Merleth had been in Trinar for almost a threef when she witnessed a firebombing for the first time. Ogandg and Lexol told her that it happened often in Trinar and she should get used to it. The trekker they rode was well-protected, they reassured as they grabbed and dragged a couple of kids into the trekker. Following their example, Merleth grabbed a small child and urged another to come inside the trekker just as the first firebomb burst on the courtyard.

  Shut safely inside the trekker they witnessed the people who had been lining up running for whatever shelter they could find. Some crawled under tumbled bits of wall, others ran to the edge of the stonework where they could partially shelter under a ledge. A few huddled against a door that did not open for a while so that by the time it did the drones that had been dropping the firebombs were gone. Then there were those who simply curled up on the ground, protecting as much of themselves as they could. Most of those were injured, Merleth could sense, and at leas two--children--died before the gate opened and a Jaraidan rescue team came out with foam to put out the fires and look after the injured.

  The Jaraidans were efficient. Long before the PASS crisis team arrived and Merleth and the others came out of the trekker, the Jaraidan dead and the worst injured had been taken away. Only a few casualties needed medical attention from the PASS medics, and most of the people were back in line, waiting for Merleth and the others to restart the food distribution.

  Merleth had held it together. She was well-trained, and she knew that she should continue with her job regardless of her shock at what had happened. Still, she kept thinking of the poor children who had died. She had sensed some of their pain. It had been too strong for her to block it out completely, and the protective shell of the trekker had not shut out the cries of pain. She went on with her work and calmly gave out food and put ointment on minor scrapes that people had suffered as they threw themselves on the ground, She focused on the many people who had either not been hurt at all or had been hurt so lightly that they were back in line. She and the others were especially generous with food, breaking out a case of food squares and handing out all the protective equipment they carried with them. A bit late, she thought, but it would protect some of the people for the next time.

  At the next food distribution stop, she kept to the usual routine, even though she kept listening for the sound of drones and looking up to the sky. She handed out extra food to those who seemed to need it most, and taped up a couple of children's jackets. She and the others had distributed all their extra helmets at the previous stop, but promised to bring more the next day. The two children who had died had not been wearing helmets.

  It was only after they had returned to the base and been debriefed that she shut herself in her small room and tried to clear her mind of all the questions. What terrorist organization would attack a group of hungry people—mostly women, children, and old men—lined up to receive food? The firebombs had not fallen on a building or a stack of supplies or even anything that could burn for long. The target had obviously been the people. The goal? Well, it was called terrorism for a reason, but beyond frightening the poor Jaraidans that just wanted food, what had the attack achieved? Two harmless children dead, a few seriously wounded, others hurt but likely to do fine within days. Who could possibly gain from this attack?

  After a while, she reached out to Davenan Arteyn. They had been in regular communication since he had been assigned to Jaraida, and especially since she had joined the mission. He had told her of his own shock when he had witnessed the first drattle attack in Kyeros. He would understand.

  Dav had been comforting. He had listened to her feelings and had reassured her when she was done. Then he had turned the conversation to other matters, distracting her from the horror of what she'd witnessed by talking about the puzzle of it all.

  ?The odd thing about these terrorist attacks is that no group comes forward to claim credit. ? he said.

  If there were factions in Jaraida, they did not identify themselves. If there were terrorists supporting one or another faction, it was never clear on whose behalf a particular act of terrorism had been performed.

  She had noticed that before, but had not considered it seriously because so far the "terrorist attacks" and other acts of violence had happened elsewhere, not where she could see it happening.

  Stolen story; please report.

  They had agreed that so far the terrorists, the anarchists, and the revolutionaries that Kronval spoke of were not in evidence. Jaraidans denied that there was a revolution or any kind of fight between different factions.

  ?Trinar has some problems,? she said. ?But anarchy doesn't seem to be one of them.?

  She had been impressed by how the Jaraidan rescuers had handled the emergency.

  *****

  Dav contacted her a couple of days later, to see how she was doing. She was deliberately cheerful, because no one likes a whinner, but also because she was feeling better. She was able to report that she had gotten a few hours of practicum time in the medicenter that day. Pumenkzi had told the medic supervising her to give her a chance and let her assist and interpret at the same time.

  ?How much longer?? he asked. “How many hours still to go?”

  ?Twelve more,? she said with a groan. ?And three of those have to be in surgery. We don't get many people needing surgery, as you know.?

  ?It could be worse,? he pointed out. ?The requirements could include assisting with a transplant.?

  She’d laughed and agreed. Given the Jaraidan opposition to transplants, she would never get a chance to do one of those on the Jaraidan mission.

  ?Any progress on your proposal for the shelters for the orphans?? he asked. ?I would think that having as many youngsters under PASS protection as possible would give an incentive to your leaders to move on the idea.?

  ?No,? she replied. ? Sometimes I wonder if PASS is really here to help,? she added, letting some of her impatience show.

  ?People dragging their feet? I thought you said Ncatl and Pumenkzi liked the idea.?

  ?They did. Pumenkzi in particular, has been enthusiastic. He brought it up again yesterday, sent me a copy of the request for permission, complete with an estimate of costs. The leaders replied that they were not ready to make a decision yet. I have a bad feeling about this. ?

  She did not say that it seemed to be Leader Cho who opposed it, that Leader Neuhüss had not said anything one way or the other yet. She would not weigh Dav down with more of her concerns. When he asked for more details, she changed the subject.

  ?I probably worry too much. These things take time,? she said, and asked him about what had been happening in Kyeros. There was not much new, but he had an interesting story to tell.

  They’d had a firebombing in Kyeros, that morning but--he hastened to add--no one had been hurt. What was strange was that the target had been a row of tree stumps.

  ?What?? she asked, incredulous. ?They attacked some tree stumps??

  ?Tree stumps,? he confirmed. ?We thought at first that there might have been something—a cache of weapons or clothes or even food—that the firebomber wanted to incinerate. But when we sent the droids to examine, there was nothing. Only the tree-stumps and some charred bits of what may have been young plant life around it.?

  ?Could there have been bees in the tree-stumps?? Merleth suggested.

  Dav said that he had forgotten that bees like to form colonies in tree stumps, but that if that had been the case, the droids would have reported it. There was nothing at all—except, he reported, that tests along the line of tree stumps suggested that they had begun to have shoots grow around them.

  ?So the tree stumps were not the target, the little shoots were.?

  ?That’s what it looks like,? Dav said.

  ?It’s one more thing, like the plant blights, and the poisoning of wells,? she said. ?An attack on the environment.?

  ?That’s the best ‘expert guess,’? he replied. ?And I am sorry; I don’t buy the claim that these drones are all sent by feuding Jaraidan factions, and the terrorists that support them.?

  ?No,? agreed Merleth. ?It looks like someone trying to destroy Jaraida. They have already succeeded in wrecking the atmosphere, at least to the south. And the food shortages are appalling, in a planet that once had enough food to export.?

  They did not say what they both thought, that the problems that Jaraida faced since the destruction of Thualat did not stem from the loss of a legitimate government and a sort of civil war. Kronval had tried to conquer Jaraida at some point in their past history, before contact with the Alliance. Now it looked as though they were opportunistically taking the disaster of Thualat as an excuse to claim control over the planet.

  Merleth’s report about what she had witnessed at the transfer station when a merchant had wanted to go to Jaraida and how there were no longer any Jaraidans staffing the station was under investigation. The use of drattle and Kron-design drones that Dav and others had witnessed was also suggestive that Kronval was, at the very least, contributing to the problems on Jaraida by supporting the “terrorists” however indirectly.

  ?If the Jaraidans really have a government,? Dav said. ?It seems past the time they should come forward.?

  Merleth agreed.

  ?Any luck getting any information about your friend Gin’va?? he asked after a pause.

  ?Only what was in my report of my contact with Da’téa. Her sister has sent a message saying that I would like to communicate with Gin’va, but there has been no reply. ?

  ?I tried to send a message recently also, through a merchant in the Omik stonework,? he said. ?But I wasn’t really expecting an answer. She has not replied to any attempt to contact her since the first few days after Thualat was destroyed.?

  ?I worry that Gin’va might be dead. But Da’téa is sure she is not.?

  ?Our intelligence folks must agree,? he pointed out. ?Or they would not be so insistent that we locate her.?