Jim was wondering that himself, and wondering also what fate Talon had in store for them. Abruptly Ren murmured,
“Awhile ago, Jim, I was sure I was getting someone’s thoughts. Not Talon’s; he’s hiding them from me now. Someone like Len, or Dolores. Or perhaps it was Sonya.”
Jim’s heart leaped. Something was impending! He sat between them tensely; his hand touched Altho’s arm; his eyes flashed at Altho with eager questioning.
Ren murmured, “I’ve got it now, Jim! It’s Sonya! She says, I am Sonya. We know you are with Altho. I am getting his thoughts too!”
A silence. Altho sat cross-legged on the stone floor, as Jim and Ren were sitting, with the stone slab of table before them; the green glow of light nearby threw shadows behind them. Altho was sitting with closed eyes, his hands to his temples. He looked up momentarily; his gaze rested on Jim and Ren with a new understanding, a new friendship.
Ren murmured, “She’s telling Altho about us. She says, Hold connection! I’m telling him . . . he’s telling me—”
Altho’s lips were moving with his thoughts to Sonya. The girl, over all this distance, was translating from the universal language of thoughts for these two strangers at Jim’s elbow.
Ren added, “Altho says to us in his thoughts, Talon had promised not to kill him; Talon now thinks he will be useful after our city of Kalima is conquered. But one of Talon’s men—that head who was in here a while ago—he said they had decided we all three were to die. I’m asking Altho what he thinks we can do to escape.”
Altho raised his head at the question; his eyes searched Ren’s face. His lips moved.
“Jim! Jim, she says, We are coming to try and rescue you! If you or Altho can direct us . . . we’re coming . . . in the air now.”