Fenella Pruin was now allowed into the Palace although she was still far from welcome. Should she chance to meet the Lady Ellena while making her way through the corridors the Archon's wife would sweep by her as though she didn't exist. Brasidus himself would acknowledge her presence, but only just. She was tolerated in the officers' quarters of the Amazon Guard because of her friendship with Shirl and Darleen, both of whom had become quite popular with their messmates. And, of course, she was free to visit Maggie and Grimes any time that she so wished.
She joined them, this day, for morning coffee.
After the surly serving wench had deposited the tray on the table and left, after Maggie had poured the thick, syrupy fluid into the little cups, she demanded, "Well? Have you anything to tell me yet?"
"No," admitted Maggie. "I am still nibbling around the edges, as it were. The New Hellas people are up to something. But what?"
"It's a pity that you can't join them," said Fenella.
"It is. But they know that I'm an officer of the Federation Survey Service. And they know that both Commodore Grimes and I are personal friends, old friends of Brasidus." She laughed. "Although if it were not for that personal friendship they might try to recruit John."
"It'd be my ship they'd want," said Grimes. "Not me especially."
"Why not?" asked Fenella. "After all, you were slung out of the Survey Service in disgrace . . . ."
"I resigned," growled Grimes.
"And you were a pirate . . ."
"How many times," he demanded, "do I have to tell people that I was a privateer? And now, Fenella, do you have anything to tell us?"
She looked at him and said, "I was under the impression, Grimes, that the ethological research project was Commander Lazenby's baby, not yours."
"Commodore Grimes," said Maggie, "is helping me with it. Just out of friendship, of course."
"Of course," concurred Fenella, twitching her nose. "Of course. But the Commodore was quite recently a servant of the Federation, on the public payroll, as a planetary governor, no less . . . Are you really self-employed, Grimes? Or is it just a cover?"
"It is a known fact," snapped Maggie, "that Commodore Grimes is an owner-master."
"At the moment," said Grimes, "just an owner. I shall be master again as soon as I get my name back on Sister Sue's register."
"It is the unknown facts that interest me . . ." murmured Fenella. "Such as the real reason for the appointment of a notorious pirate . . ."
"Not a pirate!" yelled Grimes.
" . . . to the governorship of a planet."
"You've trodden on corns in the past," said Grimes coldly. "You should know, by this time, that there are some corns better not trodden on."
Maggie sighed. "All this is getting us nowhere and has nothing at all to do with New Sparta. Would you mind telling us, Fenella, just what you've found out?"
The journalist finished her coffee, said, "No thanks, Maggie. One cup of this mud was ample. Potables shouldn't need knives and forks to deal with them." She took a cigarette from the box on the table, puffed it into ignition. "Now, I think I'm getting places, which is more than can be said for the pair of you. A Major Hera has taken quite a fancy to Shirl and Darleen. She is taking private savate lessons and, in return, is teaching the two girls her own version of wrestling. Now, now . . . I know that you have dirty minds, or I know that Grimes has, but there's nothing like what you're thinking. Not yet, anyhow, but I must admit that Shirl and Darleen are surprisingly innocent in some respects. Well, Hera is a high-up in the Ladies' Auxiliary of the New Hellas Association. She's already persuaded quite a few Amazon officers and NCOs to join. She's been trying to persuade the two new Instructor Lieutenants to join. I've advised them to yield to her blandishments and then to keep their eyes skinned and their ears flapping."
"I can't see them as spies," said Grimes. "They're too direct. Too honest."
"Who else have we got?" she asked. "Not me. Not either of you,"
"And they will report to you?" asked Grimes.
"Yes," she said.
"They will report to us," stated Maggie firmly. "After all, they are Commodore Grimes' friends. What could be more natural than that they should join him here for a drink or two?"
"As long as I am present," said Fenella.
"Talking of drinks," said Grimes, "I could do with a stiff one to wash away the taste of that alleged coffee."
The two ladies thought that this was quite a good idea.