"Congratulations. You managed to keep it a secret, even from me." Ravna didn't rise to the bait. "We're doing our best to keep it secret from everyone, sir. For reasons that you must know." She put the messages to date on the air between them. A handful of calls and responses, scattered across ten days. Translated into Triskweline for Pham, the original spelling and grammar errors were gone, yet the tone remained. Ravna was responsible for the Org side of the conversation. It was like talking to someone in a dark room, someone you have never seen. Much was easy to imagine: a strident, piping voice behind the capitalized words and exclamation marks. She had no video of the child, but through the humankind archive at Sjandra Kei, Marketing had dug up pictures of the boy's parents. They looked like typical Straumers, but with the brown eyes of the Linden clans. Little Jefri would be slim and dark. Pham Nuwen's gaze flicked down through the text,
mbt habari birch, then seemed to hang on the last few lines: ... Org[17]: How old are you, Jefri? Target[18]: I am eight. I mean I am eight years old. I AM OLD ENOUGH BUT I NEED HELP. Org[18]: We will help. We are coming as fast as we can, Jefri. Target[19]: Sorry I couldn't talk yesterday. The bad people were on the hill again yesterday. It wasn't safe to go to the ship. Org[19]: Are the bad ones that close by? Target[20]: Yes yes. I could see them from the island. I'm with Amdi on shipboard now, but walking up here there were dead soldiers all around. Woodcarver raids here often. Mother is dead. Father is dead. Johanna is dead. Mister Steel will protect me as much as he can. He says that I must be brave. For a moment, his smile was gone. "Poor kid," he said softly. Then he shrugged and jabbed his hand at one of the messages. "Well, I'm glad Vrinimi is sending a rescue mission. That is generous of you." "Not really,
kisumu mbt, sir. Look at items six through fourteen. The boy is complaining about the ship's automation." "Yeah, he makes it sound like something out of a dawn age: keyboards and video,
mbt professional shoes, no voice recognition. A completely unfriendly interface. Looks like the crash scragged almost everything, eh?" He was being deliberately obtuse, but Ravna resolved to be infinitely patient. "Perhaps not,
kisumu 2, considering the vessel's origin." Pham just smiled, so Ravna continued to spell things out. "The processors are likely High Beyond or Transcendent, snuffed down to near brainlessness by the current environment." Pham Nuwen sighed. "All consistent with the Skroderiders' theory, right? You're still hoping this crate is carrying some tremendous secret that will blow the Blight away." "Yes!.... Look. At one time, the Old One was very curious about all this. Why the total disinterest now? Is there some reason why the ship can't be the key to fighting the Perversion?" That was Grondr's explanation for the Old One's recent lack of interest. All her life Ravna Bergsndot had heard tales of the Powers, and always from a great remove. Here, she was awfully close to questioning one directly. It was a very strange feeling. After a moment Pham said, "No. It's unlikely,
mbt sandal, but you could be right." Ravna let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Good. Then what we're asking is reasonable. Suppose the downed ship contains something the Perversion needs,
Slendertone Flex For Male, or something it fears. Then it's likely the Perversion knows of its existence -- and may even be monitoring ultradrive traffic in that part of the Bottom. A rescue expedition could lead the Perversion right to it. In that case, the mission will be suicide for its crew -- and could increase the Blight's overall power."