“Yes. Another small mystery resolved. Then you were hired in the hospital, too?”
“Correct. Ted here said that if I was that concerned about the way things were going, I might as well save some wasted motion and get paid for it, too. On the books, though, I am an XT-mineralogist.”
“It seems to me,” I said, addressing all of them, “that my being brought here tonight represents more than the mere avoidance of a couple of thugs. I would guess that you have something else in mind, only just beginning with the telepathic probe.”
“Nor would you be incorrect,” said Ragma. “However, since it is all contingent on the results of the analysis, it would be an exercise in redundancy to detail the various hypotheses which may have to be discarded.”
“In other words, you are not going to tell me?”
“That pretty well sums it up.”
Before I could submit my resignation or comment on any of a number of likely subjects that had occurred to me, I was distracted by a movement from across the room. Doctor M’mrm’mlrr was stirring again.
We all watched as he raised his snaky appendages and began his setting-up exercises. Stretch, relax … Stretch, relax …
Two or three minutes of this-it was kind of hypnotic-and I realized that he was stalking me again, only with a much greater delicacy than he had previously employed.
I felt the touch again, within my head, as an unnatural stirring beneath my basal thoughts. Only this time there was no accompanying pain. It was just a sort of dizzy feeling and a sense of process not unlike the awareness of something being done under a local anesthetic. I guess that the others had somehow been made aware of this also, for they maintained their positions and their silence.
All right. If M’mrm’mlrr was going to be a little more civilized about it, he could have my cooperation, I decided.
So I sat there and let him rummage about.
Then, quite abruptly, he must have come across the big switchboard somewhere down there and pulled a plug, because I blacked out, instantly and without pain. Blink.
Blink again.
Weary, thirsty and with a feeling of having been broken down and reconstituted incorrectly, I raised my hand to rub my eyes and glimpsed the face of my watch as I did so. Then I swung it up and listened for ticks. As I already suspected, it was still tossing them off. Ergo …
“Yes, about three hours,” said Ragma.
I heard Paul snore, snort short, cough and sigh. He had been dozing in the armchair. Ragma was sprawled on the floor, smoking. M’mrm’mlrr was still upright and stirring. Nadler was nowhere in sight.
I stretched, unkinking muscle after muscle, hearing my frame creak like a floor that has been walked on overmuch.
“Well, I hope that you learned something useful,” I said.
“Yes, I would say that we have,” Ragma replied. “How do you feel?”
“Wrung out.”
“Understandable. Yes. Very. You were something of a battleground for a while there.”
“Tell me about it.”
“To begin with,” he said, “we have located the starstone.”
“Then you were right? Everyone was? I had the knowledge-somewhere?”
“Yes. The memory should even be accessible now. Want to try for it yourself? A party. A broken glass. The desk … ”
“Wait a minute. Let me think.”
I thought. And it was there. The last time that I had seen the star-stone …
It was the bachelor party I had given for Hal the week before his wedding. The apartment was crowded with our friends, the booze flowed, we made a lot of noise. It went on till around two or three in the morning. All in all I would have to say that it was an effective party. At least, it seemed that everyone went home laughing and there were no injuries.
Except for one small accident of my own.
Yes. A glass was elbowed off a side table, shattered. It was empty, though. Nothing to mop up. And it was right near the end of things. People were saying good night, leaving. So I left the pieces where they had fallen. Later. Manana maybe.