“Knew it!” he laughed. “Thought you could fool me with that silly hat, eh? What are you two up to now?”
The Sprite face smiled politely. But a deep, gravelly voice inquired from behind the captain’s ankles, “Shall I mangle this churl’s leg, Hantis?” and a large mouth with sharp teeth in it closed on his calf, though the teeth didn’t dig in immediately.
Mouth and teeth! he thought, startled. Tactile impressions were no part of the shape-changing process! Why, then -
“No, Pul,” the Sprite said. “Let go his leg! This must be Captain Pausert…” It giggled suddenly. “Goth showed me the imitation she can do of me, Captain. It’s a very good one… May I have my hat back again?”
So that was how he learned that Nartheby Sprites and grik-dogs really existed, that Goth had hastily copied the images of two old friends to produce fake shapes for the Leewit and herself when they were transported into Moander’s citadel, and that Hantis and Pul were the passengers they were to smuggle past the Imperial intelligence agents on the lookout for them to the Empress Hailie…
The Venture took off on schedule. The first six hours of the trip were uneventful -
“Somebody to see you, Captain,” Goth’s voice announced laconically over the intercom. “I’ll send ’em forward!”
“All right… HUH?”
But the intercom had clicked off. He swung up from the control chair, came out of the room as Vezzarn and Hulik do Eldel walked into the control section from the passage. They smiled warily. The captain put his hands on his hips.
“What-are-you-two-doing-on-this-ship?” he inquired between his teeth.
“Blood in his eye!” Vezzarn muttered uneasily. He glanced at Hulik. “You do the talking!”
“May I explain, Captain?” Hulik asked.
“Yes!” said the captain.
Both she and Vezzarn, the do Eldel said, had discovered they were in a somewhat precarious situation after the Venture landed on Emris. Somebody was keeping them under surveillance.
“Oh!” the captain said. He shook his head. “Sit down, Miss do Eldel. You, too, Vezzarn. Yes, of course you were being watched. For your own protection, among other reasons—”
The disappearance of Yango and his Sheem Robot, while en route through the Chaladoor on the Venture, had not required explanation to authorities anywhere. Pirate organizations did not complain to the authorities when one of their members disappeared in attempting an act of piracy. Nevertheless, the authorities of Green Galaine were informed that a man, who represented himself as the Agandar and very probably was that notorious pirate chieftain, had tried to take over the Venture and was now dead. It was valuable information. With the menace of Manaret removed, civilized worlds in the area could give primary consideration to removing the lesser but still serious menace of the Agandar’s pirates. When his organization learned the Venture had landed safely on Emris and that no one answering Yango’s description had come off it, they’d wanted to know what had happened.
“…so we’ve all been under surveillance,” the captain concluded. “So was the ship until we took off. If pirate operators had started prowling around you or myself, they might have given Emris intelligence a definite lead to the organization.”
Hulik shook her head. “We realized that, of course,” she said. “But it wasn’t only Emris intelligence who had us under surveillance. Those pirate operators have been prowling around. So far they’ve been a bit too clever to provide the intelligence people with leads.”
“How do you know?” the captain asked.
She hesitated, said, “An attempt was made to pick me up the night after I disembarked from the ship. It was unsuccessful. But I knew then it would be only a matter of time before they’d be questioning me about Yango. I don’t have as much trust as you do in the authorities, Captain Pausert. So I got together with Vezzarn who was in the same spot.”
“Nobody’s been bothering me,” the captain said.
“Of course nobody’s bothered you,” said Hulik. “That’s why we’re here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Captain, whether you’re a Karres witch or not, you were suspected of being one. Now that the Agandar has disappeared while trying to take your superdrive from you, there’ll be very little doubt left that you are, in fact, the kind of witch it’s best not to challenge. The Venture is at present the safest place for Vezzarn and myself to be. While we’re with you, the Agandar’s outfit won’t bother us either.”
“I see,” the captain said after a moment. He considered again. “Well, under the circumstances I can’t blame you for stowing away on the ship. So you’ll get a ride to the Empire and we’ll let you off somewhere there. You’ll be far enough away from the Agandar’s pirates then.”
“Perhaps,” said the do Eldel. “However, we have what we feel is a better idea.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re experienced agents. We’ve been doing some investigating, And we’ve concluded that the business which is taking you into the Empire is a kind that might make it very useful for you to have two experienced agents on hand. Meanwhile we could also be of general service around the ship.”
“You want me to hire you on the Venture?” said the captain, surprised.
“That,” Hulik acknowledged, “was our idea.”
The captain told her he’d give it thought, reflectively watched the two retire from the section. “Goth?” he said, when he’d heard the compartment door close.
Goth appeared out of no-shape invisibility on the couch. “They’re in a spot,” the captain said. “And experience is what we’re short on, at that. What do you think?”
“Ought to be all right,” Goth said. “They’ll go all out for you if you let ’em stay. You kind of got Vezzarn reformed.” She rubbed her nose tip pensively. “And besides…”
“Besides what?”
“Had a talk with Maleen and a predictor she works with just before we left,” Goth told him.
“Yes?”
“They can’t figure you too far. But they got it worked out you’re getting set to do something — and it could get sort of risky.”
“Well,” said the captain helplessly, “somehow we do always seem to be doing something that turns out sort of risky.”
“Uh-huh. Wouldn’t worry too much, though. We come out all right… Before you start to do that, they said, you’re going to get together a gang to do it with.”
“A gang?”
“Whoever you need. And that was to happen pretty soon!”
The captain reflected, startled. “You mean that in some way I might have got Hulik and Vezzarn to stow away on the ship?”
“Could be,” Goth nodded.
He shook his head. “Well, I just can’t see — What’s that?”
But he knew as he asked… A distant, heavy, droning sound, approaching with incredible rapidity. Goth licked her lips quickly. “Egger Route!” she murmured. “Wonder who…”
The droning swelled, crashed in on them, ended abruptly.
The Leewit lay curled up on her side on the floor, eyes shut.
The captain scooped her up, was looking around for something to bundle her up in again when Goth said sharply, “She’s waking up! Just hang on hard! This one won’t be too bad—”