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He gazed at her in silence for a moment. Then, "Oh," he said. "I see."

17

In Achiever's Ship

I

The spaceport on Forested Planet hadn't changed in the time—what was it? A month or two, anyway—since Estrella and Stan landed there, but that wasn't true of the spaceship that was waiting for them. It surely had. It was metallic, all right, but neither human silver nor Heechee blue. The front part of it was a shiny raspberry red. The middle was the pale green of a honeydew melon, and the rear—well, that was hard to describe because it kept changing. And the spacecraft was shaped like nothing so much as some weird species of squid, with little finlets up near the nose and tentacle shapes squirming around on the flickering tail. And it was big.

Achiever was waiting for them on the landing deck, almost hopping with pleasure. "Welcome!" he cried. "To each of you I say, jointly and severally, welcome! As you see, I fortunately have excellent ship now at my disposal. Very new! Very speedy! Also very agile because, as you see, is interstellar spacecraft but is quite capable of transportation within planetary atmosphere as well. Now come, please, come aboard." He led the way, walking dexterously backward the better to carry on a conversation with them. "Is this not quite excellent?" he asked with pride. "Of course it is a completely new ship entirely, this is going without saying. And—" he gave an explosive little titter—"is entirely mine. Now I ask a question of you: Have you comprehended how it is that spacecraft have become so technologically splendid? It is because Outside of Core, in recent centuries of Outside time, spacecraft of this kind have newly been invented— invented, that is to say, by inventors of my kind, not yours, of course. This particular spacecraft is provided to me for me, copilot and two of you being passengers. Reason for which," he added, "relates to requirement that I am to spend much time in proximity with, or to, persons of your ethnicity. This requirement caused by previous errors in my apprehension, of which you know."

Stan didn't know at all. He was wondering whether he really wanted to be part of this nut case's therapy, and wondering even more urgently why the nut case was allowed out without an armed guard, when Estrella spoke up. "So they gave you this ship just to make you better?' she asked.

Achiever flapped his fingers indecisively. "That reason, yes. Other reason also exists, which is to permit the two of you to inspect other planets as proposed by simulated Earth person Sigfrid von Shrink who have liking for you two, you see."

"Huh," Stan said, a little surprised, a little embarrassed. Estrella asked, "Did he pick out the itinerary, too?"

"Did indeed," Achiever told her. "You wish to know names of planets we visit? I take pleasure in telling you. Are five of same. Number one is Extremely Wet Planet in Binary Yellow-White System, where will visit persons including some of your ethnicity. Number two is Small but Dense Planet of Bright Yellow Star Eighty-Three, where will also visit same-ethnicity persons. Number three—"

But Number three meant no more to Stan than the other two. When Achiever had run through the entire list of five he knew no more than he had before. What he did know was that he had become hungry, and when he told Achiever that Achiever was hospitable. "To be sure! Eat now, all three of us, and can continue conversation over meal as is appropriate behavior."

Estrella hung back. "Shouldn't you be flying the ship?"

"I? Not at all. Some person, for purpose of supervising actual flying, yes, but not at this time. Wait. On way to place where eating is to occur we will pause to peek toward operating carrel where what you call flying' occurs. This way. Then this. Now this, and now look," he said, flinging a door open. " 'Flying' is now being accomplished by junior copilot given to me for training and for my convenience as needed, so that we in fact are already in orbit."

And when the person perched before the controls looked up, Stan had just time to think she looked rather familiar before Estrella was crying in his ear, "Salt! Is that really you?"

It was Salt. She waved to them, amiably but regretfully, as Achiever hustled them along. She couldn't leave the "operating carrel," Achiever told them, not because it would make any difference to the flying of the ship— which was all but totally automatic—but because he had ordered it so. "Is quite extremely junior to me," he told them with a deprecatory shrug, "with only as you would say two years one month experience, so requiring additional training by spacecraft's commander, who is me."

Estrella had a question. "Did the fact that she's carrying your child have anything to do with this assignment?"

"Not in the least at all! From my own volition that is so, at any rate. This fact you describe entitles no privileges of any kind for her. Now! Here is feeding room! Let us enjoy excellent meal!"

This was easy to decree, hard to fulfill. However shiny-new this ship was, it lacked the personalized food-delivery service Marc Antony had accustomed them to. When Estrella made a remark to that effect, as tactfully as she could, Achiever was amused. "Food here is entirely edible in all respects," he assured them. "So eat!"

They did. They ate as much of the colorful CHON-food jellies, crunchy loaves and gritty pastes as needed to quench their hunger pangs, but it was without enjoyment. Especially as Achiever chattered on through the meal. "But perhaps I exceed preference for conversing," he said at last, thin lips demurely pursed to show that he didn't really mean it.

"Not at all," Stan lied. "But I've been wondering how long we'll be traveling."

"Oh, not of long duration indeed," Achiever assured him. "All five systems are quite proximate, this being reason same were chosen. So you will not have time to grow displeased with my presence," he finished, braying his horrible Heechee-trying-to-be-human laugh.

Neither Stan nor Estrella responded to that, avoiding the necessity of continuing the conversation by claiming fatigue. Achiever showed them to their quarters.

These also were not up to the standards they had grown used to at the Mica Mountains of Forested Planet. The beds were Heechee litter boxes. The lookplates on the walls were displaying a variety of scenes, some of them quite likely to be of interest to Heechee but wholly meaningless to Estrella and Stan. There were no chairs suitable for human buttocks, either, but Achiever glanced around the room with proprietary pride. "Excellently appointed," he informed them. "Even your baggage already delivered here by handling apparatus, including last-minute item next to drencher."

The box he was indicating was hexagonal, blue and wholly unfamiliar to Stan. He shook his head. "Not ours. All we brought is already there on those chests."

"Oh," Achiever said, scowling heavily, "then must be property belonging to Salt. This will mean negative mark on training record, as I can be sure since I will put it there. Perhaps lapse of this sort can be attributed to fact that her primary training occurred not in conventional places but Outside."

Estrella looked at him with interest. "I didn't know Salt had been Outside."

"Has been indeed, for two years one month as aforesaid. Spent nearly whole of one Core night in this way, returning because of approach of pre-fertilization condition." He shook his head. "You see nature of things which happen when trained by others. Now you sleep, for one arrives early at Extremely Wet Planet in Binary Yellow-White system."

"So," said Stan when the door was closed, sitting precariously on the edge of one of the boxes, "what do you think, Strell? Did we make a mistake coming along with him?"

"Too early to say, hon. Anyway, if we're going to visit human colonies they'll probably have human food, don't you think? And maybe we can borrow some chairs and things from them."