Today's lesson happened to be a word-list of the Thetis VIII planet's sea-going folk.
'Tlon—a ship,' droned the reader.
'Rtlo—some ships, number unknown.
'Long'—some ships, number known, always modified by cardinal.
'Ongr—a ship in a collection of ships, always modified by ordinal.
'Ngrt—first ship in a collection of ships; an exception to ongr.'
A lay brother tiptoed to Alen's side. 'The Rector summons you,' he whispered.
Alen had no time for panic, though that was the usual reaction to a summons from the Rector to a novice. He slipped from the refectory, stepped onto the northbound corridor and stepped off at his cell, a minute later and a quarter-mile farther on. Hastily, but meticulously, he changed from his drab habit to the heraldic robes in the cubicle with its simple stool, wash-stand, desk, and paperweight or two. Alen, a level-headed young fellow, was not aware that he had broken any section of the Order's complicated Rule, but he was aware that he could have done so without knowing it. It might, he thought, be the last time he would see the cell.
He cast a glance which he hoped would not be the final one over it; a glance which lingered a little fondly on the reel rack where were stowed: 'Nicholson on Martian Verbs,' 'The New Oxford Venusian Dictionary,' the ponderous six-reeler 'Deutche-Ganymediche Konversasionslexikon' published long ago and far away in Leipzig. The later works were there, too: 'The Tongues of the Galaxy—An Essay in Classification,' 'A Concise Grammar of Cephean,' 'The Self-Pronouncing Vegan II Dictionary'—scores of them, and, of course, the worn reel of old Machiavelli's 'The Prince.'
Enough of that! Alen combed out his small, neat beard and stepped onto the southbound corridor. He transferred to an eastbound at the next intersection and minutes later was before the Rector's lay secretary.
'You'd better review your Lyran irregulars,' said the secretary disrespectfully. 'There's a trader in there who's looking for a cheap herald on a swindling trip to Lyra VI.' Thus unceremoniously did Alen learn that he was not to be ejected from the Order but that he was to be elevated to Journeyman. But as a herald should, he betrayed no sign of his immense relief. He did, however, take the secretary's advice and sensibly reviewed his Lyran.
While he was in the midst of a declension which applied only to inanimate objects, the voice of the Rector—and what a mellow voice it was!—floated through the secretary's intercom.
'Admit the novice, Alen,' said the Master Herald.
A final settling of his robes and the youth walked into the Rector's huge office, with the seal of the Order blazing in diamonds above his desk.
There was a stranger present; presumably the trader—a black-bearded fellow whose rugged frame didn't carry his Vegan cloak with ease.
Said the Rector: 'Novice, this is to be the crown of your toil if you are acceptable to—?' He courteously turned to the trader, who shrugged irritably.
'It's all one to me,' growled the blackbeard. 'Somebody cheap, somebody who knows the cant of the thievish Lyran gem peddlers, above all, somebody at once. Overhead is devouring my flesh day by day as the ship waits at the field. And when we are space-borne, my imbecile crew will doubtless waste liter after priceless liter of my fuel.
And when we land the swindling Lyrans will without doubt make my ruin complete by tricking me even out of the minute profit I hope to realize. Good Master Herald, let me have the infant cheap and I'll bid you good day.'
The Rector's shaggy eyebrows drew down in a frown. 'Trader,' he said sonorously, 'our mission of galactic utilitarian culture is not concerned with your margin of profit. I ask you to test this youth and, if you find him able, to take him as your Herald on your voyage. He will serve you well, for he has been taught that commerce and words, its medium, are the unifying bonds which will one day unite the cosmos into a single humankind. Do not conceive that the College and Order of Heralds is a mere aid to you in your commercial adventure.'
'Very well,' growled the trader. He addressed Alen in broken Lyran:
'Boy, how you make up Vegan stones of three fires so Lyran women like, come buy, buy again?'
Alen smoothly replied: 'The Vegan triple-fire gem finds most favor on Lyran and especially among its women when set in a wide glass anklet if large, and when arranged in the Lyran 'lucky five' pattern in a glass thumb-ring if small.' He was glad, very glad, he had come across—and as a matter of course memorized, in the relentless fashion of the Order—a novel which touched briefly on the Lyran jewel trade.
The trader glowered and switched to Cephean—apparently his native tongue. 'That was well-enough said, Herald. Now tell me whether you've got guts to man a squirt in case we're intercepted by the thieving so-called Customs collectors of Eyolf's Realm between here and Lyra?'
Alen knew the Rector's eyes were on him. 'The noble mission of our Order,' he said, 'forbids me to use any weapon but the truth in furthering cosmic utilitarian civilization. No, master trader, I shall not man one of your weapons.'
The trader shrugged. 'So I must take what I get. Good Master Herald, make me a price.'
The Rector said casually: 'I regard this chiefly as a training mission for our novice; the fee will be nominal. Let us say twenty-five per cent of your net as of blastoff from Lyra, to be audited by Journeyman-Herald Alen.'
The trader's howl of rage echoed in the dome of the huge room. 'It's not fair!' he roared. 'Who but you thievish villains with your Order and your catch-'em-young and your years of training can learn the tongues of the galaxy? What chance has a decent merchant busy with profit and loss got to learn the cant of every race between Sinus and the Coalsack?
It's not fair! It's not fair and I'll say so until my dying breath!'
'Die outside if you find our terms unacceptable,' said the Rector. 'The Order does not haggle.'
'Well I know it,' sighed the trader brokenly. 'I should have stuck to my own system and my good father's pump-flange factory. But no! I had to pick up a bargain in gems on Vego! Enough of this—bring me your contract and I'll sign it.'
The Rector's shaggy eyebrows went up. 'There is no contract,' he said.
'A mutual trust between Herald and trader is the cornerstone upon which cosmos-wide amity and understanding will be built.'
'At twenty-five per cent for an unlicked pup,' muttered blackbeard to himself in Cephean.
None of his instructors had played Polonius as Alen, with the seal of the Journeyman-Herald on his brow, packed for blastoff and vacated his cell. He supposed they knew that twenty years of training either had done their work or had not.
The trader taking Alen to the field where his ship waited, was less wise.
'The secret of successful negotiation,' he weightily told his Herald, 'is to yield willingly. This may strike you as a paradox, but it is the veritable key to my success in maintaining the profits of my good father's pump-flange trade. The secret is to yield with rueful admiration of your opponent—but only in unimportant details. Put up a little battle about delivery date or about terms of credit and then let him have his way.
But you never give way a hair's breadth on your asking price unless—'
Alen let him drivel on as they drove through the outer works of the College. He was glad the car was open. For the first time he was being accorded the doffed hat that is the due of Heralds from their inferiors in the Order, and the grave nod of salutation from equals. Five-year-old postulants seeing his brow-seal tugged off their headgear with comical celerity; fellow-novices, equals a few hours before, uncovered as though he were the Rector himself.
The ceremonial began to reach the trader. When, with a final salutation, a lay warder let them through the great gate of the curtain wall, he said with some irritation: 'They appear to hold you in high regard, boy.'
'I am better addressed as 'Herald',' said Alen composedly.
'A plague descend on the College and Order! Do you think I don't know my manners? Of course, I call a Herald 'Herald,' but we're going to be cooped up together and you'll be working for me. What'll happen to ship's discipline if I have to kowtow to you?'
'There will be no problem,' said Alen.
Blackbeard grunted and trod fiercely on the accelerator.
'That's my ship,' he said at length. 'Starsong. Vegan registry—it may help passing through Eyolf's Realm, though it cost me overmuch in bribes. A crew of eight, lazy, good-for-nothing wastrels—Agh! Can I believe my eyes?' The car jammed to a halt before the looming ship and blackbeard was up the ladder and through the port in
