Dragon and Liberator

She watched the status display carefully as the door slid shut, counting down the seconds to herself. Fifteen of them later, she finally started breathing again. "Yes," she said, closing the multi-tool. "That did it."

"Not quite," Taneem said. "Would you press your back against the door a moment?"

Frowning, Alison complied. Taneem shifted around on her back, probably checking the corridor one last time.

But no. Something else was happening, something that felt subtly different from anything else Alison had experienced with her companion.

She squeezed her hand into a fist, a fresh wave of tension flowing into her. If Taneem fell off into the corridor, this whole thing would have been for nothing.

And then, to her relief, she felt the K'da's weight shift again as she came fully back onto Alison's skin. "There," Taneem said with satisfaction. "I've smoothed the seal back into place on the door."

Alison blinked. "How in the world did you do that?"

"I leaned over the wall as if preparing to fall to the other side," Taneem said. "Only instead I merely leaned one paw over and pressed it against the seal."

"I'll be sniggled," Alison said, eyeing the K'da with new respect. "That's a new one on me. As a matter of fact, I don't think even Draycos has tried that one. Nicely done."

"Thank you," Taneem said. "I was afraid it would be seen."

"It might have, at that," Alison agreed. In actual fact, she knew, the flowing air currents out there would eventually have reattached the seal more or less where it was supposed to be.

But Taneem was so proud of her accomplishment that Alison had no intention of popping her bubble. Besides, this way the seal was back in place that much sooner.

"I'm glad I could help," Taneem said. "What now?"

"Now the evening is finally over." Alison yawned widely. "I don't know about you, but I'm beat. Let's check out the food supplies and then see about getting some sleep."

CHAPTER 5

As far as Jack could tell, the Ponocce City Police Station was as badly organized as the rest of Brummgan society.

His first stop after being hauled from the patrol car was an office for the usual round of fingerprinting, retinal scans, and other biometric readings. Then he was put into a small holding cell, then sent back to the first office to redo the fingerprints, then over to a second office for no particular reason he could figure out, and once more back to the first office.

Eventually, he ended up in a block of group cells two levels underground that seemed to be stocked mostly with drunks.

Disorganization, Uncle Virgil had often said, was a con man's best friend. In this case, though, none of the chaos did Jack any good. His forced wanderings never took him into a room or corridor with a window, and there were always too many armed Brummgas between him and the doors for him to make a break for it. Draycos, with his warrior's training and eye, agreed with that assessment.

Which wasn't to say either of them liked it.

Four hours, the words whispered through Jack's mind. The thought felt as restless against Jack's mind as Draycos's two-dimensional form felt against his skin. We've been here four hours.

Thanks, I can count, Jack thought back sourly. I'm still open to suggestions.

Draycos didn't answer. Not really surprising, since well before the first hour was up the two of them had discussed and eliminated pretty much every possible plan.

Jack still had the backup comm clip hidden in his shoe. Unfortunately, there was no one to call with it. The Essenay could hardly tackle a police station all by itself, certainly not with Brummgan military aircraft stationed within a couple of miles.

And even if Uncle Virge caught the Brummgas napping and was able to blow a hole in the side of the building, Jack and Draycos were currently sitting right where the pile of rubble from that blast would land. No future in that at all.

Alternatively, Draycos could roll off Jack's back through the plastic doors of their cell and take out the two guards playing cards across the room. But there were a half-dozen surveillance cameras in the cell block, and all the Brummgan inefficiency in the galaxy wouldn't save them once the building was aroused.

They have to eventually take us out of here, he reminded Draycos. They'll take us to trial, or a more permanent prison. Sooner or later, we'll get our chance.

Again, the K'da didn't answer. Again, Jack didn't need a telepathic connection to know what his symbiont was thinking.

Eventually, certainly, they'd be out. But whether they would be out in rime to save Draycos's people was an entirely different question.

Let alone whether they'd be out in time to save Alison and Taneem.

"Human!" a deep voice called. "Human Macavity!"