Star Wars the Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers [56]
CHAPTER
10
Dev tottered to his feet. He’d awakened on the deck of a round, uncomfortably warm cabin full of lights and mechanical sounds. Above instrument panels, bulkheads curved inward to join the ceiling.
This had to be the bridge. He was rarely allowed up here. Bridge security was supreme priority. But the Shriwirr’s captain and Admiral Ivpikkis hunched beside Bluescale. All three slowly blinked at him.
Apparently the presence of another Force user mattered a great deal.
He’d known that and forgotten it. What games were they playing with his mind? Was he in his right mind now, or deluded by manipulation? Had his contact with the stranger, brief as it was, unsettled his mental patterns completely?
“Tell them what you told Elder Sh’tk’ith,” Master Firwirrung urged from Dev’s left side. “It felt like your mother’s presence, but male?”
Barely able to recall the feathery touch of his mother, Dev studied metal deck tiles. He hadn’t felt homesick like this since finding Firwirrung. He had thought they were home. “Like,” he said softly, “but different.”
“How?” asked Firwirrung.
“This one has the … the shape, the sense of training that Mother had, but Mother … was not so strong.”
Admiral Ivpikkis’s left eye swiveled from Dev to the captain. The captain clicked his foreclaws and repeated, “Strong.”
“Look at me.” Bluescale thrust his head forward. The beautiful eye seemed to swirl. Up from a corner of Dev’s mind bubbled a spring of excitement. This was his right mind. He loved them. “Why, if this one’s trained,” Dev exclaimed, “he could contact other humans. Even from a distance!”
Firwirrung’s massive V-marked head turned toward him. “That is an interesting idea. How far, do you think?”
Dev felt freshly energized. “I don’t know,” he admitted, “but we were many light-years away when I felt the emperor’s death for you.”
“True,” whistled Bluescale. He touched Firwirrung’s shoulder scales. “With a strong enough direct contact, could you not conduct entechment from a distance?”
“Possibly.” Firwirrung twitched his tail. “We might have to modify an apparatus … yes. Modify it to keep this strong one alive in a fully magnetized state, calling energies from outside.”
Admiral Ivpikkis’s tail quivered too. “A pipeline to humans. We could own all known space, not merely this empire.”
Catching their excitement, Dev interlaced his fingers and squeezed hard.
“I observe,” said Admiral Ivpikkis, “the need for another shift in strategy. First we secure the strong one. Then we test this theory. If in practice it works, we can call back to the main force of our fleet.…”
They spoke hurriedly among themselves. Ignored by Bluescale, Dev wilted. He could barely follow their speech. He had always been their special pet, their beloved human. Would they tail-sweep him aside?
He touched his throat. He might get his battle droid at last, but at what cost? His anticipation curdled like the slop he’d cleaned off the bulkheads. Entechment was to have been his reward, not …
They might entech him simply because they no longer needed him. He wanted his battle droid, but he craved their love.
They turned around simultaneously. Firwirrung stroked Dev’s arm, lovingly raising red welts. “Help us now. Stretch out to the unseen universe. Give us a name, a place. Help us find him.”
“Master,” Dev whispered. “Will you always put me first?”
Firwirrung stroked harder, bringing tears to Dev’s eyes. “We have never doubted your devotion. Surely you don’t mean to make us question it.”
“No, no.” Dev felt his face go pale. He had made Firwirrung his family, Firwirrung’s cabin his home. He had given up his humanity. If Firwirrung replaced him, what was left?
Bluescale lurched forward. “Dev Sibwarra, we need your service as never before.”
Dev couldn’t tear his eyes off Firwirrung. The entechment chief had always implied that he loved Dev, but had he ever actually sang the word, love? Shaken, Dev took a step backward.
A P’w’eck wrapped brown foreclaws around Dev’s shoulders and held him toward Bluescale.