The thing that was Corgo did not reply.
Bending, straining, he raised the body.
""Do not move the victim"-that"s what it says in the Manual. But you"re coming with me. Cap. I remember now. ... It was after I left. But I remember . . . All.
Now I remember; I do ... Yes. They"ll kill you an- other time-if you do live. . . . They will; I know. So I"ll have to move the victim. Have to ... -Wish I wasn"t so fogged . . . I"m sorry. Cap. You were always good, to the men, good to me. Ran a tight ship, but you were good . . . Old Wallaby, happy . . . Yes. We"ll go now, killer. Fast as we can. Before the Morbs come.- Yes. I remember . . . you. Good man, Cap. Yes."
So, the Wallaby had made its last jump, according to the ICI investigation which followed. But Corgo still dwelled on the dreamless border, and the seeds and the egg held his life.
After the ten days had pa.s.sed, the Lynx and Bened.i.c.k still remained with Sandor. Sandor was not anxious for them to go. He had never been employed before; he 28 liked the feeling of having co-workers about, persons 43.who shared memories of things done. Bened.i.c.k was loathe to leave Miss Barbara, one of the few persons he could talk to and have answer him, willingly. The Lynx liked the food and the climate, decided his wives and grandchildren could use a vacation.
So they stayed on.
Returning from death is a deadly slow business. Real- ity does the dance of the veils, and it is a long while before you know what lies beneath them allif you ever really do).
When Corgo had formed a rough idea, he cried out: "Malal"
. . . The darkness.
Then he saw a face out of times gone by.
"Sergeant Emil . . . ?"
"Tes, sir. Right here, Captain."
"Where am I?"
"My hutch, sir. Yours got burnt out."
"How?"
"A hoverglobe did it, with a sear-beam."
"What of my-pet? A Drillen . . ."
"There was only you I found, sir-no one, nothing, else.
Uh, it was almost a month-cycle ago that it happened.
Corgo tried to sit up, failed, tried again, half-suc- ceeded. He sat propped on his elbows.
"What"s the matter with me?"
"You had some fractures, b.u.ms, lacerations, internal injuries-but you"re going to be all right, now."
"I wonder how they found me, so fast-again . . . ?"
"I don"t know, sir. Would you like to try some broth now?"
"Later."
"It"s all warm and ready."
"Okay, Emil. Suie, bring it on."
He lay back and wondered.
44.29 There was her voice. He had been dozing all day wad he was part of a dream.
"Corgo, are you there? Are you there, Corgo? Are .
you . . .
His hand! The ring!
"Yes! Me! Corgo!" He activated it. "Malal Where are you?"
"In a cave, by the sea. Everyday I have called to you.
Are you alive, or do you answer me from Elsewhere?"
"I am alive. There is no magic to your collar. How have you kept yourself?"
"I go out at night. Steal food from the large dwellings with the green windows like doors-for Dilk and myself."
"The puppy? Alive, too?"
"Yes. He was penned in the yard on that night. . . .
Where are you?"
"I do not know, precisely. . . .Near where our place was. A few blocks away-I"m with an old friend. . . ."
"I must come."
"Wait until dark, I"ll get you directions.-No. I"ll send him after you, my friend. . . . Where is your cave?"
"Up the beach, past the red house you said was ugly.
There are three rocks, pointed on top. Past them is a narrow path-the water comes up to it, sometimes covers it-and around a comer then, thirty-one of my steps, and the rock hangs overhead, too. It goes far back then, and there is a crack m the wall-small enough to squeeze through, but it widens. We are here."
"My friend will come for you after dark."
"You are hurt?"
"I was. But I am better now. I"ll see you later, talk more then."
"Yes-"
In the days that followed, his strength returned to him.
He played chess with Emil and talked with him of their 45.days together in the Guard. He laughed, for the first time in many years, at the tale of the Commander"s wig, at the Big Brawl on Sordido III, some thirty-odd years before. . . .
Mala kept to herself, and to Dilk. Occasionally, Corgo would feel her eyes upon him. But whenever he turned, 30 she was always looking in another direction. He realized that she had never seen him being friendly with anyone before. She seemed puzzled.
He drank zimlak with Emil, they ventured off-key ballads together. . . .
Then one day it struck him.
"Emil, what are you using for money these days?"
"Guard pension. Cap."
"Flames! We"ve been eating you out of business! Food, and the medical supplies and all . . ."
"I had a little put away for foul weather days, Cap."
"Good. But you shouldn"t have been using it. There"s quite a bit of money zipped up in my boots.-Here. Just a second . . . There! Take thesel"
"I can"t. Cap. . . ,"
"The h.e.l.l, you say! Take them, that"s an order!"
"All right, sir, but you don"t have to. . . ."
"Emil, there is a price on my head-you know?"
"I know."
"A pretty large reward."
-Yes."
"It"s yours, by right."
"I couldn"t turn you in, sir."
"Nevertheless, the reward is yours. Twice over. I"ll send you that amount-a few weeks after I leave here."
"I couldn"t take it, sir."
"Nonsense; you will."
"No, sir. I won"t."
"What do you mean?"
"I just mean I couldn"t take that money."
46."Why not? What"s wrong with it?"
"Nothing, exactly ... I just don"t want any of it. I"ll take this you gave me for the food and stuff. But no more, that"s all."
"Oh . . . All right, Emil. Any way you like it. I wasn"t trying to force . . ."
"I know. Cap."
31 "Another game now? I"ll spot you a bishop and three p.a.w.ns this time." _ "Very good, sir."
"We had some good time together, eh?"
"You bet, Cap. Tau Ceti-three months" leave. Re- member the Red River Valley-and the family native life-forms?"
"Hah! And Cygnus VII-the purple world with the Rainbow Women?"
"Took me three weeks to get that dye off me. Thought at first it was a new disease. Flamesi I"d love to ship out again!"
Corgo paused in mid-move.
"Hmm . . . You know, Emil ... It might be that you could."
"What do you mean?"
Corgo finished his move.
"Aboard the Wallaby. It"s here, in Una.s.sociated Ter- ritory, waiting for me. I"m Captain, and crew-and ev- erything-all by myself, right now. Mala helps some, but -you know, I could use a First Mate. Be like old times."
Emil replaced the knight he had raised, looked up, looked back down.
"I-I don"t know what to say. Cap. I never thought you"d offer me a berth. . . ."
"Why not? I could use a good man. Lots of action, like the old days. Plenty cash. No cares. We want three months" leave on Tau Ceti and we write our own b.l.o.o.d.y orders. We take iti"
47."I-I do want to s.p.a.ce again. Cap-bad. But-no, I couldn"t, . . ."
"Why not, Emil? Why not? It"d be just like before."
"I don"t know how to say it, Cap. . . . But when we -burnt places, before-well, it was criminals-pirates, Code-breakers-you know. Now . . . Well, now I hear you b.u.m-just people. Uh, non-Code-breakers. Like, just plain civilians. Well-I could not."
Corgo did not answer. Emil moved his knight.
"I hate them, Emil," he said, after a time. "Every lovin"
one of them, I hate them. Do you know what they did on Brild? To the Drillen?"
32 "Yessir. But it wasn"t civilians, and not the miners. It was not everybody. It wasn"t every lovin" one. of them, sir.-I just couldn"t. Don"t be mad."
"I"m not mad, Emil."