The Gripping Hand

"Pattern recorded. Subject unknown," the box said.

The Marine touched buttons on his console. A door swung open to reveal a small antechamber that looked much like an airlock. As Re

The i

Ruth Cohen held herself stiffly. She set her recorder on the table and wiped her palms on her skirt. Re

"Maybe I don't interview captains all that often."

Re

"What?"

"You'll have di

"Captain..."

"What are they going to do, fire me?" Re

"Suppose I refuse?"

Re

"Oh." She smiled enchantingly. "In that case, I'd be delighted to have di

"Hot damn! How do you feel about-"

"I won't touch crottled greeps. Why is it everyone who's seen a crottled greep wants to watch someone else coping? Captain, does it strike you that you and I shouldn't be seen together very much?"

"You're right," Re

"So I guess that's that." She sat at the table. "Ready? Okay. Recorder's on." She dictated date and time. "Report of Kevin Re

Re

"Two days after we arrived there was an attempt to kidnap me-"

Ruth Cohen involuntarily drew in a deep breath.

Re

"...healthy greep. Look how it shimmies.' Commander, if you keep laughing in the middle I'll never get done."

"That's not fair!"

"Sure it is." Re

"Mormons," Ruth Cohen said. "Three of them, It's hard to believe they're ordinary robbers."

"Yeah, I noticed that," Re

"General conclusions?" Ruth prompted.

"Of my own, none, but His Excellency Horace Bury believes there may be Moties loose in the Purchase system. I do not. I think the Outies are back."

Ruth nodded grimly. "I don't think I believe in Moties either," she said. "But the regulations are clear enough. This interview gets off to Sector Headquarters soonest. Discussion?"

"Bury's paranoid," Re

"Captain, this report will go directly to Sector Headquarters. They may not know about you and His Excellency."

Re

"He... um. He committed acts which put him afoul of Empire law, details classified, twenty-six years ago. We had both visited Mote Prime as part of the official expedition. I was just getting out of the Navy, having served as Sailing Master of the INSS battle cruiser MacArthur of ill fame."

"The only ship ever destroyed by aliens," she remembered.

"Other than blockade battles," Re

"Why Outies? Vengeance? Outies gored his ox?"

Re

Ruth Cohen looked puzzled. She glanced at the recorders. Captain, if the Moties did break out, would they be that big a threat?"

"I don't know," Re

"Example. They'd never heard of the Langston Field when we arrived at Mote Prime, and before we left their system they'd made improvements we never thought of! Another example: the magic coffeepot we got off MacArthur. By now that technology is all over the Empire, even here. I'm sure some variant of the coffeepot is used to get the alcohol out of the sake I was drinking night before last."

"Thank you. Have you other observations?"

"Yeah. My own plans. Bury's paranoia can be useful sometimes, but I don't like seeing him so nervous. He might do something hasty. Anyway, I trust he'll be busting his arse to find what he thinks are Moties. That leaves me free to track Outies, if that's what we're facing. I want to show Bury that the Moties are still safely bottled up.

"We can't trust anyone but Bury's people, so we don't have any troops. Can't use the local cops. But there are some... mmm, avenues. Where has Captain Fox been sending his cargo pods? Is there an Outie base in the asteroids? Why the peculiar flow of money? Imperial Autonetics is constantly being picked at by embezzlers. Robbing a corporation, it's like robbing a machine, for some people. Here, it doesn't look like anyone's being robbed,"

She was smiling again. "Is that bad?"

"Well ... it's odd. Something is hidden but nobody's being robbed."

"What will you do?"

"I'll do Re

She was looking at him, frowning. Alone?"