Part 16 (1/2)
My stomach churned in sympathy. He was right. To look at him and remember- Man is not vile - most men - nor depraved, nor monstrous. But neither is he meant to violate another as we had done. Having Eet as a conductor between our minds was one thing; to be directly joined - never again!
”It was meant that we might understand. Words can be screens - we needed free minds,” I said. Were he to retreat now into a denial, an attempt to be as we were before, he would negate all Eet had done to save us. That I dared not allow.
”Yes. You - are - not as we thought.” He appeared to make that concession against his will. ”But - I have my orders-”
”We can bargain.” I repeated Eet's earlier suggestion. ”I have something to offer - a cache, untouched, of the stones. Did you read that also?” That was my one fear. That when my thoughts had been laid bare to him, he had uncovered all I needed, for the sake of the future, to hide.
”Not that.” He turned his head away. Looking at me bothered him. ”But the Guild-”
”Does not know of this one. Nor shall they find it.” I could not be sure of that, I could only hope. However, I thought I had a right to argue.
”What do you want in return?”
I made my first offer as I did because there is no reason why one should not begin at the highest point, as every trader knows. ”Freedom - to begin with. After that - well, I am a masterless man with Vondar Ustle gone - in a way he died for this. I want a s.h.i.+p-”
”s.h.i.+p?” Hory repeated the word as if it were new to him. ”You - a s.h.i.+p-?”
”Because I am no pilot?” I chose thus to interpret his surprise. ”True, but pilots can be hired. I want payment - our freedom and credits enough to buy a s.h.i.+p. In return - the position of the cache. It seems to me the price is low-”
”I am not authorized to make any such bargains-”
”No?” And then I repeated two words, drawing them out of the time when we had been one.
He turned his head laboriously to look at me again, his face very cold and set.
”True - you know that also. So-” He added nothing, but closed his eyes.
I felt a soft b.u.mp against my chin as Eet moved his head, almost as if he nodded approval. Eet had been suspicious of Hory. He had reported a s.h.i.+eld - had he suspected what might lie below that? Known that this was no simple scout but a Double Star Commander, sent on a special mission? Or had only suspicion been his before he hurled us mind to mind?
A Double Star, one of those whose word could be accepted at once in an agreement. If Hory did now so agree, we were safe.
”We get all the stones,” he said. ”That ring also.”
My fingers had found the ring on Eet's limb; now they closed about it tightly. Not that! But Eet's head once more b.u.mped my chin. He dared not use mind reach intelligible to Hory, but he was trying in this way to communicate. Without the ring - I could not- I saw Hory's eyes glitter in rising triumph, and knew that he believed he had found my weak point and would thus regain control of the situation and us. In that moment I had the strength for our last battle of wills.
”The ring also - after an agreement is taped.”
Hory hitched himself up, reached to the control board. He used his forefinger to release a print seal, bring out a treaty com. There was no mistaking its white and gold casing. And its very presence here told me of his importance among his command.
Now he held it to his lips. But he wet those with the tip of his tongue and hesitated a long moment before he began to dictate: ”In the name of the Council, the Four Confederacies, the Twelve Systems, the Inner and Outer Planets,” he recited formally, as he must have done many times before, it came so easily to him, ”this agreement shall hold by planet law and star law.” He added figures which held no meaning for me but must have been an identification code. Once more he switched to words: ”Murdoc Jern, status, a.s.sistant, gem buyer, late apprentice to Vondar Ustle, deceased, is hereby declared free of all charges made against him-”
”Erroneously,” I prompted as he paused for breath.
”Erroneously,” he agreed, not looking at me, but at the com in his hand. ”In addition, free of all charges is one Eet, an alien mutant, now in a.s.sociation with Jern.”
So now it was officially recognized that Eet was no animal but an intelligent ent.i.ty coming under the protection of laws made for the defense of such.
”In return, Murdoc Jern agrees to release to the custody of the Patrol certain information, cla.s.sified” - once more he rattled off a series of code numbers - ”which is his. Accepted, sealed, coded by-” and he unemotionally gave that name which was not Hory, and certainly not on a roster of scouts.
”You have forgotten,” I broke in sharply. ”The bargain is also for compensation-”
For a moment I thought he would refuse even now. His eyes caught mine and I read in them a cold enmity which I knew would exist on his side for all time. He had been humbled here as he thought I had not, or rather he felt a humbling, though I had not in any way triumphed over him. For our embroilment had been mutual and if he felt invaded, was I any the less violated? Now I added: ”Was it any worse for you than for me?”
”Yes!” He made of that an oath. ”I am who I am.”
I supposed he meant his Double Star, his training, the fact that in the service he was above and beyond some regulations. But if he was a man who had climbed to that post, and the Patrol was as incorruptible as it claimed to be, then also he must be a man of some breadth of mind. I hoped that was true.
Yes, he had said, but now his eyes changed. There was still hatred for me in them, but perhaps he was a bigger man than he had been only moments earlier.
”No - perhaps it was not-” He was just.
”And there was to be compensation.” I pressed my point. ”After all whether you accept it or not, we have been battle comrades-”
”To save yourselves!” was his quick retort.
”No more than yourself.”
”Very well.” Once more he raised the treaty com. ”Murdoc Jern is to receive compensation in connection with his information, this to be set by a star court, not to fall below ten thousand credits, nor rise above fifteen.”
Ten thousand credits - enough for a small s.h.i.+p of the older type. Again Eet's head moved. My comrade found that acceptable.
”Agreed to by Murdoc Jern.” He held out the com and I bent my head to speak into it.
”I, Murdoc Jern, accept and agree-”
”The alien, Eet- ” For the first time during this ceremony Hory was at a loss. How could a creature without vocal communication agree on an oral recording?
Eet moved. He swung his head toward the tom and from his lips issued a weird sound, part the mew of a cat, yet holding some of the Basic ”yes.”
”So be it recorded.” Hory's tone had the solemnity of a thumb seal pressed by some planet ruler before his court.