by Anthology
There were assorted startled responses. The Ermetyne went briefly over some of the details Quillan had told; essentially it was the same story. "And do you know, Belchik, what the creature was trying to do? It was trying to get into the rest cubicle vaults. Just think, it might have been sent after you!"
It was rather cruel. Pluly's head jerked, and he blinked rapidly at Lyad, saying nothing. He was a badly scared little man at that moment. Trigger felt a little sorry for him, but not too sorry. Belchy's ogle had been of the straightforward, loose-lipped, drooling variety.
"You're safe when you're in one of those things, Belchik!" Quillan said reassuringly. "Wouldn't you feel a little safer there yourself, Lyad? If you say they're not even sure they've killed the creature...."
"I probably shall have a cubicle set up here," Lyad said. "But not as protection against a catassin. It would never get past Pilli, for one thing." She looked at Trigger. "Oh, I forgot. You haven't met Pilli. Virod!" she called.
Virod appeared at the far end of the terrace.
"Yes, First Lady?"
"Bring in Pilli," she told him.
Virod bowed. "Pilli is in the room, First Lady." He glanced about, went over to a massive easy chair a few feet way, and swung it aside. Something like a huge ball of golden fur behind it moved and sat up.
It was an animal of some sort. Its head seemed turned toward the group, but whatever features it had remained hidden under the fur. Then an arm like the arm of a bear reached out and Trigger saw a great furred hand that in shape seemed completely human clutch the chair's edge.
"He was resting," Lyad said. "Not sleeping. Pilli doesn't sleep. He's a perfect guardian. Come here, Pilli--meet Trigger Argee."
Pilli swung up on his feet. It was an impressively effortless motion. There was a thick wide torso on short thick legs under the golden fur. The structure was gorilla-like. Pilli might weigh around four hundred pounds.
He started silently forward and Trigger felt a tingle of alarm. But he stopped six feet away. She looked at him. "Do I say something to Pilli?"
Lyad looked pleased. "No. He's a biostructure. A very intelligent one, but speech isn't included in his pattern."
Trigger kept looking at the golden-furred nightmare. "How can he see to guard you through all that hair?"
"He doesn't see," Lyad said. "At least not as we do. Pilli's part of one of our Tranest experiments--the original stock came from the Maccadon life banks, a small golden-haired Earth monkey. The present level of the experiment is on the fancy side--it has four hearts, for example, and what amounts to a second brain at the lower half of its spine. But it doesn't come equipped with visual organs. Pilli is one of twenty-three of the type. They have compensatory perception of a kind that is still quite mysterious. We hope to breed them past the speech barrier so they can tell us what they do instead of seeing.... All right, Pilli. Run along!" She said to Balmordan, "I believe he doesn't like that Vethi thing of yours very much."
Balmordan nodded. "I had the same impression."
Perhaps, Trigger thought, that was why Pilli had been lurking so close to them. She watched the biostructure move off down the terrace, grotesque and huge. She had got its scent as it went past her, a fresh, rather pleasant whiff, like the smell of ripe apples. An almost amiable sort of nightmare figure, Pilli was; the apple smell went with that, seemed to fit it. But nightmare was there too. She found herself feeling rather sorry for Pilli.
"In a way," Lyad said, "Pilli brings us to that matter of business I mentioned this afternoon."
The group's eyes shifted over to her. She smiled.
"We have good scientists on Tranest," she said, "as Pilli, I think, demonstrates." She nodded at Balmordan. "There are good scientists in the Devagas Union. And everyone here is aware that the Treaties of Restriction imposed on both our governments have made it impossible for our citizens to engage seriously in plasmoid research."
Trigger nodded briefly as the light-amber eyes paused on her for a moment. Quillan had cautioned her not to show surprise at anything the Ermetyne might say or do. If Trigger didn't know what to say herself, she was merely to look inscrutable. "I'll scrut," he explained. "The others won't. I'll take over then and you just follow my lead. Get it?"
"Balmordan," Lyad said, "I understand you are going to Manon to attend the seminars and demonstrations on the plasmoid station?"
"That is true, First Lady," said Balmordan.
"Now I," Lyad told the company, "shall be more honest. The information released in those seminars is of no value whatever. He"--she nodded at the Devagas scientist--"and I are going to Manon with the same goal in mind. That is to obtain plasmoids for our government laboratories."
Balmordan smiled amiably.
Trigger asked. "How do you intend to obtain them?"
"By offering very large sums of money, or equivalent inducements, to people who are in a position to get them for me," said Lyad.
Quillan tut-tutted disapprovingly. "The First Lady's mind," he told Trigger, "turns readily to illegal methods."
"When necessary," Lyad said undisturbed, "as it is here."
"How about you, sir?" Quillan asked Balmordan. "Are we to understand that you also would be interested in the purchase of a middling plasmoid or two?"
"I would be, naturally," Balmordan said. "But not at the risk of causing trouble for my government."
"Of course not," Quillan said. He thought a moment. "You, Belchy?" he asked.
Pluly looked alarmed. "No! No! No!" he said hastily. He blinked wildly. "I'll stick to the shipping business. It's safer."
Quillan patted him fondly on the shoulder. "That's one law-abiding citizen in this group!" He winked at Trigger. "Trigger's wondering," he told Lyad, "why she and I are being told these things."
"Well, obviously," Lyad said, "Trigger and you are in an excellent position--or will be, very soon--to act as middlemen in the matter."
"Wha...." Trigger began, astounded. Then, as all eyes swiveled over to her, she checked herself. "Did you really think," she asked Lyad, "that we'd agree to such a thing?"
"Certainly not," said Lyad. "I don't expect anyone to agree to anything tonight--though it's a safe assumption I'm not the only one here who has made sure this conversation is not being recorded, and will not be available for reconstruction. Well, Quillan?" She smiled.
"How right you are, First Lady!" Quillan said. He tapped a breast pocket. "Scrambler and distorter present and in action."
"And you, Balmordan?"
"I must admit," Balmordan said pleasantly, "that I thought it wise to take certain precautions."
"Very wise!" said Lyad. Her glance shifted, with some amusement in it, to Pluly. "Belchik?"
"You're a nerve-wracking woman, Lyad," Belchik said unhappily. "Yes. I'm scrambling, of course." He shuddered. "I can't afford to take chances. Not when you're around."
"Of course not, and even so," said Lyad, "there are still reasons why an unconsidered word might be embarrassing in this company. So, no, Trigger, I'm not expecting anybody to agree to anything tonight. I'm merely mentioning that I'm interested in the purchase of plasmoids. Incidentally, I'd be very much more interested even in seeing you, and Quillan, enter my employ directly. Yes, Belchik?"
Pluly had begun giggling wildly.
"I was--ha-ha--having the same idea!" he gasped. "About one of--ha-ha--of 'em anyway! I--"
He jerked and came to an abrupt stop, transfixed by Trigger's stare. Then he reached for his glass, blinking at top speed. "Excuse me," he muttered.
"Hardly, Belchik!" said Lyad. She gave Trigger a small wink. "But I can assure you, Trigger Argee, that you'd find my pay and working conditions very attractive indeed."
It seemed a good moment to look inscrutable. Trigger did.
"Serious about that, Lyad?" asked Quillan.
The Ermetyne said, "Certainly I'm serious. Both of you could be of great value to me at present." She looked at him a moment. "Did you ever happen to tell Trigger about the manner in
which you re-established the family fortune?"
"Not in any great detail," Quillan said.
"A very good hijacker and smuggler went to waste when you signed up with the Engineers," Lyad said. "But perhaps not entirely to waste."
"Perhaps not," acknowledged Quillan. He grinned. "But I'm a modest man. One fortune's enough for me."
"There was a time, you know," Lyad said, "when I was rather afraid it would be necessary to have you killed."
Quillan laughed. "There was a time," he admitted, "when I suspected you might be thinking along those lines, First Lady! Didn't lose too much, did you?"
"I lost enough!" Lyad said. She wrinkled her nose at him. "But that's all over and done with. And now--no more business tonight. I promise." She turned her head a little. "Flam!" she called.
"Yes, First Lady?" said the voice of the red-headed girl.
"Bring us Miss Argee's property, please."
Flam brought in a small package of flat disks taped together. Lyad took them.
"Sometimes," she told Quillan, "the Askab becomes a little independent. He's been spoken to. Here--you keep them for Trigger."
She tossed the package lightly over to them. Quillan put out a hand and caught it.
"Thanks," he said. He put the package in a pocket. "I'll call off my beagles."
"Suit yourself as to that," said the Ermetyne. "It won't hurt the Askab to stay frightened a little longer."
She checked herself. The room's ComWeb was signaling. Virod went over to it. A voice came through.
"... The Garth-Manon subspace run begins in one hour. Rest cubicles have been prepared...."
"That means me," Belchik Pluly said. He climbed hastily to his feet. "Can't stand dives! Get hallucinations. Nasty ones." He staggered a little then, and Trigger realized for the first time that Belchy had got pretty thoroughly drunk.
"Better give our guest a hand, Virod," Lyad called over her shoulder. "Happy dreams, Belchik! Are you going by Rest, Trigger? No? You're not, of course, Quillan. Balmordan?"
The Devagas scientist also shook his head.
"Then by all means," Lyad said, "let's stay together a little while longer."
15
"She," said Trigger, "is a remarkable woman."
"Yeah," said Quillan. "Remarkable."
"May I ask you, finally, a few pertinent questions?" Trigger inquired humbly.
"Not here, sweet stuff," said Quillan.
"You're a bossy sort of slob, Heslet Quillan," she said equably.
Quillan didn't answer. They had come down the stairway to the storerooms level and were walking along the big lit hallway toward their cabins. Trigger felt pleasantly relaxed. But she did have a great many pertinent questions to ask Quillan now, and she wanted to get started on them.
"Oh!" she said suddenly. Just as suddenly, Quillan's hand was on her shoulder, moving her along.
"Hush now," he said. "And keep walking."
"But you saw it, didn't you?" Trigger asked, trying to look back to the small open door into the storerooms they'd just passed.
Quillan sighed. "Certainly," he said. "Guy in space armor."
"But what's he doing there?"
"Checking something, I suppose." His hand left her shoulder; and, for just a moment, his finger rested lightly across her lips. Trigger glanced up at him. He was walking on beside her, not looking at her.
All right, she thought--she could take a hint. But she felt tense and uncomfortable now. Something was going on again, apparently.
They turned into the side passage and came up to her cabin. Trigger started to turn to face him, and Quillan picked her up and went on without a noticeable break in his stride. Close to her ear, his voice whispered, "Explain in a moment! Dangerous here."
As the door to the end cabin closed behind them, he put her back on her feet. He looked at his watch.
"We can talk here," he said. "But there may not be much time for conversation." He gestured toward a table against the wall. "Take a look at the setup."
Trigger looked. The table was littered with instruments, like an electronic workbench. A visual screen showed a view of both her own cabin and a section of the passage outside it, up to the point where it entered the big hall.
"What is it?" she asked uncertainly.
"Essentially," said Quillan, "we've set up a catassin trap."
"Catassin!" Trigger squeaked.
"That's right. Don't get too nervous though. I've caught them before. Used to be a sort of specialty of mine. And there's one thing about them--they'll blab their pointed little heads off if you can get one alive and promise it its catnip...." He'd shucked off his jacket and taken out of it a very large handgun with a bell-shaped mouth. He laid the gun down next to the view screen. "In case," he said, unreassuringly. "Now just a moment."
He sat down in front of the view screen and did something to it.
"All right," he said then. "We're here and set. Probability period starts in three minutes, continues for sixty. Signal on any blip. Otherwise no gabbing. And remember they're fast. Don't get sappy."
There was no answer. Quillan did something else to the screen and stood up again. He looked broodingly at Trigger. "It's those damn computers again!" he said. "I don't see any sense in it."
"In what?" she asked shakily.
"Everything that's happening around here is being fed back to them at the moment," he said. "When they heard about our invite to Lyad's dinner party, and who was to be present, they came up with a honey. In the time period I mentioned a catassin is supposed to show up at your cabin. They give it a pretty high probability."
Trigger didn't say anything. If she had, she probably would have squeaked again.
"Now don't worry," he said, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly between a large thumb and four slightly less large fingers. "Nice muscle!" he said absently. "The cabin's trapped and I've taken other precautions." He massaged the muscle gently. "Probably the only thing that will happen is that we'll sit around here for an hour or so, and then we'll have a hearty laugh together at those foolish computers!" He smiled.
"I thought," Trigger said without squeaking, "that everybody was pretty sure it was dead."
Quillan frowned. "Well, that's something else again! There are at least two ways I know of to sneak it past that search. Jump it out and in with a subtub is one--they could have done that from their own cabin as soon as they had its pattern. So I don't really think it's dead. It's just--"
"Quillan," a tiny voice said from the viewer.
He turned, took two steps, and sat down fast before the viewer. "Go ahead!"
"Fast motion in B section. Going your way."
Fast motion. A thought flicked up. "Quillan--" Trigger began.
He raised a shushing hand. "Get a silhouette?" he asked. His hands went to a set of control switches and stayed there.
"No. Pickup shows a haze like in the reconstruct." An instant's pause. "Leaving B section."
"Motion in C section," said another voice.
Quillan said, "All right. It's coming. No more verbal reports unless it changes direction. If you want to stay alive, don't move unless you're in armor."
There was silence. Quillan sat unmoving, eyes fixed on the screen. Trigger stood just behind him. Her legs had begun to tremble. She'd better tell him.
"Quillan--"
For an instant, in the screen, there was something like heat shimmer at the far end of the passage. Then she saw her cabin door pop open.
The interior of the cabin showed in a brief flare of blue light. In it was a shape. It vanished instantly again.
She heard Quillan make a shocked, incredulous sound. His left hand slashed at a switch on the panel.
Twenty feet from them, just behind the closed door to the passage, was a splatting noise like a tremendous slap. Then another noise, strangely like a brief cloudburst. Then silence again.
She realized Quillan was on his feet beside her, the oversized gun in his hand. It was pointed at the door.
His eyes switched suddenly from the door to the screen and back again. She felt him relaxing slowly. Then she discovered she was clutching a handful of his shirt along with a considerable chunk of tough skin. She went on clutching it.
"Fly swatter got it!" he said. "Whew!" He looked down and patted the clutching hand. "No catassin! The trap in the cabin just wasn't fast enough. Had a gravity mine outside our door, just in case. That was barely fast enough!" For once, Quillan looked almost awed.
"L-l-l-like--" Trigger began. She tried again. "Like a little yellow man--"
"You saw it? In the cabin? Yes. Never saw anything just like it before!"
Trigger pressed her lips together to make them stay steady.
"I have," she said. "That's what I was trying to tell you."
Quillan stared at her for an instant. "You'll tell me about it in a couple of minutes. I've got some quick work to do first." He checked himself. A wide grin spread suddenly over his face. "Know something, doll?"
"What?"
"The damn computers!" Major Quillan said happily. "They goofed!"
* * * * *
The gravity mine would have reduced almost any life-form which moved into its field to a rather thin smear, but there wasn't even that left of the yellow demon-shape. Something, presumably something it was carrying, had turned it into a small blaze of incandescent energy as the mine flattened it out. Which explained the sound like a cloudburst. That had been the passage's automatic fire extinguishers going into brief but correspondingly violent action.
Quillan's group stayed out of sight for the time being. He'd barely got the mine put away, along with a handful of warped metal slugs, which was what the mine had left of their attacker's mechanical equipment, and Trigger's cabin door locked again, when three visitors came zooming down the storerooms hall in a small car. A ship's engineer and two assistants had arrived to check on what had started the extinguishers.
"They may," Quillan said hopefully, "just go away again." He and Trigger were watching the engineers through the viewer which had been extended to cover their end of the passage.
They didn't just go away again. They checked the extinguishers, looked at the floor, still wet but rapidly absorbing the last drops of the brief deluge. They exchanged puzzled comment. They checked everything once more. Finally the leader made use of the door announcer and asked if he might intrude.