by Dale Olausen
"The last time we were there our friends had something different for us. Besides the usual art, they offered to sell us two ancient stones that had been in their possession for generations. Their priests claimed that the stones had once held great powers but were now worthless, just two dull, green pebbles. But perhaps the 'enlightened ones from the stars', as they called us, could rediscover the magic of the stones and make some use of them."
Ginette paused to ask for a drink. Dav produced three coffees from behind a panel in a wall. Ginette took a sip of hers and continued.
"Well, we have had some dealings with Kordea, and instantly realized that the two 'dull, green pebbles' just might be Witches’ Stones. We accepted them, paying what the natives thought was a generous price. On our way to RES, we stopped at Kordea, and, putting old ties to use, had the stones tested. They keyed without any trouble at all.
"Dav and I were called to Ferhil Stones, a Witch strong-hold, for a meeting. We met with Witch Alta who acts as their spokeswoman whenever the Witches are forced to deal with Terrans. She told us that they had been able to learn - don't ask me how - that the two stones were a part of a much larger group of amartos. Would we be interested in going after the rest if the Witches could locate them?
"The crew could not resist a challenge such as that. Of course we would go. Alta gave us back one of the two stones to sell on RES so we could afford to outfit the Beth for what might turn out to be a long trip."
Sarah opened her mouth to interrupt, but quickly reconsidered. She sipped her coffee and leaned back to listen to the rest of the story.
"The Witches, meanwhile were using the second stone to try to locate the group of which it was a member. We returned to Kordea only to be told to wait, which we did." Ginette made a face. "We waited...and waited. We waited for three months. Finally, the call to Ferhil Stones came. Alta told us that the task of locating the companion stones had been much more difficult than the Witches had expected. However, they had finally been successful. The large group of amartos to which our two belonged, was located on a planet half a galaxy away from where we had obtained the first two."
Ginette shook her head.
"Sarah, can you believe it? Alta was telling us that there was yet another planet with amartos on it! Amartos that they wanted us to find for them!"
She brushed back a tendril of hair off her forehead. "Still," she continued, "the long wait had been worth it. The info that Alta gave us was excellent. It took very little work on my part to establish the omega-coordinates for the target planet, and once we got there we easily zoomed in on the landmarks that we were given.
"But the long wait had made us impatient. We couldn't wait to get at the work, and that's what nearly did us in. Kells wanted to get right into the action along with the planeting crew, so he made plans to look after the ship on his spare time, and during base duty."
"And like a fool I agreed to it," added Dav, shaking his head. "It was the only time we ever tried that - and the first time that Kells ever hurt himself."
"Needless to say," said Ginette dryly, "we expect you to look the Beth over the first thing when we get to the planet, this time. Not that we want to unduly frighten you, but nobody's taking any foolish chances on this trip."
"Oh, I quite understand," Sarah agreed. "The Beth won't be needing much looking after anyway. She'll have taken only two jumps - it won't take me long to put right whatever may be wrong."
"Good. I think that that's about all we need to talk about for now," said Dav. "So unless you have some burning questions that you need answered, you're free to return to your room, and get some rest before the next omega-jump. We realize that, unlike those of us who spent our days on XER loafing, you can use some extra sleep before starting work again."
Laughing, Sarah took her leave. However, once she was back in her cubicle she found that she was much too excited to sleep.
"Imagine," she whispered to herself, "We're chasing Witches’ Stones! Who would have thought that I would ever again have a chance to have anything to do with them?"
She allowed the memories of what had happened on RES to flood her senses. Space Station RES was one of the places where Sarah had had to change ships during the long voyage from Earth to XER.
She had been scheduled for a five-hour layover but, fortunately, she had not had to spend it alone; enroute from Earth she had met a woman who lived on RES, who had offered to take her on a whirlwind tour of the space station's famous market-places. Fiana Marsh was an alyena, one of a class of beautiful women who made an excellent living selling their sexual services to the wealthy men of the inner galaxy. She was also half-Calligan, with the purple hair and violet eyes characteristic of that race. Sarah had been thrilled to make her acquaintance.
"I have never been to Earth so I can't tell you how RES compares to Old Mother Terra but I do know that I've never seen anyplace as exciting as little RES is," Fiana had said.
"I could wax eloquent - but you'll see. And I'll make sure that you won't get totally lost, and miss your connecting flight. It's easy enough to misjudge the time it takes a person to fight her way back to the Space Port from the markets."
Only moments after they had disembarked, Sarah had begun to understand what Fiana had meant. RES was busy! People were scurrying off in every direction! There were thousands of them within the limited area of the spaceport, and every one of them seemed intent on rushing off to some pressing rendezvous. The girl had been glad to accept the hand Fiana proffered before they had plunged into one of the human streams.
"Hang on," Fiana had instructed. "But if we do become separated I'll move to the nearest edge of the traffic flow. Since I'm tall and you're not, it'll be easier for you to find me than it would be for me to find you. Just look for the purple mane!"
It was a merry chase that Fiana had led Sarah on! However the Earth girl was shortly suffering from sensory overload. Later, whenever she thought of the markets of RES, what she remembered was a colourful, noisy blur: the huge crowds, the shops jammed with exotic goods, the beings both familiar and exotic, buying and selling things. The effect had been claustrophobic, and when Fiana suddenly had opened a shop door and pushed her into the blessed silence of empty space she had drawn an involuntary sigh of relief.
"Let us look at jewels for a moment," Fiana had said, loosening the tight grip in which she had held Sarah's aching fingers.
Sarah had nodded, and looked around to see that they had, indeed, entered a gem shop. They had apparently been the only customers, and she wondered if the merchandise was so pricey that it was beyond the reach of all but a very few of the shoppers thronging outside. Whatever the reasons for this oasis of peace and quiet, she had felt very grateful for it.
"Go ahead and look around," Fiana had encouraged her. "I'm going to have a little chat with Max, the owner of this joint. He's an old friend of mine."
Max had been a bald, rotund little man behind a glass-topped counter. His round face had sported a broad, kindly grin, and Sarah had immediately liked him.
"If you see anything that arouses your curiosity just ask me about it," he had told Sarah. "What I don't know about jewels isn't worth knowing."
Sarah had wandered among the display cases admiring the opulence contained within. Some of the gems on show had nestled unset in velvet-lined boxes, or in small metal cups chosen to emphasize their bright colours. Others had been set into jewellery; some simple and some elaborate. A headband of dark metal covered with opaque, pink stones had caught Sarah's fancy momentarily. It's comfortable, antique look surely was the result of care from loving, skilful hands. Where in the galaxy had it been and how had it made its way to an exclusive jewellery store on Space Station RES? What tales of love, hate and intrigue could it have told her, had it a voice to speak? Had it graced a Terran head or, perhaps, that of an alien? Or perhaps both at different times?
Sarah had turned to look further, to a ring set with tiny, red stones. Inexplicably she had found her gaze returning to th
e headband. Had the two been displayed together to show off their similarity? Were they meant to encourage a prospective purchaser to buy both pieces at once?
She had turned her attention to another display case and to her delight had recognized a circle of unset tiamites lying on red velvet. Her mother had favoured tiamites, and although Sarah well knew that they were one of the more common gems in the universe, they still signified wealth to her. She had sighed at the size of the stones - the jewels that her mother's second husband had wooed her mother with, had been tiny by comparison. Yet they had been Cara's prized possessions.
Shaking off the childhood memories, Sarah had walked to the other side of the room to see what might be of interest in those cases. What was this? Her attention had been caught by a gem that was very different from the ones she had seen so far. She had stopped to stare at a piece of translucent, gold-coloured stone through which curled thin, sparkling filaments.
"Wow!" she had exclaimed half out loud. "Now that is beautiful!"
She had turned and walked directly over to the counter where Fiana and Max had been conversing. They had interrupted their talk to look at her as she approached.
"What's that beautiful, translucent, gold-coloured piece with the threads inside it, called?" Sarah had asked Max, pointing at the display case at which she had been looking.
The gem shop proprietor had chuckled. "Ah," he had said, "you have good taste, my dear. I am proud to own that stone and I will be sad to see it go when somebody walks in here with enough money to buy it. It's filigree amber from Merworld and rarely seen anywhere but Merworld, for the Merfolk prize it highly, and do not like to let it slip out of their hands."
"Gee," Sarah had said with a laugh, "and here I had hoped that it would be something quite common and inexpensive, so I could hope to own a little bit of it someday."
"It's such a pity that the most beautiful stones always end up hanging around the necks of rich women whose husbands have been unfaithful to them." Max had given his head a shake. "Many times I've looked at a woman, and thought to myself, now, I know which stone would match the blue of her eyes or bring out the red highlights in her hair, but of course she does not have nearly the money to take my advice."
"Oh Max, I never knew you were such a romantic," Fiana had laughed. Then she had turned to Sarah: "Max really does know his gems, and he does have a talent for matching a woman with becoming jewellery. I never buy jewels anywhere except here, and I've not been dissatisfied with a single piece that I own."
"But let me show you ladies my best piece, the most wonderful stone that I have in my possession," Max had interrupted, reaching his hand into a cupboard behind the counter.
"It outshines even the filigree amber in beauty. It is rare, priceless and mysterious."
He had placed on the counter a small, black box. While Sarah and Fiana had looked on, he had given a small depression at one end a quick push with his thumb and the lid had sprung open - Sarah had guessed that the box was a much more expensive gadget than one might suppose by merely looking at it. Gently Max had turned it so that the two women could see the contents.
Sarah had gasped and she had heard Fiana catch her breath.
"Max!" the alyena had cried. "Where did you get that?"
On the black velvet bed had lain a small, green ellipse. Amazingly, inside it a golden fire had burned, a fire that seemed to have a life of its own as it curled within the gem, drawing in upon itself like a snake going to sleep in the sun, then spreading out again as if to show off for the audience. As Sarah had stared at the stone she could almost believe that the gold flames could leap out at her, yet never lose touch with their green base.
Fiana's voice, shrill and almost accusing, had pulled her back to the moment.
"Max, that's an amarto! Now tell me, where and how did you get it? When?"
Max had seemed pleased with the reaction he was getting. "Relax, Fiana," he had protested, chuckling. "My dear, I bought it a short while ago. Right here on RES. From some Explorers who were in a hurry, but I still had to mortgage my shop for it."
Fiana had appeared to turn this over in her mind for a moment; then she had nodded.
"Okay, Max," she had replied, "I'll accept that – except about mortgaging the shop."
Max had laughed and shook his head. He had opened his mouth to respond but just then Sarah, who had turned her attention back to the jewel, had interrupted.
"How are these stones cut?" she had demanded.
"What do you mean?" Max had asked, puzzled.
"Well, how do they cut these stones to get that weird effect - as if the gold fire inside reaches out at you?"
The gem-shop proprietor had leaned closer to peer at the stone. Then he had given Sarah's absorbed face a sharp glance. Without answering her question he had picked up the jewel and had looked from the girl to the gem thoughtfully.
"Hm.... Let's see how this little beauty would look against your skin," he had said. "Don't move, my dear. I know it would be all wrong for Fiana, it would clash with her colouring. But you have pale skin and dark hair...."
The stone had touched Sarah's forehead. She had stood motionless as instructed even as the warmth of the gold fire had penetrated her flesh with a tingling sensation.
"So what do you think, Fiana?"
The alyena's violet eyes had widened with astonishment as she had gazed at Sarah and the jewel. That expression had quickly given way to a pleased smile.
"Yes, Max. It looks lovely. Perfect."
Sarah had burst out laughing as Max had drawn the stone away and replaced it in its velvet box.
"I really do have fantastic luck, don't I?" she had cried. "Nothing but the best looks good on me! What a pity I wasn't born rich!"
She had watched with unexpected sadness as Max had closed the cover of the box and the amarto had disappeared from view.
"What do you say, Sarah, should we go and get some lunch?" Fiana had asked as Max had slid the box back into its cabinet.
Precisely at that moment the shop door had burst open.
"Oh, Max!" a young woman clad in the flowing robes that Fiana had identified to Sarah as the garb popular on the planet Atlantis, had shouted. She had been followed by a young man similarly robed. "I want to see some chrystallids! Cartol is buying me a chrystallid!"
*****
A short while later Sarah and Fiana had been sitting in a delightful little restaurant called "The Galactic Gardens". The green plants that had separated the tables from one another had given the place an illusion of welcome quiet and privacy; however it had been as busy as the rest of RES. Impressed, Sarah had watched while Fiana had used trickery to obtain for them a table for three after the electronic maitre'd had curtly informed them that all the tables for two were taken. Fiana had told it that she suddenly had remembered that they were to meet a third party for lunch. Obligingly, the machine had directed them to an appropriate table.
"It's a good thing those things can't read minds," Fiana had laughed. "Oh well, some friend of mine may come by looking for a seat, and we can let him or her have this one. People often do take a look around for acquaintances."
They had settled down to scroll through the menus but Sarah shortly had had to admit that all the dishes were unfamiliar to her. She had asked Fiana to recommend something.
Fiana had suggested that she order the laun-meat casserole and some Aresian nut pastries for dessert. "Very tasty," she had explained, "and they'll stick to your ribs. You'll want that since you're travelling through space. Now as to drink - "
"Are you saving this chair for me, Fiana?"
Sarah and Fiana had looked up and Sarah had found herself staring at the most attractive man she had ever seen. Blond hair and blue eyes, straight brows and a boyish grin, broad shoulders, narrow hips - it was all there.
"No, Coryn, I wasn't, but you're welcome to it anyhow," Fiana had answered.
The newcomer had seated himself, and as he had done so Sarah’s sharp eyes had noted th
at there were violet highlights in the fair hair, and a hint of the same colour in the blue of the eyes. The man had a touch of Calligan blood (which might have had something to do with his good looks), although his strain was much thinner than Fiana’s.
"Sarah, this is Coryn Leigh of RES," Fiana had introduced. "And, Coryn, meet Sarah Mackenzie from Earth. She's on her way to work on notorious XER."
"Oh, oh! How did you get yourself into that trap?" Coryn had inquired of Sarah, gazing at her curiously.
"Naivete."
Fiana had told Sarah about XER on the way to RES.
Sarah had been berating herself for her foolishness in signing up for the job so quickly ever since, but nonetheless was determined to see it through.
"On Earth no-one seems to know much about what's going on in the galaxy, and no-one seems to care much," Sarah explained. "I just assumed that all space stations were alike."
"Well, I guess you've begun to find out otherwise." The blue eyes had glittered with laughter. "Tell you what, when you get to XER, find a young chap by the name of Matty Harmiss and tell him that I told you to look him up. He's a good person to know in that hole."
Sarah had made a mental note of the name as they had returned to their menus. Fiana and Coryn had started up a chatter which sounded like shop talk to Sarah. She had concluded that Coryn must be an alyen, the male counterpart of an alyena. His good looks certainly supported the theory.
Shy, and ignorant of the big, sophisticated galaxy which her companions inhabited, Sarah had kept quiet throughout most of the meal. Instead of talking she had tried to follow the others' conversation. That, however, had not been easy, either, since she knew so little about the galaxy beyond her home planet.