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Steel nodded. "Well,复件 (88) air max, I guarantee you that will be hours ahead of Woodcarver's main assault. You have Amdijefri's confidence. It seems you need only advance and compress your previous schedule. If Ravna is sufficiently desperate --" "The starfolk are desperate. I know that." Ravna might mask her precise motives, but her desperation was clear. "And if you can slow Woodcarver --" Steel settled all of himself down to concentrate on the scheming at hand. He was half-conscious of his fears retreating. Planning was always a comfort. "The problem is that we have to do two things now,复件 (63) air max, and perfectly coordinated. Before, it was simply a matter to feign a siege and trick the starship into landing in the castle's Jaws." He turned a head in the direction of the courtyard. The stone dome over the landed starship had been in place since midspring. It showed some artillery damage now, the marble facing chipped away, but hadn't taken direct hits. Beside it lay the field of the Jaws: large enough to accept the rescue ship, but surrounded by pillars of stone, the teeth of the Jaws. With the proper use of gunpowder, the teeth would fall on the rescuers. That would be a last resort, if they didn't kill and capture the humans as they came out to meet dear Jefri. That scheme had been lovingly honed over many tendays, aided by Amdijefri's admissions about human psychology and his knowledge of how starships normally land. But now: "-- now we really need their help. What I ask them must do double duty, to fool them and to destroy Woodcarver." "Hard to do all at once," agreed the Cloak. "Why not play it in two steps, the first more or less undeceitful: Have them destroy Woodcarver, then worry about taking them over?" Steel clicked a tine thoughtfully on stone. "Yes. Trouble is, if they see too much.... They can't possibly be as naive as Jefri. He says that humankind has a history that includes castles and warfare. If they fly around too much, they'll see things that Jefri never saw, or never understood.... Maybe I could get them to land inside the castle and mount weapons on the walls. We'll have them hostage the moment that they stand between our Jaws. Damn. That would take some clever work with Amdijefri." The bliss of abstract planning foundered for a moment on rage. "It's getting harder and harder for me to deal with those two." "They're both wholly puppies, for Pack's sake." The Fragment paused a second. "Of course, Amdiranifani may have more raw intelligence than any pack I've ever seen. You think he may even be smart enough to see past his childishness,复件 (60) air max1," he used the Samnorsk word, "and see the deception?" "No, not that. I have their necks in my jaws,复件 (100) air max, and they still don't see it. You're right, Tyrathect; they do love me." And how I hate them for it. "When I'm around him, the mantis thing is all over me, close enough to cut my throat or poke out my eyes, but hugging and petting. And expecting me to love him back. Yes, they believe everything I say, but the price is accepting unending insolence." "Be cool, dear student. The heart of manipulation is to empathize without being touched." The Fragment stopped, as always, just short of the brink. Steel felt himself hissing at the words even before he was consciously aware of his reaction. "Don't ... lecture ... me,ghd machine,复件 (93) air max2! You are not Flenser. You are a fragment. Shit! You are a fragment of a fragment now. A word and you will be cut up, dead in a thousand pieces." He tried to suppress the trembling that spread through his members. Why haven't I killed him before now? I hate Flenser more than anything in the world, and it would be so easy.