Part 13 (2/2)

”I think I've got their departure time bracketed,” Nnamdi said. ”The Agra

Dynasty was the government that ruled Reginine from central Asia on Earth. It began in 2097 and ended when the Dominion of Man formally took over in 2180.”

”What about the, uh, the Lords of Rajan Putra?” Telek asked.

”We'll have to check the full history records back on Aventine for that. But I know there was a major migration from Reginine when it was opened to general colonization, and I think the migres founded the world Rajput.”

”Hmmm. Ethnic separatists, basically?”

”No idea. My guess, though, is that the Qasamans were either one s.h.i.+p of that group or a separate emigration, in either case overshooting their target rather badly.”

”Badly and a half,” Telek snorted. ”Where were the Trofts while they were wandering through a.s.semblage territory?”

”Probably never saw them coming,” Christopher spoke up. ”Really. The Dominion's early stardrives were nasty unstable things, and when they went supercritical they hit about ten times the speed we can get nowadays.”

”Sounds rather handy, actually,” Pyre said.

”Only if you didn't need to stop,” Christopher said dryly. ”Coming out of hypers.p.a.ce in that condition would fry the drive and most other electronics on the s.h.i.+p. There are literally dozens of colony s.h.i.+ps-colony s.h.i.+ps, mind you, not just probes or scouts-that are listed as simply having disappeared. I guess

Qasama was one of the lucky ones.”

”Or else they were the unlucky ones who were kidnapped and brought here,” Nnamdi put in. ”You'll recall we haven't sc.r.a.pped that possibility yet.”

”We'll keep it in mind if we see any sign of another race,” Telek a.s.sured him.

”But it's hard to imagine slaves being allowed to carry guns.”

Via the direct feed from Joshua's implanted optical sensors to his own, Justin saw that the car carrying the contact team had turned onto one of the broad streets they'd noted from orbit, and he waited for Cerenkov to ask about it. But the contact leader had apparently decided to hold off pumping the Qasamans for more information, at least for the moment. Probably just as well, Justin thought, since the lull enabled him to continue splitting his attention between the cityscape and the conversation in the lounge around him.

”Any indication in the translator program as to what bololins or krisjaws are?”

Pyre asked.

Justin could almost see Telek's shrug. ”Local fauna, I gather,” she said.

”Obviously pretty nasty-those guns of theirs don't look like target pistols.”

”Agreed. So why didn't they put up a wall around the city, like they did around the villages?”

There was a short pause. ”No idea. Hersh?”

”Maybe the village walls aren't there to keep the animals out,” he suggested, not sounding particularly convinced. ”Maybe both species fly or jump too high for walls to be effective.”

”So why do the villages have them?” Pyre persisted.

”I don't know,” Nnamdi snapped.

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