Novice
Page 7
out now in a fluid,silent motion, hooked a paw under the stungun and flicked upwards. Thebig instrument rose in an incredibly swift, steep arc eighty feetinto the air, various parts flying away from it, before it startedcurving down towards the treetops below the car. Iron Thoughts lazilyswung his head around and looked at Telzey with yellow fire-eyes.
"Miss Telzey! Miss Telzey!" Delquos was muttering behind her. "You're_sure_ it won't...."
Telzey swallowed. At the moment, she felt barely mouse-sized again."Just relax!" she told Delquos in a shaky voice. "He's really quitet-t-t-tame."
Iron Thoughts produced a harsh but not unamiable chuckle in her mind.
* * * * *
The pearl-gray sportscar, covered now by its streamlining canopy,drifted down presently to a parking platform outside the suite ofoffices on Jontarou's Planetary Moderator, on the fourteenth floor ofthe Shikaris' Club Tower. An attendant waved it on into a vacant slot.
Inside the car, Delquos set the brakes, switched off the engine,asked, "Now what?"
"I think," Telzey said reflectively, "we'd better lock you in thetrunk compartment with my aunt and Dr. Droon while I talk to theModerator."
The chauffeur shrugged. He'd regained most of his aplomb during theunhurried trip across the parklands. Iron Thoughts had done nothingbut sit in the center of the car, eyes half shut, looking like instantdeath enjoying a dignified nap and occasionally emitting a ripsawingnoise which might have been either his style of purring or a snore.And Tick-Tock, when Delquos peeled the paralysis belts off her legs atTelzey's direction, had greeted him with her usual reservedaffability. What the chauffeur was suffering from at the moment wasintense curiosity, which Telzey had done nothing to relieve.
"Just as you say, Miss Telzey," he agreed. "I hate to miss whateveryou're going to be doing here, but if you _don't_ lock me up now, MissHalet will figure I was helping you and fire me as soon as you let herout."
Telzey nodded, then cocked her head in the direction of the rearcompartment. Faint sounds coming through the door indicated that Halethad regained consciousness and was having hysterics.
"You might tell her," Telzey suggested, "that there'll be a grown-upcrest cat sitting outside the compartment door." This wasn't true, butneither Delquos nor Halet could know it. "If there's too much racketbefore I get back, it's likely to irritate him...."
A minute later, she set both car doors on lock and went outside,wishing she were less informally clothed. Sunbriefs and sandals tendedto make her look juvenile.
* * * * *
The parking attendant appeared startled when she approached him withTick-Tock striding alongside.
"They'll never let you into the offices with that thing, miss," heinformed her. "Why, it doesn't even have a collar!"
"Don't worry about it." Telzey told him aloofly.
She dropped a two-credit piece she'd taken from Halet's purse into hishand, and continued on towards the building entrance. The attendantsquinted after her, trying unsuccessfully to dispel an odd impressionthat the big catlike animal with the girl was throwing a doubleshadow.
The Moderator's chief receptionist also had some doubts about TT, andpossibly about the sunbriefs, though she seemed impressed whenTelzey's identification tag informed her she was speaking to thedaughter of Federation Councilwoman Jessamine Amberdon.
"You feel you can discuss this ... emergency ... only with theModerator himself, Miss Amberdon?" she repeated.
"Exactly," Telzey said firmly. A buzzer sounded as she spoke. Thereceptionist excused herself and picked up an earphone. She listened amoment, said blandly, "Yes.... Of course.... Yes, I understand,"replaced the earphone and stood up, smiling at Telzey.
"Would you come with me, Miss Amberdon?" she said. "I think theModerator will see you immediately...."
Telzey followed her, chewing thoughtfully at her lip. This was easierthan she'd expected--in fact, too easy! Halet's work? Probably. A fewcomments to the effect of "A highly imaginative child ...overexcitable," while Halet was arranging to have the Moderator'soffice authorize Tick-Tock's transfer to the life Banks, along withthe implication that Jessamine Amberdon would appreciate a discreethandling of any disturbance Telzey might create as a result.
It was the sort of notion that would appeal to Halet--
* * * * *
They passed through a series of elegantly equipped offices andhallways, Telzey grasping TT's neck-fur in lieu of a leash, theirappearance creating a tactfully restrained wave of surprise amongsecretaries and clerks. And if somebody here and there was troubled bya fleeting, uncanny impression that not one large beast but two seemedto be trailing the Moderator's visitor down the aisles, no mention wasmade of what could have been only a momentary visual distortion.Finally, a pair of sliding doors opened ahead, and the receptionistushered Telzey into a large, cool balcony garden on the shaded side ofthe great building. A tall, gray-haired man stood up from the desk atwhich he was working, and bowed to Telzey. The receptionist withdrewagain.
"My pleasure, Miss Amberdon," Jontarou's Planetary Moderator said, "Beseated, please." He studied Tick-Tock with more than casual interestwhile Telzey was settling herself into a chair, added, "And what may Iand my office do for you?"
Telzey hesitated. She'd observed his type on Orado in her mother'scircle of acquaintances--a senior diplomat, a man not easy to impress.It was a safe bet that he'd had her brought out to his balcony officeonly to keep her occupied while Halet was quietly informed where theAmberdon problem child was and requested to come over and take charge.
What she had to tell him now would have sounded rather wild even ifpresented by a presumably responsible adult. She could provide proof,but until the Moderator was already nearly sold on her story, thatwould be a very unsafe thing to do. Old Iron Thoughts was backing herup, but if it didn't look as if her plans were likely to succeed, hewould be willing to ride herd on his devil's pack just so long....
Better start the ball rolling without any preliminaries, Telzeydecided. The Moderator's picture of her must be that of a spoiled,neurotic brat in a stew about the threatened loss of a pet animal. Heexpected her to start arguing with him immediately about Tick-Tock.
She said "Do you have a personal interest in keeping the Baluit crestcats from becoming extinct?"
Surprise flickered in his eyes for an instant. Then he smiled.
"I admit I do, Miss Amberdon," he said pleasantly. "I should like tosee the species re-established. I count myself almost uniquelyfortunate in having had the opportunity to bag two of the magnificentbrutes before disease wiped them out on the planet."
The last seemed a less than fortunate statement just now. Telzeyfelt a sharp tingle of alarm, then sensed that in the minds which weredrawing the meaning of the Moderator's speech from her mind there hadbeen only a brief stir of interest.
She cleared her throat, said, "The point is that they weren't wipedout by disease."
He considered her quizzically, seemed to wonder what she was trying tolead up to. Telzey gathered her courage, plunged on, "Would you liketo hear what did happen?"
"I should be very much interested, Miss Amberdon," the Moderator saidwithout change of expression. "But first, if you'll excuse me amoment...."
There had been some signal from his desk which Telzey hadn't noticed,because he picked up a small communicator now and said "Yes?" After afew seconds, he resumed, "That's rather curious, isn't it?... Yes, I'dtry that.... No, that shouldn't be necessary.... Yes, please do.Thank you." He replaced the communicator, his face very sober; then,his eyes flicking for an instant to TT, he drew one of the upper deskdrawers open a few inches, and turned back to Telzey.
"Now, Miss Amberdon," he said affably, "you were about to say? Aboutthese crest cats...."
Telzey swallowed. She hadn't heard the other side of the conversation,but she could guess what it had been about. His office had called theguest house, had been told by Halet's maid that Halet, the c
hauffeurand Dr. Droon were out looking for Miss Telzey and her pet. TheModerator's office had then checked on the sportscar's communicationnumber and attempted to call it. And, of course, there had been noresponse.
To the Moderator, considering what Halet would have told him, it mustadd up to the grim possibility that the young lunatic he was talkingto had let her three-quarters-grown crest cat slaughter her aunt andthe two men when they caught up with her! The office would benotifying the police now to conduct an immediate search for themissing aircar.
When it would occur to them to look for it on the