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Dawn City arrived. While he was admiring, he was also recording floor patterns
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for a subtub jump. That gimmick s pretty much of a spilled secret now, but on
a swap for you and
Lyad it was worth it. We came aboard five minutes after we d nabbed your fac.
The Ermetyne figured you d go chasing after the
Aurora
, Trigger said.
Well, the Commissioner said tolerantly, the Ermetyne s pretty young. The
Aurora was a bit obvious.
How come Quillan didn t start wondering when I didn t show up in Mantelish s
lab with Repulsive?
So that s what he was for! Holati said. He rubbed the side of his jaw. I
was curious about that angle! That wasn t
Quillan. That was Quillan s fac.
In Mantelish s lab? Trigger said, startled.
Sure. That s how they all got in. In those specimen crates Mantelish has been
lugging into the dome the past couple of days. It looks like the prof s been
hypnotized up to his ears for months.
The last five hours of her day of recuperative rest Trigger spent asleep, her
cabin door locked and the plasmoid purse open on the bunk beside her. Holati
had come by just before to report that the Ermetyne was now awake but very
groggy, apparently more than a little shocked, and not yet quite able to
believe she was still alive. He d dose her with this and that, and
interrogations would be postponed until everybody was on their feet.
When Trigger woke up from her five-hour nap, the purse was shut. She opened it
and looked inside. Repulsive was down there, quietly curled up.
Smart little bugger, aren t you? she said, not entirely with approval. Then
she reached in and gave him a pat. She locked the purse, got dressed and went
up to the front of the ship, carrying Repulsive along.
All four of the others were up in the lounge area which included the
partitioned control section. The partition had been slid into the wall and the
Commissioner, who was at the controls at the moment, had swung his seat half
around toward the lounge.
He glanced at the plasmoid purse as Trigger came in, grinned and gave her a
small wink.
Come in and sit down, he said. We ve been waiting for you.
Trigger sat down and looked at them. Something apparently had been going on.
Quillan s tanned face was thoughtful, perhaps a trifle amused. Mantelish
looked very red and angry. His shock of white hair was wildly rumpled. The
Ermetyne appeared a bit wilted.
What s been going on? Trigger asked.
It was the wrong question. Mantelish took a deep breath and began bellowing
like a wounded thunder-ork. Trigger listened, with some admiration. It was one
of the best jobs of well-verbalized huffing she d heard, even from the
professor.
He ran down in less than five minutes, though apparently he d already let off
considerable steam.
Lyad had dehypnotized him, at the Commissioner s suggestion. It had been a
lengthy job, requiring a couple of hours, but it was a complete one. Which was
understandable, since it was the First Lady herself, Trigger gathered
gradually from the noise, who had put Mantelish under the influence, back in
his own garden on Maccadon, and within two weeks after his first return from
Harvest Moon
.
It was again Lyad who had given Mantelish his call to bemused duty via a
transmitted verbal cue on her arrival in
Manon, and instructed him to get lost from his League guards for a few hours
in Manon s swamps. There she had met and conferred with him and pumped him of
all he could tell her. As the final outrage, she had instructed him to lug her
crated cohorts, preserved like Pluly s harem ladies, into the Precol dome to
care for them tenderly there and at the proper cued moment to release them for
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action all under the illusion that they were priceless biological specimens!
Mantelish wasn t in the least appeased by the fact that again at the
Commissioner s suggestion Lyad had installed one minor new hypno-command
which, she said, would clear up permanently his tendency toward attacks of
dive sickness.
But he just ran down finally and sat there, glowering at the Ermetyne now and
then.
Well, the Commissioner remarked, this might be as good a time as any to ask
a few questions. Got your little quizzer with you, Quillan?
Quillan nodded. Lyad looked at both of them in turn and then, briefly and for
the first time, glanced in Trigger s direction.
It wasn t exactly an appealing glance. It might have been a questioning one.
And Trigger discovered suddenly that she felt just a little sympathy for Lyad.
Lyad had lost out on a very big gamble. And, each in his own way, these were
three very formidable males among whom she was sitting. None of them was
friendly; two were oversized, and the undersized one had a fairly
blood-chilling record for anyone on the wrong side of law and order. Trigger
decided to forget about beady stares for the moment.
Cheer up, Lyad! she said. Nobody s going to hurt you. Just give em the
answers!
She got another glance. Not a grateful one, exactly. Not an ungrateful one
either. Temporary support had been acknowledged.
Commissioner Tate has informed me, the Ermetyne said, that this group does
not recognize the principle of diplomatic immunity in my case. Under the
circumstances I must accept that. And so I shall answer any questions I can.
She looked at the pocket quizzer Quillan was checking over unhurriedly. But
such verification instruments are of no use in questioning me.
Why not? Quillan asked idly.
I ve been conditioned against them, of course, Lyad said. I m an Ermetyne
of Tranest. By the time I was twelve years old, that toy of yours couldn t
have registered a reaction from me that I didn t want it to show.
Quillan slipped the toy back in his pocket.
True enough, First Lady, he said. And that s one small strike in your
favor. We thought you might try to gimmick the gadget. Now we ll just pitch
you some questions. A recorder s on. Don t stall on the answers.
And he and the Commissioner started flipping out questions. The Ermetyne
flipped back the answers. So far as Trigger could tell, there wasn t any
stalling. Or any time for it.
Along with Mantelish, Doctors Gess Fayle and Azol had been the three big
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