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Patrick sighed and continued to hold the earpiece toward her in silence.
Reluctantly, Serenity snatched it away from him. As much as she hated to comply, there was no point in refusing. She assumed the earpiece was some kind of translator device, and if she was going to get betrayed, she might as well understand what was going on.
Serenity looped the device over her ear.
“Skzzt,” the nith leader said.
Simultaneously, Serenity heard a monotone male voice speak into her ear. “Good.”
Yeah, it was a translator device all right.
“Fuck you,” Serenity snarled at the nith.
The leader made a clicking sound that might have been a chuckle.
“That phrase holds no meaning in the nith language. Our reproductive procedures are not the same as yours, meat. However, I understand that the utterance is intended as a malediction.”
The creature turned its beady eyes toward Patrick.
“Have you gathered the information we requested, meat?”
The young man nodded and dug inside the satchel again. This time, he brought out a different kind of device. A flat touchscreen similar to the data slates that were so common back on earth.
“Here it is.”
As Patrick handed the data slate to the nith leader, Serenity caught a glimpse of the image on the screen. It looked like some kind of map. An overhead view of a river system?
The nith studied the image. The glow of the screen bottom-lit its ugly crocodile face, making it look even more ghastly, like something out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting.
“Yesss. Exxxcellent. You have performed your task well, meat.”
“What is that?” Serenity demanded.
Nith faces did not show emotions the same way human faces did, but Serenity could have sworn she detected a glint of evil glee in the creature’s pellet-like eyes as it looked from her to Patrick.
“You haven’t told her then?” the nith asked.
Patrick dropped his head in shame.
“What is that?” Serenity repeated, this time talking to the young man. “Patrick, what have you given them?”
His face was in profile now, too ashamed to look her in the eye. His bottom lip quivered.
“Tell her, meat,” the nith said. “Tell her what you’ve done.”
“Patrick?”
“It’s a map,” the young man blurted. “A map of the tunnels leading into the canyon where the ukkur warriors have their camp.”
Serenity chilled as the blood drained from her face. The awful realization of Patrick’s betrayal settled in her belly like a cold stone.
It was not just Serenity he’d sold out. It was the entire encampment. The secret of the underground tunnels was the main advantage that the ukkur had over the more numerous and better equipped nith. In the event of a nith attack on the canyon, the ukkur were prepared to retreat underground with their human wards, using the network of tunnels to move to another location.
But now, with the electronic map that Patrick had just handed over, the nith would be able to mount a surprise attack by invading through the tunnels themselves.
Even the tough and dominant ukkur warriors would not be prepared for such an attack.
The camp would be decimated. All the human refugees would either be gunned down in the ensuing battle or carted off to the slaughterhouses for an even grislier fate.
