by Moulton, CD
"Znnmf! Sthp!" Tab mumbled through the tentacles. "Uh cnd see, dmnnt! Uh cnd breefth!"
Thing bent the eye stalks to peer at the tentacle, then moved it up just enough for one of Tab's eyes to show. It looked out at the crowd and seemed to shrug, which caused a roar of laughter.
Thing reacted to the laughter by dropping behind Tab's head and peering over the top at the people, which made them laugh even harder.
It came back to his shoulder and wrapped the tentacles on that side around Tab's head again, but this time Tab put an arm in the way and pushed the tentacles aside.
Z told a funny story about the time Lape was steering the boat through some treacherous water and Zonn had wrapped around his face. "It was the sheerest feat of magic that Lape was able to navigate around those crushing boulders!" he finished. "Before that moment I would have said that all-seeing with the mind was a trick, but I am not so fast with rash statements now! It was the hidden ability of the mind to see through solid things and the protections of the lesser sea gods of old that allows us to walk and talk right now!"
There were some small children who came from nearby houses to pass Thing among them. The three travelers stayed to talk with the people while the children played a game with Thing, Z sneaking in a few questions about the palace and the people in it. Everyone was relaxed by that time and answers came easily. They discovered the royal family was liked and respected, but the advisors were as universally disliked. That could mean a lot of things, including the natural use by a politician of underlings to take the blame for all that goes wrong.
Then they headed on to the business and trading center near the palace where they displayed their wares. They were able to sell several types of standard wares while Z sat on a bench, placed his cart conveniently and began telling the news from other places in Larj's finest manner and voice, demanding news of Royal City in return and seeming not to notice when people dropped coins into the cart. He began by telling some slightly bawdy tales about supposedly important people in other cities, which drew a much larger crowd. Mujat came to ask him to tell about the charming lady he laid in that sea town. He acted embarrassed but told the story, then some more. People began to trade gossip after the storytelling session, asking about specific places and people. He would tell what Larj had known about them and listened carefully to what was said about the important people in Royal City.
Kit and Tab didn't know quite what he was doing and Thing came at times to hang onto him, then to go back to the others. They spent the entire day acting as much like normal traders and talebearers as anyone could be. Z let several small things drop in his conversation, then, when the business day was over, they went to an inn. There were the standard prostitutes there and they were all sure some of them would be in the employ of the aliens in the palace so Kit and Tab each selected one who was particularly appealing to them while Z acted aloof from all of that.
There was a woman, quite striking, called Canj. She came after noonmeal to listen to his stories. She came from the palace. Z saw her from the corner of his eye and kept an eye on her. She asked if he knew where the new gold mines had been found in the southern mountains and covered the question by saying she always wanted her own gold mine.
Mujat was close at the time, made the "Wow!" sign by staring at her rear and rolling his eyes so Z winked and started telling his risque stories directly to her. She sat next to him on the bench and stared intently into his eyes with a very obvious look. Mujat gave him the "You've got that one" sign, punching the right thumb into the palm of the left hand and walked off.
Z wondered if they really thought anyone couldn't see through something so obvious. Here was a beautiful woman throwing herself at an old man who had nothing except a rare talent for telling a bawdy story while Kit and Tab, both now very handsome by Saj standards as well as being her age were chillingly rejected when they made their moves toward her. If anything should be obvious at anytime to anyone this was! Z lost his inhibitions about such things more than a century ago. He would enjoy the night and would learn quite a lot from her at the same time.
She would learn exactly the things he wanted her to learn. It would give him an opportunity to see if part of what he suspected about the palace was true.
She invited him to stay at her apartments that night, suggesting the boarding house over the inn wasn't the most comfortable place in the world. He pulled his cart into the house and checked inside to find quite a stash of coins and even some paper money.
"I've never seen a talebearer make so much in one day!" she said. "But then, I've never heard such a fine teller, either! You are a true master and that wins the attention of people of taste and culture.
"Let me fix you some dinner. Have some of this wine while I order us some food. I think you'll find it as good as any you've tasted in your travels!
"Do you like broasted waterfowl and watergrass seed in a sweet and sour sauce?"
"Very much!" he replied as she stepped into a hallway, calling for a servant. He dropped a few drops of the wine onto the floater's analysis plate and watched as the words formed on it. He knew Maita was controlling the floater at all times.
"Contains strong aphrodisiac. No damage to your system, but retain control! Enjoy! You have the night and the palace whore to entertain you. Perhaps you'll even learn something!"
He grinned to himself. Why not? He didn't have to drink it like ... wine!
He sipped the drink as he stacked the coins in little piles, counted them and wrote the results on a sheet of paper, which he put into the cart. He had straw baskets for each denomination of coin, which he also placed into the cart. He turned to see Canj watching.
"I don't know what to do with the paper stuff," he complained. "They tell me it's the same as money here, but I won't stay here. It's of little use to me.
"I know! I will buy some of the pink gold from Kemat for you! You said you like gold!"
"You have pink gold?!" she asked. "The king wants.... I mean, I can imagine how beautiful that must be! I don't think you'll have enough paper money to buy much of it, though."
"This was my first day," he replied. "Tomorrow the audience will discover that larger sums of money make me remember more ... interesting tales.
"My dear, there’s something about you standing there that makes me feel a great warmth! You're a very desirable woman, you know.
"You won't break my heart will you? I'm a deeply sensitive person. I'm easily hurt. Please don't hurt me!"
He had approached her and was stroking her shoulder, then more intimately. The aphrodisiac was really working more than any he had ever known, but he hadn't taken much of it so was skirting the edge of losing control.
It was a very pleasant if exhausting night. Canj was a practiced and skillful questioner and he was able to give her the information he wanted her to have. He was able to get two answers he needed, too. Twice as he drifted into sleep he saw her quickly leave the room and three times when she awakened him she asked new questions. He considered following her to see who she met to exchange information with or how it was done if she didn't directly meet them.
That could wait. He was sure he knew how this was managed.
In the morning Canj was surprised that he was as energetic as he was when he got out of the bed. She didn't know he was faking a good bit of that. He really was exhausted, but things could proceed nicely now. He wasn't quite so afraid about the fate of the people and the city.
He had experience with this. The real thing, too. Not just a sideshow for the benefit of the rubes.
He hoped he could still remember how to do some things and wondered if his changed ideas would prevent them from working. One problem about his next act was that it took some energy and he was tired so he waited until he could be certain he wasn't observed, then cupped his hands and stared at a spot above his cupped palms. A small, steady blue flame appeared.
He grinned and let it go out, then took his cart and headed to the inn.
Canj said she was tired if he wasn't and would stay in for part of the day if not all of it. She didn't invite him back, but he could see she was considering it. The next one wouldn't be under orders!
Kit was in the square with Thing. They waited until Tab came half an hour later before going to a restaurant for dawnmeal. Z found he was more tired than he thought so said he'd sneak off somewhere for two or three more hours to sleep. Thing went to the cart, then peeked over the top at him. He knew it had "read" the floater and would rag him about his night. Kit and Tab both grinned so he knew it had communicated with them through the empathic talent.
"You knew it contained a strong aphrodisiac and you drank it anyway?" Kit asked. "They pulled that trick on us, but we aren't affected by such things. No wonder you're tired! You have no shame!"
"I learned a couple of important things, too," Z replied. "Be ready to be approached about getting rhodium gold. You can throw in chrome quartz on your own. I know how they worked this, but not who or why.
"I'm going to try a thing or two. Thing was on Tlorg so ... can you two input that experience? Tab already has, but Kit and T Six haven't, have they?"
"They're using...?" Tab started, but the waitress came then. Z nodded slightly.
Tab and Kit went to the square while Thing went with Z to find a secluded spot to rest. Z was followed, but he knew how to get rid of a tail and did. He found a wall in a park with some thick shrubbery and a nice bed of moss and leaves. Thing climbed around in the shrubbery to keep watch, then went exploring on its own while Z slept. The park was next to the palace so it was fairly easy to explore around the walls. Thing found breaker beam alarms and other items that were most interesting – and that shouldn't be there. It let Z sleep four hours, then wakened him.
"I feel really great, little guy," Z greeted. "Did you learn anything?" Thing was sitting on his shoulder with a tentacle around his head. He heard the word "yes" very faintly in his mind. Sometimes he could get a vague reading of the empathy.
Tomorrow would be soon enough. He needed more information now, then he needed to be able to talk with Thing. The rest of today must be normal talebearer time. He would have to stay in character more now than before if what he was beginning to plan was to work. He couldn't take the chance of any slip-ups. He could screw this up too easily and it was no joke that this entire culture could come to disaster if this wasn't stopped, and soon.
Mujat was waiting to go to the noonmeal with them and chatted constantly. He asked Z, in so many words, why he’d disappeared that morning.
"I saw you go to the house of the woman, Canj, last evening," he said. "I was surprised when you arrived this morning in the square and was more surprised that you left again and didn't go to her place. I know it's none of my business, and I apologize, but all of us have tried to even get her to say hello – without result. She spends her time only with the important and wealthy at court."
"She is a charming woman," Z said lightly. "She has, in fact, more than ample charms, if you understand me. I find such women sometimes think so highly of themselves it isn't necessary for others to think well of them, don't you? It would appear that beautiful women who have a practiced air of sexuality about themselves tend to forget that men aren't all looking for the same thing. I find that women such as my light little dalliance of the evening past make it very easy to make a man of sophistication turn to the mere use of them, as they would plan to use that poor innocent for their own purposes.
"Ahh! Not a woman who can bruise a tender ego such as mine, try though she might – still, a night I won't soon forget! I must say she is well PRACTICED in her ART!"
"Oh, whoah!" Mujat said. "I could tell by the way she was looking at you she was yours for the raising of one eyebrow! Your stories mesmerize! They hear your words and are your slaves! To have such a talent is beyond ... beyond my most fantastic dreams!"
"Ah, but there are so many other things in a life," Z scolded. "Important things. Things with meaning. A night such as last night is pleasant, true, but it has no real meaning. Canj is a very shallow woman. There is no depth to her soul. She lives in a purely physical world – a world of sweat and sounds and motion. It is a moment that doesn't linger. It is done and over with and does not intrude into the thoughts of her user again until she presents herself for further use. It is a world that demands much and gives only a short moment that is no more than release. It has no meaning. It is there for the taking. It is fleeting and forgotten as quickly as it happens.
"I do take, but find no reason for pride in that. The wallowbeast and the serpent will find more meaning in the act than I do with such an empty woman.
"This morning, though, when finally I left those shallows and found myself drowning in the depths of real.... I talk too much! There are stories not meant to be related. To speak of those things cheapens them."
"This morning? Another this morning? How?" Mujat cried. "Whoh! You...! After a woman like...? Oh, whoh!"
Z laughed and said, "Mujat, my dear friend, you should be with Canj! You are a pair, I think!"
"I admit it!" Mujat cried. "I'm as shallow as the worst of them! If that makes me worthy of one such as Canj I welcome the word. If you would be so kind as to inform her I'm a perfect pair to her I'll be your friend for life!"
Kit and Tab laughed and changed the subject. Z knew Mujat probably had orders to find out where he went after he lost the tail and this would suffice to explain it to whoever wanted to know. Now he must get away with Thing to make some plans – but how?
Thing was aware of that fact so possibly could help there. It could discuss it with the robots through the silent communication system. It was sitting in the pull cart at the moment so was in contact with Maita and therefore with Tab and Kit.
"Well, friend Larj!" Tab suddenly announced. "Perhaps if your libido is satisfied for a few hours you can do a small favor for me! I spent a pleasant night myself, though a few kleperts had to change hands and I find I'm not satisfied.
"I'll pay you well if you will go to the boat this day and return on the morrow with those items of pink gold from their secret place and perhaps also a sample of the green quartz?
"I have done well with my wares and can pay you better than the telling of stories ever could. You should welcome the rest you will get this night. I agree with our friend, Mujat! Surely after a strenuous night AND a morning that.... Zonn will keep you company on the trip. I fear we didn't bring its special foods, an oversight it won't let us forget. It cares more for the quality and variety of its meals than do we common types."
"Yes," Z replied. "I will take in payment the ear ornaments of pink gold – the little round ones. I have made a promise that I would give some of the pink gold to Canj – so you see, Mujat, she is not unlike the whores with whom my friends spent their evening last. It is as cheap a thing, or worse. The women who honestly tell a price are perhaps of better character than is the one who demands expensive trinkets."
"If gold'll buy her, then gold I'll get!" Mujat said. "I don't know how, but I'll get some!"
"Gold only rents a woman, it doesn't buy, my friend," Kit said wisely. "I'll show you a thing or two about women this evening! Kemat may have exchanged coinage for favors, but I didn't!"
Good! That would keep Mujat off the trail and Z did like the policeman. He would prefer that Mujat not be around when and if anything dangerous happened. This little side trip would have the added feature of possibly leading the enemy to try something. The trip could be very interesting. It was a good thing the floater and Thing would be along because these things could become very nasty very quickly.
Thing and Z left later in the afternoon along the Dockside Station road. They took their time until they were far from Royal City, then Thing could use the floater to speak again.
[ What have you found that makes you think you can counter them, Z? ]
"I asked Canj if the king had a personal magician who gave him the new things in Royal City, as was the gossip," Z replied. "She hed
ged, then admitted she thought the one who called himself a scientist was no more than a magician.
"There are four scientists and they wear full robes at all times. The stink of their alchemy, as she calls it, is on their robes all the time.
"I got her to answer two important questions because she's a court whore and is always in the palace. It was obvious she was sent to find who and what we are. I let her know just what we want them to think.
"Everyone stays away from the scientists. She says she knows they're evil. She can feel their evil as soon as they walk into a room. She doesn't have the higher sight, but a woman named Donj had to leave because she had the talent and would run screaming from a room if one of them came in."
[ The two questions being about odd people in a place of power giving the king those advances and how they avoid being recognized as aliens? Yes.]
"How many of them there are and how they avoid detection," Z replied. "We started with the supposition they were here. Now we know – but we did anyhow. You told me you found something at the palace while I was asleep. Fill me in, then we'll make some plans about how to get this mess straightened out."
[ There are beams and trip alarms and some sonics, too. The basement of the palace has steel-barred windows which are covered with frosted glass. Tempered glass so it won't break easily. I could sense a lot of equipment using energies in ranges I can detect. I think the ship or whatever is in the basement and the palace was built around it. What's your plan about the magic from Tlorg? I saw you try that and felt the glee from you. You also put the idea of magic and sorcerers into Canj's mind. ]
"When we get rid of the people causing the problem we'll still be stuck with the problem – the interference with this culture," Z explained. "We have to find some way to negate the ideas and confusions caused by advanced technology. We have to refute it without leaving the idea it must be done with some kind of evil magical power. It has to be that such things can be done without magic and that they are only evil if done with magic. I plan to get an idea going that this is all simply magic and trickery. When we get rid of the magicians none of the stuff will work, but it CAN work when it's done with science, not trickery. They know of mesmerism so we can convince them that very little of this ever existed except in their minds. Mass hypnotism has been written about here. We may be forced to bring in a couple of the Acnians to prove what hypnotism can do.
