Uncharted Stars by Andre Norton Read Free Book Online Page B

that warning. I did not glance in the direction he indicated.
    â€œIs he moving in?”
    â€œNo. He took a video shot of the carrier. He has no orders to prevent take-off—just make sure you do go.”
    â€œSo they can know the bait is ready and they need only set their trap. Very neat,” I commented. But there was no drawing back now, and I did not fear the Patrol at this moment half as much as the Guild. After all, I had some importance to the Patrol—bait has until the moment for sacrificing it comes. Once we were off planet I had the feeling it was not going to be so easy for them to use me as they so arrogantly planned. I still had what they did not suspect I carried—the zero stone.
    So I gave no sign that I knew I was under observation as I hauled Ryzk off the luggage carrier, guided him up the ramp, snapped that in, and sealed ship. I stowed my prize, such as he was, in one of the two lower-level cabins, strapped him down, taking his pilot’s plate with me, and climbed with Eet to the control cabin.
    There I fed Ryzk’s plate into the viewer to satisfy the field law and prepared for take-off, Eet guiding me in the setting of the automatics. But I had no trip tape to feed in, which meant that once in space Ryzk would have to play his part or we would find another port only by the slim margin of chance.

IV
    Since we lacked a trip tape, we could not go into hyper until Ryzk found us jump co-ordinates. So our initial thrust off world merely set us voyaging within the system itself, an added danger. While a ship in hyper cannot be traced, one system-traveling can readily be picked up. Thus, when I recovered from grav shock, I unstrapped myself and sought out my pilot, Eet making better time, as usual, down the inner stair of the ship.
    Our transport, the Wendwind , was not as small as a scout, though not as large as a Free Trader of the D class. She might once have been the private yacht of some Veep. If so, all luxury fittings had long since been torn out, though there were painted-over scars to suggest that my guess was correct. Later she had been on system runs as a general carrier. And her final fate had been confiscation by the Patrol for smuggling, after which she had been bought by the Salarik dealer as a speculation.
    She had four cabins besides the regular crew quarters. But three of these had been knocked together for a storage hold. And one feature within attracted me, a persona-pressure sealed strongbox, something a dealer in gems could put to use.
    At one time the Wendwind must have mounted strictly illegal G-lasers, judging by the sealed ports and markings on decks and walls. But now she had no such protection.
    Ryzk had been left in the last remaining passenger cabin. As I came in he was struggling against the grav straps, looking about him wildly.
    â€œWhat—where—”
    â€œYou are in space, on a ship as pilot.” I gave it to him without long explanation. “We are still in system, ready to go into hyper as soon as you can set course—”
    He blinked rapidly, and oddly enough, the slack lines of his face appeared to firm, so that under the blurring of planetside indulgence you could see something of the man he had been. He stretched out his hand and laid it palm flat against the wall, as if he needed the reassurance of touch to help him believe that what I said was true.
    â€œWhat ship?” His voice had lost the slur, just as his face had changed.
    â€œMine.”
    â€œAnd who are you?” His eyes narrowed as he stared up at me.
    â€œMurdoc Jern. I am a gem buyer.”
    Eet made one of his sudden leaps from deck to the end of the bunk, where he squatted on his haunches, his handpaws resting on what would have been his knees had he possessed a humanoid body.
    Ryzk looked from me to Eet and then back again. “All right, all right! I’ll wake up sooner or later.”
    â€œNot”—I picked up the thought Eet aimed at