"I'm not so sure," said Kirdy.

"Get rid of one villain; two others jump up to take his place. This Ogmo business is a sheer mare's nest, a tangle of false starts and folly. And whom do we find skulking and hiding and dashing about in a lather of sweat and discomfort? Is it Bodwyn Wook? Not on your life. It's a pair of young varlets, Glawen Clattuc and Kirdy Wook."

Glawen said dolefully: "That is our lot in life."

"Bah!" said Kirdy.

"Why should we bother? The same stuff goes on at Yipton, if someone cares to pay the price."

"I suspect that you are right," said Glawen. A soft voice from the nunciators announced lunch.

"In any event, this is our assignment and I'd prefer to do it properly than otherwise. What about you?"

Kirdy merely turned Glawen a stony glance, which Glawen pretended not to notice.

The two went aft to the dining saloon and seated themselves at a table. A pop-up screen displayed the bill of fare;

Kirdy glanced at it, then looked away.

Again Glawen raised his eyebrows. Kirdy was full of surprises. Glawen asked: "What looks good to you?"

"I'm not particular. I'll have whatever you're having."

Glawen was reluctant to make himself responsible for the quality c Kirdy's meals.

"You'd better order for yourself. I don't want to b blamed if you don't like what you get."

"I'll just have some bread and stew."

"That's simple enough, although here it's called ragout."

"I don't care what it's called."

Glawen put through the order. Kirdy was served the ragout, bi found it not to his liking.

"I wanted plain stew. This is doused u with some strange extragalactic sauce. I wish you had ordered stev as I asked."

"After this, you take care of your own meals. Why should I order your stew in the first place?"

Kirdy shrugged but offered no explanation. Glawen watched hil surreptitiously. He asked cautiously: "These bits and pieces of you conscious mind--are they starting to come together?"

"I don't think so."

"Too bad. Bodwyn Wook is hoping that this trip, with new scener and new experiences, will straighten you out. What is your opinion c that?"

"He's wrong, but he is the master, and must be obeyed."

"That's one way of looking at it," said Glawen.

Kirdy went on in a bleak voice: "Everything considered, I'd just a soon be home. I don't know anything about this Ogmo business Perhaps it is right; perhaps it is wrong. Your company is forced o me, despite my reluctance; each time you speak my fist balls up s that I may smash it in your face.

It may be a good and proper act; sti I am a careful man and I desist, because I would forfeit your assistant out here among these strange people and strange noises. I would h left alone. Alone, alone, as if groping in the dark."

Glawen managed an uneasy grin.

"You premises are distorted by your analysis is correct. If you smashed my face, I would not on! smash your face but I would have nothing more to do with you. Sc continue to desist." And he added: "Especially since I am you appointed master and this is my order."

Kirdy pursed his lips.

"True! That is a good point."

As the voyage progressed, Kirdy became ever more dependent, situation Glawen found both irking and bizarre. Kirdy's favorite topic were the old times, when he and Glawen were children. In painstakin detail he recalled incidents which Glawen had forgotten, then derive meanings and portents which Glawen usually found both farfetche and inaccurate.

After a few such episodes Glawen tried to shift the focus of Kirdy's attention forward in time. And finally one morning as they sat over breakfast Kirdy spoke of his experiences at Yipton.

"I amaze even myself. They thought me a compliant lout, a creature wadded together of mush and putty, with bird droppings for brains."

Kirdy paused to reflect, showing a smile of bitter irony to some startled folk at a nearby table.

"So they gave me the first dose of stuff, and even identified it.

"Now for a little taste of nyene," said the Yip:

a scurrilous little toad who might well have been Titus Pompo himself.

"This will bring you close upon basic truths and you will see the flow of existence from both the underside and the top perspective together;

it makes, so I am told, for an interesting view."

"It was then that they learned my mettle. I kicked out and crushed the jaw of one. I struck another with my fist and smashed the bones of his head, so that his eyes rolled around like a comical toy. I looked to Titus Pompo--I shall call him that--but he dodged behind the table. I turned the table over upon him and jumped up and down trying to crush him; then I discarded the table that I might more easily tear him limb from limb, but more of the Oomps were coming so I jumped from the window and into the canal.

"They never found me, for I slid through the slime into the space under the pilings, and there I lurked, where none dared come for me." Kirdy chuckled: a low gurgling sound which caused Glawen's stomach to knot.

"So I was at liberty, in the realm of the yoots. Aha! Those were the times! How shall I describe them? The place is stink and slime. The yoots--so the Yips call them--use this space as their own kingdom. How does one deal with the yoots? Through kindness and logic? What mean these in the crawl spaces under Yipton?

Unreal! I horrified them with my deeds, so that they fled at the sound of my voice, sweetly calling to them. I ate their young and took the fish they had caught and ate these as well, and here was the secret--the truly great secret! The fish freely ingest the trapper fish which give off nyene as their poison, which in turn is rendered ineffective by the counter stuff of the fish, which the yoots call glemma.

"As soon as I took in the glemma a change came over me; I was no longer the raving wild thing and the yoots lost their dread and began to creep in on me. They fear the sight of their own guts, so I disemboweled some of them, but I was allowed no peace. I thought then I would swim in the canal by night, and take a boat, and make for the Marmion. I put this plan into effect, but I was captured and brought again to Titus Pompo, if indeed it was he.

"This time they took great pains with me, and tied me so I could

not stir.

"Now we shall see!" said Titus Pompo.

"Shall we taste some' good nyene?" ^ "So I was dosed, but the stuff failed to act. I feigned madness, so3B that they gave me over to my own people, and I returned to AramintaH Station. And then--my prospects had changed. I had discovered new;

goals." Kirdy stopped short.