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thinking, especially by a new lab assistant who did not know Corson protocol
yet. So she sighed and sifted through the flashbooks instead.
Stilman strode back through the lab a few minutes later, disappearing through
the shimmering door as it phased from solid to gas and back, and returning scant
minutes later. She wondered if he expected her to find his beamer quickly. But as
he did not address her again, she did her best to ignore the distraction of his
continued popping in and out of the lab.
He had been gone for half an hour after one of his more abrupt exits, when
Kiondili shivered suddenly. She frowned, shuddered again, and shook her head.
But her skin crawled along her neck and then down her back as if sensing some
unknown danger. She found herself backing hurriedly out from under the counter
where she had been clearing out old flashbooks. Banging her head as she
twisted around, she stifled an oath-and found herself staring into the hungry
eyes of an alien predator.
The female who faced Kiondili had the aura of a hunter who had not eaten in a
week. The eyes set in the spadelike face were mere slits of color. Laser-sharp
teeth, slanted ears, retracted knuckle claws; the alien was an Ixia, Kiondili
identified with a strangely exciting horror. She controlled her instinctive reaction
with difficulty: The Ixia would sense her fear by smell alone. "May I help you?"
she asked, carefully polite.
"Where is Stilman?" The Ixia's voice was luring, and Kiondili felt a hypnotic
compulsion to lean closer.
Shaking herself, she dragged the words from her mouth. "He just stepped out.
He should be back in a few minutes, if you want to wait." Was the predator as
disturbed by the meeting as Kiondili was?
The alien met Kiondili's eyes with an agonized look and shuddered, her
knuckle claws extending slightly. "Tell him to viscom me later. I'm Lan-Lu." She
backed away, then turned and left the lab, the shimmer of the closing door
outlining her muscles in a temporary shadow.
Kiondili stared after her. An Ixia-here. And one that worked with Stilman. How
did he stand it? With an effort, she pushed her questions-and her discomfort-to
the back of her mind.
It was just before third bell rang that Kiondili finally ran across the black box
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of the missing beamer. "Ha!" shecried in triumph, backing out from under a thick
table. Having lost track of Stilman's comings and goings, she tapped the com for
his office. When he did not answer, she went inside and set the beamer on his
desk.
It was evening to her, so Kiondili went back to her cubicle and showered, then
went in search of dinner. The cafeteria was crowded. With no one else to speak
to and no desire to cross the room to sit with the few assistants she did
recognize, Kiondili ate alone and listened to the conversations around her.
"... hyperlight barrier ethics aren't as black and white as they want us to
believe," said someone to her right.
'' Yes,'' another voice answered. But for us it's all a subjective question,
anyway."
"It won't be for long. Coos made another breakthrough yesterday. It seems he
finally figured out how to resolve sublight and imaginary mass for hyperlight
transfer. Engineering already has the new design changes."
"That furball's going to rake in all the credit for the hyperlight drive by himself
if we don't get moving ..."
Other voices cut through the murmur at times, languages mixing where
translators were reprogrammed to spit out their sounds more comfortably in one
tongue rather than another. To one side a Moal was speaking, holding the entire
table of H'Mu enthralled with its doubling tones. Kiondili wondered in brief
amusement if any of them were listening to the Moal's words or if they just sat,
mesmerized by its singing, as Kiondili would have had she been sitting closer to
the creature. From the mix of aliens and H'Mu on the other side of the Hub,
Kiondili picked up curiosity and flat indifference, calm meditation and intense
paranoia, idle emotions and concentrated energies. There were even a few
humans who projected E-blocks. Stilman, who entered with another researcher,
projected nothing-just as a nonesper would- though he glanced in Kiondili's
direction and waved briefly.
She wondered if the job offer to a researcher included a test for his E-rating, too.
Did it bother Stilman to work among so many espers? She had sensed no envy in
him, as she had with Argon. No fear, either. She half rose to join him, but he had
already turned away. Uncertain, she sat back down, conspicuously alone,
surrounded by crowded tables in the Hub.
She sat in the cafeteria long after she had finished eating. She was too keyed
up to go back to an empty cubicle. She would just as soon stay here a little
longer. If nothing else, she would get a good look at most of the people in her
triad of the outpost.
To her left a large open space was laid out like a garden. That was where
Stilman was sitting, still deep in conversation. The group was debating some
point. One of the creatures at the flashtable motioned furiously with his arms and
legs, and another was drawing just as excitedly on the table's large flashpad.
Overhead, the ceiling dimmed to show a projection of space, as if the outpost
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