Nick hears than an Amnion emissary is ready to board the ship. Nick confirms to the Amnion that the emissary will be accepted once escort is arranged. Nick directs Mikka to be the emissary's escort and to have a gun on that emissary at all times.
Davies doesn't help his situation by foolishly mouthing off at Nick, when Nick holds all the power over him and his mother. Liete stands quietly behind Morn and Davies, keeping her gun on them. Vector tells Nick that the ship doesn't "have a prayer" unless he gives Davies to the Amnion. Nick orders Vector to take responsibility for assembling a new gap drive using only Amnion parts, a command that makes Vector's face break into a sweat. Morn has adjusted her zone implant to keep her calm enough to plan rather than pointlessly rail against Nick and her situation. Inside, she plots a course forward that she believes will allow her to demand Davies back from the Amnion after the Amnion emissary acquires him.
Nick bluntly states to the Amnioni that they don't have any seats to spare, and the Amnioni insists again on having a seat somewhere. Nick and the Amnioni argue about that for a moment, and then Nick has a crew member vacate a chair so the emissary can sit. He sits and identifies himself as Marc Vestabule, and quickly acknowledges himself as an experiment in how to change a human genetically while trying to retain an outward appearance of humanity. He asks Nick what his requirements are. Nick wants to know what makes Davies valuable to the Amnion. Marc answers that Davies represents an anomaly, not conforming to established reality, and that Morn is the source of the anomaly. Marc explains that the development and consequences of the anomaly that Davies is will be of great interest for the Amnion to study.Despite the extremity of her intention, she still had the capacity--her zone implant gave her that--to be shocked when Mikka Vasaczk brought Enablement's emissary to the bridge.
Either the creature at Mikka's side had once been human and had been given a mutagen which wasn't entirely successful, or it had begun as Amnion and its people had failed in their attempts to make it appear human. Morn guessed the former, if only because the human parts of the creature were so convincing.
In general, as well as in some details, it--or he--was recognizably a man. He had one human arm, and most of his chest was unflawed. Above his boots, the skin of his shins was pale and ordinary. Half his face looked and moved like any other man's. And he breathed the ship's atmosphere with only a modicum of respiratory difficulty.
But his shipsuit--like Davies', made from an alien material which shed light--had been cut away to accommodate the thick nobs of Amnion skin that had taken over his knees. His other arm was also bare: Amnion tissues needed no covering. And the inhuman half of his face was made for the sulfuric light and acrid air of Enablement Station. An Amnion eye stared unblinking from that side; some of the teeth under it, revealed by a partially lipless maw, were pointed like the guards'.
"Nick"--Mikka spoke tonelessly, all her emotions clamped down--"this is the Amnion emissary.
"That," she said, pointing Nick out to the creature at her side, "is Captain Nick Succorso."
Still holding her gun, she stepped back to stand watch beside the aperture.
"I wish to sit," said the creature in a voice like flakes of rust.
However, Marc Vestabule makes sure to note, the Amnion are not interested in the anomaly source within Morn, for they know there's nothing organic about her defense against madness. Vestabule states a radio electrode in Morn's brain kept Morn from feeling a mind-destroying terror when her mind was being copied onto Davies. Vestabule then speculates that Nick's reason for coming to Enablement was to test Morn's immunity, or that he had some overriding purpose with Davies.
Nick turns to Marc Vestabule, asks what the Amnion want to do with Davies. Marc answers Davies will be used for analysis of what results Morn's madness immunity has on his knowledge, memory, and reason. Marc adds this information will make for mutation of humans that end up appearing more human than previously possible. Vestabule asks Nick what his requirements are, and Nick defers the question to Vector. Vector names a hysteresis transducer, a modulation control, and customized adapters to rebuild the ship's gap field generator. Emissary Marc Vestabule of the Amnion then pronounces it acceptable. Nick asks when the trade can happen, and Vestabule says as soon as Vector can provide mounting, contact, and load-specific information.Nick was already out of his seat, surging at Morn. Even her artificial reflexes weren't quick enough to dodge him--or to prevent Davies from trying to save her.
Jumping in front of her, Davies lashed a fist at Nick's head.
Nick slipped the blow aside and charged past Davies as if he meant nothing.
At almost the same instant, Liete came up behind Davies, clubbed him to the floor with her handgun.
Nick plowed into Morn; he drove her back against the bulkhead. In a howl of rage and loss, he cried, "A zone implant! You've got a fucking zone implant! It was all a lie, all of it!"
Davies struggled to reach his feet, but his limbs were jelly; he collapsed to the floor again. Making sure of him, Liete knelt on his spine and pressed her gun against the base of his skull.
Energy and panic flamed in Morn; she burned to use it, ached to hit Nick in the face until his features were pulp and his own blood blinded him. But she forced herself to stand still. Her intentions were too extreme for simple violence. While he cocked his fist to hammer her head at the wall, she braced herself to duck; but she didn't struggle.
"Nick!" Mikka's yell cracked through the air. Her pistol jabbed between Morn's face and Nick's: its muzzle jammed into his scars. "Not now! Not here!"
Nick recoiled as if the command second had set a stun-prod to his heart.
In an instant he regained his self-control. Slowly he raised one hand until his index finger pointed between Morn's eyes.
"Kiss him good-bye. This is going to cost you everything. Starting with your son."
Morn goes to Mikka, and clearly announces she is going to her cabin. Morn states she expects Mikka to lock her in her cabin once she's inside. Morn quietly asks Mikka to let her know when the trade happens. Mikka agrees. Morn leaves the bridge feeling completely unrestrained now that her son is to be traded to alien--and now that her zone implant isn't secret to Nick.Keeping his face from Morn so that she couldn't see his expression, Nick accepted the offer. "All right," he muttered. "Conformity of purpose will be achieved through the mutual satisfaction of requirements."
From the deck, Davies tried to snarl a curse. But Liete's gun seemed to nail him down; he was helpless to move or protest.
More distinctly, Nick went on, "My engineer will transmit the specs in ten minutes. When the equipment and adapters are ready, the exchange will take place in our airlock. One Amnioni will bring what we need to the lock. The human offspring will be waiting there with one guard. We'll trade. Then we're going to seal the ship. As soon as our repairs are done, we'll leave. Is that clear? No delays, no obstacles. You'll assign us a departure trajectory, and we'll get the hell out of here."
"It is acceptable," repeated Vestabule.
"Then what're you waiting for?" Nick snapped harshly. "Go away. Just looking at you makes me feel like I've got hives."
Without hesitation or haste, the emissary pushed himself out of the helm seat.
"Morn," Davies groaned. He may have been asking her for help. Or he may have been lost in her memories, trying through the pain in his head and the pressure on his spine to figure out who he really was.
It doesn't appear that anything's going Morn's way, yet she feels unrestrained. A volatile combination for firing up the next chapter...like she's ready to overturn the galactic order if need be...hmm...
