The Inheritors - A. Bertram Chandler [7]
"If every Rhine Institute graduate who broke the Institute's rules dropped dead right now," Grimes told her, "there'd be one helluva shortage of trained telepaths. In any case, the Institute allows some latitude to those of its people who're in the employ of a recognized law enforcement agency. The Federation's Survey Service is one such. Conversely, the Institute recognizes the right of any telepath, no matter by whom employed, to put up a telepathic block."
"I still don't like it. Any of it."
"Mr. Hayakawa," said Grimes into the telephone, "you heard all that?"
"Yes, Captain."
"And what are your views?"
In reply came a thin chuckle, then, "I try to be loyal, sir. To the Institute, to the Service, to my shipmates, to my captain. Sometimes it is hard to be loyal to everybody at once. But, also, I try to be loyal to myself."
"Putting it briefly," said Maggie Lazenby, "you know on which side your bread is buttered."
"Butter is an animal-derived food, Miss Commander, which I never touch."
"Mr. Hayakawa," asked Grimes, "do you hear anything further from the strange ship?"
"No, Captain. The block has been reestablished."
"Let me know when you do hear anything more." He punched buttons, then spoke again into the instrument. "Captain here, Mr. Timmins. Mr. Hayakawa has reported a vessel in our vicinity, apparently heading for Morrowvia. Have you picked anything up?"
"Just the normal commercial traffic, sir. A Shaara freighter, Mmoorroomm, Rob Roy to ZZrreemm. Empress of Scotia, Dunedin to Darnstadt. Cutty Sark, Carinthia to Lorn. Schnauzer, Siluria toMacbeth. And, according to Sector Plot, the following ships not fitted with Carlotti equipment: Sundowner, Aquarius to Faraway, Rim Eland, Elsinore to Ultimo . . . ."
"Thank you." Then, speaking more to himself than to anybody else, "Schnauzer . . . Dog Star Line . . . cleared for Macbeth . . . . She might finish up there eventually . . . ."
He ignored Maggie's questioning look and went to his playmaster. As its name implied, the device provided entertainment, visual and audio—but this one, a standard fitting in the captain's quarters in all FSS ships, was also hooked up to the vessel's encyclopedia bank. "Get me Lloyd's Register," he ordered. "I want details on Schnauzer. Sirian ownership. Dog Star Line . . . ."
The screen lit up, displaying the facsimile of a printed page.
Schnauzer—a new ship, small, exceptionally fast for a merchantman, defensively armed. (The Dog Star Line had long insisted that its vessels were capable of conducting their own defense on some of the trade routes where piracy still persisted.)
"Mphm," he grunted. Back at the telephone he ordered Timmins to send a coded message to the FSS agent at Port Llangowan, on Siluria, to ask the names of Schnauzer's personnel when she cleared outward.
He strongly suspected that the master would be Captain Danzellan.
5
"Master, Roger Danzellan," the Federation's man on Siluria replied eventually. "First mate, Oscar Eklund. Second mate, Francis Delamere. Third mate, Kathryn Daley. Chief engineer, Mannschenn Drive, Evan Jones. Chief engineer Interplanetary Drives, Ian Mackay. Juniors, H. Smith, B. Ostrog, H. Singh. Purser/catering officer, Glynis Trent . . ." The message went on to say that Captain Danzellan and Mr. Delamere had both been among Corgi's complement when she had last been at Port Llangowan. The last piece of information that it contained was that Francis Delamere was the nephew of the Dog Star Line's general manager.
So—obviously, the Dog Star people were interested in Morrowvia. On receiving the report from Corgi's master they had acted, and fast. A suitable ship had been shunted off her doubtlessly well-worn tramlines, and Danzellan had been transferred to her command. Probably he had not wished to have Delamere as one of his Officers—but Delamere had pull. Nepotism, as Grimes well knew, existed in the Survey Service. In a privately owned shipping company the climate