,” she said, a little of the old fire coming back into her eyes and voice as she looked pointedly around at all of us.

“I don’t doubt it,” I said. “Shall I ask Logra Emikai to throw all of us out?”

She snorted. “I can ask him myself if I want to.”

“Yes, I’m sure you can,” I said, catching Bayta’s eye and nodding fractionally toward Terese. “Actually, I have a few questions for Dr. Aronobal, so I can at least get two of us out of your way. And I think Logra Emikai and Usantra Wandek have a matter or two of their own to discuss.” I looked at Emikai. “For one thing, I’m concerned about the security arrangements at my trial.”

For once, someone actually picked up on one of my cues. “As am I,” Emikai said. “If I may have a moment of your time, Usantra Wandek?”

“What security arrangements are these?” Wandek asked, his blaze mottling a bit with obvious confusion.

“Oh, come now,” I said reproachfully. “I’m a Human aboard a Filiaelian space station accused of murdering six other Filiaelians. Of course I’m going to need security.” I gestured down to Doug and Ty. “Preferably something with a bit more of my own welfare in mind than Chinzro Hchchu’s watchdogs.”

Wandek was still looking unconvinced, but he nevertheless nodded. {There’s a small conference room down the hallway,} he told Emikai. {We can go there.}

The two of them left the room. “Dr. Aronobal?” I invited, gesturing toward the doorway. “Perhaps outside would be best—I could use the fresh air.”

Aronobal hesitated, then looked at Terese. “I will return shortly,” she said. “Call for an attendant if you need anything.”

The dome was, as usual, reasonably deserted when Aronobal and I emerged from Terese’s building. There were a handful of Fillies moving around, most of them walking from one building to another, but that was about it. As far as the mainstream of Proteus traffic flow was concerned, this dome definitely wasn’t in it. “Please make this quick,” Aronobal said. “I have a patient to treat.”

“I appreciate your devotion,” I said. “I wanted to ask about the status of Terese’s unborn baby.”

“Ms. German is aware of our concern for him,” Aronobal said, a little reproachfully. “We could have spoken of this in her presence.”

“Maybe yes, maybe no,” I said, feeling a frown creasing my forehead as I took another look around the dome. I’d brought Aronobal out here purely to give Bayta a little privacy in which to quiz Terese about the attack she’d suffered back on Earth. But now that we were here, something was tingling at the back of my neck.

The dome was wrong. Something about this place was simply wrong.

“What do you mean, maybe yes, maybe no?” Aronobal asked.

That was a good question. With my mind preoccupied with the vague new riddle that was suddenly nagging at me, I grabbed at the first thought that came to mind. “I mean you might not want her around,” I said, “when you tell me the baby’s going to die.”

I expected that to spark some kind of reaction. I didn’t expect Aronobal to grab my upper arms and pull me toward her until my face was bare centimeters from her nose blaze. “Who told you he was going to die?” she demanded.

“No one,” I protested, leaning as far away from her as I could. Beside me Doug gave a low warning growl, no doubt assuming that I was the aggressor.

“He must live,” Aronobal insisted. Abruptly, she seemed to realize what she was doing and hastily released her grip. “My apologies,” she said stiffly as she took a step back. “Do you have new information on the child’s welfare?”

“No, that’s why I asked you about him,” I said. “But I apologize in turn for my comment. It’s what Humans call hyperbole, the deliberate stretching of a situation to its worst possible conclusion in order to make a point. Let me rephrase: there may be things about the child’s condition you wouldn’t want to say in Ms. German’s presence.”

“If that was what you meant, that was what you should have said,” Aronobal said severely. “And my answer is that there has been no such worsening of the child’s condition.”

“And Ms. German herself?”

Aronobal hesitated. “We do not understand what is happening to her,” she admitted. “But her health index is definitely deteriorating.”

“Could whatever you’re doing to the baby be affecting her?”

“We are doing nothing to the baby,” Aronobal said. “We are simply taking fluid and tissue samples and studying his brainwave and metabolic patterns. No genetic work is being performed.”

“Maybe not, but tests themselves can sometimes adversely affect people,” I pointed out. “And you can’t have much experience with treating Humans here.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when I suddenly realized what it was that had been nagging at me.

I looked around the dome again, at the charming EuroUnion Alpine village the Fillies had created. Only this time, I looked at it all with new eyes.

And with new understanding.

Damn them, anyway.

“You forget our consultation work with Pellorian Medical Systems,” Aronobal reminded me. “We have had enough experience with Humans to know what cannot and must not be done.”

“I hope so,” I said, my voice sounding distant in my ears. “I wonder if I could get a full update on Ms. German’s condition, her treatment, and any prognosis you might have.”

Aronobal snorted gently. “Could you read such a document?”

“The computer in my quarters can translate it for me,” I said. “I swore an oath to Asantra Muzzfor—”

“Yes, yes, I remember,” Aronobal interrupted. Apparently, she was as tired of hearing Muzzfor’s name as I was of invoking it. “I will have the appropriate documents sent to you.”

“And similar documents concerning the treatment of Ms. German’s unborn child, too, if you would,” I said. “But I’ve taken up enough of your time. When you get back to Ms. German’s room, will you ask Bayta to join me out here?”

Aronobal gave me an odd look, and I had the feeling that she was surprised by the brevity of the conversation. Apparently, she’d been expecting something longer and more drawn-out. But she merely nodded. “I will,” she said, and went back inside.

I stepped around the corner of the building and sat down with my back to the wall, massaging my calves as if the morning’s travel had left me with tired muscles. As I did so, I once again looked casually around the dome, watching the meager flow of Fillies back and forth. This time, I paid special attention to which buildings seemed to be the centers of attention.

“Frank?” Bayta’s voice came from somewhere near the door.

“Over here,” I called.

Bayta appeared around the corner. Once again, Ty seemed to have inexplicably stayed with her instead of coming outside with Doug and me. “You get anything?” I asked her.

“You didn’t give me much time,” she countered, a little crossly. “Was Dr. Aronobal that anxious to get back?”

“I was that anxious to get rid of her,” I said. “First things first. Come sit down and tell me what you found out from Terese about her attack.”

Bayta frowned, but obediently walked over and sat down beside me. “It happened outside her apartment building as she was coming home from a late party,” she said. “She never saw—”

“Do you have a nail file with you?” I interrupted. “Or anything you can cut or poke with?”

She gave me an odd look. “I have a set of tweezers.”

“No good,” I said. “I need something that can dig into wood or plastic.”

“Chinzro Hchchu already took everything I had like that.” She pointed at Doug, who had settled down a couple of meters away. “If what you want isn’t too complicated, maybe Doug or Ty would let you use their claws.”

I frowned at Doug’s feet. They looked to me like clawless dog feet. “What makes you think they have claws?”

“Because I saw them,” Bayta said. “I woke up last night while Ty was shuddering against the headboard—probably having a dream—and saw them sliding in and out of his paws.”

“Lovely,” I said, wincing at the thought of something with sharp teeth and claws having nightmares that close to Bayta. “Any idea how I would go about asking?”

“I don’t even know what it is you want,” Bayta said. “But I would recommend saying please.”

“Thanks.” I lifted up a hand and beckoned. “Here, Doug. Come here, boy.”

For a moment he just looked at me, displaying all the semi-sentience of a Chesapeake Bay mollusk. Then, he heaved himself to his feet and trotted over. “Right here,” I went on, patting the ground beside me. “Come stand over here.”

Again, he took a moment to think it over before obeying. “I just need to borrow this paw a minute,” I said soothingly, getting a light grip on his front paw. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

To my surprise, he not only didn’t fight me, but readily shifted his weight onto his other three legs and raised the paw I was holding. Maybe his last owner had taught him how to shake hands. “They just slide out, you said?”

“Like cat’s claws, yes,” Bayta said. “Try squeezing the foot just behind the toes.”

“And maybe get my face clawed off,” I muttered. Shifting my hand to the spot Bayta had suggested, I gently squeezed Doug’s foot.

The watchdogs had claws, all right. Big, long, sharp, nasty things. Scary, but exactly what I needed. “Easy, now,” I soothed as I pressed the lifted foot against the wall beside me and began carefully scratching with the extended claws. “Okay, so Terese was heading home from a party and never saw anything?”

“She never saw her attacker,” Bayta said, picking back up on the story. “He hit her from behind and dragged her down off the street into a stairwell. There he must have hit her again, maybe more than once—her memories are pretty foggy. When she came to she was alone, half dressed—” She grimaced. “And, as she found out later, pregnant.”

“Mm,” I murmured, half my attention on Bayta, half on the gouges I was making in the wall with Doug’s claws. “Anything else?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Bayta asked. “I’m surprised she was willing to give me that much.”

“She’s sick, she’s a long way from home, and as much as she probably hates it you and I are the most familiar faces around,” I pointed out. “On top of that, I get the impression she’s never been exactly flush with close friends. This thing’s probably been bottled up inside her for a long time.”

“And I’m a fellow woman?”

“With this sort of thing, that’s usually the way it works,” I said. “So she never saw her attacker. Interesting.”

“Why is it interesting?”

“Not sure yet.” I nodded across the dome. “New subject. Remember what Wandek said when I asked him why all these buildings were Human design?”

“He said they were reconfigured for the comfort of the patients.”

“Right,” I said. “So why, if Terese is the only Human patient around, did they bother putting together a whole dome’s worth of buildings? Especially since the things aren’t made of malleable material like he said they were?”

“They’re not?”

“Take a look,” I invited, lowering Doug’s foot back to the ground and pointing to the gouges I’d made in the wall with his claws. “Every malleable material I’ve ever seen automatically heals small tears like this. But not this stuff. This stuff is simple, ordinary wood.” I raised my eyebrows. “Which leads directly to the question of what the hell is going on in here.”

“The Filiaelian who showed us to our first quarters,” Bayta said slowly. “He needed to confirm who you were.” She looked at me. “But he shouldn’t have, should he?”

“Not if I was the only male Human in this part of Proteus.” I nodded across the dome. “I’ve been watching the Fillies going in and out of those buildings. The same buildings, maybe not coincidentally, that were still showing lights after I dropped you off at your first room last night.”

Bayta let out a sort of soft hiss. “There are other Humans in there.”

“That’s where the logic is heading.” I levered myself to my feet and offered a hand to her. “What do you say we go and find out?”

We headed across the dome toward the particular chalet I’d tagged as number one on my list of potentially interesting tourist attractions. We were within ten meters of it when the door opened and a Filly dressed in doctor’s tans stepped out.

Only this wasn’t just an ordinary Filly doctor. This was the alien I’d dubbed Tan One, one of the Shonkla-raa at Wandek’s informal interrogation yesterday afternoon.

Tan One hadn’t seemed all that friendly during that meeting. Today, he was even less so. {Where are you going?} he asked sternly.

“Good afternoon,” I greeted him cheerfully, not breaking stride.

{This building is off-limits to visitors,} he growled, planting himself directly in our path three meters in front of the building.

“Sorry, I don’t understand,” I said, still not slowing. I would maintain my course, I decided, until I was about half a pace away from him, at which point I would feint left with my shoulder and try to slip around him to the right.

“He said you were not permitted to enter that building,” Wandek’s voice came from behind me.

I swallowed a curse as I came to a halt and turned around. No chance now of pretending I simply didn’t understand what Tan One was blathering about. “Hello, Usantra Wandek,” I greeted him. “Did you and Logra Emikai sort out the security arrangements?”

“They are being dealt with,” Wandek said, eyeing me closely as he came up to us. “What are you doing here?”

“I was hungry,” I said. “I saw all the people going in and out of this building, and thought there might be a food service here like the one in the security nexus upstairs.”

“There are no public dining places in this area,” Wandek said. “The computer in your quarters can provide a list of nearby facilities.”

“Yes, I know,” I said. “I was just hoping we could grab something quick and get back to Ms. German.”

“She is resting now after her treatments,” Wandek said, taking my arm in one of his iron grips and pulling me gently but determinedly back the way Bayta and I had just come. “In an hour, perhaps two, she will be able to receive visitors. This would be a good opportunity for you to seek refreshment elsewhere.”

“And maybe get a little rest ourselves,” I conceded, pulling experimentally against his grip. Now that I was moving in the right direction, Wandek took the hint and let go. “Good day.”

I turned back to face Tan One. “And good day to you, too, Doctor,” I added, giving him a short bow of my head. Under cover of the movement I took a good, hard look at the door behind him.

Turning back again, I took Bayta’s arm, nodded a farewell to Wandek, and headed toward the corridor leading back to our quarters.

We were nearly there before Bayta spoke again. “We’re not really giving up, are we?” she murmured.

“Of course not,” I said. “But I am hungry. Let’s go find something to eat.”