i could think of no response. it was difficult to lift the swathed corpse to my shoulder and even harder to rise with it, but i would have died before i would have asked either of them for help. i lugged the dead trooper over to clove, who snorted his distaste, but accepted the nasty burden. i could almost feel the specks' eyes boring into me as i secured the body to my saddle. both ends of my parcel stuck out awkwardly. the journey home would be a complicated one once we reached the narrow path through the younger forest. i spoke over my shoulder to the watching specks as i tightened the rope that lashed the corpse to my saddle.

"the way of my people is to bury our dead. it is my duty to protect their graves. i do not wish to have problems with you or your people. you must leave our dead alone. you must never again do what you did last night. i do not want to bring harm down on either of you. but if you again take a corpse from our graveyard, i must. do you understand?" i tugged the last knot tight and turned to look at them.

i was alone.

chapter twenty-one

olikea

m uch later that afternoon, i presented myself at colonel haren's office. after i'd reburied the unfortunate trooper i'd hauled bucket after bucket of water and scrubbed myself raw, but the stink of death clung to me. i wanted to throw away the clothing i'd been wearing, but i did not have that luxury. instead, i washed it and left it dripping on my newly strung clothesline. i avoided ebrooks and kesey entirely. i didn't want to speak to anyone about my encounter with the specks, but thought that perhaps i must report it to colonel haren.

the sergeant kept me waiting. i had learned that the person i really had to wear down was his sergeant, not the colonel. so i stood before his desk and watched him shuffle his papers. "you could leave and come back later," he suggested to me sharply at one point.

"i've nothing more demanding to do. and i feel i should make my report to the colonel as soon as possible."

"you can simply give me your information to pass on."

"i could, sergeant, of course. it's rather detailed. but if you wish to write it down for the colonel, i could come back tomorrow for his response."

i don't know why he didn't simply order me to leave. perhaps because he knew i would come back. there were a few chairs along the wall of the office, but i had observed that my standing seemed to chafe his nerves more than if i withdrew quietly. he sorted his way through a stack of dispatches, assigning them to different piles. then he looked up at me, sighed, and said, "i'll see if he can see you now."

despite the spring weather, the colonel still lounged in his chair by the blazing hearth fire. no ray of daylight penetrated his chamber. i wondered if he ever left this room.

he turned his head as i entered and sighed. "trooper burve. you again! what is it now?"

"specks stole a body out of the graveyard last night, sir. i had to enter the forest to recover it. i had contact there with a speck man and woman."

"did you? that's the only part of your story that is unusual. did you antagonize them?"

i considered his question. "i took the body back. they didn't seem to approve, but i simply did it."

"well done." he nodded sharply. "we've found that to be the best way to deal with them. approach what must be done calmly, inform them of it, and then do it. they soon come to understand that we know what we're doing and it's for the best. for the most part, they're a passive people. the only time they've ever attacked us, we had shed speck blood first. they became very distressed about the road construction and tried to interfere with it. instead of talking to them, some fool lost his head and shot one. instead of fleeing, the specks charged at us. well. we had no choice except to use our weapons then. a lot of specks died. such a one-sided battle was unfairly called a massacre. the papers in old thares published a very biased account, and all the officers involved were rebuked. what should they have told their men? 'don't shoot until they've killed some of us?'"

his indignation had brought two bright spots of color to his cheeks. he took a deep breath to calm himself. "so. we don't want a situation like that again. do as you've been doing. simply bring the bodies back. don't make threats. don't shoot at specks. just do your duty, but don't provoke them to bloodshed. remember i assigned you to the cemetery to prevent this, not so you could come here and complain about it. you did recover the corpse and rebury it?"

"yes, sir, i did. sir, i thought i should report my contact with the specks."