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He was human and he was going to be loyal to his own kind. But although he thought he had settled all the conflict, he found that it returned when he was lying in his bunk, or when he stood in the dome and watched the stars, while they moved through the Antares system toward the captive sun and the tiny planet Lharillis. It's in my power to give this to all men....
Your people, as I said before, have a strange history. It scares us. Can you guarantee that some, at least, of your people wouldn't try to come and take the star-drive by force? We left a man on Lharillis who thought nothing of killing twenty-four of us.
Every time a Lhari ship comes through this system they stop there, even though there's nothing on Lharillis except a landing field and some concrete bunkers filled with robot mining machinery. They'll stop there on the way out of this system and that's where you come in. We need you on board, to put the radiation counter out of commission."
They're proud of saying no human foot has ever touched Lharillis." When he got back to the Lhari spaceport, Ringg hailed him. "Where have you been? I hunted the whole port for you! I wouldn't join the party till you came. What's a pal for?" Bart brushed by him without speaking, disregarding Ringg's surprised stare, and went up the ramp.
We are not, of course, concerned with human conspiracies unless they endanger Lhari lives. The Antares authorities will deal with the man Montano for an unauthorized landing on Lharillis, in violation of Federation treaty." He smiled, his gnome's face breaking into a million tiny cracks like a piece of gray-glazed pottery. "Bartol, or whatever you call yourself, you are a brave young man.
He was not on watch when they came into the planetary field of Lharillis, but when he came on shift, he knew at once that the trouble had been located. The panel was pulled open, the exposed wires hanging, and Ringg was facing old Rugel, shouting, "Listen, Baldy, I won't have you accusing me of going light on my work! I checked those panels eight days ago!
Bart shook his head. "No. Raynor Three sent me to call off your plans, because of my father " "That sounds like Three," interrupted Raynor Two. "Entirely too squeamish!" Montano said irritably, "We couldn't have done anything without a man on the Swiftwing, and you know it. We still can't. Bart, I suppose you know about Lharillis." "Not by that name." "Your next stop.
"I remembered you had a bad reaction, to warp-drive," he said. "I came to see if you were all right. I would never have believed but I'm beginning to guess. There was always something about you, Bartol." He shut the door behind him and stood against it. His voice lowered almost to a whisper, he said, "You're not Lhari, are you?" "Vorongil knows," Bart said. Ringg nodded. "That day on Lharillis.
Word came from Antares that Montano had been arrested and his ship confiscated for illegal landing on Lharillis. I thought you were probably dead." "We sent a boy to do a man's job," Raynor Three said, "and he came back a man. But tell me " He looked curiously at Ringg and Meta. Bart introduced them, adding, "I came for help, really. I'm facing charges, and I'm afraid you are, too."
"The radiation counter the planetary one, not the one we use in space is out of order. We don't even need it this landing there's no radiation on Lharillis. If it were the landing gear, now, that would be serious. I'm just trying to tell Ringg " "He's trying to say I didn't check it." Ringg was not to be calmed. "It's my professional competence " "Forget it," Bart said.