He seemed surprised at the request, but responded nonetheless.

"Certainly, Commander," he began. "The xylomorphic interface utilized by the Ants-"

"Excuse me, Or-Sah," I interrupted, "but are you familiar with a Technician named Horc?"

"Yes I am, Commander," he replied. "I served under him on my last assignment."

"Would you happen to know if he is available for consultation at this time?"

Or-Sah hesitated before answering.

"Horc is dead," he said finally. "Killed in a duel with a Warrior."

That surprised me.

"That does not seem logical," I commented. "Warriors are currently forbidden to challenge outside their caste."

"Horc was the challenger," Or-Sah explained.

"Then are there any other Technicians available who are used to dealing with members of other castes?" I asked. "Although your explanations may be clear to another Technician, as a Warrior I find them beyond my comprehension and vocabulary. "

He maintained a thoughtful silence for a few moments.

"Perhaps I can try again, Commander," he suggested finally. "I feel there is a growing need for communication between the castes, and I will not develop that ability in myself if I delegate the job to others."

"Proceed," I acknowledged.

"Both the Ants and the Empire utilize the same power-source, specifically that developed by the First Ones. Even though we have succeeded in applying it to a higher level of technology, it is still the same energy-source. It is as if the Ants and the Empire each maintained a cave with a circular opening to let the sunlight in; even though the caves are different, the openings and the sunlight are the same. Because of this, the Ants can run their machines from our power sources and we can run our machines from theirs."

He paused. When I did not interrupt, he continued. "In preparation for the Ant campaign, we have made two major developments. First, we modified our power-source and changed the configuration of our machines to accept it. In the analogy, we have effectively created a new sun, one which will shine through the hole in our cave, but not through the hole in the Ants' cave."

"How is that done?" I asked.

"I would be unable to explain it without becoming extremely technical, Commander," Oh-Sah replied. "Simply accept that we have done it."

"Very well," I said. "Continue."

"Now. The situation exists where we can run our machines from our power-source or theirs. The Ants, on the other hand, can only utilize their own power. When that is used up, their machines become nonfunctional. Our second major development is a machine, one which runs on the Ants' power-source. It consumes their power at an unbelievable rate, and converts it to power which replenishes our own new power-source. These are the Energy-Drainers. In simple terms, they make us stronger by diverting the Ants' energy away from them and to us."

I considered his explanation.

"Is this power drain instantaneous?" I asked.

"No," he admitted, "but the battle plans call for the units to be dropped in advance of the actual assault. The Ants' power should be drained prior to the strike teams' landing."

"What if the Ants have power sources they do not activate until the assault begins?"

"Then they would have power for a short time before the Energy-Drain units could fully deplete them."

"In that case," I concluded, "I will formally submit a request to the High Command that all Borer units be treated for cold-beam immunity."

"That is your prerogative, Commander," the Technician replied.

"I would examine the progress in arming the shuttlecraft next," I stated.

"Certainly, Commander. This way."

Zur broke off his inspection of the Borer prototype and fell in step as we left.

"Might I ask a personal question, Commander?" Or-Sah said as we went.

"Proceed."

"Do you or your aide find the current designs for individual blasters ineffective?"

That question surprised me, though I could see where, as a Technician, he would be eager to know the answer. I glanced at Zur, who indicated no desire to respond.

"No," I said for the two of us, "we don't."

"I had simply noted that both of you wear only the old hand weapons," Or-Sah explained.

He lapsed into silence, apparently unable to bring himself to ask why.

He had given me food for thought, however. In hindsight, I realized that all five strike team leaders...in fact all the Warriors I had recently encountered, wore blasters either in addition to or to the exclusion of the old hand weapons. I made a mental note to add a blaster to my personal armament again. It would not do to have it appear a Planetary Commander was not staying abreast of new developments.

CHAPTER FOUR

I was performing one of my scheduled reviews of the force in training. Although these were normally one of my less distasteful duties as Commander, I was finding more and more that I had to schedule these reviews or they would be overlooked in my numerous other tasks in preparing for the upcoming campaign.

As prescribed by the High Command, the Warriors were all training in the new echo helmets. Unfortunately, this made it impossible to distinguish among individuals. During training, the echo helmets had extra face plates to obscure the vision, simulating total darkness and forcing the Warrior to rely solely on the data provided by the helmets' sensors. The difficulty was that the face plate also obscured the individual's features, making casual identification difficult if not impossible, save in cases where radical physical differences such as height or an amputated tail marked the Warrior.

Zur and the five strike team leaders accompanied me as I made my review. Aside from that, training progressed normally...at least theoretically. I say theoretically because there were numerous subtle points of difference between what I was observing and what I knew from experience to be a typical day's training.

For one thing, it was rare that a trainer would actively take part in the training. They, like myself, were usually overburdened with administrative details of scheduling and training design and therefore had to delegate the actual training process to their staff. It was not uncommon for a Warrior to cycle through an entire training phase without once directly encountering the trainer responsible. Today, however, the trainers were very much in evidence. Whether directly supervising the training or simply overseeing their presence was extremely noticeable.

Then there was the appearance of the training bays themselves. Though orderliness is necessary when working with or around live weapons, there is usually a certain amount of clutter and disorder associated with training. When the primary focus is on training, Warriors tend to let things fall where they fall. They would police the area afterward, but for the time being their main concern was experimenting with new possibilities and combinations to perfect their skill as the fighting arm of the Empire. The training bays I was seeing were so orderly I had the definite impression that I was viewing an exhibition rather than a fighting force at practice.

I was not so sure of my observations as to raise comment at this time, however. Rather, I determined that my next review would be unscheduled and unannounced, even to my staff. I would compare my observations of that review with my current impressions before deciding if there was cause for alarm.

Something caught my eye as I scanned the training Warriors. I halted my progress, causing my staff to press closer to me and stand in a waiting semicircle around me.

We were on one of the elevated walkways overlooking a maze. The Warriors below were maneuvering the corridors utilizing the echo helmets, and pausing sporadically to fire at pseudo-Ant targets that appeared singly or in groups to block their path. The transparent walls of the maze gave clear view of the exercise, but what caught my attention was elsewhere.