II

Shirley Mason said, "But that's just it, Roy. Phrecle knows that

_dodlig_ isn't good for us, but maybe he didn't know it was fatal.

Perhaps some of the other Vaec don't even know that it will hurt us

all--just thinks it tastes funny, perhaps."

Roy Auckland's eyes narrowed, and he wondered if Dr. Howard James had

been thinking of murder when he made his invitation. No, it didn't seem

likely that James would have been reticent about such a matter.

"If I know the doc," he said, "he won't buy an explanation like that.

Not without positive proof; in this instance, some Vaec admitting that

he put the _dodlig_ into the thermos. Where would the opportunity come

in?"

"That's it, Roy. Doc's note asked me to run a test on the soup and

keep it quiet, said it might be just a joke, that maybe Phrecle was

making it all up. But Phrecle was right; there was _dodlig_ in it."

She blinked. "Only no one could have put it in there between the time

I filled the thermos and the time Phrecle took it out of the crawler.

Besides, you just can't conceal that odor."

"Is the skipper around?"

"Captain Edholm's out at the diggings. There's no one here but us. No

one's been here since they left except Ekem-ve, and he hasn't come in

yet. I didn't leave the kitchen between the time I fixed breakfast and

made up the soup for lunch--you're galley slave next week, by the

way--and no one could have done it while I was there."

"Anybody come into the kitchen?"

"Everybody was in at one time or another. But you know you can smell

_dodlig_ a quarter of a mile away when it's cut or bruised."

"I know ..." he mused, thinking of Glamis coming in a couple of days

ago after scraping against _dodlig_ and nearly collapsing when he took

off his suit. It had taken hours to get rid of it.

"It isn't the odor," Shirley explained. "It's the irritating action

on the nasal membranes. Glamis might have smelled it through his mask

and thought nothing of it. But when you get a full whiff, it's like

ammonia, only much worse."

Auckland ran his fingers through his black hair. From what he knew of

Dr. Howard James, the man would probably say nothing to the others, but

try to lay some sort of subtle trap. "How was it discovered?" he asked.

"Well, Phrecle says that Doc sent him to the tent for something,

and he smelled _dodlig_ as he passed the lunch basket. He went back

to James, took him aside, and said something like--" she closed her

eyes in thought "--'deplorable taste when joke render subject too

sick to laugh.' Doc told him to take the thermos back here and get a

replacement before lunch. I ran the test, scribbled a note to Doc, and

gave Phrecle a fresh thermos a little while ago."

Auckland could visualize it. James would call everyone together at

lunch time and go into the usual talk about his theories, watching to

see the expressions on their faces as he ate his soup and failed to

drop dead. "You tested it, Shirl. But why didn't I get a whiff? I was

here, and you know how that stuff penetrates."

"Phrecle observed, and I quote, '_Dodlig_ mortified by mixture with

excellent Howard's soup and withdraw pleasing aroma. Just barely do

this unobservant one ascertain fragrance when pick up thermos.'" She

shuddered. "Apparently they like the odor--which isn't so bad, I

suppose, if it doesn't react on the nasal passages--but they don't eat

the plant."

"If you couldn't smell it, how did you find it?"

"Leitfred's chemists worked out a formula for spotting _dodlig_ no

matter how it's disguised, because the pollen sometimes gets on

otherwise edible plants and makes them deadly, too, though they don't

pick up the odor."

"Just as deadly?"

"Well, no one has tried, but you'd probably have to eat more of them to

get the effect."

Auckland took a cigarette from the container on the desk and tossed

another to the girl. By the time he put it to his lips, the chemicals

in the tip had reacted to start it glowing. "Did you check to see if

_dodlig_ loses its 'pleasing aroma' when mixed with the soup at any

temperature, or whether it has to be boiled?"

"No. I didn't experiment with _dodlig_. I just identified its presence

in the soup. Want me to try that?"

Auckland grinned wryly. "Just a thought, and not a very good one. I

thought that since you boil Carolinian plants and then add powdered

concentrates to it--but that's no good. Even if the _dodlig_ were

tossed in here--and I can think of a way it could be done without

making a stink...."

"How? Don't tell me that you've figured out a way to do it?"

"Elementary. We all take gelatin capsules. One of those could have been

opened, emptied out, and _dodlig_ substituted. It would melt in no

time when put in boiling soup. Those capsules melt fast in almost any

liquid. But that isn't how it was done."

"It isn't? How can you be sure?"

"You just told me yourself why it couldn't have been that way." He

grinned at her, then went on. "You said that Phrecle 'ascertain

fragrance' when he picked up the thermos bottle, which meant that he

smelled _dodlig_ in it from a distance, before he picked up the bottle.

Phrecle helped load the crawler this morning--I saw him--so he couldn't

have missed that 'fragrance' had it been there then."

Shirley Mason stubbed out her cigarette. "I wish I could think it was

just a joke, a mistake, but...."

"But you don't think it could have been. Nor do I."

"But suppose some Vaec didn't realize that the odor would be

undetectable to us under the circumstances?" she protested. "Someone

who thought we'd find out in time."

Auckland shook his head. "No good. I've been studying the Vaec and

their humor since I arrived. This just isn't right for them. First of

all, they restrain their pranks with us. Secondly, there's nothing

malicious about their horseplay among themselves. They wouldn't see

anything funny in spoiling food."

"But why...?"

There was a bewildered look in Shirley's eyes, but Auckland reminded

himself that she might be acting. He gripped her shoulder gently.

"Don't be naive. Now that it's happened, I can think of possibilities,

and so can you."

"For murder? Yes ... I suppose so. But not with Doc as the victim. I

could see him braining Glamis some time when Ken is riding him about

his theories. I could see Burleigh taking vengeance when Glamis starts

spouting what Calvin calls needless blasphemy. And I could see someone

poisoning Amelia James. But Dr. James as the victim? No."

"You don't think Amelia might like to be a widow?"

Shirley snorted. "What for? The only tie that binds those two is

financial, and even that is as loose a binding as you can get without

its falling off by itself. She has more money than he has, and she

thought that coming to an alien planet--not too alien so as to be

uncomfortable--would be romantic."

"She doesn't strike me as being disillusioned on that score," Roy said

thoughtfully. "Amelia seems to like it here."

"Of course, with four virile and not too repulsive men around, in

addition to her husband. Howard isn't senile, despite the difference in

their ages." Shirley took another cigarette. "She hasn't neglected you,

either, when it comes to picking nightflowers." She shook his hand off

her shoulder and went back to her typewriter.

She sounded jealous, he thought, except that there didn't seem to be

any reason. He'd seen her wandering off with Kenneth Glamis, too. He

looked out the window. "Hello," he said, "here comes the crawler with

Burleigh driving it."

The blonde went to the window and looked out at the all-purpose vehicle

which was approaching with its treads retracted. Before she could

comment, Ekem-ve entered, carrying the box they had seen earlier.