He screeched!
I grabbed the other hand before he could get away. I stabbed it!
He screeched again.
I vanished the Knife Section knife up my sleeve.
Young Doctor Bittlestiffender was coming across the lawn behind me.
"The poor fellow," I said. "I've got the steel slivers out now. Perhaps you better bandage his hands. He is not used to rough work." The blood was dripping. "I could have done that much less painfully," said young Doctor Bittlestiffender.
"Sometimes stern measures are required," I said.
Ske looked at me with blazing eyes. And then the pain got to him and he gripped his palms together to ease it.
Young Doctor Bittlestiffender looked at me with new respect. He led the whimpering Ske off across to the hospital.
A voice at my elbow. "They will be a moment. I want to talk to you. Could you come into the main house? There's nobody else here." It was the Widow Tayl.
I should have known better. She led me into a gorgeous morning room, all white and gold. The slanted sun was pouring in on a glistening, white rug.
Her slippered foot was hooked behind my boot as I tried to back up.
The jar of my hitting the rug made a grinning cupid rock upon its pedestal. Pratia was saying, "I just can't thank you enough for bringing him here." My hat flew out the open window as she crooned, "We had the most wonderful day yesterday." I got a glimpse of a manservant sweeping in the hall, a smirk on his face, as Pratia prattled. "And Prahd and I had the most wonderful night." My hand was clutching the edge of the rug ineffectually as she said, "In fact, we had the most wonderful . . . wonderful . . ." The cupid was really rocking! Pratia, in a strained voice was saying, "... wonderful . . . wonderful . . . wonderful ..." The curtains all fell off the rod as she said, "Oooooooooooh!" with a shuddering moan.
The grinning cupid had settled back, steady once more. In a normal voice, Pratia said, "He is really quite nice. You should see what he has." My tunic was crumpled up on the floor, just out of reach. I was trying to pull it to me. In a more strained voice, she said, "He was so starved." My hand had to abandon the tunic.
The cupid was rocking again. Pratia said, "So starved . . . so starved . . . so starved . . . Oh. Oh. Oh!" My hand almost broke its fingers on the edge of the rug. "There!" shuddered Pratia.
The cupid fell over with a crash against the floor.
The servant's broom threw up a cloud of dust.
My hand finally reached my tunic as she said, in a more relaxed voice, "I just wanted you to know how great he is in bed." I was pulling on a boot. "Well, thank you for telling me," I said. There is nothing quite so discouraging as going through this sort of thing with a woman telling you how great another man is. Wearing.
A glimpse of the servant's surprised face through the half-open hall door should have warned me. "Oh, don't leave!" said Pratia.
My boot flew out the window as she cried, "I haven't told you enough yet!" I knew Ske would be looking at his watch.
The other set of curtains at the window came down.
A murmur of voices outside told me that the servant was chatting with Ske, probably about the weather, out at the airbus.
The open window let in Ske's distempered call, "Officer Gris! You going to be in there all day?" The yard was very peaceful. The servant had changed his uniform. Ske was picking up my boot and cap.
I stood in the door, trying to button my tunic. Difficult since now half the buttons were gone and I was having a hard time: it kept going askew.
Ske handed me my boot and cap.
Widow Tayl's face was at the window, smiling an enormous smile.
Young Doctor Bittlestiffender came out of the hospital and walked toward the house. Widow Tayl raced by me. She slid her arm possessively through his and looked up at him adoringly.
The young doctor shook me by the hand. "Officer Gris," he said in an emotional voice, almost tears in his eyes, "I will never be able to thank you enough." She looked at me glowingly and her hand was reaching for him. She cooed at me, "Isn't he a wonderful young thing, Soltan?" Well, it's nice to be appreciated, I thought, if only by the man in this case.
We flew away swiftly into the glorious morning sky.
"Why can't you leave that nice woman alone!" snarled Ske.
If I only could, I thought, gazing down at the dwindling scene. The two were hurrying toward the room I had just lost another battle in. Soon, praise the Gods, I would be safe on Earth!
Chapter 8
We were flying in the direction of the Apparatus hangar. But my driver was flying very badly. He had each of his hands so wound up in bandages so hugely that he was making it an excuse not to be able to control the wheelstick.
I decided this peeve of his had gone far enough. If we really had it out, it would clear the air.
"What did you tell that doctor about me?" I said.
He flew on for a bit – if you could call it flying. "You really want to know?"
"Feel free to talk," I said. "I won't discipline you."
"Well, first I said that if he was going to have much to do with you, he better watch his step." Fine, I thought. Really pretty good, in fact.
My driver pretended to miss his grip on the wheel-stick and the airbus reeled.
My suspicions were aroused. "And what else did you say? You're in no danger." He took a deep breath. Then he spoke in pure venom. "I said you were a typical officer of the Apparatus: a sadistic, mean, cheap (bleepard) that would murder his mother for a hundredth of a credit!" I hit him!
It was a good thing the communications buzzer went off.
I braced myself against the incipient spin of the airbus and picked up the instrument.
"Officer Gris?" My blood started to congeal. I recognized the voice of Lombar Hisst's chief clerk. I got out an acknowledgment.
"The chief says for you to get the Hells down to the hangar right this minute. He's waiting for you." He hung up.
My imagination went into high gear. Had Heller escaped? Had Hisst found out about the Countess Krak? Hadn't he liked the present I'd mailed him? Had the head of Zanco talked about the ten thousand credits?
My mind boiled with fear.
My driver was grinning evilly. "You drive!" I yelled at him. "Get this wreck up to five hundred and now!" That's the way you have to treat riffraff. I was just paying the penalty for becoming friendly with him.
No, that wasn't it. It had all started when Heller had come on the scene. Heller corrupted everyone! He was a scourge!
And now, in all probability Heller had done something that had pulled Hisst down on me. Oh Gods, would I be glad when I had Heller off this planet and totally under my control!
What in the name of Devils had Lombar found out? What did he want?
When we landed at the hangar, I did not need the directions of the guard. There was a bilious yellow "contractor" truck sitting just inside the door. It said, VERMIN AND INSECTS on its side. That would be Lombar. He was taking the cover of an exterminating company. He often did and it went along with his conviction that all riffraff should be done away with and, besides, he was clever. All incoming spacecraft from other worlds were supposed to get a disinfection and it permitted access to all parts of a ship without exciting suspicion.
Tug Onewas bustling with workers and the amount of noise was deafening. One more truck and one more crew added to it would go wholly unnoticed. But what did Lombar intend?
I scuttled over to the bilious yellow van. I had been observed from inside. The door snapped open and I was forcefully yanked within.
Lombar was sitting in the dimness on a stool. He was garbed in a bilious yellow cover suit. His flaming amber eyes glared out from under the brim of an exterminator's helmet.