3-Endurance by S. L. Viehl

Author:S. L. Viehl
Language: vie
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: EBook Design Group digital edition v1, html April 2003
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

PART THREE: Inquisition

* * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Crying Chambers

« ^ »

If I’d known then to whom and where I was being taken, I wouldn’t have played the cooperative prisoner. But ignorance is temporary bliss, and all I felt as the centurons marched me through the corridors was a sort of numb relief. Whoever SrrokVar was, I thought, he wouldn’t let FlatHead do anything out of line to me.

Not all the Hsktskt were pitiless sadists.

We walked past the slave tiers and through a connecting passage to another, remote structure—the one the trustees said was guarded around the clock. The two lizards posted at the entrance panel never permitted prisoners past that point, or so I’d been told.

A gesture from GothVar made one of the guards open the panel.

Inside was an area filled with strange-looking equipment. Some I recognized—examination and dissection tables. Electroniscopic scanners. A full forensic analyzer array. Was this the Hsktskt version of a morgue?

I had the feeling I wasn’t here to perform an autopsy.

The main enclosure branched off into smaller, closed-panel corridors. Since the panels were closed and locked down, I couldn’t tell what lay behind them. Odd stains patterned the transparent floor, due to the conspicuous absence of the efficient Lok-Teel blobs. Never a mold around when you needed one. They’d have scrubbed every surface to a pristine clarity. The faint odor of urine, feces, and blood reached my nose, and made an internal alarm go off.

Cherijo, this is not going to be fun.

Standing in the center of the consoles and rigging was the strange Hsktskt who’d been with FlatHead when he’d branded me with the hand-laser. He was dressed in a fluid-proof garment that vaguely reminded me of surgical gear.

“Dr. Torin.” The Hsktskt’s tail appendage curled up, then down. Probably what he thought of as a bow. Or he needed to use the lavatory. “I am Lord SrrokVar.”

Which meant he was only a step below TssVar in the ranks. “Hello.” I made a show of gazing around me. “Nice place you have here.”

“I am pleased you think so.” To the guards, he said, “You may leave us now.”

FlatHead gave me a pointed snarl, then ushered the centurons out of the chamber. Why I wanted to yell for them to come back baffled me.

“I’m gratified we will have the opportunity to become better acquainted.”

Maybe it was the way SrrokVar was studying me. Like I was a small, tasty hors d’oeuvre. Or maybe it was that for a Hsktskt, he was extremely erudite. The whole package gave me the creeps.

“Does OverMaster HalaVar know about this… visit?” It didn’t hurt to throw Reever’s name in the ring. Just in case Mr. Erudite intended more than a getting-to-know-you session.

“If he knew you were helping slaves escape, HalaVar would have you placed in permanent solitary confinement.”

There was that. “I didn’t help anyone escape, Lord SrrokVar. I tried to explain that to the OverCenturon, but”—I lifted my shoulders and rolled my eyes— “GothVar is not exactly fond of Terrans.”

“Only too prevalent an opinion among my kind, I fear.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.