"Oh, very well," said Norby, going to the lion.
"I'll never get used to your robot," said Yobo. "There isn't another one like it in the Federation."
"You mean sassy and rebellious?" asked Fargo.
"I mean intelligent and emotional," said Yobo. There was no smile on his broad, high cheek-boned face. "It's amazing that only the Inventors Union is after him. We should all be. I imagine that if we can find out how he works, everyone will want a Norby instead of the stupid, dutiful machines the Federation allows."
"Nobody would want a mixed-up robot," said Fargo with a shrug.
"I don't know about that," said Albany. "I think he's cute."
Norby winked one of his back eyes at her, wrapped his arms around the lion, and elevated. The lion opened one eye, growled, and began to struggle.
"Hold him!" shouted Jeff, running to help.
"I'm managing," said Norby. "You wanted me to do it myself and I'm going to do it. I'll show you…" He was balancing the sleepily struggling lion on the window sill. "This stupid life form is scratching my barrel. "
"Don't drop him to the sidewalk!" yelled Jeff. "Stupid or not, it is a life form. Put him in the car safely."
"All done," said Norby, stepping back from the window. The door of the police car shut, and Jeff could see the astonished and groggy lion inside.
Albany spoke into her wrist radio and the car flew off. "Okay. The car will take the lion to the Bronx Zoo, where keepers are ready to take it into temporary custody pending determination of ownership."
"Are we going to get fined?" asked Jeff.
"Not likely," said Albany. "They haven't forgotten how we rescued Manhattan from Ing the Ingrate, so it will be easy to fix things up. Besides, the admiral can use his influence."
"No, I won't," said Yobo. "You leave me out of your report. I don't want your Manhattan authorities to know I'm here. My problem is with Norby, not with the lion."
Norby jiggled up and down on his legs. "I'm Jeff's problem, no one else's.
"Unfortunately," said Yobo. "You're everyone's problem. The Inventors Union wants to investigate you scientifically."
"You mean, tear me apart?" squeaked Norby at the highest pitch of his voice range. "Eviscerate my insides? Tangle my circuits? Electrocute my electronics? Spoil my beautiful appearance? I'll disappear and never come back, that's what I'll do."
"No, you won't," said Jeff, "because I'm not going to let anyone do anything to you."
"It's a family matter," said Fargo. "I'm Jeff's guardian and legally responsible for anything he owns. We'll sue…"
"Don't bet on getting the chance," said Yobo, drily. "I think it would make sense to have a serious discussion on how to handle the obvious necessity of doing something about Norby."
"I'm hungry," said Albany, tossing back her long, blond hair.
"Unfortunately," said Fargo, "there's nothing to eat. What the lion didn't devour, the admiral did, so we'll have to go to one of the neighborhood restaurants. If you'll cover up that uniform of yours, Admiral, you can come disguised as an ordinary citizen. If we can get a shielded booth, we can talk privately there, out of reach of the Inventors Union."
The admiral had no chance to respond because there was a thunderous knocking on the apartment door and a loud call that drowned out any announcement the door computer might have tried to make.
"Open up! Federation security officers!"
Fargo went to the door and leaned nonchalantly against it. "My lady love and I are here and we don't want company. Go away!"
"We have a Federation warrant to confiscate your robot on behalf of the Inventors Union. Open up, or we'll break down the door."
There was another violent knock.
"Go to the bedroom," whispered Yobo to Jeff, "and I suggest you both go on a little trip now…
"Yes, sir," said Jeff. He added quickly, "If I don't get back right away, Fargo, please go on vacation in our scoutship. We can join you because Norby can tune into your ship with his space-location sense."
"Sure I can," said Norby. There was a short pause while Norby's eyes blinked. "I think."
"We'll be sunk if we have to depend on Norby," Fargo said.
Norby squawked incoherently at that, but the admiral pointed imperiously toward the bedroom as the banging on the door grew more forceful.
Jeff and Norby dashed into the bedroom. Norby grabbed Jeff's hand, "Ready?"
Jeff nodded. He was thinking. It's a good thing they don't know Norby's secret that he can vanish into hyperspace without special equipment, or they wouldn't have announced what they were here for.
Just before they disappeared, Jeff and Norby heard Albany say, "Oh, hello, men. Do have this small left-over piece of cake."
The grayness of hyperspace swallowed Jeff and Norby.
3. Jamya
Norby's personal protective field came on automatically to save them from lethal stress of hyperspace, so Jeff was aware only of gray nothingness. And, since time does not exist in hyperspace, he was no sooner aware of it when he was out of it again, with only a vague memory that Norby had been trying to explain-telepathically-how he had got into the bad zoo.
"Where are we?" asked Jeff. They were sitting on a grassy lawn, facing interesting treelike plants that seemed familiar.
"You again!"
The voice was not speaking in Terran Basic, but Jeff understood, and Norby was already answering in the alien language. Nobody had the advantage of having eyes in the back of his head (except there wasn't any real back to his head; all sides were front).
Jeff turned around. In the other direction was a landscaped hill with a large castlelike structure on it. At the foot of the hill, quite near to Jeff, was a miniature castle with a female dragon standing in the doorway. She was green, her large eyes fringed by eyelashes, and she held a smaller version of herself. Both wore thin gold collars.
Jeff said softly, "You've brought us back to Jamya, Norby. I thought you didn't know how to get here."
"I don't," Norby answered in a low voice. "It's some instinct or something. I just came. Part of me knows the planet of the dragons."
"Well, then, please don't insult the Jamyns this time." He rose and bowed politely. "How do you do, ma'am? And how is your pretty daughter, Zargl, whom I see in your arms?"
"I'm fine," said the young dragon, as she spread her wings and flew to Jeff's shoulder. "I'm glad you came back. You didn't stay long last time. I'm also glad you've learned our language."
Jeff hoped his smile would seem a pleasant expression to the dragons. A gentle dragon bite had established telepathic communication with him when he and Norby had come here once before, and the bite had made it possible for him to learn the Jamyn language telepathically, almost at once. Perhaps the dragons could learn Terran Basic through telepathy.
"I detect your thought," said the mother dragon in Terran Basic. "If you speak your language carefully and think more clearly, then I will learn more quickly." She switched to Jamyn. "It is more important, however, for you to continue to improve your knowledge of our language, which is clearly the more civilized of the two."
Jeff did not think it would be wise to dispute that. He said, "Yes, ma'am," in careful Jamyn.
"I discussed your earlier arrival with the Grand Dragon, and she said you must know the secret of hyperspace travel, which we Jamyn have never been given. We were meant to stay on our own planet."
"Do you have many visitors?" Jeff asked.
"We have had none at all. You were the first. That's why the matter had to be discussed. It was decided that if visitors are approved by the Mentors, they will be permitted to stay for a short period. Do you intend to remain?"