authorities—on the
The captain's head snapped up. Under that brush of brows his eyes showed a reddish glint.
'You cannot make any Free Trader rise to your will unless it is under charter, and I am not—for all your official clearance!'
'There is the matter of time,' Zurzal pointed out. 'When is your rumored auction—tonight! You have forced that into a rush, which means you need to get planet free very soon. There will be those ready to sniff along your trail and see what they can pick up for themselves.'
The captain did not answer at once. His full-lipped mouth was closed as a trap might spring upon a victim and there was a dusky flush spreading up from the unlatched collar of his tunic to color even that bare dome of skull.
'So—by the thrice-damned rules you force yourselves on board—knowing that I must be accountable for your arrival on Lochan. Very well, you have set up the stars in this game, but perhaps the comets lie in other hands. You will pay—'
'I fully intend to,' the Zacathan returned. 'Full voyage accounts for four.'
'Four?' The captain glanced from Zurzal to Jofre and back again x.as if trying to separate each of those fronting him into a second.
'A party of four. You will find it listed with the port authorities. It has been so listed for a ten days—'
'You were very sure, lizard lord.'
'I have had news of your voyaging for some two planet years, Captain Gosal. Lochan has long been my destination as it has also attracted you.'
The captain spread his hands palm flat on the small table already untidy with a drift of tapes and a speaker.
'Very well. But you will take us as you find us, without complaint. We are no wallowing passenger liner. Your quarters will be tight and you will give vouchers for your own supplies to our steward. Also—the license runs only while you are on board. On Lochan you make your own way, for there the law favors me. I need not detach from this ship any personnel nor equipment which I need for my own use. And all of what we have is so needed. So think about that, lizard lord, before you move in.'
'What if it is as he says?' Jofre asked as they boarded the port flitter to return to the inner city. 'He could dump us in some wilderness and not have any questions asked? Does it work that way?'
'It can. However,' Zurzal did not seem in the least upset by such a dubious glimpse into the future, 'there are other factors. I have made a study of Lochan as far as is possible. Unfortunately, as you know, the discoveries of the single expedition whose path we would follow were lost in the fate which overtook them. But the First-In Scout's report was on record in our own archives and with it similar data gathered by traders such as Gosal, but not having this luck that he has apparently had with the new find of his.
'He may not be willing to provide us with transportation once on planet, but the landing he heads for is known— and there is a port there. It is not manned by off-worlders but there seems to have grown up something of a trading settlement about it. And where there are traders there are those to visit and supply the trade. We have the Jat—'
'Yan? But what has it to do with—?'
'Communication, Jofre. All we must do must be begun by communication. And there have been some hints that certain of the rulers of the rovers in the lands we would visit have been intrigued by the sparse off-world contact which has been. Oh, I believe it truly'—he turned his head to face Jofre squarely and his frill was up, flaring blue-green— 'I was meant to do this—and I shall!' There was an aura about him which Jofre recognized. Just so had it been with an issha-trained when he was oathed for a mission. He could only trust blindly for now that the Zacathan could carry this through and follow his lead—but in reality he had no other choice—he was oathed.
Oddly enough when they had picked up Taynad, Yan, and their baggage and returned to the ship they found a different reception waiting them. Gosal, who was apparently hurried, paused to actually welcome them aboard with a thin veneer of courtesy. They were shown to the two cramped cabins far down in the ship, Taynad and the Jat bunking down in one, Jofre and the Zacathan in the other. The stowing of their baggage took some time and some of it had to be given room in the cargo hold. Jofre expected trouble over that but the crewman who aided him in stowing it away so was ready enough, if not talkative.
Jofre was surprised when the captain, with special invitation, made them free of the other small cabin which served as a gathering place for off-duty members of the crew. He felt it necessary to accompany the Zacathan whenever Zurzal took advantage of that hospitality but he found it almost as claustrophobic as their own quarters.
Gosal seemed to have, now he was in space and as it might be master, changed his opinion of the Zacathan.
He not only willingly answered the other's questions concerning Lochan to the best of his ability, but twice summoned his cargo master and his steward to supply various items which they were the more conversant with, having dealt with the natives for supplies and met with the local traders.
Once free of Wayright the captain was in a good humor, even talking freely about his own good fortune in discovering the new gems which would make his fortune and that of the
'Koris stones now,' Gosal had said at that display. 'They bring a high price—'course that is mainly because they give off scent when one wears them against the skin. The
'Where were these found?' Zurzal asked.
Gosal laughed. 'Now that would be tellin', wouldn't it? Not that I think the likes of you, lizard lord, would be any threat to this deal. But a trader keeps his secrets—they're as good as credit units on the register.'
He and the steward both had stories of the trading parties who came in from the outlands to the port. Though
