A Transmutation of Muddles Read online

counting on his fingers.

  "... But they charged me premiums by that figure an' I say they oughtapay by that figure."

  "But can you prove she's a total loss, captain?" asked Mayne.

  Voorhis grimaced and spat upon the ground.

  "Try to get near her, Judge! You'll get proof fast enough!"

  "Well ... about the cargo, then?"

  "_That's_ where he's gouging me!" exploded Voorhis. "The idea of usingthe cost as of loading on Rigel IX! Hell, you know the margin of profitthere is in trading on these new planets, twenty to one at least. Ifigured to lift off with four million worth of ores, gems, curios, andwhatnot."

  "So your point is that the mere transportation of the goods throughspace to this planet increased their value. What about that, Mr. Melin?"

  Melin shifted uncomfortably on his bench. Mayne would have liked tochange his own position, but feared splinters.

  "There is an element of truth in that," admitted Melin. "Still, it wouldbe rash to expect such a return every time a tramp spaceship lands toswap with some aboriginal easy marks."

  "I suppose," said Mayne, "that our orange-eyed friends speak no Terran?"

  "I hope not!" exclaimed Voorhis.

  "Well, anyway," Melin said after a startled pause, "how can we beexpected to pay off on hopes? He wants the paper figure for the ship;but he refuses the paper figure for the cargo."

  Mayne shrugged. He turned to Haruhiku.

  "If Captain Voorhis and Mr. Melin don't mind, lieutenant, I'd like toget the chief's view of all this."

  "Hah!" grunted Voorhis, clapping both hands to his head.

  Melin contented himself with rolling his eyes skyward.

  With Haruhiku translating, Mayne began to get acquainted with theKappans. The visitor from the neighboring city chose mostly to listenattentively, but Igrillik, the priest, occasionally leaned over towhisper sibilantly into Eemakh's recessed ear. Mayne fancied he saw aresemblance between the two, despite Igrillik's professionaltrappings--a long robe of rough material that had been dyed in stripesand figures of several crude colors, and a tall cap to which wereattached a number of pairs of membraneous wings.

  The first thing that Mayne learned was that the _Gemsbok_ was not aspaceship; it was a symbol, a sign sent to the Kappans by the great godMeeg.

  "And why did he send it?" asked Mayne.

  He had sent it as a sign that he was impatient with his children. Theyhad vowed him a temple, they had set aside the necessary land, and yetthey had not begun the work.

  "Is that why they're all over there, slaving away so feverishly?"

  It was indeed the reason. After all, Meeg was the god of the inner moon,the one that passed so speedily across the sky. If he could guide thestrangers' ship directly to his own plot of ground, he might just aseasily have caused it to land in the center of the village. They hadseen the flames that attended the landing. Could the honored chief fromthe stars blame them for heeding the warning?

  "I see their point," muttered Mayne resignedly. "Well, maybe we can talksense about the cargo. Tell them that there is much in the holds thatwould make their lives richer. Tools, gems, fine cloth--give them thestory, lieutenant."

  This time, Eemakh conferred with the high priest. It developed that thecargo was a sacred gift to be used or not as the god Meeg mightsubsequently direct. The chief meant no insult. The Kappans realizedthat Voorhis and his crew were no demons, but starmen such as had oftenbrought valuable goods to trade. The Kappans had not sought to harm orsacrifice them, had they? This was because they were both welcome asvisitors and respected as instruments of Meeg.

  Eemakh wished to be fair. The starmen might think they had lost by thedivine mission. Very well--they would be granted land, good land withforest for hunting and shoreline for fishing. But go near the templethey should not!

  "Could _I_ get in to inspect the cargo?" asked Mayne.

  Haruhiku took this up with the Kappans, who softened but did not yield.

  "The best I can get, Judge," said the pilot, "is that they wish it werepossible but only those who serve the purposes of Meeg may enter."

  "They _would_ look at it that way," sighed Mayne. "Let's leave it atthat, until we can think this over some more. It's time for a lunchbreak anyway."

  * * * * *

  He and Haruhiku were flown back to the scout ship. Mayne broodedsilently most of the way. Voorhis thought he was entitled to about sixmillion credits for ship and cargo; Melin thought half a million for theship and fuel would be stretching it. Mayne foresaw that he would haveto knock heads.

  The two of them lunched in the pilot's cabin, with hardly room to drop aspoon. Except for companionship, Mayne would as soon have eaten standingin the galley.

  He considered the vast area of the planet's land surface. Would it bewiser for the envoy to land elsewhere? What sort of ties were therebetween tribes?

  "Loose," the pilot told him. "Still, word gets around, with no greatmountain or ocean barriers. They've split into groups, but there is alot of contact."

  "So if the Space Force should seize the _Gemsbok_, they'll all hearabout it?"

  "Within a few weeks, sir. That kind of news has wings on any world. Ithink we could take her for you, but we might do some damage. The sizeof a scout crew doesn't lend itself to hand-to-hand brawls."

  "And if you sling a couple of torpedoes at the Kappan village, you'llprobably wipe it out," said Mayne thoughtfully. "Give the story a monthto spread, and no Terran would be trusted anywhere on the planet. Hm-m-m... hardly practical!"

  "There would also be a chance of damaging the _Gemsbok_."

  "Actually, Eric, I'd hardly care if you blew her into orbit, withVoorhis and Melin riding the fins! But I'm supposed to spread sweetnessand light around here--not scraps and parts of spaceships."

  He gnawed moodily upon a knuckle, but saw no way to escape putting upsome government money. Soaking the company would just make _them_ appealinstead of Voorhis.

  "This Meeg," he said to change the subject. "How important is he?"

  Haruhiku considered a moment before replying.

  "They have a whole mess of gods, like most primitive societies. Meeg ispretty important. I think he has a special significance to this tribe... you know, like some ancient Terran cities has a special patron."

  "He's the god of that little moon?" Mayne asked.

  "Oh, more than that, I think. Really the god of speed, a message bearerfor the other divinities. There always seems to be one in everyprimitive mythology."

  "Yes," murmured Mayne. "Let's see ... one parallel would be the ancientTerran Hermes, wouldn't it?"

  "Something like that," agreed Haruhiku. "I'm a little vague on thesubject, sir. At least, he isn't one of the bloodthirsty ones."

  "That helps," sighed Mayne, "but not enough."

  He got a message blank from the pilot. With some labor, he composed arequest to Terran headquarters on Rigel IX for authorization to spendtwo million credits on good-will preparations for the Terran-Kappantreaty conference.

  _It almost sounds diplomatic_, he told himself before having the messagesent.

  The waiting period that followed was more to be blamed upon headquarterspussyfooting than upon the subspace transmission. When an answer finallycame, it required a further exchange of messages.

  Mayne's last communique might have been boiled down to, "But I _need_it!"

  The last reply granted provisional permission to spend the summentioned; but gleaming between the lines like the sweep of a revolvingbeacon was a strong intimation that Mayne had better not hope to chargethe item to "good will." The budget just was not made that way, the hintconcluded.

  "It's due to get dark soon, isn't it?" he asked Haruhiku, crumpling thefinal message into a side pocket. "I don't believe I'll resume the talkstill morning. Maybe my head will function again by then."

  * * * * *

  In the morning, one of the scout's crew again took the pilot and Mayneto the
meeting by helicopter. Mayne spent part of the trip mulling overa message Haruhiku had received. The spaceship _Diamond Belt_ could beexpected to arrive in orbit about the planet later the same day, bearingspecial envoy J. P. McDonald. The captain, having been informed ofHaruhiku's presence, requested landing advice.

  "I told him what I know," said the pilot. "We can give him a beam down,of course, unless you think we should send him somewhere else."

  "Well ... let's see how this goes," said Mayne. "They seem to be waitingfor us down there."

  They landed to find Voorhis, Melin, and