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They stood on the edge of the unfamiliar.
He heard a tapping sound. You re going here. Caldaq saw that the Commander
was rapping on the black wall.
I do not understand.
You re going out. Out into the rim.
But there s nothing there. That region is unexplored, unstudied.
Actually, I think there s a bathroom there.
As far as Caldaq was concerned, this time the S van humor fell flat. Brun
sensed as much and continued in a more serious vein.
You are going hunting, but not for Amplitur, or Crigolit, or any others. You
are to search for potential allies.
Caldaq s mind whirled. He knew that on the rare occasions when a warship could
be spared from combat it might be sent out to try and expand the Weave, though
most new allies arrived in the form of spacefaring peoples who encountered the
Weave in the course of their own travels. It was much the same with the
Amplitur.
But while such far-ranging expeditions sometimes encountered life, it was
rarely intelligent and hardly ever useful. To the best of his knowledge, only
two species capable of contributing even minimal support to the war effort had
been so contacted since the conflict had begun.
In other words, such journeys were a vast waste of time. It was not what he
wanted to do. It was not what he had been trained for. His family lineage
bespoke a different destiny.
He tried to hide his feelings, but his lips drew back to show teeth. It was
not so dark that the S van failed to notice.
You re upset. Don t be. This work is important.
Be that as it may, it is work the O o yan or Hivistahm or even the Lepar
might do. Well, perhaps not the Lepar. But others. Why the Massood? Any
expedition into the unknown must prepare for every conceivable contingency. We
know neither the boundaries nor extent of the Amplitur s influence. There is
always the chance they may have allies in sectors we do not suspect. That is a
possibility that must be contemplated.
Let someone else contemplate them!
Brun remained calm. It was useless to try dressing down a Massood for
insubordination. You expected a front-line vessel, perhaps a landing
command. I am expected, Caldaq replied carefully, to fulfill certain
expectations. The commander sighed. I am familiar with the Massood and their
hierarchy of familial obligations. Believe me, you will be more than
fulfilling them by carrying out this command.
You were selected because of your unique temperament, your ability to control
yourself in moments of crisis. It is because of this, if I may be permitted to
stretch a point, Turlog-like capability that you have risen to the position
you now hold. Certainly an experienced S van or Hivistahm captain could lead
such
a mission, but it was felt that there would be advantages to having a Massood
in command.
Caldaq hesitated. Then you expect to encounter trouble out there. Brun s
teeth clacked softly. We don t know what to expect out there. If we knew what
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to expect, we wouldn t have to send a vessel to go look. Communications?
There s all sorts of electromagnetic babble, just like there is everywhere
else, but whether it s spewed by pulsars or unknown astrophysical phenomena or
something else we ve no way of telling at such a distance. The galaxy, my
young Massood, is vast: the portion occupied by the Weave and the Peoples of
the Purpose, very small. Again, if we knew these things, we would not have to
send you to find them out for us.
Though still displeased, Caldaq was calming down. After all, what more did he
have a right to expect?
Command of a landing force on a critical contested world? True, he had
participated in half a dozen combat situations, but to fight and to command
were very different matters.
What more natural than that they should test someone promoted beyond his years
with captaincy of a vessel to be sent into a potentially threatening but
noncombat situation? The experience would be good for him. The S van was
right. The S van, affectionately curse them, were always right.
They were offering him an advanced ship with an experienced, diverse crew.
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