Read Online Cobra Alliance-Cobra War Book 1 by Timothy Zahn - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Timothy Zahn
Tags: Science-Fiction
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in his voice. "Something wrong?" she asked.
"No, nothing." Merrick nodded in the direction the spine leopard and mojo had gone. "I was just thinking that Qasaman birds seem to understand the concept of deterrence better than some of our own politicians."
"No argument there," Jin agreed sourly. "But then, mojos don't have political agendas muddying their thinking. All they care about is survival." She took a deep breath. "Which is something you and I should also keep in mind. Quietly, now. And from this point on, we speak only Qasaman."
The trip wasn't nearly as difficult as Jin had expected. There were plenty of natural hazards along the way, with the complete range of tripping vines, thorn bushes, and leaf-covered roots that a healthy forest had to offer. But their optical enhancers gave them fair warning of most of the pitfalls, and even when the forest did manage to trip one of them their bone laminae and strengthened ligaments protected them from sprained ankles or worse.
More interesting to Jin was the fact that the only animals that gave them any trouble along the way were the six-limbed monkey-like baelcra, the gliding-lizard monota, and a few varieties of annoying insects. They saw a handful of spine leopards and a couple of the native krisjaws, but those larger, more deadly predators merely watched the two humans go past without interfering with them.
But then, none of the baelcra had mojos watching over their best interests. All of the spine leopards and krisjaws did.
Jin and the Troft captain had worked out the landing place and time to give them about six hours of darkness in which to cover the thirty kilometers to Daulo's village. With the lack of serious predator problems, they made it in just over five, emerging beside the main road leading to the village's high wall and closed gate. The gate itself wasn't visible from their exit point, but a bit of the wall could be seen about half a kilometer away through the trees around the next curve in the road.
It would have been convenient if they could simply march up to the gates and knock. But that was out of the question. The last time Jin had been here few people traveled the Qasaman forest at night, and none of them outside of sturdy vehicles. That might have changed in the past three decades, but it wasn't a risk she wanted to take.
Instead, she and Merrick retreated fifty meters back into the forest and settled in to grab a few hours' rest, each taking a turn on watch.
It was midmorning when Jin decided it was time. Her enhanced hearing could pick up the faint sounds of activity from Milika's direction, and it took no enhancement at all to hear the vehicles passing along the nearby road. She and Merrick cleaned themselves up as best they could, then changed into their Qasaman clothing. Their half-empty packs went into a shallow hole that Merrick had spent an hour of his time on watch digging, which they then covered with a generous helping of dirt and dead leaves.
And with that, the final stage of their journey was before them. "Remember that men are very much the dominant gender here," Jin reminded her son as she gave his outfit a final check. "Naturally, you'll show respect to me as your mother, but you're the one who'll approach other citizens, who'll ask all the questions, and who'll make all the decisions. And don't forget the sign of respect."
"I won't," Merrick said, and Jin winced a little at the slightly strained patience in his voice. They'd only been over this a million times on the transport, but he was far too polite to remind her of that. "I make the sign first to superiors, and inferiors make it first to me." He touched his bunched fingertips to his forehead in demonstration.
"And you can assume that most of the people in there will be our superiors," Jin said. She paused, searching for anything she might have missed. But nothing came to mind, at least nothing she hadn't already told him another million times already. "Okay," she
"No, nothing." Merrick nodded in the direction the spine leopard and mojo had gone. "I was just thinking that Qasaman birds seem to understand the concept of deterrence better than some of our own politicians."
"No argument there," Jin agreed sourly. "But then, mojos don't have political agendas muddying their thinking. All they care about is survival." She took a deep breath. "Which is something you and I should also keep in mind. Quietly, now. And from this point on, we speak only Qasaman."
The trip wasn't nearly as difficult as Jin had expected. There were plenty of natural hazards along the way, with the complete range of tripping vines, thorn bushes, and leaf-covered roots that a healthy forest had to offer. But their optical enhancers gave them fair warning of most of the pitfalls, and even when the forest did manage to trip one of them their bone laminae and strengthened ligaments protected them from sprained ankles or worse.
More interesting to Jin was the fact that the only animals that gave them any trouble along the way were the six-limbed monkey-like baelcra, the gliding-lizard monota, and a few varieties of annoying insects. They saw a handful of spine leopards and a couple of the native krisjaws, but those larger, more deadly predators merely watched the two humans go past without interfering with them.
But then, none of the baelcra had mojos watching over their best interests. All of the spine leopards and krisjaws did.
Jin and the Troft captain had worked out the landing place and time to give them about six hours of darkness in which to cover the thirty kilometers to Daulo's village. With the lack of serious predator problems, they made it in just over five, emerging beside the main road leading to the village's high wall and closed gate. The gate itself wasn't visible from their exit point, but a bit of the wall could be seen about half a kilometer away through the trees around the next curve in the road.
It would have been convenient if they could simply march up to the gates and knock. But that was out of the question. The last time Jin had been here few people traveled the Qasaman forest at night, and none of them outside of sturdy vehicles. That might have changed in the past three decades, but it wasn't a risk she wanted to take.
Instead, she and Merrick retreated fifty meters back into the forest and settled in to grab a few hours' rest, each taking a turn on watch.
It was midmorning when Jin decided it was time. Her enhanced hearing could pick up the faint sounds of activity from Milika's direction, and it took no enhancement at all to hear the vehicles passing along the nearby road. She and Merrick cleaned themselves up as best they could, then changed into their Qasaman clothing. Their half-empty packs went into a shallow hole that Merrick had spent an hour of his time on watch digging, which they then covered with a generous helping of dirt and dead leaves.
And with that, the final stage of their journey was before them. "Remember that men are very much the dominant gender here," Jin reminded her son as she gave his outfit a final check. "Naturally, you'll show respect to me as your mother, but you're the one who'll approach other citizens, who'll ask all the questions, and who'll make all the decisions. And don't forget the sign of respect."
"I won't," Merrick said, and Jin winced a little at the slightly strained patience in his voice. They'd only been over this a million times on the transport, but he was far too polite to remind her of that. "I make the sign first to superiors, and inferiors make it first to me." He touched his bunched fingertips to his forehead in demonstration.
"And you can assume that most of the people in there will be our superiors," Jin said. She paused, searching for anything she might have missed. But nothing came to mind, at least nothing she hadn't already told him another million times already. "Okay," she
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