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It must have been an interesting time, Clark thought, with the Viyato and Ketries trying to swell the legal shipments to keep their traffic volume at its normal level lest the dropoff give them away, the Security officers trying to get hold of Love's Arrow either for evidence or as a bribe, and the Outlanders trying to make new alliances with Security and Saroka Var. It was the first time their Outlanders had shown such independence and the Viyato were apoplectic. They wanted the death penalty instituted for whatever charges Security could bring against the maverick ship's crew, and when Maxwell refused to take up this cause they informed him that he would be expected to pay the full cost they incurred in capturing his daughter. As things grew calmer they took back this threat, let the Outlanders make it up to them, blamed everything on the Ketries and, among other things, took Sevit into their own care at the ground-to-ground site by the Lir.

He must be in the capital. Small as he was for an Eyimalian, Sevit would be too hard to explain anywhere but at Lir Temple where Pahid, at least, had seen Eyimalians in his "visions".

Clark dragged Huey up from below, saying, "I want to raise Tiyar."

"Terrestrials are too skittish for that, I'm afraid. The best I can do is leave a standing response to his signal."

They rigged the signal to an alarm and waited. One night Clark dreamed he was at his parents' home. As the family embraced, a siren began to keen. Clark's mother paled and vanished. He woke. The alarm had gone off.

Clark ran to the control room, where Greyesar was jumping Tiyar's signal to the main communication system. The bright spot on the finder screen, showing the origin of the call, was as big as a province. "Isn't there any way to find out where he is?" Clark asked.

"Ask him." Greyesar turned back to the map he had been scriving, but

stayed in his seat near the com.

"Hello. Where are you?" Clark called.

A small voice answered, "On the road to the capital. At the head of a mob. Listen." Distant noises of chanting, quarreling and fighting struggled to be heard. The voice returned, saying, "We are strong. We will seize the export and the capital will fall--"

"Don't do that," Clark cut him off. "The export isn't kept there."

"We will destroy Lir Temple."

"We don't need to. We can destroy--we can get rid of the Viyato at the source, on Eyimalia. All we need is a planetary representative and some evidence."

Tiyar said, "All right. Are you bringing arms? We need projectiles, polly, gas and firebloom, dewblast, little Puras, aircarts. We will roll across the land like a ball of fire and explode in the valley--"

"Did you understand what I said?"

"Yes."

"Tiyar!" Greyesar called.

"Yes?"

"This is Greyesar."

"Greyesar, this army would be worthy of you. Each soldier here is fiercer than ten of the best Eyimalian revolutionaries. Greyesar! It has taken all my strength to guide them."

Greyesar looked over his shoulder. "Who can you talk to down there?"

"Akiva."

"Tiyar, shut up," Greyesar directed. "Let us talk to Akiva."

"--alone!" Tiyar was shouting, but his voice faded as though he were backing away from the instrument.

"Will he hear me?" Akiva's voice asked in high Paffir. Receiving unheard assurance he continued in the language of prayer, "Clarek, I rejoice to greet you. We are wandering in power and confusion. Come lead us."

"Akiva, we don't need to take the city. We can overthrow the temple without fighting."

"We have done that already."

"Then--"

"But Tiyar must fight."

Listening to the noise in the background, Clark could believe he must. "How many are you?" he asked.

There was silence, then Tiyar said, "Six hundred twenty, not counting the children. They are many as well."

"How are you feeding yourselves?"

"The people feed us. Farmers relinquish the crop, and then when their stores are empty they join us."

"You pillage."

Again there was silence.

"Tiyar!" Greyesar called. "What's your answer?"

"I have learned too much to tell. You are so far away that I can barely hear you," Tiyar said. He signed off.

The ship came to Paffir Haretz the next day. Clark tried to read the near-mass board as the neighbor planet drew slowly away above them, followed by one of its moons. Another body lay in the ship's path.

Huey came out of the tube into the control room, still trailing a mist of powder.

"What's that?" Clark asked, pointing to the mass.

"That's a moon," Huey said. He swung them sharply away from it, then back again and away again. "Someone is hiding behind it." He looked round at Greyesar. "Have a seat, enlightened one. Duty bids you remain. Clarkwell will participate, I'm sure?"

He led Clark to three targeting screens for the wide-angle resonance stimulators, explaining, "You are going to watch our tail and prevent any unwholesome bodies from surprising us in the night. Observe the screen."

Clark studied the drifting spots and blotches.

"Note that everything is moving. To obviate this difficulty, put it in track." The figures on the screen froze. "Now anything that moves in track is moving of its own accord, hm? Rather than seeming to move because we do. Hence a beast. And you must destroy it. Manual targeting, though inelegant, will suffice." A white circle appeared on the screen. "Line up the target, wait until it fills the circle, and strike. Thus." Huey intercepted an asteroid and blasted it. "Shoot in track if you like. When the picture blurs, push Impulse to update it." The figures jumped.

"Won't I waste a lot of time and ammunition on rocks?"

Huey chuckled. "Without a doubt."

"Hugh!" Greyesar called.

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CONTINUE.....................

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