"Compared to that guy, you"re the life of the party," Becker grumbled. "But there shouldn"t be any problem, should there? We"ve got all the papers they want. We"re landing right where they said to. The place is perfectly safe, right?"
"It was when I left, yes," Nadhari said.
Acorna punched into the com unit and leaned forward to fill the vid screen. "Your pardon, good sirs. I am the Linyaari Amba.s.sador Acorna Harakamian-Li. I was sent by my people to make inquiries regarding the history of a certain Makahomian life form. Could you give me the name of the ruling head of this area, so that I may address my written request for an audience with that person appropriately?"
It appeared that someone was listening, after all.
"The Federation commanding officer in charge is Lieutenant Commander Dsu Macostut," a clipped voice answered on the com, "and he is the one who will need to approve your request before it is pa.s.sed along to the High Priest of Hissim and the Aridimi Plateau, Mulzar Edu Kando sach Pilau dom Mog-Gim. We will apprise the lieutenant commander of your arrival."
"Ahhh," Acorna said in what she hoped was an elite amba.s.sadorial tone. "Many thanks, good sir."
"Edu?" Nadhari asked when the com unit was safely off. "Edu is in charge?"
"Glad you"re on a first-name basis with the guy, sweetie," Becker said. "Can I just call him Ed? I can"t remember the rest of that stuff."
No," Nadhari said, emerging from her preoccupation long enough to touch his cheek fondly. "Just like you can"t remember the star maps from most of the known universe including uncharted wormholes, black holes, and other spatial features the regular physicists haven"t named yet. You"ve got the best memory of anybody I know - until you hit something you don"t want to remember. The name is actually very simple, Jonas. "Mulzar" is the Mog-Gimin t.i.tle taken by the high priest who is also the warlord of the plateau. The current Mulzar is Edu Kando, who is what you might call my cousin - or in the local parlance, my steppe-cousin. His father was captured by my mother"s sister on a raid the Felihari made before I was born. So like me, he is a Kando, of the rainforest. The "sach" indicates his paternity, usually from a captive. My father, when captured by my mother"s people, became Murgad Div fron Kando, to indicate his ties to my mother"s family. As he was never captured or fostered on the Plateau, he had no ardo name. I, on the other hand, am actually known here as Nadhari Kando sach Div ardo Rek. This indicates my mother"s surname, my father"s clan in the steppes, where I was taken after my mother"s death, and the name of the Mog-Gimin clan to whom I was sold after my capture."
"Oh, well, sure, it"s simple when you put it that way," Becker said. "Sach means your steppe-name, and that other word - "
"Ardo," she supplied.
"Means your desert affiliation. But his affiliation wasn"t ardo - it was some other word."
"Dom," she said. "No one from the Mog-Gim Plateau captured him - he conquered the plateau."
"Of course. I knew that," Becker said. "Absolutely nothing to it when you get used to it. And hey, what luck is that anyway that he"s one of your family! He"ll probably want to have a big ol" reunion. We can say we didn"t tell the Feds about you because we wanted to surprise him or something."
She nodded, the muscles in her jaw rippling slightly. "He will be glad to see me," she said tersely. Acorna looked at her sharply, but Nadhari"s jaw had relaxed and a rueful smile hovered around her lips. The warrior"s mind was once more opaque, but Acorna noticed that Nadhari had omitted saying whether or not she would be glad to see her cousin.
Becker didn"t seem to notice, however. He just charged ahead at the verbal equivalent of light speed. "Well, that"s great, then. If one of your own people is in charge, we shouldn"t have any problem. Otherwise, I guess we"d have to hide you or rename you and dummy up some good papers, or at least you"d need to stay aboard while we made repairs. This way, maybe we can maybe do a little looking around while we"re here, visit the garden spots, gawk at the Temples, stuff like that."
"Yes," Acorna said, her tone innocent but with an underlying question in it. "If your kinsman is the high priest, perhaps he can a.s.sist me in carrying out the aagronis" errand to discover a possible relationship between pahaantiyirs and your Temple cats."
"Yes, perhaps," Nadhari said, though her apparent agreement was belied by her tone of voice.
Becker said anxiously, "Maybe he"ll even understand about RK, but you think maybe we should hide my buddy until we find out, huh?"
At that moment, Captain MacDonald announced that they were entering Makahomia"s...o...b..t. "You reckon if I turn you loose now you can land under your own power, Captain Becker? Otherwise, it"ll be a little tricky setting "er down with you still wagging behind me like the tail of Mary"s little lamb."
"Of course we can land," Becker said. "We"re not exactly invalids out here-though you couldn"t prove it in that mud puddle. Turn us loose and go ahead. We"ll be right behind you."
"Jonas, we should report in to Hafiz."
"Good idea. He"ll need to know about this little detour," Becker agreed. But when he tried to access Manganos Moonbase for relay to MOO, the com unit remained blank and dumb. "I was afraid of that," he said. "Can"t do the long-range stuff with the computers screwed up."
They landed without incident, on dry ground this time. The Federation s.p.a.ceport was very small. Becker set the Condor down beside the Arkansas Traveler. Both ships were instructed to have their personnel remain aboard until the Federation officials boarded their ships and inspected them.
"I just hate customs," Becker said. "Now we gotta play "hide the kitty." "
Acorna smiled. She had heard the plop of paws behind her, indicating the return of gravity and the departure of the cat. His harness had given him no trouble. When he chose to shed it, RK divested himself of a harness as easily as he shed hairs in warm environmental conditions.
In her time with RK, Acorna had learned that the cat understood what went on around him almost as well as Becker did. He just made a game of letting his human companions underestimate him so that he was free to follow his own agenda without interference. She did not doubt that he would hide if it suited him.
Or not.
Becker shook his head when he turned to see the empty harness. "Well, he knows the ship like the back of his paw. He hides so well even I can"t find him if he doesn"t want me to."
Nadhari nodded. "The sacred cat will choose his own path. RK must sense where he is now."
"Maybe," Becker said, scratching his head. "I don"t really know for sure if RK has ever been here. When I rescued him, it was from a wrecked ship in a totally different quadrant of s.p.a.ce. He might have been a second generation ship"s cat-you know, from a litter a Makahomian mama Temple cat had after she was smuggled off-world."
"He knows," Nadhari said.
"Permission to come aboard," an unfamiliar voice hailed them from the com unit.
"Granted," Becker grunted. "Uh-just a minute. I have to send the robolift down for you."
"The what?"
"We"re a salvage vessel. Functional, not pretty. We don"t have a nice door in the side of the ship for you to hook your gantry to. Just a sec."
Becker pushed the b.u.t.ton that activated the robolift, but though there was a groan and a clank somewhere in the workings, nothing moved. "Sorry," he said to the com unit. "It may have to thaw a while. We had a little trouble with our navigation system and made a forced landing on that swampy neighbor planet of yours." He consulted the computer and gave the coordinates. "We were viewport-deep in water when Captain Mac-Donald pulled us out and saved our necks. Going back out in s.p.a.ce dripping wet might have iced up the lift a bit. Since we"re going for speed here, I"ll try taking a torch and a crowbar to the seals. That should work. It"s gonna be a minute before I can let you in, though. Maybe you better go see Captain MacDonald first."
"Very well, since the timing is useful to me. Lieutenant Commander Macostut "will be joining the boarding party as soon as he is able to, so that he may on this occasion personally greet the Linyaari amba.s.sador."
"That"s very courteous of him. The amba.s.sador will approve. I"ll let you know when I free the lift."
Mac said, "I will attend to it, Captain."
"I can do it," Becker called after him. "It"s my ship."
Before Mac could return, however, Acorna said, "If I may make a suggestion, Captain. These Federation officials strike me as being impressed by rank and privilege. Nadhari and I have decided to use this delay to change into more formal clothing. She has her dress uniform. Miiri packed something... amba.s.sadorial... for me to wear to meet the Niriians, which I plan to put on before the planetary delegation arrives. Perhaps you might wish to don your most impressive uniform as well?"
He considered a moment, rubbed his chin, and sniffed at his armpits. "I guess I could shower and shave, too, huh?"
Acorna hid her amus.e.m.e.nt and listened to the ship"s sounds for a moment. "Nadhari has just finished her shower, I believe, so there will be time for you to do those things, should you wish to."
Acorna and Becker escorted the Wats out of the bridge and back to their quarters, "where they locked them in, and continued on to their separate quarters to make themselves ready for their official visitors. By the time Mac returned to the bridge, Acorna had donned her new outfit and taken time to enhance her appearance, so that her silvery mane curled fetchingly to frame her face and grace her long neck. Her horn shone like a golden opal. Her trews were cut so that the feathers on her calves made a decorative trim, edged with small jewels that matched the beautifully embellished belt girding her flowing white tunic. Grandam Naadiina had given Acorna the belt to wear before the venerable lady"s heroic death. It had been a lover"s gift from Naadiina"s life-mate to Naadiina, and Acorna cherished the memories it brought each time she put it on.
And now there was her new treasure, she thought with a mixture of pleasure and pain, touching the disk through her tunic. It was a gift of her lover if not actually from him. Should she wear it outside? She decided it was too precious, that she didn"t want to share or explain it just yet.
Nadhari wore the dress uniform of the Red Bracelets, as she had when attending formal occasions with Mr. Li. It was, not surprisingly, red, gleaming with bra.s.s trim, and made of a material that both enhanced the shape of her panther-lithe body and allowed her complete freedom of movement.
Acorna wasn"t sure where Becker"s uniform came from -her guess was that it was salvage from another ship. The captain wore a tailored gray outfit with silver b.u.t.tons and trim, an attractive combination with the gray of Becker"s mustache and the little beard he was sporting. He wore an insignia of a silver vulture rampant over a barrel, with his name and t.i.tle forming a leafy silver border around the image.
He tossed Mac a plainer version of the same uniform and said,
"Go oil yourself or something, Mac, and put this on to meet the bigwigs."