“When specifics are absent, an efficient researcher can sometimes glean information from inference. Rumors constantly emerge about the place. The one you study is not the first.

“There is more. I’ve never encountered a soldier who’s actually been there. I’ve been unable to find anyone who knows of anyone who knows anyone who’s ever been there.”

“Secret military burial chamber,” Ryo suggested.

“Not so secret. After all, the existence of Sed-Clee is known,” the soldier went on. “It’s just that it’s so obscured. There’s so much formal indifference surrounding the place, not to mention deliberately casual obfuscation, that it makes one wonder if something of real importance is studied there.”

“You just called it a place,” Ryo pointed out

“Statistics characterize it somewhat. The hive of Sed- Clee itself is small. Twenty thousand citizens or so supporting a few small industries and a military base, reportedly of modest size. Its exact size is classified above my level. Certainly the known information doesn’t point to the installation’s being responsible for anything remarkable.”

“Yet you believe it may have something to do with the rumors we are tracking?” Wuu asked.

“Pardon if I seem simplistic, sir, but there is nowhere else these rumors can be ascribed to, so it seems to be the logical place to seek out. However, a number of other frightening things about Sed-Clee are well known and have nothing to do with rumor.

“I am not able nor personally interested in going there. If the jumors are no more than rumors then it would be a waste of time. If they are true then I especially do not want to go there.

“But since you two are interested, and because of the admiration I hold for your work, Eint-Master, and the honor you’ve done me in performing here this day, I have told you all that I know. There is nothing more—save that I will show you what is known to be intimidating about Sed-Clee.”

They returned to the outer chamber. Under cover of innocuous conversation designed to allay the interest of the soldier’s two associates, they proceeded to study his personal desk monitor.

Touchesof the keyboard generated a map of Hivehom’s northernmost continent This map was then enlarged and the resolution steadily increased until they found themselves looking at a map of a corner of that continent.

Near its polar crest lay a region of cold where water sometimes never became a liquid, where a Thranx could survive only with environmental protection barely a step simpler than that required for survival in space.

Slightly to the south of the tiny permanent ice cap, just below the thin line of tundra that marked the end of the treeline, lay a tiny hive: Sed-Clee. The military installation it supported was not revealed until the soldier touched several additional keys, whereupon a bright red dot emerged to the north of the hive.

A true destination, at last! Ryo stared at the map, at the source of rumor. “There must be some transportation if it’s an integrated, formalized hive.”