Riss Series 5: The Riss Challenge Read Online Free PDF Page B

attention—maybe I had overplayed it. Well, I couldn't stop now.
    "That new technology you want...requires software...the Riss developed and are the only ones who can install," I choked out between coughs and spitting blood. "And you just killed them all." I laughed while holding my throbbing chest. Neifeh spun back to face the elders. They had left their chairs and were standing pressed back against the wall.
    "Is that old bitch crazy? The Riss are dumb beasts." He leaned on the table, glaring in the elders' direction. Eventually, Ni'Shay spoke.
    "She's telling the truth. The Riss wrote the software, and only they know how to install it. The SAS didn't trust us any more than you do." He looked frail and afraid standing there, but having known him for years, I could tell he was warming to the game I was playing. Neifeh stood silent for several minutes. I could feel his shifting emotions: rage, anger, frustration, and fear. He pulled a handheld device from his belt, clicked the screen, and waited. "General Nahas, cease killing Riss immediately." He stood listening for a minute, then shouted, "Immediately! Shoot the next soldier who kills a Riss and his sergeant and his lieutenant. Is that clear enough! Capture using minimal force." He grabbed a chair, slammed it down in the middle of the room, and sat. "Who is she?" He pointed in my direction. I lay still moaning between coughs.
    
    
     A tingling sensation swept through my body, and the pain eased.
    "Ioana Ja'Tuva, an elder of the clans, and...the only one who can understand the Riss sign-language. The Riss like her because she can talk to them...and we need her when we need something from the Riss. Otherwise it takes days to get them to understand." Ni'Shay said, parroting my new identity he and I had discussed while I was being introduced to the Ja'Tuva clan and gaining the background information I would need if questioned.
    Neifeh again took out his handheld and tapped on the screen. "Senior Captain Wasem, locate the fleet's best software engineers and have them sent to me on Freeland, tomorrow morning at eight hundred hours." He smiled. "Tomorrow you and that old bitch Ioana will take me to your software facility. We will see how long it will take for our engineers to make her and the Riss friends disposable." He laughed.
     I turned a laugh into a cough.
    * * *
    An hour before eight hundred hours, a shuttle landed outside the plant at Alesd, where software was designed and maintained. Eight men exited and stood around talking, obviously waiting for Admiral Neifeh and not wanting to be late. Exactly at eight, another smaller shuttle landed and Neifeh exited with three of his special security guards. He waved to the group, now braced to attention, to follow him as he headed toward the building where Ni'Shay and I stood waiting.
    "Ni'Shay, you will show these men the software so they can get started. It shouldn't take long. I'm looking forward to killing that old bitch Ioana and her furry friends." He laughed, giving me a sneer as he entered the building. Ni'Shay led him to the bank of monitors and keyboards lining one wall. "What is this?" he shouted, looking at the strange keyboards that had been built for the Riss. Because of their large hands, the keys were over two centimeters wide and spaced over a centimeter apart.
    "The Riss are big people and have large hands," Ni'Shay said, trying not to look like he was enjoying himself and ignoring the obvious—the keys contained strange symbols.
    "Ioana, have one of your...friends bring up the software from one of your systems," he said.
    "I can't. You have them all locked up."
    "Lieutenant Henrick, go with the old bitch and get one released," He said to the tallest of the guards standing behind him. When I didn't move, he shouted, "What are you waiting for, bitch? Get your ass