The savory aroma induced Klairon to taste the eggs, which Bier had expertly doctored with a Sime's idea of spices, before objecting, "Wait a minute! You can't go around deciding other people's futures. Why don't you ask Lowell what he wants?"
Talbert leaned away from the, to him, bitter smell of Klairon's eggs. "I've been thinking about it very much ... what I want to do. Truly, there is no choice that is my own. The Chief Controller, Freihaupt, knows me personally, and I assure you that he did not approve the quitting that I chose. Gleefully will he assign me to the most unpleasant Dispensary available."
He took a breath and stared dejectedly at the empty coffee mug before him. As his right thumb began to worry that invisible glue on his right forefinger, his speech became clearer, "I have come to a crossroads of life and I must take a new direction. Were the choice mine to make, I would stay with the Pebble Beach.
"But the choice is with Controller Freihaupt, for I must once again be meshed with the Sime structure and it is the Controllers who must see that every month there is a QN-1 forme." He continued to stare at the coffee mug with such a woebegone expression, Bier poured him more coffee.
After a moment, Klairon answered between bites, "You want to stay with the Pebble Beach? You want to work here, in this ship ... with me?"
Talbert looked up to meet Klairon's eyes as Bier, coffee pot in one hand, white towel in the other, presided over the table. The silence gathered until Talbert gave an almost imperceptible nod, and a very faint smile played around the edges of Bier's lips. Talbert spoke with soft, almost whistling sibilants.
"Never have I found such a crew as this ... such a ... warm... ship where I feel ... homeness ..."
Klairon put down his fork. "Are you suggesting an Exclusive?" He knew that a close QN-TN match as they obviously were could never live in such confined quarters and still remain apart as they would have to if they each carried outside obligations.
Again, Talbert's nod was almost imperceptible. Bier's smile became a full blown grin. Klairon steepled his fingers and twined tentacles about them in an intricate dance.
"I know Freihaupt pretty well, too. In fact, he was elected Chief Controller because I declined the nomination in his favor. He's a very dedicated worker, but he might agree, if I were to explain that with you and I forming a closed system, he wouldn't be gaining an asset, but he would be losing a liability. He knows I have a Proficiency Rating high enough to insist that every TN-1 he assigns me be a 4+," he raised one eyebrow at Talbert, "like you?"
Talbert blinked assent with the very slightest movement of his head, confirming Klairon's suspicion.
Bier's mouth fell open in surprise. He hadn't the slightest inkling that Talbert was one of those fantastically scarce TN-1s with a Proficiency Rating off the theoretical top of the scale. And that Klairon was high enough on the matching QN-1 scale to pull a 4+ every time if he wanted to, came as a complete shock. Even Farrises rarely climbed that high. He must be at least a 4.300! It was like finding you'd been palling around with a crown prince!
Without taking his eyes off Talbert, Klairon continued to weave intricate patterns with his tentacles. "I haven't been paying my way professionally for more than six years. Freihaupt ought to be glad to get rid of me. Such an arrangement would please me very much ... that is, if it's what you really want?"
"Truly," Talbert's nod was a strong affirmative this time, accentuated by a long blink.
Gingerly, Bier poured Klairon a cup of coffee. A 4.300! "Well, then," he beamed complacently trying not to let too much of his awe show, "it's settled. Now if you two will hurry and fix up the selyn banks so my oven will work again, I have some baking to do for the celebration of Lowell's joining the crew permanently. I'll have him fattened up in no time."
He surveyed Talbert's bony arms with professional appraisal and then turned to Klairon. "We'll have the party just before we leave In Brim for Folteen with that load of Dyei'n Dagasuto cheese."
Even though Klairon was used to Bier's way of getting ahead of events, he was astonished. "Sometimes I wonder who's Captain of this ship. We haven't even repaired the damage and you've already got us a cargo for In Brim-Folteen."
Then he noticed the change in Bier's attitude, thinly masked by words. "Pete, what ... ! Oh, Pete, really! I'm still me. I haven't changed from one minute to the next. You knew I was a Farris. So what if I hold a 4.432. What's so surprising? It's a skill written in my genes. I'm no more responsible for it than I am for the color of my eyes. It's personality that counts."
Bier relaxed a little and essayed an apologetic smile. He needed some time to get used to the idea. He turned to Talbert. "How can you sit there so calmly? If I were you, I'd be jumping for joy."
Talbert sipped his coffee gravely before speaking. "Suspicion was mine. There develops a feel for it ... to know the truly extraordinary touch of a higher rating," he nodded. "Point two one one Rating points in the 4+ range would account. It is not surprising but it is a joy inspiring."
He leveled his somber gaze at Bier. "However, must I remind that I am Dyei'n. A delicate joy is to be contained and savoured. Dyei'n exuberance is scarcely visible, and all the more intense for it. Might you well to learn from the Book of Restraint, a point or two to enliven your life."
Bier nodded. He was familiar with the Dyei'n philosophies, but had never imagined them strong enough to contain human emotion on the scale Talbert must be experiencing.
Klairon squinted, calculating. 4.211! No wonder he'd been so deeply affected as the Inhibitor failed. A 3.99 or less, he could have managed. With one out of a hundred thousand TN-1s rating 4+, what were the odds of this happening to him?
As it turned out Bier wasn't too hasty in assuming success. It took three hours and twenty minutes to hook up the new batteries, thanks to Talbert's rather spectacular skill. By the time they were ready to hop, Klairon had thrown off the last effects of his ordeal and was in top form. It was no strain at all to lengthen both the skips and the jumps until he'd saved them a full day travel time.
The rest of the trip went without incident, save that Klairon was not able to respond to Miss Mandy Wyat, which, of course, elicited a great many comradely suggestions from his shipmates. Especially when they arrived right on schedule to spray the neutralizer into the purplish skies of In Brim, and she insisted that Klairon was the hero of the day.
The inhabitants of this sixth colony of Earth never knew their peril, and Admiral Krantz of the Affiliated Space Navy was so relieved that he added his influence to Klairon's.
The Chief Controller was caught between his cousin, Admiral Krantz, who also happened to be the brother-in-law of Ligen Wyat, and Klairon Farris, the beloved hero of half his supporters. He yielded gracefully and established the utterly unprecedented Exclusive.
Needless to say, it gave the Pebble Beach remarkable range for a small merchant ship, and that made Captain Welch very happy.
They were well on their way to Folteen before Klairon arrived at the idea that he'd ignored the premonition of danger because, subconsciously, he'd known it would turn out to everyone's advantage, including his own, and that he might possibly meet Mandy again some day under other circumstance, a thought which made him very happy.