"Of course," Zainal answered pleasantly and gestured in the proper direction.
"I heard of this fellow," the man said amiably, as if he hadn't nearly caused Ferris considerable bodily harm. "But first I needed my toof." The word still came out with a lisp but no one dared grin.
"The procedure takes a little time, does it not, Ferris?" Zainal said, since he knew very little about such matters whereas Ferris had been in constant contact with Eric, absorbing everything the genial den-tist said.
"It does," and there was a little gleam in Ferris's eye that suggested to Kris that it was not all pleasant either. "But I washed it as Eric told me to do, and kept it safe in that little bag." He pointed to the man's pocket, where he had seen him deposit his errant tooth.
"I am indebted to you, young man," the fellow said, "and I apol-ogize for the market manager's zeal."
"It has been well resolved," Kris said.
"I am Mischik," the Catteni said, and the others were required by courtesy to name themselves. "You are the Botany folk."
"We are," Zainal said proudly.
"And you are truly a Lady Emassi?" Mischik said, lisping more than ever on the double sibilants.
"I am."
"Remarkable," he said.
"I know," she replied equably.
By then they had reached their own aisle and Ferris ran ahead to tell Eric of a new customer. Zainal and Kris hastened to the stall since there seemed to be quite an influx of clients wanting to sample the coffee. More likely, Kris thought, to see if the Botany lad had survived the confrontation with Kapash.
"Nothing like a mild emergency to spread the word," Kris mur-mured to Zainal as they served coffee as quickly as they could pour it. ord indeed had spread-though the riot Kapash had gone to suppress had not-and Eric had many inquiries about his serv-ices. He had ministered to Mischik and arranged for him to come back the next day and see if the tooth was settling in. Eric was forth-right in saying that the sooner he could restore a tooth the better the chances of success, but Mischik was happy enough to be able to speak without the annoying lisp. Eric assured him that failing the natural reestablishment of the tooth, he could make a bridge to close the gap. Everyone was tired when Zainal announced that they had better close and, after today's episode with Kapash, everyone was determined not to arouse any further attention from the market commander.
Among the many goals Zainal had set for himself, gaining entrance to the port commander's office and the port commander's files-to access the information on the des-tinations of the slave-carrying ships was topmost on his list. He needed only to get into the facility and find an empty office with a control board to access the information. Another ransom to be executed. It was his responsibility to right that massive wrong done to Kris's people, even if she felt he was carrying responsibility too far. These Terrans should have been allies, not slaves, to the Catteni. There was the unassailable fact that unless he did something, he doubted those enslaved would ever return home, and with all those captives exiled from their home world, would Humans ever be on good terms with the Catteni?
He was glad that Kris had managed to save Ferris. The boy had been invaluable for discreet reconnaissance and had already saved Zainal from spending time with sellers who had nothing he wanted. Any excuse to waste time and have the chance to drink the fine cof-fee obviously motivated some of their visitors.
Chapter Thirteen
Trading continued briskly all morning and well into the afternoon, when the more prosperous merchants retired for the noonday meal, leaving their goods and stalls in the charge of their seconds. A few came to buy a cup of coffee when their masters had safely disap-peared. Zainal hoped it would escape Kapash's notice that coffee was now for sale. He thought privately that it would take many busy days for what they earned for the beverage to make a substantial profit.
He had to discard that opinion later, after Floss, with Clune very close to her, took over from Kathy Harvey at the coffee bar. Kris had breezily told him that's what they had invented: the first Barevi coffee bar. There were also rumors that complaints had been issued to the market manager that people were obstructing the way to and from other stalls by gathering thickly in front of the "coffee bar." By late af-ternoon, however, they had enough money to rent another stall, which came equipped-for a price-with tables, chairs, and a proper catering area. Floss, safely ensconced behind the "bar," dealt capably with the flow of customers and ignored the laughs and remarks from the idlers gathered at Eric's office.
By early evening, Zainal began to watch for signs of the usual rampage of guards and spacemen who would have spent most of the day drinking. When he felt the time would soon be upon them, and he noticed that other merchants were beginning to close their stalls, he called a halt to the day's work. Ferris chattered away to Eric as he and Bazil helped pack away the dental office, adding the coffee urn and cups from the main stall. Zainal had seen to it that all the goods they had bartered for had been taken to the BASS-1 as soon as the deals were completed. So it was a relatively simple matter to pack up and return to the KDM.
Everyone was hungry and exhilarated by the success of the day, and full of ideas about how they could accomplish more the next.
Even Eric was in good form, having acquired several clients, besides Luxel, for gold crowns. Ditsy had said he should hire the man with the golden smile who had so fortuitously been there when needed.
"If word gets around, Zamal," Eric said, waiting until Kris could fill his plate again, "I will need an assistant. My clients do not strike me as patient men."
"Gino and I aren't doing anything much," Ninety Doyle said. "If it's just muscle work you need:" He made a pantomime of tapping a hammer.
"Well, not exactly muscle work, but it does take time to pound even the softest gold into a malleable foil." Then Eric perked up. "Old Natchi, what a talker. I understand about three words out of a dozen.
I could fit him with a set of dentures that would do him better serv-ice than what he has left in his mouth."
"Most of the time in the drinking places, when people get their teeth knocked out, it's after market hours," Ferris said. "For emer-gency treatment, do I give them this berth number?"
Zainal did not like that idea, for he wished to be as private as pos-sible on BASS-1, but he countered with a suggestion. "You can pres-ent yourself, and your qualifications, to the local medical men. Then, if they think your services are necessary, they can make an appoint-ment for the patient to see you. Preferably at the market. As soon as we can, I will try to find a better place in which you can work, Eric."
"That would save us from being a raree-show, certainly," Eric said, accepting Zainal's offer.
"Does Floss have to go back?" Clime asked plaintively. The pair of them were holding hands under the table.
"I don't mind, dear," she said, soothing him with a hand on his much bigger one. "At least they can't pinch me when I have the cof-fee bar in front of me."
"Do not take any overt action, Clune," Zainal felt obliged to warn him.
Chine snorted. "I'm not crazy, Zainal. Every one of them there today outweighed me, and a lot would have had the reach on me. Stu-pid I ain't. Taking on one of those guys would put me out of action. I gotta stay on duty, pet."
"You could lick 'em one-handed," Ditsy said with misplaced loyalty. "You got skill! And Chief Materu taught you some dandy moves.
"There will be no competitions with Catteni brawlers," Zainal said, eyeing Clune, who nodded willingly enough, and Ditsy, who fi-nally settled as far back in his seat as he could, as if trying to make himself less visible.