Manutaai had just finished packing his bag when two armed guards greeted him.
“By order of Lord Talokta, master of the Sotoid, you are under arrest.”
Manutaai feigned a look of being confused. But before he could make a move, the guards grabbed both arms and held him. They dragged him towards the prisoner containment rooms, struggling like a frightened animal caught in a snare. He doubled over using dead weight and with quick reflexes, shot himself upward and bolted between the two startled guards. The guards raced after him, and were about to shoot him down, when Manutaai tripped and hit his head on a post. Everything went black.
Manutaai felt his body being thrown on the hard floor and his head felt like it was going to explode. Where was he? What was going on?
He heard muffled voices that sounded far away.
“Are you okay?”
“He looks pretty groggy.”
Manutaai pushed himself upward, and heard a voice telling him to “take it easy. You have a nasty cut on your head.”
Then, that classic moment of reality purged the pain enough to put his senses on alert.
“Well, at least Manutaai has returned,” Tremaine declared.
Pete and Sataal knelt down beside him, pulled him up, and sat him on the seat.
“Is Kate back?” Pete urged.
Manutaai rubbed his head and looked slowly at the faces around him. “Yes, she is. She is fine. I think Talokta has her in his quarters.”
“What is happening, my brother?” Sataal spoke behind him. “Are we still near Ahmadeus? Are we at war?”
Ahh, so Talokta has put everyone together now.
He glanced at Sataal, he looked much better.
“More importantly,” Tremaine interrupted, “Did Kate bring those stones these Trimadians want so badly and when are we able to get out of here?”
The walls came crashing down as Manutaai realized that Talokta had found out his plans. Maybe Marone double crossed him. How much should he tell these morons? They did not yet have a clue as to who he was, so he might as well play along. In these humans’ eyes and maybe Sataal’s, if Talokta declared him a traitor it would be a Trimadian’s word against a Cantal’s. No one suspected he was a Trimadian. He may still be able to bid for his freedom, get rid of Sataal once and for all and get his rewards which he so desired.
“We are in deep space on our way to Heliostronus. Kate brought both stones, but I managed to hide one on Ahmadeus, and she replaced it with a fake one from Earth.”
“Hmm, that’s not so good,” Pete stated. “The Trimadians must have a way of testing for authenticity. When you left, I think a battle broke out as there was a hell of a racket going on and then sudden silence, like we had moved off.”
“That must have been the Locum that hit you as they were in the vicinity. Kate and I were given seventy-two hours to offer surrender to our respective people and for Kate to bring the stones from Graffa.”
“Yeah,” replied Tremaine. “We know that.”
“Then you all would be given your freedom. We knew that was flimsy, but we thought it would buy us time to get our combined forces together. However, we returned in good time, and there were no Trimadians to meet us as planned. We thought you were gone for good, but we stayed. Then, well, they came back and picked us up.”
He looked at them all. “The Locum attacked Ahmadeus,” he continued. “And wiped out the mountain base and outposts.” He looked at Sataal’s shocked face. “They used Crytaalic bombs. It had to be the Locum.”
Sataal paused in thought. “Not necessarily, I know the Trimadians have been experimenting with controlling Crytaalic using protective sheaths as they would rather use Crytaalic than waste precious Zymergillian crystals that are their fundamental power source. If it was the Locum, they would leave the technical bases and technology alone. Are there Locum overrunning Ahmadeus now?”
Careful. “Not that I am aware of.”
“The Locum would not wipe out anything that could give them an edge, an advantage.” Sataal glanced at the other faces. “What I am saying is that the Trimadians did it because they knew they had spies among them, and as they hate the free Cantals, they wiped everything out including our technology so no one would get it. Next will be Earth, their supply of humanoid hosts would be endless. Crytaalic weaponry was used to blame the Locum. I should know. I helped develop the technology for the Trimadians.”
“We are not a hundred percent sure of who attacked,” Manutaai said. He decided to change the subject as he sensed he was going to lose face. He continued, “Look, about Kate, well, as far as I know, she is unharmed. We were separated but I heard Lord Talokta has looked after her well and is wining and dining her.”
Pete felt uneasy.
Tremaine looked at Manutaai. “How do you know all this?”
“I have contacts aboard that keep me informed.” It was too late, Manutaai realized his mistake.
Sataal looked skeptically at him but said nothing.
“Yes, but how long have you been aboard? These guards only just dropped you on the floor a few minutes ago,” Mason stated.
“I got interrogated as you can see, and here I am.”