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  The oldest of the group, one Jag Jaganig, an expert in the overhaul and installation of control systems, said, "So far we can't say yes or no. None of us would refuse to drag home a sack of sequins, but neither would we care to challenge impossibility for a chancy bice."

  "You want more information?" Reith looked from face to face. "This is natural enough. But I don't want to take the merely curious into my confidence. If any of you are definitely not disposed for a dangerous but by no means desperate venture, please identify yourself now."

  There was a slight stir of uneasiness, but no one spoke out.

  Reith waited a moment. "Very well; you must bind yourselves to secrecy."

  The group bound themselves by awful Lokhar oaths. Zarfo, plucking a hair from each head, twisted a fiber which he set alight. Each inhaled the smoke. "So we are bound, one to all; if one proves false, the others as one will strike him down."

  Reith, impressed by the ritual, had no more qualms about speaking to the point.

  "I know the exact location of a source of wealth, at a place not on the planet Tschai. We need a spaceship and a crew to operate it. I propose to commandeer a spaceship from the Ao Hidis field; you men shall be the crew. To demonstrate my sanity and good faith, I will pay to each man on the day of departure five thousand sequins. If we try but fail, each man receives another five thousand sequins."

  "Each surviving man," grumbled Jag Jaganig.

  Reith went on: "If we succeed, ten thousand sequins will seem like ten bice.

  Essentially, this is the scope of the venture."

  The Lokhars shuffled dubiously in their chairs. Jag Jaganig spoke. "We obviously have the basis for an adequate crew here, at least for a Zeno, or a Kud, or even one of the small Kadants. But it is no small matter to so affront the Wankh."

  "Or worse, the Wankhmen," muttered Zorofim.

  "As I recall," mused Thadzei, "no great vigilance prevailed. The scheme, while startling, seems feasible-provided that the ship we board is in operative condition."

  "Aha!" exclaimed Belje. "That' provided that' is the key to the entire exploit!"

  Zarfo jeered: "Naturally there is risk. Do you expect money for nothing?"

  "I can hope."

  Jag Jaganig inquired: "Assume that the ship is ours. Is further risk entailed?"

  "None."

  "Who will navigate?"

  "I will."

  "In what form is this 'wealth'?" demanded Zorofim. "Gems? Sequins? Precious metal? Antiques? Essences?"

  "I don't care to go any further into detail, except to guarantee that you will not be disappointed."

  The discussion proceeded, with every aspect of the venture subjected to attack and analysis. Alternative proposals were considered, argued, rejected. No one seemed to regard the risk as overwhelming, nor did anyone doubt the group's ability to handle the ship. But none evinced enthusiasm. Jag Jaganig put the situation into focus. "We are puzzled," he told Reith. "We do not understand your purposes. We are skeptical of boundless treasures."

  Zarfo said, "Here I must speak. Adam Reith has his faults which I won't deny. He is stubborn and unwieldy; he is crafty as a zut; he is ruthless when opposed.

  But he is a man of his word. If he declares a treasure to exist for our taking, that aspect of the matter is closed."

  After a moment Belje muttered: "Desperate, desperate! Who wants to learn the truth of the black boxes?"

  "Desperate, no," countered Thadzei. "Risky, yes, and may demons runoff with the black boxes!"

  "I'll take the chance," said Zorofim.

  "I as well," said jag Jaganig. "Who lives forever?"

  Belje finally capitulated and declared himself committed. "When shall we leave?"

  "As soon as possible," said Reith. "The longer I wait, the more nervous I get."

  "And more the chance of someone else running off with our treasure, hey?" exclaimed Zarfo. "That would be a sad case!"

  "Give us three days to arrange our affairs," said Jag Jaganig.

  "And what of the five thousand sequins?" demanded Thadzei. "Why not distribute the money now, so that we may have the use of it?"

  Reith hesitated no longer than a tenth of a second. "Since you must trust me, I must trust you." He paid to each of the marveling Lokhars fifty purple sequins, worth a hundred white sequins each.

  "Excellent!" declared jag Jaganig. "Remember all! Utter discretion! Spies are everywhere. In particular I distrust that peculiar stranger at the inn who dresses like a Yao."

  "What?" cried Reith. "A young man, black-haired, very elegant.

  "The person precisely. He stares out over the dancing field with never a word to say."

  Reith, Zarfo, Anacho and Traz went to the inn. In the dim taproom sat Helsse, long legs in tight black twill breeches stretched under the heavy table.

  Brooding, he looked straight ahead and out the doorway to where black-skinned white-haired boys and white-skinned blackhaired girls skipped and caracoled in the tawny sunlight.

  Reith said: "Helsse!"

  Helsse never shifted his gaze.

  Reith came closer. "Helsse!"

  Helsse slowly turned his head; Reith looked into eyes like lenses of black glass.

  "Speak to me," urged Reith. "Helsse! Speak!"

  Helsse opened his mouth, uttered a mournful croak. Reith drew back. Helsse watched him incuriously, then returned to his inspection of the dancing field and the dim hills beyond.

  Reith joined his comrades to the side where Zarfo poured him a pot of ale. "What of the Yao? Is he mad?"

  "I don't know. He might be feigning. Or under hypnotic control. Or drugged."

  Zarfo took a long draft from his pot, wiped the foam from his nose. "The Yao might think it a favor were we to cure him."

  "No doubt," said Reith, "but how?"

  "Why not call in a Dugbo practitioner?"

  "What might that be?"

  Zarfo jerked his thumb to the east. "The Dugbo have a camp back of town: shiftless folk in rags and tatters, given to thieving and vice, and musicians to boot. They worship demons, and their practitioners perform miracles."

  "So you think the Dugbo can cure Helsse?"

  Zarfo drained his pot. "If he is feigning, I assure you he won't feign long."

  Reith shrugged. "We have no better occupation for a day or two.

  "Exactly my way of thinking," said Zarfo.

  The Dugbo practitioner was a spindly little man dressed in brown rags and boots of uncured leather. His eyes were a luminous hazel, his russet hair was confined in three greasy knobs. On his cheek pale cicatrices worked and jumped as he spoke. He did not appear to consider Reith's requirements surprising and with clinical curiosity studied Helsse, who sat sardonically indifferent in one of the wicker chairs.

  The practitioner approached Helsse, looked into his eyes, inspected his ears, and nodded as if a suspicion had been verified. He signaled the fat youth who assisted him, then ducking behind Helsse touched him here and there while the youth held a bottle of black essence under Helsse's nose. Helsse presently became passive and relaxed into the chair. The practitioner set heaps of incense alight and fanned the fumes into Helsse's face. Then, while the youth played a nose flute the practitioner sang: secret words, close to Helsse's ears. He put a wad of clay into Helsse's hand; Helsse furiously began to mold the clay and presently set up a mutter.

  The practitioner signaled to Reith. "A simple case of possession. Notice: the evil flows from the fingers into the clay. Talk to him if you like. Be gentle but command, and he will answer you." "Helsse," said Reith, "describe your association with Adam Reith."

  In a clear voice Helsse spoke. "Adam Reith came to Settra. There had been rumor and speculation, but when he arrived, all was different. By strange chance he came to Blue Jade, my personal vantage, and there I saw him first. Dordolio came after and in his rage maligned Reith as one of the 'cult': a man who fancied himself from the far world Home. I spoke with Adam Reith but learned only confusion. To clarify by acquiescence, t
hird of the Ten Techniques, I took him to the headquarters of the 'cult' and received contradictions. A courier new to Settra followed us. I could not dramatically divert, sixth of the Techniques.

  Adam Reith killed the courier and took a message of unknown importance; he would not allow me inspection; I could not comfortably insist. I referred him to a Lokhar, again 'clarifying by acquiescence': as it eventuated, the wrong technique. The Lokhar read far into the message. I ordered Reith assassinated.

  The attempt was bungled. Reith and his band fled south. I received instructions to accompany him and penetrate his motivations. We journeyed east to the Jinga River and downstream by boat. On an island-" Helsse gave a gasping cry and sank back, rigid and trembling.

  The practitioner waved smoke into Helsse's face and pinched his nose. "Return to the 'calm' state, and henceforth, when your nose is pinched, return; this shall be an absolute injunction. Now then, answer such questions as are put to you."

  Reith asked, "Why do you spy on Adam Reith?"

  "I am obligated to do so; furthermore I enjoy such work."

  "Why are you obligated?"

  "All Wankhmen must serve Destiny."

  "Oho. You are a Wankhman?"

  "Yes."

  And Reith wondered how he could ever have thought otherwise. Tsutso and the Hoch Hars had not been deceived: "Had you been Yao, all would not have gone so well," so had said Tsutso.

  Reith glanced ruefully at his comrades, then turned back to Helsse. "Why do the Wankhmen keep spies in Cath?"

  "They watch the turn of the 'round'; they guard against a renascence of the

  'cult.' "

  "Why?"

  "It is a matter of stasis. Conditions now are optimum. Any change can only be for the worse."

  "You accompanied Adam Reith from Settra to an island in the swamps. What happened there?"

  Helsse once more croaked and became catatonic. The practitioner tweaked his nose.

  Reith asked, "How did you travel to Kabasas?"

  Again Helsse became inert. Reith tweaked his nose. "Tell us why you cannot answer the questions?"

  Helsse said nothing. He appeared to be conscious. The practitioner fanned smoke in his face; Reith tweaked his nose and, doing so, saw that Helsse's eyes looked in separate directions. The practitioner rose to his feet, and began to put away his equipment. "That's all. He's dead."

  Reith stared from the practitioner to Helsse and back. "Because of the questioning?"

  "The smoke permeates the head. Sometimes the subjects live: often, in fact. This one died swiftly; your questions ruptured his sensorium."

  The following evening was clear and windy with puffs of dust racing over the vacant dancing field. Through the dusk men in gray cloaks came to the rented cottage. Within, lamps were low and windows shrouded; conversations were conducted in quiet voices. Zarfo spread an old map out on the table, and pointed with a thick black finger. "We can travel to the coast and down, but this is all Niss country. We can fare east around the Sharf to Lake Falas: a long route. Or we can move south, through the Lost Counties, over the Infnets and down to Ao Hidis: the direct and logical route."

  Reith asked, "Sky-rafts aren't available?"

  Belje, the least enthusiastic of the adventurers, shook his head. "Conditions are no longer as they were when I was a youth. Then you might have selected among half a dozen. Now there are none. Sequins and sky-rafts are both hard to come by. So now, in pursuit of the one, we lack the use of the other."

  "How will we travel?"

  "To Blalag we ride by power wagon, where perhaps we can hire some sort of conveyance as far as the Infnets. Thereafter, we must go afoot; the old roads south have been destroyed and forgotten."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  FROM SMARGASH TO the old Lokhar capital, Blalag, was a three-day journey across a windy wasteland. At Blalag the adventurers took shelter at a dingy inn, where they were able to arrange transportation by motorcart to the mountain-settlement Derduk, far into the Infnets. The journey occupied the better part of two days under uncomfortable conditions. At Derduk the only accommodation was a ramshackle cabin which provoked grumbling among the Lokhars. But the owner, a garrulous old man, stewed a great cauldron of game and wild berries, and the peevishness subsided.

  At Derduk the road south became a disused track. At dawn the now somewhat cheerless group of adventurers set forth on foot. All day they traveled through a land of rock pinnacles, fields of rubble and scree. At sundown with a chill wind sighing through the rocks they came upon a small black tam where they passed the night. The next day brought them to the brink of a vast chasm and another day was spent finding a route to the bottom. On the sandy floor beside the river Desidea, on its way east to Lake Falas, the group camped, to be disturbed for much of the night by uncanny hoots and near-human yells, echoing and reechoing through the rocks.

  In the morning, rather than attempt the south face of the precipice, they followed the Desidea and presently found a cleft which brought them out upon a high savannah rolling off into the murk.

  Two days the adventurers marched south, reaching the extreme ramparts of the Infnets by twilight of the second day, with a tremendous vista across the lands to the south. When night came a sparkle of far lights appeared. "Ao Hidis!" cried the Lokhars in mingled relief and apprehension.

  Over the minuscule campfire that night there was much talk of Wankh and Wankhmen. The Lokhars were unanimous in their detestation of the Wankhmen: "Even the Dirdirmen, for all their erudition and preening, are never so jealous of their prerogatives," declared jag Jaganig.

  Anacho gave an airy laugh. "From the Dirdirman point of view Wankhmen are scarcely superior to any of the other subraces."

  "Give the rascals credit," said Zarfo, "they understand the Wankh chimes. I myself am resourceful and perceptive; still, in twenty-five years, I learned only pidgin chords for 'yes,' 'no; 'stop,' 'go; 'right; 'wrong,' 'good,' 'bad.'

  I must admit to their achievement."

  "Bah," muttered Zorofim. "They are born to it; they hear chimes from the first instant of their lives; it is no great achievement."

  "One that they make the most of, however," said Belje with something like envy in his voice. "Think; they work at nothing, they have no responsibilities, but to stand between the Wankh and the world of Tschai, and they live in refinement and ease."

  Reith spoke in a puzzled voice. "A man like Helsse now: he was a Wankhman who lived as a spy. What did he hope to achieve? What Wankh interests did he safeguard in Cath?"

  "Wankh interests-none. But remember, the Wankhmen are opposed to change, since any alteration of circumstances can only be to their disadvantage. When a Lokhar begins to understand chimes he is sent away. In Cath-who knows what they fear?"

  And Zarfo warmed his hands at the campfire.

  The night passed slowly. At dawn Reith looked toward Ao Hidis through his scanscope, but could see little for the mist.

  Surly with tension and lack of sleep the group once more set off to the south, keeping to such cover as offered itself.

  The city slowly became distinct; Reith located the dock where the Vargaz had discharged-how long ago it seemed! He traced the road which led through the market and north past the spacefield. From the heights the city seemed placid, lifeless; the black towers of the Wankhmen brooded over the water. On the spacefield, plain to be seen, were five spaceships.

  By noon the party reached the ridge above the city. With great care Reith studied the spacefield, now directly below, through his scanscope. To the left were the repair shops, and nearby a bulk-cargo vessel in a state of obvious disrepair, with scaffolds raised beside exposed machinery. Another ship, this the closest, at the back of the field, seemed to be an abandoned hulk. The condition of the other three vessels was not obvious, but the Lokhars declared them all operable. "It is a matter of routine," said Zorofim. "When a ship is down for overhaul, it is moved close to the shops. The ships in transit dock yonder, in the 'Load Zone."'

  "It would
seem then that three ships are potentially suitable for our purposes?"

  The Lokhars would not go quite so far.

  "Sometimes minor repairs are done in the 'Load Zone,"' said Belje.

  "Notice," said Thadzei, "the repair cart by the access ramp. It carries components, cases, and they must come from one of the three ships in the 'Load Zone.' "

  These were two small cargo ships and a passenger vessel. The Lokhars favored the cargo ships, with which they felt familiar. In regard to the passenger vessel, which Reith considered the most suitable, the Lokhars were in disagreement, Zorofim and Thadzei declaring it to be a standard ship in a specialized hull; Jag Jaganig and Belje equally certain that this was either a new design or an elaborate modification, in either case certain to present difficulties.

  All day the group studied the spacefield, watching the activity of the workshop and the traffic along the road. During the middle afternoon a black air-car drifted down to land beside the passenger vessel, which now obscured the view, but it appeared that there was a transfer between ship and air-car. Somewhat later Lokhar mechanics brought a case of energy tubes to the ship, which according to Zarfo was a sure signal that the ship was preparing for departure.

  The sun sank toward the ocean. The men fell silent, studying the ships which, hardly more than a quarter-mile distant, seemed tantalizingly accessible. Still the question lingered: Which of the three ships in the "Load Zone" offered the maximum opportunity for a successful departure? The consensus favored one of the cargo ships, only Jag Jaganig preferring the passenger ship.

  Reith's nerves began to crawl. The next few hours would shape his future, and far too many variables lay beyond his control. Strange that the ships should be guarded so lightly! On the other hand who was apt to attempt the theft of a spaceship? Probably not in the last thousand years had such an act occurred, if ever.