James Schmiz - The Witches of Karres

Sedmon shrugged again. “Each to his taste,” he said drily.

Hulik smiled. “Yes,” she said, “and one thing at a time. To begin with then, do you believe a ship we have both shown interest in during the past weeks is the one equipped with this mysterious drive?”

The Daal scratched his neck.

“I’m inclined to believe the ship was equipped with the drive,” he acknowledged. “I’m not sure it still is.” He blinked at her. “What are you supposed to do?”

“Either obtain the drive or keep trace of the ship until other agents can obtain it,” Hulik said promptly.

“No small order,” said Sedmon.

“Perhaps. What do you know about the man and the girl? The information I have is that the man is a Captain Pausert, citizen of Nikkeldepain, and that the child evidently is one of three he picked up in the Empire shortly before the first use of the drive was observed and reported. A child of Karres.”

“That is also the story as I know it,” Sedmon told her. “Let’s have a look at those two…”

He went to a desk, pressed a switch. A picture of the captain and Goth appeared in a wall screen. They came walking towards the observer along one of the winding, hilly streets of Zergandol. When their figures filled the screen, the Daal stopped the motion, stood staring at them.

“To all appearances,” he said, “this man is the citizen of Nikkeldepain described and shown in the reports. But there are still unanswered questions about him. I admit I find those questions disturbing.”

“What are they?” Hulik asked, a trace of amusement in her voice.

“He may be officially the citizen of Nikkeldepain he is supposed to be, now masquerading with the assistance of my office as Captain Aron of Mulm — and still be a Karres agent and a witch. Or he may be a Karres witch who has taken on the appearance of Captain Pausert of Nikkeldepain. One simply never knows with these witches…”

He paused, shaking his head irritably. After a moment Hulik said, “That’s what is bothering you?”

“That is what is bothering me,” Sedmon agreed. “If Captain Pausert, alias Captain Aron, is in fact a witch, I want no trouble with him or his ship.”

“And if he isn’t?”

“The girl almost certainly is of the witches,” the Daal said. “But I might be inclined to take a chance with her. Even that I would not like too well, since Karres has ways of finding out about occurrences that are of interest to it.”

“May I point out,” said Hulik, “that the entire world of Karres was reliably reported to have disappeared about the time this Captain Pausert was last observed in the Nikkeldepain area? The official opinion in the Imperium is that the planet was accidentally destroyed when the witches tested some superweapon of their devising, against the impending arrival of a punitive Imperial Fleet.”

The Daal scratched his neck again.

“I have heard of that,” he said. “And, in fact, I have received a report from one of my own men in the meanwhile, to the effect that Karres does seem to be gone from the Iverdahl System. It is possible that it is destroyed. But I don’t believe it.”

“Why not?”

“I have had dealings with a good number of the witches, Hulik, and for many years I have made a study of Karres and its history. This is not the first time it was reported that world had disappeared. Nor, when it was observed again, was it necessarily within some months of ship travel of the point where it had been observed before.”

“A super spacedrive which moves a world?” Hulik smiled. “Really Sedmon!”

“As to that, I will say nothing more,” replied the Daal. “There are other possibilities. For all I know, Karres still is at present in the Iverdahl System but made invisible, indetectable, by the skills of the witches.”

“That, too, seems rather improbable,” Hulik remarked.

“It may seem that way,” said Sedmon. “But I know it to be a fact that, before this, ships have gone to the Iverdahl System in search of the world of Karres and were unable to find it there.”

He shrugged. “In any event, it seems much safer to me to assume that the world of Karres and the witches of Karres have not disappeared permanently…”

He stared at the frozen figures in the screen, pursed his mouth in puzzled worriment. “And besides…”

“Well?” said Hulik as he hesitated.

The Daal waggled his finger at the screen. “I have the strangest feeling I have encountered that man before! Perhaps also the child… And yet I find no place for either of them in my memories.”

Hulik glanced curiously at him. “That must be your imagination,” she told him. “But your nervousness about the witches explains why you have been conducting your search for Captain Pausert’s mystery drive in what I felt was an excessively roundabout manner.”

The Daal grinned briefly.

“I have,” he said, “great faith in the basic unscrupulousness of Sunnat, Bazim Filish. And in the boldness of Sunnat. The story that came to her naturally did not mention the possibility that her clients were witches. But she and her partners are completely convinced the superdrive exists.”

“And have been searching most industriously for it in the course of rebuilding the ship,” Hulik added. “Sunnat also has attempted to bedazzle Captain Aron with her obvious physical assets… you, in the meanwhile, hovering above all this, hoping they would discover the drive for you.”

“That in part,” nodded the Daal.

“Yes. Sunnat has the greed and fury of a wild pig. I think she is not quite sane. She has not bedazzled Captain Aron, and nothing resembling concealed drive mechanisms has been found so far in the ship. Before the Evening Bird is ready to leave, you expect her then to resort to actions which will force this Captain Aron or Pausert to reveal whether or not he is a witch?”

“It will not surprise me if that occurs,” Sedmon admitted. “If it be comes apparent that he is a witch, I simply will be through with the matter.”

“And still be unimplicated,” Hulik agreed. “Of course,” she went on, “if he is not a witch and does not have a mystery drive to produce, even if strenuously urged, it’s probable that he and the child will be murdered before Sunnat decides she may have made a mistake—”

Sedmon shifted his eyes from the wall screen to her, said slowly, “This drive, if I can get it — and have afterwards a little time to work in, undisturbed — will restore Uldune to its ancient place in the hierarchy of galactic power!”

“A point,” said Hulik, “of which the Imperium is well aware.”

He watched her, his face expressionless.

“We shall work in different ways,” Hulik smiled. “If I get it, it may bring me great honor and rewards from the Imperium. Or it may, which really seems at least as likely, bring me quick death, by decision of the Imperium.” The smile became almost impish. “On Uldune, on the other hand… well, I would be most interested in seeing that the House of Eldel is also restored to something approximating the place of power it once held here.”

“An honorable ambition!” Sedmon nodded approvingly. “As for me — I am perhaps overly prudent and certainly not as young as I was — I could very well use a partner with youth, audacity, and intelligence, to help me direct the affairs of Uldune. In particular, of the greater Uldune that may be.”

Hulik laughed. “Great dreams! But very well… We shall work carefully. I have not yet made a report that the ship once named the Venture appears to be at present on Uldune.”

The Daal’s eyes lightened.

“But,” Hulik went on, “I shall proceed exactly as if I had made that report. If, in spite of Sunnat’s efforts and yours, the Evening Bird lifts from Uldune on schedule I’ll be on board as passenger… Now, I believe that little Vezzarn they’ve signed on for the ship is your man?”