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kill her and theWillow's crew. If the council jointly agreed to giveWillow its
orders, then the council would be branded non-sentient too. Next thing you
know, the League might ground our whole navy till the admirals were thrown out
on their asses. That's a very real threat, and the inner circle knows it."
She shook her head. "No, Edward, our noble leaders have a finely honed sense
of self-preservation; they'd never go far enough to bring the League down on
their heads. But a single admiral might if he or she had a big stake, keeping
the recruiters in business."
"Which admiral?" I asked.
"I don't know. One who can't leave New Earth anymore he or she is definitely
non-sentient. But that doesn't narrow down the possibilities. None of the high
admirals leave New Earth; they're all afraid of people conspiring against them
while they're gone."
"So you can't even make a guess who it is?" I was up on my elbow now, leaning
in over her. Her eyes opened wider, maybe surprised I was so concerned who it
might be. She just stared at me for a moment...
...and that's when I realized I was lying beside an admiral, a young woman
admiral, a very pretty young woman admiral, in the middle of a forest, in the
middle of the night. More than lyingbeside her, I was practically on top of
her, for heaven's sake.
That's also when Zeeleepull walked into the clearing. "Oh, you humes! Always
the sex, sex, sex."
19
FIGURING OUT WHO DID WHAT
I bounded to my feet, afraid my face was burning as red as Kaisho's legs.
Festina didn't look bothered at all; with an impish little smile, she actually
held out her hand for me to help her up.
She didn't need help getting up she probably could have done a backflip
straight to her feet. But she'd reached out her hand, and I had no choice
except taking it. Her skin felt so warm against mine... I had to force myself
not to give her a huge yank up, jerking her arm out of its socket or tossing
her halfway across the clearing. But I went very easy: pulled her up, then let
go of her hand fast. She smiled again, amused by my flusterment. "Thank you,"
she said, then turned to Zeeleepull. "Yes?"
Zeeleepull's ears were twitching in the Mandasar version of a
you-randy-old-humans laugh. But all he said was, "Tracked serial numbers
Kaisho has. Come. Come."
Festina gave me a look a mischievous sort of look, and for a second I thought
she might try to fluster me more, by taking my arm or something. But I guess
she decided teasing me would be mean. She told Zeeleepull, "All right. Let's
see what Kaisho's got." Then the three of us walked back in silence, little
puffbally things going pop under our feet.
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While we were gone, Kaisho had rearranged her hair. Now it completely covered
her face, not the tiniest gap down the middle; in fact, she'd grabbed the long
straight strands that'd been hanging down her back and flipped them up over
her forehead, so they covered her nose, chin, throat, all the way to her
chest. I didn't know how she could see a thing... but as we trudged up to her,
she said, "Festina dear, you're looking amused."
"Enjoying the fresh night air," Festina replied. "What have you found?"
Kaisho lifted her hand and ticked off points on her fingers. "The
communicator: still supposedly present and accounted for in a storehouse on
New Earth. The universal map: present and accounted for on Moglin. The
Bumbler: present and accounted for on He'Barr."
Festina wrinkled her forehead. "Three different storehouses, dozens of
light-years from each other. And dozens of light-years from Celestia too."
The two women nodded to each other, like it was obvious what was going on. I
tried to think it through myself. If the computer records said the Bumbler was
still on He'Barr, but it was right here crushed into the mud... then someone
had stolen the Bumbler and rigged the inventory computers to overlook the
discrepancy. That might mean a thief in the local Supply Corps; but you
wouldn't have three thieves at three different supply depots, all sending
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