"We don't have any proof that he ever intended to kill the Mrachanis," Thrr-gilag reminded him. "Besides, with Nzz-oonaz on Mra, these two aliens can hardly be that important anymore."

"And as to whatever other damage he might do," Klnn-dawan-a added quietly, "I hardly think the Human-Conquerors would need any help from him. We both saw those Copperhead warriors in action, Thrr-mezaz."

Thrr-gilag looked across the table at her, his tail speeding up as the fresh realization of what might have happened to her came flooding over his tongue. Out in the center of a Human attack...

"Have there been any more explosives attacks?" Sergeant Janovetz asked.

Thrr-gilag glanced at Thrr-mezaz, caught his brother's negative flick of the tongue. "No," he told the prisoner.

"Are the Mrachanis still here?"

"Yes."

"Well, then," the prisoner concluded reasonably, "if we had launched that first attack, don't you think we'd have kept at it until we'd succeeded?"

Thrr-gilag looked at Thrr-mezaz. "Well?"

"He's got a point," Thrr-mezaz conceded. "I've been wondering the same thing myself."

"Then let's let him look at the site," Thrr-gilag urged.

"You just want to see if he'll turn violent," Thrr-mezaz said with a grimace. "But I suppose we ought to try it. It could be a trick, though. You two"—he flicked his tongue at two of the watching Elders—"go back to the command/monitor room and have Second Commander Klnn-vavgi put all perimeter warrior teams on alert. Wait there until all warriors and Elders have reported in, then report back to me here."

"I obey," one of the two Elders said for both of them, and they vanished.

"All right," Thrr-mezaz said, his tone suddenly changing as he glanced around the room. "We've only got a couple of hunbeats before they get back. Let's get to it." He gestured to the two warriors. "Thrr-gilag, Klnn-dawan-a: this is Warrior First Vstii-suuv and Warrior Third Qlaa-nuur; both Aree'rr. Warriors, Thrr-gilag and Klnn-dawan-a have brought us a second cutting from Prr't-zevisti's fsss."

"Thrr-mezaz!" Thrr-gilag hissed, flicking his tongue warningly toward the third Elder, still hovering beneath the table.

"It's all right," the Elder said. "I already know—I'm the Dorcas end of the secure pathway Prr't-casst-a set up between you and Commander Thrr-mezaz."

"We're the only ones on Dorcas in on it, though," Thrr-mezaz warned. "So keep it strictly quiet. Vstii-suuv, have you been able to identify any other routes into Human-Conqueror territory?"

"We've located two other possibilities," Vstii-suuv said. "Neither is an especially appealing climb, but both should get us within the five-thoustride range we need."

"Assuming we can catch the Human-Conquerors sleeping," Qlaa-nuur added. "If not, we're going to have the same problem we ran into last time."

"Last time?" Thrr-gilag asked.

"We got caught halfway up a cliff face," Thrr-mezaz said. "We were able to get down; and then they just let us go."

"Like they did at the underground room?" Klnn-dawan-a asked.

"Very much like that," Thrr-mezaz said. "But we can talk about that later. Vstii-suuv, when do you think we'll be able to try one of these new routes?"

"The sooner the better," the warrior said. "The longer we wait, the higher the chances some Elder will stumble across the cutting and end things for good."

"It would certainly end it for Prr't-zevisti," Thrr-gilag said grimly. "The Dhaa'rr leaders were supposed to run the final rites and ceremony of fire on his fsss organ four fullarcs ago."

"They've changed their minds," the Elder spoke up. "I spoke with Prr't-casst-a last fullarc, and she said that the final rites have been postponed indefinitely."

"Well, that's some good news, anyway," Thrr-gilag said, a small bit of pressure easing from his shoulders. "Thrr-mezaz, who'll be going on this climb?"

"Just the two warriors here and me," Thrr-mezaz told him. "Vstii-suuv, how soon can we leave?"

"I'm not sure," Vstii-suuv said. "The weather patterns for the next two fullarcs are predicted to be very unstable."

And climbing in unfamiliar territory in heavy wind and rain was a good way to wind up in premature Eldership. "We'll aim to leave in two fullarcs, then," Thrr-mezaz decided.

"Maybe the Human-Conquerors will have settled down by then, too," Qlaa-nuur added. "They've been unusually active since the battle."

"Yes," Thrr-mezaz agreed. "In the meantime, Thrr-gilag, I want you and Klnn-dawan-a to go full haste on these studies of yours. If there's some biochemical trick to this species, I want to know it before we try walking into their territory again."

Thrr-gilag looked down at Sergeant Janovetz, tail twitching for a beat before he remembered that the Human didn't understand their language. "We'll do our best," he promised his brother.

The other two Elders returned. "All perimeter warriors are ready, Commander," one reported. "As are all ground defenses."

"Go alert the warriors outside that we're bringing the prisoner out," Thrr-mezaz ordered them, gesturing to the two warriors to unstrap the prisoner from the table. "All right, my brother. Tell your test subject to put on his new obedience suit, and we'll all go for a little stroll."

" 'We weren't given details of the debate between Warrior Command and the Overclan Prime, Speaker,' " the Elder repeated Searcher Gll-borgiv's words. " 'But the indications are that it was short.' "

Speaker Cvv-panav shifted position on his couch. "And what indications are those?" he asked.

The Elder nodded and vanished. "You didn't really expect them to have a long discussion, did you?" the other Zhirrzh in the room asked from his lazy sprawl on the Speaker's visitor's couch.

"Not if the Mrachanis are right about CIRCE already being assembled," Cvv-panav said grimly. "That would scare Warrior Command's collective tongue limp."

"I don't doubt it," the other said. "Personally, I think the Mrachanis are lying."

"Really," the Speaker said, eyeing him thoughtfully. In the five cyclics since he'd taken the young warrior into his private service, Mnov-korthe had been one of his best covert operatives, carrying out a variety of quiet jobs that had advanced the Speaker's power and the prestige of the entire Dhaa'rr clan. His execution of those jobs had generally been flawless, his instincts and hunches equally so. "What makes you say that?"

The Elder returned before Mnov-korthe could answer. " 'The fact that they apparently made the decision to accept the Mrach offer during our walk from the conference room back to the Closed Mouth,' " he said. " 'We held a complete discussion aboard ship for the benefit of any listeners, but it was clear from the start that Supreme Warrior Commander Prm-jevev had already made up his mind.' "

"What's going to happen now at your end?" Cvv-panav asked.

The Elder nodded and vanished. "You were saying?" the Speaker prompted, looking back at Mnov-korthe.

"I've been reading about the attack by the Human-Conqueror ground warriors on Dorcas two fullarcs ago," the warrior said, gesturing to his reader. "Their commander risked both of his Copperhead warcraft in order to chase the Zhirrzh warriors away from an underground chamber."

"Meaning?" Cvv-panav prompted.

Mnov-korthe shrugged. "Meaning there's something in there the Human-Conquerors didn't want Commander Thrr-mezaz's warriors to have."

Cvv-panav slid his tongue tip gently across the inside of his mouth. "Such as, for example, a CIRCE component?"

Mnov-korthe shrugged again. "Could be."

The Elder returned. " 'For now, we're effectively trapped here on Mra. The Overclan Prime is going to send a shipment of supplies to one of the Mrach mining worlds, where it'll be repacked into a Mrach spacecraft for transport here. Valloittaja doesn't want to have Zhirrzh ships coming to any of the main Mrach worlds.' "