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should go lie down."
    "I said I just got distracted," Paul said, more firmly this time. "Is there a problem with Milika?"
    [A problem, it has not been specified,] Warrior said. [The village, we must not approach it.]
    "Which I just said sounds a little ominous," Lorne said, "and asked if there was any way to get a look at the place."
    [The attempt, we will make it.] Warrior gestured to one of the other Trofts, and the image of Sollas suddenly disappeared into a dizzying flurry of forest. Hastily, Paul averted his eyes as a surge of vertigo threatened to overwhelm him. [The added distance, it may make seeing difficult,] Warrior added. Out of the corner of his eye Paul saw the image steady...
    "No," Jin breathed.
    Paul snapped his eyes back to the display. For that first second all he saw was a hazy image of tangled Qasaman forest with an equally hazy walled village in the center.
    And then, belatedly, he spotted what had sparked his wife's reaction. There was a Troft warship squatting in the middle of the road outside the main gate, its stubby weapon-laden wings poised like hawk talons over the village.
    For a long moment no one spoke. Then, Croi stirred. "So that's it," he said, an edge of bitterness in his voice. "We have a traitor aboard."
    Warrior's radiator membranes fluttered. [Your words, explain them.]
    "Isn't it obvious?" Croi snarled. "Someone leaked the news that we were going to Milika." He turned and looked pointedly at Zoshak. "Someone who knew how to privately contact the invaders."
    "You mean one of the people who helped us wreck one Troft warship on Caelian and capture the other one?" Lorne asked scornfully.
    "If we hadn't won on Caelian we wouldn't have brought Isis to Qasama, would we?" Croi countered.
    "They didn't know about Isis until after we won the battle," Lorne said.
    "So they say." Croi's eyes narrowed. "So you say. You whose family is awfully cozy with the Qasamans."
    "Enough," Paul put in. "With all due respect. Dr. Croi, you're being an idiot. Look at the infrared display—that ship's gravs are stone-cold. It's been sitting there for hours."
    Still glowering, Croi looked at the sensor control board. Warrior pointed silently to the proper display, and there was another moment of silence. "Fine," Croi growled, turning away again. "Whatever. In that case, what in hell are they doing there?"
    "It's Merrick," Jin said, her voice so quiet Paul barely heard her. "He's there."
    "You sure?" Lorne asked, frowning up at the display. "How do you know?"
    "I just do," Jin said, her voice filling with dread. "It's the logical place for Moffren Omnathi to send him for his convalescence. Somehow, the Trofts found out he was there." She exhaled in a painful-sounding huff. "And to get him... they're going to destroy Milika."
    "No," Paul said as firmly as he could with his own heart suddenly racing. She was probably right about Merrick being there. With Jin having left, he was the only Cobra on Qasama, and the invaders would be seriously motivated to find and neutralize him.
    But there was still a ray of hope that Jin apparently hadn't yet grasped. "I just said they've been there for hours," he reminded her. "If they were going to destroy the village, they would surely already have started."
    "He's right," Zoshak said. "We still have time."
    "Time for what?" Croi asked glumly. "Milika was our last chance. Now it's gone."
    "Not for long," Zoshak said evenly. "First, we unload and secure Isis. Then we—"
    "Secure it?" Croi cut him off. "Secure it where? In the middle of the forest?"
    "Yes." Zoshak turned to Warrior. "Thirty kilometers west and south of the village is a clearing. It should be large enough for you to land. Can you take us there?"
    Warrior's arm membranes fluttered. [The clearing, we are familiar with it.]
    "Wait a second," Croi objected. "I was joking."
    "This isn't a joke," Zoshak assured him. "Thirty years ago, after Jin Moreau's first visit to Qasama, the Shahni calculated that that clearing was