'What is it?'
She returned his whisper. 'He's lying. There's something on his mind. I've read it for days. There could be danger.'
The tisane fumed in an ornamented pot; a sweetish concoction which held a tart freshness and an enticing aroma. They sat in soft chairs, Dumarest between the two women, Cazele facing all three.
Without preamble he said, 'I've heard talk as to your destination. Is it true that you are heading for Earth?'
'If we are?'
'Earth! 'Cazele shook his head. 'That vile place. I beg you to reconsider. You are welcome to stay here. We need you. Our gene pool is too small. After we settled this world too many left and only the weak remained. Our numbers have grown but we need new blood. Provide it and I'll double our previous offer as to land and position.'
Nadine said, 'You could buy sperm. Traders -'
'Are rare. There is little to attract them. Fionnula is not what it was.Thelooshis not in high demand and we have little else to offer. I am being honest with you.' Pausing he added, 'I offer a bargain. Remain here another week. Permit Indira to collect what she is willing to buy – sperm can be frozen against future need. In return load your vessel with all the loosh you can carry.'
'I'll think about it,' said Dumarest. 'I guess Earth can wait.'
'It should be destroyed!' Cazele leaned back in his chair, calmer now, confident he had made a deal. 'Earth! The vilest world in the galaxy!'
'You know it?'
'I know of it,' corrected Cazele. He poured himself more tisane and sat, cup in hand, vapour rising to veil his face. 'A world from which men ran to find other places on which to expiate their sins. A world proscribed. Has none ever warned you not to find it?'
'Yes,' said Dumarest. 'A monk.'
'The Church knows more than it tells. And so do others. You would be wise to heed the warning.'
Zehava said, with explosive impatience, 'This talk is crazy! Earth is just another planet. Most don't even believe it exists. Earl knows where to find it. We go there, get the treasure, leave. That's all there is to it.'
'Treasure? You hope to find treasure?'
'What else?'
'Death,' said Cazele. 'Plague, disease, madness. Horror beyond imagination. Vileness beyond belief.'
Nadine said, 'The legends say otherwise.'
'They are legends. Tales for fools. Who really believes Earth has rivers of gold, roads of precious metals, mountains of grain, lakes of wine? The concept is ridiculous. No sane man would risk his life and fortune searching for such a world. But the converse?' Cazele sipped his tisane. 'There is a morbid streak in us which finds a fascination in things of horror. Ghouls, ghosts, goblins, things which lurk in darkness. Every circus has its freaks. Every carnival its share of grotesque monstrosities. The truth about Earth would be a magnet attracting every diseased mind in the galaxy.'
'The truth?' said Dumarest. 'How can it be determined? How -' He broke off as a dull report echoed in the chamber. 'What is that?'
'Nothing.' Cazele was on his feet, smiling, hands extended in a soothing gesture. 'Some fireworks. A small celebration. You were about to ask a question?'
One forgotten as Dumarest looked at Nadine. 'We're leaving,' he snapped. 'Now!'
Outside it was dark, starlight illuminating the low towers, the shuttered windows. A bright point rose to expand in a glare of light and the rolling thunder of an explosion. Dumarest remembered the missiles from the ship and the panic they had caused. Beneath his hand he felt the structure of the tower, the fretted stone a match for the enigmatic cone on the field.
'Earl! Look!' Zehava pointed at the sky. 'There! On the horizon!'
A patch of cloud or something which could have been smoke. It expanded as he watched, dark against the stars, grim, menacing.
Nadine flinched as more explosions tore the air. Alarms, not fireworks. Cazele had lied and Dumarest guessed why.
'Give me your gun. Run to the ship and have the captain sound the recall. We leave when I give the word.' He turned to Zehava as Nadine obeyed. 'Have our people spread the word then get to the ship. Hurry!'
He ran down a narrow alley and halted at a door beneath a swinging sign. One depicting hands clasped in friendship. The door was locked.
'Open!' His boot crashed against the panel. 'Open this door or I'll smash it in! Open!'
The gun in his hand blasted lead and flame, bullets tearing into the panel, ceasing as it swung open to reveal a scared face, the dim shape of a body. Both vanished as Dumarest lunged through the opening. Beyond lay tables and chairs, the hunched bodies of natives, the arrogant figures of Kaldari.
'Emergency!' The rasp of his voice demanded attention. 'Return to the ship. Pass the word to those who need to know. Move!'
A second tavern then a place filled with soft scents and seductive music, the roar of his gun destroying the sensual atmosphere, his snapped command rising above feminine screams. Then he was running towards the field as the strident blast of the recall rang through the air. Zehava was at the port.
'Stand by to seal,' said Dumarest. 'When I give the word don't hesitate. We'll be taking off immediately.'
In the bridge Chapman turned, scowling, from his controls. 'What's this all about?'
'Trouble.' Dumarest looked at the screen, the dark smear depicted on it, now closer than before. 'They tried to trap us. The reason for the delays. If they hadn't fired the alarms we wouldn't have stood a chance.'
'I don't understand.'
'The pylas aren't what they seem. Neither are the people. We offered them something new.' Dumarest frowned at the screen, the figures between the town and field. Too few and moving too slowly. 'Get ready for take-off.'
'Now? Those people will never get here in time.'
'I'll give them all there is.' Dumarest added, savagely, 'Damn it, captain! Do as I say! Do you want to lose the ship?'
Nadine was with Badwasi at the firing controls. His screens also showed the spreading cloud of darkness. One now almost covering the sky.
'It gives me the creeps,' he said, as Dumarest joined them. 'It's like a hand reaching for us. Something from the unknown.'
'Can you hit it?'
'I can blast the air where it is. You want that?' His hands danced over the controls, converting the screens to register infra-red, sucking in his breath at what they showed. 'Hell! Look at that!'
A cloud of scarlet flecks, moving, dancing, creatures whose body heat registered in burning hues. A host of winged bodies spreading and glowing as if with inner fire. Even as they watched it came closer, becoming a collection of individual points, a blizzard of scarlet snow.
'We can fire,' said Badwasi, 'but it wouldn't do any good. It would be like trying to stop rain by shooting the drops from the air. What the hell is it?'
A swarm. The pylas moving from their nests in the hills. Obeying the instinctive directive which governed their survival.
'They're social insects,' explained Dumarest. 'Like ants or bees, one queen able to lay a multitude of fertile eggs. The natives have become hosts of a kind. The things take blood and give something in return. A symbiote, perhaps, an exchange which gives a doped tranquillity. That's why the people are so vague. But it's more than that. Sometimes they inject an egg. Maybe to breed a new queen. It grows in the stomach. When ready it breaks free. That's why the natives are so scared and hide when they hear the alarm.'
Nadine said, 'Is that what happened to Nigel and the dead girl?'
'The cabin was sealed,' said Dumarest. 'Zehava thought the creature must have slipped inside when Tighe took his walk. That wasn't possible. The cabin was designed to prevent it. The pylas had to have come from inside. The rip in the girl's stomach gave the answer.'
