“I can’t give a definite answer. All I can say is that we are the only ones here that we know of.”

“Logic demands that no fuller answer can be justified. I am sure that will be satisfactory. In fact—”

Rebka and the others in the group were no longer listening. Moving out behind the embodied computer and overshadowing him completely came three huge forms. The one in the middle was carrying Kallik, holding her upside down with two tentacles wrapped firmly around the abdomen, so that the gleaming yellow sting could not be employed. That alone was enough to leave Rebka gasping. No organism in the spiral arm should have been able to restrain an adult Hymenopt, one-on-one. But Kallik was not struggling. Her eyes were open, and one of her hind limbs was twisted at a peculiar angle. The cruel blue beak hovered close to the back of Kallik’s neck, ready to bite.

The other two Zardalu were carrying nothing but improvised clubs fashioned from the twisted exteriors of food containers. They were almost identical in appearance, except for the necklaces of round-mouthed pouches running around the body below the slitted mouths. In the Zardalu standing on the right, the pale-blue ovals within those pouches were far more prominent, bulging out far from the tight flesh.

The beak of the Zardalu in the center moved, to produce a high-pitched chittering sound. Kallik replied. There was another brief exchange of clicks and whistles.

“Hey, Kallik,” Nenda called.

The Hymenopt did not look at him. “E. C. Tally’s function as a messenger is now over,” she said woodenly. “He cannot communicate with the Zardalu, and he is regarded as expendable. He was sent here first as a decoy, in case a killing trap had been set up around this chamber. I can communicate with you, and also with the Zardalu. I will therefore be the interpreter for all subsequent messages. The leader of the Zardalu is the one who is holding me. She is to be identified for message purposes as Holder.”

“Son of a bitch,” Nenda whispered, just loud enough for Rebka to hear. “What have they done to her? That’s not my Kallik, the real Kallik.”

“They came here prepared for a fight,” Rebka said, just as softly. “Ten thousand years in stasis, and still they wake up ready to take on the universe. Watch what you do and say. We can’t afford to make one wrong move.”

“Tell me about it.”

The Zardalu on the left stretched out two of the pale-blue midbody tentacles and pulled E. C. Tally effortlessly back toward it. At the same moment, Kallik was turned in midair by the Zardalu that held her and placed on the ground in front of Louis Nenda. She stood favoring her twisted hind limb. The ring of bright black eyes in the Hymenopt’s round head stared up at him unblinking. Nenda nodded slowly. He did not speak.

“Holder knows that you are my former master,” Kallik said. “She orders me to tell you that I now serve Holder and Holder alone.”

Louis Nenda swallowed. Darya could see his jaw muscles clenching and unclenching. “I hear you,” he said at last. “Tell Holder that I received the message, and I understand it.”

“And ask Holder,” Rebka added, “what they want from us. Tell her that we are recent arrivals. We do not know our way around here. We do not know how to reach Speaker-Between, or any other inhabitant of this artifact.”

“Holder is aware of many of these things,” Kallik said, after another brief exchange with the Zardalu who stood behind her. The Hymenopt’s eyes flickered shut, one by one, in a curious pattern, before she continued. “She does not know Speaker-Between’s wishes, and she does not care. She and her companions have a single objective. If you help them to achieve it, you and the hostage group will be allowed to live. If you do not cooperate, or if you attempt opposition or treachery, you and all your offspring will die.”

“Nice terms. All right, we understand. What’s their objective?”

“It is to be released from this place and given a ship for their use. They must be allowed to leave here, without pursuit, and go wherever they choose. For that to happen, Holder and the others know that they will need the cooperation of the beings, whoever they may be, who rule this place. She knows that you are not the rulers.”

“That’s all got nothing to do with us. What are we supposed to do?”

“Something very simple. Holder also knows that the rulers of this place wish to perform their own experiments using Zardalu, Humans, and Cecropians. Holder is willing to leave one Zardalu here for that purpose. She has already made the selection of that individual. When the ruler beings of this world come to meet with you again, you are to state that you will cooperate with them only after one condition has been fulfilled: namely, all the Zardalu, save one, must have been permitted to leave here in a fully equipped interstellar ship, to go to a destination of their choosing. After that event you Humans and Cecropians will be free to act as you choose, to cooperate with the rulers here or to resist them.”

“Tell Holder, wait for one minute.” Rebka turned to the other two humans. “You heard all that. I don’t think we can do anything except agree, or say we do. But we ought to tell Atvar H’sial what’s going on.”

“She knows already,” Nenda said. “Look at her.” The Cecropian’s blind white head was nodding. “I’ve been giving her pheromonal translations as we went. She agrees, we have no choice but to cooperate.”

“Darya?”

“What else can we do, if we don’t want Birdie Kelly or Councilor Graves killed?”

“Not a thing.” Rebka turned again to Kallik. “You probably followed that, but here is our official response. Tell Holder that we agree to her terms. Tell her we have no idea when we will be contacted by Speaker-Between, or by any other of the beings who control this artifact. But when they do get in touch with us, we will tell them that the price for our cooperation is the release of all the Zardalu, except one. And we will refuse to cooperate until that has been done.”

Kallik nodded and again began a clicking and whistling conversation with the Zardalu. A tentacle reached out, seized Kallik around the midsection, and drew her back.

“Holder orders me to tell you that you have made a wise decision,” the Hymenopt said. “Naturally, the hostages will continue to be held. However, one of them is close to a terminal condition and is not worth keeping. Holder will use that being, and one other small thing, as examples. She wishes to prove to you the seriousness of Zardalu intention, and to point out to all of you the folly of possible treachery. Holder says, do not try to follow. She will return, at a time of her choosing.”

As Kallik finished speaking, the Zardalu reached out with another tentacle and grabbed the Hymenopt’s injured hind limb. Kallik gave a whistling scream of pain as her leg was twisted off at the upper joint and pulled free of her body. The leg was carried at once to the slitted mouth and swallowed whole.

At the same moment, the Zardalu who had been holding E. C. Tally pushed him forward. The rough, sharp-edged club that it was holding swung sideways with frightful force, to contact Tally’s head just above ear level. The whole top of the skull sheared off and flew away across the chamber.

The Zardalu retreated into the tunnel with Kallik. The body of E. C. Tally sprawled motionless in front of Darya Lang. Blood dribbled from the topless head.

The three humans did not move at once to pick up E. C. Tally. It was left to Atvar H’sial, less knowledgeable about human physiology and human survival needs, to move across to him and lift the ruined body to an upright position. She carried it to where the battered top of the skull was lying on the floor.

“What’s she doing?” Darya Lang asked. Her voice was shaking. “He’s dead.”

Louis had been sitting slumped on the ground, muttering to himself. At Darya’s words he looked up and hurried to his feet.