"We don't have a lot of guests," Colberton said by way of apology." We do have one empty officer's suite which should be acceptable."

A corpsman showed them to a comfortable apartment. It was spacious and could easily accommodate the two extra beds which had been brought in.

"I hope nobody snores but me," Hal said.

Jejliard laughed. "I'm tired enough to sleep through it." He pulled his chair close to Hal's and indicated for Tajlon to do the same.

"Let's keep it low," he whispered. "The general is a shrewd officer and will have certainly wired this room."

Hal grabbed another chair for Tajlon and kept his voice low as well. "If not, I would be disappointed. He certainly knows how to take control of a situation."

"Look, a radio," Tajlon said aloud. He tuned it to a station broadcasting out of Agartoon. Tinny music assaulted their ears.

"I knew those had to be good for something," Hal said beneath his breath.

"Okay. What do I need to know?" Jejliard probed. "Looking at you, Tajlon."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you won't take this lying down. What are your plans?"

Tajlon looked perplexed. "I'm just following orders, Dad. Almost to the letter."

Hal sat back and crossed his arms. "He knows you too well Tajlon. Spill."

"It's not like you've ever kept information from me before." Jejliard raised an eyebrow. "Where's Koutou in all of this?"

"Okay. You lost me there," Hal said. "Soshe I get. Koutou, not so much."

"Tajlon needs to bring you up to speed on a few things, Hal." He looked at Tajlon expectantly.

"Koutou is coming with Soshe tomorrow night to our beach," Tajlon said. "I said I'd try to slip away to meet her."

"Not a good idea," Jejliard said.

"I knew you'd say that..."

"I'm glad they're coming. But you should let Hal meet up with them," Jejliard said. "Colberton will be keeping a much closer eye on you."

"Why me?"

"He needs a working bomb more than he needs a spaceship at the moment," Jejliard replied. "And he met Soshe the night you brought her to Mara's."

"Yeah. He won't forget about Soshe," Hal agreed and laughed. "Even a proper soldier like Colberton could figure it out. Wild guess. Tajlon wants to see Soshe and will try to break the quarantine."

Tajlon looked sheepish. "I really don't want to get Soshe involved."

"I'm afraid it's a little late for that," Jejliard said. "She knows about our little secret too."

"Colberton doesn't know that," Tajlon protested.

"No, but he can guess she might know anything you do."

"Permit me to explain," Hal interjected. "A guy likes to impress his sweetie. Nothing like a daring tale of spaceships and aliens to add a little thrill to you conversation."

"But why won't he be watching Hal?" Tajlon asked.

"I'm pretty boring compared to you two geniuses."

"And Hal has reason to go back and forth between the ship and the lab," Jejliard said. "The guards will be more used to him coming and going at all hours. I'll stress to Colberton that we plan to work night and day on this project until it's completed."

"Since this may be our last chance to talk privately before I see her, what do you want me to tell Soshe?" Hal asked.

"Tell her to take the Casgora Wind and motor up the Gistuwbe River," Jejliard said. "She needs to get in touch with Mara. She's visiting her friends in the village upriver. They both need to stay clear of here and out of pocket so Colberton can't find them."

"Soshe's bound to be disappointed when she sees my hairy face," Hal said stroking the stubble on his chin. "I'll give her your sympathy, Tajlon."

"Tell Koutou, I need him here," Jejliard said to Hal, but he was looking at Tajlon.

"You keep mentioning Koutou. Why?" Hal asked.

"I'll have a much better shot at repairing his ship with him on it."

"His ship?"

"Tajlon will explain everything while I get some sleep," Jejlard replied. "Let's cut the lights so the good general will think we're asleep instead of plotting all night."

They shoved the chairs apart and Jejliard turned into his bed.

Hal sat down and patted the edge of his mattress. "Care to join me for a chat?"

"'I'm a little tired," Tajlon said. "You should get rest too, Hal. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

"I will. Just as soon as you bring your Uncle Hal up to speed."

***

The sun was almost down the next evening when Koutou joined Soshe to sail out of Novaland harbor. The night was clear and the moon still high enough in the sky to give them light.

She was careful to stay out of sight of the fleet by navigating the long way around the cayes into the little hidden cove and anchored where she and Tajlon had been just two nights before. It seemed like ages ago.

"I guess we wait, huh?" she asked.

"Unless you like frolicking through the jungle at night," Koutou said.

"I know my way around this island."

"Oh, I forgot. You're wild."

"And you're irritating."

"Is that all the thanks I get for teaching you to sail, use your new tide watch and operate the radio? I was feeling so proud of my little fledgling too."

"It doesn't mean I'm not grateful, but you can wear on a person's nerves at times."

"You have intelligence. To think I could have educated you, raised you up from the stone age in a few more days. But no. I'm irritating."

"I'm sorry, Koutou."

Koutou ignored her and proceeded to devour some nuts and fruit while they waited. Frustrated Soshe went to the other end of the boat hoping he would cool off after he filled his belly. Finally, she heard a couple of low whistles coming from the beach.

Hal was on the shore and walked out on the flat shelf of rock. Soshe waved.

"You can bring the boat on to shore here," he said, indicating the left side of the rock. "Just pull up the centerboard. We tied up here the other morning. No problem."

"What about the demon?"

"Oh Soshe. There's no demon here," Koutou said in a condescending tone. "Monsters perhaps, but no demons."

"It's safe. I'll explain later," Hal said.

Soshe pulled up the centor board and anchor to sail the boat in. The wind was blowing off the slope of the island and she didn't have enough room to maneuver. She looked to Koutou expecting him to prompt her as usual, but he turned his back and looked away.

"'Aren't you going to talk me through this?"

"No. I wouldn't want to irritate you."

"Just use an oar," Hal called out to her.

"Alright, but it's easier with two people," she called back and then to Koutou. "You might have suggested that."

"You should have thought of it yourself."

"I'm scared and my nerves are shot. You're offended. I get it. You could still help a little."

"You have no idea."

"No idea what you can do or how offended you are?"

"Take your pick."

"I can't believe you're acting like this under these circumstances," Soshe scolded.

"I won't honor that with a reply. The restraint I exercise around humans is phenomenal."

"He's getting a little crotchety in his old age," Hal said. He could see Koutou in a new light after his talk with Tajlon the night before. "Same flavor, new meaning," he thought. Hal helped secure the boat and extended a hand to help Soshe ashore.

"You'll miss me when I'm gone," Koutou said.

"Let's not talk about dying," Soshe said.

"I'm not," Koutou said "I'm talking about leaving. Now that's attractive."

"Well, I'm sorry if our company isn't good enough," Hal said. "Can we get past the ruffled feathers and get down to business?"

"Try managing without me. It's practice for later when I'm gone."

"No offense, Hal, but I was expecting Tajlon," Soshe said, ignoring Koutou's last comment.

"Yeah, Colberton's keeping a close eye on him. The general knows you're Tajlon's girlfriend and might predict you'll try to see each other. My sweetie, however, is halfway across the sea by now. I've done my part here and from Colberton's standpoint, I'm old news, no longer essential to his plans."

"So Tajlon isn't coming at all?"

"I assure you it's not by choice. He's nuts about you."

Soshe felt her face flush and took a deep breath. "I really miss him too. Is that what you came to tell me?"

"No. We have a job for you. Jejliard wants you to take the boat upriver to the village and let Mara know about the quarantine. You're to both stay away from familiar places so Colberton can't commandeer you."

Koutou wandered purposefully down the beach, stopping to pick at a crab.

"Come on Koutou," Soshe pleaded. "We need to figure out what's going on here and what to do about it.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Koutou said spinning around.

"Um, no." Soshe said.

"Colberton wants to contain this little alien problem. Keep it a secret to avoid mass hysteria or whatever. He's using Hal, Jejliard and Tajlon to figure out how to build spaceships and nuclear weapons. He wants to control the ultimate high ground and hold superior fire power. He sent De'Marc and our friends to the most remote area of the planet where they will conveniently disappear before they have the opportunity to share any of this information with society."

"You think he plans to detain them?" Hal asked.

"Destroy and erase them more likely," Koutou replied. "And what do you suppose he'll do with the rest of you once he has the ship and weapons operational?"

"He doesn't seem that evil," Soshe said.

"Not evil, just pragmatic. He can't let civilians have control of this knowledge," Koutou said. "It's what generals do."

"What do you propose we do about it?" Hal asked.

"Throw a little surprise party." Koutou said. He did a little happy dance and flew into the jungle.