Exiles of the Stars

He went back and forth, his strides sure and balanced now. And then he paused by the chair, put both his hands to his head, and took off the grotesque crown, dropping it to clang on the seat as he threw it away.

His bared skull was hairless, like that of the body in the freeze box. But he ran his hands back and forth across the skin there as if he wanted to reassure himself that the crown was gone.

'I did it!' There was triumph in that. 'Just as you thought I could, Krip. And if I can—they can too!'

Chapter Sixteen

KRIP VORLUND

'Who arethey ?' Foss asked.

'Lidj—the Patrol officer—there and there!' He faced the outer transparent wall of the room, pointed right and left to those other two aliens on display. 'I saw them—saw them being brought in, forced to exchange. Just as was done with me!'

'I wonder why such exchanges are necessary,' Thanel said. 'If we could restore this body, why didn't they just restore their own? Why go through the business of taking over others?'

Griss was rubbing his forehead with one hand. 'Sometimes—sometimes I know things—things they knew. I think they value their bodies too highly to risk them.'

'Part of their treasures!' Foss laughed harshly. 'Use someone else to do their work for them, making sure they have a body to return to if that substitute suffers any harm. They're as cold-blooded as harpy night demons! Well, let's see if we can get Lidj and that man of yours out of pawn now.'

Borton leaned over the edge of the chair, reaching for the crown Griss had thrown there.

'No!' In a stride Griss closed the distance between them, sent the crown spinning across the floor. 'In some way that is a com, giving them knowledge of what happens to the body—'

'Then, with your breaking that tie,' I pointed out, 'they—or he—will be suspicious and come looking—'

'Better that than have him force me under control again without my knowing when that might happen!' Griss retorted.

If the danger he seemed to believe in did exist, he was right. And we might have very little time.

Borton spoke first. 'All the more reason to try to get the others free.'

'Which one is Lidj?' Foss was already going.

'To the left.'

That meant the bird-headed crown. We returned to the anteroom. Griss threw open one of the chests as if he knew exactly what he was looking for. He dragged out a folded bundle and shook it out, to pull on over his bare body a tightly fitting suit of dull black. It was all of a piece including footgear, even gloves, rolled back now about the wrists, and a hood which hung loose between the shoulders. A press of finger tip sealed openings, leaving no sign they had ever existed.

There was something odd about that garment. The dull black seemed to produce a visual fuzziness, so that only his head and bared hands were well-defined. It must have been an optical illusion, but I believed that with the gloves and hood on he might be difficult to see.

'How did you know where to find that?' Borton was watching him closely.

Griss, who had been sealing the last opening of his clothing, stopped, his finger tip still resting on the seam. There was a shadow of surprise on his handsome face.

'I don't know—I just knew that it was there and I must wear it.'

Among them all, I understood. This was the old phenomenon of shape-changing—the residue (hopefully the verysmall residue ) of the earlier personality taking over for some actions. But there was danger in that residue. I wondered if Griss knew that, or if we would have to watch him ourselves lest he revert to the alien in some more meaningful way.

Thanel must have been thinking along the same lines, for now he demanded: 'How much do you remember of alien ways?'

Griss's surprise was tinged with uneasiness.

'Nothing! I was not even thinking—just that I needed clothing. Then I knew where to find it. It— I just knew —that's all!'

'How much else would he 'just know,' I wonder?' Borton looked to Thanel rather than to Griss, as if he expected a better explanation from the medic.

'Wasting time!' Foss stood by the door. 'We have to get Lidj and Harkon! And get out before anyone comes to see what happened to Griss.'

'What about my cap?' I asked.

Thanel had passed that to the other Patrolman. And in this place I wanted all the protection I could get. The other held it out to me and I settled it on my head with a sigh of relief, though with it came the sensation of an oppressive burden.

We threaded along that very narrow passage to the next chamber, where the alien with the avian crown half- reclined on the couch. Having freed one 'exchange' prisoner, I now moved with confidence. And it was not so difficult, as Juhel Lidj had greater esper power.

Then we retraced our way and released Harkon also. But I do not believe that Borton was entirely happy over such additions to our small force. They had put aside their crowns, and they were manifestly eager to move against those who had taken their bodies. But whether they would stand firm during a confrontation, we could not