The Inheritors - A. Bertram Chandler [38]
"Fire sixteen!" Boom!
Surely not, thought Grimes dazedly. Surely not. A twenty-one gun salute for somebody who, even though she is called a queen, is no more than the mayor of a small town . . . .
"Fire twenty!" Boom!
"Fire twenty-one!" Boom!
"A lesson," remarked Maggie, "on how to win friends and influence people . . . ."
"He certainly influenced me!" said Grimes.
Kane, accompanied by Sabrina, marched to where Janine was standing. He saluted again. Janine nodded to him regally. The standard bearer, recovered from her sneezing fit, dipped her flag toward him. The spearmen and riflemen presented arms. Grimes watched all this a little enviously. He was sorry that Maya had not briefed him regarding Janine's love of ceremonial, as obviously Sabrina had briefed Kane. But it could be that Kane knew Sabrina far better than he, Grimes, knew Maya. There are more things to do in a shared bed than talking—but talking in bed is quite a common practice . . . .
"Shall I fire a burst from the twenty millimeters," asked Pitcher wistfully, "just to show that we can make a noise too?"
"No," Grimes said sternly.
"Sir," called Billard, "here comes another pinnace!"
Danzellan's arrival on the scene was anticlimactic. When he came in to a landing the queen, together with Kane, Sabrina and two of Southerly Buster's officers carrying a large chest of trade goods, had returned to her palace and was staying there.
19
Captain Danzellan was in a bad temper.
He demanded, "Commander Grimes, why didn't you tell me that Drongo Kane was on this planet? I learned it, only by chance, from Lilian after you had left Melbourne—and then my radio officer monitored the conversation you had with your first lieutenant . . . ."
"To begin with," said Grimes tartly, "you didn't ask me. In any case, I gained the impression that you wanted nothing at all to do with me or my people." He was warming up nicely. "Furthermore, sir, I must draw your attention to the fact that the monitoring of Survey Service signals is illegal, and that you are liable to a heavy fine, and that your radio officer may have his certificate dealt with."
Danzellan was not awed. "A space lawyer!" he sneered.
"Yes, Captain. And a space policeman."
"Then why don't you arrest Kane?"
"What for?" asked Grimes. "He has broken no laws—Federation or local. I can neither arrest him nor order him off Morrowvia."
"Commander Grimes, I am paid to look after my owners' interests. I cannot do so properly while this man Kane is running around loose, corrupting the natives. To be frank, if you were not here I should feel justified in taking the law into my hands. Since you are here—I appeal to you, as a citizen of the Federation, for protection."
"Captain Danzellan, Captain Kane is cooking up some sort of deal with the natives. He, like you, is a shipmaster. You represent your owners, Kane is an owner. You allege that he is corrupting the natives and imply that he is queering your pitch. Meanwhile, I am wondering if whatever sort of deal you are cooking up will corrupt the natives . . . ."
"Of course not!" snorted Danzellan. "The Dog Star Line will always have their best interests at heart!"
"And the best interests of the management and shareholders . . . ?" put in Maggie.
Danzellan smiled in a fatherly way. "Naturally, Commander Lazenby. After all, we are businessmen."
"Mphm," Grimes grunted. He said, "Kane is a businessman too."
"But I was here first, Commander Grimes."
"Lode Cougar was here first, Captain Danzellan. Get this straight, sir—unless or until either you or Captain Kane steps out of line I am merely here as an observer."
"Then may I suggest, sir, that you start doing some observing? That is what I intend to do. I am going to call on Janine, now, to see if I can find out what line of goods Kane is peddling."
"I'll come with you," Grimes told him. "Maggie, you'd better come too. And you, Maya, if you wouldn't mind. Mr. Pitcher and Mr. Billard—stay by the pinnace."
The two men and the two women walked across the plaza to the main entrance of the palace. Four natives were