"I don't see the point, Commander. Steve said he wasn't going to kill us outright, but we can be sure that whatever he has planned, we won't survive long."

"Where there isss life, there isss hope. A belief of humansss, I think."

"Yes, it's one of our sayings. You can count on a human to have a saying for every occasion. Sometimes they contradict one another. For instance, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.' Yet, we have, 'Out of sight, out of mind'." She rested her arm across her eyes. "Sayings are just clever words strung together. They have no meaning."

"'Out of sssight, out of mind'," he repeated thoughtfully. "It doesss not mention the heart. Sssomeone can be out of the mind for a time, but never out of the heart. Sssss, the two do not contradict at all."

She couldn't find fault in his reasoning.

"If you do not eat, sa'aloh, they may not give you any more food. Now you are not hungry, but if many daysss pa.s.ss, you will wisssh you had the food."

Steve might find it amusing to toy with them by withholding food. She set the lights on three and retrieved the packs. She punched in the code for boiling water then tore off the wrapper.

"It's better if you pour hot water over it and let it set a few minutes."

"Isss it? Our foodpacksss are meant to be eaten dry." She heard him punch in the code. "In a warssship, sss.p.a.ce isss at a premium; in a war, time isss at a premium."

She poured the boiling water over the piles of freeze-dried crumbs in the plastic tray, turning them into a mush-like consistency. Each section had its own flavor, and although the granules didn't resemble what they represented, they satisfied the palate and provided essential protein, vitamins, and minerals a body needed to survive. A human body.

"These are made for human consumption. Can you survive eating nothing but this?"

"Yesss. My needsss are not much different than yoursss."

She smiled at the double entendre. She had to remember his English left something to be desired, so he had no idea what he said or how many ways it could be taken. Nevertheless, the statement brought images to her mind that were best forgotten.

She ate and tossed the empty tray in the waste chute. She heard his waste receptacle flush.

It was time to sleep, time to empty her mind of everything and find refuge in a dreamless void. She crept onto the bunk and put out the lights.

This time she woke with the Commander calling to her.

"Are you awake, sa'aloh?"

"I am now," she mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She glanced at her watch. Another four hours had pa.s.sed. Not long enough. She rolled over and closed her eyes again.

"Wake up, sa'aloh. Too much sssleep isss a.s.ss detrimental a.s.ss not enough."

"What does it matter?" she muttered.

"You are compensssating for lack of physssical ssstimuli." There was a pause. "Sss't!"

Her eyes sprang open. She desperately tried to free her mind of what his "physssical ssstimuli" suggested.

"Boredom," she said through a yawn.

"What, sa'aloh?"

"You mean that I'm bored."

"Yes, sa'aloh. You need to keep your sssensesss sssharpened, to be prepared for what isss to come."

She sat up on the side of the bunk. She loved the sound of the word he called her, sa'aloh, but she was afraid to ask what it meant. It might mean "b.i.t.c.h" or some other disparaging term. If so, she didn't want to know. She preferred to think it meant "dear" or "darling", something mildly affectionate.

"How do you propose I do that, Commander?"

"Talk to me. Pace your cell for the exercissse. Look at sssomething you have never ssseen before."

I want to look at you, she thought. I want to rest my eyes on another living being. His disembodied voice, especially now that it resounded with disapproval, had begun to get on her nerves.

She stood, pain gripping her abdomen. A full bladder screamed for relief. She had to do it, as embarra.s.sing as it was. She dropped her pants and prayed that Steve or one of the others didn't pick this moment to run a bed check. There was no way to escape. If they managed to break free of the cells, there was nowhere to go. The ship scanner would locate them in a heartbeat-by the sound of their heartbeats.

The waste receptacle automatically flushed when she stood. She closed her eyes for those few seconds, then buckled her belt.

J'Qhir waited a few minutes.

"I am going to try again, sa'aloh," he called to her.

"Try what?"

"What I tried before."

"Which is?"

"The imposssible."

"Oh. Is it more possible now?"

"Marginally. The burnsss on my handsss have healed."

"Already?"

"Yesss. Zi ssskin regeneratesss quickly. My ssshoulder doesss not throb now."

"What, exactly, were you trying to do?"

"I attempted to pull one of the bunksss apart. The metal frame-"

"To use as a weapon?"

"No. I will try to ssshort out the forcefield."

"It won't work."

"Perhapsss not. But at lea.s.sst I am doing sssomething."

"A waste of energy."

He clenched his teeth. "At lea.s.sst I am not sssleeping away the few remaining hoursss of my life."

"To each his own."

A pause.

"Another human saying. One for every occasion, remember?"

Another pause.

"Do you think it will work, Commander?"

"I do not know."

J'Qhir braced his left arm against the bunk and yanked as hard as he could. The metal whined and his arm began to throb again. He twisted the tube, and with one last shriek it broke off in his hand.

He rubbed his shoulder. Now, how to do this without electrifying himself again. He couldn't hold the metal with his bare hands. He needed- He looked down. Warmth crept into his face. Gloves. Tucked into his waistband. War gloves, two layers of wool for warmth with a layer of rubber in between. In a war, in the heat of battle, one did not have to worry about electrocution when making emergency repairs. He hissed in exasperation. Why hadn 't he thought of the gloves when he charged the forcefield? His only answer was that his mind was clouded. His thinking had become impaired by- "When are you going to do it?"

"Now." He jerked on the gloves and shoved the tube into the forcefield. Sparks showered him and sizzles, crackles, pops filled his ears. He held it until the tube started to bend and twist, but the electronic whine did not lessen.

He pulled the tube free, and silence settled over them. He tossed the piece of sc.r.a.p, and it landed in a corner with a clank.

"Didn't work, did it?"

"No."

"I'm sorry. I hoped it would."

"I, alssso."

"Any more ideas?"

"Not at the moment."

They ate again, pouring hot water over the granules. Most of the flavors he couldn't identify.

"Mmmm, banana pudding. My favorite. What did you get?"

"I do not know. I am not familiar with the ta.s.sste of human food."

"The little section in the center is dessert. What does it taste like?"

He took a bite. It was difficult to describe unknown flavors. "Sssweet. Rich. Sssatisssfying."

"Must be chocolate cake. I had that last time."

The door to the anteroom opened, and Hanc.o.c.k, Phillips, and a third man walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt lunch, but it's time to go."

J'Qhir tossed the tray in the waste chute and stood, prepared. If there were an instant when he thought Hanc.o.c.k was off-guard, he was ready to take full advantage of it as long as it wouldn't endanger the sa'aloh or himself.

"What are you going to do with us, Steve?" Her voice trembled. Before she had sounded relaxed, but now J'Qhir could hear her fear.

"If I tell you now, it won't be a surprise." Hanc.o.c.k punched keys, and J'Qhir's forcefield shimmered out. "Come on out, Rep. Easy now. Carter, tie him up."

Hanc.o.c.k and Phillips held their weapons on him while Carter locked his hands in plasticuffs behind his back. Then Carter fastened his ankles with only enough slack for a half step. Hanc.o.c.k released the forcefield on the other cell, and Carter secured Leith's hands behind her back also. He knelt to lock her ankles.

"Never mind. She won't run with the Rep hobbled. Besides, where would she go?" He laughed.

All chances were gone, J'Qhir mused. He should have kicked Carter in the teeth while he knelt, but either Hanc.o.c.k or Phillips could have blasted him. That would have left the sa'aloh to face Hanc.o.c.k alone, and that was unacceptable.

If he could not save them both then he would do nothing. As long as he lived he could keep Hanc.o.c.k away from her somehow.

Hanc.o.c.k led them out of the restraining area into the hold. Their steps echoed throughout the empty cavern. The cargo was gone, sold to the Crucians. He had sacrificed the precious jewels for nothing.

The sa'aloh recognized the path they took.

"The lifecraft? Steve, where are you taking us?"

Hanc.o.c.k smiled and kept a tight hold on her arm. He turned them toward another door and laid his palm on the identipad. He pushed them through first.

The small lifecraft took up most of the bay. At a nod from Hanc.o.c.k, Phillips lifted the door. Hanc.o.c.k motioned with his Blaser. "After you."

"Not until you tell us where you're taking us!" the sa'aloh exploded. "I'm tired of all this, Steve. Tell us where we're going."

"I was saving it as a surprise, but since you're so impatient...I'm taking you to Paradise."

Chapter 3.

Paradise, Arreisan Neutral Zone J'Qhir spent the greater part of the ride to the surface of the planet straining against the cuffs and fighting the pain that shot through his shoulder with every move. By the time they entered the planet's atmosphere, he had given up. The cuffs were no looser and his shoulder throbbed mercilessly.

Hanc.o.c.k landed the lifecraft in a gra.s.sy meadow near the foothills of a mountain range. A herd of horned, quadruped creatures scattered in graceful leaps and bounds.

The whine of the engine wound down as the doors rose.

"Welcome to Paradise!" Hanc.o.c.k said and got out. The front seat swiveled aside leaving room for the occupant in the back to emerge-an occupant of smaller stature than J'Qhir. They'd had to remove the cuffs from his ankles for him to fold his large body into the seat. Now, he twisted himself out, fiery pain stabbing his thigh repeatedly.

When he straightened, the sa'aloh was by his side, the delicate arches of hair over her eyes wrinkled. "Are you all right?"

He wanted to smile at her-for encouragement?-but he thought he might scare her. "I am...sssomewhere in the middle."

Her brow smoothed as she smiled her understanding. Her smile did not scare him at all.

"Paradise is in the center of the Arreisan Neutral Zone," Hanc.o.c.k explained. "It's one of the few known Terran-cla.s.s planets not colonized or plundered."