“I know.” Ray tried to think. “Call Zelk. Have her call out Faber’s teammates. They know what he smells like, and they’ll have an easier time finding him than we would.”
“Good idea. They can track him down like bloodhounds.” She went inside to call Zelk.
The medical team arrived a half hour later, followed by Zelk and another kya. Ray stayed outside to speak with the kya while Elizabeth took the doctor and his assistant into the dorm. “Is anyone looking for Faber yet?” Ray asked.
“Coach Znayu and the team are on his trail,” Zelk’s companion said.
Zelk sniffed in agreement. “Bennett, this is my husband, Hraj,” she said. “Being with the police, I should say Leading Investigator Hraj. Hearing about this problem, and connecting it with other things, Hraj was a bit suspicious.”
“More than a bit,” Hraj said. “Talking with my sweeter scent, she told me a few things that smell peculiar. Let’s try to sniff out some clues.”
Ray followed Hraj around, and found that he had spoken literally. He sniffed the plates and cups scattered around the lobby and patio, ignoring the unpleasant odors with the hardened sensibilities of a professional. After finding something odd in the French fries, Hraj went into the kitchen and inspected several containers of food. “These have both been contaminated with knotvine extract,” Hraj said at last, pointing to a bottle of catsup and a plastic jug of vegetable oil.
“ ‘Knotvine extract,’ ” Ray said. “A few weeks ago Faber ate some by mistake, while the bagdrag team was on a training run.”
“Ah,” Hraj said. “That could narrow our lists of suspects. Someone at the run may have mentioned it to a friend who wanted to incapacitate your people.”
Zelk sniffed at the containers. “I only smell human scents on these bottles.”
“Having double-checked them, I agree,” her husband said. “Whoever poisoned them must have had enough sense to wear scent-proof gloves. And similar shoes; I don’t smell anything but human footprints in here.”
“Being so, that suggests someone with the intelligence of a college student,” Zelk told Ray. “Assuming that, we’ll have a smaller list of suspects.”
“I understand,” Ray said with a sigh. “I hope this won’t cause any trouble for the university.”
“Not as much trouble as I’ll make for whoever did this.” Her eyes narrowed to vindictive slits. “I think I can promise our network friends at least one genuine fur coat...”
Hraj began to question Zelk about possible troublemakers among the student body. Ray went into the lobby, where he helped Jones and her team move into some of the dorm’s unoccupied rooms. With that done, Ray returned to the lobby just in time to see Faber enter with one of his teammates. “Hey, Bennett,” Faber said, while the kya player suddenly retreated from the dorm’s stench. “Tsui tells me the whole team is out looking for me. What’s up?”
“Everyone who was at the barbecue came down with food poisoning,” Ray said. He felt relieved. It suddenly occurred to him that if Faber had taken ill, he would have missed the Big Game. “We were afraid you might be out dying in the bushes.”
Faber looked blanker than usual. “ ‘Dying’? From a little knotvine?”
Ray felt uneasy. “How do you know what they had?”
“Uh, just a guess. I mean, that’s what nailed me, right?”
Before Ray could answer, Hraj and Zelk stepped into the lobby. Their muzzles twitched as they caught Faber’s scent. “Your scent is strong and fresh on the poisoned container,” Hraj said. “Being so, can you explain why you handled it?”
“Better yet,” Ray said, “Can you explain why you missed the barbecue?”
“I cut out because those poindexters don’t like me,” Faber said. “I didn’t put nothing in any bottles.”
Hraj’s nostrils flared. “I said ‘container,’ singular. How did you know the poison was in more than one bottle?”
“Hey, it was just a gag!” Faber protested. “I was just blowing off some steam, they’ve had me working too hard, and anyway a few days of the trots will serve them right.”
Ray started to say something cutting, then decided Faber wasn’t worth it. Hraj spoke for him. “You’re under arrest. Come along.” Faber started to protest, a move which ended when Hraj put a hand on the pistol half-embedded in his waist fur. The investigator left with his prisoner.
Ray stepped outside the door, where Zelk had gone to escape the heavy odors. “Faber did it,” Ray said. “It was his idea of a joke.”
“Ideas aren’t his strong point.” She exhaled in disgust. “Doing that, I’ll have to expel him. And there goes the contract, and the university’s finances.”
“Maybe I can still work something out,” Ray said. “Can you tell me what a Kya court will do to Faber? Do the victims have a say in prosecuting him?”
“Yes, of course. Why do you ask?”
“I think I can use that to salvage the contract,” Ray said. “Mcllvaine will cut a deal to help his nephew. I won’t commit us to anything, other than a promise to try to help get Faber out of jail and off Kya—if he lets you keep the advance payment.”
Zelk agreed to that, said good night and left. Ray went into the lobby, where the GSN team had left its equipment. He had a hunch that they had brought along their own tachyon transmitter, to broadcast the game to Earth. His hunch proved correct, and within a few minutes he had unpacked the communications system and signaled Mcllvaine’s office. When the executive came on the screen he was sitting in an office, eating a sandwich. “Bad news, huh?” Mcllvaine said, looking at Ray.
“Faber’s in jail,” Ray said. “He won’t be able to play—”
“He what?” McIlvaine snapped. He slammed his sandwich down on his desk. “Bennett, what idiot busted him?”
“Faber poisoned almost everyone in the dorm,” Ray said. “It was his idea of a joke, and—”
“I don’t care what happened.”
“He’s been expelled, too,” Ray said.
“What?” Mcllvaine leaned over his desk and glared into the pick-up. “Bennett, I’ve got a fortune invested in covering these games. If we have to dump our coverage, I’ll take it out of your hide!”
“You’d better listen to me,” Ray said, “if you want to keep your nephew out of jail.”
“Let him go,” Mcllvaine said. “A little hard time might make a man out of him.”
“He’s your relative,” Ray said in surprise.
Mcllvaine made a disparaging gesture. “I don’t need him if he can’t play. And as for you, Bennett, you’re screwed. You were supposed to keep the punk in line.”
Ray watched his plans sink. Then, like a shipwreck survivor, he clutched at the first idea that floated within reach. “Your basic idea was to catch an audience’s interest by putting a human player on a bagdrag team,” he heard himself say. “Suppose I can get another human player. Will that work? It’s better than nothing.”
“Not by much,” Mcllvaine growled. His face contorted as though he was grappling with a massive philosophical problem. “OK, it’s better than letting this whole set-up go down the crapper. Get somebody. Anybody. Just make sure it’s a great human player.” He broke the connection.
Elizabeth came down the stairs then and sat down next to him. “Trouble?”
“No more than usual.” Ray rubbed his temples. “Faber’s the jackass who poisoned everyone. He thought it was great joke. Now he’s in jail and out of Vrekle.”
“Damn.” She started massaging his shoulders. “If he had half the brains God gave any self-respecting skunk, he’d be twice as smart as he is. What will you do now?”
“I just told McIlvaine that I’d try to get another human student to take Faber’s place. He agreed to try that, so the contract lives. The question is, can we put one of the other students on the team? Will any of them recover in time?”