Throy by Jack Vance Page A

Kathcar! You are now assured of justice.”
    “That is absurd!” cried Kathcar. “It is now that I need funds and security!”
    “So it may be, but your demands are lavish.”
    “Have you no regard for your own reputation?” stormed Kathcar. “Already your name is synonymous with cheese-paring parsimony! Now is your chance at redemption! I urge that you seize upon it, for my benefit and your own!”
    “Ah! But the fee is much too high!”
    “Twenty thousand sols is cheap for what I can tell you.”
    “Twenty thousand sols is unthinkable!”
    “Not by me! I think it very easily!”
    “Arbitration still is the best plan,” said Bodwyn Wook.
    “And who will be the arbiter?”
    Bodwyn Wook spoke in measured tones: “He must be a person of high moral quality and keen intelligence.”
    “I agree!” declared Kathcar with sudden unexpected verve. “I nominate Wayness Tamm!”
    “Hmmf,” said Bodwyn Wook. “I had myself in mind.”
    Egon Tamm said wearily: “We will take counsel on your proposal and give you our answer later in the evening.”
    “As you like,” said Kathcar. “You may also wish to ruminate upon some other matters, such as Smonny and her wanderings. Sometimes she is to be found at Yipton; at other times she will conduct her business elsewhere - from Soum, or Rosalia, or Traven, or as far afield as Old Earth. How does she arrive and how does she depart undetected?”
    “I don’t know,” said Egon Tamm. “Scharde, do you know?”
    “No, for a fact.”
    “Nor I,” said Bodwyn Wook. “I assume that Titus Zigonie’s Clayhacker space yacht drops down, scoops her up and disappears.”
    “Then why is this event never registered on your monitors?”
    “I can’t say.”
    Kathcar laughed. “It is indeed a mystery.”
    “Which you can clarify?” demanded Bodwyn Wook.
    Kathcar pursed his mouth. “I have made no such claims. Perhaps you should consult your friend Lewyn Barduys; he also might be able to speculate. I have said enough. Your so-called investigative agency, Bureau B, seems strangely inept; still, you should not expect me to shoulder the full load of its deficiencies.”
    Egon Tamm said coldly, “In any case, you are subject to Gaean law and you must report illegal activity or face charges of criminal conspiracy.”
    “Ha ha!” sneered Kathcar. “First you must prove that I know the answers to questions you don’t know how to ask.”
    Egon Tamm said: “If you are in earnest about leaving Stroma, be on hand tomorrow when we depart, and you may accompany us.”
    “Then you will not guarantee my fee?”
    “We will discuss the matter tonight,” said Egon Tamm.
    Kathcar reflected a moment. “That is not good enough. I want my answer, one way or the other, within the hour.”
    Kathcar went to the door, where he paused and looked back. “You are returning to the inn?”
    “That is correct,” said Bodwyn Wook. “I am hungry despite all, and I intend to dine like a gentleman.”
    Kathcar showed him a wolfish grin. “I recommend the baked rock-rack and greenfish, and the soup is always worthwhile. I will meet you at the inn within the hour.”
    Kathcar opened the door, peered right, then left along the way, which was now indistinct in the starlight. Reassured, he stepped out into the gloom and was gone.
    Bodwyn Wook rose to his feet. “The brain works best when it is not distracted by hunger. Let us return to the inn; there, with our noses over the soup, we can settle this matter, one way or another.”
     
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    Chapter 1, Part VII
     
    The group took seats at a table in the dining room of the inn. A few moments later the massive form of Warden Ballinder loomed in the doorway. His heavy round face, never gladsome, by reason of coarse black hair, black beard and unruly black eyebrows, now seemed actively morose. He crossed the room, seated himself at the table and addressed Egon Tamm: “If your announcement was intended to resolve all doubts, it has failed. There are more