"We have the permission of the Council," Major Zhenah said, stepping forward until he was only inches from Burha's face. "You were there."

"He's the only one we have," Burha argued. Baezhu was impressed by the doctor's courage but he realized none of this boded well for Samwize. Burha wasn't done. "What are you going to do when you kill him, ask for Buftanis to hand us one of the clones--if they ever manage to make one?"

Zhenah bared his teeth. "Your job is to make sure it doesn't die!"

Dr. Bishtae tried to get between them. "I read the orders from the Council. Our job is to glean scientific information, which we can't do if you kill him. So we'll just have to work together to get the strategic information you want and the scientific information we need."

He'd let Baezhu read the orders, too. The Council approved more aggressive investigations without anesthesia, such as his tolerance for water, pressure, and any number of things that completely contradicted what Dr. Bishtae had told him before. They hadn't been cruel up until now. Admittedly, things hadn't always been pleasant for Samwize, but they'd never purposely caused him pain. Even the recent forcing of him to speak had been painless.

Now that was going to change. And Baezhu couldn't think of any way to help Samwize short of releasing him, and it wasn't like he could do that. Even if he could, there was nowhere to release him to. He wasn't a wild animal from the woods or the ocean. He was an alien from outer space. Samwize was stuck and so was he.

Kenu stepped forward. "We're going to start with making him say these words." He held up a stack of cards. "In one language."

"Give them to him," Bishtae suggested. "Let's see if he'll tell us those words without forcing him. He's probably intelligent enough to know we're on to him. And what lows we'd stoop to."

Zhenah was still angry but he nodded. "He's got one hour to decide. And you've got one hour to decide which lows we'll stoop to if he doesn't do it voluntarily."

Dr. Bishtae sighed but he, too, nodded. He took the stack from Kenu and passed them to Baezhu. "Take these to him. You have a connection with him. See if he'll tell you."

Baezhu didn't relish what he had to do. Neither was a good choice for Samwize. He'd have to give up his one area of control or have it taken from him. Baezhu didn't want any part of it, but he couldn't just refuse. That wasn't how life was. He grabbed some blank pages and a pen. This wouldn't be very easy to convey.

It's Sméagol, Malcolm thought to Hoshi. He's alone. I might need your insight here.

"I'm here," she replied. "Let me see?"

Sméagol carried some large cards and a pen. He came all the way to the bed and sat down on it. On top of the cards were some empty sheets of paper. On it, he drew what appeared to be a clock. Malcolm had seen enough alien computers to recognize a time-keeping device, even if it wasn't Earth-style. Then Sméagol drew another under it. The symbols on each had to be numbers and only one changed from the top clock to the lower. A change of time. But how much and why?

Sméagol wrote some other symbols below the clocks. He held up a fist with one hand and pointed with the other to the first symbol under the clocks. "Euk." He moved his pointing finger to the next symbol and raised one of the fingers from his fist. "Ak." He pointed to the third symbol and raised his second finger.

Malcolm had it figured out before Sméagol raised the thumb. He's counting.

"Yes, and the clocks are showing one hour. The first clock's number for the hour is zero. The second's is one."

Malcolm nodded slightly. It was enough for Sméagol to catch. He put the paper aside and laid out the cards on the bed.

Sméagol spoke more openly then and Malcolm tried to block it out. Besides he was distracted by the cards. Because what he saw on them was a shock to his system: ENTERPRISE, EARTH, UNITED, STARFLEET, RATION, REED, SATO, and FIELD.

"He says you have one hour to decide to read them or they're going to hurt you. He said 'they,' Malcolm. Not 'we.'"

That's why I don't call him 'Gollum,' Malcolm replied. So they're on to our little trick. To give Sméagol a clue that he got the gist of the conversation, Malcolm picked up the STARFLEET card and pretended to study it. Sméagol took the hint and left. One hour. What am I going to do?

Hoshi took a minute before answering. "It's only 14 letters. They can't learn a whole language from that, not when we use 26. But they can catch inconsistencies. So we'll have to work out a pattern that fits our names. REED has to be either 'Samwise' or 'Gamgee.' And SATO has to be 'Frodo.' So what if we make those the sounds of the letters? S for 'fr', A and O are 'oh' and T is 'd.' All those letters are in the other words so we can put the sounds in them, too."

Malcolm looked at the card with his own name. But mine isn't so easy. The two E's have to have consonants in them for either 'Gamgee' or 'Samwise.'

"Two letters, especially two vowels, can change sounds in combination. Still, I think it works best with 'Samwise.' The R is an 'es' and the D a 'z.' So the two E's would have to represent 'amwhy.'"

Isn't that a bit of a stretch?

Hoshi's voice sounded almost playful. "Why? We're making up a language here. We don't need English rules."

Okay, so there are two E's in 'Starfleet.' That would have to end in 'amwide?'

"And begin with 'frdos.' We just have to decide what the FL will be. And both of those are in 'field' so we have to repeat them there. What about 'frdoskgamwide?'"

Easy for you to say. He felt her smile at that. Would it be better just to keep frustrating them?

"And have them hurt you, Malcolm?" The smile was gone. "Things are changing. The army guy came to your room. There's something going on here, too. The females are acting strange. Some of them were moved to a different holding area. We have to live or die, Malcolm. If we can't do the latter, we have to do the former, and there's no reason to invite torture."

There is a reason, he argued. Maybe two.

"I think I know the second. But they've shown themselves quite capable of keeping you alive. The first isn't such a big deal. We can still tell them lies in one language. So practice: 'Frdoskgamwide'."

She was right. Malcolm sighed and then said it, silently, of course. He tried it out a few more times.

"Now the others. We only need to decide the H in 'Earth.' But who's to say it has to be a consonant. Let's make it a vowel. 'Aosdeh.'"

How do you figure? Never mind. I'll take your word for it.

"Say it a few times: 'Aosdeh.' It's like the 'ao' in 'tao.'"

Malcolm tried that one out a few times and went back to 'Frdoskgamwide' to keep it fresh in his memory.

"Good." She was smiling again.

They spent the rest of the hour working out the other sounds for words. "United" was the last one and it came out as "pludaz."

At least that one's easy to say. I have to sell these if they're to believe me. They're mostly the words on our uniforms.

"I'll help you."

When the hour had passed, Hoshi had just moved to another sidewalk. It was a large complex and so, depending on how much snow had fallen, she had a lot of work to do. It made her wonder what they did for this before they got an alien to do the work. It was cold, even with the fur, ill-fitting coat and moccasins. But at least shoveling snow didn't take much of her cognitive abilities. She could focus more on Malcolm. Things were becoming more desperate there. They were threatening to torture him.

He opened video to her as before, so she saw the first two in were Kenoo and Zhenah. The former picked up the cards and turned the first--STARFLEET--toward Malcolm.

"'Frdoskgamwide,'" Malcolm spat out. A clue to them that he was not doing this willingly.

It wasn't good enough for the linguist. He pointed to the first letter. Malcolm huffed and then said, "'fr.'" They went on letter for letter until the double-E. At that Malcolm raised two fingers and pointed at both together before saying "'amwhy'" then finished by pointing one finger at the T and labeling it "'d.'"

'Aosdeh' was sounded out next as 'ah-oh-s-d-eh.' She was proud of him. He was handling their made-up language well.

Then he hesitated at ENTERPRISE. It was quite long. "'Aldastsufra,'" she reminded him.

"'Aldastsufra,'" he repeated, trying to add a bit of anger into his voice. He sounded out each letter in staccato. He was a good actor, overall.

A little prompt then at the start of each other word got them through 'kuagz,' 'sodowl,' and 'pludaz.' She helped him sound out the latter. Kenoo scribbled on each card after it was finished. Pronunciation notes, presumably. Then he promptly left the room. They'd given him something to work with.

For all the good it will do him, Hoshi commented.

"It's not him I'm worried about," Malcolm thought back to her. He looked straight at Zhenah. The T-Rex stood still, not two feet away, teeth bared. Finally, he turned and stomped out. "I think I robbed him of an opportunity."

"It's close!" Kahrae exclaimed. Baezhu could feel an increase in the excitement of the crowd in the cafeteria. A part of him wished he could feel it. Back before Samwize and Frodoh had come. Back then, the universe, and his place in it, had made sense. Now, he was involved in an internal secret of global implications and a personal secret worry and concern for the cause of the other secret. An alien. He had already bordered on treason. It was so much simpler before. His first Turn as an adult. His first mating. He would have been very excited.

Still, personal concerns aside, he could feel a change. Hormones. How frustrating that must have been for those who didn't make the quota. He used those feelings to try and fake the excitement level Kahrae couldn't hide. "Just a matter of days!"

"Ten, ten days!" Kahrae corrected. "So why aren't you happy? You made the quota."

Kahrae knew him too well. They sat down. "I don't know how many slots," he tried. But Kahrae looked down his nose at him. He wasn't buying it. "Samwize," Baezhu finally admitted. "I'm worried what will happen to him when the military is in charge."

Kahrae sighed. "I can see that. I have a disadvantage compared to other Raptors: I have a Winged friend. His friendship makes me look at things from a different point of view sometimes."

Baezhu looked up from his plate. "Like now?"

Kahrae's head bobbed. "Very much like now. I'm military. So knowing what I'm not supposed to know, I can see the tactical, intelligence side of this. Samwize must have incredible information, and we ought to get it from him if he won't offer it freely. But you're my friend and a scientist, and I can see what an opportunity he is to learn from, even when he doesn't give information freely. Even if that information isn't tactical. The scientific side showed us that we're not alone in the universe, that mammals from other worlds can be sentient. That's pretty big stuff."

"What tactical information would be useful," Baezhu asked, "if he'd give it? His skyship was destroyed, and we have the only piece of technology that remains."

Kahrae held up a hand. "Ah, but it's possible, depending on what his role was on the skyship, that he could recreate other technology or give us ways to defend ourselves if there was an invasion."

"Which still means he'd have to be alive, and we'll have to be able to communicate with him," Baezhu argued. "That's going to take time. A lot of time."

Kahrae bobbed his head again. "And the military isn't known for its patience."

Enesh stared at the print-out in front of him. His beak opened and closed as he tried to quietly pronounce the foreign words phonetically spelled on the sheet. He could manage of a few of them. The ones noted as FIELD, UNITED, RATION, and EARTH. But the longer ones were more difficult with their consonant clusters and that same sound that started the female's name. They managed it well enough that she responded to it, but he wasn't sure he could really pronounce it right, given his rigid beak and their supple lips.

"They managed to get him to say more than his name," he told Besta as the latter entered the lab. He handed him the sheet.

"Well, I'll bet that's easier for him to say than us. How's the linguist doing with it?"

"Dr. Kenu has found patterns with the letters so he can at least work out which sounds go with which symbols. But he doesn't know much about their meaning."

Besta turned the sheet over. "Looks like he figured out one. 'Aldastsufra,'" he stumbled through that one, "was that a patch with an image of what could be the mothership? It doesn't look anything like the ship that flew overhead the day of the crash."

Enesh nodded. "It's a good inference. The one that flew over was rather boxy. The one on the patch definitely wasn't."

'Kuagz Sodowl' was on a food wrapper. It could name the food inside or be more generic such as 'field portion.'"

Enesh snorted. "Could go either way on that phrase. It's narrowed the possibilities only slightly. If it means the food, there could be thousands of the names and we know none of them."

Besta put the sheet down. "The other three are together on a patch, but the image doesn't give any real clue. It could be an organizational patch. An organization to which the mothership belongs, or it could denote the smaller vessel that crashed."

Enesh stood and moved to the display to pull up the uterine camera image. "Well, at least he's got some ideas. It's further than they were. But I don't see how Kenu can learn their language from that. How else will we understand what they make him say?"

"Or what he's already said."

Enesh didn't really hear. He grabbed the display control and zoomed in on the fetus.

"What's wrong?" Besta asked.

"Something's off. I can only compare with primate fetuses of the species here on Sharu, but the proportions don't seem right. The head should be bigger, the arms longer. Of course, it may be that this is normal for this stage of development. We really know less about this than Kenu does those words."

Kenu threw the cards down on Kaife's desk. "I've been over it and over it," he complained. "They don't even sound like any of the other languages he's used."

Kaife picked them up, noting the phonetic markings under each letter. "A thirteenth? But is it his native language?"

Kenu sighed. "It holds together. Every one of these," he reached across to point to an 'A', "sounds like 'oh.' Every letter matches up."

Kaife set the cards down. "And I think that's a point for native. He only had an hour to decide. Could he have worked out such a consistent ruse in that time?" He still wondered if any of the words or symbols matched the signal the communications device had transmitted in the desert.

"That would depend on how intelligent he is."

"I think it's time we forced the issue."

Both Wingeds turned around to see Major Zhenah enter. "If he can speak twelve languages, he's intelligent," he continued. "One hour was too much time. He was to relaxed. A little stress could confuse him, shake him up so he can't be so clever,"

Kaife had an idea. "Sleep deprivation just might get past the Wingeds reserves," he said. "Play him the signal." He tapped loudly on his desk: three spaced-out taps, three quick ones, and three spaced out again. "Over and over." He looked to Kenu, the closest of the cadre to the scientists.

"I think it's a valid avenue of study."

Kahrae found himself missing the stars. He had gotten used to them as he stood guard outside. But now his rotation was inside. One thing he was glad for though was that he was alone in the corridor he guarded. The only sounds were the animals, and most of those were asleep anyway. He had no one to talk to, but that was better than being with Obek all night. He could be silent for weeks on end then say something disturbing about politics, the Council, war, or Shirkatisa. Nishet--the spy-- had been better company. Alone was just fine with Kahrae.

There was one other sound. A muffled thudding sound coming from around the corner of the far end of his corridor. There was a pattern to it which told him it wasn't an animal. He decided to check it out. It got louder as he neared the end of the corridor, and he realized it was coming from inside one of the isolation cells. They were soundproofed. To still hear it out here meant it had to be very loud inside. Why would they do that to an animal? He stepped closer and put his face up to the glass in the door to see what animal it was.

But it wasn't. He was a strange creature with pale skin and a mop of dark hair on its head. His head. He looked up and Kahrae realized he was looking at the alien. Samwize Gamgee. He looked away.

He wasn't even supposed to know about the alien. He was not supposed to leave his corridor. He quickly returned to his post. At least he could tell Baezhu he'd seen him in the morning. And he hoped no one else would find out.

Hoshi collapsed onto the floor beside Pipa. Finally, it was quiet. The orcs were at Malcolm again. This time blaring Morse code at him incessantly. At first, it had shocked her to hear the SOS. They had somehow picked up on it when they had first crashed here so many months ago. Was it a year yet? Longer? Still, she couldn't think how they might grasp its meaning. It didn't even spell anything, and there was nothing to tie the dots and dashes to specific letters in the alphabets--the real English one or the one she had made up.

She'd heard it because Malcolm couldn't block it out. He could barely hear her over it, and she was in his head, not his ears. They'd tried working the console to cancel out what his ears were receiving and leave only what hers were hearing. He could only hold that, though, for a few minutes. The pounding SOS came loudly and did not stop.

It disturbed her work, too, though she tried not to show it. It kept her on edge. But finally, as night fell and her chores were done, it stopped. Malcolm said they'd turned it off for the night.

And she knew he was lying. She didn't call him on it. It had begun to snow the last few days, which made her work harder and more physical. She was exhausted. She needed sleep. But she sincerely hoped she was wrong, and that he would get some, too.

"You saw him?" Baezhu was shocked and somewhat relieved. Even though he wouldn't involve his friend, he felt less alone for some reason.

"Yes," Kahrae answered. "We'll see if I'm still alive tomorrow. If I'm not at breakfast, you'll know why."

Baezhu wanted to reassure him. "You know, I don't think anyone monitors that camera outside his door unless there's an incident. Besides, you can say you were investigating a suspicious sound."

"And saw something I'm not supposed to know exists," Kahrae added. "I'm sure that will go over well."

Baezhu couldn't really argue with that. "So what did you think?"

"He's ugly."

Baezhu nearly choked on his drink. He hadn't expected that. "What?!"

"He's skinny and hairless, except for his head. His face is nearly flat, and his skin is pale and squishy-looking. I can't even imagine a female like him."

Baezhu laughed. The description fit, mostly. "I guess I'm just accustomed to him after all this time."

When he got to the lab, he tried to act casual. "Anything eventful last night?" he asked Dr. Burha who was getting ready to leave.

Dr. Burha put something in his hand. "Not unless you count the finished quota slots for Turn eventful. Congratulations. Try not to mention it around Hinath. He's going to be very disappointed."

Baezhu looked at the two chips in his hand. Two slots, just like Kahrae. His first Turn as an adult. He hadn't let himself think too much about it. He was going to be a father. He was going to mate.

Dr. Burha patted him on the shoulder. "I was speechless my first time, too. See you tomorrow." He left to pass the other chips out.

Baezhu managed to get his thoughts together enough to get the chips into his pocket. He flipped on the monitor with the feed from Samwize's room. The blaring signal jerked him back to full awareness. Samwize couldn't have had a comfortable night with that.

Enesh and Besta hurried through the tunnel to the Director's office. A call from the President--even one you didn't vote for--was a big deal. The winter was getting colder. It was even chilly in the tunnels, but the two scientists pushed through the stiffness growing in their muscles to lessen the President's wait.

"They are here, President Gudai," Director Goti said as soon as they entered.

The President's voice came from a speaker on the Director's desk. "Doctors, I'm glad you could come. What news is there of our female's counterpart in Zheiren?"

"They are getting him to speak," Besta answered. "Though no one has worked out much of what he's said."

"Dr. Enesh, is it true the Raptors are next in line for the head of the Council after Turn?"

"Yes, sir," Enesh said, finally forced by politeness to speak. He would rather have let Besta be their spokesman. "They are increasing their power even now. The Wingeds are having to compromise their scientific standards."

"How so?" Gudai asked.

Besta answered, letting Enesh off the hook for now. "Sleep deprivation now. Major Zhenah is involved and even their linguist is getting frustrated. The male is outclassing him, speaking multiple languages. There's no way to know which is his native tongue."

"So they're applying pressure." It wasn't a question. "Do you feel this will lead to further compromises of scientific standards? Will they torture him?"

"They might," Enesh replied. He remembered Zhenah's threats vividly and knew of the rumors of torture applied to dissidents. "They probably will."

"As they would have enjoyed doing with either of you if they'd had the chance, yes?"

So the new President remembered that Besta had been born in Zheiren, too. "Yes," they answered together.

"And what progress have you had in cloning the male?"

Besta stood up straighter, though, of course, the President couldn't see it. "She's carrying a fetus now. We have no real point of reference for their fetal development, but we see no obvious reasons to abort at this time."

"I see. I've been speaking to your director about a remodeling project. He informs me that your facility has adequate space."

Enesh was confused but also quite curious. "For what, sir?"

"That's not to be said over these channels. But you two will be central to it. Your director will fill you in. Good speaking to you."

"And you," Besta replied. The line clicked off.

"I received a secure letter this morning," the Director said. "What I'm about to say here will not leave this room."

"Understood, Director," Besta answered. Enesh nodded his agreement.

"We're going to get the male." The Director did not sound pleased. "Our President thinks we can have better luck with him and a different approach."

Enesh was quite pleased, though. "When? How?"

"War," Goti replied. "Zheiren's already making plans for Shirkatisa. We're going to force the issue. And while we are engaged there, a special mission force will go to Kennesitai and get him. Given your knowledge of the layout, Dr. Enesh, you'll likely be on that mission."

Enesh's excitement at the prospect of acquiring the male evaporated at the prospect of certain war, and his own return to Zheiren. "And the new approach?" He managed to ask, hiding his trepidation.

"We're going to let him live here," Goti said. "He'll set up house and we'll make friends. We'll even let him have the female. The contrast in his treatment might persuade him to be more forthcoming. He may even provide us with advanced technology."

"The remodeling? Where will he live?" Besta asked.

"There is an empty apartment below yours." The Director stood. "We'll have to outfit it with appropriate furniture and utilities. And hidden cameras providing views from every angle of every room. We'll see and hear everything he does."