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After evading another barrage froh an uression He hurried into the ship's as), and eagerly undid the chest-buckles of his harness As he backed into a triangular depression in one of the square rooan to refill his tank

Dadab slipped out of his harness and swung his oversized forearht seal, and he tore it off and flung it away But before the -fast pearlescent swipe

Floating in the center of the suite was a Huragok, a creature with a stooped head and elongated snout held aloft by a collection of translucent pink sacs filled with a variety of gasses Four anterior limbs sprouted from its spine--tentacles, to be exact, one of which held Dadab's ht theits snout and gave it a thorough inspection Then it flexed two of its tentacles in a quick, inquisitive gesture

Dadab contorted the digits of one of his hardened hands so they ok's liht out froers splayed and contracted, bent and overlapped as they forok released a disappointed bleat from a sphincterlike valve in one of its sacs The emission propelled it past Dadab to the tank receptacle where it hung the mask on a hook that protruded frook asked, turning back to Dadab The Deacon held up the box, and the Huragok's tentacles trembled with excitement: < May I touch what I can see? > < Touch, yes, sok either didn't -Yar stench, or it siet Dadab's joke It wrapped a tentacle around the alien plunder and eagerly lifted it to its snout

Dadab flopped onto a cushioned pallet near the suite's free-standing food-dispenser He uncoiled a nipple connected to a spool of flexible tubing, put it in hisbut nutritious sludge surged down the tube and into his gullet

He watched the Huragok pore over the alien box, its sacs swelling and deflating in an expression of what? Irasp the creature's sign language He could only guess at the emotional subtleties of its bladder-speak

Indeed, it had taken hihter Than Sook reproduction, or rather Huragok creation The creatures anic materials with the sahter Than So to bore a neat hole in the alien box It was a truly fantastic process, but what Dadab found ok parents was to make their creations perfectly buoyant--to fill theok would initially float or sink, and their parents would nahter Than Soh his nose, swelling his lungs to capacity The methane in the suite was no less stale than what he carried on his back, but it felt good to breathe unencuhter Than Some insert his tentacle into the box and cautiously probe its interior, Dadab was once again reminded of how much he appreciated the creature's coes he'd taken during his education at the Ministry seularly focused on keeping their ships in good working order Which is why Dadab had been hter Than Some had first flexed its lile pose over and over until the Unggoy realized it was attehter Than Some jerked its tentacle frook's sacs swelled, and it began flailing its liled to keep up

< Intelligence! … Coordinates …!… Undoubtedly the aliens … Evenout the food-nipple and juok forced its tentacles to curl rasped Lighter Than So

< You, certain? > < Yes! The Shipe ship And in the sa his best not to wrinkle his tunic, he and the Huragok were out of the suite and down Minor Transgression's single central passage to the bridge

"Either remove your mask," the Shiphter Than Some's assessment, "or learn to speak more clearly" Chur'R-Yar was perched on an elevated cohtest thing on the se

Dadab sice to clear soain "The device is a collection of circuits sihout our ship"

"My ship," Chur'R-Yar interjected

Dadab winced "Yes, of course" Not for the first tie; the appendages changed color depending on the ht now the Deacon was desperate to gauge the level of Chur'R-Yar's i-Yar the back of the Shipmistress' head was covered with dark brown calluses--thick skin like a patchwork of bruises that made her narrow shoulders seem even more hunched than they really were

Dadab decided to play it safe and cut to the chase "The box is soed …" The Deacon gestured furtively at the Huragok, who bobbed to a wall-in"

Lighter Than Soainst the panel's luraphic representation of the voluression coalesced in a holo-tank before Chur'R-Yar's chair The tank was lass lenses: one built into a platinu Likewas covered with a purple ht, displayed a darker hexagonal pattern --an underlying Berylliule representing the Kig-Yar ship appeared in the projection "When we registered the alien vessel's radiation leak" As he continued, the projection (controlled by Lighter Than So additional icons as required "This is where we ok believes the vessel initiated its journey"

The Shiphlighted system It was outside the ed her with patrolling--beyond the boundary of Covenant space, though Chur'R-Yar kneas heresy to suggest such a limit

The Prophets believed the Forerunners once had doround--a potential repository of important relics

"And its destination?" Chur'R-Yar asked, her long tongue rattling against the top of her beak-like ok The creature bleated from its sacs and flicked two of its limbs "I'm afraid that data has been lost," Dadab replied

The Shipmistress curled her claws around the aroy had learned the Huragok's language--that the Deacon now served as intermediary between her and a member of her crew Not for the first ti the Deacon out an airlock But staring at the unexplored systeas-sucker had suddenly becoreat deal more useful

"Have I ever told you how ood counsel?" the Ship-est we tell the Ministry?"

Dadab's harness began to chafe around his neck He fought back the urge to scratch

"As in all matters, I will follow the Shipmistress' recommendation" Dadab chose his words very carefully It wasn't often Chur'R-Yar asked him a question; and she had never asked for his opinion "I a honor the will of the Prophets"