an Earthman.
"Got it?" Trips asked when he again opened his eyes. "Yes."
He lay back down, and probed for a familiar mind. Turtle. There's a way out of this.
Yeah? The mental tone was one of utter defeat and hopelessness.
The device you had, it can send you home. Yeah, but it's--
Just shut up, and listen. We're all going to be in the cargo bay--
Why?
Would you stop! Because I'm going to get us there. The attention will be on me, and while it is you must get that device.
Now?
You know how. I can't!
Tom, you must! It's our only hope.
It's not possible. The Great and Powerful Turtle could do it, but I'm just Thomas Tudbury-the Great and Powerful Turtle.
No, I'm just an ordinary man who's on the wrong side of forty, drinks too much beer, doesn't eat right, and who works at a fucking electronics repair shop. I'm no fucking hero.
You are to me. You gave me back my sanity and probably my life.
That was the Turtle.
Tom, the Turtle is a conglomeration of iron plates, TV cameras, lights, and speakers. What makes Turtle, Turtle is the man inside. You're the ace, Tom, it's time to come out of the shell.
Terror was coming off the man's mind in powerful waves, battering at Tach's shields, making him doubt his own plan. I can't. Leave me alone.
No, I'm going through with this, and you're going to have to come up to scratch, because if you don't, I will have died for nothing.
Died! What do you...
He broke the telepathic link wondering if he might have put too much pressure on Turtle's- fragile emotions. Too late to worry about it now.
Kibr?
What, boy?
We find your tone to be less than pleasing, Ajayiz'et Benaf'saj.
She moderated her tone, adding a formal overlay of respect, if not for him, at least for his position. What is it you wish, clan head?
Summon the crew, there is a ceremony of adoption to be observed.
What trick are you up to?
Wait and see, or deny me, and be forever curious, he said impudently.
Her laughter glittered in his mind. A challenge. Very well, my little prince, we will see just what it is you are up to.
They had all gathered in the bay. Tom looked about, and let out an anguished cry, "My shell!"
Zabb's lips skinned back in a harsh smile. "We jettisoned it. It was taking up far too much room."
Tach paid little attention to Turtle's distress. His eyes roved quickly about the room ascertaining that the singularity shifter was still in its place.
"It had infrared and zoom lenses, and tuck-and-roll upholstery, and-" Zabb laughed. "You puke!"
Zabb stepped forward, fist upraised.
"Zabb brant Sabina sek Shaza sek Risala, touch my stirps, and I will not give you the courtesy of facing me. I will kill you like a cur in the street." Zabb froze, and turned slowly to face his small cousin.
"What farce is this?"
"As a breeding member of the house of Ilkazam I exercise my right to add, by blood and bone, to my line."
"You would embrace these humans?" asked Benaf'saj.
"I would. "
She raked them with an imperious glance. "They will, I think, add little to your consequence."
Tach stepped between Trips and Turtle, and gripped them by their wrists. "I would rather have them bound and bonded to me than many who can make a greater claim to that right."
His eyes slid to Zabb.
"Very well, it is your right." The old woman settled herself on a stool that Hellcat obligingly extruded for her. "Do you agree to this adoption, understanding the duties and obligations of those so honored?"
Three pairs of eyes stared at Tach, and he nodded slightly.
"We do," Asta said firmly when the two men continued to stand and dither.
"Know then that you, and all your heirs and assigns, are forever bound to the house of Ilkazam, line of Sennari through its son, Tisianne. In all matters be great, and bring glory and service to this house."
"Are we, like, Takisians now, man?" asked Trips in a penetrating whisper.
"This ritual is to bind the psi-blind to a house. You would not be permitted to mate with any member of the mentat class, but you are deserving of our aid and protection."
"So we're serfs," Tom rasped.
"No, more like equerries. Mere servants are never formally adopted." He turned on his heel, and pinned Zabb with a hard glance. "But by my fathers, you, cousin, have given me insult, and shown both contempt and abuse toward my stirps, and I will have satisfaction."
Before Zabb could move, Benaf'saj spoke up. "You