“You’re a fucking liar!” Xairn grabbed for him again and this time the second Blix wasn’t fast enough to evade the enraged Scourge. He struggled as Xairn gripped him by the throat and squeezed. “Bring me Lauren now!” It was a deafening, full throated roar that echoed through the stone walled parking area. Watching, Lauren saw his eyes flash briefly from blue-green to the familiar red-on-black she knew so well. God, was his Scourge DNA reasserting itself already? Slk had warned that an extreme emotional reaction might trigger the change. Was he—?
Suddenly Blix shivered in Xairn’s big hand and then divided neatly in two. The second—or actually the third Blix, Lauren supposed—stepped to one side and shook his head. “Now, now, Xairn—there’s no need to resort to violence. We should settle this sensibly.”
“I believe you should settle it legally.” There was a sudden commotion among the milling clones and then Slk came into view, his tentacles whispering over the stone floor. “I thought you might be up to something unsavory when you contacted me so quickly to buy Lauren’s blood.”
Xairn turned on the alien geneticist. “You bastard! You knew about this?”
All three of Slk’s vertical eyes blinked slowly. “I suspected. Which is why I brought an arbitrator to judge.” He nodded behind him and Lauren watched in amazement as the huge, purple tree-like being which she had seen in the O’ah marketplace came gliding up.
“I am the Judge of the Market where this transaction first took place.” Its voice was like the creaking of an old oak in the wind and its eyes and mouth looked like the knots in the bark of an ancient tree. “Present the facts to me.”
At last Blix began to look worried. “Oh, great Judge of the Market,” he began, licking his lips nervously. “We are so honored by your presence among us today. If you will be pleased to listen—”
“I will be pleased to listen to nothing but the truth!” The Judge’s voice crackled with anger and above its head, the bare purple branches suddenly burst into pale blue flames.
Lauren would have gasped if she could have gotten enough breath to do so. The flickering pale blue light illuminated the dark parking area and cast an eerie glow over everything. She tried to remember what Xairn had told her about the purple tree being. He is a Quinlow—they carry the power of life and death in their hands. As she thought it, the tree-being raised its stumpy, branch-like arms which ended in two long-fingered hands. The fingers looked like twigs that had been set on fire—they two glowed with the deadly, pale blue flames.
Blix gasped and jumped back. “Your Eminence! I—”
“Your pardon, Judge of the Market,” Xairn interrupted him, bowing briefly. “The facts of the matter are this: While I was away bargaining with Slk for a DNA alteration, this thought thief tricked his way aboard my ship and deceived my female into dealing with him. His intention was to take her for a splice whore. He gave her expensive clothing which he claimed was a gift in return for what he believed to be worthless food cubes.”
“But they were worthless!” the Blix whose throat he wasn’t squeezing protested. “They were defective!”
Xairn glared at him. “Prove it.”
Blix shrugged uneasily. “I cannot. I threw them away, of course—I don’t keep useless things around. What would be the point?”
“The point is that food cubes containing grieza worms are more than equal to the cost of the clothes you gave Lauren. Which we gave back,” Xairn said.
“But she did not return the slippers I traded to her,” Blix remarked triumphantly. “And those were worth a fortune—more than your ship at least.”
“But not more than Lauren’s life,” Xairn growled. “She is priceless—nothing you can do or say or offer will convince me to give her up.” He looked at the tree-being. “I appeal to you to rectify this injustice, oh Judge. The Spider has captured my female and is holding her somewhere near. He thought to confuse me with seed clones but none of these are the real Lauren.” He gestured to the milling clones who were standing around in groups of two and three watching the proceedings vacantly.
“An injustice has indeed been done.” The Judge’s branches and twig-like fingers burned even brighter. “Grieza worms are a delicacy prized the universe over and are worth more than whatever garments were given. Unless Blix the Spider can produce the cubes and prove that they are defective, the Scourge’s female shall be returned to him. At Once.”
“Very well. Very well.” The third Blix backed away, rubbing his hands together nervously. “Send her out,” he called. “Send out the true female—no more clones.”