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who still stood around his chair. "It was understood that if the ship
died, you Albenareth would choose to die with her-all but one of
you, who'd pilot the liteship to safety, out of duty to save the few
humans that remained."
"Why did you agree to this second bomb, this further plan?"
demanded the emotionless voice of the Captain.
"I didn't. Neither did any of the others on the lifeship, but
one. That one identified herself when I first came to this dome
here. Biset."
"The female I just killed?" said the Captain.
Giles nodded.
"Biset admitted she'd planned to bring these others, and her-
self, with me to 20B-40 in the lifeship. By admitting that, she gave
herself away. The only way she could have been sure of doing what
she planned was if she set the second bomb herself-and made
sure it was a bomb large enough not only to destroy the ship, but
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to make sure no other arbites, except those she'd chosen back on
Earth, lived to escape. I'll bet if it'd been possible to examine your
ship before the bomb went off, we'd have found every lifeship but
the one we took was sabotaged, made unusable."
There was a long silence in the room. Finally, the Captain
spoke.
"How could she know that I"-the alien voice broke, unchar-
acteristically, then went on as unemotional as ever-"that you
would be able to take command of the vessel and bring it to
20B-40, rather than Belben?"
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"She didn't," said Giles. "She and her people were as ig-
norant as I was of Albenareth ways of thinking. It never occurred
to her, any more than it did to me, that you'd do anything but
head for the nearest safe planetfall, which was 20B-40. But when
you insisted on going on to Belben instead, even if we all arrived
dead, she was forced into using the joker in her deck-the one
person she'd included just in case there was some dirty work to
be done."
He turned his head to look at Esteven.
"She supplied you not only with tonk but with paper to take
with it, to begin with, didn't she?" Giles said. "Then she claimed
she was out of paper."
"And I believed heri" Esteven's face twisted. "I believed heri
That's why I went for the book."
"Yes," said Giles. He looked back at the Captain. "So now
you know, Rayumung."
"Yes," said the Albenareth. Her head lifted. "And now that I
know, I shall take back the child that is mine, and live. For I have
canceled my dishonor by slaying the one who slew my ship; and
there is also honor to be acquired in this thing you have given me,
called 'friendship,' as I shall explain it to others of my holy race."
"Yes," said Giles. "And when you've done that, there's an-
other word you can introduce them to. It's called 'cooperation'-
and it can mean human and Albenareth as shipmates working
vessels through space together."
The dark eyes glittered on him.
"You have done much, Adelman," said the Captain, grimly.
"Be warned. Do not try for too much, too soon."
The eyes were steady on Giles. Slowly, Giles nodded. "Per-
haps you're right," he said. "Good luck, anyway, Rayumung."
"The holy race does not proceed by luck," said the Captain.
"But by understanding of the Way, on which all things may
journey."
She turned away. But just before going she turned back.
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"All things but slaves." she said. "However, I find that I have
changed my thought about these others here." Her gaze swept over
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the arbites about Giles. "They have proved themselves not slaves
all save the one I have just slain. This, therefore, is the greater
message I carry to the Albenareth, and 'friendship* is the lesser.
For in truth, respect between us and you must come before all
other things."
She turned and went, erect, unyielding, stalking from their
presence with great and measured strides, like someone who now
saw her way clear to the uttermost reaches of eternity.
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