“I rather thought you must have,” said Terl. He seemed indifferent. He heaved out a long sigh into his breathe-mask and stood up.
The crowd outside drew back with a frightened mutter. The monster was almost four feet taller than Jonnie. Claws, fangs visible through its mask...
“Animal,” said Terl, “in spite of past difference, I think I should tell you one thing. You will be coming to me for help soon. And as I am and ," two more words Jonnie wouldn't bother to look up, “I probably will be stupid enough to help you. So just remember, animal. When it gets too difficult, come to see Terl. After all, weren't we always shaftmates?"
Jonnie let out a bark of laughter. This was simply too much! He threw the dictionary over on the tarpaulin, and leaning heavily on his knobkerrie, back to Terl, he walked out of the cage.
The moment he had closed and locked the door, Terl let out a dreadful roar and began prancing about beating his chest.
Jonnie threw the keys to the guard and went over and turned the electricity back on. He was still laughing to himself as he hobbled toward Windsplitter. The crowd was way back, making sounds of relief.
Not everyone was way back. Brown Limper Staffor was between Jonnie and the horse. Jonnie recognized him and was about to greet him. Then Jonnie stopped. He had never before seen such naked, malevolent hatred on anyone's face.
“I see there are two cripples now!” said Brown Limper Staffor. He abruptly turned his back on Jonnie and limped off, his clubfoot dragging.
Chapter 5
There were people there who would be telling their great-grandchildren that they personally had been present when the Jonnie had gone into that cage, and who would gain no small importance and notoriety because of it.
Jonnie was on Windsplitter again, walking the horse toward the small isolated dome erected to house the
Chamco brothers.
“That was not well done,” said Robert the Fox, close beside Jonnie. “Don't scare these people like that.” He himself had been worried stiff.
“I didn't come over to see the people,” said Jonnie. “I came over to see the Chamcos and I’m on my way right now.”
“You have to think of your public presence,” said Robert the Fox, gently. “That frightened them.” This might be Jonnie's first day out and Robert might want it to be a good day for him, but that visit to Terl had been hair-raising. “You're a symbol now,” he continued.
Jonnie turned toward him. He was very fond of Sir Robert. But he couldn't conceive of himself as a symbol. "I’m just Jonnie Goodboy Tyler." He suddenly laughed in a kindly way, “That is to say, MacTyler!”
Any concern Sir Robert had felt melted. What could you do with this laddie? He was glad the day seemed a happy one again to Jonnie.
The crowd was much more subdued but it was following. Colonel Ivan had gotten over his fright and had his lance-carrying Cossacks in formation. Bittie MacLeod had successfully swallowed his heart and was leading in the direction Windsplitter seemed to be pointing him. The Argyll in command of the compound sneaked a quick and needed one from a flask and was handing it to his second in command.
Jonnie sized up the separate dome ahead. Well, they had done very well by the Chamco brothers. They had salvaged a dome canopy from some mine shafts not now working. It had been raised on a concrete circle. It s atmosphere lock was one of the better ones– a transparent revolving door to keep the breathe-gas in and the air out. There was a separate breathe-gas tank and pump. The transparent dome had shades and they were open now despite the sun's heat-Psychlos didn't seem to care much about heat and cold. Here the Chamcos were busy with plans and suggestions in return for pay– that could be paid now in cash thanks to
Ker's discovery of Galactic credits.
Jonnie knew them from his training days around the minesite. They were top-grade design and planning engineers, graduates of all the accepted Psychlo and company schools. By report they were extremely cooperative and even polite– as polite as a Psychlo ever could be, which was not much. Their idea of politeness was a one-way flow– at them.
They could be seen in there now, working at two big upholstered desks, flanked by drawing boards. There was an intercom of the usual type so one could stand outside and talk to those inside without going through the lock. But Jonnie could not imagine trying to talk technical matters through one of those intercoms.
Colonel Ivan must have read his mind. He pushed forward and said in his limited English, “You go in there?”
Then he looked around wildly for a Coordinator who spoke Russian.
The Coordinator interpreted, “He says that's bulletproof glass in that canopy. He can't cover you with rifles.”
Robert the Fox said, somewhat desperately, “Haven't you been out long enough for your first day?”
“This is what I came over to do,” said Jonnie, rolling off Windsplitter.
Doubtfully, Colonel Ivan handed him the knobkerrie and at the same time tried to get the interpreter to translate.
“The colonel says not to stand in the airlock,” said the Coordinator. “To go inside and move over to the right. If you don't, his men can't charge in.”
Hobbling toward the atmosphere lock, Jonnie heard the crowd behind him saying things like: “He's going in there, too! Doesn't he realize these Psychlos..." and “Oh, look at those awful beasts in there.” Jonnie didn't like all this impeding of his actions. Being a symbol had its problems! It was an entirely new idea to him that he couldn't move about freely at his own discretion and that others would have a say in where he was going.
He guessed the Chamco brothers usually had their canopy curtains closed, because even though the curtains were now open they had lights burning. He put on an air mask a pilot had handed him.
Jonnie hobbled through the atmosphere lock, experiencing a bit of trouble with it. These locks, built for Psychlos, were always clumsy for him. Too heavy, too hard to push.
The Chamcos had stopped working and were sitting still, looking at him. They were not in any way hostile but they didn't greet him.
“I came to see what progress you were making in rebuilding the transshipment rig,” said Jonnie, using pleasant Psychlo intonations– as pleasant as Psychlo ever was.
They didn't say anything. Was the smaller Chamco brother looking a little wary?
"If you need any materials or anything,” said Jonnie, “I will be happy to see they are furnished you.”
The bigger Chamco brother said, “The whole rig was burned out. The console. Everything. Destroyed.”
“Well, yes,” said Jonnie, leaning on his cane in front of the atmosphere lock. “But I’m sure they are just common components. There's miniature rigs in these freighters that are not too dissimilar.”
“Very difficult,” said the smaller Chamco brother. Were his eyes a little strange or was it just a Psychlo being a Psychlo?
“We ought to rebuild it,” said Jonnie. “We won't know what really happened to Psychlo until we do.”
“Takes a long time,” said the bigger Chamco. Were his eyes looking a little strange? But then the amber orbs of a Psychlo always had tiny flames in them.
“I have been trying to figure it out,” said Jonnie. He looked over to the side where they had some textbooks. Right on the end was the one he had thrown down this morning. "If you could explain to me-'
The smaller Chamco sprang!
The bigger Chamco leaped up from his desk and charged.