“Just two more?” she pleaded. “Just Harry and his wife?”

Simon and Vlad looked at each other.

“Everyone has to earn their part of the meat,” Simon finally said. “Everyone in a pack has a job, and that has to include any humans who want part of the food we have here or can bring in.”

“Harry and his wife, but no more,” Vlad said. “We’re helping to support the River Road Community too. Don’t forget that.”

They wouldn’t be trying to support any of those humans if they hadn’t taken her in and accepted her as one of them. “No more.” She hesitated, and wondered if it was cowardly not to give the message directly. “Could you tell Captain Burke something?”

Vlad nodded.

Meg tapped the question-mark card on the table. “This card came up once before, when I wondered about Lakeside’s future.”

“I remember,” Simon said. “Future undecided.”

“I overheard Agent O’Sullivan say he and Captain Burke had an appointment with the mayor, and I asked myself what Captain Burke should tell the mayor about Lakeside.”

Vlad drew in a slow breath. “Future undecided?”

She nodded.

“You should make the call,” Simon told Vlad. “Burke owes you one or two favors.”

“He owes you too, but I’ll call him.”

After Vlad left, Simon rested his forearms on the table, his arm lightly brushing against hers.

“Talk to the human pack about paper for writing letters,” he said. “Not just paper the females like, but paper that won’t cause the males to cough up hairballs if they have to use it.”

“People don’t write that many letters. They use e-mail... Oh. Electronic mail stays within a region now.”

“There are ways to send messages between the regions, like we’re going to do to send a message to Jackson, but those messages aren’t private anymore. The Intuits or terra indigene manning the communications cabins will see them. Humans aren’t going to be able to attack again like they did under the HFL.”

“Simon? Did a lot of places disappear?”

“Here in Thaisia? I don’t know. It’s hard to tell right now if the places—and the humans who lived there—are gone, or if a place isn’t under human control anymore and that’s why it’s not being counted among the human places.” He thought for a moment. “You gave Vlad a message for Captain Burke. Anything I should tell Lieutenant Montgomery?”

Scooping up the cards that were on the table, Meg returned them to the drawer that held the prophecy cards.

What should Simon tell Lieutenant Montgomery about Lakeside?

At first there was nothing. Then the prickles began. Meg closed her eyes and let her fingers search for the answer. When she chose three cards that produced the strongest prickles, she brought them back to the table and turned them over.