by Mind Guest
forced a wordless growl from' him. He grabbed me by the neck, pushed me
out into the corridor, then directed me by hand to the solar room. We
sat in artificial sunshine for a couple of hours without talking, and
he made sure I stayed away from anyone else who came in. I sat back and
relaxed completely, and made sure that no sign showed of the grin I
should have sported.
I had almost decided to take off the ship's suit when someone came over
saying that Dameron was looking for Val and me. We went back to
Dameron's office, noticing the knots of excitedly whispering people on
the way, and were gestured right in. I had on my most innocent of
expressions, and Val was genuinely in the dark, but Dameron didn't
leave him there for long. The rumor about the base's "air loss" had
finally reached the base commander, and though no one could actually
trace it back to me, Dameron had no doubts. He must have ranted and
yelled for an hour, but Val got the brunt of it. Val had been made
responsible for me, so anything I did was his fault, and Dameron kept
repeating the point so it wouldn't be lost on Val. Val caught on real
quick, and spent most Of his time just looking at me. After a few minutes, I wanted to scrunch down in my seat.
When the tirade was finally over, Val rose from his chair without a
word and stood next to the open door, waiting for me to go through
first. I wasn't sure about trusting him behind my back, but I didn't
have much choice in the matter. He followed me down the corridor and
back to his room, and we spent the rest of the day with Val staring
straight at me, not saying a single word. Our food was delivered by
cart again, and no one came to call.
By the time I was ready to call it a day, I still hadn't heard anything
from tall, dark and awesome, but I was too sleepy to still be bothered
by it. I hadn't had much sleep the night before, and the safe passage
of time tends to wear off most sharp edges. I used the facilities to
wash as best I could-I hadn't found any equivalent of a shower or bath
then got out of the ship's Suit and into bed. Val was still staring at
me, but I discovered that his stare was on a different level, so I
smiled to myself as I got comfortable, wondering if he would forgive me
enough to join me in bed. The chances were still 50-50 when he went
into the bathroom, but the scales tipped all the way in my favor once
he came out. He got into bed next to me, waved the light out, then
pulled me to him.
"I thought you were mad at me," I said with a small laugh, rubbing my
cheek on his chest.
"No, I was more disgusted with me," he murmured, already touching me
with hands and lips. "It was my own fault for taking my eyes off you.
It won't happen again."
After that we were too preoccupied to say anything else, but I clearly
remember laughing at what he'd said. I hadn't yet learned he was a man
of his word.
The next two days started off badly and got steadily worse. When Val
had said he would not take his eyes off me again, he hadn't been
kidding. We went to the refectory to eat once. All I did was wonder
aloud what the Tildorian barbarians could have put in their herb
mixture that was able to get around base inoculations, and pow! Right
back to that crummy room. And I hadn't even had the chance to suggest
it might be something contagious! We stayed in the room every minute of
the two base days and nights, having our meals delivered to us, with no
one being allowed to listen or talk to me. I considered getting
violent, decided that that would be stupid, then tried it anyway. Even
with the limited number of non-lethal things I could do Val ended up
bruised, but I ended up flat on the floor, face down, with him sitting
on top of me. He refused to let me up unless I gave my word not to make
any more trouble, but I'm not often that easy to convince; we stayed
that way a ridiculously long time before the delivery of our next meal
broke it up. I hadn't given my word, but I needed some help in standing
up.
By the time the confinement was over I was nearly insane. Val had
ignored all the frozen silence coming from me, and had calmly chattered
away almost without stop. I was bored to the point of wanting to start
a fight just for something to do, but he refused to argue and I was in
no mood to spend more time being mashed into the floor. I flatly
refused to be friendly in bed, but that didn't bother him either. He
just laughed and said he could wait.
When we were finally escorted over to Dameron's office, I was as far
from feeling diplomatic as you can get. Dameron was nowhere in sight,
but a man sat relaxing in the blocky terminal chair, and I studied him
openly. He was a lean, well-preserved man in his apparent sixties, wearing a base uniform in yellow with no insignia, and he had gray hair
and sharp, intelligent gray eyes. He moved his head to inspect me as
Val and I took seats, but there wasn't a word out of him. I returned
the appraising look and just waited, but he kept up the silent
treatment for longer than was wise with me just then, so I decided to
make the first move.
I finally asked slowly and clearly, as if he might be hard of hearing
or well into senility. Val made an exasperated sound, but Phalsyn just
laughed.
"I see why Dameron was so impressed with you," he said pleasantly.
"Many people in your position would be apprehensive, if not down-right
frightened. I applaud your self-possession."
"Thanks," I answered, not joining his amusement. "Where I come from,
people don't think I'm bright enough to be frightened. Situations have
to be spelled out for me. Is there a reason for me to be frightened?"
"Not at all," he assured me, leaning forward to emphasize his words.
"On the contrary, we have every reason to be grateful to you."
"Grateful," I repeated. "For barging in and disrupting one of your
outposts?"
"Of course not," he smiled. "We're grateful for the help you supplied
on Tildor. The planet is of special concern to us, and we like having
things go smoothly there. If our assistance comes too noticeable, we
may never get to the bottom of the Paldovar Villages question."
"You probably never will anyway," I commented. "I had a taste of their
methods, and I couldn't even guess about how they do it."
"That's almost our problem," he agreed with a grimace. "Our people have
had more than one taste, are willing to speculate endlessly as to the
how of it, but the speculation is useless. We want to know, but
precipitous action won't gain us the knowledge." Then he flashed a
quick grin. "Perhaps a fresh outlook is what's needed. When you return
to us, you may well find yourself back on Tudor."
"I can live without the honor," I assured him. "Am I supposed to notice
that 'when you return to us' phrase, or ignore it and go on discussing
Tildor?"
"Notice it, by all means," he laughed, leaning back in his chair. "It's
the introduction into the second reason as to why we're so pleased to
ha
ve you here. We've been hoping for a go-between for some time now."
"And since I'm anything but a private citizen, I'm it," I summed up. "I
can understand your pleasure, but I can't understand why you neglected
to mention it. It would have made the last few days slightly more
enjoyable."
"Call it-an experiment," he said with something of a smile behind his
eyes. "We still don't know as much about your people as we would like
to, and it was an opportunity for observing you. For someone who
handled a weapon on Tildor with such lack of concern, you showed
remarkable restraint with our base people. It's an encouraging sign."
"That's me," I muttered, remembering what I'd gone through the last few
days. "Encouraging. We're all lucky I happen to be fond of certain of
your base personnel. I take it the proposed partnership now has
official approval?"
"It certainly does." Phalsyn smiled, picking up a cube marking rod to
play with. "It's an excellent chance for one of our people to look
around your Federation without causing a stir. When the two of you
return here, you'll have a similar opportunity to study our
Confederacy. That combined with the formal talks should go far toward
establishing an atmosphere for friendly negotiation." A previously unnoticed tension seemed to have melted Out of me by then,
so I was able to get more comfortable in my lump chair.
"Formal talks," I mused. "You sound as though you have something
specific in mind."
"Something very specific," he nodded. "We would like to have a
delegation of your people meet with a delegation of ours-in our sector
of space. Do you think they'd be willing to agree to that?"
"I have no idea," I answered honestly. "It all depends on how they take
the news of your existence. The only thing I can suggest is that the
approach to my government be made through the chief of my department.
He has some fairly intelligent contacts who might be able to keep the
flap down to a minimum."
Phalsyn considered that for a minute, and then nodded again. "Very
well. It would be foolish not to take your advice on the matter. I'll
supply you with a set of coordinates and a date far enough in advance
so that there will be ample time for adjustment to the situation." he
hesitated very briefly, looked at me with casual friendliness, then
began, "About the report you'll be making to your peoplea133"
I laughed. I threw my head back and laughed with more sheer enjoyment
than I'd felt in too long a time. When I finally ran down, Phalsyn
smiled politely.
"You found amusement in something I said?" he inquired.
"You might say so." I grinned. "Are you really that nervous about what
my report will contain?"
"I hadn't realized it was all that obvious," he answered wryly.
"To be perfectly frank, I considered bringing Dameron up on charges
when I learned what the impression had done to you. His carelessness
could have caused a good deal more trouble than it did."
"But it did work out, so there's really nothing to complain about." I
shrugged. "My report will include everything that's happened to me
here, told as objectively as possible, with no hidden resentments.
Don't forget, I accepted the assignment even though I didn't have to."
"That's true," he agreed. "But with an assignment of that sort, you
shouldn't have to contend with problems from your own people. If I were
in your position, I don't know if I could be as broad-minded as you."
"I'm not broad-minded." I smiled, then glanced at Val. "I simply feel
that I've been repaid for any inconveniences I might have suffered."
Val stirred in his lump chair with an annoyed look in his eyes, but I
didn't care if he was feeling like a joy boy. After the last couple of
days, annoyance was the last thing he deserved.
"Your partnership may be even more useful than anyone at first
imagined," Phalsyn said with a grin when he saw my glance. "It's
occurred to me that if we exchange enough personnel, we may bypass most
of the acceptance difficulties inherent in a situation like this one."
The comment made us all laugh, but Val found it necessary to put in,
"That would take a lot of personnel. I don't advise starting that
project until my final report is in."
I looked at the louse in annoyance, and Phalsyn chuckled.
"I'm glad to see that your partnership isn't based on anything as
foolish as romance," he said. "I've always found venal self-interest to
be much more reliable. Dameron is waiting for us in the lounge, and I
suggest we join him. We have a new partnership to celebrate."
"Celebrate," I snorted, sending a withering glance toward Val before
standing up and turning to the older man. "What's your favorite potion,
Phalsyn? If it isn't striped, I'll try it."
"No, my favorite is definitely not striped," Phalsyn answered in
amusement and stood out of the chair to take my arm. We left the office companionably, and Val hesitated briefly before following us. Maybe he
was thinking about Nelixan - or dissection.
The party was long and friendly, and I made sure to get relaxed without
getting looped. Val eventually relaxed too, but Dameron seemed too
preoccupied to join in the general conversation and laughter. Phalsyn
was nothing but charming and attentive, and that bothered me. I'd
expected a few select questions about the Federation, yet he discussed
nothing but trivialities. That means he had either gotten what he'd
been after, or he knew I couldn't give it to him. I wasn't about to try
guessing which, so I just enjoyed the party.
Just as I got the impression that Phalsyn was ready to make a
suggestion, Val stepped in smoothly, remarked that we'd be leaving
early the next day, and hustled me off to his room. Phalsyn had been
amused by the action, but I was more annoyed. I started to tell Val off
as soon as we were alone, but he didn't let me get very far, and when
he pulled me into his arms I lost all interest in arguing. We had a
nice, warm time together, as a kind of farewell to the base; the next
day I would be heading home to look up the slaver Radman - which was
certain to prove interesting.
