The Sontaran"s thin lips drew back in a snarl, revealing jagged yellow fangs.
"I advise you to find out what happened without delay, Commander. If you have killed the one we seek, it will go hard with you. The Supremo wants this person found. His orders are not lightly disobeyed."
"When I captured the guerrillas I had no knowledge of your interest in them, or their leader," said Commandant Nadir. "It was my duty to find them and destroy them. If you"d arrived a few hours later, they"d all have been executed."
"You will oblige me by making immediate enquiries," said the Sontaran.
"Very well. What is the name of this human you seek?" The Sontaran consulted a bulky wrist-com unit.
"Per pug illiam," he said, stumbling over the unfamiliar syllables. "Perpugilliam Brown."
The Draconian shuddered. "Such a cacophony of dissonant syllables. Human nomenclature is indeed strange and barbaric."
The Commandant shrugged. "Perpugilliam Brown?" he repeated. "The name means nothing to me." Followed by his staff officers, he turned towards the door. "I"ll see what I can find out about the fate of those guerrillas."
The Sontaran glanced again at the wrist-com. "There is a further note. The name is often shortened to "Peri"."
The Commandant swung round. "Peri? That was the name of the leader of the guerrillas."
Peri pushed open the door and came into the room.
"Somebody mention my name?"
Chapter Five.
Reunion It was, thought Peri, quite an entrance.
The Sontaran and the Draconian stared at her in utter amazement.
The Commandant and his officers stared too.
With grunts of surprise, the Ogron guards raised their blasters, covering her.
Ignoring them, Peri went and stood before the desk, where she had stood with her two companions before. It seemed a very long time ago.
"What are you doing here?" demanded the Draconian. "Who are you?"
"Perpugilliam Brown Peri. The one your Supremo apparently wants found."
"Nonsense," snapped the Sontaran. He swung round on the Draconian. "This cannot be the one we seek."
"Indeed? Why not?"
"This specimen is a human female. The hair is finer, the thorax of a different construction "
"So?" interrupted the Draconian. "You merely a.s.sume that the person we seek is male. It is impossible to tell from the barbarous human name."
"The Peri we seek is a famous guerrilla leader. No female "
The Draconian sighed. "I admit it could not happen on Draconia. Nor, since your species has no females, could it occur on Sontara. But the customs of the humans are as mystifying as their names, and it is quite possible "
Peri interrupted the wrangle. "I tell you I"m Perpugilliam Brown." She nodded towards the Commandant. "Ask him!"
"Well?" asked the Draconian. "Can you confirm this claim?"
The Commandant shrugged. "I know only that the leader of the guerrilla band was called Peri and the two other captured guerrillas acknowledged this one as their leader."
"Let them be found and interrogated," said the Sontaran.
"They"re both dead." said Peri briefly. "Why does this Supremo of yours want to see me anyway?"
The Sontaran looked shocked. "We do not question his orders, we obey them." He gave the Draconian a baffled look.
"What must we do, High Commander Aril?"
The Draconian rose gracefully. "I shall take the human female to the Supremo, Battle-Major Streg. He will decide. You will remain and see to the securing of the base." He turned to Peri and said diffidently, "There are signs of bruising on your auricular appendage. Somebody struck you?"
"Just a clip round the ear, nothing serious."
"It appears that you are of some concern to the Supremo. If you have been mistreated, he will be displeased." He pointed a long finger at the Commandant. "Was this man responsible? Do you wish him executed?"
"No, he treated me pretty well. He was going to shoot me, mind you, but only in the line of duty. Lieutenant Hakon, one of his officers, did the damage."
The Draconian nodded to the Sontaran. "Find this Lieutenant Hakon and shoot him."
"Immediately, High Commander."
"No need," said Peri. "I attended to the matter myself."
"Very well. If you will be kind enough to accompany me, Lady Peri? Arrange transport, Battle-Major. Staff-shuttle, Priority One."
Leaving Streg barking orders into his wrist-com, he ushered Peri from the room.
Outside the main entrance, a gleaming, silver sphere awaited them, its side emblazoned with a giant golden "A". Ogron sentries saluted as the Draconian escorted Peri up the ramp.
She was shown into a luxuriously furnished circular cabin, with one long window running around it.
"Please be seated, Lady Peri," said the Draconian, and Peri sank gratefully into the cushioned bench beneath the windows.
He bowed. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am High Commander Aril of the Alliance Battle Fleet. You permit me to be seated?"
Peri nodded and he sank gracefully down beside her.
The s.p.a.cecraft took off, so smoothly that it was scarcely noticeable.
"May I offer you refreshment?"
He touched a hidden control and a uniformed steward appeared with a silver tray. He pulled a table from the wall between Peri and Aril, placed the tray upon it, bowed and disappeared.
The tray held a decanter, crystal goblets and a variety of snacks biscuits, pastries, preserved meats and fishes, cheeses and other things Peri didn"t recognise.
Aril poured wine for them both. It was cool and white, faintly lemony. Peri drained her gla.s.s, realising she was both thirsty and starving.
She surveyed the tray and Aril offered her a platter of what looked like crystallised gra.s.shoppers.
"Try these, my lady. A delicacy from my own planet."
"Later perhaps. I think I"ll start with a biscuit and some of that cheese."
Aril served her and helped himself to a platter of gra.s.shoppers.
Peri ate and drank, trying not to look too greedy. When she"d finished, she leant wearily against the cushions.
It had been a long and eventful night, and the constant sudden changes in her status guerrilla, condemned prisoner and now, it seemed, some kind of VIP had left her tired and confused.
She looked out of the window and saw the darkened countryside below her. Here and there was the glow of burning buildings and the flash of laser-cannon.
"The planet will soon be in our hands," said Aril.
"You"re very confident."
"The Supremo himself drew up the a.s.sault plans. He does not fail. More wine, my lady?" He refilled her goblet.
"What"s all this my lady stuff?" said Peri. "Why am I suddenly so important?"
Aril looked surprised. "It appears that you are of great concern to the Supremo, my lady. He has made constant efforts to find you. Anything that concerns our great leader is of supreme importance to us all."
He must be some leader, thought Peri sleepily. Someone who could weld Draconians, Sontarans and Ogrons into a fighting force and ruthlessly recapture an occupied planet in a single night. Someone so impressive that a senior Draconian officer hurried to fulfil his every whim, so powerful that the merest hint of his interest invested her with a kind of n.o.bility.
A vision formed in her mind of a military giant, a tall, square-jawed superman, with bristling brows and an impressive military moustache.
She drifted into sleep...
Peri awoke from a nightmare in which she kept killing Lieutenant Hakon and he refused to die to find High Commander Aril deferentially tapping her shoulder.
"We have arrived, my lady."
Peri yawned and stretched and rubbed her eyes. She looked out of the window and gasped. They were approaching the biggest s.p.a.ceship she had ever seen, a towering castle of steel bristling with weaponry and signal antennae.
"The flagship of the Alliance Battle Fleet," said Aril proudly.
"It is the Supremo"s personal transport."
"It"s a nice little runabout," said Peri, and Aril looked at her in blank incomprehension.
The little s.p.a.cecraft headed straight for the huge gleaming tower. A docking slot opened and they slid smoothly inside.
They left the s.p.a.cecraft for an enormous hangar where technicians scurried to and fro, rose endlessly in a lift, and emerged into a broad carpeted corridor that might have been part of some luxury hotel. A handsome young officer in a white and gold dress uniform was waiting to greet them. He came to attention and saluted it was the flat hand, palm-outward army salute Peri remembered from Earth.
Aril returned the salute. "This is Ensign Vidal, one of the Supremo"s aides. I leave you in his capable hands. I must return to my duties."
Peri realised she was going to miss Aril.
She hadn"t, she realised, encountered much kindness recently. Maybe that"s why she felt some kind of bond with Aril.
"Thank you for everything," she said. "You"ve been very kind."
Aril bowed formally. "My life at your command." He turned and strode away.
Peri looked at Ensign Vidal. "All right, then. Take me to your leader."
Ensign Vidal looked shocked. "The Supremo is presently in conference. He will see you when he is at liberty."
"When will that be?"
"When the Supremo decides. Probably not for some while."
He looked at her disapprovingly. "No doubt you would like to use the time available to make yourself more presentable."
It was some time since Peri had given much thought to her appearance, and she suddenly realised how she must look. Thin or at least thinner than she had been brown-skinned, and grimy. Arms and legs scarred with snake and insect bites.
Clothes, bush shirt, safari jacket and shorts, all tattered and worn. Hair, a tangled mop.
"Guerrilla chic," she thought wryly. "Perhaps the look will catch on."
She stared resentfully at the immaculate young officer. "I"m afraid these are all the clothes I have. Jungle warfare doesn"t leave much time for fashion. A bath might help. I clean up quite nicely."
"Of course. If you will follow me?"
He led her along the corridor, turned off into a smaller one and opened a door to reveal a magnificently furnished sitting room. Silk drapes, thick carpets, deep soft chairs and ornamental tables gave it an air of oriental luxury. An open door revealed a bedroom with canopied bed, furnished in a similarly opulent style.
"This is the Supremo"s guest suite," said Vidal. He led her to the door of the bedroom, indicating a further door beyond.
"There is a bathroom and all the usual conveniences," he said, blushing a little. "The wardrobes and dressing-tables contain a selection of garments."