Part 2 (2/2)

Out of the corner of an eye he could see a screen, delicately painted, ruffling in the slight breeze of the chamber's ventilators. Beyond which no doubt the muzzle of a laser-cannon or other inhospitable device was already trained on them. It was comfortably cool in the hall, but. he felt himself none the less beginning to sweat.

'Ex-chancellor second sociologist Bran Tse-Mallory and first pililosoph the Ent Truzenzuzex present their compliments to Maxim of the House of Malaika and would have converse with him if he is at home and so disposed.'

Flinx's mind parted abruptly from thoughts of making a run for the entrance. No wonder they'd gotten past the gate guard so easily! A churchman and a pure scientist. Highranked at that, although Tse-Mallory had said 'ex'. Chancellor second -that was planetary level, at least. He was less sure of Truzenzuzex's importance, but he knew that the thranx held their philosophs, or theoreticians, in an esteem matched only by that of the honorary Hive-Mothers and the Chancellor Firsts of the Church themselves. His mind was deluged with questions, all tinged by uncertainty as much as curiosity. What were two such eminences doing slumming in a place like Small Symm's? Why had they picked him for a guide - a youth, a nothing - when they could have had a royal escort by a king's minister? That answer- he could read clearly. Incognito; the one word said much and implied more. At the moment, what dealings did two such sophisticated minds have with a solid, earthy merchant like Maxim Malaika?

While he had been dazedly forming questions without answer, a mind somewhere had been coming to a decision. The grid spoke again.

'Maxim of the House of Malaika extends greetings, albeit astonished, and wilt have converse immediately with the two honoursirs. He wishes the both of you ...' there was a pause while a hidden eye somewhere scanned, '... the three of you to come up. He is' now in the southwest porchroom and would greet you there soonest.'

The grid voice clicked off and immediately the rich grained doors slid back. Man and thranx, stepped unbidden into the dark-pile interior. Flinx debated a second whether to follow them or run like h.e.l.l, but Tse-Mallory decided for him.

'Don't stand there gawking, youth. Didn't you hear it say he wished to see thethree of us?' Flinx could nowhere detect malignance. He stepped in. The elevator held them all more than comfortably. He'd been in this house before, but if there was one thing he was certain of it was that he was not now being summoned to provide entertainment. And this was not the servants' entrance he'd used before. The soft fsssh of air as the doors closed sounded explosively loud m his ears.

They were met at the end of their ride by a tall skeleton of a man dressed in the black and crimson of the Malaika family colours. He said nothing as he conducted them to a room Flinx had not seen before.

The far end of the room looked open to the sky. Actually if was one of the great crystal proto-porches which made this section of Drallar resemble so well a bejewelled forest. He quivered momentarily as he stepped out on to what appeared to be slick nothingness. The two scientists seemed unaffected. He had been on one of these before, when performing, but it had been opaque. This one was perfectly transparent, with just a hint of rose colouring, all the way to the ground. He looked up and the vertigo pa.s.sed.

The furnis.h.i.+ngs were all in red and black, with here and there an occasional bright colour in some imported article or work of art. Incense hung cloyingly in the air. In the distance the sun of Moth had begun to set, diffused by the perpetual thin fog. It got dark early on Moth.

On one of the numerous big fluffy couches sat two figures. One he immediately recognized: Malaika. The other was smaller, blonde, and quite differently formed. The majority of her covering was formed by her waist-length hair.

The voice that rumbled out of the thick-muscled neck was like a dormant volcano stirring to life. 'Je?

Our visitors are here. You run along, Sissiph, dear, and make yourself more pretty,ndiyo ?'

He gave her a crus.h.i.+ng peck on the cheek and sent her from the room with a resounding swat on the most prominent portion of her anatomy. He's got a new one, thought Flinx. This one was blonde and a bit more ripely curved” than the last. Apparently the trader's tastes were expanding along with his belly. In truth, though, it showed only slightly as yet.

'Well! Well,' boomed Malaika. His teeth flashed whitley in the ebony face, sparkling amidst wisps of curly beard. He was up to them and shaking hands in two steps. 'Bran Tse-Mallory and the Eint Tnizenzuzux.Usitawi .Thee Truzenzuzex?'

The insect performed another of its slow, graceful bows. 'I plead guilty of necessity to the accusation.'

Flinx took the time to admire the insect's abilities. Due to the nature of their physiology the thranx were usually extremely stiff in their movements. To see one bow as did Truzenzuzex was exceptional.

When the Humanx Commonwealth was in the process of being formed, humans had marvelled at the scintillating blue and blue-green iridescence of the thranx body colouring and swooned at the natural perfume they exuded. They had wondered miserably what the thranx would see in their own dun-coloured, stinky soft selves. What the thranx had seen was a flexibility coupled with firmness which no thranx could ever hope to match. Soon travelling dance companies from humanoid planets had become among the most popular forms of live entertainment on the thranx colonies and bomeworlds.

But from the thorax up, at least, Truzenzuzex gave the impression of being made of rubber.

Malaika finished shaking hands with both and then gave Flinx another little surprise. The' merchant extended his head and touched nose to antenna with the insect. It was the nearest a human could come to the traditional-thranx greeting of interwining antennae. But then, he reminded himself, a man who did business with as many races as had Malaika would know every gesture as a matter of course... and commerce.

'Sit down, sit down” he roared in what be undoubtedly thought to be gentle tone of voice. 'What do you think of my littlemwenzangu there, eh? Companion,' he added, seeing the puzzlement on their faces. He jerked his head in the direction taken by the departed girl.

Tse-Mallory said nothing, the twinkle in his eyes being sufficient. Truzenzuzex went further, If I read current human values aright, I should venture to say that such a propagation of marmoreal flesh to the width of the pelvic region would be viewed as more than usually aesthetic.'

Malaika roared. 'Stars, youare a scientist, sir! Powers of observation, indeed! What can I give you both to drink?'

'Ginger ale for me, if you have a good year.'

'f.a.gh! I do, but 'pon my word, sir, you've mellowed if you're the same Tse-Mallory I've heard tell of, And you, sir?'

'Would you by any chance have some apricot brandy?'

'Oh ho! A gourmet, as well as a man of science! I believe we can accommodate you, good philosoph.

But it will necessitate a-trip to the cellars. I don't often receive such a discerning guest.' The shadow which had conducted them from the elevator still stood wraithlike at the back of the room. Maiaika waved to it. 'See to it, Wolf.' The sentinel bowed imperceptibly and shuffled from the room, taking something in the atmosphere with him. More sensitive to it than the others, Flinx was relieved when the man's presence had gone.

Now, for the first time, that hearty voice lost some of its bantering tone. 'Je? What brings you two here, to Drallar? And so very quietly, too.' He glanced keenly from one imperturbable' face to the other, stroking that rich a.s.syrian beard slowly. 'Much as' my ego would be flattered, I cannot believe that such a stealthy entrance to our fair city has been effected purely for the pleasure of making my company.' He leaned forward expectantly in a manner that suggested he could smell money at least as well as Mother Mastiff.

Malaika was not as tall as Tse-Mallory, but he was at least twice as broad and had the build of an over-age wrestler. Shockingly white teeth gleamed in the dusky face which bore the stamp of the kings of ancient Monomotapa and Zimbabwe. Ma.s.sive, hairy arms protruded from the sleeves of the one-piece semisilk dressing-gown he wore casually belted at the waist. Legs to match, as solid looking as a Mothian ironwood tree, thrust out from the pleated folds at the knees. The short, k.n.o.bbly toes on the splayed Feet bore a close resemblance to the woody parasites that often infested such growths. At least, they did on one foot. The other, Flinx knew, ended at the knee. Fuelled by credits, the prosthetic surgeons had laboured their best to make the left match its natural counterpart on the right. The match was not quite perfect.

The real one, Flinx had learned from a talkative young woman at one of Malaika's parties, had been lost in the man's youth. He had been on a fur-gathering expedition to the planet of a minor sun in Draco when his party had been attacked by an ice-lizard. Being rather stupidly caught away from their weapons, they had watched helplessly as the carnivore instinctively sought out the weakest member of their party, the youthful female accountant. Malaika alone bad intervened. Lacking a suitable weapon, he had choked the beast to death by the simple expedient of jamming his left leg down its throat. It was the sort of extreme stunt that one wouldn't expect of the pragmatic merchant. Unfortunately, by the time they could get him to sufficient hospital facilities the limb had been torn and frozen beyond repair.

'We neither intended nor expected to deceive you, friend Malaika. We happen in fact to be on the trail of something we have good reason to think you would find of value, yes. To us, however, it means much more than a paltry few hundred million credits.'

Flinx swallowed.

'But,' Tse-Mallory continued, 'our personal resources are limited, and so we are forced, however reluctantly, to seek an outside source of aid. One with an open credit slip and a closed mouth.'

'And so you've wound your way to me. Well, well, well! It seems I'm to be flattered after all. I wouldn't be truthful if I said I were not. None the less, you must of course prove that what you wish me to provide credit for is going to be profitable to me ... in hard credit, not philosophical intangibles ... your pardon, friends. Tell me more about this thing which is worth much more than a mere few millions of credit.'

'We a.s.sumed that would be your reaction. Any other, to tell the truth, would have made us suspicious. It is one of the reasons why we feel we can deal openly with your type of person.'

'How comforting to know that you regard me as so obviously predictable,' Malaika said dryly. 'Do go on.'

'We could have gone to a government organization. The best are all too often corrupt, despite Church p.r.o.nouncements. We could have gone to a large philanthropic organization. They are too p.r.o.ne to shock. In the end we decided it would be best to go where the promise of much credit would insure the exclusivity of our enterprise.'

'And supposing that I do agree to put upfedha for this venture, what guarantee have you that I will not kill you outright if it proves successful and return with the object of search and two cancelled cheques?'

'Very simple. First, odd as it may sound, we know you to be both reliable and reasonably honest in your business dealings. This has proved among the best of your wares in the past and should again, despite the bloodthirsty image your publicists enjoy presenting to the gullible public, Second, we don't know what we're looking for, but we will know it when we find it. And there is an excellent possibility that we will find nothing at all. Or worse, something will be found which will still remain worthless to us because of its incomprehensibility.'

'Good! Any other thoughts andI would have become suspicious! I become more and more curious.

Elucidate for the benefit of my poor, ignorant trader's mind. Why me,por favor ?'

Truzenzuzex ignored the pun and made the thranx equivalent of a shrug. 'Someone was necessary. As already mentioned, your reputation in a business noted for its back-stabbing made my s.h.i.+p-brother select you.' Another revelation, thought Flinx. ”And Moth itself is close to our objective . . . in a relative sense only, so it would do you little good and much expense to try to find it on your own. Also, another vessel departing Moth would mean nothing, with its constant flux of star travel. Our course would not be suspect from here, whereas elsewhere it might engender unwanted cogitation. Traders, however, often fly peculiar tangents to throw off compet.i.tors.'

At this point the drinks arrived. Conversation was suspended by mutual consent as the debaters sipped at their refreshments. Flinx sampled Tse-Mallory's mug of ginger ale and found it delicious, if mild.

Malaika drained at least half the contents of a huge tankard in one gulp. He rubbed his foamy lips with the sleeve of an immaculate gown, staining it irreparably. Knowing the fabric's worth in the marketplace, Flinx couldn't help but wince.

'I again apologize for my denseness, sirs, but I would have whatever it is the compet.i.tion is to be thrown off of spelled out to me.' He turned to face Tse-Mallory directly. 'And although you are apparently no longer a.s.sociated with the Church in an official capacity, sociologist, I confess I am curious to know why you did not approach them seeking aid.'

'My dealings with the United Church, Malaika, have not been over close for a number of years now. My parting was amicable enough, but there was a certain amount of unavoidable bitterness in certain quarters over my leaving that ... matters would be complicated, shall we say, should I reveal our knowledge to them at this time. Such would be necessary to secure their aid.'

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