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Updated: June 9, 2025


"Will you ask your colleague to be so kind as to allow the Cargo-master Kallee to be presented?" The tall, dark young Terran Medic spoke to the priest beside him and together they came across the clearing. Van Rycke and Jellico both arose and inclined their heads in honor to the priests, as did the chief with whom they had been about to deal.

Since Queex would not be howling in that fashion if its master was present, Dane kept on to the control cabin where he blundered in upon an executive level conference of Captain, Cargo-master and Astrogator. "Well?" Jellico's blaster scarred left cheek twitched as he snapped that impatient inquiry at the messenger. "Eysie Captain below, sir. With his Cargo-master. They want to see you "

To felines it is a stimulation and they get the same satisfaction from rolling in and eating the leaves as we do from drinking " "The Salariki are, in a manner of speaking, felines " Van Rycke mused. Tau straightened. "The Salariki have discovered catnip, I take it?" Van Rycke nodded at Dane and for the second time the Cargo-master apprentice made his report.

"Yes?" the Queen's Cargo-master prompted politely. But Kallee had taken his Captain's arm and was urging Grange away from the spacer. "You have until noon to lift," was Jellico's parting shot as the three in Company livery started toward the road. "I don't think that they will," he added to Van Rycke. The Cargo-master nodded. "You wouldn't in their place," he pointed out reasonably.

Not all the flush had faded from the face of the I-S Captain. "Grange of the Dart," he did not even sketch a salute. "Inter-Solar. Kallee, Cargo-master " And he did not name the hovering third member of his party. Jellico stood waiting and after a long moment of silence Grange was forced to state his business. "We have until noon " Jellico, his fingers hooked in his belt, simply waited.

Jellico, with Van Rycke at his shoulder, halted before he stepped from the ramp so that the three Inter-Solar men, Captain, Cargo-master and escort, whether they wished or no, were put in the disadvantageous position of having to look up to a Captain whom they, as members of one of the powerful Companies, affected to despise.

Though time had ceased to have much meaning for them except as an irritating reminder of the now sure failure of their Sargolian venture, they marked the hours into a second full day of detention before Van Rycke finally put in appearance. The Cargo-master was plainly tired, but he showed no signs of discomposure. In fact as he came in he was humming what he fondly imagined was a popular tune.

Remember those marks on the throats and backs of the rest? That might be the entry point of this poison if poison it is " Dane could see the end of that line of reasoning. Rip and Ali they couldn't be spared. The knowledge they had would bring the Queen to earth. But a Cargo-master was excess baggage when there was no reason for trade. It was his place to try out the truth of Ali's surmise.

Now Jellico brought the heels of his space boots together with an extravagant click and his hand flourished at the fore of his helmet in a gesture which was better suited to the Patrol hero of a slightly out-of-date Video serial. "Jellico, Solar Queen, Free Trader," he identified himself brusquely, and added, "this is Van Rycke, our Cargo-master."

Of course, a Cargo-master was supposed to be the spokesman of a ship. But that was in matters of trade. And how could he stand there and argue the case for the Queen? He was the newest joined, the greenest member of her crew. Already his mouth was dry and his nerves tense. But Dane didn't know that none of that was revealed by his face or manner.

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