After everyone had eaten their fill of chicken and had secretly deposited the salad in the garden, so as not to hurt Raoul"s feelings, the team a.s.sembled in the living room for the debriefing.
"First order of business," said Xris, settling himself into the leather easy chair which might have been selected with him in mind, "is to welcome Tycho to Mag Force 7."
"I am glad to be a part of such a l.u.s.terless team," said Tycho, rising and bowing.
"Ill.u.s.trious," whispered Quong. "Ill.u.s.trious team."
"Yes, that is what I said." Tycho reached out his hand, which had taken on the dusky rose shade of the couch"s upholstery. "And I am proud to meet you at last, Xris Cyborg."
"That color is quite becoming on you," Raoul observed. "You should wear the couch more often."
Tycho smiled and nodded.
"Second," said Xris, "His Majesty King Dion sends his congratulations on a job well done. He appreciates our heroic efforts to help save the dremecks. He finds it especially meritorious that we did this all on our own initiative. He has sent a token of his esteem, which has been deposited in the account.
"Now, reports. Jamil. I understand that you have been involved in a.s.sisting the dremecks through their transition phase from slaves to masters."
Jamil had been sitting in a corner of the couch, brooding over a bottle of bourbon ever since his arrival. He had refused dinner.
"The dremecks will do fine," said Jamil, not looking up. He swirled the amber-colored liquid in his gla.s.s so hard that he sloshed it over the sides, spilled bourbon on the couch. "Sorry, Xris. I"ll pay for the cleaning."
"Don"t worry." Xris smiled. "It"s not my couch. So if the dremecks are doing fine, why the need to soak yourself in bourbon?"
Jamil made a frustrated gesture with the hand that wasn"t holding the gla.s.s. "It"s just ... I"m a military man. My dad and mom were both military. I meet a people who are truly gentle, truly peaceful, truly believe that killing anythinga" even a carrota"is wrong. And what do I do? I train them to be killers."
"n.o.body was killed," Darlene observed mildly. "No one was even injured, with the exception of that dremeck who got so excited he jumped off the troop transport before it stopped moving, and even he only had a broken anklea""
"He is healing well," Dr. Quong added.
"See there," Xris said.
Jamil drank off his bourbon, set down the gla.s.s, poured himself another. "The dremecks are working with humans now. Soon they"ll be living with humans. They won"t be segregated anymore and they"ll pick up our bad habits. The dremecks will learn to kill. Sooner or later. You just wait. And I"ll be the one responsible."
"Look at it this way, Jamil," Quong argued. "Perhaps the dremecks will change the humans. Maybe Del Sol will become a peaceful planet of vegetarians."
"Poor Chef Hernandez," said Raoul sympathetically. "A lifetime of thinking up different ways to cook eggplant."
"Maybe," said Jamil, glowering darkly. "But I doubt it."
"Rowan and Rizzoli," Xris said, deciding it was time to move on. "You two have been working on the nationalization of the banksa""
"You are not smoking, Xris," said Dr. Quong suddenly.
"That"s right, Xris!" Darlene was astonished. "You"re not!"
"The truth is," Xris said, embarra.s.sed, "Doc here has been after me for years to quit and, well, I went so long without smoking in Jango that I figured I might as well keep on going. I still get that funny metallic taste in my moutha""
"Try peppermints," said Quong.
"I will, Doc. Thanks. Rizzoli, your medication seems to be working. I still have gla.s.sware."
Petronella laughed. Reaching out, she rested a hand on Quong"s arm. "Your doctor discovered that the dosage I was taking wasn"t adequate for my increased metabolic rate, or something like that. He adjusted it and now I can even enter china shops without making certain that my insurance is paid up."
"You have permission to visit me on Adonia," said Raoul graciously, "in about five years, during which time we will monitor your progress. Poor Hoskins. He was in such a state that he threatened to give notice and I was forced to send him on a cruise, all expenses paid, in order for him to recover from the experience, which I think I am not unreasonable in saying was a "shattering" one."
The Little One, curled up on the floor, punched Raoul in the shins.
"It was too funny," said Raoul.
"Mr. Amadi." Xris turned to his former boss. "Would you mind if we listened in on what Rizzoli and Darlene have discovered?"
"Certainly not," said Amadi. "You have more than earned that right.
"Once we opened the records, we found the Hung account. Billions," Petronella said. "Billions and billions. The Del Sol banks had arranged financial transactions for the Hung all over the galaxy. They laundered money, converted gold to hard currencya"charging exorbitant fees for the privilege, I might add. Kirkov came in for his cut, as did his staff and cabinet ministers.
"We"re working with a committee set up by Parliament to place the money in a fund that has been established for victims of the Hung. There were some people who had legitimate accounts in the bank. The coalition government has promised to see to it that their funds are returned to them."
"There is more than enough money to improve the living conditions of the dremecks," Darlene added. "Many of the older dremecks want to continue working at the same jobs, and now they"ll be paid for their labor. Some of the young people, however, want to learn to work with the humans in the banks and the vid station, and"a"she cast an uneasy glance at Jamila""some of them want to form the first dremeck army."
Jamil just shook his head and drank off another bourbon.
"Now Raoul, your report," Xris said.
There was no response. Raoul was staring at himself in his compact, touching up a beauty spot at the corner of his eye.
Xris tried again. "Raoul!"
The Little One punched his friend on the toe.
"Now look what you"ve done!" Raoul said tragically. "I"ve smudged it!"
"Raoul," Xris said for the third time, "put away the mirror. You"re lovely, as always."
Reluctantly, Raoul closed the compact, returned it to his purse. Then he was all attention, regarding Xris with a dreamy and flawlessly lip-glossed smile.
"First," Xris continued, "express to Rusty Love our appreciation. He did a fantastic job."
"Rusty Love was quite pleased to be of service," Raoul a.s.sured them, "especially after he received your most generous payment, which was quite unnecessary, since he did what he did out of grat.i.tude for a valued mentor and teacher, that being myself. He found out that he prefers being involved in real-life action, rather than standing around watching his stunt double do all the exciting parts, and he asked me to tell you that if ever a job comes along where you might find him useful and you can a.s.sure him that it won"t muss his hair or get dirt beneath his fingernails, he"s your man."
"I"ll keep that in mind," Xris said. "And how is our friend Kirkov enjoying his unexpected holiday?"
The Little One snickered and, bringing up one fist, he smashed it into the palm of his hand.
"Yes, quite," said Raoul in agreement. "His Eminence was not particularly startled to wake up and find himself in a strange bed, since I understand that this is a normal occurrence for him. It did strike him as strange that he was in bed alone. Further, that the stars outside his window were moving along at a considerable rate of speed. Surprised, he inquired as to the circ.u.mstances. I explained to him that he was on a private yacht about forty light-years away from his native planet, at which juncture His Eminence went from surprise to outraged in the shortest length of time it has ever been my privilege to observe.
"His reaction was quite entertaining for a few minutes, then it rapidly became boring. He seized a steak knife and came at me with the avowed intention of slitting my throat from ear to ear. My friend"a"Raoul stroked the fedoraa" "biffed His Eminence on the head with a bottle of champagne. I was quite shocked at this act of violence on the part of my friend until I learned that, fortunately, it was domestic.
"His Eminence spent the night face-first on the floor, during which time I introduced a nerve-soothing potion into his water carafe. After that, we all got along quite marvelously. He didn"t even put up a fuss when the agents came on board to arrest him for accepting bribes and racketeering. His Eminence gave a merry laugh and offered to pour them all a gla.s.s of water, which, acting upon my advice, they chose not to accept.
"His Eminence was quite sorry to leave us and actually kissed me on both cheeks when we parted," said Raoul, smoothing his hair. "It was really quite touching. When I saw him again during his trial, however, he wasn"t looking nearly so cheerful. It seems that the drug I had used was addictivea"a fact that had completely slipped my minda" and that his period of withdrawal had not been pleasant."
"Kirkov was sentenced to thirty years in prison," said Dr. Quong. "He has, of course, appealed. And he is attempting to have our friends"a"he nodded at Raoul and the Little Onea""brought up on kidnapping charges."
"How quaint," said Raoul, charmed.
"Maybe they"ll send him to Jango," said Xris. "Hopefully before Slovenski is paroled. Harry, how did Bear Olefsky take the news that we blew up his brand-new transport?"
Harry, who had been lolling in the other easy chair, jerked to attention. He sat bolt upright, as he always did when Xris called upon him to make a report.
"I was sort of scared he"d be mad; it was a prototype, after all, and must have cost a bundle. But he wasn"t. He wouldn"t even take the money you offered him. Said it was worth it to find out that his innovations worked the way he thought they would and that now he could go ahead and put the Xena-cla.s.s transport into production. He did say to tell you that the next time you wanted to borrow something, it had better be a cup of sugar." Harry looked puzzled. "Do you need sugar, Xris? "Cause if you do, I could run out to the storea""
"No, Harry, what Bear meant was ... never mind. I have plenty of sugar. Well, people," Xris said, "that wraps up another one. Thank you for everything. You"ve received your paychecks. I hope they were satisfactory?"
Everyone nodded, with the exception of Tycho.
"Excuse me, Mr. Tampambulosa""
"Xris," said Xris, smiling. "Just Xris."
"Yes, sir, Xris." Tycho paused to adjust his translator, then continued. "I was going over the accounts, and if you continue to pay people this generously, we are going to be running into a cash flow situationa""
"Just like his brother," said Quong fondly.
"You can talk about it later," said Darlene, yawning. "I don"t know about the rest of you, but I say we call it a night."
She had noticeda"and commented on the fact, when Xris was out of hearinga"that he looked unusually tired. His good spirits seemed forced.
"What do you think"s the matter with him, Doc?" Darlene asked in a low voice, after Xris had been called upon to kill what Raoul reported, in semihysterical tones, to be a spider of gigantic proportions haunting the bathroom.
"I am not certain," said Quong. "I will have to do a complete physical. It may be a shortage of pota.s.sium." He paused to finish his drink, then added offhandedly, "Unless you mean the depression."
"What depression?" Darlene asked sharply. "Why would Xris be depressed? The men responsible for what happened to him are now little globules of flesh adrift in s.p.a.ce."
"Precisely," said Quong quietly.
"The spider was the size of the tip of my little finger," Xris said disgustedly on his return.
"You didn"t kill it, did you?" Jamil asked anxiously.
"What do you mean, Doc?" Darlene drew Quong off into a corner.
"The party"s over," said Quong, shrugging. "Xris has opened all his presents. He finally was given the one he wanted. Unfortunately, it isn"t nearly as bright and shiny and wonderful as he had imagined it would be."
"I see," said Darlene. She and Amadi, who had been quietly eavesdropping, exchanged glances.
"Still, it may be the pota.s.sium," Quong said. "I will check the levels tomorrow."
"Doc, I need to talk to you." Xris broke in on their conversation. "See that Jamil gets back to the hotel okay, will you?"
"Come, my friend," said Quong, lifting Jamil by the shoulder and propelling him toward the front door. "I will fix you one of my patented hangover remedies. Not only will it cure your hangover, but I guarantee you will never touch alcohol again. Xris," the doctor added, "I will be back tomorrow to perform the blood tests."
"You better make it early, Doc," Xris said. "I"m leaving tomorrow afternoon."
"So soon?" Quong looked startled.
"This isn"t my house, remember," Xris said.
"Yes, that is true. Come along, my poor besotted friend," Quong said, helping Jamil down the stairs.
"Good-bye, Rizzoli." Xris shook hands with the agent. "Good luck on your future career."
"She"ll be Bureau director before she"s finished," Amadi predicted. "Good night, Xris. Take care of yourself."
He paused in the doorway, regarded his friend intently. "I wish life was happier for you, Xris."
"Don"t worry about me, sir. If a genie had come along and granted me one wish, seeing the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who blew up Ito blow up themselves would have been it."
"Would it, Xris?" Amadi asked.
"Well, maybe it would have been my second wish," Xris admitted, his hand automatically going to his pocket for a twist. The hand came back empty. "But I don"t think even a genie would be able to grant my first wish. There"s not enough magic in the universe would make that happen. Good night, sir. Say h.e.l.lo to your wife for me."
Amadi departed, waving good-bye to the others.
Darlene slipped her arm around him. He drew her into his embrace. She clung to him, resting her head on his shoulder, and broke into tears.
"It"s over, Rowan," he said gently. "It"s over. You"re safe now."
"I can"t believe it, Xris," she said, huddled against him. "I still answer the door with a lasgun in my hand. I can"t sleep at night without wondering if I"ll wake up to find someone standing over mea""
"It"s over, Rowan," Xris repeated, holding on to her tightly. "Believe it."
"I"m starting to. But it"s going to take a while." Darlene raised her head, smiled at him through her tears. "Do you think that somehow Ito knows?"
"He knows," said Xris, smiling back. "I"m sure of it"
"C"mon, Darlene," said Harry awkwardly, shyly. "The late showing starts at 2100."
"Harry"s taking me to a movie," said Darlene. "Rusty Love"s latest vid."
"Thanks for bringing me that autographed picture," Harry said as he proudly escorted Darlene out the door. "My mom was really excited. She"s gonna put it in my baby book...."
Xris walked back into the house. The smell of gardenia was still incredibly strong, but Raoul was nowhere to be seen.
"Raoul," he called. "Time to go."
Raoul, escorted by the Little One, came floating out of the kitchen. "I was just rescuing the salad," he said indignantly. "Someone had accidentally stuffed it into the trash compactora"bowl and all! However, I wrapped it up and placed it in the fridge. It will make a lovely luncheon for you. One can never tell about s.p.a.ceplane food, you know."
Xris made certain they reached the door, Raoul having been known to veer off and end up in the garage, wondering where he was and how he got there. The Little One suddenly wrapped his arms around Xris"s leg.