'We're not all his friends,” said the girl. “Sit down.'
She motioned him to a block of stone that had fallen from somewhere above, and sat herself down on another one. The storm was slackening now, rolling away across the p am. [?missing text]of the men climbed up a winding stair that was part of the outer wall and still sound almost to the top. He disappeared overhead. The others remained where they were, between Horne and the door.
Horne looked at the girl. “Then he is alive,” he said.
'I think so. I'm not sure.” She leaned forward, searching his face with remarkably wise eyes, neither friend nor hostile, merely making an estimate of the sort of man he was, how far be might be trusted, how much he might be expected to understand.
'You are named Horne?'
'That's right.'
'I am called Yso. These four are my friends, as they were friends of my father. Now, I think I believe your story of the wreck, Horne. And I think we can help each other…'
'Maybe,” said Horne, “and you look like a nice girl, though I can't say I'm wild about your friends. But I'm only interested in finding Ardric and choking the truth out of him. The politics of Skereth are your affair, not mine.'
He stood up and looked at the man who was holding the gun.
The man shook his head. “Please don't try it,” he said. “We've gone to such great risk and trouble to intercept you that I would hate to be forced to burn your leg off.'
Horne frowned, his head held slightly forward, his knees bent and tense.
'I mean just that,” said the man quietly.
'I think you do,” said Horne, shrugged, and sat down again. He looked with bleak resentment at the girl. “Do you get many recruits this way?'
'We have no time for politeness,” she said. “You don't understand how things are here. You think all you have to do is get into Rillah and find Ardric and choke the truth out of him. It's not that easy. If we hadn't found you and stopped you here, you'd have been dead long before sundown. You'd never have even reached the walls of Rillah.'
'I knew they'd be waiting for me,” Horne said dourly. “A flier nearly caught me on the sea, and I was pretty sure it was the police headed for Rillah.'
'The police,” said the man with the gun, “are the least of your worries. You say you're not interested in our politics, but you'd better get interested, because you're in them over your head.'
CHAPTER VIII
The girl said, “Never mind that now, Ewan. We…'
'No. Yso,” said Ewan stubbornly, “he might as well get the whole picture now. It'll save us all trouble later.” He turned again to Horne. “Morivenn was on his way to Vega Center to bring Skereth into the Galactic Federation. Ardric saw to it that he never got there and, in killing Morivenn, he not only stopped the Federation movement here, he also pretty nearly wrecked the Federation party. Morivenn was a strong leader and there was no one to replace him. But Ardric didn't do all that on his own, just as a matter of political conviction.'
'I don't particularly care,” said Horne, “why be did it. All I want is to make him admit doing it. I want my name cleared. From there on, anybody can have the ball that wants it.'
'All right,” said Ewan. “You only want Ardric. Do you know who he is, how powerful his family is? Do you know what connection they have with the Vellae?'
'The Vellae?'
'The anti-Federation party. Do you know why the Vellae are so determined to keep Skereth out of the Galactic Federation that they'll murder a hundred-odd people to get the one man who endangers them? Do you know what they'll do to you, Horne, the second you show your fare in Rillah? Well, I'll tell you.
'The Vellae own Rillah. It's the fountainhead and stronghold of the anti-Federation movement. A man named Ruric is one of the three top men, the triumvirate that runs the Vellae and right now, through their puppet governors, this whole world. Ruric is the father of Ardric. Do you begin to get the picture now, Horne? Do you still think you'll walk right up to Ardric on the street and make him confess?'
Horne only said, “Go on. Let's have the rest of it.'
'The rest of it,” said Ewan, “is money and power and pride. The Vellae were the rulers of most of Skereth before the Galactic Federation was ever heard of. Since the advent of space flight and trade with other systems they've enlarged their field of operations. They own most of the merchant fleet and control most of the commerce. And since non-Federation ships are immune from search by Federation authorities, they don't have to stop at the legal stuff. We know that they use slave labor in some of their operations. We know that they bring in non-humans and semi-humans from the Fringe worlds, strictly against Federation law—'
Horne started. “For God's sake! Then your Vellae are the slavers Denman was sent out to investigate!'
'Denman?” said Ewan, frowning.
Horne told them about the little Federation official whom they had left on Allamar Two, who had been sent out to get to the bottom of the secret slaving of humanoids. They listened intently, but they did not seem to get very excited about it.
'It won't do us any good,” said Yso, “if your man Denman traces the slaving to the Vellae a year or two from now. What matters is now, and whether we can hit the Vellae now with what we have.'
Ewan nodded agreement, and said to Horne, “You see what the Vellae stand to lose if the truth about Morivenn's death should get out? The
'There's another reason, too,” said Yso. Her tone was so somber and full of apprehension that Horne was startled. “The most important reason of all. My father was sure of it. The only way to save Skereth, he told me, and perhaps other worlds too, was to get Federation law and authority in here before the Vellae were ready for it. He was afraid. They're doing something, he told me, something that will change our history and the history of this whole part of the galaxy, but I don't know what it is.'
Ewan made an impatient sound. Apparently they had been over this ground before.
'I still think Morivenn had an obsession on that point,” he said. “The Vellae's obvious motives are good enough, without hunting for secret ones.'
'All right,” said Yso angrily, “you explain what happens to all the slaves they bring in from the Fringe worlds. We know they come. But after they reach Skereth, they vanish completely. Where?'
'I'll admit it's a problem,” said Ewan. “I just don't think it's as important as your father did, that's all.” He looked at Horne. “Are you convinced now?'
'One thing kind of puzzles me,” Horne said. “What's your big interest in whether I get killed or not?'
'I should think,” said Yso, “that would be obvious. You're the only actual witness against Ardric. Without you, even if we proved be was alive and in hiding, he could hardly be convicted.” She shook her head. “We both want the same thing, Horne. We have to work together to get it. It would be better if we did it as friends.'
Horne took a deep breath and made an honest effort to swallow his anger. The girl was right and he knew it. So he said, “All right, how do we do it?'
'We don't, not right now.” The man who spoke was the man who had climbed the tower stair and who had now come hurrying down in time to hear Horne's question. He added, “There are three fliers coming this way.'
Instantly Ewan and the other two sprang up. One of them switched off the portable light, burning forgotten in the corner even though the storm was past and the sky outside was bright again. Horne and the girl rose too. They stood still, listening, looking up. The air, cooled briefly by the rain, grew hot and the wet stones steamed.
The man who had run down the stairway said, “They look as though they're going to investigate the tower. We'd better clear out.'
Ewan went to the wall under the steps and swung out a pivoted stone. There was a narrow shaft beyond it in
