"Stay back!" he yelled at them, and in his sparse Samnorsk, "Danger! Stay back!" Amdi paused, but the Two-Legs kept coming. Two soldier packs scattered out of his way. They had standing orders: never touch the alien. Another second and the careful work of a year would be destroyed. Another second and Steel might lose the world — all on account of stupidity and bad luck.

But even as his back members were shouting at the Two Legs, his forward ones leaped atop a pile of stone. He pointed at the teams coming out of the trench. "Kill the invaders!"

His personal guards moved close around him as Shreck and several troopers streamed by. Steel's consciousness sagged in the bloody noise. This was not the controlled mayhem of experiments beneath Hidden Island. This was random death flying in all directions: arrows, spears, mattocks. Members of the digger team ran about, flailing and crying. They never had a chance, but they killed a number of others in their dying.

Steel backed away from the melee, toward Jefri. The Two-Legs was still running toward him. Amdi followed, shouting in Samnorsk. A single mindless team member, a single misaimed arrow, and the Two-Legs would die and all would be lost. Never in his life had Steel felt such panic for the safety of another. He raced to the human, surrounding him. The Two-Legs fell to his knees and grabbed Steel by a neck. Only a lifetime of discipline kept Steel from slashing back: the alien wasn't attacking, he was hugging.

The digger team was almost all dead now, and Shreck had pushed the surviving members too far away to be a threat. Steel's guards were securely around him only five or ten yards away. Amdi was all clumped together, cowering in the mind noise, but still shouting to Jefri. Steel tried to untangle himself from the human, but Jefri just grabbed one neck after another, sometimes two at a time. He was making burbling noises that didn't sound like Samnorsk. Steel trembled under the assault. Don't show the revulsion. The human would not recognize it, but Amdi might. Jefri had done this before, and Steel had taken advantage even though it cost him. The mantis child needed physical contact; it was the basis for the relationship between Amdi and Jefri. Similar trust must come from letting this thing touch him. Steel slid a head and neck across the creature's back the way he had seen parents do with pups down in the dungeon laboratories. Jefri hugged him harder, and swept his long articulate paws across Steel's pelt. Revulsion aside, it was a very strange experience. Ordinarily such close contact with another intelligent being could only come in battle or in sex — and in either case, there wasn't much room for rational thought. But with this human — well, the creature responded with obvious intelligence — but there wasn't a trace of mind noise. You could think and feel both at the same time. Steel bit down on a lip, trying to stifle his shivering. It was

… it was like having sex with a corpse.

Finally Jefri stepped back, holding his hand up. He said something very fast, and Amdi said, "Oh Lord Steel, you're hurt. See the blood." There was red on the human's paw; Steel looked at himself. Sure enough, one rump had taken a nick. He hadn't even felt it till now. Steel backed away from the mantis and said to Amdi, "It's nothing. Are you and Jefri unhurt?"

There was a rattling exchange between the two children, almost unintelligible to Steel. "We're fine. Thank you for protecting us."

Fast thinking was something that Flenser had carved into Steel with knives: "Yes. But it never should have happened. The Woodcarvers disguised themselves as workers. I think they've been at this for days waiting for a chance at you. When we guessed the fraud, it was almost too late… You should really have stayed inside when you heard the fighting."

Amdi hung his heads ashamedly, and translated to Jefri. "We're sorry. We got excited, and t-then we thought you might get hurt."

Steel made comforting noises. At the same time, two of him looked around at the carnage. Where was the whitejackets that had deserted the stairs right at the beginning? That pack would pay — His line of thought crashed to a halt as he noticed: Tyrathect. The Flenser Fragment was watching from the meeting hall. Now that he thought about it, he'd been watching since right after the battle began. To others his posture might seem impassive, but Steel could see the grim amusement in the Fragment's expression. He nodded briefly at the other, but inside Steel cringed; he had been so close to losing everything… and the Flenser had noticed.

"Well let's get you two back to Hidden Island." He signaled to the keepers that had come up behind the starship.

"Not yet, Lord Steel!" said Amdi, "We just got here. A reply from Ravna should arrive very soon."

Teeth grated, but out of sight of the children. "Yes, please do stay. But we'll all be more careful now, right?"

"Yes, yes!" Amdi explained to the human. Steel stood forelegs-on-shoulders and patted Jefri on the head.

Steel had Shreck take the children back into the compound. Till they were out of sight, all his members looked on with an expression of pride and affection. Then he turned and walked across the pinkish mud. Where was that stupid whitejackets?

The meeting hall on Starship Hill was a small, temporary thing. It had been good enough to keep the cold out during the winter, but for a conference of more than three people it was a real madhouse. Steel stomped past the Flenser Fragment and collected himself on the loft with the best view of the construction. After a polite moment, Tyrathect entered and climbed to the facing loft.

But all the decorum was an act for the groundlings outside; now Flenser's soft laughter hissed across the air to him, just loud enough for him to hear. "Dear Steel. Sometimes I wonder if you are truly my student… or perhaps some changeling inserted after my departure. Are you trying to screw us up?"

Steel glared back. He was sure there was no uneasiness in his posture; all that was held within. "Accidents happen. The incompetents will be culled."

"Quite so. But that appears to be your response to all problems. If you hadn't been so bent on silencing the digger teams, they might not have rioted… and you would have had one less 'accident'."

"The flaw was in their guessing. Such executions are a necessary part of military construction."

"Oh? You really think I had to kill all those who built the halls under Hidden Island?"

"What? You mean you didn't? How -?"

The Flenser Fragment smiled the old, fanged smile. "Think on it, Steel. An exercise."

Steel arranged his notes on the desk and pretended to study them. Then all of him looked back at the other pack. "Tyrathect. I honor you because of the Flenser in you. But remember: You survive on my sufferance. You are not the Flenser-in-Waiting." The news had come late last fall, just before winter closed the last pass over the Icefangs: The packs bearing the rest of the Master hadn't made it out of Parliament Bowl. The fullness of Flenser was gone forever. That had been an indescribable relief to Steel, and for a time afterward the Fragment had been quite tractable. "Not one of my lieutenants would blink if I killed all of you — even the Flenser members." And I'll do it, if you push me hard enough, I swear I will.

"Of course, dear Steel. You command."

For an instant the other's fear showed through. Remember, Steel thought to himself, always remember: This is just a fragment of the Master. Most of it is a little school teacher, not the Great Teacher with a Knife. True, its two Flenser members totally dominated the pack. The spirit of the Master was right here in this room, but gentled. Tyrathect could be managed, and the power of the Master used for Steel's ends.

"Good," Steel said smoothly. "As long as you understand this, you can be of great use to the Movement. In particular," he riffled through the papers, "I want to review the Visitor situation with you." I want some advice.