There had already been two fatal duels6 that evening. A tubeman from a rim7 ship had challenged a space miner to settle a difference with those vicious whips made from the tail casings of Flangoid flying lizards8, an encounter which left both men in ribbons, one dead, one dying. And a scarred, ex-space marine9 had blaster-flamed one of the Star-and-Comet dealers10 into charred11 human ash.
The young man who had been ordered to help clear away the second loser retired12 to the stinking13 alley14 outside to lose the meal which was part of his meager15 day's pay. Now he crawled back inside, his face greenish, one hand pressed to his middle section.
He was thin, the fine bones of his face tight under the pallid16 skin, his ribs17 showing even through the sleazy fabric18 of the threadbare tunic19 with its house seal. When he leaned his head back against the grime encrusted wall, raising his face to the light, his hair had the glint of bright chestnut20, a gold which was also red. And for his swamper's labor21 he was almost fastidiously clean.
"You—Lansor!"
He shivered as if an icy wind had found him and opened his eyes. They seemed disproportionately large in his skin and bone face and were of an odd shade, neither green nor blue, but somewhere between.
"Get going, you! Ain't paying out good credits for you to sit there like you was buying on your own!" The Salarkian who loomed22 above him spoke23 accentless, idiomatic24 Basic Space which came strangely from between his yellow lips. A furred hand thrust the handle of a mop-up stick at the young man, a taloned25 thumb jerked the direction in which to use that evil-smelling object. Vye Lansor levered himself up the wall, took the mop, setting his teeth grimly.
Someone had spilled a mug of Kardo and the deep purple liquid was already patterning the con-stone floor past any hope of cleaning. But he set to work slapping the fringe of the noisome26 mop back and forth27 to sop28 up what he could. The smell of the Kardo uniting with the general effluvia of the room and its inhabitants heightened his queasiness29.
Working blindly in a half stupor30, he was not aware of the man sitting alone in the booth until his mop spattered the ankle of one of the drinking girls. She struck him sharply[14] across the face with a sputtering32 curse in the tongue of Altar-Ishtar.
The blow sent him back against the open lattice of the booth. As he tried to steady himself another hand reached up, fingers tightened33 about his wrist. He flinched34, tried to jerk away from that hold, only to discover that he was the other's prisoner.
And looking down at his captor in apprehension35, he was aware even then of the different quality of this man. The patron wore the tunic of a crewman, lighter36 patches where the ship's badges should have been to show that he was not engaged. But, though his tunic was shabby, dirty, his magnetic boots scuffed37 and badly worn, he was not like the others now enjoying the pleasures of the Starfall.
"This one—he makes trouble?" The vast bulk of the Vorm-man who was the Starfall's private law moved through the crowd with serene38 confidence in his own strength, which no one there, unless blind, deaf, and out-of-the-senses drunk, could dispute. His scaled, six-fingered, claw hand reached out for Lansor and the boy cringed.
"No trouble!" There was the click of authority in the voice of the man in the booth. His face, moments earlier taut39 and sharp with intelligence, was suddenly slack, his tone slurred40 as he answered: "Looks like an old shipmate. No trouble, just want a drink with an old shipmate."
But the grip which had pulled Vye forward, swung him around and down on the other bench in the booth, was anything but slack. The Vorm-man glanced from the patron of the Starfall to its least important employee and then grinned, thrusting his fanged41 jaws42 close to Lansor's.
"If the master wants to drink, you dirt-rat, you drink!"
Vye nodded vigorously, and then put his hand to his mouth, afraid his stomach was about to betray him again. Apprehensive43, he watched the Vorm-man turn away. Only when that broad, green-gray back was lost in the smoky far reaches of the room did he expel his breath again.
"Here—" The grip was gone from his wrist, but fingers now put a mug into his hand. "Drink!"
He tried to protest, knew it was hopeless, and used both hands to get the mug to his lips, mouthing the stinging liquid in dull despair. Only, instead of bringing nausea44 with it, the stuff settled his stomach, cleared his head, with an[15] after glow with which he managed to relax from the tense state of endurance which filled his hours in the Starfall.
Half of the mug's contents inside him and he dared to raise his eyes to the man opposite him. Yes, this was no common crewman, nor was he drunk as he had pretended for the Vorm-man. Now he watched the milling crowd with a kind of detachment, though Vye was sure he was aware of every move he himself made.
Vye finished the liquid. For the first time since he had come into this place two months earlier he felt like a real person again. And he had wits enough to guess that the potion he had just swallowed contained some drug. Only now he did not care at all. Anything which could wipe out in moments all the shame, fear, and sick despair the Starfall had planted in him was worth swallowing. Why the other had drugged him was a mystery, but he was content to wait for enlightenment.
Lansor's companion once more applied45 that compelling pressure to the younger man's bony forearm. Linked by that hold they left the Starfall, came into the cooler, far more pleasant atmosphere of the street. They were a block away before Vye's guide halted, though he did not release his prisoner.
Lansor waited, breathing in the air of early morning. The confidence of the drug still held. At the moment he was certain nothing could be as bad as the life behind him, he was willing to face what this strange patron of the Starfall had in mind.
The other slapped his hand down on an air-car call button, stood waiting until one of the city flitters landed on beam before them.
From the seat of the air-car Vye noted46 they were heading into the respectability of the upper city, away from the stews47 ringing the launch port. He tried to guess their destination or purpose, not that either mattered much. Then the car descended48 on a landing stage.
The stranger waved Lansor through a doorway49, down a short corridor into a room of private quarters. Vye sat down gingerly on the foam50 seat extending from the wall as he neared. He stared about. Dimly he could just remember rooms which had this degree of comfort, but so dimly now[16] he could not be sure they did not exist only in his vivid imagination. For Vye's imagination had buoyed51 him first through the drab existence in a State Child's Crèche, then through a state-found job which he had lost because he could not adapt to the mechanical life of a computer tender, and had been an anchor and an escape when he had sunk through the depths of the port to the last refuge in the Starfall.
Now he pressed both his hands into the soft stuff of the seat and gaped52 at a small tri-dee on the wall facing him, a miniature scene of life on some other planet wherein a creature enveloped53 in short black and white striped fur crept belly54 flat, to stalk long-legged, short-winged birds making blood-red splotches against yellow reed banks under a pale violet sky. He feasted on its color, on the sense of freedom and off-world wonders which it raised in him.
"Who are you?"
The stranger's abrupt55 question brought him back, not only to the room but to his own precarious56 position. He moistened his lips, no longer quite so aglow57 with confidence.
"Vye—Vye Lansor." Then he added his other identification, "S. C. C. 425061."
"State child, eh?" The other had pushed a button for a refresher cup, then was sipping58 its contents slowly. He did not ring for a second to offer Vye. "Parents?"
Lansor shook his head. "I was brought in after the Five-Hour Fever epidemic59. They didn't try to keep records, there were too many of us."
The man was watching him levelly over the rim of that cup. There was something cold in that study, something which curbed60 Vye's pleasant feeling of only moments earlier. Now the other set down his drink, crossed the room. Cupping his hand under Lansor's chin, he brought up his head in a way which stirred a sullen61 resentment62 in the younger man, yet something told him resistance would only bring trouble.
"I'd say Terran stock—not more than second generation." He was talking to himself more than to Vye. He loosed his hold on the boy's chin, but he still stood there surveying him from head to foot. Lansor wanted to squirm, but he fought that impulse, and managed to meet the other's gaze when it reached his face again.
"No—not the usual port-drift. I was right all the way."[17] Now he looked at Vye again as if the younger man did have a brain, emotions, some call on his interest as a personality. "Want a job?"
Lansor pressed his hand deeper into the foam seat. "What—what kind?" He was angry and ashamed at that small betraying break in his voice.
"You have scruples63?" The stranger appeared to think that amusing. Vye reddened, but he was also more than a little surprised that the man in the worn space uniform had read hesitancy right. Someone out of the Starfall should not be too particular about employment, and he could not tell why he was.
"Nothing illegal, I assure you." The man crossed to set his refresher cup in the empty slot. "I am an Out-Hunter."
Lansor blinked. This had all taken on some of the fantastic aura of a dream. The other was eyeing him impatiently, as if he had expected some reaction.
"You may inspect my credentials64 if you wish."
"I believe you," Vye found his voice.
"I happen to need a gearman."
But this wasn't happening! Of course, it couldn't happen to him, Vye Lansor, state child, swamper in the Starfall. Things such as this did not happen, except in a thaline dream, and he wasn't a smoke eater! It was the kind of dream a man didn't want to wake from, not if he was port-drift.
"Would you be willing to sign on?"
Vye tried to clutch reality to himself, to remain level-headed. A gearman for an Out-Hunter! Why five men out of six would pay a large premium65 for a chance at such rating. The chill of doubt cut through the first hazy66 rosiness67. A swamper from a port-side dive simply did not become a gearman for a Guild68 Hunter.
Again it was as if the stranger read his thoughts. "Look here," he spoke abruptly69. "I had a bad time myself, years ago. You resemble someone to whom I owe a debt. I can't repay him, but I can make the scales a little even this way."
"Make the scales even." Vye's fading hope brightened. Then the Out-Hunter was a follower70 of the Fata Rite71. That would explain everything. If you could not repay a good deed to the one you owed, you must balance the Eternal Scales in another fashion. He relaxed again, a great many of his unasked questions so answered.[18]
"You will accept?"
Vye nodded eagerly. "Yes, Out-Hunter." He still could not believe that this was happening.
The other pressed the refresher button, and this time he handed Lansor the brimming cup. "Drink on the bargain." His words had the ring of command.
Lansor drank, gulping72 down the contents of the cup, and suddenly was aware of being tired. He leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed.
Ras Hume took the cup from the lax fingers of the young man. So far, very good. Chance appeared to be playing on his side of the board. It had been chance which had steered73 him into the Starfall just three nights ago when he had been in quest of his imposter. And Vye Lansor was better than he dared hope to find. The boy had the right coloring, he had been batted around enough to fall for the initial story, he was malleable74 now. And after Wass' techs worked on him he would be Rynch Brodie—heir to one-third of Kogan-Bors-Wazalitz!
"Come!" He touched Vye on the shoulder. The boy opened his eyes but his gaze did not focus as he got slowly to his feet. Hume glanced at his planet-time watch. It was still very early; the chance he must run in getting Lansor out of this building was small if they went at once. Guiding the younger man with a light hold above the elbow, he walked him out back to the flitter landing stage. The air-car was waiting. Hume's sense of being a gambler facing a run of good luck grew as he shepherded the boy into the flitter, punched a cover destination and took off.
On another street he transferred himself and his charge into a second air-car, set the destination to within a block of the address Wass had given him. Not much later he walked Vye into a small lobby with a discreet75 list of names posted in its rack. No occupations attached to those colored streamers Hume noted. This meant either that their owners represented luxury trades, where a name signified the profession or service, or that they were covers—perhaps both. Wass' world fringed many different circles, intermingled with some quite surprising professions dedicated76 to the comfort, pleasure or health of the idle rich, off-world nobility, and the criminal elite77.
Hume fingered the right call button, knowing that the[19] thumb pattern he had left on Wass' conference table would have already been relayed as his symbol of admission here. A flicker78 of light winked79 below the name, the wall to the right shimmered80, and produced a doorway. Steering82 Vye to it, Hume nodded to the man waiting there. He was a flat-faced Eucorian of the servant caste, and now he reached out to draw Lansor over the threshold.
"I have him, gentlehomo." His voice was as expressionless as his face. There was another shimmer81 and the door disappeared.
Hume brushed his hand down the outer side of his thigh83, wiping flesh against the coarse stuff of the crew uniform. He left the lobby frowning at his own thoughts.
Stupid! A swamper from one of the worst rat holes in the port. Like as not that youngster would have had his brains kicked out in a brawl84, or been fried to a crisp when some drunk got wild with a blaster, before the year was out. He'd done him a real kindness, given him a chance at a future less than one man in a billion ever had the power to even dream about. Why, if Vye Lansor had known what was going to happen to him, he would have been so willing to volunteer, that he would have dragged Hume here. There was no reason to have any regrets over the boy, he had never had it so good—never! There was only one small period of risk for Vye to face. Those days he would have to spend alone on Jumala between the time Wass' organization would plant him there and the coming of Hume's party to "discover" him. Hume himself would tape every possible aid to cover that period. All the knowledge of a Guild Out-Hunter, added to the information gathered by the survey, would be used to provide Rynch Brodie with the training necessary for wilderness85 survival. Hume was already listing the items to be included as he strode down the street, his tread once more assured.
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1
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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3
tantalizing
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| adj.逗人的；惹弄人的；撩人的；煽情的v.逗弄，引诱，折磨( tantalize的现在分词 ) | |
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scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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duels
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| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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lizards
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| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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11
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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13
stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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14
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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21
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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22
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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23
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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idiomatic
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| adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的 | |
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taloned
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noisome
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| adj.有害的，可厌的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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sop
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| n.湿透的东西，懦夫；v.浸，泡，浸湿 | |
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queasiness
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| n.恶心 | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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sputtering
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| n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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flinched
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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36
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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37
scuffed
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| v.使磨损( scuff的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚走 | |
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38
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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39
taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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40
slurred
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| 含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱 | |
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41
fanged
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| adj.有尖牙的，有牙根的，有毒牙的 | |
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42
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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43
apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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44
nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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45
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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46
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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47
stews
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| n.炖煮的菜肴( stew的名词复数 )；烦恼，焦虑v.炖( stew的第三人称单数 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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48
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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49
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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50
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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51
buoyed
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| v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神 | |
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52
gaped
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| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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53
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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55
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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56
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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57
aglow
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| adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地 | |
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58
sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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59
epidemic
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| n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的 | |
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60
curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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62
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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63
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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64
credentials
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| n.证明，资格，证明书，证件 | |
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65
premium
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| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
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66
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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67
rosiness
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| n.玫瑰色；淡红色；光明；有希望 | |
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68
guild
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| n.行会，同业公会，协会 | |
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69
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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70
follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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71
rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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72
gulping
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的现在分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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73
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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74
malleable
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| adj.(金属)可锻的;有延展性的；(性格)可训练的 | |
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75
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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76
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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77
elite
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| n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的 | |
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78
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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79
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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80
shimmered
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
shimmer
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| v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光 | |
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82
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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83
thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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84
brawl
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| n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂 | |
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85
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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