“Well, there are such possibilities, of course,” the counselor conceded. “However, I fail to understand then why you appear to be concerned about Mrs. Parlin’s reactions. If nothing comes of the matter, isn’t it quite unlikely that she’ll ever learn that somebody has inquired about you?”
“Ordinarily, it would be,” Gonwil said glumly. “But she and Rodel the Twelfth are due to arrive on Orado at almost any moment. I’d been expecting them the day after tomorrow, but Junior called an hour ago to say the schedule had changed, and they’d be here today. Malrue is bound to find out what happened, and, to put it mildly, she’s going to be extremely upset!”
“Yes, no doubt.” Miss Eulate hesitated, went on. “I dislike to tell you this, but it’s been decided that until a satisfactory explanation for the appearance of the two strangers at the consulate has been obtained, certain steps will have to be taken to insure your personal safety. You understand that the college has a contractual obligation to your guardians to see that no harm comes to you while you are a student.”
Gonwil looked at her, asked, “Meaning I’m restricted to the campus?”
“I’m afraid we’ll have to go a little further than that. We are assigning guards to see to it that no unauthorized persons enter bungalow 18-19, and I must instruct you not to leave it for the next day or two.”
“Oh, dear! And all because . . .” Gonwil shook her blonde head. “Cousin Malrue will have kittens when she hears that!”
The counselor looked surprised.
“But why should Mrs. Parlin have, uh, kittens?” she inquired. “Surely she will see that the college is acting only to keep you out of possible danger!”
“She simply won’t believe I’m not in danger here, Miss Eulate! When my guardians enrolled me at Pehanron, she didn’t at all like the idea of my coming to Orado by myself. That’s why the college has had to put up with that monster Chomir for the past two years! My guardians thought it would calm Malrue down if I kept one of the famous Askanam arena hounds around as a bodyguard. They sent all the way there to get one of the best.”
Miss Eulate nodded. “I see. I . . .” Her voice died in her throat.
Moving with ghostly quiet, Chomir had appeared suddenly in the doorway to the garden. He stood there, yellow eyes fixed on them.
“He heard me use his name and came to see if I’d called him,” Gonwil said apologetically. “I’ll send him back out till we’re finished.”
“No,” the counselor said with some firmness, “tell him to come in. I shouldn’t allow him to frighten me, and I know it. Now is as good a time as any to overcome that weakness!”
Gonwil looked pleased. “Come on in, boy!”
The Askanam came forward, moving lightly and easily in spite of his size. In the patch of sunlight from the door, an ivory brindle pattern was faintly visible in the short white hair of his hide, the massive cables of surface muscle shifting and sliding beneath it. Miss Eulate, for all her brave words just now, felt her mouth go parched. Ordinarily she liked dogs, and Chomir was a magnificent dog. But there were those stories about his breed—merciless killers developed by painstaking geneticists to perform in the bloody arenas of Askanam and to provide the ruling nobility of that colorful and tempestuous world with the most incorruptible and savage of guards. . . .
“I imagine,” the counselor observed uncomfortably, “that Chomir would, in fact, be an excellent protector for you if it became necessary.”
“No doubt about that,” Gonwil agreed. “And I very much hope it never becomes necessary. It would be a fearful mess! Have I told you what happened when they were going to teach him how to defend me?”
“No, you haven’t,” Miss Eulate acknowledged, wishing she hadn’t brought up the subject.
“It was just before I left for Orado. My guardians had hired an Askanam dog trainer. Chomir wasn’t much more than a pup then, but when they’re training arena dogs on Askanam, they don’t use human beings to simulate an attacker. They use special robots which look and move and smell like human beings.
“I found out why! They turned two of those poor machines loose on me, and Chomir shook both of them to pieces before I could shout, ‘Stop!’ The trainer told me that when he’s really clamping his jaws down on something, he slams on close to two thousand pounds of pressure.”
“Good heavens!” Miss Eulate said faintly.
“Anyway,” Gonwil went on, unaware of the effect she was creating, “everyone decided right then that one thing Chomir didn’t need was attack training!” She prodded the dog’s hard flank affectionately with a shoe tip. “Of course, he does have a terrific pedigree to account for it. His sire was a famous arena dog who killed thirty-two men and all kinds of fighting animals. He must have been a pretty horrible beast! And on his dam’s side . . .”
She broke off, having finally caught Miss Eulate’s expression, went on after a moment, “I don’t really mind so much being confined to quarters. But I’m hoping the mystery at the consulate will be solved before the Parlins arrive. There’s no possible way I could avoid seeing Malrue, and . . .”
She checked herself for the second time, added in a different tone, “That’s Junior calling again now!”
“Eh?” Miss Eulate asked. Then, following Gonwil’s gaze, she became aware of a faint, silvery tinkling from the table. A tiny, jewel-bright device stood there, out of which the sound evidently came. On closer inspection, it appeared to be a beautifully inlaid powder compact. Miss Eulate looked puzzledly back at the girl.
“A personalized communicator,” Gonwil explained wryly. “A gift from Junior which came in the mail this morning. He has the twin to it, and the only use for the set is that Junior and I can talk together wherever either of us happens to be on Orado.” She gave Miss Eulate a small smile, added, “Junior is very difficult to discourage!”
The miniature communicator stopped its tinkling for a few seconds, then began again. Gonwil still made no move towards it. Miss Eulate asked, “Aren’t you going to answer him?”
“No. If I don’t switch it on, he’ll think I’m not around.”
Miss Eulate sighed and arose.
“Well,” she said, “I should get back to the office. We’ll trust this has been as you feel, a false alarm. But until we’re quite certain of it, we must take whatever precautions seem indicated.”
Gonwil grimaced resignedly.
The counselor went on, “And since the Bank of Rienne is acting as your guardians on Orado, I’m also obliged to see to it that they are informed of the occurrence.”
At that, Gonwil’s face suddenly brightened.
“Miss Eulate,” she said, “when you make that call . . . and please make it at once . . . would you have it put through directly to Mr. Amberdon?”
“Why, yes, I can do that. But why specifically Mr. Amberdon?”
“He may be able to do something. Besides, Telzey’s gone to see him. She should be with him just about this time—and she can usually think of a way out of anything.”
“I’m quite aware of it,” Miss Eulate said, rather shortly. Privately she regarded Telzey, in spite of her unquestioned scholastic brilliance, as something of a college problem. She added, “Well, I’ll see what can be done.”
Chapter 5
There had been enough general activity during the past two hours to leave Telzey unaware, except for a fleeting moment now and then, that she had begun to feel some physical effects of having passed up the night’s sleep.
She couldn’t, she thought, have complained that her warning wasn’t taken seriously! Of course, the fact that Gonwil was a temporary ward of the bank would have required that it be given attention, even without the backing of the personal interest of Rienne’s executive officer and his daughter.
A query regarding the internal structure of the Tayun concern of Lodis Associates had gone to Transcluster Finance Central almost immediately after her call to Gilas, and she had barely arrived at the bank when a reply came back.
Transcluster’s records confirmed in every particular what she had gathered in casual talk with Gonwil from time to time and failed to give its proper significance. Lodis Associates basically had been set up in a manner which tended to leave control of the concern with the founding associates and their heirs. Shares could be sold only after being offered to all other associates at the original value. Since the original value had been approximately a twentieth of the present one, current sales to outsiders were in effect blocked. If a deceased associate left no natural heirs, his stock was distributed among the surviving associates in proportion to their holdings.