Rift in the Sky

He reached into the crate with care, pulling out a bag. The bag itself rippled with color. Not only color, but numbers. “Watch.” When he set it gently on the table, the numbers moved across the bag’s surface, coming together in a final, complex pattern. “That’s a Triad seal, Louli. Can’t be forged. Only the First from a site can apply it.”

Do you know what he’s talking about? Enris asked her.

No.

Naryn’s eyes never left the bag. I do. Hush.

“Open it.”

There were beads of sweat on his forehead. “Is the room tight?” When Louli didn’t answer at once, sharper. “Is it?”

“Will be.” She moved one of the hanging carpets, revealing a panel. After pushing a few controls, she let the carpet drop and returned to the circle around the table, staring down at the bag. “We’re tight. No one in or out.”

Worin leaked anxiety. Enris soothed him. Let the Humans believe they’d locked the M’hiray in, Aryl thought, amused.

“I’m going to open this.” KaeCee didn’t pull out a knife or ask for one. He took the bag by two upper corners and pulled those apart very slowly.

It split neatly down the middle. Not a protection, Aryl realized. The covering had served as identification.

What lay exposed caught the flickering light from the flames on the other tables, caught it and reflected it everywhere.

Aryl drew back, disappointed. It appeared to be a device, hardly larger than the force blade hidden in her pocket, shaped to be held in a hand and pointed. The reflections were from crystals stuck all over it. It looked like the ornaments worn by the Humans in the bar below.

She kept her opinion to herself. The Humans were transfixed by the thing, their mouths slightly open, eyes dilated. They found value in it; that was what mattered.

“Is this the right price?” Naryn asked, her voice low and soft.

“Price?” KaeCee tore his eyes from the object and visibly collected himself. “I admit to some interest. What do you want for it?”

“Wait there, KaeCee!” Louli bristled. “This is my deal. You’re here to authenticate the value, not push me gone.”

“And where could you go to sell Hoveny artifacts, except to me?”

“Hoveny.” The word might have had taste, the way Louli sa vored it. “I knew you weren’t wasting our time, Enris Friend.”

She was too confident. Too calm. Something wasn’t right. Aryl tensed. Naryn!

I know what I’m doing. “What we want is a home for our people.”

“I told them about Lynn,” Louli said quickly. “Seemed to suit.”

“The Towers?” Blue eyebrows rose. “Aiming pretty high.”

“We can arrange our own transport. We would want to move as quickly as possible. Tonight, if possible.”

KaeCee gestured to the artifact. “For this, I could maybe get the five of you rooms in a Sun Layer resort. Best service in Norval. Say for a week. But a Tower?”

“That’s only a sample,” Naryn assured him, her hair rising on her shoulders. “The least of what we have to trade. Everything is Triad sealed and authenticated.”

His eyes followed her hair. “I’m sure we can do business, Femmine.”

Reading Human expressions was not, Aryl would be the first to admit, like reading M’hiray emotion. But there was something ominous in Louli’s small, tight smile.

Then, she knew. “What have you done?” she demanded. “While you wasted our time, what have you done?”

The smile widened. “My dancing boys report to me first, Aryl of the Clan. I know you came up from the deep. Likely the Buried Theater. Your people are down there? Well, so are mine. Those are my artifacts now—or they will be very soon.”

Gijs and his scouts have been following some intruders. Haxel’s matching smile was even colder. “Did you think we wouldn’t be watching?”

“What I think is that sample of Clan blood I took means my people can take out yours with no risk at all. Don’t worry. It’ll be quick. I don’t waste time.”

BEWARE! Naryn drove the warning through the M’hir. GO! Aryl sent into its echo.

Haxel, Enris, and Worin disappeared, leaving them to deal with the Humans.

“Neat trick,” KaeCee commented, his voice almost steady. “What was that? Projected illusion? I’d like to see the specs. I could have a buyer.”

Dangerous indeed. “It’s Clan,” Aryl said warningly. She brought out the force blade and thumbed it on as Gurdo had demonstrated.

Louli had been backing away. Now she leaped forward to snatch the glittering artifact from the table. Aryl swept the force blade down as she would a knife . . .

Only to have Louli’s arms come apart before the line of force touched them. Not only her arms, but her chest and legs and shoulders!

Every piece snapped neatly away from the others, where the differing fabric met. Once apart, they landed on the floor and sprouted fleshy limbs. They scurried in various directions, ran around legs and circled back to dive under the one table. “What is that—them!?” Naryn demanded with a horror Aryl shared.

“Assembler,” the Human informed them. “Did you think she was Human?”