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entrance.

Garras stopped briefly to talk to the Sholan guards inside, handing Guynor over to their custody. That done, Skinner led the way, passing by the elevators to the upper levels where the communications and records departments were housed, heading for the room that had been the Terrans' council hall before the advent of the Valtegans.

It still bore the scars of the occupation, but had been returned to the semblance of human use by the local townsfolk. A huge carved wooden table sat in the center of the room surrounded by chairs. At the far end of the table, a small group of Sholans and Terrans sat. They looked up as the new arrivals entered.

"Carrie! Richard!" called their father, getting to his feet and coming forward to meet them.

Richard threw Carrie a rueful glance.

"I didn't think we could avoid him for long," he said quietly.

"What possessed him to bring David, too?" she said.

Kusac stepped closer to her. "David's here?"

She looked up at him. "Yes, but don't worry. I can handle him."

Kusac flicked his ears in irritation. "I dislike him. The man is cruel and self-opinionated."

"Carrie," her father said, hugging her when they reached him. "You shouldn't have left like that. We were extremely worried about you. Thank God Richard found you."

"I was fine, Dad. I had Kusac with me," she said, returning the hug.

"Ah, yes. Kusac." Peter Hamilton regarded him critically.

Kusac bore her father's appraisal patiently, knowing it was only the first of many obstacles that he and Carrie would have to face. Briefly, his viewpoint altered, and he saw himself through both his Leska's and her father's eyes. Tall, dark-furred, and fairly powerfully built, the pointed ears added to his feline look. The face was humanoid yet still catlike with vertically slitted amber eyes set above high cheek bones. The nose and mouth, though bifurcated like a feline's, appeared more humanoid.

A wave of dizziness hit him along with the realization that Carrie was making sure her father saw the person that he was rather than the animal he had impersonated during his stay at the Inn. Then his vision cleared and he sensed her father's conclusion that his appearance, despite the heavy musculature that hinted at a strength beyond that of the Terrans, was pleasing rather than threatening.

Gods, cub, you need to learn some subtlety! he sent.

Time for that later, she replied.

Her father was nodding and holding out his hand. "It seems we owe you everything. Had it not been for you, we wouldn't yet be free of the Valtegans. Been wounded again, I see," he said, looking at the bandage around Kusac's thigh.

Kusac took the hand, holding it lightly and releasing himself before Peter Hamilton's grasp triggered his claws.

"It's almost healed," he said. "I owe your family my life. It seemed a fair exchange."

Peter Hamilton smiled and turned back to his children.

"Richard, I see you've managed to keep body and soul together."

Richard grinned. "Just about," he said.

Her father turned to allow David to join the group.

"I've brought someone with me who's very anxious to see you, Carrie," he said.

"Hello, Carrie," said David. "You really shouldn't have left so precipitously, you know. Not exactly a mature act, was it, to cause so much distress? Still, you're back with us now." He stepped forward to give her a perfunctory kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, David," she said, sidestepping him to stand beside Kusac. "I see you haven't changed. You shouldn't have bothered to come, you know. We said our good-byes the day I left Valleytown."

David stopped abruptly, an angry look crossing his face.

"Carrie, that's hardly any way to talk to someone who's been as concerned over you as David has," scolded her father.

"I don't give a damn what David thinks or feels, Father. I want nothing to do with him. He needn't stay on my account."

Let's leave, Kusac, she sent.

Kusac put an arm around her waist, drawing her to one side. He inclined his head briefly to her