"If that's poetry, it's execrable."

"No, as a matter of fact, it's Whalen."

"Buffon. I thought you were the one afraid of being soup."

"I still am," he whispered tightly. "So I make jokes. So get your ass moving and I'll follow quietly."

"I could use a little more information first."

"Why don't you ask our somnolent companion here." Mal nudged the sleeping guard, who didn't stir.

"You're the one who did the map plotting on the creature. Didn't you pinpoint it?"

"At that range? With a library 'puter?"

The first moon was climbing rapidly. In a while the second would be in the sky, brightening the island considerably. Kitten turned and scanned the area again. A few lights glimmered in buildings half-glimpsed through thick vegetation. Nothing moved but branches.

"I wouldn't bet it was close inshore. It can't be all that enormous-the island certainly isn't. I'd think the AAnn would have noticed it if it were close in."

"Maybe we're not on top of it, but it is close to shore. Could be the AAnn are myopic from so much moisture. My calculations weren't that far off."

"Still, if we can spot it," added Porsupah, "you'd think the AAnn would have."

"Yes, you would," said Kitten thoughtfully. "Still, they've no reason to suspect its presence, as we have."

"Could be it has a way of evading alarms similar to the one we tripped coming in," said Mal. "Why it would want to hang around a populated, armed area like this one beats me, though."

"Maybe to study," replied Kitten, shuddering slightly.

"Too many imponderables," chipped in Porsupah. "Let's circle the island. We might not spot the thing itself, but we'll be looking for signs of its presence, whereas the AAnn wouldn't be. If you two just want to argue about it, go back to the raft."

The two humans said nothing. They followed the small alien at a comfortable trot up the pebbled beach.

Neither of the two humans could still believe that the AAnn hadn't spotted the creature. But then it was hard to believe the creature, too.

They'd been jogging along the curving shoreline for perhaps five minutes when Porsupah halted them. He was staring out to sea.

"Well, what have you spotted? At this point I'm not too choosy," Mal said. They'd already had to put out two more AAnn and avoid or inconvenience several elaborate alarm systems. At this rate they'd never cover a tenth of the island's perimeter. Assuming they weren't shot or blown ship-high first. But Kitten and Porsupah seemed to recognize the concealed triggers as though they'd set them themselves.

Mal hadn't noticed a one.

The question of what such an extensive network of alarms was doing in a supposedly innocuous area was another problem that defied logic.

What they needed, dammit, was a few answers!

Porsupah had knelt and was examining the sand. He took up a small pawful, rubbed the grains between his fingers, sniffed at it. Abruptly he turned and walked back about ten meters along their route. He performed a similar ritual there, then returned. To their questioning stares he replied, "This section of beach and forest wasn't arranged by nature. Not only is the sand different taken up from a respectable depth, I think-but the rocks and overall landscape have an unnatural feel to them that I can't explain in terranglo or symbospeech. Everything is just a little bit cockeyed."

Mal took a long look at the sloping beach, the thick semi-jungle. "I can't detect anything out of the ordinary."

"Nor I," said Kitten, the landscape glowing eerily in her goggles. "But I believe you, Pors."

"There is only one structure visible, too." The Tolian pointed.

A long, low building, set back in the trees. It ran perpendicular to the beach and was a little over a story high. As they walked towards the windowless structure, Mal noticed that an occasional tree -not all, by any means- was tilted at an angle that deviated sufficiently from the norm to be noticeable. If you happened to be looking for such things. There was no question about it now. This section of Replerian real estate had been rebuilt, delicately rebuilt, to suit some specific purpose. Moreover, it had been done recently, according to Pors. This suggested hurry, which in turn suggested a need for secrecy. And it had been rearranged to look like it hadn't been rearranged, which hinted at a deal more.

The building proved to be unguarded. It was painted, almost enameled, a dark gray-green. A dull roaring sound emanated from somewhere inside. Kitten put a hand against the wall. It vibrated slightly.

"Look for a door," Porsupah suggested. "I'm going to check something else."

The Tolian disappeared into the jungled darkness. The door turned up almost immediately, recessed in the side they were on.

Interesting," murmured Mal. He was staring at the AAnn lettering on the airlock-type portal. "It says-"

"I can read AAnnish," said Kitten.

Porsupah returned a moment later, puffing out short, whistling breaths.

"Where've you been?" asked Kitten.

"Up a tree. Whoof! I wanted a quick look at the top of this thing, and we didn't truck along a ladder."

"See anything?" asked Mal.

"The building runs I couldn't say how far back into these trees. Top of it is all ventilators. Big ones. You can see the fans from high enough. They're well screened and you'd never notice them from the air, but this close- no mistaking them."

"Well now, this is interesting," said Kitten, staring at the door. "This inscription here declares solemnly that anyone who enters without six kinds of ultra-top-high security passes is assured ail sorts of lengthy and painful deaths."

"Ultra-secret ventilator complex pulling lots of air someplace, combined with a thoroughly dug up and replanted section of beach and forest. Need one say more?" the Tolian announced.

Kitten was already examining the lock.

"It doesn't take an expert to tell this whole setup was put together recently," said Mal. He ran a hand over the gleaming guard rail. "Practically factory fresh."

They'd been descending helical steps for what seemed a small part of a year. They'd found an elevator inside but after some discussion had passed it up for fear of not pushing the proper button and setting off hidden alarms. Not to mention the possibility of meeting someone unpleasant at the end of the shaft. The stairwell seemed a better bet. The only place it registered a power drain was in the back of Kitten's legs.

"The construction is solid, but still far from well integrated," Mal continued. "Place was built in a hurry, for sure."

With Porsupah in the lead, they reached the end of the stairway. It terminated in a small room filled with tools and boxes of unknown content. The Tolian started off down a long, dimly lit tunnel. Their goggles made it as bright as the main terminus in Terraport. The direction led out under the sea.

The tunnel opened abruptly onto a brightly lit corridor lined with doors and hastily thrown-together decorative tiles. A surprised shout in a guttural voice sounded just ahead.

Kitten pulled her tiny pistol, dropped to her right knee and fired, all in one motion. The AAnn technic crumpled after taking two steps away from them.

They dragged the still body a few meters into the dark of the tunnel, reemerged cautiously into the light of the corridor.

"We can't keep this up indefinitely, you know," said Mal, trying to look fourteen ways at once. "They're going to start finding these bodies eventually."

"Eventually is not immediately," whispered Kitten, panting slightly. The technic had been heavy for an AAnn. "It will be assumed for some time yet that those we put under are asleep or elsewhere. Hopefully, even if one or two are discovered by accident, no one will think to connect them up until we've departed.

Anyway, the AAnn hate to be out at night and do so only when ordered. They certainly need their beauty sleep."

"It won't be assumed they fell asleep if some casual passerby spots a couple of those darts sticking out of his friend's neck."