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She glanced down at Professor Mantelish, a couple of hundred yards from the house, dressed in a pair of tanned shorts and busily grubbing away with a spade around some new sort of shrub he'd just planted, and smiled. "I took the first opportunity I've had to come see you," she said. Trigger looked at her and laughed. "I thought you might. You weren't satisfied with the reports then?"
Yes, she could become more specific about the location with the help of star maps. "Let's get them out," said Commissioner Tate. They got them out. The Ermetyne presently circled a largish section of the Vishni Fleet's area. The questions began again. 113-A: Professor Mantelish had told her of his experiments with this plasmoid There was an interruption here while Mantelish huffed reflexively.
Mantelish smacked his lips thoughtfully and shook his head. "Not good!" he said. "Not at all good! I'm beginning to think " He paused a moment. "Go on, Lyad." The hierarchy was now giving renewed consideration to a curious request the plasmoid had made almost as soon as Balmordan became capable of understanding it. The request had been to find and destroy plasmoid 113-A.
Except that I don't remember what happened and think I've just left Mantelish to go looking for you. I don't even wonder how I happen to be sitting there in a chair!" The Commissioner smiled briefly. "That's right. You didn't." Her slim fingers tapped the pages of the report, the green stone in the ring he'd given her to wear reflecting little flashes of light.
Then she recoiled in horror." "Why?" "She said it had given her a very nasty electric jolt. Apparently like the one it gave Mantelish." Trigger glanced down dubiously at Repulsive. "Gee, thanks for letting me hold it, Holati! It seems to have stopped eating now, by the way. Or whatever it does. Doesn't look much fatter if any, does it?" The Commissioner looked. "No," he said.
Mantelish stood up and went over to the Commissioner. He grasped the Commissioner's jacket lapels. "Holati, old friend!" he began emotionally. "What is it, old friend?" the Commissioner inquired. "What I have to say," Mantelish rumbled, "will shock you. Profoundly." "No!" exclaimed the Commissioner. "Yes," said Mantelish.
Even less surprisingly, she already had made a careful study of the ship's controls. After a few hours of instruction, she went on shift with the Commissioner along the less rugged stretches. In this area, none of the stretches were smooth. When not on duty, Lyad lay on her bunk and brooded. Mantelish tried to be useful. Repulsive might have been brooding too. He didn't make himself noticeable.
So what happened with 113-A?" "Mantelish began to get results with it," the Commissioner said. "One experiment was rather startling. He'd been trying that electrical stimulation business. Nothing happened until he had finished. Then he touched the plasmoid, and it fed the whole charge back to him. Apparently it was a fairly hefty dose." She laughed delightedly. "Good for Repulsive!
It was assumed an untimely coronary had been the reason he had fallen helplessly into the feeding trough of one of the largest plasmoids. By the time he was found, all of him from the knees on up already had been absorbed. "I meant your efforts to get them to work," she said. Commissioner Tate looked at Mantelish. "You tell her about that part of it," he suggested. Mantelish shook his head.
Still, each of those would still fetch around a hundred thousand credits, if you offered them to the right people. Incidentally, if asking you to this conference has interfered with any personal plans, just say so. We can put it off till tomorrow. Especially since it's beginning to look as if Mantelish won't make it here either." "Either?" Trigger said. "Quillan's already had to cancel.
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