United States or Bermuda ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
It seemed like a good idea to keep the Askab feeling fairly nervous until we found out whether those sweethearts of his had been parked next door to you on purpose." "Apparently they were," Trigger admitted. "Nice bunch of people!" "Oh, they're not all bad. Lyad has her points. And old Belchik, for example, isn't really a heel. He just had no ethics. Or morals. And revolting habits.
"I'd like to know," Quillan said. "The Ermetyne's a lady of many interests. Now see the plump elderly man just behind her?" "The ugly one with the big head who sort of keeps blinking?" "That one. He's Belchik Pluly and " "Pluly?" Trigger interrupted. "The Pluly Lines?" "Yes. Why?" "Oh nothing really. I heard a friend of mine Pluly's got a yacht out in the Manon System. And a daughter."
That was an odd-looking little group in the doorway, Trigger felt. On his knees before Quillan was a fat, elderly man, blinking dazedly at her. He wore a brilliantly purple bath towel knotted about his loins and nothing else. It was a moment before she recognized Belchik Pluly. Old Belchy! And on the floor before Belchy, motionless as if in devout prostration, Virod lay on his face.
She smiled. "How right you are, First Lady!" Quillan said. He tapped a breast pocket. "Scrambler and distorter present and in action." "And you, Balmordan?" "I must admit," Balmordan said pleasantly, "that I thought it wise to take certain precautions." "Very wise!" said Lyad. Her glance shifted, with some amusement in it, to Pluly. "Belchik?"
"You're safe when you're in one of those things, Belchik!" Quillan said reassuringly. "Wouldn't you feel a little safer there yourself, Lyad? If you say they're not even sure they've killed the creature...." "I probably shall have a cubicle set up here," Lyad said. "But not as protection against a catassin. It would never get past Pilli, for one thing." She looked at Trigger. "Oh, I forgot.
The much more elaborate affair at the Colonial School had been a Tranest job. A Devagas group had made attempts to interfere with it, but had been disposed of. Pluly: Lyad had strings on Belchik. He was afraid of the Devagas but somewhat more terrified of her.
He staggered a little then, and Trigger realized for the first time that Belchy had got pretty thoroughly drunk. "Better give our guest a hand, Virod," Lyad called over her shoulder. "Happy dreams, Belchik! Are you going by Rest, Trigger? No? You're not, of course, Quillan. Balmordan?" The Devagas scientist also shook his head.
"We are, as it happens, on the Griffin, which is Belchik Pluly's outsize yacht, and which is orbiting Manon at present. This room is on a sealed level of the yacht, where Belchik's private life normally goes on undisturbed. I persuaded him two days ago to clear out this section of it for my own use.
When they switched off the illusion background for a look at the goings-on during the Garth stopover, she took the occasion to study her companions in more detail. There were three men at the table; Lyad and herself. Quillan sat opposite her. Belchik Pluly's unseemly person, in a black silk robe which left his plump arms bare from the elbows down, was on Quillan's right.
She checked herself. The room's ComWeb was signaling. Virod went over to it. A voice came through. "... The Garth-Manon subspace run begins in one hour. Rest cubicles have been prepared...." "That means me," Belchik Pluly said. He climbed hastily to his feet. "Can't stand dives! Get hallucinations. Nasty ones."
Word Of The Day