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padding their way up the road. Paying no more attention to them once he was sure they d not seen him,
Jorge left the the corn field and made for the upstairs room of the roadhouse, where CheeBah waited with
Clay, Hector, and Martin.
Jorge pulled the sack open and unceremoniously dumped PessAr out onto the floor. PessAr was
stunned as she looked around the room and a spasm of fear ran down her spine. She ejected a splat of shit
when she saw Jorge push the button on a wicked looking switchblade. He moved swiftly and despite
PessAr flinching, he cut the tape that bound her limbs and beak with a couple of quick motions, leaving
her unscathed.
Uncowed by her circumstances and recognizing CheeBah immediately, PessAr screeched,  You! I
knew it was too good to be true that you were dead.
 It s nice to see you too, PessAr. CheeBah was actually pleased to see one of her own kind again,  I
think it s time we had a little chat.
 Rather than kidnap me and transport me around like so much baggage, wouldn t it have been more
congenial if you d come to the lab to chat?
 If I came to the lab, I d very likely be killed.
 I m sure that MurGhoo would provide you with all the protection that you need.
 MurGhoo is dead. The human you report to is not MurGhoo, he is a diabolical human named
Franklin Pardoe, who is trying to fool you into helping him with a wicked self-serving plan.
 If what you say is true, how is it that this human has such intimate knowledge of our colonization
plans?
 He has accessed one or more of our handbooks.
 Impossible. The human intellect is not capable of enduring the handbook learning process, for
absorbing the content would overwhelm and ruin it forever, said PessArr.
 The human posing as MurGhoo learned about the handbooks from the notes of his father. His father,
Wayne Pardoe, had held our leader prisoner for scores of Terran years after we crashed on this planet,
and during that time he tricked MurGhoo into revealing the secrets of our technology. CheeBah nodded
to Hector who opened a notebook computer and brought it to PessArr. CheeBah smacked Clay s hand as
he fondled her breast and continued,  Here are facsimiles of the notebooks the imposter s father
kept& the originals are still in the safe in his office. The human Franklin Pardoe murdered MurGhoo he
died in my arms that is how I found out about the deception.
PessAr scanned the digitally imaged pages of the lab book and snorted,  These images of the so called
lab books are probably forgeries. You had a falling out with your lover and now are trying to bring him
down out of spite. You ve always been a trouble maker and pervert, and now you seem to have developed
a taste for intercourse with a lower life form& you should have just continued with MurGhoo since he is
now in human form.
 If he was really MurGhoo I would have, Cheebah said glancing to Clay to see if he was hurt by
PessAr s comment, but he was as usual oblivious.  But it was my close relationship with MurGhoo that
allowed me to see that the human you call MurGhoo is a fraud.
PessAr snorted again and said nothing.
 PessAr, you ve been jealous of MurGhoo and me from the beginning and though you criticize me as
perverted for my relationship with him, you would have given yourself to him in the same way if he
would have had you. And you let your hatred of me color your judgment, so that you refuse to listen to
reason and thus endanger the survival of our people.
PessAr did not reply immediately but cast her gaze from one of CheeBah s companions to the other,
saving an especially evil glance for Clay, who held CheeBah in the crook of his left arm while stroking the
feathers of her back with his right.  Who are these humans? PessAr asked referring to Clay and his fellow
colleagues from the former sanitation team Numero Cinqo.
 This is Clay Stool, the human s prophet. And these are Clay s compadres, Hector de la Vega,
Martin Lopez, and Jorge Chapa.
 Suppose I believe you, what would you want me to do? PessAr asked, knowing that appearing to
cooperate presented her only chance of escape.
 We must ascertain what this Franklin Pardoe is up to and sabotage whatever he attempts to do with
our technology, for he will use it only for his own ends and not for the benefit of Blithian-kind.
 How do I know that this isn t some kind of trick? PessAr was as coy as she was capable of being,  If I
go against the MurGhoo, I d be ruined in his eyes and violating the compact we made upon our departure
from Blithos.
 PessAr, you ve got to trust me. MurGhoo is dead. And I now love this human, Clay Stool, CheeBah
looked over her shoulder and Clay kissed her on the beak while tickling her beneath her tail. Once again
she remonstrated him none too convincingly and continued,  I know we haven t gotten along in the past
and I ve probably given you good reason to dislike me, but please, for the sake of our kind, at least
promise to check the evidence. I don t know what else I can do to prove my allegations, but PessAr
you ve been my shipmate for ten millennia take my word on this.
PessAr waited for a long minute without speaking, as she looked at CheeBah and visibly twitched
with the effort of her thought process. Finally, she waved her arms in a signal of resignation and said,
 You ve got me so confused now I don t know what to think. My first instinct is to disbelieve you, but I
guess I owe it to our fellow travelers to at least look into this. Mind you now, I m not saying that I believe [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]