Neeva placed a hand on each girl’s shoulder. “She is correct. This healing will involve far more than the application of horns. We are here to assist Maak because our intervention in Elviiz’s case has made his reconstruction far more complicated than even his father realizes.”

  Ariin looked puzzled, but turned to go with a shrug. Khorii started to protest.

  Elviiz reached up and touched her arm. “It is true, little sister. Some disassembly of my organic parts may be required to make room for the inorganic enhancements with which Father originally endowed me. If you were an android like me, you would no doubt find the procedure instructive. However, since you are an organic being with certain emotional sensibilities of which I have recently become aware, you would probably find it more upsetting than helpful. Therefore, since there appears to be adequate technical and medical support to Father’s endeavors, I would appreciate it if you would wait outside until I have been adequately modified. I trust the results will be worth the wait.”

  Looking into the dim gray of his weak, organic eyes, Khorii perceived an unexpected emotion. She realized her brother was embarrassed for her to see him with his skin off.

  She knelt and touched her horn to his forehead. “I’ll wait outside, Elviiz, if that is your wish.”

  “It is,” he said. “Your presence may also have a beneficial effect on the emotional state of our mutual parents.”

  She nodded and stepped out of the pavilion. Ariin was already grazing outside the quarantine circle, deep in conversation with their parents between mouthfuls of succulent grass. Mother and Father nibbled thoughtfully while Uncle Joh paced the meadow around them like the tiger RK thought himself to be.

  The situation would have seemed calm and in hand except for the mournful meowing of Khiindi, who prowled beneath Pircifir’s ship as if looking for his lost brother.

  “Can’t you shut him up?” Uncle Joh demanded. “What the coz is wrong with the critter anyway?”

  “He’s sad, Uncle Joh,” Khorii told him, having to shout a bit to be heard across the quarantine circle and over Khiindi’s cries. “He’s suffered a loss.”

  The Condor’s captain stopped pacing and, with more patience than most people would have thought he possessed, said, “Then pick him up and pet him or heal him or something, can’t you? I don’t see how anyone can concentrate on major surgery with that yowling going on. Tell the cat we’re sorry for his loss, but we don’t want to lose Elviiz, too.”

  Khiindi’s cries stopped in midhowl. Perhaps he remembered that it was Elviiz who had stopped Marl Fidd when the young thug had swung Khiindi by his tail and thrown him into a pool. Elviiz had always treated Khiindi as if he were a feline younger brother, in the same way that Khorii was a Linyaari younger sister.

  Her sometimes-cat ran to Khorii, who scooped him up and petted him, consoling herself with the softness of his coat.

  Everyone waited all day long. They knew the surgery must be intensely difficult, because for many hours there was no direct thought contact from any of the people working on Elviiz.

  “On the other hand,” Mother told the girls when Khorii wondered again what could possibly be taking so long, “nothing very bad has happened, or we would know it already.”

  At one point Uncle Joh looked up at his ship and excused himself. When he came back, he said, “Just Hafiz and Karina checking in to see how the boy’s doing. I’m surprised Hafiz didn’t have a device installed in the tent so we could have an Elviiz-cam broadcasting from here to narhii-Vhiliinyar to MOO.”

  Mother rolled her eyes in amusement. “Don’t say that too loudly, or Uncle Hafiz will hear you on his Condor-cam and make it happen.”

  Finally, at sunset, Maak came to the pavilion flap. Khorii rushed over, followed by Ariin. “How is he?” she asked.

  “As well as can be expected, I am told,” he said. “You can see for yourself. He wishes to see you.”

  She entered the tent cautiously. Maak’s voice had never become as expressive as Elviiz’s but even so, there was some disappointment in it, a lack of conviction about the success of the restoration.

  Elviiz was listening to what sounded like instructions from the two techno-artisans. Neeva, Melireenya, and Khaari passed Khorii as they left the pavilion. Neeva’s expression was apologetic, and she touched Khorii’s arm consolingly.

  Khorii couldn’t see why. Elviiz looked perfectly healthy. He was even sitting cross-legged on his pallet as he touched various parts of himself in response to the techno-artisan’s instructions.

  The techno-artisan handed him something. Elviiz lifted a pair of goggles, then seated them over his nose and ears. “Our people are working even now on a fully functional adjustable lens that will be able to superimpose all of the functions of your bionic eyes on your organic ones. But until then, these should work. There is also a full sound-modulation function built in and enhanced olfactory sensors, all controllable from your implant.”

  “Thank you,” Elviiz said politely, and put the goggles in place.

  “Elviiz,” Khorii said, as the techno-artisan rose to go. “How do you feel?”

  “Enhanced!” he said. “Not as good as before in many ways, but they were able to augment my skeletomuscular system and nerve synapses, restoring most of my strength. Chip implants have restored my memory banks, although frankly accessing them is a bit more of a problem than it used to be because my brain is almost entirely organic. But that is a good thing, I think. Say something to me.”

  “Uh—hi, Elviiz?”

  “No, I mean silently, in thought-talk.”

  “Elviiz, you have no idea how concerned we have been about you. Ariin and I have much to tell you.”

  “What?” he asked, but a huge smile lit his organic lips, which opened over his molecularly bonded ceramic-and-steel teeth.

  “It was Ariin’s idea,” Khorii said later, as the family stood as near to each other as they dared, having a celebratory graze. Even Elviiz tore up grass and chewed it, but his enhancements were too strong. He tended to rip away the roots as well as the grass and end up with big clots of dirt dangling from each mouthful.

  Ariin explained in great detail how her observant nature and discerning eye, not to mention her instinct for behavior patterns and her sense of danger, had led her to notice the similarities between the mutable dwellings of the Friends and the newest form of alien menace.

  “That’s my girl,” Aari said proudly, although until recently he hadn’t known that she was, of course.

  “Very clever of you, dear,” Mother said. “So did you find out why that was?”

  Ariin had to admit that they hadn’t really, but mentioned casually that while they were detecting, they had helped rescue the unicorns who would eventually become their Ancestors. She didn’t say a word about Pircifir. After giving Elviiz a welcoming ankle-twine, Khiindi made himself scarce. He did not want to be around, apparently, when the girls told their parents that their daughter’s pet cat was their old trickster nemesis, Grimalkin. However, Ariin didn’t mention Grimalkin either. If their parents noted any holes in her story left by the absence of the shapeshifting brothers, they said nothing.

  When Uncle Joh returned from the Condor’s galley to join them, he was carrying a plate of long white noodles and round fragrant balls in some sort of red sauce. He sat on the ground while her parents grazed beside him. “So what did I miss?” he asked. “And say it out loud, people. It’s not like I have ears in the back of my head—or—well, you know what I mean.”

  Ariin started telling her story again, but Uncle Joh had trouble with her Linyaari accent when she spoke Standard. Khorii started to interpret for her but caught a warning thought from Ariin. She was afraid Khorii’s version would include the parts she had purposely omitted. So their father gave their friend a quick sketch of Ariin’s story.

  “So the damned thing ate my treasure, did it?” was Uncle Joh’s first response. “That’s a shame. Good thing you girls found its homeworld. I know you Linyaari don’t believe in killing stuff, but could we just track it down and hurt it a little? That was a really good treasure.”

  “We don’t know for sure it was the same thing, Uncle Joh,” Khorii said quickly. “The dwelling creature is not hostile or harmful in any way, and the serpents were cooperative and intelligent beings. Certainly they did not seem to have a connection with the plague—just the resemblance Ariin noted.”

  “They do have something to do with it,” Ariin insisted. “You know they do, too, Khorii.”

  “Well, you girls did say you traveled back in time to find it—it would have been a long time ago on their planet, too. It kinda makes you wonder what they’ve been up to lately, doesn’t it?”

  “We’re going back there,” Ariin told him. “We have our own ship now, but we wanted to return and tell you first.”

  “And to invite Elviiz to come with us if he feels well enough,” Khorii said quickly. She had caught a fleeting thought from Elviiz that now that she had a sister, she seemed to think she didn’t need him any longer.

  “If I won’t be too much trouble,” he said, with an unandroid-like tone of resentment.

  “On the contrary,” Khorii said. “I’ve really missed you. Khiindi, too.”

  “You have?” He sounded more surprised than she would have believed. He had always seemed so arrogant to her before, but she wondered if it wasn’t just that he enjoyed and was proud of being needed. Of course, now that he was more organic, he probably experienced emotions like pride and pleasure more than he had in the past, but still, her own jealousy of his abilities had always shaded her feelings about him.

  “Yes,” Ariin said, with uncharacteristic warmth. “It is so good to have you to turn to for information and guidance when things go wrong and to be able to count on your strength.”

  That was enough to stop him in midgraze. He stood there thoughtfully chewing a clump of dandelions into his mouth while dirt showered off their roots. “Thank you both,” he told them mentally, since his mouth was full. “It is of course my primary function to inform, guide and protect my sister—sisters. And Khiindi, of course.”

  “Of course,” Khorii agreed.

  “And good luck with that!” Ariin said, referring to Khiindi.

  Chapter 13

  Just so he knew they really wanted him, they asked Elviiz to fly the Pircifir to MOO. “It will be excellent practice with my new modifications,” Elviiz agreed enthusiastically. “On the whole, it seems that my injuries have provided me with the opportunity for a significant upgrade, even though it functions somewhat differently from my former artificial systems.”

  The Balakiire caravanned with them. As visedhaanyi ferilii, or ambassador to alien races, Neeva said she felt it was within the scope of her duties to accompany them to the alien world and enter into diplomatic relations with the inhabitants, serpentine or tunneling. Khorii also secretly believed that Neeva was coming along to keep an eye on them at her mother’s insistence, but said nothing.

  The Mana had remained on MOO, where their friends, Captain Asha Bates, Jaya, Sesseli, and Hap Hellstrom, who had returned to the Mana after helping a borrowed Federation tanker deliver the LoiLoiKuans to Vhiliinyar, met them along with Uncle Hafiz and Karina. Hafiz was very enthusiastic when he heard about the mutable dwellings. “Think of what such places would be worth!” he said, rubbing his hands together.

  “But Uncle Hafiz,” Khorii told him, “the reason we went to find out about them is that we fear they are what’s eating everything else in the universe now.”

  Hafiz nodded sagely, “This indicates to me that far from being an alien menace, they are an intelligent and perceptive species well aware of the need to eliminate competition in the marketplace.”

  Melireenya could not suppress a long, expressive snort of derision. Hafiz had been very generous to the Linyaari, but sometimes his viewpoint was far more alien to them than that of the mutable dwellings.

  Captain Bates also guffawed. “Mr. Harakamian, it’s hard to figure you and the Linyaari allied together—sort of like the Warlord Attila at a Quaker meeting.”

  Hafiz huffed through his long, curled, and meticulously waxed mustaches. He wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or insulted. “Attila was a delightful person, once one got to know him. I sold him many, many caches of armaments in the past. I am unfamiliar with the people that he was meeting in your analogy, Captain, but I assure you my relationship with the Linyaari people is one of perfect harmony and understanding and eventually, I hope, mutual benefit.”

  Captain Bates sobered. “I didn’t mean to offend you, sir. Khorii has told me so much about how wonderful you have been to her people, and of course your assistance in providing support for them as they battle the plague is praised throughout the universe.” The captain was redeeming herself now. “I have a strange sense of humor sometimes. Must be my upbringing.”

  “Think nothing of it, dear lady,” Hafiz said graciously. “Now then, before the next phase of your mission, we must enjoy one last feast together, yes?”

  Khorii was pleased to fortify herself before they set out again. Flitting about in different times and spaces, she sometimes forgot when she had last grazed, and Uncle Hafiz always provided such delicious and beautiful floral centerpieces for his Linyaari guests.

  When Khorii asked if anyone had heard from Jalonzo about how things were going in Corazon, the city that had been her family’s headquarters in the Solojo system, where the plague seemed to have begun, her friends looked at her oddly. “He’s not home yet, Khorii. The tanker only left two days ago,” Jaya said. Of course. Unlike Hap, Jalonzo was returning home after tanker duty.

  Khorii felt disoriented, experiencing temporal vertigo. She, Ariin, and Khiindi had traveled light-years back and forth and many years, centuries even, in time and yet in her own time line only two days had passed since she left her friends on MOO.

  How did the Friends manage to keep this all straight? Especially the ones like Grimalkin and Pircifir, who traveled through time and space so frequently? Maybe that was part of why Grimalkin had been so careless of the feelings of others. He passed through people’s lives, arriving before their births and after their deaths, so they were rather like moving shadows for him. Khiindi jumped onto her lap and yowled at her. Except for Pircifir. Losing his brother can’t have been unexpected, since Grimalkin had already outlived his sibling when he first stole Ariin. But the loss was fresh now, and Khiindi was not letting her forget it.

  When the meal was done, Ariin said, “We should be off now. It’s been nice to see all of you again, but I think that my family is all the help I’ll need to solve this puzzle. Naturally, you’ll be the first to know when we’ve figured out how it happened and deliver the solution.”

  “We’re going, too!” Jaya said.

  “Why? Your ship is large and clunky. And you can’t travel through ti—” She stopped. She had been about to say that they couldn’t travel through time, but she didn’t want to share the secret of the cronos, Khorii realized. Khorii thought that a bit over-cautious. She trusted these people.

  Neeva didn’t care what she was going to say. “I think it would be wise to travel as a fleet to this planet. If the mutating creatures are indeed connected with the plague by-products, then it makes sense to have a ship in orbit in case the creatures devour the ship on the ground.”

  Even Ariin couldn’t argue with that. Once both the Mana and the Balakiire had downloaded the serpent world’s coordinates from Pircifir’s ship, and all three were reprovisioned for the journey, they set off.

  Khorii had missed her friends and spent a lot of time on the com unit filling them in on how they had located the creatures. Captain Bates was especially interested in their time travels and their encounter with Sileg and Pebar. “Coco and I belong to the Selegiznas,” she said. “There’s also a Pebarzigna tribe, and they’re supposed to be related.”

  Ariin, who had been eavesdropping while Elviiz piloted the ship, looked over Khorii’s shoulder into the com screen, and snorted, “It wouldn’t matter to Pebar and Sileg if you were their own daughter. They’d still sell you if they were offered enough.”

  Captain Bates grinned. “And that observation, my dear, gives you stunning insight into my almost native culture.”

  “But you’re not like that, Captain,” Sesseli said, leaning affectionately against her. The little girl patted their former teacher’s hand. Sesseli was almost seven now, Moonmay’s age, but she seemed younger than the freckled and redheaded Moonmay. Sesseli’s wide blue eyes and blond curls (presently braided and beaded by Captain Bates into the distinctive coif she had created for the Mana’s crew in the approved manner of the shipgoing tribes) and her rounded, soft features made her look even younger. “You’re nice,” she assured Asha Bates.

  The captain hugged the child. “You’re pretty nice yourself, kiddo. And the thing is, even if the tribes live by their wits, to put it politely, there are as many good people among them as in any other group. They just hide it well with outsiders.”

  “Sileg wasn’t bad,” Khorii said. “I think he’d have been willing to let us go if it hadn’t been for Pebar.”

  “They both got Pircifir killed,” Ariin said, as if Pircifir had been her relative rather than Grimalkin’s.

  Khorii started to correct her and say that it was saving the unicorns that got Pircifir killed, but Ariin knew that already.

  Khiindi mewed piteously, and Sesseli looked as if she’d like to pick him up and kiss him between the ears as she so often had when they’d traveled together.

  Khorii patted Khiindi consolingly but refrained from any of the more extravagant gestures the little girl would have offered. Although it was hard to believe her little cat was also Grimalkin, even when she’d seen him turn, it was also hard to forget how much trouble he’d caused for her family. But Khiindi didn’t seem to think what he did in another form counted. He rubbed his head against Khorii’s jaw and pawed at her while mewing in a heartbroken fashion. Relenting, Khorii hugged him and petted his head. As Khiindi, he seemed to have the emotional needs of a small cat as well as its form, and she and he had been babies together. The first time he suffered a loss, no matter the circumstances or who he actually was in another guise, was not the time to rebuff him.