Starrigger

it's done, but the animal makes its predators forget it's there. Some extrasensory power, no doubt. Your perception of it gets shunted directly to the preconscious, bypassing the primary perceptual gear. Is that basically the way it works, Twrrril?'

'Yes. We would use different terrrminology, perhaps. But yes.'

'Trouble is, me mrrrllowharrr is very sluggish, which makes it vulnerable when it gets underfoot. Isn't that what happened at the farm?'

I took my eyes from it.

'Darla?'

'Yes. One of the Teelies accidentally stepped on it.'

'We were hoping that's what happened, and that you hadn't become aware of it somehow. Its hold on the mind isn't absolute. We couldn't locate the carcass, but Twrrril convinced us to take a chance and plant another one, this one's mate. We put it on your jacket, which you conveniently left outside your sleeping egg.'

'Why?' was all I could say.

'It leaves a psychic trace, Jake. The Reticulans can follow it anywhere. Even through a potluck portal.'

The alien left and closed the hatch, leaving behind the smell of turpentine and almonds.

'All that nonsense at the restaurant,' I said when my stomach had quieted down. 'It was only to plant that thing on me?'

'Right, and I nearly ran out of chitchat before that thing finally made it over to you, crawling over the floor.'

'Then why the gunplay?'

Wilkes triumphant smile dissolved. 'That…' He grunted. 'That was a mistake. Rory ? the one who drew on you ? is a little dim. Likable, but dim. I mentioned that we wanted to throw a scare into you. To Rory that meant he should wave his gun around. I, uh.had to let him go, of course. Luckily, Darla was there to save the day.' He studied my face, as if watching a seed that he had planted take root.

'I didn't know, Jake,' Darla said in a low voice. 'Not about the mrrrllowharrr. I didn't see the thing.'

'Corey, really,' Vance said deploringly. 'Jake's opinion of my daughter must be low enough. Do you have to rub it in?' To me he said, 'Darla wasn't working for us then.' He turned to her with a thin smile. 'And I'm not even sure she's with us now. Are you, Darla-darling?'

'You know where my loyalties lie. Van,' Darla said resentfully.

'I do? Maybe you'd like to remind me once again.'

'It isn't important. The deal is that I hand over Winnie to you… correction. That was the deal before Winnie disappeared. The deal is now that I help you find her in exchange for leaving Jake alone. I go back to T-Maze with you, using your secret route through Rikki country.' Darla looked at me. 'You were right, Jake. There is a way back from here.'

'But we're not letting it get around,' Wilkes said to me in a stage whisper.

'I know,' I said. 'And I know about the antigeronics you're running into the Outworlds. Neat little scheme, and one hell of a big market to have cornered.'

'Nothing gets past you, does it?' There was a sort of admiring awe in Wilkes' voice. 'Go on, Darla.'

'When we get back, I alert the dissidents to destroy all copies of the map. Anyone who has had anything to do with it will have to go underground, take to the road until the crackdown runs its course. The movement will be hurt, but at least the Authority won't get the Roadmap. Meanwhile, the secret will be safe with us.'

'And what about Winnie?'

'She can be taken back to Hothouse and left with the movement network there. As far as I know, nobody knows about her yet, not even the dissidents. They may have the map,1>ut they aren't aware of its source. I can't be absolutely sure, but it's a good bet even Grigory never realized her significance. He never mentioned her to me.'

'Hmm.' Wilkes brought his palms together and touched both index fingers to his lips. 'We have some problems here. Namely, you yourself are wanted by the Authority. If you're caught, you'd have a hell of a time explaining how you got back from a potluck portal.'

'I won't have to. Nobody saw us shoot it, or knows that we did, except you and your partners.'

'And Grigory.'

'Grigory's dead.'

'Do we know that?'

'I told you what happened on Seven Suns.'

'Yes, and you haven't played your role as grieving widow very convincingly.'

'You must know I signed a life-companionship contract with Grigory for other than personal reasons.'

Vance said, 'When everything is secured back in the Maze, Darla will come back here with me.'

Wilkes brooded. 'All very well and good, but still…'

Somewhere in the room, Sam's key beeped.

'Aren't you going to answer it, Darla?' Vance asked. 'Only polite.'

Darla took it out of her pocket, then threw it across the room to me. 'He should,' she said.

I picked it up and looked at Wilkes.

'Is there a camera on that thing, Jake?'

'Yes.'

'Set it up on that table, will you please? And point it at me.'

I did, and opened the circuit, then sat back down.

'Hello, Corey! Long time no see, and all that merte.'

'Hi, Sam. Your son is our guest.'

'So I gathered. What's up?'

'We want the Eridani creature.'

'Uh-huh. Can't help you, Corey.'

'That's tod bad.'

'Sorry. These sailors down here ought to be able to tell you she hasn't shown up.'

'They were posted after we learned about the girl. She could have brought the creature down before that.'

'Girl?'

'Yes, the sailor-girl Jake recruited to help him hide the creature. Before we knew about it, we assumed Winnie ? is that her name? ? we assumed she was still topside with Jake. And then Jake dragged a red herring in our path. Nice touch.' He turned to me. 'Where in the world did you meet Hogan, of all people?'

'At a literary luncheon,' I said.

Wilkes cackled. 'Anyway. We still want her, Sam. And we're going to get her, or somebody's going to get hurt.'

'Yeah, yeah. Corey, did anyone ever tell you that you were the slimiest piece of merte ever to get flushed into a plasma torch?'

Wilkes eyes flared. 'Yes, several times, and in even more colorful language. Did anyone ever tell you that I was the one who had you killed?'

'You did? How?'

'Oh, it was beautiful. The people who got the contract assured me it was foolproof. The man driving the buggy that ran into you did it deliberately. He had special impact padding, all kinds of anticrash gear. An expert. No one even began to suspect it was anything other than an accident.'

'Congratulations. So what?'

Wilkes mumped a fist into his chest in mock pain. 'Oh, Sam, you strike even from beyond the grave. Here I am, maybe the first murderer ever to have the satisfaction of gloating to his victim after the fact, and I can't get a rise out of you.'

'You're talking to a machine, you know.'

'Am I? I've heard that an Entelechy Matrix transfers a person's soul to a machine.'

'Soul, my ass. Look, let's lose the verbal sparring and get down to cases. Exactly what's going to happen if you don't get Winnie, as if I didn't know?'