“She’s also a teacher,” Ray said.
“The rules say nothing about that,” Zelk said. “Calling Coach Znayu, I’ll tell him to schedule extra practice sessions for today and tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll get over to the field now,” Elizabeth said.
Ray left with her. “Thanks,” he said. “I’m sorry I sprang that on you so suddenly last night.”
“It’s OK,” she said. “But my playing in one game won’t help much, not if Nyquist is going to run everyone out of town.”
“At least he won’t be able to bankrupt me,” Ray said. “Or Vrekle. But he still wins in the end, damn it.”
“Maybe not,” Elizabeth suggested. “He’s too clever for his own good; maybe he’ll outfox himself. Just remember, it ain’t over until the skinny lady sings.”
They went to the locker room, where Coach Znayu was talking to his assistants. “I know, I know,” he gronked to them. “It smells like the dean’s been sniffing her own breath, but she’s the boss. Get the team together and we’ll do what we can.” He turned to the two humans and sniffed happily. “Congratulations, Shevield! Having spoken with the dean, I scent you’re running with our herd. Let’s get you into a uniform.”
They went to a storage room, where Znayu dug into a heap of uniforms. “This is about the smallest we have,” he said, handing it to Elizabeth. “We’ll lace on some extra pads, so you’ll have more protection.” He peered at her as though looking for any sign of muscle. “The question is, can you handle your part of the bag?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Sure, no problem.”
Ray realized what was being said. “You want to put her on the bag?” he asked in dismay. “Can’t you put her in a safer position, like outrunner?”
The coach let out a snort of amusement. “Her? Are you kidding? It takes a year to train a good outrunner. The inner bag-carrier spots are the easiest positions to learn and play—just hold on and follow the leader.”
“Until the other teams break the defensive line.” Ray felt faint. “She’ll get squished.”
Elizabeth looked annoyed. “I love your optimism.”
“I’m not kidding,” he said. “Maybe you’d better back out.”
“And let Vrekle down?” She shook her head. “Besides, I can’t go back to Earth, unless I want to be sick all the damned time. I’d rather go down fighting.”
“I see.” With her allergies to Terran foods, she was better off on Kya. It was one more reason to defeat Nyquist, Ray thought. “You’re sure you can handle the bag position?”
“Don’t worry about me,” Elizabeth said. “Worry about Nyquist. Have you got any ideas on handling him?”
“Just one,” Ray said.
“Well, let’s hear it.”
“I want to ask if you have any ideas.”
Ray was still looking for ideas that evening when he took her back to the dorm. He realized that he was the only healthy human being on the campus. The students were still sick from last night’s dinner, and Elizabeth was worn out from long hours of bagdrag practice. He nearly had to carry her into her room.
“I’ll be OK tomorrow,” she said. She lay face-down on the bed while Ray massaged her shoulders with liniment. “The bag positions aren’t too bad. I’ve got seven other kya helping with the weight. All I have to do is carry twenty pounds of sand and keep up with them.”
“And keep from getting turned into jelly when the opposing teams charge the bag,” Ray said. When one team had sole possession of the bag, the other two teams would gang together to take it away from them. The play looked like a furry tidal wave.
“That’s why the uniforms have a lot of padding,” she said. “Besides, Vrekle has the best defensive line in the league, so I’ll be safe. ‘Stick together and you can block anything,’ that’s what Coach Znayu says.”
“That’s the UN’s motto, too,” Ray said. He thought for a moment as he worked liniment into her sides. Stick together. What if the UN didn’t stick together? And—what was that smug comment Nyquist had made? Something about trying to benefit from the UN’s advice. Yes. Things clicked. “I’ve got an idea.”
She sighed happily. “I’m half-naked and you’ve got your hands all over me. Of course you’ve got an idea.”
“OK, so I’ve got two ideas,” Ray said, feeling encouraged by her words. “That economist, what’s-her-name—”
“Grace Carver.”
“—do you think she’d mind working as a part-time consultant for a kya firm?”
“When she’s feeling better.” Elizabeth turned over and looked at him. “Why? What have you got in mind?”
“A way to hoist Nyquist on his own petard. And make a profit. That’s three ideas.”
“One idea at a time,” she said. “What are you going to do to Nyquist?”
“Blackmail him,” Ray said. “Would you say Nyquist has good intentions?”
“Well—yes.”
“Of course. So does the UN. He’s the worst kind of do-gooder—the sort who thinks his intentions are all that matters. But if we can threaten to make him look bad at the UN, we can stop him cold. And I know just how to do it. I’ll just need the cooperation of Jones and a few kya.”
“Good.” She turned over, reached up and started unbuttoning his shirt. “Now let’s hear about your first idea.”
Ray visited Ghorf’s office the next morning, and spoke to one of the people in his office. “Having just left to, er, inspect one of our farms, Ghorf isn’t here,” the kya said. “Being Zhlah, his secretary, I’m authorized to discuss business with you.”
“ ‘His secretary’?” Ray repeated. It worried him that Ghorf wouldn’t see him. No doubt about it, the executive was avoiding him. “Well, let’s talk. Applying Earth technology to your farms, I wanted to talk about a problem this may create.”
Zhlah sniffed in puzzlement. “Being a good thing, how can increased productivity be a problem?”
“Easy,” Ray said. “Suppose you suddenly have twice as many crops to sell. What happens to prices and profits?”
Zhlah sniffed again, this time thoughtfully. “I catch the scent. There’s a glut and the market stampedes over the nearest cliff. Saying this, do you think we should break the contract with Moskva Mnogo-whatever?”
“No,” Ray said. “We humans have had similar problems. Having an expert on economics working at Vrekle, you might want to consult with her on possible courses of action. She may see a way for you to increase production and profits without importing some expensive technology.”
Zhlah’s ears pricked up at that. “Hearing that, I’d like to discuss things with her. I must say, it’s good of you to think so much of our needs.”
“Well, it isn’t all my idea,” Ray said. “A lot of the credit has to go to Ambassador Nyquist.”
“The Ambassador?” Zhlah exhaled rudely. “He’s been nothing but trouble.”
“It only seems that way, Zhlah.” Ray smiled as he prepared the ambassador for a fall. “I’d say he’s really interested in helping Kya, despite his orders from the UN. To be honest, he was the one who warned me to look into the consequences of our business arrangements, and to pay attention to our planet’s experience in such matters.”
“Indeed?”
“Indeed,” Ray agreed. “If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be talking right now. He may have turned a potentially disastrous situation into one that will profit all of us.” Ray smiled at his own careful misstatements of the truth.
“Hearing this, I’d say we were wrong about the fellow,” Zhlah said. “Hearing that, Ghorf will be happy.”