“But oh the confusion in that herd when we blundered right into them without so much as a by-your-leave, toroids and ‘normal’ Ghosts scattering out of our path… all because we couldn’t see that we were right in the middle of them!”
“You crazy Eatee!” LaRoque shouted. He shook his fist at Bubbacub. The Pil hissed back but remained still, the fingers of each hand flexing against one another as he watched Jacob.
“The monomolecule was designed to decay just as we were leaving the chromosphere. It slumped in a thin layer of dust on the force field at the rim of the deck, where no one would notice it until Bubbacub could return with Culla and vacuum it up. That’s right, isn’t it, Culla?”
Culla nodded miserably.
Jacob felt distantly pleased that sympathy came as easily as amoral wrath had earlier. A part of him had begun to get worried. He smiled reassuringly.
“That’s okay, Culla. I have no evidence to connect you with anything else. I watched the two of you when you did it and it was pretty dear you were under duress.”
The Pring’s eyes rose. They were very bright. He nodded once again and the chattering from behind the thick lips subsided slowly. Fagin moved closer to the slender E.T.
Donaldson rose from picking up the recording spools.
“I think we’d better make some provisions for custody.”
Helene had already moved to the telephone. “I’m taking care of that now,” she said softly.
Martine sidled up to Jacob and whispered. “Jacob, this is an External Affairs matter now. We should let them handle it from here.”
Jacob shook his head. “No. Not just yet. There’s a bit more that needs out.”
DeSilva put down the phone. “They’ll be here shortly. Meanwhile, why don’t you go on, Jacob? Is there more?”
“Yes. Two items. One is this.”
From the bag on the table he pulled Bubbacub’s psi helmet. “I suggest this be kept in storage. I don’t know if anyone else remembers, but Bubbacub was wearing it and staring at me when I warped out aboard the Sunship. Being made to do things makes me mad, Bubbacub. You shouldn’t have done it.”
Bubbacub made a gesture with his hand that Jacob didn’t try to interpret.
“Finally, there’s the matter of the death of chimpanzee Jeffrey. Actually, it’s the easiest part.
“Bubbacub knew almost everything there was to know about the Galactic technology in Sundiver; the drives, the computer system, the communications… aspects which Terran scientists haven’t even scratched.
“It’s only circumstantial evidence that Bubbacub was working on the laser communications pylon, spurning Dr. Kepler’s presentation, when Jeff’s largely remote-controlled ship blew up. It wouldn’t convict in a court of law, but that doesn’t matter since Pila have extraterritoriality and all we can do is deport him.
“Another thing that’d be hard to prove would be the hypothesis that Bubbacub planted a false lead in the Space Identification System… a system linked directly to the Library at LaPaz… creating a false report that LaRoque was a Probationer. Still, it’s pretty clear that he did. It was a perfect red herring. With everyone sure that LaRoque did it, nobody bothered to really do a detailed double-check of the telemetry on Jeff’s dive. Right now I believe I recall that Jeff’s ship went into trouble almost exactly when he turned on his closeup cameras, a perfect delayed trigger if that was the technique Bubbacub used. Anyway, we’ll probably never know. The telemetry is probably missing or destroyed by now.”
Fagin fluted. “Jacob, Culla asks that you stop. Please do not embarrass Pil Bubbacub any further. It would serve no purpose.”
Three armed crewmen appeared at the door. They looked at Commandant deSilva expectantly. She motioned for them to wait.
“Just a moment,” Jacob said. “We haven’t dealt with the most important part, Bubbacub’s motives. Why would an important sophont, a representative of a prestigious galactic institution, indulge in theft, forgery, psychic assault, and murder?
“Bubbacub had personal grudges against both Jeffrey and LaRoque, to start with. Jeffrey represented an abomination to him, a species that had been uplifted a mere hundred years before and yet dared to talk back. Jeff’s ‘uppityness’ and his friendship with Culla contributed to Bubbacub’s anger.
“But I think he hated what chimpanzees represent most of all. Along with dolphins, they meant instant status for the crude, vulgar human race. The Pila had to fight for half a million years to get to where they are. I guess Bubbacub resents us having it ‘easy.’
“As for LaRoque, well, I’d say Bubbacub just didn’t like him. Too loud and pushy, I suppose…”
LaRoque sniffed audibly.
“And perhaps he was insulted when LaRoque suggested that the Soro might have once been our Patrons. The ‘upper crust’ in Galactic society frowns on species who abandon their clients.”
“But those are just personal reasons,” Helene objected. “Haven’t you got anything better?”
“Jacob,” Fagin began. “Please…”
“Of course Bubbacub had another reason,” Jacob said. “He wanted to end Sundiver in a way that would put into disrepute the concept of independent research and boost the status of the Library. He made it seem that he, a Pil, was able to make contact where humans weren’t, concocted a story that made Sundiver out to be a bungled operation. Then he faked a Library report to verify his claims about the Solarians and ensure that there would be no more dives!
“It was the failure of the Library to come up with anything that probably irked Bubbacub the most. And it’s faking that message that’ll get him in the deepest trouble back at home. For that they’ll punish him worse than we ever would for killing Jeff.”
Bubbacub rose slowly. He carefully brushed his fur flat and then clicked his four-fingered hands together.
“You are ver-y smart,” he said to Jacob. “But se-man-tics bad… aim too high. You build too much on small stuff. Hu-mans shall al-ways be small. I shall speak your kaka Terran tongue no more.”
With that he removed the Vodor from around his neck and tossed it idly on the table.
“I’m sorry, Pil Bubbacub,” deSilva said. “But it appears that we’re going to have to restrict your movement until we get instructions from Earth.”
Jacob half expected the Pil to nod or shrug but the alien performed another movement that somehow conveyed the same indifference. He turned away and marched stiffly out the door, a small stubby, proud figure leading the large human guards.
Helene deSilva picked up the bottom of the “Lethani relic.” She weighed it carefully in her hands, thoughtfully. Then her lips tightened and she threw the object with all her might against the door.
“Murderer,” she cursed.
“I’ve learned my lesson,” Martine said slowly. “Never trust anyone over thirty million.”
Jacob stood in a daze. The exalted feeling was draining away too quickly. Like a drug, it left behind it an emptiness — a return to rationality but a loss of totality as well. Soon he would begin to wonder if he had done right in releasing everything at once in an orgiastic display of deductive logic.
Martine’s remark made him look up.
“Not anyone?” he asked.
Fagin was nudging Culla into a chair. Jacob went over to him.
“I’m sorry, Fagin,” he said. “I should have warned you, discussed it with you first. There may be… complications to this thing, repercussions that I didn’t think out.” He brought a hand to his forehead.
Fagin whistled softly.
“You unleashed that which you have been restraining, Jacob. I do not understand why you have been so reticent to use your skills, of late, but in this instance justice demanded all of your vigor. It is fortunate that you relented.