Read Online Star Trek by Kevin Killiany - Free Book Online

darkness.
    With a start Corsi came back to herself in the middle of the crowded corridor. She realized she’d missed the last thing Copper had said to her.
    â€œI’m sorry?” she said. “I didn’t understand.”
    Better than “I wasn’t paying attention.”
    â€œWe want to know,” Copper said patiently, “why are you killing the K’k’tict?”

Chapter
10
    I t was by Pattie’s estimation midday when Solal returned. He apparently took her earlier invitation to heart, pulling a chair from a nearby desk along with him. He had what was evidently his own lunch, biscuits with small slabs of a cheese-like substance, and a variety of local greenery in a bag.
    â€œI’m trying to get you to eat,” he explained, the combadge in his breast pocket chorusing its translation.
    Pattie nodded, understanding the cover story. If she couldn’t convince him to give her the combadge, she was going to have to teach him how to turn it off. If it started speaking Nasat when one of Solal’s supervisors was around…
    She had remained in the packing crate all morning, venturing out only to retrieve the bowl of distilled water Solal had left on his way out to do whatever chores had been assigned.
    Three others of his species had worked in the menagerie for brief periods or simply walked through, apparently on rounds of some sort. Two of the strangers had been clearly female, their body shapes confirming Pattie’s theory the invaders were mammals.
    And they were invaders. Perhaps it was just her response to the knowledge they killed what they considered talking animals, but just as she knew Solal’s people were not native to Zhatyra II, she knew their purpose here was not good.
    While hiding in her packing crate, Pattie had given some thought on how best to go about pumping Solal for information. She’d decided her initial tactic of friendly interest had been wise. That he classified her as an animal worked to her advantage in that he evidently did not regard her as a threat—which did not bode well for any “talking animals” his people had encountered—and that he seemed genuinely fond of all animals.
    From what she had seen of the others, she thought her estimate of his youth was also valid. If their social hierarchy mirrored most humanoids’—and if their operation on Zhatyra II was far enough along for secondary support personnel to be on site—he might not be the brightest example of his species as well—though she didn’t want to make the mistake of counting too heavily on that.
    â€œHow do beings from beyond the sky come to be on the ground?” she asked, taking control of the conversation as quickly as possible.
    â€œWe come from Smau, a world like this one, only prettier,” Solal explained. “Not so green. We fly into the sky with sleds. We travel for many days and then glide down to land here, on New Smau.”
    Electromagnetic rail sleds to launch their vehicles and gliders to land. Both fit her theory. Both also meant all of the Smau-folk on Zhatyra II had made a one-way journey.
    Significant was Solal’s matter-of-fact presentation. He expected an “animal” native to this world to understand interplanetary travel, agree that a world “less green” than this would be preferable, and accept the idea its home was now “New Smau.” Absolutely no evidence of the concept of native rights, or even native people, entered into his reasoning at all.
    Chance may have placed her at the mercy of the kindest of the invading monsters, but he was a monster nonetheless.
    She was interested in Smau technology, but could think of no way to inquire without revealing a higher level of understanding than a talking animal should have. Also questions about the Smau-folks’ purpose on “New Smau” might overemphasize their keeper/keepee relationship. She focused instead on playing