Starstrike (Daw Book Collectors) by W. Michael Gear

Author:W. Michael Gear [Gear, W. Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 1990-07-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter XVIII

RashTak thrummed uncomfortably to himself as he looked at the three Ahimsa Overones. Their images formed one by one on the large Council Chamber holo monitor as the sophisticated communications system integrated interdimensional parallax from Ahimsa sources scattered over half the galaxy.

Dealing with Ahimsa made RashTak nervous. Ahimsa weren’t dangerous, but to the Pashti way of thinking, they’d assumed the same sort of venerable mantle humans tended to wrap around their more benevolent gods. From the beginning Ahimsa-Pashti relations had been colored by the constant Pashti preoccupation with inferiority. The feeling persisted, even after so many generations, that Pashti hadn’t quite overcome their barbarian roots—although the Ahimsa never mentioned it. RashTak now suffered through the same awkward self-consciousness that had plagued his people for so long. Valiantly, he tightened his vibrators and attempted to deaden his tingling nervous system—none of which was made any easier by the approach of the cycles.

“Greetings, Overones. Forgive this interruption; however, a Shitht, the great Chee’ee’la, recently arrived with most disturbing news. . . .” He went on to delineate the whole of Chee’ee’la’s message and explain Pashti concerns. When he finished, he clicked his pincers and folded them before his multi-mandibled jaws.

“There is nothing we can tell you,” Hurt answered summarily, thinning himself. Two brown-red eyes stared out from his extended eyestalks. His foot tread exhibited a jagged area—an ancient scar from some mishap beyond any Pashti’s memory—the healed wound from whence he gained his name.

Sees added, “We have seen nothing of Wide for over half of your planet, SkaTaAk’s, orbit around SkaHa. We knew he went off to study primitives and that he was preoccupied with some odd obsession.”

RashTak heard his vibrators clicking. “Odd obsession?”

“Some atavistic thing about Ahimsa reverting and retaking control of the physical world,” Low supplied. “Wide, unlike most Ahimsa, never seemed to notice the mystery of existence. He was too dogmatic about physical things. For example, he wanted to expose himself to alien atmospheres. Imagine, placing yourself at risk among strange savage life-forms! The very thought is incomprehensible.”

RashTak felt himself start to shiver and fought it, strangling the urge by using a mental scream to center his thoughts. With all the concern, his body had—in a metabolic sense—turned upside down and inside out. The cycles waited inexorably for him to slip, to relax for only a moment. Tentacles of their presence crept along his organs, only to be beaten back as he kept his mind on the Ahimsa and Homosapiens problem.

“Did Wide go off to study an interdicted species known as Homosapiens? Sometimes called human?” There, he’d laid it out in the open; RashTak centered his main eyes on the Ahimsa, watching their reactions.

“He did,” Hurt announced, leathery sides hardly falling. “I didn’t pay much attention. One moment, please, First Councillor.” Hurt quickly formed a manipulator and touched a comm console half visible in the holo. Seconds passed while RashTak reviewed the Ahimsa reaction. Whatever Wide had managed to get into, the rest of the Overones appeared oblivious, uninvolved.

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