"Get up, human. We must go."

For the first time, the human surprised her.

"Where are we going," he asked in perfect Minith.

Now there's a good sign, she thought as she aimed the weapon she had been holding at her side.

"We're taking a ride, human. Now move." She stepped aside and let the male pa.s.s through the door ahead of her. He offered no resistance. "To the left and down the stairs."

Ten minutes later, the human was bundled tightly and lying on the floor of her personal carrier. A thick blanket was draped over his unmoving form.

Rala navigated the vehicle out of the building and headed for her home. As the second most powerful Minith on the planet, she had no problem making her way through the checkpoints and soldiers swarming the area.

She thought about her catch and wondered what he would be able to tell her of Earth and the human forces that had landed on Waa. Mostly, she hoped he could tell her about the Minith forces that had been posted to Earth. She hoped he could tell her about Treel.

Her ears twitched in antic.i.p.ation.

CHAPTER 11.

When they reached their destination, Gee was pulled roughly from the back of the carrier. He dropped the half-meter to the ground with a rough jolt, and was dragged by his bound feet up a short flight set of-thankfully-padded steps.

The female Minith dragging him-the first female alien he had ever seen-did not seem to care if he was injured or uncomfortable. He was just a package being delivered. Gee had the feeling that for her, he was not worthy of consideration or empathy. Then again, the Minith soldiers he had lived among for so many years had never displayed those traits, so why should he expect anything different from the opposite s.e.x?

He wanted to ask her where she was taking him, but the cloth she had shoved into his mouth prevented more than the occasional grunt. And grunt he did whenever she turned a corner and his head slapped against a wall. After the third time, he started watching for the corners and moved his head away from the incidental bashings. The female saw him take evasive action and smiled in that peculiar way that the Minith smile. The corners of her ugly green snout turned slightly downward, and the tips of her ears twitched just a bit. A laugh was the same, but the ears twitched faster-and when they found something to really laugh at, the tips literally vibrated.

Most humans will never know that, he thought. Most humans never get close enough to these things to actually see them laugh-much less recognize it as a laugh. It wasn't knowledge he relished having. The only thing it represented was that he had lived with the Minith for far too many years. In some respects, Gee felt as though he understood the aliens more than his own people.

The female-a slightly darker shade of green than the males-dragged him out a door. Detecting a change in lighting, the engineer raised his head and quietly surveyed his surroundings. They had entered an inner courtyard. It was a ten-meter square area, surrounded by four walls. Above, there was no roof, only sky; below them, the floor seemed to be the dirt surface of Waa. A dozen or more shiny metallic stools rose from the ground at random intervals.

Weaving in and out between the metal stools, two miniature alien warriors were attacking each other with long poles. The sounds of their breathing, along with the slaps, whips, and cracks as the poles flashed and connected, filled the courtyard.

Gee realized that the two aliens were actually Minith children when the female adult stopped pulling him. They were the pale green shade that designated them as males. She dropped his feet, gave him a light kick, and announced their presence.

"Arok. Teng."

The two fighters ceased their sparring at once and turned toward her voice. The larger of the two bowed. The smaller started to bow, but saw Gee and seemed to forget what he was doing. Only a moment after hesitating, he received a slap of pole from the larger child for his negligence.

"Bow, stupid."

The smaller boy did not seem to feel the a.s.sault, or hear the order. Instead, he continued to stare. A slight grunt from the female, however, quickly brought him back to reality. He completed the bow, then pointed.

"Mother, is that a human?"

"Yes, Teng. This pitiful creature is a human. Beware what you say, though. He understands our language." The mother gave Gee a sharp kick to the side. "Isn't that correct, human?"

The gag prevented him from speaking, so he grunted a pained reply and nodded.

"What's he doing here, Mother?" the brother called Arok asked. In addition to being slightly larger, he seemed more composed than the smaller of the two young aliens. Gee surmised that he was the older of the two.

"I'm sure the human is wondering the same thing," Mother answered. "Isn't that correct, human?"

She delivered another kick to Gee's already-bruised ribs for emphasis.

Grant groaned upon waking.

His first thought was pain. His head pounded and the wound in his side throbbed wickedly with each beat of his heart. Then he remembered-and felt the greatest pain he had ever felt. It was the anguish of knowing that he had failed.

He had failed to lead his soldiers well.

He had failed to complete their mission.

He had failed to protect his wife, his child, and the rest of the people of Earth.

His spirit, emotions, and mind were crushed by the unbearable weight and pain of his failures.

Not yet ready to open his eyes, he reached out with his other senses to gauge his surroundings. He was lying on a padded surface. It was comfortable, and if not for the pain and memories, he would have been content to keep sleeping-to ignore the reality for a while longer.

But he could not ignore his new reality, despite how much it hurt. He was responsible and he forced himself to face that truth, own up to it. Anything less would be to disrespect those he had let down.

A distant hum of machinery, not unlike the hum of a mothership, reached into his thoughts and brought him back to full consciousness. The hum was interspersed with an occasional, faraway bang or clank. Much closer, he recognized the unmistakable wheeze-and-saw of someone snoring.

The last thing he remembered was being carried like a child as the group wound their way down stairways, ramps, and steps. Their pa.s.sage from the surface became a dizzying maze of turns, dark pa.s.sageways, and hidden doors that carried them deeper and deeper beneath the surface of Waa.

The Telgorans had never been to Waa. They could not have known the pathways to take. As such, it was obvious they had been receiving mental directions from the planet's native inhabitants.

Grant finally opened his eyes. He was lying on a padded platform in a dimly lit room. Slumped against a wall to his left, Sergeant Conway slept noisily. It wasn't a sleep of peace and contentment. Her weapon was cradled across her body and Grant knew instinctively that she had fallen asleep while watching over him. He wished he deserved the loyalty and respect that her actions revealed, but knew he did not.

Ignoring the beseeching complaints from his body, the wounded soldier slowly worked himself into a seated position and swung his legs off the platform. The move caused his vision to blur and his head to swim. He clung tightly to the platform and fought against the wooziness that insisted on pulling him from his tentative perch. After several seconds of touch and go, his head finally stopped swimming. For the first time ever, Grant thanked Tane for scientifically increasing his tolerance for pain. Without the enhancement, he knew he would never have raised himself from his back.

Grant took a deep breath and debated his next move. Except for a single doorway, the platform upon which he sat, and Conway's slumped, snoring form, the room was empty.

"Yo. Conway," he whispered. The words felt like sandpaper sc.r.a.ping against his vocal chords. He cleared his throat, tried to swallow, then tried again.

"Becka."

The sergeant stirred, opened her eyes, and glanced nervously around the room. Grant did not know where she had been inside her dreams, but he watched knowingly as she quickly came back to the reality of the here and now. It would be no more pleasant for her than it had been for him.

Failure.

Mostly his, but she had to feel some of it as well. Her squad had not made it out alive. She had. That always leaves a scar-sometimes you can see it, other times you can't.

Their eyes met, but neither spoke of what they felt. There might be time for that later, and maybe not. Right now, Grant just wanted to know what the h.e.l.l was going on.

"Where are we, Conway?"

"We're with the Waa, General," she replied, confirming his prior a.s.sessment. "They patched you up and put you here to recuperate."

"How far down are we?"

"I don't really know... a long way, though. We walked for over an hour through the city's underground. When we left that behind, we continued down for at least another couple of hours."

"Where's t.i.tan? Patahbay?"

"The Telgorans were excited when we finally met up with the Waa. They remind me of a small dog I once had. Every time I left her alone-didn't matter if it was for twenty minutes or twenty days-that dog would p.i.s.s herself in excitement when I got home. They didn't p.i.s.s themselves that I could see, but they were excited like you would not believe. They're still with the Waa somewhere." She waved her hand at the doorway beside her. "t.i.tan is with them."

"All right, then." Grant scooted to the edge of the platform and put his left foot down. He noticed that his boots were missing at the same time he realized he was falling. He hit the ground heavily and banged his already-injured head on the hard surface.

Conway rushed over and turned him onto his back.

"What the h.e.l.l are you thinking?" she asked. "You got shot with a Minith pulse rifle. I don't care how tough you think you are, you're going to be down for a while."

With limited help from Grant, it took the sergeant several minutes to wrestle him back onto the platform.

"I'll get t.i.tan," she announced when he was firmly back in place. "Don't move!"

Grant was in no mood to argue. Instead, he gave himself over to the padded platform and slept.

CHAPTER 12.

Treel was alive!

Without any need to coerce or torture, the human had confirmed her suspicions. Her mate was being held prisoner on Earth.

The question now was what she should do with the knowledge. She would certainly alert Soo that his brother was alive-that went without saying. He could search for Treel and, with luck, bring him home.

But what, if anything, would she tell Truk? She and General Soo had withheld the information that her mate, Soo's brother, had been stationed on Earth. With the governor suspecting Minith involvement in the destruction of their home planet, keeping the knowledge from him had seemed prudent at the time. Now that they all knew humans were to blame for that act, Treel-and his family, by a.s.sociation-were clear of suspicion. But they were not clear of withholding potential important information from their leader. Their initial prudence was now its own implication of disloyalty.

Listening in on Truk's most recent conversations with the Zrthn device, she knew her secrets were safe for the moment-her connection with Treel, her disloyalties, her recent capture of the stray human. All were still hidden. But she would have to think through the possible scenarios before taking further action. Her position was becoming more precarious, and required perfect balance to maintain.

Her first thought was to turn the human over to Truk with the explanation that she had found him holed up like a scared child in her building. It was the truth. However, she could not chance him finding out that she had taken him to her residence for questioning before turning him in-or that a Minith soldier named Treel was still alive on that forsaken planet. A quick records search would connect her and Soo to the soldier.

Every scenario pointed to her needing to kill the human or keep him locked away. Killing him seemed easiest. There would be no chance of the sheep escaping, and less chance of her being found out. But killing him also removed any possibility of using the human in the future. He might prove useful, either against Truk or in support of him. Killing him would reduce her options, and she detested wasting opportunities.

One item in particular made her lean toward stashing the human away. Through her interrogation, she had learned the human was an engineer by trade, and not just any engineer. He had been tutored by none other than Tlak, the most skilled Minith technician ever trained by the Waa. Tlak had been visiting Minith when it was destroyed. His loss had been a serious blow to the race, and a trained replacement-even a human slave-might be beneficial.

She considered reaching out to Oiloo for advice, but quickly dismissed the thought. She would not display any sign of weakness before him. He already held too much power over her activities.

Then she remembered that she would need the alien's help getting her message to Soo. Despite her hesitation to ask him for advice, she could not avoid asking him for the use of his race's superior technology. The faster-than-light communication his people owned was like magic, and it was a magic that could help Treel.

Rala stomped a booted foot and reluctantly opened up a channel to her Zrthn counterpart.

Once the human issue was resolved, her next challenge would be to capture or steal the alien communication technology. There was no reason why she should have to go through an intermediary when communicating with her allies.

When the Minith trade minister finally contacted him, Oiloo already knew about the failed human attack. Thanks to the device she planted, he heard the updates from Truk's generals at the same time as the Minith governor himself received them. Still, he acted surprised and grateful when Rala gave him the news.

He was relieved that the crisis with the humans was resolved without Zrthn intervention. It made dealing with the Circle of Administrators much more palatable when he did not have to explain his actions or debate his positions. Although it irritated him that they had been correct-their involvement had not been needed-he was relieved that the conflict in his section was being resolved quickly. The sooner he could get the agsel flowing, the better.

The Minith female surprised him when she asked for another s.p.a.ce-link to her general's ship. He had not expected that she would need to provide further instructions to the male regarding his duties. Apparently, she had no more faith in General Soo's abilities than he did.

Despite his surprise over the request, it made sense and furthered his goals, so he quickly agreed.

He was not surprised that she withheld the information regarding the human she was holding captive inside her home. He doubted she wanted anyone to know about that.

CHAPTER 13.

Grant struggled to sit up. Then he laughed.

Despite the pain in his body-despite the anguish in heart-he laughed. If the people from his time could see this, they would be struck dumb.

The Waa were little green aliens.

As in, the stereotypical description of little green aliens.

Grant felt like he knew the thin, four-foot-tall, pale-green figure standing next to his bed. The large, slanted, saucer-shaped black orbs that were the alien's eyes merely stared at him, unblinking. The Waa seemed to understand why he found the introduction humorous and, to his credit, calmly waited for the human to pull himself together.

"You're a little green alien," was all Grant could manage, along with an accusatory finger-point. The Waa offered a single, short nod in acknowledgement.

"General, you're starting to worry me," Sergeant Conway stated from her post next to the door. She had made that position hers over the last twelve hours. Apparently, she had appointed herself as Grant's bodyguard sometime during that period. He was strangely okay with that.

Patahbay and t.i.tan were also in the room. t.i.tan had asked Grant if he was well enough to meet one of their hosts, and minutes later, entered with the Telgoran and the little green man.

"You don't understand, Conway," Grant said. "Six hundred years ago, we-we, as in humans-used to have ongoing debates over extraterrestrials. Did they really exist? What did they look like? Did they visit Earth? That kind of thing. We had whackos-crazy people-running around shouting about alien abductions and a.n.a.l probes."

"Okay. So?"

"So? So, one of the most common ideas about what these aliens looked like is standing here now. Alive and kicking. h.e.l.l, there were toys, movie characters-even skateboard logos-that looked almost exactly like this guy here."