“It is true that the body has failed, and in that sense he is dead, but the Shakaieeshva’s special, and very expensive, biosuit succeeded in preserving specific cognitive processes against the chance of future reactivation. This we have accomplished. Only the mind is functional and capable of restoration to full activity, and only a portion of it at that. Neuromuscular motor and all related physiologic functions are indeed ‘dead.’”

“So he’s half-dead?” Caroline asked.

“More than half, if you go by body weight. Less than half, if you regard the mind and its memories as paramount indicators of life. The distinction is more social and philosophical then biological. You may be interested to know that even as we are speaking, his suit is being properly recharged. Except for its defensive functions, of come, which we suppressed upon contact and have subsequently disengaged. Having come this far to find him, we have no intention of losing him now. We intend to seek restitution from what survives.” The tail-hand fluttered in Jed’s direction.

“Lamentably, the Shakaleeshva is not being very cooperative. This is to be expected. It is not easy to persuade the dead, much less effectively threaten them, but in this instance ways will be found. In any event, you are relieved of any responsibility or concern in this matter.”

Caroline’s earlier bravado shrank in proportion to her voice, which dropped to a whisper. “What . what are you going to do with us?”

“Accordingly to the specified portion of the appropriate Code, the relevant thing.” Uroon elected not to elaborate on this enigma. Starting at the back of his neck, a quiver ran down the length of his body. “For the moment I am tired. It has been a stressful time. The initial period of interrogation is now concluded. We will resume following the prescribed period of’ rest.”

So saying, the Culakhan barked commands at the others. In single file they clip-clopped off down the corridor. A translucent green panel slid down behind them, preventing anyone from following. Not that Ross Ed or Caroline was so inclined.

Ross examined the nearly deserted chamber. Lights still glistened within walls and shone from the peculiar console. Others enveloped Jed’s body in a colorful cocoon, giving him the look of an abandoned Christmas ornament. Resting on the inclined bench and encased in a tangle of instrumentation, he looked little different than from when Ross had dragged him out of the New Mexico cave. The expression on his funny, triangular face was unchanged.

Crossing his legs, Ross Ed sat down next to his alien companion. Caroline joined him. Starting at the three feet, he let his gaze travel up the length of the alien corpus until he found himself staring at the immobile inhuman face.

“You talked to them. Can you talk to us as well?” He didn’t really expect a reply.

“Sure. Why the hell not?” declared the artificial larynx from its location atop the headpiece. The peculiar-shaped mouth didn’t move, the eyes didn’t twitch. “How you doin’, Ross Ed?”

“I … I’m doing okay, Jed. That Uroon fella tried to explain, but I still ain’t sure I understand how you’re doing this. Are you dead or not?”

“Well, yes and no.”

Caroline nodded sardonically. “I’m glad we finally got that cleared up.”

It was uncanny to hear so lively and active a voice emerge from so utterly motionless a body. “I guess you would say that I’m dead except for my mind. Don’t try to understand. I don’t, not entirely.”

Ross frowned. “Your suit preserved your memories and you don’t understand how?”

“Hey, you watch television. Can you give me a detailed technical explanation of how it works?” Ross Ed had to admit that he could not. “I was comatose until you activated the relevant suit functions by hauling me out of that cave. On contact with another intelligence, the suit reactivated my mental functions. But without the necessary additional specialized equipment, there was no way I could contact you directly. Not knowing your language, I couldn’t exactly spell out an explanation in the sand. Also, I was forced to function minimally except When a defensive reaction was called for.”

“You know that I watch television. How could you know that if you can’t see me, if your eyes aren’t working?”

“Aural functions are operative, and there are ways of perceiving you can’t imagine that go beyond simple rods-and-cones vision. Let’s just say that I don’t have to open my eyes to see. You lose a lot of color saturation and depth perception that way, but the dead can’t be choosy. This gear I’m currently hooked up to helps a lot. The Culakhan are as inventive as they are persistent.”

“They’ve been very polite,” Caroline noted.

“Don’t kid yourselves. If they find a hole in their revered Codes of Conduct that’ll allow them to get rid of you without violating any precious precepts, they’ll throw you out the nearest hatch. And since they’ve disconnected all my suit’s defensive functions, I won’t be able to do a thing to stop them.”

“Oh.” Her gaze strayed once more to the depression in the floor.

“You’re the first dead person I’ve ever talked to.” Ross Ed commented. “It ain’t easy.”

“You think this is a snap for me?”

The Texan shifted his position on the slick floor. “So you’re a Shakaleeshva. Whatever that is. What’s your real name?”

“How about we just stick with Jed? It’s short, easy, and I’ve grown kind of fond of it over the past several planetary revolutions, it has no rhythm to it, no music, but it’s possessed of a certain coarse efficiency.”

Ross Ed scrutinized the immobile alien face closely. “So what you’re telling me is that you’ve been aware of everything that’s happened since I found you in the mountains.”

“That’s right.”

“The ventriloquist act. You put all those words in my mouth.”

“Sure. It was ventriloquism at its best, only the roles were the reverse of what people thought. You were the dummy. I couldn’t talk myself, but I could influence your speech. Used a lot of power, but it was good therapy. Please don’t think too meanly of me. It got pretty boring just lying around.”

“I can imagine.” murmured Caroline.

“I enjoyed your company, Ross Ed Hager. Your protective instincts commended you to me, and I did my best to help out where possible. I can’t move my dead arms and legs, but thanks to this suit I was able to influence my surroundings by other means. Within limits. I could not only protect myself, but those around me.”

“I know.” As Ross Ed reflected, memories came flooding back.

“Once they located me by homing in on emanations from my suit, I couldn’t do anything to keep the Culakhan from picking us up. Don’t think I didn’t try, though.”

“How’d you happen to end up in that cave, anyway?” Ross asked.

“My ship went down close by. Nothing astonishing. Just your usual mechanical foul-up. Spaceships aren’t perfect instruments either, you know.”

“Then there was a UFO crash near Roswell! All those old beaks were right.”

“Roswell, Roswell … let me look at your thoughts for a minute, Ross Ed.”

The Texan’s jaw dropped slightly. “You can do that?”

“Of course. How else do you think we worked the ventriloquist act so smoothly? Hang on. Just a moment there, that’s it. Let your mind go nice and blank, the way it usually does.”

“Thanks,” Ross mumbled.

“Only a little deeper … there, that’s got it. It’s just like searching one of your primitive computers. Access the soft drive. When you get right down to it, any memory is nothing more than stratified electrical impulses.

“Oh, now I see. So that’s what got sucked into the spatial displacer. A ‘weather balloon,’ whatever that is. Fouled me up good, it did. I didn’t put down very smoothly. Got out of the ship before the molecular bonds disengaged and managed to crawl into that cave. Long-term survival programming took over from there. Unfortunately, the suit couldn’t preserve more than my mind for very long, so it began shutting down noncritical functions. Extremities go first, then the internal organs.” Caroline made a face. “If you hadn’t found me, Ross Ed, I’d have died completely in there. Within another of your planet’s five years there wouldn’t have been even this much of me left.”

“I’m sorry about what happened to your ship.” Ross uncrossed his legs, relieving the cramp that had uncomfortably announced itself. “Our people are always shooting stuff up into the sky.”

“Don’t feel so bad. I wanted to put down here. That’s why I came in a ship designed to self-destruct. I wanted to crash on your world. It’s just that I planned on having a little more control over the process. I’m afraid I wasn’t paying full attention during approach and survey, preferring to leave the details to the automatics. Anything substantial they would have detected and avoided. This weather-balloon device was apparently insubstantial enough to be overlooked yet solid enough to cause problems.”

“You wanted to kill yourself?” Caroline stared at the motionless form.

“No, no, no! I said crash, not kill. There’s a difference. Damn, this is frustrafing, not being able to support words with gestures! I have in mind several the Culakhan wouldn’t appreciate.

“It was my intention to crash just hard enough to engage the ship’s self-destruct sequence, which is designed to prevent advanced technology from falling into the hands of primitive species, but not so violently as to injure myself. A recordable crash sequence would hopefully convince any who might come after that I had perished in the debacle, with the result that I would be left alone.” A hint of irony corrupted the artificial speech. “I’m afraid my incompetence has rendered the scenario all too likely. With my suit’s life-support functions fully recharged, my mind and thoughts will live for another fifty of your years, although it is not my health and well-being that interests the Culakhan.”

“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that.” Ross Ed leaned forward to stare into shuttered eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re telling the truth, so I’m going to assume that the Shakaleeshva code of conduct is at least as binding as the Culakhan’s. Go ahead and read what I’m thinking.”

There was a brief pause before the synthetic voice responded. “No, I’m not a criminal, Ross. Rather the contrary, in fact.”