abc | Page 8

he walked away. There could be no
possible shred of doubt--Rockford was insane!
The breeze shifted and the voice of Narf came:

"... Certainly no weapon for a timid man, this spread-beam blaster.
Have to meet the enemy man-to-man at close range."
"In that respect, too," Sonig said, "you remind me of our great General
Paluk. His skill in hand-to-hand combat was something that--"
"Rootenant--"
Hunter quivered and steeled himself.
"Rootenant--" Alonzo came to a flopping halt beside him. "I terr
Princess Ryra and she say I are bad to be mad at you. So I not mad,
even if you didn't give me my pay."
"Thank you," Hunter said acidly. "I was deeply disturbed by your
resentment."
"Oh, I know, you don't rike me. But I think you not as mean as you act.
But Rord Narf--he is. I terr you, he awready mad enough to kirr you."
"What? Lord Narf wants to kill me?"
"Oh, he know you hord Princess Ryra's hand awrmost awr the way
down the hirr this morning. Mr. Sonig, he see you, and he run and terr
Rord Narf and Mr. Boran, too."
"But I was only helping her down the hill."
"Rord Narf, he are going to say mean things about it to Princess Ryra,
too. I know. He are awrways saying mean things to my Princess Ryra."
Alonzo sighed, a sound strangely humanlike in its sadness.
"Who wirr watch over my Princess Ryra after she marry Rord Narf? He
said, 'The first thing to go around here wirr be that stupid
brabber-mouth animar that are not worth what it costs to feed it.' I think
maybe he are afraid that if he ever hit my Princess Ryra, I wirr kirr
him." The brown eyes looked up at Hunter, and suddenly they were
unlike he had ever seen them; cold with deliberate decision. "I wirr,

too."
* * * * * * * * *
Hunter was still standing by the cabin, thinking of what Alonzo had
said, when Rockford returned.
"I also stopped by to see Val Boran," Rockford said. "While you're off
with Lyla, we'll go to the city. Lyla is giving us free access to the Royal
Library and the records of a neutral world carry more weight than
anything I could say. Not that it's going to change his mind any--but it
will give me a chance to work on him in another way."
Rockford went into the cabin as Val Boran came up the path, Princess
Lyla walking beside him. She was saying, "... And anything we have in
the library is yours for the asking."
They were close enough for Hunter to see her expression as she looked
up at Val and added with what seemed a touch of wistfulness, "I'll be
glad to go in with you and Mr. Rockford and do what I can to help if
you want me to."
"Lyla"--it was the grating voice of Narf who seemed to have the ability
to materialize anywhere--"I'm sure the man knows his business.
Besides, I want to talk to you about something as soon as I have
finished my discussion with Mr. Sonig."
With that, Narf started on toward his cabin. Sonig, close behind him,
paused long enough to bow to Lyla and say with the meaningless smile,
"Good afternoon, Princess Lyla. Your husband was just demonstrating
his marvelous skill with weapons. I would very much dislike"--the little
eyes darted to Hunter and back again--"being the man who aroused his
lordship's wrath."
Then Sonig followed Narf, with one last flickering glance at Hunter to
see how the remark had fallen.
Rockford came out of the cabin with his brief case and said to Val,

"Are we ready to go?"
"I just told Val"--Lyla spoke quickly--"that I would be glad to go along
and help any way I can." The words were addressed to Rockford but
her eyes were on Val, with the same wistful expression. "Do you want
me to?"
Val answered her with cool, formal courtesy: "The librarian can find all
the records we will need, Princess Lyla, without our interrupting your
schedule for the day or your discussion with your husband. Thank you
very much."
For an instant Lyla's face had the hurt expression of a child rebuffed
without reason. Then she looked away and Val turned to Rockford and
said, "I'm ready when you are, sir."
Lyla watched them walk away and she was still watching when the
helicopter had lifted into the air and faded from sight.
Hunter hesitated, then spoke to her:
"I understand you want to talk more about the Space Guard, Princess
Lyla?"
"Princess Lyla!" Her lips curled as she turned to face him and she
seemed to spit the words at him in sudden, unexpected resentment. "I
love the meaningless