"You give me hope. Were you sent to do that?"
There was reproach in her eyes, and she started to draw away. The McCanahan caught her slim wrist and held her.
"Who sent you with your tempting offers?"
She pouted at him. "No man sent me. I am Slyss, the slave girl from Aakkan." She rubbed her wrist when he released her, unconsciously posing for his eyes.
The McCanahan said, "Tell me more!"
But she shrugged a white shoulder and went to stand by the cell bars while he ate. When he was done, she took his tray and wooden bowl and mug, and walked off with them, unlocking the cell door with a key that hung from her wrist, attached to a thick metal manacle.
Her hips wriggled as she went, and she threw a glance at him over her shoulder. Her voice was music as she carolled a farewell.
She left the McCanahan with a fever of impatience in him. He strode back and forth in his cell. His hands tested the Mollystil bars a hundred times. He told himself that the Senn did not love the sfarri overmuch, that the Senn, being descended from animal ancestors, had no common ground with a race of robot men. He asked himself where in this pile of giant masonry Herms Borkus had hidden Flaith. If he could get away, if he could use this yellow-haired slave girl to unbar these cell doors for him, he would find Flaith and flee.
Flee?
Where on all Senorech was there sanctuary for Kael McCanahan?