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MacMaine shook his head. No. It was better this way. Much better. He turned and went back to the dining cabin where Tallis was trussed up. This time, passing the null-gee point didn't bother him much at all. Tallis was moaning a little and his eyelids were fluttering by the time MacMaine got back. The Earthman opened the medical kit again and looked for some kind of stimulant.
"That officer shall be punished for any deliberate crime committed by the aforesaid General MacMaine as if he had himself committed the crime. "Until such time as this Court may appoint another officer for the purpose, General Polan Tallis, previously identified in these proceedings, is appointed as Guardian Officer."
Behind him, General Tallis was saying, "You've done well, Sepastian. Better than anyone could have really expected. Three battles so far, and every one of them won by a margin far greater than anticipated. Any ideas that anyone may have had that you were not wholly working for the Kerothi cause has certainly been dispelled." "Thanks, Tallis." MacMaine turned to look at the Kerothi officer.
Traitor he might be, but he was still honest enough with himself to know that he would never take payment for services he had not rendered. Now death was very near, and Sebastian MacMaine almost welcomed it. He had no desire to fight it.
The ship was full of sliding, clattering, jangling noises as the stuff tried to find a final resting place and bring the ship to equilibrium. He found the door to Ossif's cabin open and the room empty. He found Ossif in Loopat's cabin, trying to get the younger officer to his feet. Ossif saw MacMaine at the door and said: "You're alive! Good!
Hokotan enjoyed making such remarks to MacMaine's face, knowing that since MacMaine was technically a Kerothi he couldn't show any emotion when the enemy was insulted. MacMaine showed none. "Got them all, eh?" he said. "All but a few who scattered into the hills and forests. But not many of them had the guts to leave the security of their cities, even though we were occupying them."
To most Earthmen, "all the Carrot-skins look alike," and, MacMaine admitted honestly to himself, he hadn't yet trained himself completely to look beyond the strangenesses that made the Kerothi different from Earthmen and see the details that made them different from each other. But this was one Kerothi that MacMaine would never mistake for any other. "Tallis!"
You will not be punished for mistakes only for crimes. If you are planning no crimes, this worry of yours is needless." "I ceased to worry about myself long ago," MacMaine said coolly. "I do not fear personal death, not even by Excommunication. My sole worry is about the ultimate outcome of the war if I should fail. That, and nothing more." "I believe you," Tallis said.
I don't say that I fully trust him, even now, but I'll admit that I cannot see how he is to blame for the reversals of the past few months. "If the Earthmen had somehow been informed of our activities, or if we had invented a superweapon and they found out about it, I would be inclined to put the blame squarely on MacMaine. But " "How would he get such information out?" Tallis cut in sharply.
Sebastian MacMaine felt tense and a little irritated with himself, but he felt nothing that could be called a premonition. When he read the first item on the duty list, his irritation became a little stronger. "Interrogate Kerothi general." The interrogation duty had swung round to him again. He didn't want to talk to General Tallis.
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