Текст книги "Gods Above"

Автор книги: Peter David

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“I believe Starfleet would frown upon it, Captain.”

“Damn,” muttered Shelby.

“Captain,” Spock observed, “it would appear to me that you have some little antipathy for the Excaliburin general ... or her captain in specific.”

“He’s my husband.”

“Ah,” said Spock. He paused, and then said, “In my day, captains were generally considered to be married to their ships.”

“Those were good days,” said Shelby and headed for the turbolift.

And she heard Spock say, “Indeed,” as the lift doors slid shut behind her.

EXCALIBUR

I.

MOKE WAS BECOMING ACCUSTOMED to having the ghosts around.

He had given up trying to comprehend them. He didn’t know why they were there, or what they wanted. He was a flexible child, and so had decided that his new lot in life was to have shades of departed crew members or mysterious one-eyed men following him around.

He didn’t see them all the time, and that was partly how he knew they weren’t just in his mind. After all, if they were, then he would have been seeing them twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They would have had no reason to be anywhere else. But because he only perceived them from time to time, he concluded that they had other things they had to attend to. What sort of things, he couldn’t begin to imagine. Ghost things. Shades of the departed things. Things he probably wouldn’t really want to know about, if given his preferences.

The shade of McHenry had conveyed to him the importance of silence. Moke had done as he was bid, for several reasons. First, he had convinced himself that the secrecy was part of the ability to see them. If he started blabbing it, they would go away. He didn’t want to take that risk, because—much to his surprise, considering how disconcerted he’d felt in their initial encounters—he liked seeing them. He had become fond of being one of the only people on the ship who could see these rather odd ghosts wandering the corridors.

The only other being, to Moke’s knowledge, who was able to see them was Xyon. He wasn’t sure at exactly what point the child became aware of what he was seeing. Moke simply noticed one day that Xyon was staring straight at the one-eyed man, and was even waving one of his chubby little fists at him.

Moke was no doctor, no man of medicine. He had no clue why he and Xyon were able to perceive these shades whom everyone else on the Excaliburwas walking right past, or even through. Perhaps it was a fundamental innocence on Xyon’s part which made him particularly susceptible to such images. Or maybe something in the genetic structure of his half-breed heritage enabled him to see past reality to the unreality.

Maybe he was just damned lucky.

Either way, the old one-eyed man waved back to him, which prompted Xyon to giggle and coo and bat at the empty air.

Still, Moke was beginning to feel as if his withholding of information over what he was perceiving might have some sort of negative impact on everything his adoptive father and the crew of the Excaliburwere experiencing. This was particularly the case when Soleta sat down with him in his quarters and gently began asking questions for which he did not have easy answers.

She kept coming back to statements that Moke had made which indicated that he had seen McHenry wandering around the ship in disembodied form. She wanted to know more about that, wanted to comprehend exactly what it was that Moke was seeing and how it could be that he was seeing it.

But Moke was very aware that both McHenry and the one-eyed man didn’t want their presence or connection to Moke discussed. And when Soleta made casual mention of “the others,” referring to the other godlike beings, Moke suddenly began to suspect just why the need for secrecy was so important to them. Obviously McHenry and the one-eyed man were concerned that these other “beings” might be listening in somehow to whatever Moke was saying. That for some reason, the Beings didn’t know that McHenry had broken free of the confines of his body, and might not even know that the old bearded man was walking around unseen on the ship. But if Moke talked about it, and they were “listening” somehow, then the secret would be Out and there might be all kinds of trouble.

Moke was not anxious for trouble. It wasn’t all that long ago that the Beings had attacked Moke’s spacegoing home and Moke had been quite, quite certain that he was going to die that day. He wasn’t anxious for a repeat.

Besides, McHenry continued to make his wishes known. When Soleta faced Moke and said, quietly but firmly, “Moke ... are you able to see McHenry? Are you seeing him now?,” McHenry was standing just behind her and wildly gesticulating and shaking his head.

Moke, without even realizing he was doing it, shook his head in imitation of McHenry.

“Have you seen any other ... individuals?” she asked. When Moke again shook his head, she came as close to exasperation as she usually allowed herself. “Then why have you led me to believe that you did?”

“I guess I wanted to believe I saw them. Maybe I thought I could help if I did, or it would make people feel better,” he offered. He didn’t think it sounded very convincing, and Soleta didn’t especially look as if she accepted what he was saying. Nevertheless, she didn’t push it much beyond that.

His reluctance to be forthcoming, however, began to prey upon him. Finally he decided to speak with the one individual on whom he could always count: Calhoun. He figured that if he phrased his concerns in a vague enough manner, he might be able to get useful answers without giving away more than he should.

Standing in the middle of his quarters, Moke said, “Computer. Where is Captain Calhoun?”

There was a pause. That surprised him. Moke didn’t have all that much call to interact directly with the ship’s computer system, but even he knew that response was always instantaneous.

He was even more surprised when the computer replied, “Why are you asking?”

“I ...” He blinked, trying to parse out what was going on. “I just ... wanted to know.”

“Why?”

Moke put his hands on his hips, looking slightly defiant. “I don’t think you’re supposed to be able to ask me things like that! Just tell me where he is?”

“Captain Calhoun is in conference lounge two.”

“Okay,” said Moke, and he started to head for the door.

He stopped in his tracks, however, as the computer said, “If you’re planning to go see him there, I wouldn’t advise it.”

He knew that the computer shouldn’t be interested in advising him on anything. But that was less important to him than the reasons for the computer’s concern. “Why not?”

“This would not be a good time.”

“Why?”

“Cover your ears.”

Moke couldn’t remember when he’d felt more bewildered over something that should have just been a normal interaction with standard equipment. “Cover my ears?”

“Yes.”

“With what?”

It almost sounded like the computer was sighing in exasperation. “With your hands, boy.”

“Oh.” Feeling a bit sheepish, he obeyed.

A moment later, the room was flooded with several voices. Moke thought Mac’s was one of them, but it was hard to be sure, because they were all shouting at one another, and it was clear that everyone was very irritated. Even though his hands were already over his ears, he pressed them together tighter, wincing at the oral barrage as he did so.

Mercifully, it was shut off within seconds.

Moke was stunned. “What ... was that? Who was Mac fighting with?”

“It wasn’t a fight. It was a discussion,” the computer informed him. “A very loud discussion ... with some profanity mixed in. Adults do that on occasion.”

“So do kids! And the adults yell at us when we do! So who yells at the adults when they do it?”

“Other adults.”

“I don’t understand,” Moke said in exasperation.

“Don’t worry. When you grow up—”

“I’ll understand then?”

“No,” the computer informed him. “Adults don’t understand much more than children do. They just don’t understand it at a higher volume.”

II.

“I don’t understand, Mac!”

“I’m not lookingto you to understand, Eppy!”

“Well, you certainly got what you’re notlooking for!”

It was just the two of them in the conference lounge, which was why Shelby wasn’t holding back in the least. If other crew members were there, she would have forced herself to be far more reserved. As it was, she didn’t hesitate in giving vent to the frustration she was feeling at that moment.

She knew Calhoun was as irritated with her as she was with him. The infuriating aspect of the man, though, was that he wasn’t showing it. He simply sat there with his fingers steepled like some sort of damned Buddha statue. Although he was speaking as loudly as she was, it seemed motivated less by anger than simply by the desire to make himself heard over her.

She paced the room, running her fingers through her hair and fighting the impulse to start tearing it out at the roots ... and the further impulse to rip out Calhoun’s hair instead. “Mac, the Tridentis the ship that’s supposed to be here. Not the Excal.”

“I was given no orders that told me to stay away from this world.”

“Oh, for crying out loud, Mac, what’re you? Nine years old? You have to have everything spelled out for you as to what you can and cannot do, and if it’s not specifically forbidden, then you figure it’s fair game?”

“Curious thing: On some worlds, I would be considered nine years old, when one allows for the amount of time it takes for the planet to complete its orbit around the—”

Shelby stopped pacing and leaned forward, resting her knuckles on the table, her face only a few inches from Calhoun’s. “Don’t get cute, Mac.”

“Cute works if you’re nine years old.”

Her voice tight, she said, “Turn this ship around and get out of here.”

Something in the air changed when she said that. She felt as if, for the first time since they’d entered the room and confronted one another over the Excalibur’sunexpected arrival, she had truly gotten Calhoun’s attention. And she wasn’t entirely certain that was a good thing.

“Don’t try to give me orders, Elizabeth,” said Calhoun icily, his eyes like flint. “The Excalis here because we need to be here.”

“Right, of course. You need to be here. Because you’re so convinced that the Tridentcan’t get the job done.”

“Not everything that goes on in the galaxy is about you, Elizabeth,” Calhoun said, repeating her first name formally as if to drive home to her how far away his mind-set was from the usual, affectionate “Eppy.” It was odd. She had loathed the nickname, then grown to tolerate it, and now actually was a bit upset that he wasn’t using it. “My showing up here isn’t intended as a commentary on my belief as to whether or not you can handle a difficult situation.”

“Well, that’s great to hear, Mackenzie,” she replied, choosing to be as formal as he was being. “Particularly when one considers that my ship saved your ass weeks ago. So whose ability to handle difficult situations is being brought into question?”

The moment she had finished saying it, Shelby suddenly wished she could take it back. But the last thing she was going to do was back down or show weakness, because certainly Calhoun would never respect her if she did that.

Then again, seeing the look in his eyes made her think that maybe he wasn’t going to respect her, no matter what. He was too angry. He looked like a volcano fighting its own eruption.

“I see,” he said, knocking the ambient temperature in the room down by another ten degrees. “Well, then: How fortunate that we showed up here. That way, should we get into trouble, you’ll be able to get us out of it again.”

“Mac, you’re being ridiculous ...”

And he was on his feet, and Shelby took a step back. For the first time in her entire life, she was genuinely afraid of Mackenzie Calhoun. She did not, for a heartbeat, think he was going to attack her physically or try to do her harm. Nevertheless, she saw what the residents of his native Xenex had seen ... and, even more specifically, what the oppressive Danteri had seen when the warlord juggernaut known as M’k’n’zy of Calhoun would charge into battle against them. And when he spoke, his voice sounded like distant rumbling thunder.

“This is not about you ... or me ... or our ships,” Calhoun said. “I have a man in sickbay who’s in some sort of stasis that none of us completely understands. I have a crew that was battered by a group of creatures that, again, none of us understands. And those creatures, those ‘Beings’ who did that to us, have chosen to take as their center of operations a world populated by the most notorious race ever to set foot on my homeworld. The potential for disaster here is gargantuan. Furthermore, if any of these Beings are capable of undoing the damage they’ve done, or somehow restoring McHenry to normal, then I owe it to the people they’ve killed and the people they’ve hurt to force them to do it.”

“How do you intend to ‘force’ a race of entities who appear to be, to all intents and purposes, invincible.”

“I’ll find a way. That’s what all good Starfleet captains do, so I’m told. They find ways. Unless you think me incapable of that, as well.”

It was a loaded question and one that could easily lead to another half hour of arguing. But Shelby realized that such a means of passing thirty minutes would be counterproductive. “No,” she said neutrally. “No, I don’t think you incapable of that.” She licked her lips, since they suddenly felt bone dry. Then she took a deep breath and let it out unsteadily. “All right. Look. At the very least, we don’t need to be duplicating each other’s efforts. We certainly don’t want to give the Danteri the impression that we’re working at cross-purposes. If they think there’s divisiveness between us, that may well tempt them to try and exploit it.”

Slowly he nodded. “Yes. That’s probably true.”

She was relieved to hear him say that. It meant he wasn’t so completely over-the-top furious that he was blocking out everything she might be saying. “I’ve already selected an away team to head down, consisting of Mueller, Ambassadors Spock and Cwan, and Lieutenant Arex. Why not send several of your people in conjunction with our away team, instead of beaming down a separate group.”

“All right. I’ll go down with Soleta and Kebron.”

“Mac, I wouldn’t advise that you put yourself on the away team.”

“Because I don’t trust the Danteri? Because I can’t approach the situation with dispassion?”

“Yes.”

“You’re probably right.”

“But you’re going anyway.”

“You’re probably right.”

She sighed and shook her head. “It’s your decision, Calhoun. Do as you wish. We’ll send over the coordinates for the transporter rendezvous and coordinate the beam-down.”

He simply nodded, acknowledging the plan. Feeling she had nothing else to say, Shelby turned and headed for the door. As she headed out, Calhoun suddenly said, “Captain.”

She turned to face him. “Yes?”

“Nothing,” he said after a moment. “I just ...”

“You just what?”

“I wanted to see if you would turn around to look at me or just stop and talk to me with your back turned.”

She sighed heavily at that, then walked out the door. When he called her name again, she didn’t stop walking.

III.

It was some hours later when Moke finally got up the nerve to address the very odd computer once more.

Moke hadn’t been sitting around contemplating in horror the notion of talking to the computer again. He’d been busy with Xyon, who had been his usual rambunctious self. Xyon had been looking around at empty air in a most aggressive fashion, and Moke had the feeling that Xyon was trying to catch sight of the “ghostly” inhabitants of the Excalibur.Moke was quite certain that they were keeping themselves scarce.

He couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with the planet they’d come to. He’d been able to overhear enough scattered conversations to put two and two together and realize that more of these strange “Beings” were present on the world below. So it might well have been that McHenry and the one-eyed man were either hiding, or else doing everything they could to shield their presence from those whom they wanted to avoid. Either way, they sure weren’t around.

Still, Moke was starting to feel it was definitely time to seek out Mackenzie Calhoun and tell him what had been going on. After all, what if McHenry and the one-eyed man were, in fact, gone for good? Certainly, then, no harm would be done by letting Calhoun know about their presence.

He and Xyon were in the holodeck, Xyon romping around on a holo-created beachfront. The green ocean came rolling in and washed up over his toes, and he giggled in childish glee, as Moke abruptly called out, “Computer.”

And then he jumped back several feet in shock as a woman materialized in front of him. He shook his head in bewilderment and then said, “Wait ... I know you. You’re Robin’s mother, aren’t you?”

“That’s correct. Well ... I was. Actually ... I suppose I still am.”

“Why are you here?”

“I’m in the computer now. I’m part of it.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” she assured him. Then she just stood there, smiling, her head slightly tilted in a polite and attentive manner.

“Why are you just ... standing there?” he asked.

“You summoned me. I’m waiting for you to—”

“Oh! Oh, right!” He thumped his forehead with the base of his palm in chagrin. “Right, of course. Sorry. Uhm ... do you know where Captain Calhoun is? Is he still in the shouting meeting?”

“Captain Calhoun is no longer on board the ship.”

“He’s not? Are you sure?”

“I’m a computer, Moke. Being sure is more or less all I do now.”

“Oh. Okay. Well ... where is he?”

“Captain Calhoun has gone down to Danter as part of an away team, along with Lieutenants Soleta and Kebron.”

“When will he be back?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hah!” he said challengingly. “You said being sure was all you did.”

“All right,” said Morgan, sounding rather reasonable. “He will be back precisely 0.00003 seconds after being beamed back aboard the ship.”

He looked at her suspiciously. “That’s not much of an answer.”

“Perhaps. It is, however, one I am sure of.” She took a step toward him, which startled him slightly. For some reason he’d just assumed she was rooted to one spot. “This is the second time you have desired to converse with him. Is there a matter of some urgency you wish to discuss? I can make it known to him upon his return.”

“All right. Tell him that Mark McHenry and a strange, bearded one-eyed guy are walking around the ship, except they’re invisible and can walk through things, like ghosts, and only Xyon and I can see them.”

“Hmmm.” She processed that information. The way in which she stored it was an endlessly complex procedure that only an expert in computer systems would have been able to explain. Visually, she simply looked thoughtful for a moment. “Very well. I will convey that to him. That is a most unusual message.”

“I guess.” Feeling much better, and satisfied that he had done his duty, Moke went to play with Xyon in the rolling waters as the computer image of Morgan blinked out of sight.

DANTER

I.

SI CWAN HADN’T HAD THE FAINTEST IDEA of what to expect, but whatever that lack of expectations might have been, it certainly hadn’t included what he ultimately encountered on the surface of Danter.

Kalinda had wanted to go with him to the planet’s surface, but Cwan had been quite firm in forbidding it “If something happens to me,” he had said to her, “you will be the last remaining member of Thallonian nobility. Danter is too unpredictable. We can’t take the chance of something happening to both of us.” Kalinda had understood his reasoning, but nevertheless was frustrated by it and wasn’t the least bit happy about it.

When he beamed down to a central plaza, along with Ambassador Spock, XO Mueller, and Lieutenant Arex, he wasn’t all that surprised to see that Mackenzie Calhoun, Soleta, and Zak Kebron had already materialized. Calhoun offered a ragged smile upon seeing Si Cwan.

“I hear you’ve had some adventures since departing us, Ambassador,” he said.

“And your life has been no less an adventure.” But then his attention was caught by Zak Kebron, and he looked the Brikar up and down. “Kebron, are you quite all right? You look ... odd.”

Kebron just stared at him stonily.

Cwan knew perfectly well that Zak Kebron was not his biggest fan. He wasn’t going to pretend that he was all that solicitous or caring about Kebron’s welfare. Still, the Brikar had his uses in a combat situation, and since Cwan was still leery of Danteri reception, he wanted to know that Kebron would be up to snuff if a battle arose. It was the strangest thing. It looked like pieces of Kebron’s thick hide were actually peeling off. Kebron was obviously aware of it; he brushed away a few small pieces while endeavoring to look nonchalant about it. Turning his back to Kebron, he sidled over to Calhoun and said in a low voice, “Seriously ... is Kebron in ill health?”

“Hard to tell with him,” said Calhoun.

Except by that point, Si Cwan wasn’t actually listening to what Calhoun was saying. Instead he was looking around the central plaza, and he noticed from the corner of his eye that Arex was having the same reaction.

“What’s wrong, Lieutenant?” asked Mueller, noticing the way her security chief was gazing around in bewilderment. It would have been hard to miss it. Arex’s head had stretched out on its distended neck, and he was surveying their surroundings with the attitude of someone who thought he might have wound up in the wrong place.

“It ... wasn’t like this,” Arex said. And Si Cwan knew exactly what he was referring to.

When they’d come to the planet’s surface last time, and indeed beamed down to pretty much this exact space, it had been an away team consisting of Si Cwan and Kalinda, Captain Shelby, and Arex. Then, as now, there had been various tall, majestic buildings. In fact, everything had smacked of being overdone, as if the Danteri were collectively interested in trotting out the glory that was the Danteri race to anyone who happened by their world.

But a number of those buildings, including places that he knew for a fact had housed senate offices, were gone. And they’d been replaced by structures that were decidedly simple and boxy in their design, but no less ornate. They were decorated with statues and mosaics, and they were busy.

Quite busy.

Various Danteri were going in and out of the buildings—about half a dozen in all—and they seemed to be all business as they did so. People who were entering were carrying branches, or garlands, or small livestock, and those who were leaving were empty-handed. But all of them carried with them beatific smiles upon their faces. He had never seen so many people looking so damned happy. Their general bronze skin color seemed to glow with health and life.

There was a steady, pungent burning smell in the air, and at one point Si Cwan was certain he heard a small animal cry out.

“These ... these things weren’t here ... were they?” Arex looked to Si Cwan for confirmation.

“No,” Si Cwan assured him. “They weren’t. And it wasn’t all that long ago that Kalinda and I were driven from this place. “Which means they must have built these structures incredibly quickly. But ... what—?”

It was Ambassador Spock who replied. “Temples, Ambassador Cwan,” the Vulcan said quietly, in that gravelly but unperturbable tone of his. “They have built temples. These structures are not dissimilar from the structure upon which Apollo resided when we encountered these godlike beings during my tenure on the Enterprise.”

“Are you sure?” asked Calhoun.

“Always,” Spock told him in an offhand manner, as if the notion that he could ever be anything else was so ludicrous that it hardly warranted being addressed. “I did not see the structure in person, but I was able to discern its specifics clearly enough when we were firing ship’s phasers at it.”

“So at the instruction of the Beings,” Soleta said, taking readings of the temples with her tricorder, “the Danteri have built temples to them. For worship?”

“One would conclude so,” said Spock.

Another animal cried out, and then the cry was abruptly truncated. The members of the away team looked at each other with barely disguised distaste. “So ... those animals ...” said Si Cwan.

Spock nodded in confirmation. “Sacrifices.”

“Charming,” said Mueller. She was looking at the steady stream of supplicants. “I suppose, Captain Calhoun, it would be considered poor form to shoot them.”

“Personally, I’d give you a commendation,” Calhoun told her. “Unfortunately, I think it would be frowned upon, yes.”

“My friends! My dear friends!”

Si Cwan was certain he recognized the voice instantly, and sure enough, there he came: Lodec, the senate speaker, his arms thrown wide in greeting, and his skin scintillating with the same glow of health that everyone else in the damned area seemed to possess. The hem of his long, blue and white garment swished around on the floor as Lodec approached him, looking as if he were greeting old and beloved companions.

Then he stopped in his tracks, his hands clasped almost delicately in front of him. He sighed heavily, as if exhaling the weight of the world. “Oh. Oh, yes. But you very likely don’t consider me your dear friend, do you. At least several of you. You ... Captain Mackenzie Calhoun.”

He approached Calhoun, who stood there with his face clouding like an incoming storm. “You, who still blame me for the death of your father.”

“That’s probably because you killed him,” replied Calhoun, his tone flat.

“Under orders from my superior, at a time of war. But you must believe me now, Mackenzie ... I would sooner have my right arm cut off—again—than bring harm to another living thing.”

“Really. Testing that resolve might prove educational.”

Inwardly, Si Cwan winced. He was quite aware that Captain Shelby wasn’t sanguine over Calhoun’s presence upon this world. He was positive that his antipathy for the Danteri would make his functioning there problematic. At the same time, though, he could very much understand it. It wasn’t as if there were any love lost between Si Cwan and the Danteri in general, and Lodec in particular.

As if sensing what was going through Cwan’s mind, Lodec turned and beamed that chillingly calm smile at Si Cwan, apparently deciding to ignore Calhoun’s last gibe. “And Ambassador. What can I possibly say ... what words of apology can conceivably be offered ... to make clear just how stricken I am over our ghastly treatment of you.”

There was a great deal that Si Cwan wanted to say at that moment ... most of it hostile. Plus, some vivid imaginings regarding sustained pummeling were likewise crossing his mind. But he quickly decided that it might just further provoke Calhoun to rash action, and the Thallonian didn’t want to feel responsible for that.

“There is nothing you can say,” Si Cwan told him evenly, “so perhaps it would be best ... to say nothing.”

Lodec bobbed his head. He actually seemed grateful, which further perplexed Si Cwan, because he hadn’t thought he was being especially generous in his response.

“Very wise, Ambassador,” he said. Then he turned and regarded the others. “And you would be Commander Mueller ... Lieutenant Arex, I believe it was ...” He looked blankly at the two Vulcans and the Brikar. When his eye caught Zak’s, he looked up, and up a bit more. “My. You’re a considerable individual.”

Zak glowered at him.

“This is Lieutenant Soleta, my science officer,” Calhoun said, “and my security chief, Lieutenant Kebron, and this,” and he paused with what seemed to Cwan to be some dramatic significance, “is Ambassador Spock.”

Even Lodec appeared impressed. “The legendary Spock?”

“Yes,” said Spock, matter-of-factly. Si Cwan suppressed a small smile. None could ever accuse the Vulcan of lack of hubris. Then again, “hubris” might be the wrong word. It meant, after all, “exaggerated pride,” and Spock’s accomplishments were such that there was no reason for exaggeration. The truth was impressive enough.

“I am here,” Spock continued, “representing the interests of the United Federation of Planets.”

“Because of the ambrosia.”

“That is correct.”

“The ambrosia is the food of the gods.” He smiled reverently. “The Beings provide it to us in exchange for our love and devotion. They give us so much, and all that is truly required from us is our appreciation. It is a remarkable bargain, is it not?”

“Remarkable,” Soleta echoed, exchanging a glance with Spock.

“And permit me to guess,” said Lodec. Amusement twinkled in his eyes. “You are here to obtain a sample of the ambrosia.”

Calhoun looked as if he were about to respond, but Mueller spoke up before he could do so. “That is one consideration,” she said. “But my orders were simply to observe the impact that the presence of the Beings has had upon you.”

“Why, they have had a benevolent impact,” Lodec said, as if any other notion was too absurd to contemplate. “How could any reasonable person think otherwise.”

“Considering,” Spock said, “that the Beings assaulted and nearly destroyed a Federation starship ... and that the earliest known Being, one ‘Apollo,’ held my shipmates hostage a century ago ... and that one of them aided you in terrorizing Ambassador Cwan and his sister ... one would logically have to conclude the Beings are sending mixed messages insofar as benevolence is concerned.”

To Cwan’s surprise, Lodec laughed softly at that. “My, you do have a way of turning a phrase, Ambassador. Very well, point taken. But things have changed, you have to see that.”

“We intend to see what needs to be seen,” Calhoun told him sharply.

For a moment, Lodec studied Calhoun, and then he just shrugged neutrally. “Then you shall do so in as unimpeded a fashion as possible. You are free to do what you will. Go anywhere you wish, see anything you wish. We’ve nothing to hide here. None of my people will hinder you.”

“And the Beings? Where are they?” asked Calhoun.

“Oh,” and Lodec gestured in a vague manner, still smiling. “They are around. They move in mysterious ways.”

“Summon them.”

For the first time, Lodec looked perturbed. “That ... is not within my ability. I would accommodate you if I could, but I swear I cannot. The Beings come and go as they will. If they choose to appear, they do so. But we do not control them.”