"It doesn't matter," Val Boran said. His tone was as grim as his face
and it was obvious he did not believe Rockford's explanation. "Colony
City is a field of fused glass, now, its people are gone, and no amount
of debating can ever bring them back."
* * * * *
* * * *
The dismal dinner was finally over. Rockford stopped outside the door of
their cabin to fill and light his pipe.
"It was a profitable evening," he said to Hunter. "I can start planning
in detail now--after a little beer, that is."
_He'll go to sleep after he drinks his beer_, Hunter thought, _and there
will never be any plan unless I--_
Soft footsteps came up the path behind them. It was Princess Lyla.
"I want to apologize," she said, "I just told Val ... Mr. Boran the same
thing."
Her face was a pale oval in the starlight, her eyes dark shadows. "I'm
sorry my husband mentioned the New Jardeen incident."
"That's all right, Lyla," Rockford said. "No harm was done."
"He's an ex-military man, and I guess it's his nature to be more
forthright than tactful."
"You certainly can't condemn him for that," Rockford said. "In fact,
he's an extraordinary teller of entertaining stories. It was a most
enjoyable evening."
* * * * *
"And, in a way, it was," Rockford said when she was gone and they were
in the cabin. He was seated in the softest chair, a can of beer in his
hand, as usual.
Hunter thought of the way she had looked in the starlight and said, "Why
did she let that windbag sit at the head of the table and ruin the
meeting that she had arranged?"
"He'll soon be her husband--I suppose she feels she should be loyal to
him."
"But--"
"But what?"
"Nothing. It's none of my business."
"Oh?" Rockford smiled in a way Hunter did not like. "You think so, eh?"
Hunter changed the subject. "Are you going to start talking to Boran to
undo the damage Narf and Sonig have done?"
"It would be a waste of time, my boy. Val Boran's mind is already made
up."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Drink six cans of beer and go to sleep."
"I thought you had a plan."
"I have, a most excellent plan."
"What is it?"
"You'd scream like a banshee if you knew. You'll learn--if you manage to
live that long."
Rockford was sound asleep an hour later, snoring gently. Hunter sat
thinking, hearing the steady murmur of a voice coming from Val Boran's
cabin. Sonig's voice--using every means of persuasion he could think of,
at the moment capitalizing on the New Jardeen incident and Boran's
withheld grief over the sister he had lost.
And the Terran Republic's representative was sprawled fat and mindless
in a fog of beer fumes.
Hunter hesitated no longer. The fate of Earth and the Terran Republic
hung in the balance and time was desperately limited--if there was now
any time at all.
He took paper and pen and began the urgent message to Supreme Command,
headed, TOP EMERGENCY. It would be sent via Hyperspace Communications
from the city and would span the hundred light-years within seconds.
* * * * *
He was up before Rockford the next morning, and went out into the bright
sunlight. He looked hopefully for Alonzo, not wanting to be seen mailing
the letter in person. Rockford, despite his drunken stupors, could be
shrewdly observant and he might deduce the contents of the letter before
Supreme Command ever received it.
He was some distance from the cabin when he heard the pound of padded
feet behind him.
"Rootenant," Alonzo had the grin of a genial canine idiot. "Do you want
me to mair your retter to your dear ore mother?"
"Yes, I have the letter right here."
"O.K. I got to hurry, because the mair hericopter reaves right away. I
charge six fig cookies or three candy bars or--"
"Here--take it and run--and try not to slobber all over it."
* * * * *
They were served breakfast in the cabin. Afterward, Rockford went for a
brief talk with Princess Lyla. He came back and settled down in the
easy-chair, his pipe in his hand.
"Your morning's duty won't be at all unpleasant," he said. "The
obnoxious and repulsive things will begin to happen to you later. Maybe
this afternoon."
"What do you mean?"
"This morning you will go for a walk with Princess Lyla and discuss
changing the Vestan Space Guard into a force along Terran Space Patrol
lines. Narf is still in bed, by the way."
Rockford added, "I'll give you a bit of sage advice, for your own
good--try not to fall in love with her."
* * * * *
* * * *
Hunter and Princess Lyla sat together on the high hill, their backs
against the red trunk of a cloud tree. On the mountain's slope to their
right lay the dark and junglelike Tiger Forest--he wondered if it was
true that the savage tree tigers never left its borders--while the
toylike cabins of the camp were below them. The mountain's slope dropped
on down to the deserts, beyond which were other mountains, far away and
translucent azure.
"It was George who suggested we come up here," she said. "He knows I do
that often when the responsibilities of being queen of a world--I'm such
an ordinary and untalented person--become too much for me. I always feel
better when I sit up here and look down on the mountains and deserts."
"Yes," he said politely.
"A ruling princess can be so alone," she said. "That's why I appreciate
George's friendship so much--it's never because of any ulterior motive
but because he likes me."
_I'm going to use her, and you, to get what I want._
He looked at her, at the lines of sadness on the face that was too old
for its years, felt the way she was so grateful to Rockford for what was
only a cold-blooded pretense of friendship, and the dislike for Rockford
increased. He could not force himself to speak civilly of Rockford so he
changed the subject:
"I understand you wanted to talk to me about the Space Guard?"
"Yes. Even a neutral world can't feel safe these days and George
suggested that."
"I'll be glad to help all I can. Of course, the change will require
time."
"I can understand that. They say you Space Patrol officers begin
training at sixteen, after passing almost impossible qualification
tests."
"The tests can seem extremely difficult to a farm boy from Kansas. I--"
"Kansas?" Her eyes lighted with interest. "My grandmother was from
Kansas! She used to tell me about the green plains of grain in the
spring, and how different they were from the deserts of Vesta...."
It was almost noon when he took her hand and helped her to her feet,
realizing guiltily that they had talked all morning without ever getting
back to the cold, dry facts of military efficiency.
"It was nice to talk up here this morning," she said. She looked down at
the cabins and the shadow fell again across her face. "But nothing down
there has been changed by it, has it?"
He held to her hand longer than was necessary as they went down the
steep part of the hill. She did not seem to mind.
When they reached her cabin she said, "It's still a little while until
lunch--time enough for you to give me a rough outline of the Space Guard
change."
Everything inside the cabin was feminine. None of Narf's possessions
were visible. There was a heavy door leading into Narf's half of the
cabin, with a massive lock. Hunter wondered if it was left unlocked at
night, thought of Narf's sour face and leering little eyes, and found
the thought repulsive.
The answer to his conjecture came with the entrance of a servant as they
seated themselves.
"By your leave, your highness," the servant said, bowing, "I came to
make Lord Narf a key for that inner door."
"A key?" There was alarm in her tone. "But we're not married--not yet!"
A puzzled expression came to the man's face. "Lord Narf told me, your
highness, that you had ordered the duplicate key made and given to him
before evening. I found I could not do this without first borrowing your
key for a pattern."
There was a frightened look in her eyes as they went to the door and
back to the servant. "_No_ ... don't try to make a key!"
"Yes, your highness." The servant bowed and turned away.
A familiar gravelly voice spoke from behind them:
"Ah ... an unscheduled little meeting, I see!"
It was Narf, anger on his face, already within the doorway as the
servant went out it.
"We were going to talk about the Space Guard," Lyla said in an
emotionless tone. "Lieutenant Hunter has promised to show how Space
Patrol methods will improve it and--"
"By a coincidence, Sonig and I were discussing military matters only a
few minutes ago," Narf said. He looked at Hunter. "I'm afraid that Sonig
and I agree that the Terran Space Guard is quite out of date, now.
_The_ fighting force of the galaxy is the Verdam's Peoples Guards."
Narf spoke to Lyla, "You may go ahead and talk with this lieutenant if
you wish to, but it's a waste of time. I'm arranging to have Sonig send
Peoples Guards officers here to supervise the rebuilding of the Space
Guard.
"And now"--there was insinuation in Narf's tone as he spoke to
Hunter--"I have to give Sonig a demonstration of my skill with weapons.
He insists on it--he has heard of several of my modest feats."
Narf left the door open behind him so that by turning his head as he
walked, he could see the two inside.
"I suppose I might as well go," Hunter said.
Lyla did not answer. She sat motionless, staring unseeingly before her,
and he wondered if she was thinking of how very soon Narf would be king
and his authority as great as hers.
She did not notice when he quietly left the room.
* * * * *
* * * *
Rockford was waiting in the cabin, still in the easy-chair.
"Well," Rockford said, "what do you think of her?"
Hunter tried to keep the personal dislike out of his coldly formal
reply:
"If you refer to your suggestion that I not make love to her, sir, I can
assure you that such a suggestion was never necessary. I happen to have
a code of ethics."
"I didn't say 'make love'. I said, 'fall in love'. That's quite ethical.
Did you complete your discussion with her?"
"Well ... no."
"You must do that this afternoon, then. Can't let anything as important
as that be delayed."
Hunter stared at him, trying to find one small grain of sanity in
Rockford's actions. The Verdam empire already had Jardeen within its
grasp, and Vesta, and the end for Earth was inevitable. And Rockford
slept, and drank beer, and regarded it as very important that the Vestan
Space Guard discussions--of a change that Narf would never permit--be
continued without delay.
He walked slowly into his own room. In the nightmare situation of
frustration there was one single sane and stable conviction for his mind
to cling to: Supreme Command would by now have received his message and
shot back the reply that would relieve Rockford of his command. Perhaps
it wasn't yet too late--
Then his mind reeled as a new conviction struck it.
There was a sheet of paper on his bed--a message.
_His_ message!
... SITUATION EXTREMELY CRITICAL ... VAL BORAN ALREADY CONVINCED BY
SONIG'S PROPAGANDA ... MUST REPORT ROCKFORD IS UTTERLY INCOMPETENT, HIS
MIND AND WILL DESTROYED BY ALCOHOL ... REPEAT: ROCKFORD IS DOING
NOTHING, HIS MIND DESTROYED BY ALCOHOL....
The words screamed up at him and he felt the sickness of one who sees
the last faint hope shattered and gone. All was lost, now....
He went outside, feeling a savage desire for violence rising above the
sickness.
"Rootenant!" Alonzo came bounding to meet him and slid to a halt with
his saucer feet scattering gravel and the idiotic grin on his face. "I
mair your retter and you owe me six fig cook--"
It occurred to Hunter that it was not Alonzo that should be punished.
He, Hunter, was the one who deserved execution for ever entrusting
anything so important as the message to an imbecilic animal.
He said with cold distinctness:
"The ... letter ... is ... inside."
"Oh?" Alonzo blinked. "I sure mair something, awr right. After Mr.
Rockford correct it."
"_Correct it?_"
"Oh, sure. Mr. Rockford, he up rong before you this morning to find me
and say you are writing a retter rast night and I must bring it by for
him to make awr your mistakes over again."
_So Rockford was watching all the time, pretending to be in a drunken
sleep...._
"Rootenant--" Alonzo shifted his big feet impatiently. "You stirr owe me
six fig--"
Hunter swung around and strode away, afraid he might decide to choke the
animal after all. A culture of twenty worlds was the same as already
destroyed, and he was held in a maddening quagmire of helplessness by a
crafty alcoholic and a dog with the mind of a small child.
"Ah ... my boy!" Rockford came out of the cabin, beaming as though
nothing had ever happened. "Look to your left, among those ghost
trees--Narf is demonstrating his quick-draw skill to Sonig. Narf is
supposed to be a very dangerous man, you know."
Hunter looked, and saw Narf whipping up the blunt, ugly spread-beam
blaster--known to soldiers as the Coward's Special, because at short
range it could not miss and would always cripple and blind a man for
life even though it would not always kill him. Sonig was standing by,
nodding his weasel head and smiling in open admiration.
"Of course," Rockford said, "Sonig isn't mentioning the needle gun all
Verdam envoys carry up their sleeve. He's flattering Narf's ego for a
reason--he intends to have Vesta, as well as Jardeen, sewed up for the
Verdam empire when he leaves here."
"And so far as I can see," Hunter said coldly, "Sonig never is going
to have anything vaguely resembling intelligent resistance to his
plans."
[Illustration]
"Ah, yes ... so far as you can see," Rockford agreed amiably. "But you
obey my order to take Lyla for another walk and everything will turn out
all right. In fact, I'll speak to her about that right now."
Hunter stared after Rockford as he walked away. There could be no
possible shred of doubt--Rockford was insane!
The breeze shifted and the voice of Narf came:
"... Certainly no weapon for a timid man, this spread-beam blaster. Have
to meet the enemy man-to-man at close range."
"In that respect, too," Sonig said, "you remind me of our great General
Paluk. His skill in hand-to-hand combat was something that--"
"Rootenant--"
Hunter quivered and steeled himself.
"Rootenant--" Alonzo came to a flopping halt beside him. "I terr
Princess Ryra and she say I are bad to be mad at you. So I not mad, even
if you didn't give me my pay."
"Thank you," Hunter said acidly. "I was deeply disturbed by your
resentment."
"Oh, I know, you don't rike me. But I think you not as mean as you act.
But Rord Narf--he is. I terr you, he awready mad enough to kirr you."
"What? Lord Narf wants to kill me?"
"Oh, he know you hord Princess Ryra's hand awrmost awr the way down the
hirr this morning. Mr. Sonig, he see you, and he run and terr Rord Narf
and Mr. Boran, too."
"But I was only helping her down the hill."
"Rord Narf, he are going to say mean things about it to Princess Ryra,
too. I know. He are awrways saying mean things to my Princess Ryra."
Alonzo sighed, a sound strangely humanlike in its sadness.
"Who wirr watch over my Princess Ryra after she marry Rord Narf? He
said, 'The first thing to go around here wirr be that stupid
brabber-mouth animar that are not worth what it costs to feed it.' I
think maybe he are afraid that if he ever hit my Princess Ryra, I wirr
kirr him." The brown eyes looked up at Hunter, and suddenly they were
unlike he had ever seen them; cold with deliberate decision. "I wirr,
too."
* * * * *
* * * *
Hunter was still standing by the cabin, thinking of what Alonzo had
said, when Rockford returned.
"I also stopped by to see Val Boran," Rockford said. "While you're off
with Lyla, we'll go to the city. Lyla is giving us free access to the
Royal Library and the records of a neutral world carry more weight than
anything I could say. Not that it's going to change his mind any--but
it will give me a chance to work on him in another way."
Rockford went into the cabin as Val Boran came up the path, Princess
Lyla walking beside him. She was saying, "... And anything we have in
the library is yours for the asking."
They were close enough for Hunter to see her expression as she looked up
at Val and added with what seemed a touch of wistfulness, "I'll be glad
to go in with you and Mr. Rockford and do what I can to help if you want
me to."
"Lyla"--it was the grating voice of Narf who seemed to have the ability
to materialize anywhere--"I'm sure the man knows his business. Besides,
I want to talk to you about something as soon as I have finished my
discussion with Mr. Sonig."
With that, Narf started on toward his cabin. Sonig, close behind him,
paused long enough to bow to Lyla and say with the meaningless smile,
"Good afternoon, Princess Lyla. Your husband was just demonstrating his
marvelous skill with weapons. I would very much dislike"--the little
eyes darted to Hunter and back again--"being the man who aroused his
lordship's wrath."
Then Sonig followed Narf, with one last flickering glance at Hunter to
see how the remark had fallen.
Rockford came out of the cabin with his brief case and said to Val, "Are
we ready to go?"
"I just told Val"--Lyla spoke quickly--"that I would be glad to go along
and help any way I can." The words were addressed to Rockford but her
eyes were on Val, with the same wistful expression. "Do you want me to?"
Val answered her with cool, formal courtesy: "The librarian can find all
the records we will need, Princess Lyla, without our interrupting your
schedule for the day or your discussion with your husband. Thank you
very much."
For an instant Lyla's face had the hurt expression of a child rebuffed
without reason. Then she looked away and Val turned to Rockford and
said, "I'm ready when you are, sir."
Lyla watched them walk away and she was still watching when the
helicopter had lifted into the air and faded from sight.
Hunter hesitated, then spoke to her:
"I understand you want to talk more about the Space Guard, Princess
Lyla?"
"_Princess_ Lyla!" Her lips curled as she turned to face him and she
seemed to spit the words at him in sudden, unexpected resentment. "I
love the meaningless sound of my official figurehead title! It's so much
better than being regarded as a living person with feelings that can be
hurt!"
"But Princ ... I mean--" He floundered, not quite sure what had caused
her reaction.
She made a visible effort to compose herself. "I'm sorry," she said. "I
suppose my ... husband ... is quite right; an immature female has no
business trying to rule a world and the sooner the marriage is
confirmed, the sooner a competent man can take over the job."
"No," he said. "I think--"
He decided that what he thought had better be left unsaid.
"I'll"--she looked toward the cabin she shared with Narf--"let you know
when we can talk."
She went back toward the cabin, walking slowly. From inside Narf's half
of it came the sound of Narf's voice as he spoke to Sonig:
"... Of course, this collection of heads is nothing compared with what I
have in the Sea Islands ... but some interesting stories here ... take
that snow fox there...."
Hunter sighed, and saw that Lyla had stopped before her door, as though
dreading to enter. Narf's voice droned on:
"... Only wounded, so I finished it with a knife. Even with its heart
half cut out, it still wanted to live ... beautiful pelt ... coat for
Janalee, the strip-tease queen ... always had a way with women--Lyla
could tell you that ... had my pick of hundreds but I'm letting her be
my choice...."
He saw Lyla half lift her hand, as in some mute gesture of protest, then
she turned and walked swiftly away; up the path that led into the ghost
trees, and out of sight.
He waited, but she did not come back. He went into his cabin and moved
about restlessly, hearing again Narf's sadism-and-sex boasting and
seeing again how she turned and almost ran from it--
* * * * *
"_Rootenant!_"
Alonzo was panting, a look of frantic appeal in his eyes.
"Prease herp me ... Princess Ryra ... she wirr die!"
He felt his heart lurch. "She's hurt?" he demanded, and was already on
his way to the door.
"She are about to cry and she are going to where the tree tigers riv.
They wirr kirr her--prease come with me!"
He asked no more questions but went out the door and up the path, Alonzo
running ahead of him.
The ghost trees grew thinner as they went up the mountain's slope, and
the blue-green fernlike trees of the tiger forest began to appear. They
grew thicker and thicker, until the ground was black with their shadows
and the midday sunlight was filtered out by the foliage overhead. Alonzo
was trailing her, his nose to the ground, and Hunter hurried close
behind him, watching for the red-and-white of the clothes she was
wearing and hoping they would not find her too late.
They were deep in the forest when they found her.
She was standing motionless in the center of a clearing, facing away
from him and looking as small and alone as a lost child. She seemed to
be waiting....
He realized for the first time how alone she really was, with only a
doglike alien, Alonzo, to love her or care what might happen to her, and
with a future she could not bear to face. But Rockford had been wrong
when he had said, _For her, there is no escape_.
There was escape for her. She had only to wait, as she was waiting now,
and it would come in the windlike whisper of a tiger's rush through the
grass behind her....
He hurried to her. She turned, and he saw the stains of tears now dry on
her face and in her eyes the darkness of utter defeat.
"I was afraid you might get hurt, Lyla--"
Then, seemingly without volition on his part, he put his arms around her
and she was clinging to him and crying in muffled sobs and trying to say
something about, "_I didn't think anybody cared...._"
It was some time later, when her crying was finished, that he was
reminded of the tigers by Alonzo:
"Rootenant ... awr the time, some tigers are coming croser and croser.
We better get her out of here, Rootenant, before they find us."
Lyla looked down at Alonzo. "Thank you, Alonzo, for watching over me and
... and--" Her voice caught and she dropped to her knees and hugged the
shaggy head tight against her.
Hunter watched ahead, Lyla beside him as they went through the dense
trees. Alonzo walked soft-footed behind them, watching the rear. When
they came to the first ghost trees and the dwindling of the tiger trees,
Hunter thought it safe to walk slower and talk to her.
"I saw you go," he said. "I didn't know where until Alonzo came running
to tell me."
"I heard him bragging about killing, and about his women--I was weak,
wasn't I?"
"Weak?"
"I was afraid to face the future, just because it isn't to be exactly
like I thought I wanted."
"What was the kind you wanted, Lyla?"
"Oh ... I guess I wanted a husband who could see me only, and children,
and evenings together in the flower garden, and ... well, all the silly,
sentimental little things that mean so much to a woman."
He thought, _Even with its heart half cut out, it still wanted to live
... Coat for Janalee ... the strip-tease queen...._
They passed through the last of the tiger trees and she said, "We're
safe, now. The tigers never attack anyone outside their forest."
She was walking slowly and he said, "We should get on back before you're
missed, shouldn't we?"
"Who would miss me?" she asked. "So long as I remain physically intact
for the marriage night, who cares where or why I went away?"
There was the cold bleakness of winter in her eyes as she spoke, and in
her voice the first undertone of brass. He saw that this was already the
beginning of the change that Narf would make in her; the transformation
of a girl young and wanting to love and be loved into a hard and cynical
woman.
He put his arm around her shoulder, thinking that he should tell her
that _he_ cared and that she must never let Narf change her.
"Lyla, I--"
He realized how futile and foolish the words would sound. She would
marry Narf, he would return to Earth, and they would never meet again.
There were no words for him to speak on this last walk together, no way
to tell her that he wanted to help her, to protect and care for her. No
way to express the feeling inside him....
He did what seemed as natural under the circumstances as it had been for
him to put his arm around her in the clearing. He tilted up her face and
bent his head to kiss her.
And walked with jarring impact into the knobby elbow of a ghost tree
limb.
* * * * *
* * * *
The sun was down and dusk was darkening the camp when they arrived back
at her cabin.
"Thank you, Dale," she said. Her hand squeezed his arm. "I didn't know I
had a friend ... but now we'll have to be strangers because--"
[Illustration]
Gravel crunched loudly on one of the paths in the ghost trees and they
looked back, to see Narf and Sonig coming, walking swiftly. Even at the
distance, there was anger like a red aura about Narf.
"Well," Lyla said softly, "here comes my medicine."
Sonig stopped at his own cabin, to stand just within the doorway,
watching. Narf strode on and stopped before Hunter and Lyla, his face
twisted with savage hatred as he looked at Hunter. He spoke to Lyla with
grating vehemence:
"You've done an excellent job of making an ass of yourself--and of
me--haven't you? Come on in the cabin!"
Narf seized her by the arm, towering over her as he jerked her around
toward the door. Hunter stepped quickly forward, feeling the hot flash
of his own anger, but there was the paleness of Lyla's face as she
looked back, an appeal on it that said, _No!_ He stopped, realizing that
Narf would not physically harm the woman who would make him king of
Vesta, and that any interference on his part would only make everything
the harder for her.
He watched the two go into the cabin--into Lyla's half--and Narf slammed
the door shut behind them. There followed the quick bang of windows
being closed, and then Narf's muffled tirade began: "_... May think I'm
a fool ... I'm going to tell you a few things...._"
Sonig was still standing within his doorway. Hunter knew, without seeing
it, that the thin-lipped smile would be on Sonig's face.
He turned and walked back to his own cabin. There was nothing he could
do but withdraw--and listen from a distance and be ready to act if it
seemed she was in danger.
He sat on his doorstep in the darkness, hearing occasional phrases in
Narf's unrelenting abuse. One was: "_So prim you had to countermand my
order for a key to that lock--then you went out to play with that second
lieutenant...._"
Alonzo materialized out of the darkness, coming as silently as a shadow.
He was no longer the bumbling clown. The idiotic grin was gone and his
eyes were green fire, slanted and catlike, his teeth flashing white in a
snarl as he looked back toward the sound of Narf's voice.
"She are _my_ Princess Ryra," Alonzo said. "He are cursing her. If he
ever hurt her, I wirr tear out his throat and his river."
"He won't hurt her, Alonzo," Hunter said, wishing he could be sure.
"He'll only use words on her."
"He never ask her _why_ she run away--he onry curse her and threaten her
because she embarrass him."
"Embarrass him?"
"He and Sonig, they see you coming out of the forest with your arm
around her. They watch with high-power grasses."
"But there was nothing wrong in that--"
"That are what Princess Ryra say. She say you onry put your arm around
her because she are stirr scared of the tigers. And then he say, what
about the other? And he cawr her awrful bad names."
"What other?"
"Oh, when you are bending down to kiss Princess Ryra and are wawrking
into tree."