Playing God(64)

“Dayisen Umat, Dayisen Lareet!” He flipped the reverse switch and eased his power off so the boat pulled in slowly, if clumsily, to the dock. Lareet shook her head and jumped down into the boat. She shooed him off the tiller. Arron let himself be replaced and handed a rope up to Umat so she could tie them off.

“Ten years, Scholar Arron, and you have not learned you cannot properly work a boat alone.” Lareet flicked her ears at him as she shut off the engine. “I despair.”

“Well, you were a bit busy this morning, my Sisters.” He gave Umat his hands, and she heaved him up onto the dock. “How goes the preparatory wave?”

Lareet handed him his backpack and climbed onto the dock beside him. “We have set the final roster…”

“After much heated debate in the Halls.” Lareet touched his shoulder, but she wasn't focused on him. Her ears leaned toward her sister.

Something was going on. Arron's gaze shifted from one sister to the other. Umat looked fine, but Lareet's face was smooth and tight with some inner worry.

“Scholar Arron, what did your employers have to say?” Lareet asked.

Arron shook his head and wrung his hands to simulate flapping ears. “I'm stripped from the rolls and have to find my own way home.” He bit down on his lip so hard he tasted blood. “Or, at least I will be soon, since I won't behave the way they want. So, from here on out, it's Hitchhiker Arron.” He slung his pack over one shoulder, stuck out his thumb, and waited for them to ask what he was talking about.

But he saw they weren't listening to him. The Dayisen Rual watched each other over the top of his head.

“All right.” Arron waved his arm. “You up there. What is going on?”

“An additional judgment was reached today that might interest you,” Lareet said, almost hesitantly.

“Indeed,” said Umat. “Your concern for our well-being, and your careful studies have not gone unnoticed.”

Lareet dipped her ears. “And it has been seen how ready you are to help us with the other Humans. So, an additional debate was introduced.”

“After which we were empowered to invite you to come with us,” concluded Umat triumphantly.

“What?” Arron blinked.

Lareet turned one ear toward her sister. “We are inviting you to relocate with us aboard the Ur and continue your studies of ourselves and our ways from there.”

Arron resisted the impulse to let his jaw drop. “Dayisen Umat, Dayisen Lareet, I thank you with all my soul, but…” He searched for the right Getesaph words. “You… your members do understand that I still regard this relocation as a mistake?”

“It has been made quite clear to them, and to us, yes,” said Lareet solemnly. “We hoped you would want to stay with us and find out if you were right.”

“But,” he sputtered, unwilling to believe what was happening, “my employers stripped me from their rolls because of how I spoke against the relocation. I have no way to pay Bioverse for my maintenance.”

Lareet slapped the side of his helmet lightly. “Do you think our employers intended you should labor like a slave for our benefit without compensation?”

“Trust us, Scholar Arron,” said Umat. “Bioverse has been spoken to. We have claimed you as a sister, and your salary will enable you to live on the ships and on the ground, should you still be with us when we are returned.”

“It will probably be necessary for you to make your home in the Human quarters, but that should not cause you hardship.” Lareet's voice was full of satisfaction. “What do you have to say about all this, Scholar Arron?”

Arron's chest swelled, but at the same time his throat tightened. It's not over! he crowed in the back of his mind.

“I say thank you, my Sisters.” He took their hands. “I will gladly come with you.”


“Well, my Sister,” sighed Lareet as they picked their way down the narrow avenue. “I think that was the finest batch of lies we ever told Scholar Arron, don't you?”

“We did not lie.” Umat shook her elbow. “We asked straight-out would he come with us, and he said yes.”

The skin on Lareet's upper arms rolled. The street was too quiet. With twilight setting, it felt like the shadowy Dead quarter. “But we did not tell him why. A lie by omission is still a lie.”

Umat kicked a pile of dried weeds. “War requires your soul, Sister, not just your mouth. We need Scholar Arron. He can help us understand Human engineering and thinking. If need be, he can make a valuable hostage.” Lareet opened her mouth again, but her sister silenced her. “He will help us, as soon as we explain it to him.”