Throy by Jack Vance Page A

also some talk about Namour. I think you said you wanted him captured and brought back to Cadwal. That’s the lot of it, or so I believe.”
    Bodwyn Wook blew out his cheeks. “Ha ahem. Your statement is accurate, in every detail. It is a pleasure to work with you, Commander Chilke!”
    Glawen said in a pained voice: “I am embarrassed to admit that I have a question or two.”
    “No matter,” said Bodwyn Wook in kindly tones. “Let us hear your question.”
    “What is officially known of Lewyn Barduys?”
    “Next to nothing. The IPCC has no file on him. He is quiet and unobtrusive, and travels without display, though in one respect he cannot avoid attracting attention. I refer to his companion and business associate Flitz. She is supremely eye-catching, though her personality is less than effusive. I have this on the authority of both Egon Tamm and Warden Ballinder.” Bodwyn Wook picked up the yellow paper and studied it for a moment. “Barduys seems to have no permanent address, though he is often to be found at one of his construction sites.
    “Now then: the question arises. Where did Lewyn Barduys first learn of Yip labor? Did Namour approach him at a construction site? Or did Barduys learn of the Yips on Rosalia where he is unlisted in the Rosalia Directory as a rancher? Our own first meeting with Barduys and Flitz is at Riverview House, where they were in company with Dame Clytie and Julian.
    “As to the sequence of events on Rosalia, we have no clues. I theorize that Namour first met Barduys and supplied him with Yip labor, then introduced him to Smonny – perhaps at Smonny’s insistence, when she found that Barduys controlled transport equipment. Smonny in turn introduced him to Dame Clytie. This is a reasonable sequence of events. In short, Rosalia becomes a primary are of investigation. Chilke, did you speak?”
    “Not really. I made a sick sound.”
    Bodwyn Wook leaned back in his chair. “The memory of your employment on Rosalia still disturbs you?”
    “Yes and no,” said Chilke frankly. “During the day I am never troubled. It is only at night that I wake up in a cold sweat. I cannot deny that the events made their impression. Do you care to hear the particulars?”
    “Yes, within limits imposed by brevity and pertinence.”
    Chilke nodded. “I won’t go too deeply into philosophical analysis, except to mention that I was never quite sure what was going on. It was as if the real and the unreal had somehow been mixed together, so that I was continually baffled.”
    “Ha hum,” said Bodwyn Wook. “Quite so. Your mental state was confused; we accept this. Please proceed.”
    “When Madame Zigonie hired me to supervise Shadow Valley Ranch, I thought that I had secured a high-class position, even though I did not care much for Madame Zigonie. I expected a good salary, prestige, a nice house with a staff of Yip maidens. I intended to spend a lot of time on the front porch, drinking rum punch and giving the staff orders about dinner and how I wanted my bed made. Disillusion came fast. I was assigned an old shack without hot water and no Yips whatever. The scenery was strange and wild, but I had no time to notice, since almost at once I became a nervous wreck. I had two principal concerns: how to get paid my salary and how not to marry Madame Zigonie. These were both real challenges and I had little time left for anything else. As for the rum punch, Madame Zigonie allowed me neither gin nor rum for fear I’d use them to bait the maidens.”
    “Your work was the supervision of indentured Yips?”
    “That is correct, as far as it goes. By and large I got along quite well with the help, although it took a week or so before we sorted out our priorities. After that, I had no complaints. I understood them; they understood me. While I was watching they would pretend to work. As soon as I went off for a nap, they did the same. Occasionally Namour showed up with new gangs from Yipton. By and large,