Dragon and Liberator

Most of the talking at the beginning was on Alison's side as she turned their forced idleness into an impromptu school. She taught Taneem everything she knew about the Advocatus Diaboli, about Neverlin and Frost and the Malison Ring, and more about Brummgas than anyone in the Orion Arm probably wanted to know. The lifepod they were in had some limited flight capability, and she spent one entire afternoon drilling Taneem on the theory and practice of space flight.

After that had come lectures on skulking, information gathering, and combat. Most of what Alison knew about the latter didn't directly apply to K'da, but she'd seen Draycos in action enough times to have some idea how he would deal with various combat situations.

Taneem didn't especially like that set of lessons. She didn't say anything, but Alison could tell. Taneem didn't like fighting, and the thought of possibly having to kill again made her sick.

But she also knew what was at stake. Whatever it took to save the K'da and Shontine refugees, she would do it.

Around the sixth day the lessons had mostly ended. Alison couldn't think of anything else to teach, and both of them were getting pretty tired of the seminars anyway.

After that, their conversations shifted to more personal matters. Alison told Taneem about her life growing up, while Taneem gave what little she could remember about her life as a Phooka.

By the ninth day, they'd run out of even minor things to talk about. Fortunately, the lifepod's equipment included a deck of cards, and Alison spent several relaxing hours teaching Taneem some of the games she and her parents and grandparents had enjoyed when she was a girl.

It was on the tenth day, and she was trying to come up with a way to modify the cards for some of the more specialized games she knew, when she heard the faint warbling of the ship's emergency alarm.

"What's that?" Taneem asked, bounding to her feet.

"Emergency alarm," Alison said grimly, stepping to the door and pressing her ear against the cold metal. She could hear the alarm itself more clearly, but there was no sign of the automated instructions that usually accompanied such an alert. "I don't hear any abandon-ship announcements," she told Taneem, digging out her receiver and turning it on. "Maybe Neverlin's got something to say on the subject."

She stuck the receiver into her ear as Taneem slithered up her sleeve onto her skin. "—want to get up here right away," Frost's voice came, soft and distant. Probably coming from the intercom on Neverlin's desk. "The Essenay

has just come off ECHO outside our sentry ring."

"Morgan?" Neverlin demanded. "How in blazes did he find us?"

"I don't know," Frost said grimly. "And it's not Jack Morgan. It's Virgil."

Alison frowned down at Taneem's head lying across her shoulder. Jack had told them that his uncle Virgil was dead.

"Really," Neverlin said. "After all these months of looking for him, he finally surfaces. And at the most awkward time and place possible. Interesting. What does he want?"

"He wants to talk to you," Frost said. "Shall I blow him out of the sky and be done with it?"

"By no means," Neverlin said, and Alison heard the soft creak of a chair. "Certainly not until we know how he found us. I'll be right there." There was the sound of a door opening and closing, and then silence.

"Blast," Alison muttered, pulling the receiver out of her ear. With the conversation shifting to the Advocates Diaboli's bridge, she and Taneem were now out of it.

"It can't really be Virgil Morgan, can it?" Taneem asked hesitantly.

"Not unless Jack lied to us," Alison said, gazing at the door. "Which I'm sure he'd do in a heartbeat if he thought it was necessary."

Taneem lifted her head from Alison's shoulder. "We need to listen in on that conversation."

"I dearly wish we could," Alison said. "Problem is, if we leave the lifepod now we're not getting back in without everyone knowing about it. Remember the seal on the door?"

"What if I simply go over the door?" Taneem suggested. "Or what if I went into an air duct? I think I remember seeing one running along the upper part of the corridor."

Alison looked at the top of the door. The K'da was right, come to think of it. There was a large duct running along both sides of the ship, designed to flood the lifepod boarding areas with air in a hull-breach emergency. "Problem with that is that once you're out there's no way to get in again," she pointed out.

"We have time to think of something," Taneem said firmly. "Right now, we need to find out who this man is and what he wants."

Alison chewed at her lip. It was risky, and they both knew it. Still, even if worst came to worst, it should merely mean moving her private timetable up by a few days. "All right," she said. "If you're game, let's try it."

"I am," Taneem said. "You'll need to get higher up against the wall."