"Good enough. After those people we massacred on Khemsun, I'll take anything I can get." Davis looked bitter, angry. "Maybe you'd better give me the whole story; I can ask questions later. I don't want you missing your ship." Tarlac grinned. "They'd wait for me, sir, but that is a good idea. And if you wouldn't mind taping it, I think it should be made public." "You're the Ranger on-scene; recommendation accepted." Davis touched a control on his comset. "All right, Ranger Tarlac. This is for the record." "Very well, Your Majesty. I assume the record already holds the Empress Lindner's log tapes." "That is correct. Go on." "Yes, sir." Tarlac began with his first meeting with Hovan and went on to the adoption, a description of Homeworld and the Traiti civilians which included their gender ratio, his greeting at the Ch'kara clanhome, his special Language lesson--"The Traiti attribute it to the Circle of Lords, their gods; whether to believe it was them or the Others' computer, which this report will describe later, will have to be an individual decision." Then, in an outline that would be suitable for public release, he told of his seduction by Daria and her subsequent pregnancy. Davis stopped the recording. "Are you sure you want that on record, Steve? If you pass the psych retests--" He broke off at the look on Tarlac's face. "You're that sure you'd fail, then." "No doubt about it, sir. I shouldn't have passed them the first time, any more than Shining Arrow should have. Sharing young is an important part of the Ordeal because their best have to be fertile. Daria and our daughter are important to me, Ch'kara is important to me-- personally. This is my last mission . . . but I can't regret even that, if it brings peace and keeps them alive." The Emperor sighed heavily. "Another one down. You say you were allowed news intercepts--did they mention that Jim's been critically wounded?" "Yes, sir, the day before my Scarring. Shall I continue?" "Go ahead." Davis touched "Record" again, and nodded. Tarlac described his schooling and wilderness experience with no particular emphasis, and then had the screen show Kranath's Vision, as he and Godhome remembered it, translating the Language. He waited, ready to give the Emperor the same emotional support he'd given Ch'kara if it were needed. It wasn't, quite, though Davis was shaken enough to stop recording again when it ended. "Good God, Steve! You know what'll happen when the newsies get their hands on that!" "Yes, sir, and there's worse to come. At our first meeting, the First Speaker promised me a tape of the initial contact. I gave you Kranath's Vision first, for background. Now here's the contact tape."