Chapter 27
BACK ABOARD THE SHIP, in his quarters, Grimes buzzed Mayhew and asked him to come up to see him.
The telepath looked sardonically at Grimes’ borrowed livery and asked innocently, “Did you have a nice swim, Captain?”
Grimes glared at him and growled, “You know, of course, what happened in the conservatory. What else do you know?”
“I know, Captain, that they want you to play a major part in their venture. Your Survey Service background and training. Your reputation. You’ll be an ideal figurehead, in more ways than one . . .”
“How so?” asked Grimes.
“If things come badly unstuck, Kane thinks, you’ll be left holding the baby. He looks forward to seeing that almost as much as he does to making another fortune or two.”
“The bastard!” swore Grimes.
“Of course,” went on Mayhew, “the Baroness is at least partly to blame for his attitude toward you. She’s inclined to nag. ‘John Grimes would never have done this. John Grimes would never have done that . . .’ She has a soft spot for you and she lets it show.”
“I’m glad that somebody loves me,” said Grimes.
And what about Marlene? he thought. Then—No, he decided. I’ll not ask. She’s entitled to her privacy.
“The old Duchess quite likes you,” said Mayhew, “although she’s quite prepared to use you. The Hereditary Chief Lobenga despises you—but he despises all honkies, as he thinks of white men. He is amused that the honkies, Baron Kane, you and the others, will be going to all this trouble to put money into his bank account. The Lady Eulalia? She has no racial prejudices. Her blood line is so mixed that she can hardly afford them. She doesn’t care where the money comes from, or how it is made, as long as it comes in. Baron Takada? A money man pure and simple—or not so simple. The Princess von Stolzberg? She is genuinely concerned about her son and wishes that he had not volunteered to become one of the El Doradan liaison officers with the privateer fleet. And there is something more . . .”
“What?” demanded Grimes.
Mayhew smiled and said softly, “You were thinking very strongly on the subject of the Princess’s privacy, sir. I respect that privacy, since it is your wish. But . . . No matter. Just don’t go looking gift horses in the mouth.”
“And what about Trojan horses?” asked Grimes. “What about the El Doradan puppies, with their lethal pets, who’ll be infesting our ships?”
“Those who have invested in the project,” said Mayhew, “not unnaturally wish their investment to be protected. The Trojan horses, as you refer to them, are one means of doing this. There are other methods, less immediate but effective nonetheless. Baron Takada’s net is flung wide, very wide. Should a liaison officer defect or be rendered ineffective, should his deadly pet be somehow destroyed without the subsequent destruction of all around it, then the lucky ship would find itself to be an extremely unlucky one, unable to find a market for its stolen goods, harried by officialdom throughout the galaxy.”
“Perhaps,” said Grimes. “Oh, you didn’t include the Baroness in your run-down . . .”
Mayhew laughed. “You have a friend there, John. A very good one. But like all the other El Doradans she loves money. Too, she is a jealous woman. For whose benefit did she dress the way she did for Her Grace’s dinner party? And then—with whom did you go for a swim—sorry, walk—in the conservatory?”
“She was playing cards,” said Grimes. “And she had her husband in tow.”
“And as I said, she is a jealous woman. And now, sir, there are matters of immediate concern. The natives are becoming restless.”
“What natives?”
“Your own crew, Captain. Oh, I didn’t have to do any snooping. I just flapped my ears in what you would describe as the normal, human manner. The Green Hornet’s the most outspoken. At dinner tonight she went off at the deep end. ‘What about shore leave? It’s all right for His Survey Service High and Mightiness, and his two pets, to go wining and dining with the snobocracy, but what about us! Stuck aboard this stinking ship and told that the entire bloody planet’s off limits to us. I’ve a good mind to take one of the boats to fly to that city of theirs!’ The junior engineers, both departments, were with her. Venner told her to shut up. She tried to pull rank on him. Then Malleson and Crumley ordered their people to have nothing to do with getting a boat ready. But even they are resentful at being confined to the ship. So is old Mr. Stewart.”
“I’ll see what I can do about it in the morning,” said Grimes.
“You’d better, Captain. One of the things that the Green Hornet shouted was, ‘If he’s not bloody careful he’ll have another bloody mutiny on his hands!’ “
“Mutinies,” said Grimes coldly, “are usually a result of too much shore leave. It happened to Bligh. It happened to me, in Discovery. But I admit that I should have raised the point with Kane. It’d be useless talking to that tin Port Captain about it.”