Chapter 21

She was, suddenly, in a large room, well lit, with elaborate furnishings--sitting leaned back in a soft chair before a highly polished little table. On the opposite side of the table two people sat looking at her with expressions of mild surprise. One of them was Lyad Ermetyne. The other was a man she didn’t know.

The man glanced aside at Lyad. “Very fast snap-back!” he said. He looked again at Trigger. He was a small man with salt-and-pepper hair, a deeply lined face, beautiful liquid-black eyes.

“Very!” Lyad said. “We must remember that. Hello, Trigger!”

“Hello,” Trigger said. Her glance went once around the room and came back to Lyad’s amiably observant face. Repulsive’s container was nowhere around. There seemed to be nobody else in the room. An ornamental ComWeb stood against one wall. Two of the walls were covered with heavy hangings, and a great gold-brocaded canopy bellied from the ceiling. No doors or portals in sight; they might be camouflaged, or behind those hangings. Any number of people could be in call range--and a few certainly must be watching her right now, because that small man was no rough-and-tumble type.

The small man was regarding her with something like restrained amusement.

“A cool one,” he murmured. “Very cool!”

Trigger looked at him a moment, then turned her eyes back to Lyad. She didn’t feel cool. She felt tense and scared cold. This was probably very bad!

“What did you want to see me about?” she asked.

Lyad smiled. “A business matter. Do you know where you are?”

“Not on your ship, First Lady.”

The light-amber eyes barely narrowed. But Lyad had become, at that moment, very alert.

“Why do you think so?” she asked pleasantly.

“This room,” said Trigger. “You don’t gush, I think. What was the business matter?”

“In a moment,” Lyad said. She smiled again. “Where else might you be?”

Trigger thought she could guess. But she didn’t intend to. Not out loud. She shrugged. “It’s no place I want to be.” She settled back a little in her chair. Her right hand brushed the porgee pouch.

The porgee pouch.

It would have been like the Ermetyne to investigate the pouch carefully, take out the gun and put the pouch back. But they might not have.

Somebody was bound to be watching. She couldn’t find out--not until the instant after she decided to try the Denton.

“I can believe that,” Lyad said. “Forgive me the discourtesy of so urgent an invitation, Trigger. A quite recent event made it seem necessary. As to the business--as a start, this gentleman is Doctor Veetonia. He is an investigator of extraordinary talents along his line. At the moment, he is a trifle tired because of the very long hours he worked last night.”

Doctor Veetonia turned his head to look at her. “I did, First Lady? Well, that does explain this odd weariness. Did I work well?”

“Splendidly,” Lyad assured him. “You were never better, Doctor.”

He nodded, smiled vaguely and looked back at Trigger. “This must go, too, I suppose?”

“I’m afraid it must,” Lyad said.

“A great pity!” Doctor Veetonia said. “A great pity. It would have been a pleasant memory. This very cool one!” The vague smile shifted in the lined face again. “You are so beautiful, child,” he told Trigger, “in your anger and terror and despair. And above it still the gauging purpose, the strong, quick thinking. You will not give in easily. Oh, no! Not easily at all. First Lady,” Doctor Veetonia said plaintively, “I should like to remember this one! It should be possible, I think.”

Small, icy fingers were working up and down Trigger’s spine. The Ermetyne gave her a light wink.

“I’m afraid it isn’t, Doctor,” she said. “There are such very important matters to be discussed. Besides, Trigger Argee and I will come to an amicable agreement very quickly.”

“No.” Doctor Veetonia’s face had turned very sullen.

“No?” said Lyad.

“She will agree to nothing. Any fool can see that. I recommend, then, a simple chemical approach. Your creatures can handle it. Drain her. Throw her away. I will have nothing to do with the matter.”

“Oh, but Doctor!” the Ermetyne protested. “That would be so crude. And so very uncertain. Why, we might be here for hours still!”

He shook his head.

Lyad smiled. She stroked the lined cheek with light finger tips. “Have you forgotten the palace at Hamal Lake?” she asked. “The great library? The laboratories? Haven’t I been very generous?”

Doctor Veetonia turned his face toward her. He smiled thoughtfully.

“Now that is true!” he admitted. “For the moment I did forget.” He looked back at Trigger. “The First Lady gives,” he told her, “and the First Lady takes away. She has given me wealth and much leisure. She takes from me now and then a memory. Very skillfully, since she was my pupil. But still the mind must be dim by a little each time it is done.”

His face suddenly grew concerned. He looked at Lyad again. “Two more years only!” he said. “In two years I shall be free to retire, Lyad?”

Lyad nodded. “That was our bargain, Doctor. You know I keep bargains.”

Doctor Veetonia said, “Yes. You do. It is strange in an Ermetyne. Very well! I shall do it.” He looked at Trigger’s face. The black-liquid eyes blinked once or twice. “She is almost certain she is being watched,” he said, “but she has been thinking of using the ComWeb. The child, I believe, is prepared to attack us at any opportune moment.” He smiled. “Show her first why her position is hopeless. Then we shall see.”

“Why, it’s not in the least hopeless,” Lyad said. “And please feel no concern about the Doctor, Trigger. His methods are quite painless and involve none of the indignities of a chemical investigation. If you are at all reasonable, we’ll just sit here and talk for twenty minutes or so. Then you will tell me what sum you wish to have deposited for you in what bank, and you will be free to go.”

“What will we talk about?” Trigger said.

“Well, for one,” said the Ermetyne, “there is that rather handsome little purse you’ve been carrying about lately. My technicians inform me there may be some risk of damaging its contents if they attempt to force it open. We don’t want that. So we’ll talk a bit about the proper way of opening it.” She gave Trigger her little smile. “And Doctor Veetonia will verify the accuracy of any statements made on the matter.”

She considered. “Oh, and then I shall ask a few questions. Not many. And you will answer them. It really will be quite simple. But now let me tell you why I so very much wanted to see you today. We had a guest here last night. A gentleman whom you’ve met--Balmordan. He was mind-blocked on some quite important subjects, and so--though the doctor and I were very patient and careful--he died in the end. But before he died, he had told me as much as I really needed to know from him.

“Now with that information,” she went on, “and with the contents of your purse and with another little piece of information, which you possess, I shall presently go away. On Orado, a few hours later, Tranest’s ambassador will have a quiet talk with some members of the Federation Council. And that will be all, really.” She smiled. “No dramatic pursuit! No hue and cry! A few treaties will be considerably revised. And the whole hubbub about the plasmoids will be over.” She nodded. “Because they can be made to work, you know. And very well!”

Doctor Veetonia hadn’t looked away from Trigger while Lyad was speaking. He said now, “My congratulations, First Lady! But the girl has not been convinced in the least that she should cooperate. She may hope to be rescued before the information you want can be forced from her.”

The Ermetyne sighed. “Oh, really now, Trigger!” she very nearly pouted. “Well, if I must explain about that to you, too, I shall.”

She considered a moment.

“Did you see your facsimile?”

Trigger nodded. “Very briefly.”

Lyad smiled. “How she and my other people passed in and out of that dome, and how it happened that your room guards were found unconscious and were very hurriedly taken to the medical department’s contagious ward, makes an amusing little story. But it would be too long in the telling just now. Your facsimile is one of Tranest’s finest actresses. She’s been studying and practicing being you for months. She knows where to go and what to do in that dome to avoid contact with people who know you too intimately. If it seems that discovery is imminent, she needs only a minute by herself to turn into an entirely different personality. So hours might pass without anyone even suspecting you were gone.