29
Mantelish's garden in the highland south of Ceyce had a certain renownall over the Hub. It had been donated to the professor twenty-five yearsago by the populace of another Federation world. That populace hadnegligently permitted a hideous pestilence of some kind to be imported,and had been saved in the nick of time by the appropriatepestilence-killer, hastily developed and forwarded to it by Mantelish.In return, a lifetime ambition had been fulfilled for him--his ownprivate botanical garden plus an unlimited fund for stocking and upkeep.
To one side of the big garden house, where Mantelish stayed whenever hefound the time to go puttering around among his specimens, stood a giantsequoia, generally reputed to be the oldest living thing in the Huboutside of the Life Banks. It was certainly extremely old, even for asequoia. For the last decade there had been considerable talk about theadvisability of removing it before it collapsed and crushed the houseand everyone in it. But it was one of the professor's great favorites,and so far he had vetoed the suggestion.
Elbows propped on the broad white balustrade of the porch before herthird-story bedroom, Trigger was studying the sequoia's crown with apair of field glasses when Pilch arrived. She laid the glasses down andinvited her guest to pull up a chair and help her admire the view.
They admired the view for a little in silence. "It certainly is abeautiful place!" Pilch said then. She glanced down at ProfessorMantelish, a couple of hundred yards from the house, dressed in a pairof tanned shorts and busily grubbing away with a spade around some newsort of shrub he'd just planted, and smiled. "I took the firstopportunity I've had to come see you," she said.
Trigger looked at her and laughed. "I thought you might. You weren'tsatisfied with the reports then?"
Pilch said, "Of course not! But it was obvious the emergency was over,so I was whisked away to something else." She frowned slightly."Sometimes," she admitted, "the Service keeps me the least bit busierthan I'd prefer to be. So now it's been six months!"
"I would have come in for another interview if you'd called me," Triggersaid.
"I know," said Pilch. "But that would have made it official. I can keepthis visit off the record." Her eyes met Trigger's for a moment. "And Ihave a feeling I will. Also, of course, I'm not pushing for any answersyou mightn't care to give."
"Just push away," Trigger said agreeably.
"Well, we got the Commissioner's call from his ship. A worried man hewas. So it seems now that we've had one of the Old Galactics around fora while. When did you first find out about it?"
"On the morning after our interview. Right after I got up."
"How?"
Trigger laughed. "I watch my weight. When I noticed I'd turned three anda half pounds heavier overnight than I'd averaged the past four years, Iknew all right!"
Pilch smiled faintly. "You weren't alarmed at all?"
"No. I guess I'd been prepared just enough by that time. But then, youknow, I forgot all about it again until Lyad and Flam opened thatpurse--and he wasn't inside. Then I remembered, and after that I didn'tforget again."
"No. Of course." Pilch's slim fingers tapped the surface of the tablebetween them. She said then, paying Repulsive the highest complimentPilch could give, "It--he--was a good therapist!" After a moment, sheadded. "I had a talk with Commissioner Tate an hour or so ago. He'spreparing to leave Maccadon again, I understand."
"That's right. He's been organizing that big exploration trip ofMantelish's the past couple of months. He'll be in charge of it whenthey take off."
"You're not going along?" Pilch asked.
Trigger shook her head. "Not this time. Ape and I--Captain Quillan andI, that is--"
"I heard," Pilch said. She smiled. "You picked a good one on the secondtry!"
"Quillan's all right," Trigger agreed. "If you watch him a little."
"Anyway," said Pilch, "Commissioner Tate seems to be just the least bitworried about you still."
Trigger put a finger to her temple and made a small circling motion. "Abit ta-ta?"
"Not exactly that, perhaps. But it seems," said Pilch, "that you've toldhim a good deal about the history of the Old Galactics, including whatended them as a race thirty-two thousand years ago."
Trigger's face clouded a little. "Yes," she said. She sat silent for amoment. "Well, I got that from Repulsive somewhere along the line," shesaid then. "It didn't really come clear until some time after we'd gotback. But it was there in those pictures in the interview."
"The giants stamping on the farm?"
Trigger nodded. "And the fast clock and the slow one. He was trying totell it then. The Jesters--that's the giants--they're fast and toughlike us. Apparently," Trigger said thoughtfully, "they're a good deallike us in a lot of ways. But worse. Much worse! And the Old Galacticswere just slow. They thought slow; they moved slow--they did almosteverything slow. At full gallop, old Repulsive couldn't have kept upwith a healthy snail. Besides, they just liked to grow things and tinkerwith things and so on. They didn't go in for fighting, and they nevergot to be at all good at it. So they just got wiped out, practically."
"The Jesters were good at fighting, eh?"
Trigger nodded. "Very good. Like us, again."
"Where did they come from?"
"Repulsive thought they were outsiders. He wasn't sure. He and thatother O.G. were on the sidelines, running their protein collectingstation, when the Jesters arrived; and it was all over and they weregone before he had learned much about it."
"From outside the galaxy!" Pilch said thoughtfully. She cleared herthroat. "What's this business about they might be back again?"
"Well," Trigger said, "he thought they might be. Just might. Actually hebelieved the Jesters got wiped out too."
"Eh?" Pilch said. "How's that?"
"Quite a lot of the Old Galactics went along with them like Repulsivewent along with me. And one of the things they did know," Trigger said,"was how to spread diseases like nobody's business. About like we useweed-killers. Wholesale. They could clean out the average planet of anyparticular thing they didn't want there in about a week. So it's notreally too likely the Jesters will be back."
"Oh!" said Pilch.
"But if they are coming, Repulsive thought they'd be due in this areain about another eight centuries. That looked like a very short time tohim, of course. He thought it would be best to pass on a warning."
"You know," Pilch said after a brief pause, "I find myself agreeing withhim there, Trigger! I might turn in a short report on this, after all."
"I think you should, really," Trigger said. She smiled suddenly. "Ofcourse, it might wind up with people thinking both of us are ta-ta!"
"I'll risk that," said Pilch. "It's been thought of me before."
"If they did come," Trigger said, "I guess we'd take them anyway. We'vetaken everything else like that that came long. And besides--"
Her voice trailed off thoughtfully. She studied the table top for amoment. Then she looked up at Pilch.
"Well," she said, smiling, "any other questions?"
"A few," said Pilch, passing up the "and besides--" She considered. "Didyou ever actually see him make contact with you?"
"No," Trigger said. "I was always asleep, and I suppose he made sure I'dstay asleep. They're built sort of like a leech, you know. I guess heknew I wouldn't feel comfortable about having something like that gooozing into the side of my neck or start oozing out again. Anyway, henever did let me see it."
"Considerate little fellow!" said Pilch. She sighed. "Well, everythingcame out very satisfactorily--much more so than anyone could have daredhope at one time. All that's left is a very intriguing mystery which theHub will be chatting about for years.... What happened aboard DoctorFayle's vanished ship that caused the king plasmoid to awaken to awfullife?" she cried. "What equally mysterious event brought about its deathon that strangely hideous structure it had built in subspace? _What wasit planning to do there?_ Etcetera." She smiled at Trigger. "Yes, verygood!"
"I saw they camouflaged
out what was still visible of the originalsubstation before they let in the news viewers," Trigger remarked."Bright idea somebody had there!"
"Yes. It was I. And the Devagas hierarchy is broken, and the Ermetynesrun out of Tranest. Two very bad spots, those were! I don't recallhaving heard what they did to your friend, Pluly."
"_I_ heard," Trigger said. "He just got black-listed by Grand Commercefinally and lost all his shipping concessions. However, his daughter ismarried to an up and coming young businessman who happened to be on handand have the money and other qualifications to pick up thoseconcessions." She laughed. "It's the Inger Lines now. They're smartcharacters, in a way!"
"Yes," said Pilch. "In a way. Did you know Lyad Ermetyne put in forvoluntary rehabilitation with us, and then changed her mind and joinedthe Service?"
"I'd heard of it." Trigger hesitated. "Did you know Lyad paid me a shortvisit about an hour before you got here this morning?"
"I thought she would," Pilch said. "We came in to Maccadon together."
Trigger had been a little startled when she answered the doorchime andsaw Lyad standing there. She invited the Ermetyne in.
"I thought I'd thank you personally," Lyad said casually, "for arecording which was delivered to me some months ago."
"That's quite all right," Trigger said, also casually. "I was sure Iwasn't going to have any use for it."
Lyad studied her face for a moment. "To be honest about it, TriggerArgee," she said, "I still don't feel entirely cordial toward you!However, I did appreciate the gesture of letting me have the recording.So I decided to drop by to tell you there isn't really too much left inthe way of hard feelings, on my part."
They shook hands restrainedly, and the Ermetyne sauntered out again.
"The other reason she came here," Pilch said, "is to take care of thefinancing of Mantelish's expedition."
"I didn't know that!" Trigger said, surprised.
"It's her way of making amends. Her legitimate Hub holdings are stillenormous, of course. She can afford it."
"Well," Trigger said, "that's one thing about Lyad--she's wholehearted!"
"She's that," said Pilch. "Rarely have I seen anyone rip into totaltherapy with the verve displayed by the Ermetyne. She mentioned on oneoccasion that there simply had to be some way of getting ahead of youagain."
"Oh," said Trigger.
"Yes," said Pilch. "By the way, what are your own plans nowadays? Asidefrom getting married."
Trigger stretched slim tanned arms over her head and grinned. "Noimmediate plans!" she said. "I've resigned from Precol. Got a couple ofchecks from the Federation. One to cover my expenses on that plasmoidbusiness--that was the Dawn City fare mainly--and the other for the fiveweeks special duty they figured I was on for them. So I'm up to fivethousand crowns again, and I thought I'd just loaf around and sort ofthink things over till Quillan gets back from his current assignment."
"I see. When is Major Quillan returning?"
"In about a month. It's Captain Quillan at present, by the way."
"Oh?" said Pilch. "What happened?"
"That unwarranted interference with a political situation business.They'd broadcast a warning against taking individual action of any kindagainst the plasmoid station. But when he got there and heard theCommissioner was in a kind of coma, and I wasn't even on board, he losthis head and came charging into the station after me, flinging grenadesand so on around. The plasmoids would have finished him off prettyquick, except most of them had started slowing down as soon as Repulsiveturned off the main one. The lunatic was lucky the termites didn't getto him before he even reached the station!"
Pilch said, "Termites?"
Trigger told her about the termites.
"Ugh!" said Pilch. "I hadn't heard about those. So they broke him forthat. It hardly seems right."
"Well, you have to have discipline," Trigger said tolerantly. "Ape's abit short on that end anyway. They'll be upgrading him again fairlysoon, I imagine. I might just be going into Space Scout Intelligencemyself, by the way. They said they'd be glad to have me."
"Not at all incidentally," remarked Pilch, "my Service also would beglad to have you."
"Would they?" Trigger looked at her thoughtfully. "That includes thattotal therapy process, doesn't it?"
"Usually," said Pilch.
"Well, I might some day. But not just yet." She smiled. "Let's let Lyadget a head start! Actually, it's just I've found out there are so manyinteresting things going on all around that I'd like to look them over abit before I go charging seriously into a career again." She reachedacross the table and tapped Pilch's wrist. "And I'll show you oneinteresting thing that's going on right here! Take Mantelish's big treeout there!"
"The sequoia?"
"Yes. Now just last year it was looking so bad they almost talked theprofessor into having it taken away. Hardly a green branch left on it."
Pilch shaded her eyes and looked at the sequoia's crown far above them."It looks," she observed reflectively, "in fairly good shape at themoment, I'd say!"
"Yes, and it's getting greener every week. Mantelish brags about a newsolvent he's been dosing its roots with. You see that great big branchlike an L turned upward, just a little above the center?"
Pilch looked again. "Yes," she said after a moment, "I think so."
"Just before the L turns upward, there's a little cluster of greenbranches," Trigger said.
"I see those, yes."
Trigger picked up the field glasses and handed them to her. "Get thoselittle branches in the glasses," she said.
Pilch said presently, "Got them."
Trigger stood up and faced up to the sequoia. She cupped her hands toher mouth, took a deep breath, and yelled. "Yoo-hoo! Reee-pul-sive!"
Down in the garden, Mantelish straightened and looked about angrily.Then he saw Trigger and smiled.
"Yoo-hoo yourself, Trigger!" he shouted, and turned back to his spading.
Trigger watched Pilch's face from the side. She saw her give a suddenstart.
"Great Galaxies!" Pilch breathed. She kept on looking. "That's one forthe book, isn't it?" Finally she put the glasses down. She appearedsomewhat stunned. "He really is a little green man!"
"Only when he's trying to be. It's a sort of sign of friendliness."
"What's he doing up there?"
"He moved over into the sequoia right after we got back," Trigger said."And that's where he'll probably stay indefinitely now. It's just theright kind of place for Repulsive."
"Have you been doing any more--well, talking?"
"No. Too strenuous both ways. Until a few days before we got back here,there wasn't even a sign from him. He just about knocked himself out onthat big plasmoid."
"Who else knows about this?" asked Pilch.
"Nobody. I would have told Holati, except he's still mad enough abouthaving been put into a coma, he might go out and chop the sequoia down."
"Well, it won't go into the report then," Pilch said. "They'd just wantto bother Repulsive!"
"I knew it would be all right to tell you. And here's something elsevery interesting that's going on at present."
"What's that?"
"The real hush-hush reason for Mantelish's expedition," Triggerexplained, "is, of course, to scout around this whole area of space withplanetary plasmoid detectors. They don't want anybody stumbling onanother setup like Harvest Moon and accidentally activating another kingplasmoid."
"Yes," Pilch said. "I'd heard that."
"It was Mantelish's idea," said Trigger. "Now Mantelish is very fond ofthat sequoia tree. He's got a big, comfortable bench right among itsroots, where he likes to sit down around noon and have a little napwhen he's out here."
"Oh!" said Pilch. "Repulsive's been up to his old tricks, eh?"
"Sure. He's given Mantelish very exact instructions. So they're going tofind one of those setups, all right. And they won't come back with anyplasmoids. But they will come back with something they don't knowabout."
Pilch lo
oked at her for a moment. "_You_ say it!"
Trigger's grin widened. "A little green woman," she said.
CONSIDER THE PLASMOIDS....
Ancient living machines that after millennia of stillness suddenly beginto move under their own power, for reasons that remain a mystery to men.Holati Tate discovered them--then disappeared. Trigger Argee was hisclosest associate--she means to find him. She's brilliant, beautiful,and skilled in every known martial art. She's worth plenty--dead oralive--to more than one faction in this obscure battle. And she'sbeginning to have a chilling notion that the long-vanished Masters ofthe Old Galaxy were wise when they exiled the plasmoids to the mostdistant and isolated world they knew....
Printed in U.S.A.
Transcriber's Note:
The following typographical errors in the original text have beencorrected in this eBook:
Chapter 1: "activites" changed to "activities"
Chapter 2: "maker" changed to "make"
Chapter 3: "O. G." changed to "O.G." for consistency
"sufficienty" changed to "sufficiently"
Chapter 4: "Commission" changed to "Commissioner"
Chapter 6: "glass" changed to "glasses"
Chapter 8: missing period added after "faintly"
Chapter 9: "rekembered" changed to "remembered"
missing comma added after "leaves"
"foward" changed to "forward"
"taking" changed to "talking"
"dignifed" changed to "dignified"
Chapter 10: "ogirinal" changed to "original"
Chapter 11: "Whatzzitt" changed to "Whatzzit"
Chapter 12: "buiness" changed to "business"
Chapter 13: "tycoonness" changed to "tycooness"
Chapter 14: "soo" changed to "so"
Chapter 15: "Amplifed" changed to "Amplified"
Chapter 16: missing thought break added
"specailty" changed to "specialty"
Chapter 19: missing end quotation mark added to "Our escort.Commissioner Tate made very sure we had one, too!"
"you" changed to "your"
Chapter 20: "amensia" changed to "amnesia" (3 times)
missing end quotation mark added to "All right--what's this?"
"unmollifed" changed to "unmollified"
Chapter 21: missing period added after "Pluly's"
Chapter 22: period changed to comma after "Lyad said"
"agin" changed to "again"
missing period added after "Lyad"
Chapter 24: "appologizing" changed to "apologizing"
"Blamordan" changed to "Balmordan"
"OradoComWeb" changed to "Orado ComWeb"
Chapter 25: period changed to question mark after "Who'd hesitate"
missing comma added after "jerk"
Chapter 26: "Lusscious" changed to "Luscious"
"then" changed to "than"
"like" changed to "liked"
"plasmoids's" changed to "plasmoid's"
"turbulance" changed to "turbulence"
Chapter 27: "suprisingly" changed to "surprisingly"
"Commisioner" changed to "Commissioner"
Chapter 28: "someboy" changed to "somebody"
"clingling" changed to "clinging"
Legacy Page 29
