"I only hope your mad scientist is worth it." Tarrant stretched and leaned back on his couch.
"Nothing mad about Og," said Dayna. "At least not the last time I saw him."
"Oh? When was that?"
"On Sarran. He was a friend of my father's and he tutored me for a while." And Lauren, she thought.
"That must've been a tough job." Seeing the frown Dayna gave him, Tarrant added hastily, "I suppose he'll remember you."
"Of course he will!" Dayna's face brightened as she remembered what Og had been like.
"Oh, yes?" Vila looked interested.
Dayna glared at him. "Look, I was all of fourteen. It wasn't like that."
"What's he look like, than?" Vila got up to look over her shoulder at the image she had brought up on the screen. "Blimey, is that him?"
"It's a file picture of another Yomathig."
"Because he's—"
Dayna narrowed her eyes at him. "What, Vila?" she asked dangerously.
"A hairy alien." Avon said, grinning at Vila, for once rather pleasantly, as if it was some sort of joke.
Dayna stared at them "Of course he's hairy. He's a Yomathig. And before you make any remarks about horns, Vila, just have a good think about how long you want to live."
Vila raised his hands in defence. "Never entered my head. Look like nice chaps, those Yammer-thingies." He retreated to the far side of the lounge.
"Right." Avon stood up. "If you think your friend can help, "we can be on Bucol Two in a couple of hours."
We? "No!" Dayna said vehemently. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "Look, he knows me. He trusts me. It's best if it's just me."
"Very well." Avon shrugged and sat back down. "Tarrant can take you."
Dayna nodded in relief. Tarrant would have to stay on the ship and that was fine with her. She didn't want to share what felt like the last remaining piece of her childhood with anyone else.
***
Og had been her favourite adult right from the start. He was huge and fun and unpredictable and his booming laugh filled her underwater home. It was the first time she'd ever heard a grown up laugh.
The first lesson didn't last very long. Og made them copy a diagram of human DNA and label it, then, looking out the porthole at clear turquoise water slanted with sunlight, he suddenly said, "It's a good day to be breathing real air, not the filtered, recycled, and dead stuff in here. Come on."
"Yes, sir!" Dayna leaped to her feet.
"Sir?" Og's eyes crinkled up in his hairy face. "My name is Og."
Dayna had never called an adult just by name before. She grinned. "All right, Og," she said, feeling very daring.
Giggling with their hands clapped over their mouths so that Father wouldn’t hear with his sharp ears, she and Lauren tiptoed out into the tunnel behind Og, up through the hatch, and straight to the warm lagoon further along the beach. Og surprised them by running at it and taking a huge leap into the water, his arms clutched around his legs so that he hit it with maximum impact, drenching the girls. They looked at each other in wonder, then leaped in themselves, shrieking with delight. Og had his back turned and Dayna launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He immediately grabbed them, threw her up over his head, caught her, and dunked her soundly in the water. She came up, shaking shining droplets off her hair, at first stunned and outraged; it was usually Lauren who was on the receiving end of that sort of thing. Lauren was laughing, and Dayna scowled at her, planning revenge, but Og suddenly turned and threw Lauren up too so that she somersaulted, whooping with joy, and landed head-first in the water beside Dayna.
No one had ever played with them before. No one had ever just had fun, not one of those serious, dry people who came here to see Father and to teach them.
Og was the most wonderful person Dayna had ever met in all of her life.
"Good lesson?" Father asked at dinner.
"Oh yes," Lauren said seriously. We learned about DNA."
"And then we showed Og some of the planet and its ecology," said Dayna, hoping that this explanation would cover them for future excursions.
Her father's face lengthened. "Og? You know perfectly well, Dayna, that you do not address adults by their names."
Dayna pouted. "He asked me to."
"That is not the point. It's disrespectful."
"How can it be?" she said indignantly. "I think it would be disrespectful not to if he asked me."
Father frowned and opened his mouth to answer, but Og said, "She's quite right, Hal."
Dayna loved him from that moment.
The next day, Og said, "I'm a geneticist."
"I know."
"Your father is not."
Dayna and Lauren looked at him, wondering what he was getting at.
"Are you interested in the subject at all, girls?"
They looked at each other and shook their heads. "No."
"Then why waste my time and yours? You can hone your logical skills on puzzles and games, and learn about galactic history and culture. You'll need to know it when you leave here."
Now that sounded like fun. "Tell us about Yomark!"
"What would you like to know?"
"Everything!" A planet full of Ogs had to be the best place in the universe.
She and Lauren had never known their mothers, nor had they had the aunts and uncles children in books and vids always seemed to have. They decided after some discussion that Og was an honorary uncle. He did not mind them clambering all over him, and when they sat in the classroom for lessons, they snuggled either side of him, leaning into his soft, warm pelt. He smelled strange: alien; spicy; mysterious; and at the same time comforting. Dayna liked the contrast of her smooth brown arms against the creamy fur of his upper chest and sometimes wished she had fur too. She wouldn't have to wear clothes then, but she supposed it would be a pain to look after; Og had to keep his trimmed back on the rest of his body so that it did not get in the way in the lab, even though it looked a bit odd and made the different colours stand out, almost like a patchwork.
Og even had nicknames for them. Father never had. He called Lauren 'Stardust' and Dayna 'Cloudburst'. She hadn't liked that at first.
"It isn't fair. Lauren's got a nicer name. Just because she's got blonde hair."
"The colour of her hair's got nothing to do with it. You should look in the mirror. You're doing it right now."
"Doing what?"
"Looking like a little rain cloud about to dump its load."
Dayna pushed out her lower lip.
"And Lauren is always bright and happy."
Dayna kicked Lauren hard under the table, then felt a large and leathery foot land on her own leg so hard she almost yelled in pain.
Og looked as if he hadn't even moved. "You see my point?" he said blandly.
Dayna had sulked for a day, until Lauren said something that made her think. "Oh come on, Dayna. He's the first person who liked me as much as you, apart from Father."
And she remembered the other tutors and how they'd always given her higher marks and told Father what a good pupil she was, even though she knew she wasn't. It didn't made her feel very good, especially when she remembered how smug she'd been about it
Og was the first (and last) tutor Dayna actually wanted to please.
"When I grow up, I want to go to Yomark."
"Why, little Cloudburst?"
"Because all the people are like you."
"That's an erroneous assumption. Are all on Sarran like you? Or Stardust?"
"No. But..."
"What?"
I like you. I don't want you to go. "Nothing."
***
"Ready for teleport?"
"Ready." Dayna almost bounced with anticipation.
"Good luck." Tarrant activated the controls, and she shimmered and disappeared.
Dayna looked around. Nice place: a lot more vegetation than the average rocky planet. "Down and safe," she said into her teleport bracelet.
"Good. Let me know when you make contact, or if you need to come up."
"Right. Out."
The coordinates Og had given her placed his underground base just to the west. She set off.
"I'm sorry to bother you, sir."
Tarrant suppressed most of his annoyance. "All right, Slave, what is it?"
"There are three pursuit ships approaching."
He rolled his eyes. Of course there were. He pressed the comms button. "Dayna?" There was no answer. "Dayna, come in. We have to get out of here. Now."
Dayna froze at a movement in the bushes. There was a man there, a wild and hairy specimen with ragged, filthy clothes. She slid silently towards a tree.
"Dayna?"
She swore and turned her bracelet off, but it was too late. He'd heard and was coming towards her while two more emerged from the bushes behind him.
Was one of them growling?
She drew her gun. "Get back."
They kept coming, and she fired. One fell and the other two looked down as if they were puzzled, then at her. One made a strange noise in his throat.
Dayna turned and ran.
Where the hell was she? "Slave, check for malfunction."
"There is none, sir. I do apologise, sir."
"What for? Not finding it, you useless tin bucket?" The ship was rocked by the impact of a large plasma bolt.
"There is a malfunction now, sir." Slave sounded almost cheerful.
Tarrant waved at the smoke filling the flight deck. "Really?"
"Two more plasma bolts released and running."
"Evasion course, damn it!"
"Which one would sir suggest?"
"Isn't that your job?"
"Oh, very well." Slave hummed sulkily. "Zero five seven."
"All right, do it! And make it snappy!"
Another bolt hit, almost knocking Tarrant out of his chair.
"A third salvo is—"
"Evade! Just do it."
"Zero two three, sir?"
"What? Yes!" Tarrant felt like banging his head against his console. He longed for the responsiveness of the Liberator and her firepower. "And then get the hell out of here. Home and fast!"
Dayna banged on the bunker door. "Og!"
"Cloudburst!" A joyful voice came from the speaker. "Come on in."
The door swung open and Dayna rushed in, turning to fire a last shot into the trees.
"Little Cloudburst! It's good to see you."
"Og!" Dayna launched herself into Og's arms, burying her face in his soft chest fur. Oh, yes, he smelled just the same. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself back home with Father and Lauren. She sighed with pleasure as Og's arms embraced her, enfolding her in warmth and safety.
"Still playing with guns, Cloudburst?" His voice sounded amused
"Oh! Sorry." She pulled back, and put her gun in its holster. "And anyway, I don't play, Og. I had to shoot two of the men out there. Who the hell are those guys?"
"Animals. You shot two? Pity."
"They certainly are! But why a pity?"
"Just a moment." Og looked at the wall screen which showed the ragged group milling around outside. "Justin," he said, loudly and clearly into the comms. One of the men looked up, shaking his shaggy hair back. "Food, Justin. Home for food."
The man's eyes lit up briefly. He grunted and wandered off-screen, followed by the others.
"Justin's their leader. He understands a few sounds, which is useful."
"But who are they? And why shouldn't I have shot any?"
"My experimental subjects, of course. And it's rather a waste of a good resource." Og opened a cupboard and got out flagon and two glasses. "Would you like a drink? I've only got adrenaline and soma, but I've become very fond of it. I like how it stimulates and calms at the same time."
Dayna stared at the bright green liquid. "Vila used to drink that on the Liberator." She shook her head. "Um, no thanks. Look, Og, you mean you're experimenting on people?"
"They're not people; they're animals."
"I thought that was a figure of speech! They're human!"
"Ah." Og pulled two stools out from under the bench and sat on one, regarding her sharply. "So all humans are people?"
"Of course they are!"
"Dayna, Dayna." Og had always called her Dayna when he was disappointed. "I thought I had taught you better logic. What is the definition of animals?"
Dayna wrinkled her forehead. Surely it was obvious. "They've got four legs."
"Ah. Four legs. So birds and simians and wargs are not animals?"
No, that wasn't right. Dayna thought harder. Did monkeys count as people? What was Og driving at? "Um, they're not civilised?"
"Civilised." Og swirled his drink around in its glass. "That theory has some merits. It could explain the ones I have here and also why you hunted the Sarrans so assiduously. Unfortunately it would also mean that rather a large part of the Federation's population would fail to qualify."
That wasn't right either. "But the Sarrans were people."
"Why?"
"I don't know," Dayna said crossly. She took a random stab. "They can talk."
"Ah. Well done, Cloudburst. Yes, that's the difference between us and animals. They can't talk."
"But..."
"Yes?" Og looked amused and, she was annoyed to see, a little patronising.
"Animals communicate with each other. The Sarrans did with their horses." In fact, the Sarrans almost considered their horses equals. The damned things got better funerals than most of their women and children.
"Of course they do. I just communicated with Justin. They have a limited comprehension, but they don't have words, Dayna. And without words, you can't have thoughts."
"Oh." Good point; perhaps you couldn't. "Why can't they speak?"
"The speech centres in their brains have been removed."
Dayna stared; he was so matter-of-fact. "Why?"
"It wouldn't be ethical to experiment on people, now would it?" Og said serenely.
"Who did that to them?"
"I did. I might be a genetic engineer, but surgery is always a useful skill."
Dayna clenched her fists. "That's disgusting! You made them into animals!"
"Of course. I wouldn't experiment on people. What are you so upset about, dear Cloudburst? I used anaesthetic."
Dayna felt as if her world had fallen apart and been reassembled into a strange and unrecognisable shape. She sat down, hunching her shoulders. "I think I'll have that adrenaline and soma."
Og poured her one. "There you go, child."
"I'm not a child any more." Dayna took a long swig. It was better than she remembered.
"Have some more. Those creatures can be a bit upsetting if you're not used to them."
"They didn't bother me." Dayna wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Who were they before?"
Og shrugged. "Mainly deserters, some criminals. This was their punishment."
Deserters like Tarrant? Criminals like Avon and Vila? "No one deserves that!"
Og put his head back and laughed. "Oh, little Cloudburst! Life usually hardens people, but it seems to have done the opposite to you."
***
"What," said Servalan, looking over her captain's shoulder at the streak on his screen, "was that?"
"A planet hopper, Commissioner."
"Planet hoppers do not move that fast."
"No," Captain Pavis said thoughtfully. "It failed to respond to a search order from one of our pursuit units and they opened fire. It was hit several times but it still managed to get away at time distort twelve. It must have been doing at least twenty when it disappeared."
Servalan frowned. "Not a planet hopper then. Did they give chase?"
Pavis suppressed his impatience. "Not at that speed, Commissioner."
"Where did they pick it up?"
"Near Bucol Two."
"Hmm." Servalan turned and paced across the flight deck to her chair. She had her suspicions about just who might be in that ship. "And what is on Bucol Two?"
The captain called up the details. "Doesn't say. It's designated an experimental area, security code double X."
"Really?" Double X, Servalan knew, meant a project was so secret that nothing was recorded. "There's nothing else?"
"Just the scientist's name, commissioner. Professor Og."
"Ah. Oh, yes. I rather think I remember that."
"Commissioner?" The Captain turned to look at her, puzzled.
Damn. "I am in Security, captain."
Pavis turned back to his screens. "Coming up on Bucol Two now, commissioner."
Was there a slight pause before that last word? She was going to have to watch him now.
***
"Tarrant? Come in, Tarrant." Dayna frowned at her bracelet and shook it. "Must be faulty."
"I can't help you, I'm afraid. The animals smashed my transmitter the last time they broke out. Which reminds me, time to feed them." Og went over to the control panel and called up a display of the animals in their quarters. "Watch this." He pouched a button and a sign flashed 'FOOD' in red lights. The animals surged towards it as a hatch opened and the trough below it filled with dried meat, vegetables, and fruit.
Dayna turned away in disgust as they pushed each other out of the way for a chance at the trough. "They can read," she said indignantly.
"My dear Dayna. Pigeons can be taught to respond to lights and birds have hardly any brains to speak of."
***
The crew watched warily as Avon strode about the Scorpio flight deck, fuming. He stopped in front of Tarrant. "I thought you were a hotshot pilot."
Tarrant flushed. "Slave was too slow."
"And you have only just realised this? Disconnect it and go manual next time."
"Oh, I assure you, I will."
"Orac." Avon crossed to his console, where the computer lay. "Report on the navigation control system."
"Sixty percent capacity is now restored. A fault remains in the inertial guidance glycolene ballast channels."
"Oh, does it?" Vila rose from his seat, planning a fast escape.
"It will be necessary for someone to enter the tank."
Vila was already half-way to the airlock.
"Stop where you are, Vila," said Avon, not even bothering to look up.
"Oh, now look!"
"I am," said Tarrant, opening the hatch cover and peering in. "Lovely! Very aromatic."
Vila glared at him. "Why me?"
Soolin smirked. "Typecasting."
Vila gave her a hurt look.
"I was referring to them, not you."
Avon bared his teeth. "He's the one who boasts about his delicate touch, Soolin."
Soolin smirked. "Does he now?"
Distracted, Vila stared at her, momentarily lost for words, then abandoned the ones that came to him as far too dangerous. Gunhands should always be allowed to make the first move.
"Come on, Vila," Tarrant said briskly. "Sooner you get it over with, the better." He staggered back from the hatch, miming faintness.. "For all of us."
Vila sighed. "Oh, all right then."
***
"Here we are." Og set a steaming and fragrant casserole down on the table. "Hungry?"
"Mmmm." Dayna leaned forward, then frowned in sudden suspicion. "It's not an... animal, is it?"
Og grinned, showing his yellow, pointed teeth. "Not one of mine, no. They're far too valuable. Just a native species. Bird, if you must know."
Dayna smiled and took a generous helping. It was a delicious change from the small mammals she killed on Xenon. Part way through the meal however, a sudden thought struck her. "You said they're mostly deserters."
"That's right."
"From the galactic war? That means they're Federation. And that means you're working for them." She slammed her knife and fork down.
"Now now, wait little firebrand. They're paying me, yes, but that doesn't mean I agree with them."
"Don't play word games. It doesn't mean you don't, either."
"Dear Cloudburst. Scientists take their funding where they can, your father always knew that. The research simply happened to interest me."
Dayna picked up her cutlery again, not meeting Og's eyes. "My father's dead. Servalan killed him."
"The President herself? Well, I suppose that was flattery of a sort."
"Hmph." Dayna scowled. She didn't want to talk about that. "So what's your research anyway?"
"Genetic engineering of course. I'm trying to breed a race of soldiers who are immune to radiation."
"Oh, really?" Dayna looked up, interested. "We have to go into radioactive areas sometimes," she said thoughtfully.
Og looked at her under his hairy brows. "So the ends could possibly justify the means, eh? And who's 'we'?"
"Just a group I'm with," Dayna said cautiously. "Helots who want their planet back. I came here because I thought you might be able to use genetic engineering techniques to synthesise a drug we need."
"Helots. Ah. You mean Pylene 50."
Dayna's spirits lifted with sudden hope. "Yes!"
Og waggled a fork at her. "So you didn't come to see me for myself, Cloudburst. I'm rather disappointed."
Dayna laughed. "I came alone just because I wanted to see you for yourself. I wouldn't let the others come too."
Og leaned back with a wide and yellow grin. "You know, I could do with a bright young assistant."
"Is that right?" Dayna grinned back. "I'll think about that."
***
"Hello?" Vila called up at the brightly lit square above his head. "I need some help."
The outline of a head appeared. "In what way?" Avon asked, his voice heavy with warning.
"Look, I'm not trained in this, am I? I've tried to get all the gauges to show the same reading, but they won't. It's a bloody simultaneous equation with too many variables."
Avon's head disappeared and Vila strained to hear the conversation. "Tarrant, you were in Space Fleet," he heard Avon say.
"Oh come on, Avon. I was an officer."
"Are you telling me that you never learned how to keep your own ship in running order?"
"Well..."
"Get down there, Tarrant."
Vila grinned and moved back from the ladder as Tarrant descended. He composed his face into an expression of worry just in time. "Look, I tried—"
"Yes, yes, Vila." Tarrant shone his torch on the gauges. "You mean you did this just by hit and miss?"
"What else was I supposed to do?"
Tarrant grinned, his teeth gleaming in the gloom. "You don't know the short cut?"
"What short cut? You know me, I'll take the quickest path anywhere."
"You open all the valves at once, like this—" Tarrant began turning them, screwing his face up at the slimy filth on them, "—and just let the glycolene find its own level."
"Oh. Why didn't anyone tell me that?"
"Now you know." Tarrant's now grubby hand came down on Vila's back. "Come on, it'll go faster with two of us working."
"Fair enough."
When they climbed out, Soolin moved ostentatiously away and Avon gave them a disgusted look as he kicked the hatch closed. "Go and get cleaned up, you two, and preferably as far from here as possible."
"Hot tub for me," said Tarrant as they left.
"And me," said Vila. "See me in the lounge afterwards." He tapped the side of his nose, leaving a large smudge there, "I happen know where Dorian kept his brandy."
"Now you're talking."
***
"Pass me the sequencer. There, beside the centrifuge."
"Oh, right." Dayna did so. In some ways she rather liked the idea of staying here as Og's assistant. And possibly more. She and Lauren had speculated about him and joked about what it might be like cuddled up to a fur rug on a cold night.
Poor Lauren. She'd died not even knowing what it was like to kiss a man. Dayna remembered satisfying (to a small degree) her curiosity about Avon and also how his whole attitude had changed once he'd got the rest of the crew back. What was the expression? In loco parentis. Loco was right these last few months. If anything happened to her, or indeed if something had already happened to Tarrant, she could imagine Avon saying "Who?" and not mentioning either of them again. Like Cally.
Movement on the screen caught her eye and she looked up. The animals—was she already starting to think of them like that?—the experimental subjects were milling about in their quarters, howling, grunting, beating their fists on the walls and each other.
"They're a bit restless," she said.
"That's because I've closed the doors," Og said serenely. "They know what it means."
"What does it mean?"
"Gene splice. I'll feed some sonovapour in there soon and give them the next step in their treatment."
"What's so bad about that?"
"It hurts for several hours after they come round while their bodies readjust."
Dayna's frowned. "You don't give them any painkillers?"
"Why bother?"
"I forgot." Dayna said bitingly. "They're animals."
"That's right."
"But they feel pain!"
"Extra drugs will just interfere with my metabolic readings." Og went over to look at the screen. "That's annoying. Justin isn't there, and he's my most advanced subject. He's a few stages ahead."
Dayna stood up, filled with an overpowering need for escape. "I'll go and look for him if you like."
"All right." Og waved vaguely at her, his eyes on the screen.
***
"Stay with the ship, Pavis. I want it ready for takeoff. I shall just take some mutoids."
Servalan gestured to the two nearest and activated the airlock.
She remembered this project. The current president probably had no idea it even existed. If the scientist Og had actually succeeded in developing soldiers resistant to radiation, she would have a huge advantage. She might at last be able to mount her counter coup.
***
"Tarrant? Tarrant!" Where was he? It looked as if she was stuck here and it didn't feel as attractive a proposition anymore. Dayna sighed, clicked the bracelet comms off, and set off through the trees. Perhaps it would help if she could prove that Justin wasn't an animal and therefore neither were the others. The thought sheered her up. She lost herself in pleasant thoughts of Og impressed with her enquiring mind and scientific method, of Og penitent. Even of Og no longer considering her a child.
Ah, there he was. "Justin!"
Justin turned and stood, silently, his arms at his sides.
"Hello. My name's Dayna. I'm not going to hurt you." Dayna approached slowly, her hand held out.
Og was right: Justin could not think in words. He did however have images and the memory of sensations left to him. Dayna's soft voice reminded him of another, and for a moment, he saw a smiling woman with paler skin and soft dark hair before him and was stirred with emotions he had almost forgotten. His face softened and he tilted his head.
"You understand me, don't you? Every word." Dayna put her hand on Justin's arm. "Come with me. I'll prove it to Og and then he won't be able to hurt you any more." She tugged gently.
But this one wasn't that one. This one came from the place of pain. Justin howled in anger and the pain of inexpressible loss and swung his free arm, hitting her on the side of the head. She fell, tumbling over the edge of the path and down a steep slope.
***
"Well, well." Servalan looked down at the body at her feet. "I might have known they'd be involved." She turned to the mutoids behind her. "Take her back to the ship. Oh and set up the truth chair."
***
Tarrant flicked the controls on in turn, watching his screen critically. "It looks good. We're completely flight capable."
"Then we'd better go and get Dayna." Avon settled into his chair. "Let's hope her friend was some use."
"And that Dayna is all right."
Avon gave him a cold look. "Just confine yourself to flying, Tarrant."
"Oh, whoop-dee-doo," said Vila despondently. "Here we go again, off on another fun-filled adventure."
"And you can just confine yourself. Preferably to the other room."
Soolin checked her gun and reminded herself that she had a better life expectancy with these people than with Dorian. She hoped.
***
"Tell me about your friends, Dayna. Are they here?"
Dayna tested her restraints and slumped in the metal chair. "No."
Servalan looked at the readout in front of her. She was telling the truth. Pity. She frowned; it was possible to get around these things. "Well, obviously they are not in this room. Are they on this planet?"
"No."
"You are here to see the scientist Og?"
Dayna thought hard about how it would feel to kill Servalan. "No."
"Oh, how quaint. This isn't one of those old models which measure emotional response. It reads your brain patterns directly. You are here to see Og. Why?"
Dayna glowered. "I used to know him." She considered adding that is all, but realised in time that Servalan would detect that as a lie.
"How sweet. What do you know about his experiments?"
"Not very much."
"He is developing radiation-resistant soldiers, is he not? Yes or no."
Dayna looked away. "Yes," she muttered.
"And has he succeeded?"
"I'm not sure."
Servalan watched the lines wavering across her screen. The girl obviously didn't know that much. Nevertheless she might still be useful. "I believe his base is impregnable."
"Yes."
Ah. "I find I don't believe you. You will let me in."
"No!"
"You care about him," Servalan said wonderingly. "He is an alien. Do you love him?"
"No!"
"I rather think you do. How extraordinary. But we can change that. Do you know that the Yomathig eat their young?"
"They don't!"
"Oh, but they do Look at the vid, Dayna." Servalan nodded to a mutoid who selected and ran the correct clip.
Dayna's eyes widened at the picture on the screen behind Servalan, at the blood dripping form the jaws of a gaunt and wild-looking Yomathig, and did not see Servalan press a button, or feel the tiny needle enter the skin of her arm.
"Quickly!" Servalan snapped at the other mutoid, who got a bowl in front of Dayna just in time. Servalan smiled and waited until she got to the helpless dry-retching stage. "And you won't kill me, will you, Dayna?"
Dayna shook her head, unable to speak.
"Very good." Servalan signalled for the antidote to be administered and the bowl taken away. Physical reactions like that were powerful when attached to mental images, but just to make sure, she pressed the control that would induce the brain patterns of loathing. "You cannot love something like that."
"No," Dayna whispered. "Hate." And she gathered it in a ball inside her, a weapon ready to hurl.
"Very good. You will go back to the creature Og and let me in. Won't you, Dayna?"
Dayna looked up with a predator's smile. "Oh, yes."
***
"Cloudburst!" Og operated the door controls. "Where have you been?"
"Justin pushed me over a cliff."
"Are you all right?" Og reached out a hand to her bruised cheek, and Dayna recoiled. "What's the matter?"
How paw-like that hand looked; why had she never noticed before? "Is it true that you eat your own children?"
Og looked taken aback. "Only in times of famine!"
Dayna clapped a hand over her mouth and suppressed the urge to vomit again. "You... you..."
"Not me, no. No one has starved on Yomark for more than two generations."
"But you still would."
Og just gave her a sardonic look.
"You never said."
"You didn't ask."
"I suppose they're just animals because they can't speak." Dayna grabbed the bottle of adrenaline and soma from Og's lab bench and took a long gulp.
"Of course. I take it you disapprove. How is it worse than allowing your young to starve? How does that help anyone?"
Dayna shook her head and took another drink.
"And why do you bring this up now?"
Oh, that was not a good choice of phrase. Dayna squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on the hot hatred inside her.
Og narrowed his eyes. "You didn't know, did you? Not until now. Who told you? One of your Helots?"
Dayna gave him a sidelong look. "I'll tell you if you tell me how those animals got in when they smashed all your comms equipment."
***
Og crunched through the broken slides on the floor to throw another load of datacubes down the disintegrator.
"Stop! What is going on here?"
Og turned, his yellow eyes menacing. "And who are you?"
"Federation Security Commissioner Sleer. Your girlfriend let me in."
"I'm not his girlfriend," Dayna muttered.
Servalan turned to look at her; she was backed up against the view screen wall, looking scared and sullen. "Well no. Not any more. What happened here?"
"He knew something was up and started destroying all his work." Dayna surreptitiously pressed a button behind her. On the screen, the 'FOOD' sign blinked, the hatch opened, and a single apple rolled into the trough.
"Idiot girl!"
"It doesn't matter. The experimental subjects are all you need."
"Experimental subjects?"
"Those ones." Dayna jerked her head towards the screen beside her: the 'animals' were howling and waving their arms.
Servalan took a step towards the screen. "What's the matter with them?"
"They're a bit hungry, that's all." Dayna pressed another button and the ragged mob shouted with excitement and surged towards the opening door.
Servalan turned away, her mouth twisted in disgust. "Stun a few of them when we're finished here," she said to the mutoids standing impassively by the lab entrance, now closed. "And make sure the air supply for the hold is separate. They look as if they smell. And you," she said to Og, "will come too. I can provide facilities just as good as these."
Og growled faintly in the back of his throat. "I must decline, Commissioner. This project is security double-X. It was ordered by the president."
Servalan smiled. "And how do you think I know about it?"
"And how long would I live knowing that?"
"Oh, while there's life, there's hope, professor, isn't that what they say? Or would you prefer another researcher to take over?"
Og looked towards the inner door, the fur lowering over his eyes.
"Do you think I'm stupid? Or does that old trick work with your kind?"
Dayna slid her hand along the wall and opened a panel, retrieving her clip gun. She held it behind her back, ready.
Justin skidded to a halt, the others backing up behind him. He knew this thing, here. A succession of images presented themselves, of his hands dismantling and reassembling one, over and over. He lifted the rifle off the wall rack, automatically checking that it was loaded.
He grinned in triumph and kicked the door open.
The hated one was there.
But so was she. The one with the soft voice and hair and skin. He lowered the gun and reached out a hand, his lips parted in wonder.
"Justin?" Servalan stared in disbelief. Surely not. But it was, behind that ridiculous beard, and she would know those eyes anywhere.
He had been her lover after Don Keller had left. She had again chosen a relatively unattractive but intelligent man for both the help he could give her career, and the unlikelihood that he would leave a beautiful and fascinating woman like her. But he had, too. And after that, she had selected for good looks and empty minds, mere playthings that did not matter.
She remembered enough about this project to know who the subjects were: deserters. Her lip curled. "Get away from me! You disgust me."
Dayna was annoyed and frustrated. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. They'd planned to trap Servalan here with the 'animals' so that Dayna could get a good shot at her, then escape and take off in her ship with Og. Or without him for that matter. Baby eater. The animals however were still in the next room blocked by the idiot Justin who was standing in the doorway like a stunned mullet, gazing at Servalan as if he was besotted. Dayna brought her gun round with a snarl.
Servalan smiled at her. "Oh, do try."
Dayna attempted to squeeze the trigger, gasped, and doubled up, retching.
"You see?" Servalan shook her head as if at a naughty child.
She had thought it would work. She had marshalled her hate in that chair, protecting and nurturing it, gathering it into a huge hot ball of loathing just for Servalan, but it had not been enough.
Justin stood for a moment, puzzled. The one he remembered was different. She did not want him any more. He looked down at his hands and what they held, and recalled the hated one. He growled and turned, firing.
Og was slammed against the wall by the impact, his eyes round with shock.
"You see?" Dayna said bitterly. "An animal couldn't do that."
He looked at her sadly as he slid down the wall. "Cloudburst," he said softly, falling sideways.
Cloudburst. Bright water and sunlight, Lauren laughing, warm soft fur, conspiratorial giggles in the classroom.
Lauren. Father.
Dayna's lips peeled back in fury and grief as she shot Justin between the eyes, then shifted her aim and fired again, and again, and again. Once for each of them: Lauren and Father and Og.
Servalan stood still for a moment, her face slack with utter surprise, then toppled backwards.
Dayna let her gun fall. "Og!" She ran and knelt beside him, stroking the soft fur on his head and trying to ignore the spreading red patch on his creamy chest. "Og, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"What for?" he whispered. "You were right."
"Only about Justin. Not you." She choked back sobs. "I was wrong. You never changed."
"You grew up, that's all." His leathery fingers touched her wet cheek. "Truly Cloudburst." His hand fell back and although his face did not change, the light was gone from his eyes.
"No. No." Dayna buried her face in his soft warm fur. Then she stood, remembering the Yomathig mourning customs she and Lauren had read about, and raised her arms, bending her fingers forwards, put her head back, and howled. She stood guard, claws extended to protect the body while she howled a farewell to a friend and an announcement to the afterlife that he was on his way, and as she did, she found a strange and liberating release as the grief for her family which she had suppressed for so long was unleashed and set free.
So she did not notice the outer door opening.
Avon stood back as a crowd of ragged and wild people surged out past him. "That... is somewhat unexpected." He regretted not bringing Vila down with him; he would doubtless have had something amusing to say.
"Yes," Soolin said dryly. "One doesn't often see mutoids being carried off like Sabine women."
Avon smiled. Soolin showed promise. "Those men will soon find out where they are in the food chain."
"What's that noise?"
"Dayna." Avon shouldered his way in past the stragglers. He halted, his boots crunching on broken glass.
Dayna was standing over a hairy, bloodstained body as if frozen in a parody of a werewolf attack, her hands held high in rigid claws and her head flung back. Her yowling however sent shivers down his spine with the intensity of its pain and grief. He started forward.
"Don't." Soolin put her hand on his arm. "It's the Yomathig death ritual."
Avon raised his eyebrows.
"I took the precaution of reading up on them before we left.".
"Ah." Not caring to acknowledge his failure in that regard, Avon turned his attention to the room as Soolin went to stand quietly near Dayna.
The place was a mess, but a mess with a pattern. The destruction was deliberate and planned: the broken slides on the floor, the smashed instruments, the untouched panels and screen opposite.
There was a pair of feet just visible past the lab bench, dainty and pale in black stilettos. Before saw her face, he already knew. It was Servalan.
Looking down at her, he found himself oddly regretful. She might have been an enemy, but she had always fascinated. It seemed especially cruel that she had died with that look on her face. Slack-jawed surprise was so... inelegant. Avon almost stooped to correct it, to shut the glossy red mouth and golden eyes and restore the dignity she deserved, but then stopped himself. She did not, after all, deserve it.
He stepped back. She had been shot three times with a Scorpio clip gun loaded with plasma bullets, and the bearded wild man beside her had received one between the eyes. He was still clutching a large hunting rifle, obviously the weapon that had killed Dayna's former tutor. The only thing that was not clear was who these regressed Hommiks were.
Dayna had stopped howling and was leaning against Soolin who had her arms around her.
"Who destroyed the professor's work?" Avon asked.
"We did," Dayna said dully. "Me and Og. We thought it would make him too valuable to Servalan to kill."
"I take it this mess was just a smoke screen and the real data is preserved elsewhere."
Dayna waved an arm towards the controls behind her. "Behind those panels."
"Did he get a chance to work on the Pylene 50 antidote?"
"He started." Dayna shrugged. "I don't know. It's all on the datacubes."
"Come on," Soolin said quietly. "I know the Yomathig leave their dead outside for predators. I'll help you with him."
Avon turned back to Servalan as they left. He bent and touched her cheek once. "The galaxy will be a less interesting place without you."
***
"Cheer up, Dayna," Vila said as they approached Xenon. "It's not that bad. You killed Servalan."
Dayna did not see Tarrant thump him hard on the arm. "Yes. I did. And Og was wrong—the end doesn’t justify the means. Some prices are just too high."
The end