Grimes told his story. Jason and Paulus, almost recovered, thanks to the administration of the antidote, from the effects of the drug with which they had been injected, told their story. The innkeeper, his head bandaged, told his story. Two witnesses, selected at random from the tavern's customers, told their stories. Colonel Xenophon, a tall, thin, bald-headed man looking more like a schoolmaster—but a severe schoolmaster—than a policeman, listened.
He said, "I have known, for some time, of the Archon's nocturnal adventures. I was foolish enough to believe that his professional bodyguards would be capable of protecting him."
"On a normal planet," said Jason hotly, "we should have been."
Xenophon's furry black eyebrows rose like back-arching caterpillars. "Indeed? How do you define normalcy? Is your precious Earth a normal planet? Among my reading of late have been recent Terran crime statistics. They have caused me to wonder why any citizen, male or female, is foolhardy enough to venture out after dark in any of the big cities.
"And now, Commodore, you are quite sure that the flying machine which removed the Archon was an airship? Could it not have been one of the inertial drive craft or helicopters that have been introduced from Earth?"
"It could not," said Grimes definitely. "I know an airship when I see one."
"Even in the dark?"
"There was enough light. And the thing was . . . quiet. Just a faint, very faint humming of electric motors."
"So . . . . And in what direction did this mysterious airship fly after the pick-up?"
"I don't know. Those blasted women jumped me. I was fully occupied trying to fight them off."
"Ah, yes. The women. Did you recognize any of them, Commodore?"
"No. But I shall if I run across them again. But, damn it all, Colonel, what are you doing about this crime, this kidnapping? Dirigible airships aren't as common as, say, motorcycles. There can be very few, if any, privately owned. Your Navy has a fleet of lighter-than-air craft. I'd have thought that you'd have started inquiries with the Admiralty, to find out what ships had been flying tonight."
Xenophon smiled coldly. "I should not presume, Commodore, to instruct you in the arts and sciences of spacemanship. Please do not try to tell me how I should do my job. Already inquiries have been made. All the Navy's ships are either in their hangars or swinging at their mooring masts. All Trans-Sparta Airlines' ships, passenger carriers and freight carriers, have been accounted for. And that's all the airships on New Sparta."
"So the ship I saw must either have belonged to the Navy or to Trans-Sparta."
"If you saw such a ship, Commodore. You may have thought that you did. But drugs had been used during the kidnapping. It is possible that during your first struggle with the women an attempt may have been made to put you out by such means and that you may have received a partial dosage, enough to induce hallucinations. Or a blow on the head might have had the same effect."
"If there were no flying machine involved," persisted Grimes, "how was it that the Archon was spirited away from the inn without trace?"
"I think," said the colonel, "that the quarter of the city in which you and the Archon were . . . er . . . conducting your researches is known to Terrans as a rabbit warren. I didn't appreciate the aptness of that expression until I read one of your classics, Watership Down. But if you want to lose a needle in a haystack, a rabbit warren is a good place to do it."
"Mphm," grunted Grimes.
"And now, Commodore, may I suggest—may I urge—that you and your two companions return to the Palace; transport will be provided for you. I do not envy your having to tell the story of this night's happenings to the Lady Ellena. She has already been notified, of course, that the Archon is missing. She is a lady of iron self-control but I could tell that she was deeply moved. Please assure her that I and my men will return her husband to her, unharmed, as soon as is humanly possible."
Grimes turned to follow Sergeant Priam from Xenophon's plainly furnished office. The colonel checked him.
"Oh, Commodore, I advise you, strongly, not to try to conduct any sort of rescue operation yourself. Please leave matters in the hands of the experts, such as myself and my people."
"I shouldn't know where to start," said Grimes.
But I shall find out, he thought.
His confrontation with Ellena was bad enough, although not as bad as he had dreaded that it would be.
"Much as I should wish to," she said coldly, "I cannot hold you responsible, Commodore. The Archon was having his 'nights out' . . ." she contrived to apostrophize the phrase . . . "long before you returned to this world.
"Meanwhile, all that I can do is wait. Presumably the kidnappers will present their demands shortly, and then there will be decisions to be made. Until then . . ." She smiled bleakly. "Until then, the show must go on. I shall function as acting Archon until the return of my husband. There will be no disruption of the affairs of state, not even the minor ones such as the Marathon next week."
She is enjoying this . . . thought Grimes.
He asked, "What about the Council, Lady?"
She said, "The Council will do as they are told."
Or else? he wondered.
She said, "That will be all, Commodore."
Grimes considered backing out of the presence but decided not to.
"Who were those women?" asked Maggie.
"I'll know them if I meet them again," said Grimes.
"Could they," she went on, "have been members of the Amazon Guard?"
"No. The Amazon Guard, apart from exceptions such as Shirl and Darleen, goes in for uniformity. Apart from hair coloring all those wenches could be cast from the same mold. The Amazon Guard, I mean. It was a very mixed bunch that we got tangled with last night. The long and the short and the tall."
"And you're sure about the airship?"
"Of course I'm sure." He paused for thought. "You were snooping around for quite a while before I got here and, as a Survey Service commander, meeting officers in the various New Spartan armed forces. Does the Navy run to any female personnel?"
"No."
"Trans-Sparta Airlines?"
She said, "You might have something. Not only do they have women in their ground staff but even token female flight crews. Not in the passenger ships, yet, but in the smaller freight carriers."
"Do they do any night flying?"
"I don't know, John. You're far more of an expert on such matters than I am. Making an arrival or a departure in a spaceship you always have to check up with Aerospace Control, don't you?"
"And on most worlds there're always some aircraft up and about, at any hour of the day or night. The Aerospace Control computers keep track of them."
"And suppose certain computer operators wanted to hide the fact that a small airship, a small, freight-carrying airship with a female crew, wasn't where she was supposed to be . . ."
"You've told me how," he said, "but not why."
"Or," she said, "where? Where have they taken him?"
"I think that he's safe enough," Grimes said. "If they'd wanted to assassinate him they'd have done just that."
"So we start off snooping around Aerospace Control and the Head Office of Trans-Sparta."
"Colonel Xenophon intimated that he'd be taking a dim view if I started making my own investigations."
"But you won't be investigating the Archon's disappearance. As the owner of a ship on a regular run to New Sparta, shortly to be taking command again of that same ship, you're naturally interested in the workings of local Aerospace Control. You can say that you've had a few complaints from your Chief Officer, Mr. Williams, who's been acting Master in your absence."
"Makes sense."
"And I, carrying on with my own research project, will be interested by the part played by women now in the air transport industry. Fenella might care to come along with me to hold my hand."
"A good idea. It's time that she started to pull her weight. Or does she already know quite a lot that she's not passing on to us?"
"It wouldn't surprise me," she said.