But in the years till then, life would be very dangerous. Like a newborn pup, all their potential could be destroyed by one small blow. The Movement's survival — the world's survival — would depend upon superior intelligence, imagination, discipline, and treachery. Fortunately, those had always been Steel's great strengths.

Steel dreamed in the candlelight and haze… Intelligence, imagination, discipline, treachery. Done right… could the aliens be persuaded to eliminate all of Steel's enemies… and then bare their throats to him? It was daring, almost beyond reason, but there might be a way. Jefri claimed he could operate the ship's signaler. By himself? Steel doubted it. The alien was thoroughly duped, but not especially competent. Amdiranifani was a different story. He was showing all the genius of his bloodlines. And the principles of loyalty and sacrifice his teachers drilled into him had taken hold, though he was a bit… playful. His obedience didn't have the sharp edge that fear could bring. No matter. As a tool he was useful beyond all others. Amdiranifani understood Jefri, and seemed to understand the alien artifacts even better than the mantis did.

The risk must be taken. He would let the two aboard the ship. They would send his message in place of the automatic distress signal. And what should that first message be? Word for word, it would be the most important, most dangerous thing any pack had ever said.

Three hundred yards away, deep in the experiment wing, a boy and a pack of puppies came across an unexpected piece of good luck: an unlocked door, and a chance to play with Jefri's commset.

The phone was more complex than some. It was intended for hospital and field work, for the remote control of devices as well as for voice talk. By trial and error, the two gradually narrowed the options.

Jefri Olsndot pointed to numbers that had appeared on the side of the device. "I think that means we're matched with some receiver." He glanced nervously at the doorway. Something told him they really shouldn't be here.

"That's the same pattern as on the radio Mr. Steel took," said Amdi. Not even one of his heads was watching the door.

"I bet if we press it here, what we say will come out on his radio. Now he'll know we can help… So what should we do?"

Three of Amdi raced around the room, like dogs that couldn't keep their attention on the conversation. By now, Jefri knew this was the equivalent of a human looking away and humming as he thought. The angle of his gaze was another gesture, in this case a spreading and mischievous smile. "I think we should surprise him. He is always so serious."

"Yeah." Mr. Steel was pretty solemn. But then all the adults were. They reminded him of the older scientists at the High Lab.

Amdi grabbed the radio and gave him a "just watch this" look. He nosed on the "talk" switch and sang a long ululation into the mike. It sounded only vaguely like pack speech. One of Amdi translated, next to Jefri's ear. The human boy felt giggles stealing up his throat.

In his den, Lord Steel was lost in scheming. His imagination — loosed by herbs and brandy — floated free, playing with the possibilities. He was settled deep in velvet cushions, comfortable in the den's safety. The remaining candles shone faintly on the landscape mural, glinting from the polished furniture. The story he would tell the aliens, he almost had it now…

The noise on his desk began as a small thing, submerged beneath his dreaming. It was mostly low-pitched, but there were overtones in the range of thought, like slices of another mind. It was a presence, growing. Someone is in my den! The thought tore like Flenser's killing blade. Steel's members spasmed panic, disoriented by smoke and drink.

There was a voice in the middle of the insanity. It was distorted, missing tones that any normal speech should have. It howled and quavered at him, "Lord Steel! Greetings from the Pack of Packs, the Lord God Almighty!"

Part of Steel was already out the main hatch, staring wide-eyed at his guards in the hallway beyond. The troopers' presence brought a bit of calm, and icy embarrassment. This is nonsense. He tipped a head to the alien device on his desk. The echoes were everywhere, but the sounds originated in the far-talker… There was no pack speech now, just the high-pitched slices of sound, mindless warbling in the middle range of thought. Wait. Behind it all, faint and low… there were the coughing grunts he recognized as mantis laughter.

Steel rarely gave way to rage. It should be his tool, not his master. But listening to the laughter, and remembering the words… Steel felt black bloodiness rising in first one member and then another. Almost without thought, he reached back and smashed the commset. It fell instantly silent. He glared at the guards ranged at attention in the hallway. Their mind noise was quiet with stifled fear.

Someone would die for this.

Mr. Steel met with Amdi and Jefri the day after their success with the radio. They had convinced him. They were moving to the mainland. Jefri would have his chance to call for rescue!

Steel was even more solemn than usual; he made a big thing about how important it was to get help, to defend against another attack from the Woodcarvers. But he didn't seem angry about Amdi's little prank. Jefri breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Back home, Daddy would have tanned his hide for something like that. I guess Amdi is right. Mr. Steel was serious because of all his responsibilities and the dangers they faced. But underneath he was a very nice person.

— =*=

Crypto: 0

As received by: Transceiver Relay03 at Relay

Language path: Firetongue-»Cloudmark-»Triskweline, SjK units

[Firetongue and Cloudmark are High Beyond trade languages. Only core meaning is rendered by this translation.]

From: Arbitration Arts Corporation at Firecloud Nebula [A High Beyond military[?] organization. Known age ~100 years]

Subject: Reason for concern

Summary: Three single-system civilizations are apparently destroyed

Key phrases: scale interstellar disasters, scale interstellar warfare?, Straumli Realm Perversion

Distribution:

War Trackers Interest Group, Threats Interest Group, Homo Sapiens Interest Group

Date: 53.57 days since the fall of Straumli Realm

Text of message:

Recently an obscure civilization announced it had created a new Power in the Transcend. It then dropped "temporarily" off the Known Net. Since that time, there have been about a million messages in Threats about the incident — plenty of speculations that a Class Two Perversion had been born — but no evidence of effects beyond the boundaries of the former "Straumli Realm".

Arbitration Arts specializes in treckle lansing disputes. As such, we have few common business interests with natural races or Threats Group. That may have to change: sixty-five hours ago, we noticed the apparent extinction of three isolated civilizations in the High Beyond near Straumli Realm. Two of these were Eye-in-the-U religious probes, and the third was a Pentragian factory. Previously their main Net link had been Straumli Realm. As such, they have been off the Net since Straumli dropped, except for occasional pinging from us.

We diverted three missions to perform fly-throughs. Signal reconnaissance revealed wideband communication that was more like neural control than local net traffic. Several new large structures were noted. All our vessels were destroyed before detailed information could be returned. Given the background of these settlements, we conclude that this is not the normal aftermath of a transcending.

These observations are consistent with a Class Two attack from the Transcend (albeit a secretive one). The most obvious source would be the new Power constructed by Straumli Realm. We urge special vigilance to all High Beyond civilizations in this part of the Beyond. We larger ones have little to fear, but the threat is very clear.