Sajani Tails

      “And it hasn’t done anything since?” Tess asked Ginger.

      “No,” he responded coolly. “I’ve tried a few times, but I think they must have to do something on their end for it to work.”

      “Do they know where we are?”

      “All they could see was my face.” He sounded a little confused by the question. The spark’s metallic cat was rubbing its head against the blank screen.

      “Right, but is there any way they can figure out where we are from this thing? It seems to me if they can find it to talk to us, they can find out where we are.”

      “I’m not sure it works like that exactly. It does something with sound waves, a little like a tuning fork. It just broadcasts out a sound in all directions.”

      “But can they tell what direction?” She was sounding a little urgent and Ginger still wasn’t sure why. Her concern caught the attention of the cat, which jumped down off the communications area and tried to rub itself against her legs.

      “I suppose,” he said thoughtfully.

      “And would the sound get quieter the further it’s away?”

      “Well, yes, and it’d respond to the curve of Terah as well…”

      “You need to turn that off, Ginger,” she said with certainty.

      The cat meowed.

      “I need to run a few more tests…”

      “If they can find out where we are, we can’t leave it on.”

      Slowly he began to understand. While they might not be able to know exactly where they were like he originally thought she meant, they’d be able to follow the sound waves. He began turning a few switches and dials. The light under the screen went dim. “Ok,” he said after a moment. “I think it’s off.”

      “You think it is?”

      “Yes. I can check it against the other vehicle in a moment.”

      “Let’s do that,” she said quickly. “Although it’s probably too late.”

      Sajani picked up the dropped musket and used her thumb claw to remove the cap. Carefully picking up the major by the tunic, which was surprisingly easy to do, the copper wolf set her gently on her feet again. It was about this time two new guards entered the tent. They saw Sajani rough handling their commander and started to respond, but Chass stepped up carefully from behind and startled them by placing a hand on each of their shoulders. They looked up at him.

      “That nice vykati lady in front of you is none other than the copper wolf herself,” he said in a very piqued tone. “There was a minor disagreement with your commander that we’ve now managed to settle. We were just about to sit down and discuss things like civilized people, maybe have some tea.”

      “Take him!” the major shouted.

      Sajani rolled her eyes, but still let go of the irate officer’s shirt.

      Chass placed a little more weight on the soldiers and added, “We wouldn’t be wanting any kind of diplomatic row now would we?”

      “No sir,” one of them replied.

      Chass laughed. “I’m not familiar with your military structure, but I doubt…”

      “Idiots!” the Major screamed. “Arrest them!”

      “I don’t suppose you’d come quietly if we did?” one of the soldiers asked Chass hopefully.

      “Let me think on that a moment,” Chass said politely. “Lady Sajani?”

      At that moment Major Fagen decided to rush at Sajani and attempt to knock her down. The wolf weighed about ten stone more than the major and was about three quarters of a meter taller, so it was a futile attempt at disabling her opponent. It was very effective, however, for breaking the tension in the room. She kept her hold on Sajani and began thrashing back and forth trying to move the larger woman. Sajani wasn’t sure what to do since she didn’t want to hurt the major or appear to be attacking her in the face of her only slightly subdued guards. There was a snort of laughter from the guard who was supposed to be unconscious.

      “Now don’t you be waking up on me now,” Chass commented to him. The laughter stopped. Sajani threw a look the other wolf’s way which she hoped conveyed the confused chagrin she was feeling. He turned to the guards before him. “I think I better save your major from the Lady. Excuse me a moment.”

      “No problem,” one of them responded.

      Chass walked up to the major and carefully grabbed her by the back of her collar and began lifting with one hand while forcing her hands apart from Sajani’s waist with the other. Once the grip was loosened, he pulled her away at arm’s length facing away from him. The major continued to swing wildly, but only managed to connect once solidly with Sajani’s face as she was leaving.

      “My, my,” came the voice of Ambassador Ghenis. A female Rhidayar soldier whom Sajani recognized as a lieutenant colonel was beside him.

      Chass turned his head and looked at the new arrivals.

      Major Fagen, still facing away from the entrance, was swinging wildly, but stopped suddenly when the lieutenant colonel said in a very shocked tone, “Major Fagen! What was that?” She turned to the Ambassador and quickly began apologizing. “I hope you understand her actions in no way reflect…”

      Ambassador Ghenis silenced her with a motion. He was smiling and winked at Sajani as he said, “I’m sure this’ll be an interesting story. I’m wondering what one of our own is doing holding your major up by the collar.”

      Chass’s jaw dropped slightly, and he turned to face them all fully, a now listless major hanging before him with a very shamed looked on her face. Sajani thought it’d be humorous if the major’s collar tore off just then, but realized the fabric was probably too tough and the major too light for that to happen. “Should I put her down now, my lady?” he asked politely. It didn’t look like it was taking much effort to hold her.

      “Please Chass,” Sajani said smiling.

      The large wolf gracefully complied just as Doc Cutter entered the tent. Doc was an average vykati in just about every sense of the word. He was a gray wolf of average vykati height, so just barely taller than any of the humans in the room. He did have slightly higher than average intelligence. “Did I miss anything?” he asked politely.