Dragon and Judge

She started as something settled onto her lap. She looked down to see Taneem's head resting there, those silver eyes gazing up at her. It was so exactly like the way her old Newfoundland used to do that it brought tears to her eyes. "You're very clever, Alison," Taneem said. "I've heard both Jack and Draycos say so."

Alison had to smile at that. "Jack actually paid me a compliment?"

Taneem's tail flicked. "I'm not sure he meant it as a compliment," she conceded. "I think he was being annoyed with you at the time."

"That sounds better," Alison said. Her smile faded. "But all that cleverness doesn't seem to be working. You were right—we should have tried to get away back on Semaline."

"No, it was you who was right," Taneem insisted. "The risk was worth taking. As you pointed out, if we'd attacked our captors we might well have died."

"Instead of dying now," Alison said, stroking Taneem's head. "At least you they won't have to worry about burying."

And was instantly ashamed of herself. It had been horribly insensitive to remind Taneem that she would go two-dimensional and simply disappear when she died. She opened her mouth to apologize—

The words frozen in her throat. Would simply disappear . . .

And suddenly she had it. "That's it," she murmured. "Taneem, I've got it."

"I knew you would," the K'da said, lifting her head from Alison's lap. "Tell me."

"They were smart," Alison said, her whole body feeling limp with relief. "They were very smart. You know anything about fingerprints and retina patterns? Well, no, probably you don't."

"Were those some of the tests the doctor performed when we first arrived?" Taneem asked.

"Yes—right," Alison confirmed. She'd forgotten Taneem had been there for that.

Which was a strange thought all by itself. Was she really getting so comfortable with Taneem's presence that she could actually forget the K'da was there against her skin?

"Anyway, fingerprints and those other things are sometimes used like keys to make sure the wrong people can't open a door or safe or something," she said, getting back to her explanation. "That's what those indentations on the side of the safe are for. One of the crew puts their fingers in the right holes, that triggers some sensors, and then you can open the safe without the bomb going off and destroying everything inside."

Taneem pondered that a moment. "So the reason the other two safes were destroyed was that the people didn't know which indentations to use?"

"Partly," Alison said. "But mostly, they didn't have the right fingers."

Taneem cocked her head. "I don't understand."

"See, the problem with this kind of lock is that sometimes they can be fooled," Alison told her. "All a bad person has to do is kill someone who has access and then take his fingers or his eyes."

Taneem's neck arched. "That's barbaric!"

"I agree," Alison said. "Though it's actually a little more complicated these days. The point is that the safe's designers didn't want that happening here." She smiled grimly. "So whose digits do you suppose they keyed the lock for?"

Taneem's jaws cracked open in a wide smile. "They keyed it for K'da toes."

"Exactly," Alison said, nodding. "Add in the fact that you need a K'da/Shontine combination in order to look over the wall and figure out which indentations to use, and you can see that Neverlin and the Valahgua pretty well shot themselves in the foot when they wiped out Draycos's team."

"Only they don't know it," Taneem said thoughtfully. "What then do we do?"

"We open their safe for them," Alison said, standing up and holding out her hand. "Come on, let's get some lunch. Then we'll show them how a real safecracker does things."

Frost had apparently expected Alison to stall as long as she could. As a result, he was the last to arrive when the group gathered again in the Patri's suite after lunch. "Good of you to join us, Colonel," Neverlin said with an edge of sarcasm as Frost slipped into the room. "Alison says she's ready."

"Does she," Frost said, giving Alison a long, hard look as he crossed to his usual seat.

"Yes, she does," Alison said. "Or were you expecting her to wait until a little closer to your deadline?"

Neverlin frowned. "Deadline?"

"Colonel Frost told me before lunch that I had until midnight tonight to get the safe open," Alison explained.

Neverlin turned an unreadable expression on Frost. "Or?" he prompted.

"The Patri Chookoock was right—she was stalling," Frost said before Alison could answer. "I thought she could use a little extra incentive."

"And as you see, it worked," Alison said, watching Neverlin closely. "You ought to let the colonel take charge more often."

"We'll certainly consider it," Neverlin said coolly as he turned back to Alison. "And we're waiting."