“True enough.” Rebka looked at Darya. “But Professor Lang saw what happened, and Nenda and Atvar H’sial were killed.”

“I know you think that. But Kallik points out that this may not be the case. She notes that if the ship were gravitationally accelerated in its departure, the beings inside would feel no forces on them — it would be exactly as though they remained in free-fall. Then they would have been carried away alive toward Gargantua, against their wishes, and may now be in need of assistance. And if this is the case, it is the clear duty of the Hymenopt Kallik and my humble self to pursue them. They are our owners. At the very least, we cannot leave the Mandel system until we are assured that they either do not want, or cannot make use of, our services. We therefore ask you, bearing all these facts in mind, and with due consideration of the possibility that — oof!”

J’merlia had received another nudge from Kallik, and the yellow tip of the Hymenopt’s poison sting appeared and touched one of J’merlia’s hind limbs. He flinched and hopped forward a step.

“Did you know, J’merlia,” Julius Graves said in a pleasant conversational tone, “that Professor Lang was for a time convinced that you were incapable of independent speech? Now she is probably regretting that she was wrong.”

“I am sorry, Councilor. I am accustomed to the translation of thoughts, not their creation. But in summary, the Hymenopt Kallik and I request that we be allowed to borrow a ship; and we request that we be allowed to follow Masters Nenda and Atvar H’sial to Gargantua, or to wherever their trail may lead.”

“No.” Rebka answered at once. “Definitely not. I reject your request. Opal is too busy digging out from Summertide to waste time looking around for starships.”

Kallik clucked and chirped urgently.

“But that will not be necessary,” J’merlia said. “As the Hymenopt Kallik points out, we do not need to descend to Opal. A starship is available — the Summer Dreamboat. It is at Midway Station, and it will be easy to return there and restore it to full power. We will find ample provisions on the station, and Kallik and I are sure we can fly the ship.”

“With one extra passenger,” Darya Lang said. “I’m going along, too.”

Rebka glared at her. “You’re injured. You’re too sick to travel.”

“I’m well enough. I’ll convalesce on the way to Gargantua. Are you telling me a burned foot would stop you from doing your job, if you were in my position?”

“But the Summer Dreamboat isn’t the property of the Dobelle system.” Hans Rebka avoided answering her question and tried another approach. “It’s not in my authority, or Max Perry’s, to grant you the use of that ship.”

“We agree.” J’merlia was nodding politely. “Permission would of course have to come from Geni Carmel, who is the owner.”

“And what makes you think she would grant it?”

Julius Graves coughed softly. “Well, as a matter of fact, Captain Rebka, I have already discussed that matter with poor Geni. She says she never wants to see or hear about that ship again. It is yours, for as long as you like to use it.”

Rebka stared at the other man. Why did everyone seem to assume that he would be going along?

“It’s still no, Councilor. So we can get a ship. That makes no difference.”

J’merlia bowed his head and groveled lower, while Kallik whistled in disappointment. It was Julius Graves who nodded and said quietly, “That is certainly your decision to make, Captain. But would you be willing to share with me the logic of your thinking?”

“Sure I will. Let me start with a question. You know Louis Nenda and Atvar H’sial. Would you go to Gargantua to look for their bodies?”

Rebka’s own position was quite clear in his mind. The idea that you should try to find people who had tried to destroy you was all wrong — unless you were proposing to kill them yourself.

“Me, go to Gargantua?” Graves raised his eyebrows. “Certainly not. In the first place, it is imperative that I return to Miranda. My task here is complete. In addition, I regard Atvar H’sial and Louis Nenda as dangerous criminals. If I went to Gargantua — which I do not propose to do, since I believe that they are dead — it would be only to arrest them.”

“Very good. I feel the same way. Now, Councilor.” Rebka pointed at Kallik. “Do you know how Louis Nenda controlled her? I’ll tell you. He used a whip and a leash. He said Kallik was his pet, but nobody should treat a pet like that. She wasn’t an equal to him, and she wasn’t a pet. She was a downtrodden and disposable slave. He was quite willing to leave her behind to die on Quake. Before Kallik came to Opal she understood very little of human speech, but only because he had deprived her of the opportunity to learn. And yet it was Kallik who performed all the calculations showing that something unique would occur at Summertide. She did that, you know, not Nenda. She’s a whole lot smarter than he is. Isn’t that true?”

“It is quite true.” Julius Graves had a little smile on his face. “Please continue.”

“And J’merlia was no better off. The way that he was treated when they arrived on Dobelle was an absolute disgrace. You’re the specialist in ethics, and I’m surprised that you didn’t notice it before anyone else. Atvar H’sial made J’merlia into a nonentity. Now he speaks freely—”

“That is one way to put it.”

“But when the Cecropian was around, J’merlia was afraid to say one word. He was totally passive. All he did was interpret her thoughts to us. He has a mind, but he was never allowed to use it. Let me ask you, Councilor, do you think that Louis Nenda and Atvar H’sial did anything to deserve loyalty?”

“They did not.”

“And isn’t it totally wrong for rational, reasonable beings like J’merlia and Kallik to be treated in that way, with all their actions controlled by others?”

“It is more than wrong, Captain, it is intolerable. And I am delighted to see that you and I hold identical views.” Julius Graves turned to the waiting aliens. “Captain Rebka agrees. You are mature, rational beings, and the captain says that it would be totally wrong for you to be controlled by other people. So we cannot dictate your actions. If you wish to take a ship, and seek Louis Nenda and Atvar H’sial, then that is your perfect right.”

“Now wait a minute.” Rebka saw the grin on the face of Julius Graves and heard a whistle of triumph from Kallik. “I didn’t say that!”

“You did, Hans.” Darya Lang was laughing at him, too. “I heard you, and so did Councilor Graves. He’s right. If it was wrong for Nenda and Atvar H’sial to control Kallik and J’merlia, it would be just as wrong for us to do it. In fact, it would be worse, because we would be doing it more consciously.”

Rebka looked around the group, from the mad and misty blue eyes of Julius Graves, to J’merlia and Kallik’s inscrutable faces, and finally to the knowing smile of Darya Lang.

He had argued and lost, on all fronts. And curiously, he did not mind. He was beginning to tingle with the curiosity he had felt when they were planning a descent into Paradox. There were sure to be problems ahead; but they would call for action, not the psychological manipulations that Graves found so easy and natural.

And what might they find at Gargantua? That was an open question. Atvar H’sial and Louis Nenda, dead or alive? The Builders themselves? Or mysteries beyond anything on Opal and Quake?

Hans Rebka sighed as the first whistle of atmosphere began along the smooth sides of the capsule. Touchdown was only a few minutes away. “All right, Councilor. We’ll drop you, Max, and Geni off on Opal. The rest of us will head back up the Umbilical to Midway Station and the Dreamboat. But what’s out there at Gargantua…”

“Is anybody’s guess,” Darya said. “Cheer up, Hans. It’s like Summertide, and a bit like life. If you knew just what was going to happen, it wouldn’t be worth taking the trip.”