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“Sso that iss what you are doing here, on the property of my family.” Kiijeem's emotions had run the gamut all the way from fear to delight. “You are a fugitive twice over: as a ssoftsskin without portfolio and as a common criminal.”

Flinx shrugged. “Anymore it seems like I'm always doing things in multiples.” He indicated an artificial rock overhang, the area it sheltered hidden from both the low-lying main residence and the street. “Can I stay awhile, and if I do will you keep my presence here a secret?”

“Are we not now friendss in combat, ssoftsskin?” Straightening out of his crouch, Kiijeem approached as Flinx rose to his feet. Turning his head to one side, the young AAnn exposed his throat. Flinx gripped it lightly, withdrew his hand, and turned his own head. Had he not been able to perceive the nye's emotions, he would never have taken such a chance. Young as he was, Kiijeem still had claws sharp enough to rip out a human throat.

The AAnn touched him appropriately and then stepped back. “You may sstay. Can you eat normal food?” Flinx gestured assent, though without the typical tail embellishment. Even in the absence of the accompanying gesture, Kiijeem understood. “You musst hide during the day. Tonight I will bring you ssomething to eat. Thiss area of the compound iss maintained and groomed by automatics. They are unssophissticated and eassily avoided.” He studied the tall human. “Tonight you will ansswer my quesstionss. I have many.”

“I have a few of my own,” Flinx replied. The possibilities presented by this unexpected new relationship were unspooling in his mind. In seeking a quiet place to hide for the night, he might have found a good deal more.

If Flinx handled it right, young Kiijeem AVMd might just be his way safely out of the capital city of Krrassin and off the homeworld of the predatory AAnn.

Hidden away within an artificial landscape on private property deep in the capital city on the homeworld of humanxkind's most implacable enemies, Flinx took pleasure in a surprisingly relaxing sleep. While the sandstone crevice in which he had sequestered himself for the night was hard and unyielding, the simsuit on which he was lying provided some padding. As for Pip, she obtained all the heat she needed for a good night's rest by simply coiling up next to her recumbent master.

The sun woke Flinx with enough force to remind him that he needed the simsuit as much to prevent sunstroke and sunburn as to fool the AAnn. Following a long draught of suit-treated water suctioned from the pool complemented by a measured sip from his liquid food supplies, he emerged from the crevice to examine his surroundings in daylight.

Not more than two meters high, the section of the main residence that protruded above ground level was clearly visible across the sculpted terrain. From a distance it was impossible to estimate the true size of the low-lying habitation. Given the extent of the surrounding fenced property and its location within the capital's boundaries, Flinx speculated that it would be considerable. Kiijeem's extended family was clearly very well off and the brevity of the young AAnn's surname further confirmed its status.

He crouched back under cover when a private transport rose from an underground garage. Humming softly, it accelerated parallel to his location. The vehicle paused at the fence line only long enough to satisfy Security before exiting onto the nearest passway and rising toward the distant domes and squat edifices that marked the center of the city. Half an hour later an entirely different transport appeared and entered the property. It did not head for the subterranean garage. Instead, it disgorged its trio of passengers outside and aboveground. The visitors then entered the underground complex by means of a down-sloping rampway Friends or workers, Flinx theorized, having no means of determining the newcomers' status. Reaching out toward them, he found that their emotions were flat and uninformative.

Not so those of the single figure that drew near his hiding place an hour later. Alien feelings