Wuu sounded tired. “I’ve told you before, my boy, that any direct inquiry as to the whereabouts or even the existence of this Biohwelporvot fellow will draw either useless replies or unwholesome questions. Still,” and he made a gesture of second-degree indifference, “since we have discovered nothing so far, perhaps it is worth a risk.”

“No, no—I’ve no intention of going to the military authorities about Brohwel,” Ryo replied.

Wuu set aside his portable drinking siphon and gazed curiously at his young companion. “Why else would we want to contact the military? Unless, of course, you plan a simple march up to the nearest office and intend once there to ask outright about the truth of their recent acquisition of a shipload of alien monstrosities?”

“Nothing of the sort You see, I have another and wholly legitimate reason for making my way all the way from Willow-wane to Hivehom to contact military authorities.”

“Don’t be abstruse with me, boy,” muttered Wuu. “I’m tired and feeling my age. One puzzle at a time is enough.”

“It’s just this …” Ryo began.

The military center was not located with the other government offices. It lay in a cube complex of its own near the outskirts of the metropolis. The two supplicants paid the transport module and entered through a triple-wide entrance off the busy corridor.

Swarms of workers scuttled through passageways and worked behind counters and at saddle-desks. Most of them displayed inlaid military insignia. Here and there Ryo noticed individuals in whose chiton gleamed crimson four-pointed stars to match his own. They were rather more common than he’d been led to believe, but his thoughts were too busy for the revelation to depress him.

He turned to face Wuu and found the poet staring at him expectantly, for now the burden of inquiry fell on Ryo’s thorax. He led the way into the complex.

Eventually they found their way to a large information booth. The eight-sided interior was filled with chattering, whistling soldiers. No explanatory signs marred the various sides, nothing differentiated one from its neighbor. Ryo strode boldly to the nearest and looked across the counter at a busy Thranx. Sixteen fingers flew across an intimidating keyboard.

“Pleasant day to you,” Ryo said to the soldier by way of introduction and greeting.

She looked over at him and he saw the light glance from the pair of emerald metal circles set into her left shoulder.

“This is Information West and what is it you need to know?” she inquired pleasantly.

“It’s just that—that …”

“Yes?” His hesitation had not aroused any suspicions in her. Not yet, anyway.

He looked helplessly back toward Wuu. The poet ignored his stare, was gazing past him and admiring the soldier’s ovipositors. Ryo inhaled, turned to the saddled soldier, and threw out the intricate half-lie.

“We are from Willow-wane. I am called,” and he showed her the fake identiplate as he pronounced his adopted name. “I have many relatives in a small town called Paszex. It lies far to the north of the capital and is the northernmost hive on the planet save for Aramlemet.