Richard and Gay exchanged eloquent looks. Charrgh-Captain had been the Patriarchy observer assigned to accompany their small human-Wunderkzin team to the last stasis box to be found.
'He evidently appreciates your resourcefulness,' the puppeteer went on. 'More, by the terms of the treaty they are only obliged to accept one observer, but he said you were a mated team. Unasked concessions like that from a kzin of the Patriarchy, an officer very much of the old school, are too rare to be lightly set aside.'
Richard and Gay nodded. They and Charrgh-Captain had been through a memorable time together.
'This time,' the general said, 'it's been the kzinti's turn to find a stasis box. You will be the human observers attached to a kzinti expedition.
'Of course you don't have to go,' he went on. 'But the pay will be good.'
'For sharing a ship with a crew of kzinti of the Patriarchy? It had better be!' Richard exclaimed.
'For sharing a ship with a crew of kzinti, and for facing a possibly very dangerous unknown at the end of it. But you know that better than I can tell you.
'Anyway,' said the general, 'it appears the kzinti are abiding by the treaty like good little kitties. They have informed us of the discovery, have given you time to join them, and, of course, have agreed that you will have diplomatic status and immunity. Your reserve ranks will also be respected, so you will be entitled to fighters' privileges, though I hope it won't be necessary for you to invoke them.
'The box will be opened where it is, not taken to Kzin-aga. In some ways that has problems, but both sides insisted on it, neither trusting the other, and it's written in. High Admiral Zzarrk-Skrull has given his Name as his Word that the box has not been surreptitiously opened already and then closed again for our benefit. I don't need to tell you to try discreetly to confirm that if you can,' he said, telling them anyway. ARMs. 'But I think the kzinti are genuinely wary about bringing home stasis boxes to open, and in this case I think their paranoia is justified- pretty much everybody's had problems in that direction in the past, as you probably know. There's no reason why it shouldn't all go according to the protocols.'
'Charrgh-Captain,' said the puppeteer-its pronunciation of the kzinti Name was as perfect as its contralto Interworld-'has assured us that he is aware of human requirements and comforts. You will have your own cabin and kitchen.'
'I don't suppose the job includes having bombs implanted in us in case the box turns out to hold something really dangerous?' asked Richard.
'Good heavens! How do you get such terrible ideas?' said the puppeteer convincingly.
'Working with ARMs. They'll be doing a full scan on us, huh?' he asked the general.
The puppeteer looked itself in the eyes. The general said nothing, and pointedly looked at Gay.
'How big is this stasis box?' asked Gay, very politely.
'Large, but much smaller than the last one you investigated. Too small for there to be anything, ah, comparable inside.-I don't think the kzinti really mind that either.-It's quite a long trip, but not so long that you'll have to go into coldsleep again. Twenty-five light-years. A matter of about eighty days each way, counting in STL acceleration and deceleration time. The actual retrieval and opening of the box shouldn't take long.'
'And the pay will be?'
The general named a figure.
'That's hard to refuse,' said Richard. 'We could always do with more capital.'
'Yes, I'd heard you'd taken up farming. But land's still cheap on Wunderland, isn't it?'
'Yes, but machines aren't. Farming needs sophisticated robotics to be competitive. Well, we'll think about it.'
'Don't think too long,' said the general. 'Others would jump at the chance-making a name for themselves, a big hatful of stars in the bank.'
'Do tell. How many others are there in this unruly mob of volunteers? Within a factor of two, say?'
'Humans are brave,' said the puppeteer. 'And curious. Many would jump at the opportunity.'
'But you wouldn't? You don't feel like going yourself, by any chance?' Richard asked innocently. If he had not known the puppeteer's heads contained no brains, its brain-an extremely large one-being located under a reinforced bony hump between its shoulders, he might have sworn a look of horror crossed the vapid faces. Certainly the creature flinched, and seemed to stop itself going into a crouch only with a great effort of will.
Richard felt a faint stab of guilt. Teasing a puppeteer about danger was too easy to be any achievement. Still, if the puppeteers were extremely averse to risking their own necks, they seemed to have few qualms about having others risk theirs. He waved a hand in apology and reassurance. This puppeteer had, by the standards of its kind, done a very brave thing by walking abroad on Wunderland at all, even if this was only a hologram of it. It would have to be barking mad, of course, which would make so much courage easier for it. All sane puppeteers had fled Known Space long before.
'There weren't many qualified volunteers,' the general said, oblivious to the exchange; an ARM's usual ration of empathy would be deemed a shortage if the same amount were detected in a brick.
'It does seem like a pretty narrow window of qualification,' Richard observed. 'Smart enough to do a good job, but dumb enough to agree to it?'
The puppeteer looked itself in the eyes again, and the general said brusquely, 'The expedition leaves from Kzin-aga. There's a commercial flight there leaving in three days.'
The puppeteer added hopefully, 'You may also expect salvage fees for anything our distribution network may safely market.'
'As I said, we'll think about it.'
When they had privacy again, Gay shoved him in the shoulder. 'How come I had to be the respectable one?' she said, laughing.
'Because I'm no good at it?' Richard suggested.
'Standard procedure will be followed,' said Charrgh-Captain. 'There is a telepath with us. The instant the box is opened he must probe it. Should it contain live Slavers, experience suggests it will take them at least a few moments to orient themselves. In those moments Telepath must detect them and we must destroy them.
'Your cabin!' he announced, flinging open a kzin-scale door with a grand gesture. 'Spacious enough, I take it? It is of course Hero-sized!'
'Thank you,' said Gay. Charrgh-Captain had obviously devoted some thought to making it not uncomfortable. Even the light was brighter and bluer than the kzinti used for themselves, and the cabin somewhat warmer than kzinti liked. Kzinti, though masters of gravity control, officially eschewed the decadent human luxury of sleeping plates, but a Hero-sized bunk made more than a double bed for humans. The monsters which Heroes battled and bloodily slew in the bulkhead pictures were not human or even simian-quite a rare piece of cultural sensitivity for kzinti interior decor. Marks on the bulkhead, however, suggested some less-tactful decorations might have been recently removed. There was also a versatile human-type kitchen/recycler and a library, part of the basic- maintenance human autodoc.
'The kzin is a generous host,' said Richard.
'I had some of your personnel from the embassy to advise.' Charrgh-Captain's ears twitched, corresponding to a slightly mischievous smile. 'Apart from my previous experiences of you and other humans. You will note I am returning you the compliment of providing a lockable door. Unfortunately, in preparing your comfort there was no time to alter the sanitary facilities to human scale. You will have to sit and balance carefully, I think, if you do not want to fall backwards and down into the waste turbines. And here is a facility for water to immerse yourself-a sho-urr.'
'You have done us proud.' And had your little joke. But things could be a lot worse.
'We are companions,' said Charrgh-Captain. 'In a companionship sealed by bonds that will not be broken lightly. In any case, this is a large ship, with a small crew. We all like what you call elbow room, and here we can be generous with living space.'
Yes, thought Richard, you kzinti always build ships larger than you need-as though you just might want them for something else one day. I'm sure this one is a lot more intricately subdivided than a simple trader needs to be, too. And lots of mountings and installations for very high-energy signaling devices, just in case your message laser fails, of course. Aloud he said: 'How small a crew, Honored Charrgh-Captain?'
'Myself, a weapons officer who is second-in-command, two flyer/watchkeepers, a Slaverexpert, two engineers, four troopers, and the telepath.'
Twelve kzinti. If it comes to a fight over the stasis box, we wouldn't stand much chance against that lot. I don't
