But Kando laughed as if the jest truly amused him. Acorna considered the possibility that he was more sheltered than she might have supposed, or else, contrary to her experience elsewhere, old jokes were not truly universal here on Makahomia.
"And this is Captain Scaradine MacDonald, who rescued all of them when their ship foundered on Praxos."
Kando shuddered exaggeratedly. "Ah, yes, Praxos. How well I remember our Federation training there-eh, Nadhari? You must have gone through it, too. I wouldn"t wish that on anyone! Thank you so much, Captain MacDonald, for bringing my beloved kinswoman and her friends safely home to us. How did you happen to be nearby at the proper moment?"
"It"s on my regular route, uh-"
"Forgive me! Forgive me!" Macostut interrupted jovially. "I didn"t complete my introductions. Mulzar Edu Kando sach Pilau dom Mog-Gim is the High Priest and Temporal Ruler of the City of Hissim and the Mog-Gim Plateau, Captain MacDonald, and these are his companions, Brother Bulaybub Felidar sach Pilau ardo Agorah and Little Sister Miw-Sher, a Keeper of the sacred Temple cats."
Acorna had already sensed that all was not well with Little Sister Miw-Sher, who glanced around looking a bit desperate when she thought no one was looking, and who seemed to long to leave. Her eyes were almost as red as her robe, as if she had been crying. Acorna instinctively wished to comfort her and sent an inquiring probe before she was quite aware that she had done so. The girl"s green eyes widened as she stared back at Acorna, though she didn"t seem to know "what to think.
When everyone finished exchanging greetings, Kando looked back to MacDonald, clearly prompting him to answer the question he"d been "working on before Macostut had decided to b.u.t.t in.
"So you"re a high priest?" Scaradine MacDonald hedged. "Well, now, that"s real nice, Preacher. I"m a Methodist myself, or used to be when I had a church to go to. I hope you won"t hold it against me."
Kando looked a little confused, but prompted the ship"s captain again. "Is it your Method to linger near swampy planetoids so that you may rescue other ships?"
"Oh, that. No, sir. That"s got nothing to do with religion. I"m a tech rep for agricultural supply and equipment companies. I sell and repair all manner of implements and machinery, plus seeds and chemicals and such. I have a regular route for my repair schedule, and part of it takes me within range of where I heard the Condor"s distress signal. I"ve never actually stopped in this neck of s.p.a.ce before, though I go through it pretty often. I understand you people don"t hold with - uh - my way of doing things." Acorna knew he"d started to say "new" or "modern," and then politely changed his wording.
Brother Bulaybub studied Kando"s face as they waited for his reply. Acorna felt a certain emanation from him, as she did not from the girl.
(Nadhari,) she asked silently, (are your people telepathic?)
(Not as a rule, no,) Nadhari replied, rather startled by the sudden mind-touch, but remembering just in time not to look at Acorna. (It would probably be wise not to let them know that you are a strong mind-speaker, at least until we get our bearings.)
(It may be too late already,) Acorna replied, thinking of Miw-Sher"s startled face, (but I"ll see what I can do.) She watched Kando, who seemed to be trying to drink in MacDonald"s words with senses other than his ears. (Is your cousin, the Mulzar, among the few telepaths here?)
(No more than any other good manipulator of people,) Nadhari replied, with a bite to her thoughts.
"That was the original arrangement, yes," Kando said in answer to Captain MacDonald"s comment. "But I think there are times - such as the ones we now find ourselves enduring-when change is mandated. I know Dsu agrees with me on this."
Little Sister Miw-Sher made a small, strangled noise and looked with wild hope into Captain MacDonald"s face and back to Kando"s. The poor child seemed desperate to say something and at the same time, desperate to flee the hall.
"What"s the matter, honey?" Captain MacDonald asked her. "Cat got your tongue?"
Acorna got the feeling that Kando was not happy to have the captain"s attention diverted from himself, but the priest smiled and said, "You may ask what you are longing to ask him, Miw-Sher."
The girl gulped. "Please, sir, do you know how to doctor animals? That is, do you know anything about how to cure cats?"
"Something is wrong with the sacred cats?" Nadhari asked sharply.
The girl suddenly looked startled and guilty. Kando consciously a.s.sumed an expression of concern, and Brother Bulaybub looked down at his lap as if to dissociate himself from the proceedings.
"Yes, ma"am," the girl replied quickly, before her permission to speak was rescinded. "The cats under my care have been sick and dying for over a week now. We have only four left and they have not taken nourishment for at least two days. They may well be~be~"
"Calm yourself, little sister," Bulaybub instructed her.
"... gone when we return." The young girl valiantly swallowed her tears.
"She is such a tenderhearted child," Kando said, reaching across Bulaybub to stroke the girl"s cheek with a long brown finger. "So concerned for her charges."
"As she should be," Nadhari said. "This is terrible news." She turned to look imploringly at Acorna. Sensing a chance of rescue, Miw-Sher stopped wiping her eyes and shrinking miserably into herself and turned her face toward Acorna as well.
Kando said, "Dear Nadhari, for one who has lived so long away from those who cherish her, you are such a traditionalist. I almost feel that it is the plight of our poor p.u.s.s.es that has brought you back to us-as if they reached out over the vastness of s.p.a.ce to draw you toward them, to comfort them as they diminish and die."
His face bore tender sympathy as he looked at her, and in a possessive aside said to the others, "She is such a devout girl. She"s always been like that."
The food arrived.
"Oh, yeah, very pious," Becker agreed, pulling a slab of meat Acorna could have sworn was previously dehydrated, onto his plate. "Righteous, even."
He filled his dish with other foods that were also likely to have been reconst.i.tuted, which Acorna thought was odd fare to serve high-ranking guests, especially on a planet that prided it self on its agricultural products. It implied serious problems - problems that n.o.body here had touched upon yet. But Becker seemed so fascinated with the byplay between Nadhari and her cousin that the bad news-both the sickness being discussed and the disaster implied by the food before them - had not registered with him.
Acorna, however, was alarmed. "A plague, you say, sir? Your wonderful felines, of whom Nadhari has told me so much, are actually dying? But that is terrible!"
Captain MacDonald was the one who responded. "It"s a darn shame, and I can tell this poor little girl is broken-hearted about her kitties. But it"s even worse than that. Those fellas who inspected my ship tell me it"s not just her p.u.s.s.ycats involved. They say a lot of the animals here have got the same disease." His cheery expression and bantering tone were gone. His head was lowered, as in deep thought - or remembrance - and his shoulders slumped. He appeared to be personally stricken somehow by the misfortune of the Makahomians.
He wasn"t the only one. Panic hit Acorna, too, at the thought of RK catching the disease. Acorna launched a mental search for her friend. She received a clear image of RK walking though the city. The little rascal had probably left the Condor as soon as the robolift was freed, even before the inspection team had arrived.
(RK, since you are off the ship, you should know that there is some sort of contagious illness among your kind,) she told the cat in direct thought-speak, which she had never quite used with him before. (You should return to the ship to avoid catching it.)
She was more surprised than she should have been to receive an immediate answer in clear Standard thought-forms expressed with a slight feline accent and a strong dose of feline imperious-ness. (I know. Why do you think I brought us here? Would you and my other people please stop eating and get to work? My fellow holy cats are in sad shape. I could hear them mewling their hearts out clear back on Vhiliinyar. I"m trying to calm them down, telling them you"re coming and you"ll help them, so please don"t make me look bad here, Acorna.)
She didn"t bother asking why the cat chose now to communicate directly with her. She and RK had been in peril as bad or worse than this together before, and she"d never gotten anything like this from him. But like all cats, RK did things his own way and in his own time. Perhaps the cat"s sudden communicativeness had to do with him being on his world of origin. Or perhaps he was just getting around to experimenting with thought-speak because he felt like it. Or maybe RK had finally found something he considered to be worth talking to her about. Reading minds didn"t actually help one understand cats any more than it helped one understand any other life form. And cats - certainly RK, at least - could be rather coy about providing context for their decisions and thoughts. (Since you brought us here, RK, you know the dangers better than we do. Don"t you allow yourself to be seen, if you can avoid it. And don"t get near enough to the sick ones to catch the disease, please. We all love you.)
(I know you do. That"s why I"m not afraid. If I catch it, you"ll just heal me again, right? Now, please, will you all stop jabbering and get to work?)
"Amba.s.sador, I believe you wished to ask something of Mulzar Edu?" Macostut said. His tone, which was very polite but quite insistent, indicated that he had given her previous cues that she"d been too preoccupied to hear while she"d been communicating with RK.
"Oh, yes. Yes, I did. But your new revelation about the disease has distracted me, I"m afraid," she said, making eye contact with the Kando. "Somehow I suppose I had the idea the Temple cats were immortal." She had not, but thought such a naive comment might elicit more information.
Edu Kando laughed and smiled at Nadhari. "Did my cousin tell you that?"
"Why, no. I just a.s.sumed from the ancient myths that I have heard concerning them that they must be."
"Well, pampered as they are with the best of everything, they live lives longer than many who walk on two legs, but then, our - shall I say lifestyle?-here on Makahomia isn"t always conducive to longevity. Our oldest cats until recently were eighty and seventy-five years old."
"So very young," Acorna murmured.
"Young?" Edu Kando asked. Miw-Sher was looking down at her plate, moving the food around without interest or appet.i.te. Bulaybub also pretended extreme interest in his food.
"My people live quite a long time, into a very healthy old age, sir," she said. She could tell that despite their kinship, Nadhari did not care for Edu. Acorna knew her friend must have a very good reason for her dislike of her cousin. Fighting was Nadhari"s business. She did not waste her hostility carelessly.
"Oh? Do they?"
"Yes, mainly because my people possess great knowledge of medicine and healing. Like most of my kind, I have some skill at such things. I would be happy to look at your cats and other animals and see what I can do for them. I will attend to it, with your permission, as soon as possible. The matter I mentioned upon our arrival that I wished to inquire about involves research and interviews with a number of your priests, I believe. At the moment, I am too distressed about the ill health of your legendary cats and the other creatures to conduct that other business. Perhaps, with your permission, we can discuss it later. I will not be able to rest until I have seen if I can help the stricken among your charges. I hope that will not present a problem?" She remembered to smile charmingly at Dsu Macostut. "I understand the Federation"s permission is necessary. I trust under the circ.u.mstances..."
"There are forms to be filled out," Macostut began.