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had enveloped the office.  I d say that explains it pretty plainly. Under the direction of a trio of armed
officers who had arrived in response to an emergency call from a member of the staff, the surviving
assassin was secured and hauled away, facedown, long arms bound behind him.
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Matthias restrained one officer briefly.  If you can, find out if they are acting alone or, if not, who sent
them. They could be acting on behalf of a clan, a family, a single fanatical Yuiqueru, or someone else. Or
they might have decided to do this on their own. Her expression contorted as she watched the bound
assassin being removed from the room.  The extremists extremist.
 Don t worry, Administrator. The officer s face was flushed with anger.  We ll get the answer out of
him. If we have to, we ll just turn him over to some of the local Deyzara who ve lost loved ones in the
uprising.
 No, she replied firmly.  This doesn t involve the Deyzara. Do what you can, but do it properly,
following prescribed procedure.
The officer was visibly disappointed.  As you wish, ma am. Turning, he hurried off in pursuit of his
colleagues.
Walking back to Harriman s desk, she resumed her seat.  We were going over arrival projections for
the next week, I believe.
Lips parted, Harriman slowly sat down in her own chair.  Are you sure you want to continue with this,
Lauren? We can pick it up anytime. Don t you want to go home, or at least back to your own office, and
get some rest?
 No, I m fine, she insisted, straightening the upper half of her jumpsuit beneath the rain cape.  I played
a lot of competition contact sports when I was younger.
 You took that Sakuntala right down. Harriman did not try to disguise the admiration she felt for her
superior.
 Once I saw the gun starting to come out, I didn t have any choice except to get right in the middle of
him. He was ready for me to run or try to dodge, not attack. Smiling, she patted her right hip.  Nice to
know a low center of gravity is good for something. With a hand, she gestured at the projection that still
hovered, undisturbed, above the center of the desk.  Let s get on with it. Harriman did not see the
administrator s other hand. Lying out of sight in her lap, it was shaking badly.
It didn t occur to Matthias, more rattled than she would have admitted, to try to suppress the news of
the attempted assassination. As a result, it was all over the port and then the rest of Taulau within a
couple of hours. The Hata High Chief Naneci-tok came as soon as she heard the news. She arrived
alone, Matthias noted, without an escort, braving the derogatory and abusive hooting of the Deyzara
refugees massed outside the Port Administration center.
 I heard what happened. As Naneci-tok spoke, Matthias was ashamed of herself for reflexively noting
the position of the Sakuntala s ears. Both faced outward, to the sides.  This a terrible thing, terrible!
 It was that, Matthias agreed as she took leave of Harriman and Port Administration.  But it s over,
and no one was hurt. Except the one attacker who was shot, of course.
Together they exited the double door that was designed to keep out rain as well as excessive heat and
humidity, not potential killers. In light of the attempt on her life, the procedure for native access, Matthias
knew, was one of the things that was going to have to be changed, perhaps permanently. That was not
how interspecies relations were advanced, she knew, but under the circumstances she saw no alternative.
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Outside, with her hood up and the rain coming down steadily around them, they headed for the small
personal skimmer that would convey them back to her office.  If the radicals now feel confident enough
to target humans as well as Deyzara, it shows that this uprising has moved into a new and far more
dangerous stage.
 May only be a few crazies. Naneci-tok spoke thoughtfully as droplets coursed down her slender form,
hanging momentarily from the tips of her body strappings and fur before falling to the tarmac.  May have
decided to do this dreadful thing without Hata or clan approval. Piercing eyes met her own.  I ask, as
Hata for Taulau territory, that you only warn your people about what has happened. Ordering payback
will only make situation worse.
Matthias could not conceal her surprise.  I had no intention of ordering a reprisal. Even as she replied,
it struck her that Naneci-tok was speaking, albeit in terranglo, as if to a fellow Sakuntala. Among her
people, given what had just taken place inside the port building, instant reprisal would have been the
order of the day.
 That s not how the Commonwealth works, she explained.  We have advanced beyond such things.
At least, government policy had, she knew. The actions of individuals were something else again.
 That good to know. I will see to it that all Hatas are so enlightened. It will help.
Matthias s skimmer was parked on the other side of a single covered walkway beneath the open
overhang that fronted the nearest maintenance-and-storage hangar. As they approached, a quartet of
thick-beaked kolari spread perforated leathery wings and glided down toward the water. The holes in
their wings allowed them to sieve away rain that would otherwise have weighed them down and rendered
flight a more arduous proposition.
Every creature on Fluva, Matthias reflected, had evolved its own method of dealing with the constant
rain, some of them unique and found nowhere else. She was particularly taken with the blind jilp, to
whom Jack had introduced her soon after their arrival. Standing motionless out in the heaviest
downpours, the jilp thrived in and relied on steady rain for its survival. Clusters of the harmless, attractive,
knee-high russet- and pink-colored browsers could be seen standing with the flowerlike orifices that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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