Cvv-panav smiled tightly. The Zhirrzh mission itself was hardly trapped; this supply-shipment technique could just as easily be run in reverse to send them all back home to Oaccanv. But of course neither side was likely to suggest that as a course of action. For Warrior Command, abandoning the Closed Mouth on Mra would be completely unacceptable; for the Mrachanis, letting potential hostages depart before any alliance was officially established would probably be equally so. "A wise move on Valloittaja's part," he said to the Elder. "What are you learning about the Mrachanis themselves?"

" 'Not as much as I'd hoped to. There's information here for us to read, but of course the number of actual Mrachanis we can speak to is very limited. I hope that after all this is over, we'll be able to examine the culture more closely.' "

"Just be sure to keep your mind on the task at hand," Cvv-panav said, fighting to keep his voice civil. He'd been warned that Gll-borgiv was young and inexperienced, with the stereotypical searcher's infuriating tendency to lose track of what was truly important. "You're there to learn about CIRCE and the Human-Conquerors and to keep me informed. That's all. Understand?"

The Elder nodded and vanished. "He's a fool," Mnov-korthe suggested, looking up from his reader again. "Didn't the clan have anyone more competent who could have been put in this group?"

"There were several," the Speaker said, flicking his tongue contemptuously. "Unfortunately, there was no one more mindlessly loyal to the Dhaa'rr clan. Certainly no one who would have been willing to ignore the Overclan Prime's orders and deliver these private briefings to me."

Across the room the door slid open, and Mnov-korthe's brother, Mnov-dornt, stepped into the room. "We've got confirmation, Speaker Cvv-panav. There was definitely—"

"Just a beat," Cvv-panav cut him off. The Elder would be back any beat now....

The Elder reappeared. " 'I understand, Speaker Cvv-panav,' " the answer came, the tone appropriately humble. " 'I won't let you or the Dhaa'rr clan down.' "

"See that you don't," Cvv-panav said. "Farewell." He nodded to the Elder. "Deliver that, then close the pathway."

"I obey, Speaker Cvv-panav," the Elder said.

He disappeared again. "What's been confirmed?" Cvv-panav asked, looking over at Mnov-dornt.

"Your hunch," Mnov-dornt told him. "Prr't-zevisti's fsss organ has indeed been tampered with."

"Well, well," Cvv-panav said. "How interesting. So a second cutting has been taken?"

"In a manner of speaking," Mnov-dornt said, pulling some documents from his waist pouch as he crossed the room. "Someone apparently used a sampling needle to withdraw some of the semiliquid tissue from the interior of the fsss. The healers estimate the equivalent of a five-thoustride cutting was taken."

"Ingenious," the Speaker murmured, taking the papers and glancing over them. "Will it work?"

"No one knows," Mnov-dornt said. "Apparently, no one's ever tried this before."

"I'm not surprised," Cvv-panav growled. "Elders hate having experiments done on their fsss organs. So Searcher Thrr-gilag has obtained the extra cutting his brother, Commander Thrr-mezaz, wanted. And obtained it with the help of a Dhaa'rr traitor."

"There's no hard evidence that Thrr-gilag and Klnn-dawan-a were the ones who took the sample," Mnov-dornt cautioned. "In fact, the protectors who were with them at the shrine say—"

"I don't need any hard evidence," Cvv-panav snapped, thrusting the documents back into his hand. "And I don't care what those simple-minded Prr protectors say. The Kee'rr and his accomplice were the ones, all right. And I'm going to make sure they pay dearly for it."

"Not without proof you aren't," Mnov-korthe spoke up from his couch. "Sorry, Speaker, but you're going to need more than just a mutilated fsss organ and a possibly coincidental visit to the Prr-family shrine by the accused."

"I don't need any amateur legal advice, thank you," Cvv-panav said icily. "Where's Prr't-zevisti's fsss now?"

"The Prr-family leaders are holding it," Mnov-dornt said. "I told them to make it look as if it was Prr't-casst-a's petition that was holding up the final rites."

"Have them continue holding on to it," Cvv-panav said. "No, on second thought, have it delivered to me. I think I'll take it back to Oaccanv and drop it on the Overclan Prime's desk. His reaction should be interesting."

Still, he had to concede that Mnov-korthe was right. The indicators were tantalizing, but he would need evidence in order to hammer Thrr-gilag the way he wanted to.

Fortunately, there was a simple way to get that evidence. "In the meantime," he told them, "you two are going to take a trip to Dorcas."

The brothers exchanged glances. "Do you think that's wise, Speaker?" Mnov-korthe asked. "Our faces may be a little too recognizable right now."

"By whom?" Cvv-panav retorted. "The Prime is hardly going to be giving regular latearc showings of that film he took of you delivering Thrr-pifix-a's stolen fsss organ to her."

"The Overclan warriors who recorded the film would recognize us," Mnov-korthe pointed out.

"None of whom will be on Dorcas," Cvv-panav reminded him. "Or on the Dhaa'rr ship that takes you there; or at the Dhaa'rr landing field you'll be leaving Dharanv from."

"What if Thrr-pifix-a described us to her son?" Mnov-korthe persisted.

"Not a chance," Cvv-panav said, flicking his tongue in a contemptuous negative. "An old female who saw you once? Not a chance. You could walk up to Thrr-gilag and tell him you know his mother, and he still wouldn't catch on as to who you are."

The brothers exchanged another glance. "I'm sure it'll be fine," Mnov-dornt said. "Shall we take one of your flash-ships?"

"I'd prefer you be a little more inconspicuous if possible," the Speaker said, calling up spaceflight data on his reader. "There's a supply ship called the Willing Servant heading out for Dorcas in three tentharcs from the Icetongue landing field. Can you get there in time?"

"No problem," Mnov-korthe assured him, turning off his reader and getting up from the couch. "Our transport's right outside. What exactly do you want us to do on Dorcas?"

"I want you to find that illegal fsss cutting," the Speaker told him. "And with it, evidence that will implicate Thrr-gilag and his brother."

"Commander Thrr-mezaz?" Mnov-korthe said. "That might be a bit difficult."

"I'll make sure it won't be," Cvv-panav promised grimly. "I'll have a very special document for you before you leave."

"And if the evidence you want doesn't exist?"

Cvv-panav flicked his tongue. "In that case," he said softly, "you will, of course, create it."

The Human-Conqueror prisoner stood in front of the hole in the storehouse, his curled-up hands resting against the sides of his lower torso as he spoke. "No question," the translation of his words came in Thrr-mezaz's ear slits. "The blast came from the inside."

"How can he be sure?" Thrr-mezaz asked.

Thrr-gilag translated the question. The alien replied, waving his hands at the edges of the hole, then pointing a finger first at the ground at their feet and then through the hole at the ground outside. "The edges of the hole have an outward twist to them," the translation came. "That means the force came from this side of the wood. There's also the pattern of debris. Not enough wood fragments on the inside; too many on the outside."

"Interesting," Second Commander Klnn-vavgi commented from beside Thrr-mezaz. "We'd wondered about that ourselves."

"Yes," Thrr-mezaz conceded, frowning hard at the Human-Conqueror. "Though of course we have only his word that that's what it means."

"What reason would he have to lie?" Klnn-dawan-a asked.