Illya returned to consciousness slowly, wondering where the jungle had gone.

Then he remembered -- they'd been rescued from the jungle and brought to Bangkok.

More memories came -- someone had taken him away from the UNCLE medical facility. He'd awakened and attempted to escape, only to be choked unconscious . . .

. . . by Napoleon.

His partner.

His best friend.

Someone he'd hoped, in the deepest, most secret part of his heart, would one day be more.

Illya put that thought aside and opened his eyes. [This looks like the THRUSH machine I rescued Napoleon from before. How did we get back here?] he thought.

He tried moving, and immediately regretted it. [Definitely the same group, if not the same place.] He recognized the bonds, and the probes.

An oddly distorted female voice spoke. "Please do not move. You will only cause yourself pain, and possibly damage."

"How thoughtful of you to warn me," Illya said.

"We have questions. Your cooperation would be most helpful."

"And if I don't choose to *cooperate*?"

"That would be," the voice paused, "unwise. We would be forced to encourage a response, in ways you might find," another pause, "unpleasant."

A brief jolt of electricity surged through one of the probes, and Illya gasped.

"Just so. First question: why are you and the dark one paired if there can be no offspring?"

[The dark one? They must mean Napoleon. Paired? Offspring? *What* are these people thinking, and where did they get *that* idea?] "It's not that sort of pairing. It's more like --" Like what? He wasn't certain how much whoever -- or *whatever* -- was questioning him knew about humans. "Like a pair of hunters who must guard each other from predators as well as scavengers. We work together because it isn't always safe to work alone. Having young ones along would lessen our abilities to protect each other."

"You do not mate?"

"We're not a breeding pair, as you've already noticed."

Another jolt, stronger and longer than the first. "That was not an answer. Do not evade the question."

"No, we don't mate. It is considered wrong to do so."

"Wrong? By whom?"

"By our laws -- the things we use to regulate behavior among ourselves."

"And all your people agree to follow these 'laws'?"

"Most people are law-abiding; others do not obey laws for a variety of reasons."

"You allow this?"

"No. Our leaders appoint people to go after the lawbreakers and capture them so they may be penalized for doing wrong. My partner -- the one you call 'the dark one' -- and I do this for an organization called UNCLE."

The Scholar realized she had allowed the conversation to drift from the topic she wished to pursue. Making a note to question both subjects later about "Laws" and "UNCLE," she returned to the current subject.

"Would you mate with the dark one if your laws allowed it? Would you bear offspring for him?"