Assuming, of course, that the Mrachanis made good on their promise to sneak those warships past the Human-Conqueror detectors.

The Eighteenth returned. "No further messages from Thrr-gilag," he reported.

"Thank you," the Prime said. "That'll be all."

"I daresay." The Eighteenth paused. "If I may comment, Overclan Prime, you seemed unduly interested in Thrr-gilag's Human-Conqueror biochemical studies. I would have thought such subtleties had already been overtaken by events."

"Only if you trust the Mrachanis," the Prime said sourly. "I'm not sure I do."

"You're worried about the Phormbi attack?" the Fourth asked.

"I'm worried about all of it," the Prime said with a tired sigh. "Everything the Mrachanis say seems perfectly reasonable at first look. Even at second look. But whenever I start really thinking things through..." He flicked his tongue in a negative.

For a few beats the room was silent. "There's no point in worrying excessively about it," the Eighteenth said. "The decisions have been made, and the events are in motion. What will happen will happen."

"And whatever does happen, it is always safe to put your trust in Warrior Command," the Fourth added. "Whether the Mrachanis are being honest or deceitful, the Zhirrzh warriors will be capable of handling it."

"I hope so," the Prime said, turning back to his reader. "I truly hope so."

The Elder vanished, and for perhaps twenty beats the only sound in the room was the spattering of the cold, windswept rain lashing against the office windows in the latearc darkness. "I don't know about you," Thrr-gilag said at last. "But to me that sounded like an order."

"It was," Thrr-mezaz said heavily. "Something's happening back on Oaccanv. Or else is about to happen."

"Maybe someone's discovered our tampering," Klnn-dawan-a said. "Maybe they're on their way here."

And Thrr-gilag knew exactly what that would mean, both to them and to their families. He didn't doubt that his brother knew, too. "We'll just have to beat them to the slash, then," he said. "One way or another, we have got to get Prr't-zevisti's cutting up into the Human stronghold."

"What, in this?" Thrr-mezaz retorted, flicking his tongue toward the downpour outside the window. "Not a chance. The storm extends all the way to the mountains. We try climbing in this, and we'll be raised to Eldership in twenty hunbeats."

"The rain has to stop sometime," Klnn-dawan-a said. "How soon after that could you start climbing?"

"At least a fullarc," Thrr-mezaz told her. "The storm has high winds trailing behind it. Even if it didn't, wet rock is notoriously dangerous to climb."

The room fell silent again. Thrr-gilag stared out the window at the sheets of rain shimmering in the lights of the village, a hundred plans flickering through his mind, each more far-fetched than the previous one. Launching an aerial attack on the Humans? Dangerous, and probably illegal without specific orders from Warrior Command. Firing the fsss container into the mountains via catapult? Unlikely they could put something together that would have even half the range they would need. Lashing the container to an animal and sending it into the mountains? Too ridiculous even to think about. Returning the Human prisoner Sergeant Janovetz to his people with the cutting planted somewhere on him?

The flow of schemes paused in midtaste. Sergeant Janovetz...

He looked back at the others. Thrr-mezaz was still gazing at the floor in contemplation of his own; but Klnn-dawan-a, clearly sensing the change in Thrr-gilag's manner, was looking back at him with guarded hope. "You have an idea?" she asked.

"Yes," he said as Thrr-mezaz also looked up at him. "I don't like it, but I think it's our best chance. Possibly even our only chance. Certainly if we want to get the cutting up there as quickly as possible."

"Sounds terrific," Thrr-mezaz said. "You want to skip the dramatics and spit it out?" He looked over at Klnn-dawan-a. "He was always doing this when we were children," he added in explanation. "I hoped he'd grow out of it."

"He hasn't yet," Klnn-dawan-a said, trying to keep her voice light but not succeeding very well. "Go ahead, Thrr-gilag."

"We do exactly what the Humans did with Sergeant Janovetz," Thrr-gilag said. "We send someone into the Human stronghold on some pretext and send Prr't-zevisti's fsss cutting in with him."

"Brilliant," Thrr-mezaz said. "There are just two small problems: how do we keep the Human-Conquerors from shooting down his transport, and how do we get him out again?"

"For the first, I presume we do it the same way the Human commander did," Thrr-gilag said. "We send an unarmed vehicle, and we send it in flying slow and steady. For the second—" He grimaced. "We don't get him out. Like Sergeant Janovetz, the courier would have to stay there as a prisoner."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Thrr-mezaz said. "Unfortunately, I can't afford to lose any of my warriors."

"I know," Thrr-gilag said. "That's why the courier has to be me."

He'd expected a reaction of some kind. The complete lack of one showed that both of the others had already arrived at the same conclusion. "It'll be dangerous, Thrr-gilag," Thrr-mezaz warned. "These are the Human-Conquerors. We don't know what they'll do to you."

"Believe me, my brother, if I thought I was walking straight to my Eldership, I wouldn't be volunteering," Thrr-gilag assured him. "I don't believe they'll hurt me."

"What about your theory?" Thrr-mezaz reminded him. "You'll be facing a whole group of Human-Conquerors up there, not just single individuals."

"Yet a whole group of them let Klnn-dawan-a and your warriors go unharmed at the underground room," he pointed out. "There's clearly more to these Humans than just reflex biochemical reactions."

"You could still wind up a prisoner until the end of the war," Thrr-mezaz persisted. "Or be raised to Eldership if and when Warrior Command gives me the order to attack the stronghold in force."

Thrr-gilag felt his tail twitch. "I know that. It's a risk I'm going to have to take."

Thrr-mezaz hissed with frustration, looking over at Klnn-dawan-a. "Aren't you going to say anything, Klnn-dawan-a?" he demanded.

"What would I say?" Klnn-dawan-a said, her voice soft and filled with distant dread. "You can see he's made up his mind. Besides, you know as well as he does that it's the only way."

"I don't accept that," Thrr-mezaz growled. "Not yet."

"You've got the rest of the latearc to come up with an alternative," Thrr-gilag said. "But if we haven't come up with anything else by premidarc, I think we'll have to go with this plan. In fact, it might be pushing it to wait even that long—we don't know what's happening on Oaccanv that has the Overclan Prime worried enough to call us like this."

"We're waiting until premidarc whether the Prime likes it or not," Thrr-mezaz said firmly. "I'm not going to try sending a transport into enemy territory in the dark. Not even a slow, unarmed one."

"We need the time for preparation, anyway," Thrr-gilag agreed. "Can you have someone get some supplies together for me? Especially some food—I don't know if I'm really ready to try Human cuisine just yet."

"I'll take care of it," Thrr-mezaz promised in a resigned tone. "We'll also need to come up with a good excuse for why you're doing this."

"Perhaps you can be taking information back to the Human-Conquerors about Sergeant Janovetz," Klnn-dawan-a suggested quietly. "Proof that he's alive and well. That might also help in their treatment of you."

"Good idea," Thrr-gilag said. "Thrr-mezaz?"

"I'll take care of that, too," his brother said.

"All right, then." Thrr-gilag got to his feet, trying to keep his tail motion steady. He didn't like this any better than the others did. Far less than they did, actually—he could still feel the residual stiffness in his neck where Pheylan Cavanagh had gripped him during the Human's escape. The Humans were aliens, with the fundamental unpredictability that that implied.