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Is it? Falkayn thought. Why didn’t you tell me at the beginning, then, instead of letting me grow suspicious? I believe I know why. You’re so isolated from the human mainstream, so untrained in the nuances of how people think and act, that you doubted your own ability to convince me this takeoff is harmless as far as I’m concerned . . . when it probably isn’t!

  Again Kim went so far as to smile. “But pardon me, Captain Falkayn. We have no desire to intrude upon your religious practices. Please remain, undisturbed, as long as you wish. When you desire company, you may employ the intercom yonder, and one of as will come guide you to the other room.” He bowed. “May you have a pleasant spiritual experience.”

  Touché! Falkayn thought, staring after the man’s back. Since the damage has been done, he turns my yarn right around on me—his aim being to keep me here for some time—but what’s the purpose of it all?

  He lit his pipe and made volcano clouds, strode to and fro, looked blindly out the viewport, flung himself into chairs and bounced up again. Was he nursing an empty, automatic distrust of the merely alien, or did he feel a real wrongness in his bones?

  The idea was not new with him, that information given the computers at Serendipity did not remain there. The partners had never let those circuits be traced by an independent investigator. They could easily have installed means for playing back an item or listening in on a conversation. They could instruct a machine to slant its advice as they desired. And—cosmos—once faith in them had developed, once the masters of the League started making full use of their service, what a spy they had! What a saboteur!

  Nevertheless the fact stood: not one of those wary, wily enterprisers had ever found the least grounds for believing that Serendipity was in unfair collaboration with any of his rivals, or attempting to sneak in on anyone’s operations, not even to the extent of basing investments on advance knowledge.

  Could be they’ve decided to change their policy. That planet of mine could tempt the most virtuous into claimjumping . . . But sunder it, that doesn’t feel right either. Six personalities as rigid as these don’t switch from information broker to pirate on an hour’s notice. They don’t!

  Falkayn checked his watch. Thirty minutes had passed, sufficient time for his pretense. (Which probably wasn’t believed anyway.) He strode to the intercom, found it set for station Number Fourteen, flipped the switch and said: “I’m done now.”

  Scarcely had he turned when Thea Beldaniel was in the doorway. “That was quick!” he exclaimed.

  “I happened to be near. The message was relayed to me.”

  Or were you waiting this whole while?

  She approached, halting when they both reached the viewport. Her walk was more graceful, in a high-necked long-sleeved gown, and her smile more convincingly warm, than before. A gawkiness remained, and she poised stiffly after she had entered his arm’s length. But he felt himself attracted for some odd reason. Maybe she was a challenge, or maybe she was just a well-formed animal.

  He knocked out his pipe. “I hope I didn’t give offense,” he said.

  “Not in the least. I quite sympathize. The outlook inspires you, does it not?” She gestured at a control panel. Lights dimmed; the eldritch moonscape stood forth before their vision.

  No pressure on me now, Falkayn thought cynically. Contrariwise. The longer / dawdle before reporting to Old Nick, the happier they’ll be. Well, no objections from my side for the nonce. This has suddenly gotten interesting. I have a lot of discreet curiosity to satisfy.

  “Glory out there,” she whispered.

  He regarded her. Earthlight lifted her profile from shadow and poured softly downward. Stars glimmered in her eyes. She looked into their wintry myriads with a kind of hunger.

  He blurted, caught by an abrupt compassion that surprised him: “You feel at home in space, don’t you?”

  “I can’t be sure.” Still she gazed skyward. “Not here, I confess. Never here. You must forgive us if we are poor company. It comes from shyness, ignorance . . . fear, I suppose. We live alone and work with data—abstract symbols—because we are fit to do nothing else.”

  Falkayn didn’t know why she should reveal herself to him. But wine had been served at dinner. The etiquette book could have told them this was expected, and the drink could have gone to her inexperienced head.

  “I’d say you’ve done fine, beginning as complete strangers,” he told her. “You did, am I right? Strangers to your whole species?”

  “Yes.” She sighed. “You may as well know. We declined to state our background originally because, oh, we couldn’t foresee what the reaction might be. Later, when we were more familiar with this culture, we had no reason to tell; people had stopped asking, and we were set in our asocial ways. Besides, we didn’t want personal publicity. Nor do we now.” She glanced at him. In this blue elflight, the crisp middle-aged businesswoman had become a young girl again, who asked for his mercy. “You won’t speak . . . to the news . . . will you?”

  “On my honor,” he said, and meant it.

  “The story is simple, really,” said her muted voice. “A ship, bound from one of the colonized planets in search of her own world. I understand those aboard left because of a political dispute; and yet I don’t understand. The whole thing seems utterly meaningless. Why should rational beings quarrel about—No matter. Families sold everything they had, pooled the money, bought and outfitted a large ship with the most complete and modern robotic gear available. And they departed.”

  “Into the complete unknown?” Falkayn asked, incredulous. “Not one preliminary scouting expedition?”

  “The planets are many where men can live. They were sure they would find one. They wanted to leave no hint to their enemies where it was.”

  “But . . . I mean, they must have known how tricky a new world can be . . . tricks of biochemistry, disease, weather, a million unpredictable tricks and half of them lethal if you aren’t on your guard all—”

  “I said this was a large, fully stocked, fully equipped vessel,” she retorted. The sharpness left her as she went on: “They were prepared to wait in orbit while tests proceeded. That was well for us. You see, en route the radiation screens broke down in a bad sector. Apart from the nursery, where we infants were, which had an auxiliary generator, every part of the ship got a fatal dose. The people might have been saved in a hospital, but they could never reach one in time, especially since the autopilot systems were damaged, too. Supportive treatment kept them functional barely long enough to fix the screens and program some robots. Then they died. The machines cared for us children, raised us, in a loveless mechanical fashion. They educated those who survived—willy-nilly, a hodgepodge of mainly technical information crammed into our brains. We didn’t mind that too much, however. The ship was such a barren environment that any distractions were welcome. We had nothing else except each other.

  “Our ages ranged from twelve to seventeen when we were found. The vessel had kept going under low hyperdrive, in the hope she would finally pass within detection range of somebody. The somebodies proved to be nonhuman. But they were kindly, did what they were able for us. They were too late, of course, for the shaping of normal personalities. We stayed with our rescuers, on their planet, for several years.

  “Never mind where,” she added quickly. “They know about the League—there have been occasional brief encounters—but their leaders don’t want an ancient civilization corrupted by exposure to your cannibal capitalism. They mind their own lives and avoid drawing attention to themselves.

  “But the physical environment was not good for us. Besides, the feeling grew that we should attempt to rejoin our race. What they learned from our ship had advanced our hosts technologically in several fields. As a fair exchange—they have an unbendable moral code—they helped us get a start, first with a valuable cargo of metal and later with the computer units we decided we could use. Also, they are glad to have friends who are influential in the League; sooner or later, increased contact is unavoidable.
And that,” Thea Beldaniel finished, “is the story behind Serendipity, Inc.”

  Her smile went no deeper than her teeth. Her voice held a tinge of the fanaticism he had met in her office.

  Only a tinge? But what she’d been relating here was not operational procedure; it was her life!

  Or was it? Parts of the account rang false to him. At a minimum, he’d want more details before he agreed it could be the absolute truth. No doubt some fact was interwoven. But how much, and how significant to his purposes?

  “Unique,” was all he could think to say.

  “I don’t ask for pity,” she said with a firmness he admired. “Obviously, our existence could have been far worse. I wondered, though, if . . . perhaps”—voice and eyes dropped, fluttered in confusion—“you, who’ve seen so much, done so much beyond these bounds . . . if you might understand.”

  “I’d like to try,” Falkayn said gently.

  “Would you? Can you? I mean . . . suppose you stayed a while . . . and we could talk like this, and do, oh, the little things—the big things—whatever is human—you might be able to teach me how to be human—”

  “Is that what you wanted me for? I’m afraid I—”

  “No. No. I realize you . . . you must put your work first. I think—taking what we know, we partners . . . exchange ideas with you—we might develop something really attractive. No harm in exploring each other’s notions for a while, is there? What can you lose? And at the same time—you and I—” She half turned. One hand touched his.

  For an instant, Falkayn almost said yes. Among the greatest temptations that beset mankind is Pygmalion’s. Potentially, she was quite a woman. The rogue could wait.

  The rogue! Awareness crashed into him. They do want to keep me here. It’s their whole purpose. They have no definite proposals to make, only vague things they hope will delay me. I must not let them.

  Thea Beldaniel flinched back. “What’s wrong?” she cried low. “Are you angry?”

  “Eh?” Falkayn gathered his will, laughed and relaxed, picked his pipe off the viewport embrasure and got forth his tobacco pouch. The briar hadn’t cooled, but he needed something to do. “No. Certainly not, Freelady. Unless I’m angry at circumstance. You see, I’d like to stay, but I have no choice. I have got to go back tomorrow mornwatch, kicking and screaming maybe, but back.”

  “You said you could spend several days.”

  “As I told Freeman Kim, that was before I learned old van Rijn’s gnawing his whiskers.”

  “Have you considered taking a position elsewhere? Serendipity can make you a good offer.”

  “He has my contract and my fealty,” Falkayn rapped. “I’m sorry. I’ll be glad to confer with you people this whole nightwatch, if you desire. But then I’m off.” He shrugged, though his skin prickled. “And what’s your rush? I can return at another date, when I do have leisure.”

  Her look was desolate. “You cannot be persuaded?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Well . . . follow me to the meeting room, please.” She thumbed the intercom and spoke a few words he did not recognize. They went down a high, stone-flagged corridor. Her feet dragged, her head drooped.

  Kim met them halfway. He stepped from an intersecting hall with a stun pistol in his grip. “Raise your hands, Captain,” he said unemotionally. “You are not leaving soon.”

  VI

  After touching at Djakarta, Delfinburg proceeded by way of Makassar Strait and the Celebes into Pacific waters. At that point, an aircar deposited Nicholas van Rijn. He did not own the town; to be precise, his rights in it consisted of one house, one dock for a largish ketch, and seventy-three percent of the industry. But mayor and skipper agreed with his suggestion that they change course and pass nearer the Marianas than was usual on their circuit.

  “Be good for the poor toilers, visiting those nice islands, nie?” he beamed, rubbing hairy hands together. “Could be they might also like a little holiday and come cheer their old honorific uncle when he enters the Micronesia Cup regatta on twenty-fourth of this month. That is, I will if we chance to be by the right place no later than twenty-second noon, and need to lay over a few days. I don’t want to be you any bother.”

  The skipper made a quick calculation. “Yes, sir,” he reported, “it so happens we’ll arrive on the twenty-first.” He signaled for an additional three knots. “And you know, you’re right, it would be a good idea to stop a while and clean out the catalyst tanks or something.”

  “Good, good! You make a poor old lonely man very happy, how much he is in need of rest and recreation and maybe right now a gin-and-tonic to settle his stomach. A lot of settlement to make, hey?” Van Rijn slapped his paunch.

  He spent the next week drilling his crew to a degree that would have appalled Captain Bligh. The men didn’t really mind—sails dazzling against living, limitless, foam-laced blue across which the sun flung diamond dust; surge, pitch, thrum, hiss at the bows and salt on the lips, while the wind filled lungs with purity—except that he acted hurt when they declined to carouse with him every night. At length he gave them a rest. He wanted them tuned to an exact pitch for the race, not overstrained. Besides, a business operating across two hundred light-years had inevitably accumulated problems requiring his personal attention. He groaned, cursed, and belched most piteously, but the work did not go away.

  “Bah! Pox and pestilence! Work! Four-letter Angular-Saxon word! Why must I, who should be having my otium, should at my age be serene and spewing wisdom on younger generations, why must I use up grindstones against my nose? Have I not got a single deputy whose brain is not all thumbs?”

  “You could sell out, for more money than you can spend in ten lifetimes,” answered his chief secretary, who was of a warrior caste in a tigerish species and thus required to be without fear. “Or you would finish your tasks in half the time if you stopped whining.”

  “I let my company, that I built from scratches and got maybe millions of what claim to be thinking beings hanging off it, I let that go crunch? Or I sit meek like my mouth won’t smelt butter, and not say pip about vacuum-conscience competitors, subordinates with reverse peristalsis, guilds, brotherhoods, unions, leeches, and—” Van Rijn gathered his breath before shouting the ultimate obscenity—“bureaucrats? No, no, old and tired and feeble and lonesome I am, but I wield my sword to the last bullet. We get busy, ha?”

  An office had been established for him in an upper-level solarium of his mansion. Beyond the ranked phones, computers, recorders, data retrievers, and other portable business equipment, the view was broad, from one many-tiered unit to the next, of that flotilla which comprised Delfinburg. There was not much overt sign of production. You might notice turbulence around the valves of a minerals-extraction plant, or the shadow traces of submarines herding fish, or the appetizing scents from a factory that turned seaweeds into condiments. But most of the work was interior, camouflaged by hanging gardens, shops, parks, schools, recreation centers. Few sportboats were out; the ocean was choppy today, although you could not have told that blindfolded on these stabilized superbarges.

  Van Rijn settled his huge body into a lounger. He was clad only in a sarong and a lei; why not be comfortable while he suffered? “Commence!” he bawled. The machines chattered, regurgitating facts, calculations, assessments, summaries, and proposals. The principal phone screen flickered with the first call, from a haggard man who had newly escaped a war ten parsecs distant. Meanwhile a set of loudspeakers emitted Mozart’s Eighth Symphony; a scarcely clothed young woman fetched beer; another lit the master’s Trichinopoly cigar; a third set forth a trayful of fresh Danish sandwiches in case he got hungry. She came incautiously near, and he swept her to him with one gorilla arm. She giggled and ran her fingers through the greasy black ringlets that fell to his shoulders.

  “What you making fumblydiddles about?” van Rijn barked at the image. “Some piglet of a king burns our plantations, we give troops to his enemies what beat him and make terms allowing u
s poor sat-upon exploited meeters of inflated payrolls enough tiny profit we can live. Nie?” The man objected. Van Rijn’s beady eyes popped. He tugged his goatee. His waxed moustaches quivered like horns. “What you mean, no local troops can face his? What you been doing these years, selling them maybe jackstraws for deadly weapons? Hokay, hokay, I authorize you should bring in a division outplanet mercenaries. Try Diomedes. Grand Admiral Delp hyr Orikan, in Drak’ho Fleet, will remember me and maybe spare a few restless young chaps what like adventure and booties. In six months, I hear everything is loverly-doverly, or you go find yourself a job scrubbing somebody else’s latrines. Tot weerziens!” He waved his hand and an assistant secretary switched to the next caller. Meanwhile he buried his great hook nose in his tankard, came up snorting and blowing foam, and held out the vessel for another liter.

  A nonhuman head appeared in the screen. Van Rijn replied by the same eerie set of whistles and quavers. Afterward, his sloping forehead corrugated with thought, he rumbled, “I hate like taxes admitting it, but that factor is almost competent, him. He settles his present trouble, I think we can knock him up to sector chief, ha?”

  “I couldn’t follow the discussion,” said his chief secretary. “How many languages do you speak, sir?”

  “Twenty-thirty bad. Ten-fifteen good. Anglic best of all.” Van Rijn dismissed the girl who had been playing with his hair; though friendly meant, his slap to the obvious target as she started off produced a bombshell crack and a wail. “Hu, hu, little chickpea, I am sorry. You go buy that shimmerlyn gown you been wheedling at me about, and maybe tonight we trot out and show you off—you show plenty, shameless way such things is cut, oh, what those bandits charge for a few square centimeters of cloth!” She squealed and scampered away before he changed his mind. He glowered at the other members of his current harem. “Don’t you waggle at me, too. You wait your turns to bleed a poor foolish old man out of what he’s got left between him and beggary.