The Third Lynx

'You think to find the sculptures there?'

'If they're there, we'll get them back,' I promised. 'Which brings up my third request.'

'Your third request?' the Chahwyn asked, sounding confused.

'After reinstatement and the truth,' I said to him. 'Request three is that I want a gun.'

'Impossible,' the Chahwyn said flatly. 'No weapons are allowed inside the Tube.'

'Of course they are,' I asked. 'You have one.'

The room went a dark gray shade of silence. The Chahwyn's eyes darted to Bayta's, turned back to me. 'Explain,' he said, his voice right.

'You Chahwyn were designed by the Shonkla-raa to be incapable of aggression, which is why you bred the Spiders to run your Quadrail for you,' I said. 'It stands to reason that you wouldn't have ventured out into the big bad universe without some way of protecting yourself.'

'That does not imply a weapon,' he said stiffly. 'I have Spiders to protect me.'

'Who are as useless in a fight as you are,' I said. 'No, you've got some kind of weapon, all right. I want one, too.'

He looked at Bayta, and once again the two of them lapsed into a brief telepathic conference. 'Actually, I'd venture to say you almost don't have a choice anymore,' I said into the silence. 'The Modhri already suspects I'm being allowed to carry a weapon aboard the trains. If and when he gets desperate enough to jump me, I'd better be holding something heftier than a bluff. Otherwise, scratch me, scratch Bayta, and scratch any chance of using any other bluffs against him. Ever.'

The Chahwyn's eyes came back to me. 'It cannot be allowed,' he said.

'Oh, I'll bet it can,' I cajoled. 'Come on, at least let me see what the thing looks like.'

For a long minute he sat stewing in indecision. Then, reluctantly, he reached somewhere inside his toga and pulled out a device that looked remarkably like a set of brass knuckles made of antiqued pewter. 'It's a neural shock weapon called a kwi,' he said, holding it out for my scrutiny. 'A relic of the war against the Shonkla-raa.'

'What does it do?' I asked.

'It has two settings, each with three levels,' he explained, indicating a pair of spots on the weapon. 'It can either create incapacitating pain or bring about unconsciousness for up to six hours.'

'Scope and range?'

'We believe it will work against any oxygen-breathing being, and up to a distance of perhaps forty or fifty meters.'

Not much range, as such things went. Still, it was better than nothing. And the any oxygen-breather part was definitely promising. 'Will the knock-out setting take out a walker's polyp colony?' I asked, just to make sure.

His face puckered. Not just the area around his mouth, but his whole face. 'We are fairly certain that it will,' he said. 'But we haven't yet tried it against any living beings.'

An untested weapon. Terrific. 'Well, the things apparently worked back during the war,' I pointed out. 'Close enough. Wrap it up—I'll take it.'

'Certainly you joke,' he said, tucking the kwi out of sight again. 'As you have already said, this is my single defense against danger.'

'My apologies' I said. 'In that case, I'll make do with your backup piece.'

'My what?'

'Your backup weapon,' I said. 'The one you keep hidden in your tender in case the bad guys manage to take this one away from you.'

The Chahwyn's face rippled again. 'Would you care to tell me exactly where the other weapon is hidden?'

'I don't know the layout in there,' I reminded him. 'But it'll be somewhere within arm's reach of the most valuable thing you have.' I paused, considering. 'At a guess, it's near your map of the Quadrail system. The one that includes all these sidings, your new home system, and any other secret hideaways you have stashed around the galaxy.'

He stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. 'You're very sure of yourself and your conclusions, aren't you, Mr. Compton?'

'If you mean am I good at what I do, yes,' I said. 'That's why you hired me in the first place.'

He looked at Bayta, and then stood up. As he did so, and in perfect unison, the two Spiders behind him also straightened a bit. 'Come.' He walked to the door, the two Spiders deftly inserting themselves between him and me, and we all headed outside.

We passed our truncated train, and I got a glimpse of Morse's face as he peered between the legs of a Spider who had taken up guard position directly outside the baggage car door. If Morse had been despondently clutching the nearest legs it would have been the spitting image of a dit rec prison drama scene, and it was all I could do to resist calling out something about the governor and a pardon.

The Chahwyn noticed Morse, too, and the door abruptly irised closed.

We continued forward to the tender. The door irised open at our approach, and the Chahwyn disappeared inside. Bayta didn't hesitate, but followed him in, so I did as well.

The interior layout was the same as that of the tender we'd ridden earlier, except that the forward set of bunks had been replaced by a workstation and a living area. The Chahwyn went to a wardrobe set against one of the side walls, opened it, and from a hidden compartment in the side withdrew another of the kwi weapons. He turned, and with only a little hesitation handed it to me. 'Here,' he said. 'Do not lose it.'

'Thank you,' I said, trying it on. The thing was heavier than I'd expected, but not unreasonably so. The adjustment knobs were within convenient thumb range. 'Which of these is which?'

'The left-side switch allows you to choose between pain and unconsciousness,' he said. 'Left is for pain. The right-side switch controls intensity, lowest at the left. Squeeze the grip to activate.'

'Got it, I said, adjusting it for full-power unconsciousness. Might as well have it ready to go. 'Don't worry, I promise not to misuse it.'

'I'm certain you won't,' he said gravely. 'Because it is telepathically activated.'

I froze with the kwi halfway to my pocket. 'What?' I asked carefully.

'It must be activated before use by either Bayta or a Spider,' he explained, and I could swear there was a hint of malicious amusement in his voice. I'd managed to talk him out of a forbidden weapon, but the last laugh was going to be his. 'Once it is activated, you may use it at will.'

'And how many shots will I get before it has to be reactivated?' His face puckered again. 'I don't know,' he said. 'We haven't yet—'

'Tried it on anyone,' I interrupted. 'Right—I forgot. I'll be sure to let you know how it works. Come on, Bayta. Time we were getting back.'

The Spider standing guard outside our car stepped aside as we approached, and the door irised open. 'About time,' Morse said as we entered, the door closing again behind us. 'Who in bloody hell was that?'

'Who was who?' I asked. Beneath us, the floor rocked slightly as we got under way.

'Don't be cute,' he growled. 'That alien. I've never seen one like that before.'

'Who, Fred?' I asked. 'He's just a Shorshic trying out a new Halloween costume. Don't worry about it.'

'Compton—'

'The important thing is that we've now got a plan,' I said. 'You want to hear it, or not?'

'Please, don't keep me in suspense,' he said sarcastically.

'For starters, we're not going to make the exchange at Terra Station,' I said, pulling out my reader and keying for my Quadrail system map. 'We're going to do it at the Nemuti world of Laarmiten.'

'Why?' Morse asked.

'Because that's where the Lynx is going to end up anyway,' I said. 'We might as well make it easy for them.' I paused, as if weighing how much I should tell him. 'Besides, we already have a friend on the ground there,' I added, remembering what I'd put on Fayr's altered message chip.

'You seem to have friends all over the galaxy,' he said. 'Just how big an organization are you part of, anyway?'

'I have no idea,' I said. It was even the truth, for a change. 'There's a train change coming up at Trivsdal a little over forty hours from now. Instead of continuing on down the main line toward Terra, we'll switch to the