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me why you're here."

Jo tried not to glance at her two male companions before she began to speak. "I'm afraid you've made a mistake, Lord Killian. We're nothing more than thieves...." Her voice trailed off into silence as the guard Killian gestured to approached the table and spilled onto it the bundle of possessions taken from them during the search.

"I think not," said Killian, picking up the energy pistol lying in the midst of the pile. "This doesn't belong to Jalna."

He fiddled with the weapon for a moment or two, then pointed it at Davies who was sitting opposite him.

"Don't point it at me, it's got a hair trigger!" he exclaimed, visibly blanching. "It'll discharge at the slightest pressure!"

Killian turned the gun on its side and studied it again before replacing it on the table. "Indeed. Then let's hope I don't have to use it on any of you. We were discussing your names and why you'd come to my castle."

Jo had let out an angry exclamation at the sight of the pistol. Now that it was no longer threatening him, Davies glanced over at her.

"Sorry, Jo," he muttered. "I know I shouldn't have brought it."

"So you're called Jo, and you're the leader. Now we're getting somewhere," said Killian, sitting back in his chair and clasping his hands across his stomach. "Please continue."

Rezac could sense his satisfaction.

Jo indicated them each in turn. "Davies, Kris, Zashou, and Rezac." She hesitated before continuing and Rezac could feel her uncertainty, then her acceptance that there was nothing to be gained from lying when the truth was obvious. "We aren't from Jalna. We came to find out what was on the crashed scouter."

"Not to rescue these furred ones?"

"Sholans," Jo corrected him. "We didn't know they were in the stasis cube."

"What is stasis cube ?" Killian copied the Human words carefully.

"The cube you brought here. Inside it, time was frozen for our friends. In stasis."

"Frozen?"

In his mind, Rezac echoed the word. So that was what had happened to them! The last thing he remembered was them running from the Valtegan palace guards.

The lab! We ran into a laboratory! sent Zashou. The cube must have been there!

Later, replied Rezac, refocusing on the audible conversation. It's difficult enough to follow them without getting sidetracked.

"A person is a stasis cube has no idea of the passing of time," said Kris, looking to Rezac and Zashou for confirmation.

Rezac flicked an ear in assent.

"For them, when they're released, it's as if nothing has happened. Rezac and Zashou have also been moved. They're no longer where they were when they were imprisoned in the cube."

Killian scratched at his beard. "How long were they in this cube?"

Rezac was suddenly aware of Jo's compassion for them and her reluctance to say more. She looked at them before answering. "We think one thousand and five hundred years," she said quietly.

Rezac's ears flattened in shock and briefly the room began to fade around him. How long? He could barely comprehend what she'd said.

"A long time," said Killian, his voice slightly faint at the concept of that many years. "I presume your enemies placed you there. You must be formidable warriors indeed if that was the only way to remove you. Who were you fighting?"

"A species called the Valtegans," Jo replied. "They trade at the Spaceport occasionally."

Zashou's sudden despair swept through Rezac. It was all for nothing! We failed!

Enough! Rezac's mental tone was harsh.

Killian shook his head. "Never heard of them. No matter. What were you hoping to find on this crashed vehicle? Weapons?"

"Information," said Jo. "Information about the Valtegans— where they come from, what they left behind on Jalna, where they were going."

"And did you find this information?"

"Ah." Again Jo looked over at Rezac. "Partly."

"Obviously you found out what they left," said Killian, gesturing toward the two Sholans. "But the rest?"

"No," said Kris. "We found nothing. The craft was too badly