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exactly. The harvest will be val-uable to us, and thus to you. When next we
visit Paradise, we will bring luxuries and necessities. You need have no
concern, provided that you have grown what we require and are prepared to
furnish it to us.
Of course you must understand that if you have nothing to sell us, we will
have nothing to sell to you.
We wish you great success.
The screen went blank. Then a human face ap-peared.
The man was not as dark as Agzaral, and his eyes were lighter in color, but
there was a faint re-semblance to Agzaral even so. His voice had no ac-cent at
all. You
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can call me Les, he said. I m the pilot. I ll try to answer questions.
Take us back! Warner shouted. You have no right to change our contract! We
enlisted under specified conditions and you have changed them. We quit!
The pilot laughed. You ll do it on Tran, then. I don t think anybody ever
jumped ship in phase drive before, but you re welcome to try. Unfortu-nately,
there s no known way you can report to us on what happens. Telepathy? Are you
telepathic?
That s enough, Warner, Rick said. Elliot, sit on him if that s what it
takes.
Sir. Sergeant Elliot grinned. This was the first thing he d completely
understood since they left the Moon, and he was eager to be useful.
Equipment, Rick said. We don t have what we need we don t even know what we
need.
Yeah, that s too bad, Les said. Karreeel is very sorry about that. You see,
we got word that a ship-load of government people had just come out of phase
drive and was about to make a visit. That would have delayed your trip for
months, maybe longer. Might have canceled it entirely. This ship is under
charter to
Karreeel s trading company, and you wouldn t believe what it would have cost
to have it sit idle all that time.
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But we don t know what to do when we get there, Rick protested.
You ll get all the information you need, Les said. Well, all we have,
anyway.
Look, this has all been done before. You ll manage.
This is absurd, André Parsons said. How do you expect us to establish
control of an area and raise crops with almost no equipment and very little
ammunition?
Don t know, the pilot said. But you d better try. Karreeel will keep his
part of the bargain, but he won t trade with you if you ve got nothing to
trade.
But it makes so little sense, Parsons said. If they wish this crop, why
send us with inadequate gear?
Well, it s too bad, Les said. But his outfit can afford the loss. What they
couldn t afford was the time they d lose if you were still around when the
Commission people arrived. You wouldn t have liked that much either. Hearings,
committee meet-ings, more hearings, and all the time they d insist they were
interested only in what was best for you.
Can t you explain some of this? Rick asked. Somehow you people don t act
the way we always thought an interstellar civilization would
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The pilot laughed. I ve read some of your specu-lations. Why did you think
we d be so different from you? Or that we d treat Earth any different from the
way the
English treated India? Excuse me, I ve got work to do. Among other things, I
have to translate all this stuff.
Can t a computer do that? Rick asked. Yeah, but it s not as easy as you
think.
Have to set up the right programs for it. I ll be back. The screen went blank
again.
André Parsons looked thoughtful. What was it that the East India Company
called native sol-diers?
Sepoys, Rick said.
Parsons nodded. Sepoys. Well, now we know our status.
3
The computer control system was complex, but eventually Gwen was able to use
it for simple tasks, such as calling up pictures and documents. A good thing,
too, she told herself. Otherwise she d be bored to distraction.
Not with Les, of course. He was attentive and kind. He spent hours preparing
dinners to be served in a romantic setting, with exotic music from a dozen
worlds, wines and liqueurs from as many more, so that their evenings and
nights! were more excit-ing than anything she could imagine.
But that was a few hours a day. You can spend only so much of your time being
charmed. Or in bed, she told herself. Les had his work; he was translat-ing
documents for the mercenaries. That left her with mornings and afternoons
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