"NOW!" Telzey said.
Along the walls of the balcony garden, beside the ornamental flower
stands, against the edges of the rock pool, the crest cats appeared.
Perhaps thirty of them. None quite as physically impressive as Iron
Thoughts who stood closest to the Moderator; but none very far from
it. Motionless as rocks, frightening as gargoyles, they waited, eyes
glowing with hellish excitement.
"This is _their_ council, you see," Telzey heard herself saying.
The Moderator's face had also paled. But he was, after all, an old
shikari and a senior diplomat. He took an unhurried look around the
circle, said quietly, "Accept my profound apologies for doubting you.
Miss Amberdon!" and reached for the desk communicator.
Iron Thoughts swung his demon head in Telzey's direction. For an
instant, she picked up the mental impression of a fierce yellow eye
closing in an approving wink.
"... An open transmitter line to Orado," the Moderator was saying into
the communicator. "The Council. And snap it up! Some very important
visitors are waiting."
The offices of Jontarou's Planetary Moderator became an extremely busy
and interesting area then. Quite two hours passed before it occurred
to anyone to ask Telzey again whether she knew where her aunt was at
present.
Telzey smote her forehead.
"Forgot all about that!" she admitted, fishing the sportscar's keys
out of the pocket of her sunbriefs. "They're out on the parking
platform...."
* * * * *
The preliminary treaty arrangements between the Federation of the Hub
and the new Affiliated Species of the Planet of Jontarou were formally
ratified two weeks later, the ceremony taking place on Jontarou, in
the Champagne Hall of the Shikaris' Club.
Telzey was able to follow the event only by news viewer in her
ship-cabin, she and Halet being on the return trip to Orado by then.
She wasn't too interested in the treaty's details--they conformed
almost exactly to what she had read out to Iron Thoughts and his
co-chiefs and companions in the park. It was the smooth bridging of
the wide language gap between the contracting parties by a row of
interpreting machines and a handful of human xenotelepaths which held
her attention.
As she switched off the viewer, Halet came wandering in from the
adjoining cabin.
"I was watching it, too!" Halet observed. She smiled. "I was hoping to
see dear Tick-Tock."
Telzey looked over at her. "Well, TT would hardly be likely to show up
in Port Nichay," she said. "She's having too good a time now finding
out what life in the Baluit range is like."
"I suppose so," Halet agreed doubtfully, sitting down on a hassock.
"But I'm glad she promised to get in touch with us again in a few
years. I'll miss her."
Telzey regarded her aunt with a reflective frown. Halet meant it quite
sincerely, of course, she had undergone a profound change of heart
during the past two weeks. But Telzey wasn't without some doubts about
the actual value of a change of heart brought on by telepathic means.
The learning process the crest cats had started in her mind appeared
to have continued automatically several days longer than her rugged
teachers had really intended; and Telzey had reason to believe that by
the end of that time she'd developed associated latent abilities of
which the crest cats had never heard. She'd barely begun to get it all
sorted out yet, but ... as an example ... she'd found it remarkably
easy to turn Halet's more obnoxious attitudes virtually upside down.
It had taken her a couple of days to get the hang of her aunt's
personal symbolism, but after that there had been no problem.
She was reasonably certain she'd broken no laws so far, though the
sections in the law library covering the use and abuse of psionic
abilities were veiled in such intricate and downright obscuring
phrasing--deliberately, Telzey suspected--that it was really difficult
to say what they did mean. But even aside from that, there were a
number of arguments in favor of exercising great caution.
Jessamine, for one thing, was bound to start worrying about her
sister-in-law's health if Halet turned up on Orado in her present
state of mind, even though it would make for a far more agreeable
atmosphere in the Amberdon household.
"Halet," Telzey inquired mentally, "do you remember what an all-out
stinker you used to be?"
"Of course, dear," Halet said aloud. "I can hardly wait to tell dear
Jessamine how much I regret the many times I...."
"Well," Telzey went on, still verbalizing it silently. "I think you'd
really enjoy life more if you were, let's say, about halfway between
your old nasty self and the sort of sickening-good kind you are now."
"Why, Telzey!" Halet cried out with dopey amiability. "What a
delightful idea!"
"Let's try it," Telzey said.
There was silence in the cabin for some twenty minutes then while she
went painstakingly about remolding a number of Halet's character
traits for the second time. She still felt some misgivings about it;
but if it became necessary, she probably could always restore the old
Halet _in toto_.
These, she told herself, definitely were powers one should treat with
respect! Better rattle through law school first; then, with that out
of the way, she could start hunting around to see who in the
Federation was qualified to instruct a genius-level novice in the
proper handling of psionics.
* * * * *