"Who prompted you to do this deed?"
Orreduc shook his head, and, smiling, looked off across the room.
"I am not sure of your meaning."
"What did Julian Bohost tell you last night?"
"It is hard to remember. I am frightened by your threats. If you were kind and said to me: "Ah, Orreduc, you are a good person. A mistake has been made; did you know that?" Then you would say:
Please be more careful the next time these young folk go for their ride!" I would say: "Of course! And now I remember everything, since my mind is free of fear and I am happy again."" Ysel Laverty looked to his sergeant.
"Do you have a strong charge in your gun? Because soon we must shoot Orreduc."
"Charge is strong, sir."
Ysel Laverty turned back to Orreduc.
"What did Julian say to you?"
Orreduc was now sullen.
"He said many things. I paid little heed."
"Why did you decide to kill these four young people?"
"Why does the sun shine? Why does the wind blow? I admit nothing. On the Lutwen Islands live a hundred thousand folk.
At Stroma are a few hundred; at Araminta a few hundred more.
If every Lutwenese still on Deucas were able to kill four woskers, there would be none left."
"Quite so. Lucidly and reasonably put." Ysel Laverty smiled grimly.
"We had hoped to terminate jobs like yours by attrition. You were trusted and might have remained here as long as you liked. It seems to have been a mistaken policy.
Because of your act, every Yip on Deucas will be sent home, or perhaps off-world."
"You may send me home or off-world also," said Orreduc ingenuously.
"The effect is the same."
"Did Julian suggest the so-called accident?"
Orreduc smiled wistfully.
"What if I tell you the exact truth?"
"You are going to die. Tell the truth and you'll save your helpers."
"Kill me, then. I hope that both uncertainty and itching piles annoy you the rest of your days."
Ysel Laverty gestured to his sergeant.
"Handcuff him; take him to the flyer and put him in the after compartment. Do the same for the others. Go carefully; they might be armed."
Immediately upon Glawen's return to Araminta Station he took himself to the Bureau B offices and there conferred with Bodwyn Wook. He learned that Julian had been hospitalized with a crushed pelvis and two smashed legs.
"He is lucky to be alive," said Bodwyn Wook.
"If he. planned the event, he made a great botch of it."
Glawen shook his head.
"In spite of all, I can't credit Julian with murderous tendencies."
"This is my opinion. The situation is ambiguous, but we can take it no farther."
"He probably talked a lot of extravagant nonsense, and perhaps some sedition as well, but there would be no hard proof."
"That is what we hear from the assistant stable men though their testimony is too vague to be useful."
"What has happened to them?"
"Orreduc has been shot. The underlings are on their way to Cape Journal, where they will break a road through the rocks to Crazy Katy Lake and the Mile-High Falls."
"They got off easy."
Bodwyn Wook folded his hands and looked toward the ceiling.
