Acorna 07 - Acorna's Triumph by Anne McCaffrey

Author:Anne McCaffrey
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

"Captain, we have an urgent message on the com unit."

Mac announced.

Acorna and her fellow Linyaari were hauling huge sheaves of grasses and flowers harvested from the Balakilre's onboard gardens.

Mac, Rafik, and Becker brought out the meager stores of human food remaining on the Condor and four large bags of cat food. RK danced around the bags nervously, as if trying to guard them all at once.

Mac continued. "Chief Security Officer Aziza Amunpul reports that our stones are definitely in the process of being tampered with. She inquires whether or not she and her crew should attempt to detain the suspects."

"You didn't go near the bridge when you picked up your load of cat food, Mac. How do you know all this? Don't tell me you're establishing mental communication with the hardware on the Condor."

"No, Captain. I will not tell you that. However, I do have a surprise for you." He opened the top of his uniform and pressed a spot where a navel might be found on a human being. Aziza's anxious face spread across his chest. "You see? I have installed a portable com unit modification. I thought it might be useful for just such situations as the one in which we presently find ourselves. Away from the ship when an important message comes in, that is."

"Mac, you're going to have to add about a foot to your height and get bigger around if you're going to have room on yourself for all those modifications," Becker said. Rafik was already earnestly in conversation with Mac's electronic belly button.

"How far are they from your position, Aziza?"

The dancer, frowning with concentration, gave him the coordinates. "That makes them about the same distance from us as you are, but coming from the opposite direction."

"Stay put. We're on our way," Rafik told her.

"We can't just leave these people here with four bags of cat food and a hank of grass," Becker said. "The way Aari talked, he ought to be back by now."

"He may not return at all, Captain," Acorna said. "The creature who just promised to save these people isn't Aari."

"You could have fooled me," Becker said.

"And all of us as well," Neeva told him. "But we just ran the DNA and checked it against Aari's. That's not him."

"It's Grimalkin," Acorna said. "At least, I'm pretty sure it is."

"Where's Aari, then?"

"I'd like to know that myself," Acorna said. "I'm hoping he was also on board the ship my parents came on, but there's certainly been no evidence of that. If he was there, why wouldn't he let us know? I'm afraid that I believe that Grimalkin wasn't leaving in order to help us feed these people. I think that he left because he knew he was about to be caught out as an impostor. He has a lot of explaining to do, but I suppose answering questions right now didn't fit in with his plans."

"All I can say is he picked a lousy time to turn out to be somebody else," Becker growled.

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