"Certainly given the casual way Sif-Uwanis approach management and
money."
"Really," Karrde said, his estimation moving up yet another notch.
He would have bet heavily that there wouldn't be a single person on
Varonat who'd ever even heard of Sif-Uwana, let alone know anything
about it.
"Have you ever been there?"
"Once," Celina said. "It was a few years ago."
"Business or pleasure?"
"Business."
"What sort?"
She lifted an eyebrow at him. "I don't recall an invitation to play
Questions Three with you, Syndic."
"No offense intended," Karrde said. "I merely find your presence here
intriguing. You seem too skilled and well-traveled to be stuck out
here in the backwater of the Ison Corridor. Not to mention your other
obvious attributes."
He'd hoped to spark some reaction, to shake up that calm facade of hers
a bit. But she refused to turn to the lure. "Maybe I just like the
peace and quiet," she countered.
"Maybe I'm trying to raise a stake to get out." She locked eyes with
him. Green eyes, Karrde noted distantly.
A very striking green, at that. "Or maybe I'm hiding from
something."
Karrde forced himself to meet that gaze. There was a smoldering,
almost bitter fire behind those eyes, driven by a turbulent swirl of
emotion. He'd been right: she was no
simple backwater hyperdrive mechanic. "You certainly instill me with confidence," he managed.
The corner of her lip twitched upward in a sardonic smile; and abruptly
the fire vanished as if it had never been there. Or had been nothing
but an act. "Good," she said briskly. "Maybe next time you'll stay
out of your hyperdrive mechanic's way and leave well enough alone."
"I take your point," Karrde said, bowing slightly.
"We'll be in the forward living areas if you need to know where
anything is. Good evening."
He gestured to Tapper, and together they backed out of the engine room,
gathering up their packages again as the door slid closed. "What do
you think?" Karrde asked as they headed forward.
"You're right, she doesn't fit here," the other agreed.
"One of Gamgalon's people?"
"Probably," Karrde said. "Backup for Fleck, perhaps, or else just a
general snoop. Mechanics and other service-people tend to be
invisible."
"Maybe." Tapper glanced down the corridor behind them. "If you ask
me, though, someone of her talents would be wasted in straight
surveillance."
"Agreed," Karrde said, pursing his lips. "Could be she doubles as
saboteur."
"Or as ship thief," Tapper said grimly. "Gamgalon's covering up
something with these safaris."
They'd reached the yacht's lounge now. "Well, he can't steal this one
without considerable effort," Karrde reminded him as he dumped his
packages on the lounge couch. "As to sabotage; well, we should be able
to ungimmick the hyperdrive in twenty minutes if we have to. And the
Wild Karrde can be here in four hours if we need it."
"I take it that means you're still planning to bring a comm-relay
along?"
"Very definitely," Karrde assured him. "But I'm not expecting we'll
have to use it. My guess is that we're going to find the safaris are
just Gamgalon's way of setting up clandestine smuggler meetings, and
that Fleck and com
pany are here to screen out any Imperial officials
who might object to the proceedings. Come on, let's get this gear
organized. Five-half is going to come early enough as it is."
The rest of the safari was already assembled by the time Karrde and
Tapper emerged from the Uwana Buyer just before five-half the next
morning. "Eclectic bunch," Tapper commented as they walked toward the
group and the three Aratech Arrow-17 airspeeders waiting on the field
beside them.
"Agreed," Karrde said, looking them over. A Thennqora, a Saffa, and
two Duros, all resplendent in outfits and equipment as obviously fresh
out of the box as the gear he and Tapper were wearing. Slightly off to
one side, dressed in outfits that had just as obviously seen
considerably more use, were a Krish, a Rodian, and Buzzy the laconic
Human. "The group matches the escort," he added.
Tapper nodded toward the Krish. "That's not Gam-galon, is it?"
Karrde shook his head. "One of his lieutenants, I think. I doubt
Gamgalon himself will be coming along."
"Ah," the Krish called, beaming about as cheerfully as it was
physically possible for a Krish to manage as he beckoned toward Karrde
and Tapper. "Welcome. You must be Syndic Hart. I am Falmal; I will
lead your expedition."
"Pleased to meet you," Karrde nodded. "I trust we're not late?"
"Not at all," Falmal said. "The rest were merely early.
May I present your fellow hunters: Tarnish--" he gestured to the
Thennqora "mHav and Jivis--" the Duros "mand Cob-caree" the Saffa.
"Gentlebeings: Syndic Hart and Captain Seoul of Sif-Uwana."
"Pleased to meet you," Karrde said, eyeing each of the others.
None of the names were familiar, but of course
that didn't mean anything. He and Tapper weren't using their correct names, either.
"We waste time," Tarnish growled. "Get on with the hunt, Falmal."
"Certainly," Falmal said. "If you will all find seats aboard?"
Karrde and Tapper chose one of the airspeeders and strapped in. A few
minutes later Falmal climbed in beside their Krish pilot, and they were
off.
"You run these safaris often?" Karrde asked as they flew low above the
rippling yellow jungle.
"Only a few times per season." Falmal threw him a speculative look.
"You were fortunate indeed to have arrived when you did."
Karrde gestured toward the rack of BlasTech rifles in the back of the
airspeeder. "I'll consider it fortunate only if we catch something,"
he said. "I'm spending far too much money here for just a round-trip
tour through a jungle."
"You will be successful," Falmal promised. "All are.
Rest assured of that."
They flew for an hour before putting down in a hilltop clearing.
A small, semi-permanent looking camp had been built there, four
buildings grouped around a burned-off landing area. "You must use this
place a lot," Karrde commented as they settled to the ground.
"It is the base camp for all safaris," Falmal said. "Here the pilots
and airspeeders will wait while we continue on foot. Take your packs
and weapons, please. We will move out immediately."
Ten minutes later they were all tromping along a barely discernible
path through yellow trees, yellow-green bushes, and a pale violet
ground cover that looked disturbingly like masses of fat worms.
Falmal was in the lead, with Tarnish, Karrde, and Tapper behind him.
Buzzy was next, followed by Have and Jivis and Cob-caree, with the
Rodian bringing up the rear.
They traveled for nearly an hour before Falmal called a
break in a small clearing that opened off beside the path.
"Bit out of shape for this kind of exercise," Karrde puffed as he got
out of his pack and dropped it to the ground. "How far are we going
today, Falmal?"
"Wearied so soon?" Falmal asked, throwing a sharp-toothed smile at
him. "Not to worry, Syndic Hart. Three hours more, perhaps four, and
we will be at the main hunting area."
"Morodins have been here," Tarnish grunted from behind him.
Karrde turned to look. The Thennqora was crouched down at the edge of
the clearing, prodding with a lofife at a patch of dark discoloration
cutting across the ground cover. "Morodin slime was here," he said.
"Several weeks old."
"Well observed," Falmal said approvingly. "It was two months ago that
one of our safaris hunted Morodins through this region.
Unfortunately, their migration pattern has since taken them further
away."
"Wonder why we didn't land closer to begin with, then," Tapper
muttered.
"Perhaps airspeeders spook our intended prey," Karrde suggested,
frowning. A meter behind Tarnish, along one edge of the slime mark, a
neat row of short pinkish shoots was coming up from beneath a group of
yellow-green bushes.
And in the shadows behind them was a glint of metal.
Stepping around behind Tapper, he started over for a closer look--"Time
to go," Falmal called, slapping his hands briskly.
"Packs on, all. We must continue if we are to reach our destination
with enough time to begin a hunt."
Karrde considered checking out the metal thing anyway, decided against
it, and returned to where he'd left his pack. "You are a botanist,
Syndic Hart?" Falmal asked.
"No," Karrde said as Tapper helped him into his pack.
"Why?"
"I saw you looking at the Yagaran aleudrupe plants
there," he said, pointing a long finger at the pink shoots.
"You will see many such non-native plants in the jungle, I'm
afraid--leavings of previous visitors to the Yaronat jungle who were
less than careful with their provisions."
"Provisions?" Tapper asked as he got his own pack on.
"Aleudrupe berries are considered a delicacy on many worlds," Falmal
said. "Some of those who join our safaris insist on bringing their own
provisions. A few carelessly dropped seeds" He gestured elaborately.
"We can only trust that the jungle itself will deal with such
intrusions.
Come, we must depart."
They didn't spot any more slime remnants before they reached Falmal's
chosen camping spot, at least none that Karrde could identify as
such.
There were no more aleudrupe plants, either. Perhaps after that first
time the careless visitors had been warned.
"So," Tapper said, bringing two cups of steaming liquid over to where
Karrde had propped himself tiredly against a tree beside their tents.
"What do you think of our fellow travelers?"
Karrde looked over at the others, still struggling with the escorts'
help to pitch their own shelters. "From the level of complaining
during this last hour, I'd say they're exactly what they seem: bored,
wealthy beings looking for excitement and somewhat annoyed they're
having to work for it."
"Hardly your typical smuggler, in other words."
Karrde shrugged. "Maybe these are semi-legit businessmen Gamgalon
wants to make deals with."
"There are a million places in the galaxy he could set up private
meetings without this much trouble," Tapper pointed out, sipping at his
cup.
"True. Incidentally, did you notice that piece of metal stuck in the
ground behind those aleudrupe plants at our first rest stop?"
"Yes," Tapper nodded. "Looked to me like a trans
pond marker.
Probably there either to mark the path or else to Keep track of the
Morodin migrations."
"Perhaps," Karrde said. "I can't help thinking, though, that Falmal
reacted rather strongly when I started toward it."
"You think it's something less innocuous?"
"Could be," Karrde said. "Possibly part of a sensor array to" He broke
off. Through the trees, from somewhere nearby, came a deep, rumbling
growl. Across the encampment, Falmal straightened up as Buzzy and the
Rodian unslung their blaster rifles. "This could be it," Karrde
murmured, snagging his own weapon and levering himself to his feet.
"Falmal?"
"Shh!" the Krish hissed. "You will frighten it. We will break into
the same groups of three as in the air-speeders."
He hurried over to Karrde and Tapper as the others collected into their
own groups and headed into the jungle.
"Come. Quickly and quietly."
They headed out, blaster rifles at the ready. "How can the Morodins
get through these trees?" Tapper asked. "I thought they were big."
"Morodins are long but slender," Falmal said, peering carefully through
the trees. "They can move easily about the jungle. Ah--look!"
Karrde swung his blaster rifle around; but Falmal was only pointing at
the ground. "Fresh slime trail," the Krish said. "You see?"
"Yes," Karrde said, eyeing the wide silvery line cutting across the
ground cover and disappearing off into the trees. A remarkably
straight line, too, veering only to get around an occasional tree.
"A large one, too," Falmal said. "Come. We will follow it."
"Doesn't seem very sporting," Tapper grunted as Falmal led the way
through the trees.
"The trail will not last long," Falmal said over his shoulder.
"It appears and disappears."
Karrde frowned off to his' right. It was hard to tell through all the
bushes, but--"Is that another slime trail over there?" he asked
Falmal. "Paralleling ours about three meters away?"
"Yes, they usually move in pairs," the Krish said.
"Quiet now. See, the trail is turning."
Ahead, the slime trail had turned sharply to the left.
Karrde craned his neck; sure enough, the other trail was turning to
remain parallel. "That's a pretty sharp angle," Tapper muttered.
"You suppose something scared them?"
"Quiet," Falmal said again.
In silence they continued on along the trail. It changed direction
twice more in the next few minutes, turns as sharp and precise as the
first had been. And then, to Karrde's surprise, it split into two
different directions.
"How did it do that?" he asked.
"A third Morodin has joined," Falmal said. "Quiet. It could be just
ahead."
"Maybe a third, fourth, and fifth," Tapper said, nodding to the
right.
The paralleling slime trail there had split into three lines, two of
them angling off three meters farther along the ground ahead of it.
Swallowing, Karrde lifted his blaster rifle and took another step-And
suddenly, there it was: fifteen meters long, rearing the front of its
rounded body three meters up off the ground, a mottled yellow creature
with spoonbill snout, stubby legs, and wide teeth.
A Morodin.
"Shoot it!" Falmal yelped. "Quickly!"
Karrde's rifle was already against his shoulder, the barrel tracking
the huge creature in front of them. The Morodin reared another meter
of
f the ground, giving out the same deep growl they'd heard back at the
camp.
Karrde squinted down the barrel . . . "Wait a minute," he told
Tapper.
"Hold your fire. It's just standing there."
"It is Morodin," Falmal snarled. "Shoot before it's too late."
But it was already too late. From their right came a sudden sputtering
volley of blaster fire, catching the Morodin solidly across its
flank.
Tarnish and Cob-caree, with the Rodian behind them, had arrived along
one of the lines of the other slime trail. The Morodin growled once
more, then toppled to the ground with a thunderous crash.
"Well shot," Falmal all but crowed. "We will summon the airspeeders,
and the pilots will prepare your trophy.
Tales From The Empire Page 4