"You can't appreciate the simple things of life until you have gone without them for a while. Or the better things either." He reached out and took Meta's hand. She pulled it away and fed more digits4 into the computer.
"How did you find me?" he asked, trying to discover a subject that she might warm to.
"That should be obvious. We saw the markings on the ship that took you away and charted a directional trace before it went into jump-space. We identified the markings and I went to Cassylia, but the ship had never arrived there. I back-tracked the straight-line course and found three possible planets near enough to have registered in the ship during jump-space flight. Two are highly organized with modern spaceports and would have known if the ship had landed. It hadn't. Therefore you must have forced the ship down on the planet we just left. And once you were there you would find one of the radios to send a message. Which is what you did. It is obvious. Who is she?" The final words were in a distinctly chillier5 tone of voice, and there could be only one she, Ijale, who crouched6 across the room, obviously unhappy and wide-eyed with fear at this voyage in a spaceship, not understanding the language the others spoke7.
"I've told you before—just a friend. She was with us, and helped us, too. I couldn't let her go back to the life in the desert, it's more brutal8 than you can possibly imagine. There is an entire planetful of slaves back there, and of course I can't save them all. But I can do this much, take out the one person there who would rather see me live than die."
"What do you intend to do with her?" The sub-zero temperature of Meta's voice left no doubt as to what she wanted to do with her. Jason had already given this a good deal of thought, and if Ijale was going to live much longer she had to be separated as soon as possible from the deadly threat of female Pyrran jealousy9.
"We stop at the next civilized10 planet and let her off. I have enough money to leave a deposit in a bank that will last her for years. Make arrangements for it to be paid out only a bit at a time, so no matter how she is cheated she will still have enough. I'm not going to worry about her, if she was able to survive in the krenoj legion she can get along well anywhere on a settled world."
He could hear the complaints on when he broke the news to Ijale, but it was for her own survival.
"I shall care for and lead her in the paths of righteousness," a remembered voice spoke from the doorway11. Mikah stood there, clutching to the jamb, a turban of bandages on his head.
"That's a wonderful idea," Jason agreed enthusiastically. He turned to Ijale and spoke in her own language. "Did you hear that? Mikah is going to take you home with him and look after you. I'll arrange for some money to be paid to you for all your needs, he'll explain to you what money is. I want you to listen to him carefully, note exactly what he says, then do the exact opposite. You must promise me you will do that and never break your word. In that way you may make some mistakes and will be wrong sometimes, but all the rest of the time things will go very smoothly12."
"I cannot leave you! Take me with you—I'll be your slave always!" she wailed13.
"What did she say?" Meta snapped, catching14 some of the meaning.
"You are evil, Jason," Mikah declaimed, getting the needle back into the familiar groove15. "She will obey you, I know that, so no matter how I labor16 she will always do as you say."
"I sincerely hope so," Jason said fervently17. "One has to be born into your particular brand of illogic to get any pleasure from it. The rest of us are happier bending a bit under the impact of existence, and exacting18 a mite19 more pleasure from the physical life around us."
"Evil I say, and you shall not go unpunished." His hand appeared from behind the door jamb and it held a pistol that he had found below. "I am taking command of this ship. You will secure the two women so that they can cause no trouble, then we will proceed to Cassylia for your trial."
Meta had her back turned to Mikah and was sitting in the control chair a good five meters from him with her hands filled with navigational notes. She slowly raised her head and looked at Jason and a smile broke across her face.
"You said once you didn't want him killed."
"I still don't want him killed, but I also have no intention of going to Cassylia." He echoed her smile and turned away.
He sighed happily and there was a sudden rush of feet behind his back. No shots were fired but a hoarse20 scream, a thud and a sharp cracking noise told him that Mikah had lost his last argument.
The End
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1
alcoholic
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| adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者 | |
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2
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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3
acceleration
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| n.加速，加速度 | |
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4
digits
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| n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾 | |
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5
chillier
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| adj.寒冷的，冷得难受的( chilly的比较级 ) | |
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6
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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8
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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9
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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10
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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11
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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12
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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13
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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15
groove
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| n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯 | |
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16
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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17
fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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18
exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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19
mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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20
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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