The Eye of the Llama

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 15:

It was only a five-minute drive to the Government Building and Cindy and Libby spent every second of it racking their brains in silence for a plan. It was Cindy who spoke first. "You know, even if we find Jimmy there's still the question of what's going on with Carl we have to figure out."

"Yeah, poor Carl," agreed Libby absently. "Why anyone would want to pick someone with his asthma and allergies to fight in a…" Her voice trailed off as she stared blankly into space. "Allergies," she repeated slowly. "That's it. Allergies!"

That threw Cindy. "What?"

"Allergies! That's how we'll do it!"

"Is this thin air getting to you?" Cindy asked, giving her friend a worried look.

"No. I was just thinking about Carl and his allergies," explained Libby.

"Oh. Right. That certainly clears things up."

"No, listen up. You know what doctors do to find out if you're allergic to something?"

"I should," Cindy replied, rolling her eyes. "Carl's told us only about a hundred times. They do a scratch test."

"Exactly," Libby agreed. "They take a needle with a test substance on it and poke you. If nothing's wrong, nothing happens. But if something is wrong…"

"…there's a reaction." Cindy was catching on. "So what we need to do is needle Minister Khormak a little."

Libby ignored the pun. "Right. If everything's straight up nothing happens, no harm, no foul. But if something is off-center like we figured, he might tip his hand."

Cindy considered it. "That's brilliant, Libs. Now we just need to figure out what will itch him enough to scratch." She rolled ideas over in her mind as she looked about the inside of the hovercraft for inspiration. It came to her as her eyes fell on Libby's cell phone. "Libby! I've got it! Give me your cell phone!"

Libby handed it over, puzzled. "My cell phone? It won't work out here. There's no cell network on this planet."

"I know that," Cindy answered as she punched buttons on the device. "And you know that. But I'm betting that Minister Khormak won't know that." She finished pushing buttons, surveyed her handiwork with satisfaction, and clipped the phone to her waistband. "Now, when we're speaking with Minister Khormak, play along with whatever I say."

Libby shrugged. "Whatever you say."

By this time the hovercraft had halted in front of the large structure housing many of the official government agencies and offices of Felangie. As the girls exited the vehicle the chauffeur asked, "Did you wish me to remain, Miss?"

"Yes," Cindy answered. "We won't be long."

"Very good, Miss," the chauffeur replied as the girls walked away. As soon was they had vanished inside building he reached under the dashboard, withdrew a small communications handset, and activated it. "Mobile One to Base. Both subjects have entered the Government Building."

"Status?" a voice answered.

"The subjects appear to be on a scent and acting on it."

There was a pause. "Do you require assistance?"

"Negative at this time, but request additional instructions."

"Maintain surveillance only and report on any new developments. Take no action without direct orders," the voice said.

"Affirmative." The connection went dead and the driver replaced the handset in its concealed cradle, waiting for the girls to return.

Inside the building the girls had no difficulty locating the office of Minister Khormak, although it took a few minutes to convince the receptionist there that they had business with the Minister of War of Felangie. Finally, convinced that they were in fact off-worlders and associated with the upcoming exhibition match with the planetary champion, he pressed the switch to activate the communicator in the Minister's office.

"Yes? What is it?" a gruff voice asked.

"I'm very sorry to disturb you, Minister," the receptionist said, "but there are two humans here who wish to meet with you."

"Humans? Did they say what they wanted?"

"They wished to personally thank you for inviting them to Felangie."

There was a short silence and Cindy held her breath. If the Minister refused them an audience her plan would be useless. "Send them in," the voice finally said, and the receptionist nodded to Cindy and Libby

"You may go in. But be brief. The Minister is a very busy official with many duties."

Here goes nothing, Cindy thought as she surreptitiously pressed a button on Libby's cell phone. Once through the outer doors and in Minister Khormak's spacious office she switched on a sunny smile. "Minister Khormak," she purred, extended a hand. "I'm Cindy Vortex, and this is my friend Libby Folfax. It's so very nice to meet you."

Khormak took the proffered hand somewhat stiffly and bowed. "The pleasure is mine, I'm sure," he replied.

"Charmed," said Libby as Khormak shook her hand.

"We truly appreciate your taking the time to meet with us," Cindy went on. "As the most important government minister on Felangie I know how busy you are."

Minister Khormak allowed himself a smile. "One of my many duties is that of an official planetary representative. Despite common opinion the Ministry of War is as much concerned with averting wars as conducting them."

"Yes, I was sure of that, but it is so good to hear you affirm that. Ministry of War sounds so…well, ominous, albeit rather fascinating."

The Minister looked pleasantly surprised. "Do you think so?"

"Oh, yes," Cindy gushed, still smiling like an oblivious idiot. "I'm sure that if you had time there would be hundreds of fascinating war stories you could tell. But my friend Libby and I just wanted to stop in personally to thank you for inviting us to Felangie. We wanted Jimmy to come as well, but we couldn't find him." At the name the Minister stiffened slightly but he continued smiling. "It's just like him to wander off and –" At that moment a musical tone came from the phone at Cindy's waist. "Oh, excuse me while I get this." She retrieved the device, studied it, and shrugged as she pushed a button. "Well, that's odd. It looks like Jimmy's phone just tried to auto-return my earlier call, but I lost the signal. Oh, well." She replaced the cell phone and smiled at Khormak.

"He'll probably call back," commented Libby, who felt she had to say something.

"Yes, probably," Cindy agreed. "As I was saying, Minister Khormak, I'm sure your military record must be fascinating."

"Well," Khormak replied in a somewhat distracted tone, "I have had a rather colorful career. I originally enrolled in the Felangian Space Corps as a recruit but had the good fortune to qualify for and attend the Star Academy. I eventually worked my way up as an officer to lead one of our crack brigades."

"Fascinating," Cindy said breathlessly. "Have you ever considered writing a book on your career?"

Khormak smiled again, more broadly this time. "Well, I have toyed with the idea, but with all my duties finding the time is just impossible at the moment."

Cindy nodded sympathetically. "I understand. Still, you should find the time. You can never tell –" The phone signaled again and Cindy frowned as she studied it once more. "This is so peculiar. Jimmy's phone must be very close for this to keep going off, but I can't seem to keep locked on to the signal. Maybe my batteries are going dead." She pressed a button and replaced the phone again.

Khormak was still smiling but it hung on his face like a bad mask. "Perhaps."

"I'll bet he's somewhere in the neighborhood poking around in this and that like he always does. Once I recharge my phone and come back here I should be able to stay locked in on him and find out where he is."

"I'm sure you will," Khormak said civilly, but both Cindy and Libby sensed a certain amount of tenseness in his demeanor. "It's been quite pleasant speaking with you, but I really have a great deal to do. If you'll excuse me, Miss Vortex?"

"Of course, of course. Thanks so much for your time. I hope we can get together socially some time," Cindy smiled as Khormak ushered them to the doors.

"I know I can't wait," added Libby.

"Yes, some time, perhaps," Khormak agreed, closing the door. "Good day." Once the doors were closed he locked them from the inside, rushed to the communicator, and closed the switch to a private line. "Skeets! Rocco!" he snapped. "Get in here at once!"

Outside the building Cindy and Libby climbed back into the hovercraft as Cindy silently thanked her mother for all the social gatherings she had had to endure. "Do you think it worked?" asked Libby.

"I don't know," answered Cindy. "But I'm more sure than ever that Khormak is messed up in Jimmy's disappearance even if we didn't see that robot." She removed the cell phone from her waistband and handed it back to Libby. "You'd better clear that appointment reminder. Otherwise it will keep going off every minute or so."

As Libby complied the chauffeur asked, "Where to now, Miss?"

"Just pull around the back and park in an unobtrusive place," Cindy instructed him. "If he's going to try anything he won't be doing it out the front door," she explained to Libby. "If he's anything like an Earth hood he'll be using a service entrance."

"Very good, Miss," the chauffeur said as he eased the vehicle around the back. He was able to find an open space large enough for the hovercraft behind some small bushes and skillfully parked the vehicle so that they could observe the entire back of the Government Building.

They had been waiting about twenty minutes when Libby suddenly stiffened and pointed. "It looks like Khormak is starting to itch!" she hissed excitedly, pointing at two figures who were exiting the structure some distance away. "Look familiar?"

Cindy leaned forward and peered at the shapes and nodded. Although they were nearly a hundred yards away she recognized them immediately. "Those are the goons that jumped Jimmy when we first arrived," she said. "What's that they're putting in that vehicle?"

"It looks like a box," Libby replied. "Or a packing crate. Do you think that Jimmy…?"

"I'm sure of it," Cindy answered grimly as the distant hovercraft began moving away. "Okay, let's follow them," she told the driver.

"Very good, Miss," the chauffeur said as his craft smoothly pulled out and sped after the suspects. When he came within two blocks of the hovercraft they were following he slowed down.

"What's wrong?" Libby asked.

"Nothing, Miss," the driver replied. "But may I suggest that we maintain a discreet distance to avoid alarming the occupants of the other vehicle?"

"Good idea," admitted Cindy. "I should have thought of that myself."

After several minutes of the careful pursuit Libby said, "Hey, Cindy, does this place look familiar to you?"

Cindy looked around curiously. "Not particularly. Why?"

"Because it does to me. If I didn't know better, I'd say we were headed for the spaceport."

"Indeed we are, Miss," the chauffeur agreed.

"Why would they go to the spaceport?" Cindy wondered aloud.

Libby slapped her forehead. "Of course! It make sense now!"

"What does?"

"The packing case! If Jimmy is in it, they're probably shipping him off-planet! If they do that we may never find him again!"

Cindy leaned forward. "Okay, there's no point in discretion any more. Step on it! We have to catch that crate!"

"As you say, Miss," the driver replied as he gunned the thrusters. They shot forward and began closing on their quarry, but as they neared the spaceport the chauffeur maneuvered the hovercraft into a different lane from the one used by the other vehicle. "I'm afraid we can't go through on the other lane," the chauffeur explained before Cindy or Libby could ask for an explanation. "Only commercial vehicles are permitted into the spaceport that way."

Cindy gritted her teeth. "Then we'll have to hurry. There's no telling where they may be headed."

The driver complied and after what seemed an interminable time pulled up in front of a cluster of buildings. Libby and Cindy leaped out, yelling to the driver to stay where he was and raced through what seemed to be the main entrance. Inside they found a number of desks similar to the check-in counters of an Earth airport and approached one that appeared to be open.

"May I help you?" the Felangian clerk behind the counter asked helpfully.

"Yes," Cindy gasped, breathless from the short run in the thin air. "Someone just came to this spaceport with a large packing crate. Do you know how we can find what the first possible flight out today would be?"

The clerk consulted a viewscreen and tapped a number of keys before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but there are no commercial flights out today."

Cindy stared. "None? Are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

As Cindy pondered this Libby spoke up. "What about non-commercial flights? Do they have any of those out of here?"

"From time to time. One moment." The clerk entered a number of queries into her terminal and finally spoke. "There was a last minute flight entered into the system by an independent starline in Terminal 4 and it's scheduled for departure almost immediately." As she finished speaking there came a faint shudder that slowly died away. "Make that immediately," she corrected.

"You mean it's left?" Cindy asked helplessly.

"Yes. The screen confirms liftoff and preparation for entry into departure orbit."

"You've got to call it back!" Libby cried desperately. "There's something very important on it that we have to get back!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible," the clerk replied in a professional tone. "Once the ship has lifted off deviation from flight plan is not allowed. There is too great a chance for collision." Seeing their faces she continued, "But if you need to retrieve something you can contact the destination port and request the planetary officials to send it back on the return flight."

Cindy and Libby looked at each other. "I guess we'll have to do that," Cindy finally said. "Could you tell us where the ship is headed?"

"Certainly." The helpful clerk studied her screen, but her next words made Cindy's and Libby's blood run cold. "The ship is headed for Yolkus."

End of Part 15