Part 12 (1/2)

He said, ”Uh...”

The yellow-eyed man looked at him, smiling. ”Help you, mister?”

”Looking for a friend of mine,” said Kettrick.

”Know when he landed?”

Kettrick shook his head. ”I'm not even sure he has.”

”What's the name of the s.h.i.+p?”

As in a dream, Kettrick heard himself saying, ”Starbird”

It caused not a ripple. ”Oh, yes,” the man said. ”I re-member her, she's the one had to dump her cargo and go into repair dock.” He went back and shuffled through his files. ”Here.” Kettrick stared at the typed sheet, not really seeing it. ”She'll be tied up a couple of weeks, at least. But I guess they did all right in the Market, so it's not a calamity. You'll probably find your friend at one of the hostels. You can leave a message on the board, if you want to, in case he comes in.”

”Thanks,” said Kettrick. ”Maybe I will.” He was shaken. He wanted to go somewhere and think. Headded, ”If I don't find him.”

He started for the door.

The yellow-eyed man trotted alongside. ”Earthman, aren't you?”

”Yeah.”

”Long way from home,” said the man. ”What s.h.i.+p?”

”Venture” said Kettrick. It was a common name. There would be at least six Ventures in any given port at any given time. He beckoned to Chai.

”Quite a playmate you've got there,” said the yellow-eyed man. ”Well, good luck.”

”Thanks again,” said Kettrick, and went out into the street.

He went well away from the Hall. Then he found a carved stone bench beside a ca.n.a.l and sat down, and stared at the black water.

Starbird had ended her flight. Her cargo was sold in the Market. And where was Seri?

Where was the Doomstar?

Gurra, Thwayn, Kirnanoc, Trace. Only we never got to Trace. Starbird dumped her cargo and went into repair. Had she really had a breakdown, or was Seri burying his trail? Kettrick did not believe it was a simple breakdown. It could happen, of course. s.h.i.+ps were s.h.i.+ps, even one carrying the Doomstar. They did crack tubes or blow their relays. But if Starbird really had, her crew would not be sitting in a hostel. Time was too short. Seri could not wait two weeks, or three. He would have to find another s.h.i.+p and go on.

Only we never got to Trace. We broke down at Kirnanoc, if the I-C or anyone else should ask.

And we're still there. A s.h.i.+p can't carry a Doomstar, can she, if she's sitting in repair?

Well, of course. It was just too easy, tagging Seri from Point A to Point B. The itinerary had to be posted because of I-C regulations, and therefore it might be followed. But no-body can follow you if you're not going anywhere.

End of trail.

Kettrick got up. He went back to the busy streets, with the many-colored crowds and the tall pale Achernans moving through them, cold and proud, wrapped in silken cloaks. At random he selected a place that catered to outworlders with food and entertainment. In the lobby there was a bank of public communicators, each one enclosed in a plastic bubble for privacy.

Kettrick went into one and called the I-C.

A bored female voice answered. Kettrick asked to speak to the agent. The voice required him to please state his business.

”Contraband,” said Kettrick, and she said, ”Oh,” and put him through. A man's voice, rather sharp and irritable, came on.

”All right, what is it?”

Kettrick said, ”Is your recorder started?”

Sounding a little startled, the agent said, ”Yes.”

Forcing himself to speak slowly and clearly, Kettrick said, ”This afternoon the s.h.i.+p Grellah, P.O.

Ree Darva, Tananaru, landed on pad number 895dashGYdash4...in case they've moved her. Her skipper and crew were arrested by the s.p.a.ce-port guards and are being held by somebody, if they're still alive. I'd appreciate if it you'd call the appropriate emba.s.sies. Boker, Captain, and Hurth, Mate, fromHlakra. Glevan, En-gineer, from Pittan. I'd appreciate it if you'd call the em-ba.s.sies right away. The only thing these men did was ask about a s.h.i.+p named ”Starbird.”

There was a sound on the other end as though the agent had leaned forward abruptly. ”Who is that?

Who's speak-ing?”

Kettrick asked, ”Are you bugged?”

The agent said grimly, ”As of the last two hours, I think we're clean. Unless they've worked awfully fast. We're get-ting to be experts around here.”

”I'll take a chance. This is Johnny Kettrick...”

”Kettrick? Kettrick...!”

”Shut up and listen. Seri Otku, in Starbird, picked up one component of the Doomstar on Gurra, and a second on Thwayn. Starbird is now here at Achern, in the repair dock. She was i-t'd to Trace, but she isn't going there. Do you have any information on the whereabouts of Seri Otku?”

The agent said, ”None. Kettrick, where are you? Ket-trick...”

”Stand by, I'm going to see what I can find out. And call those emba.s.sies!”

He flipped the switch, cutting short the urgent clamorings on the other end. The last thing he wanted now was to be picked up by the I-C and badgered about his old sins. Or about anything.

How much good it would do to call the emba.s.sies he didn't know. He didn't even know whether Boker and the others were still alive. If they were, the quickest and best way to help them would be to break this business wide open.

In the meantime, he had done all he could.

He went out again with Chai, into the streets. He kept glancing back whenever he could without being obvious about it, to no avail. In the kaleidoscopic swirl of the crowds it was impossible to tell if he were being followed.

At the first ca.n.a.l he found a public livery. The Achernan boatman watched with enormous distaste as Chai clambered in after Kettrick and settled herself in the curtained house.

”The Market,” Kettrick said, and the boatman pushed off, the little motor in the stern purring almost inaudibly.

It was only after some minutes of threading the waterways that split upon the towering pink cliffs of palaces and diverged to flow beneath carved temples from which a thousand faces watched with time-bleared stony eyes, beneath the fretted peaks of many-chambered dwellings, and past green prome-nades heavy with the poison sweetness of the white vine, that Kettrick noticed a particular boat always behind them.