 CHAPTER XXIX Mantilish's garden in the highlands south of Sace had a certain renown all over the hub. It had been donated to the professor twenty-five years ago by the populace of another federation world. That populace had negligently permitted a hideous pestulence of some kind to be imported and had been saved in the nick of time by the appropriate pestulence killer hastily developed and forwarded to it by Mantilish. In return a lifetime ambition had been fulfilled for him, his own private botanical garden, plus an unlimited fund for stocking and upkeep. To one side of the big garden house where Mantilish stayed whenever he found the time to go puttering around among his specimens stood a giant sequoia, generally reputed to be the oldest living thing in the hub outside of the life-banks. It was certainly extremely old, even for a sequoia. For the last decade there had been considerable talk about the advisability of removing it before it collapsed and crushed the house and everyone in it, but it was one of the professor's great favourites and so far he had vetoed the suggestion. Elbow's prop on the broad white balustrade of the porch before her third-story bedroom Trigger was studying the sequoia's crown with a pair of field-glasses when Pilch arrived. She laid the glasses down and invited her guest to pull up a chair and help her admire the view. They admired the view for a little in silence. It certainly is a beautiful place, Pilch said then. She glanced down a professor Mantilish, a couple of hundred yards from the house, dressed in a pair of tanned shorts and busily grubbing away with a spade around some new sort of shrub he just planted and smiled. I took the first opportunity I've had to come see you, she said. Trigger looked at her and laughed. I thought you might. You weren't satisfied with the reports then? Pilch said, of course not. But it was obvious the emergency was over so I was whisk away to something else. She frowned slightly. Sometimes, she admitted, the service keeps me the least bit busier than I'd prefer to be. So now it's been six months. I would have come in for another interview if you'd called me, Trigger said. I know, said Pilch, but that would have made it official. I can keep this visit off the record. Her eyes met Triggers for a moment, and I have a feeling I will. Also, of course, I'm not pushing for any answers you mightn't care to give. Just push away, Trigger said agreeably. Well, we got the commissioner's call from his ship, a worried man he was, so it seems now that we've had one of the old galactics around for a while. When did you first find out about it? On the morning after our interview, right after I got up. How? Trigger laughed. I watched my weight. When I noticed I'd turned three and a half pounds heavier overnight than I'd averaged the past four years, I knew all right. Pilch smiled faintly. You weren't alarmed at all? I guess I'd been prepared just enough by that time. But then, you know, I forgot all about it again until Lyad and Flammed opened that purse, and he wasn't inside. Then I remembered, and after that I didn't forget again. No, of course. Pilch's slim fingers tapped the surface of the table between them. She said then, paying repulse of the highest compliment Pilch could give. Yes. He was a good therapist. After a moment she added, I had a talk with Commissioner Tate an hour or so ago. He's preparing to leave Macadone again, I understand. That's right. He's been organizing that big exploration trip of mantelishes the past couple of months. He'll be in charge of it when they take off. You're not going along? Pilch asked. Trigger shook her head. Not this time. Ape and I—Captain Quillen and I, that is. I heard, Pilch said. She smiled. You picked a good one on the second try. Quillen's all right, Trigger agreed, if you watch him a little. Anyway, said Pilch, Commissioner Tate seemed to be just the least bit worried about you still. Trigger put a finger to her temple and made a small circling motion. A bit ta ta? Not exactly that, perhaps. But it seems, said Pilch, that you've told him a great deal about the history of the old galactics, including what ended them as a race 32,000 years ago. Trigger's face clouded a little. Yes, she said. She sat silent for a moment. Well, I got that from repulsive somewhere along the line, she said then. It didn't really come clear until some time after we'd got back, but it was there on those pictures in the interview. The giant stamping on the farm? Trigger nodded. And the fast clock and the slow one? He was trying to tell it then. The jesters, that's the giants, they're fast and tough like us. Apparently, Trigger said thoughtfully, they're a good deal like us in a lot of ways, but worse, much worse. And the old galactics were just slow. They thought slow. They moved slow. They did almost everything slow. That full-gallop old repulsive couldn't have kept up with a healthy snail. Besides, they just liked to grow things and tinker with things and so on. They didn't go in for fighting and they never got to be at all good at it, so they just got wiped out practically. The jesters were good at fighting, eh? Trigger nodded. Very good. Like us again. Where did they come from? Repulsive thought they were outsiders. He wasn't sure. He and that other OG were on the sidelines, running their protein collecting station, when the jesters arrived and it was all over and they were gone before he had learned much about it. From outside the galaxy, Pilch said thoughtfully. She cleared her throat. What's this business about they might be back again? Well, Trigger said, he thought they might be, just might. Actually, he believed the jesters got wiped out too. Eh? Pilch said. How's that? Quite a lot of the old galactics went along with them, like repulsive went along with me. And one of the things they did know, Trigger said, was how to spread diseases like nobody's business. About like we use weed killers, wholesale. They could clean out the average planet of any particular thing they didn't want there in about a week. So it's not really too likely the jesters will be back. Ah, said Pilch. But if they are coming, repulsive thought they'd be due in this area in about another eight centuries. That looked like a very short time to him, of course. He thought it would be best to pass on a warning. You know, Pilch said after a brief pause. I find myself agreeing with him there, Trigger. I might turn in a short report on this after all. I think you should really, Trigger said. She smiled suddenly. Of course, it might wind up with people thinking both of us are ta-ta. All risk that, said Pilch. It's been thought of me before. If they did come, Trigger said, I guess we'd take them anyway. We've taken everything else like that that came along. And besides—her voice trailed off thoughtfully—she studied the tabletop for a moment, then she looked up at Pilch. Well, she said, smiling. Any other questions? A few, said Pilch, passing up the and the sides. She considered. Did you ever actually see him make contact with you? No, Trigger said. I was always asleep, and I suppose he made sure I'd stay asleep. They're built sort of like a leech, you know. I guess he knew I wouldn't feel comfortable about having something like that go oozing into the side of my neck or start oozing out again. Anyway, he never did let me see it. Consider it, little fellow, said Pilch. She sighed. Well, everything came out very satisfactorily, much more so than anyone could have dared hope at one time. All that's left is a very intriguing mystery which the hub will be chatting about for years. What happened aboard Dr. Fail's vanishing ship that caused the King Plasmoid to awaken to awful life, she cried? What equally mysterious event brought about its death on that strangely hideous structure it had built in subspace? What was it planning to do there, etc.? She smiled at Trigger. Yes, very good. I saw they camouflaged out what was still visible of the original substation before they let in the news-viewer, as Trigger remarked. Bright idea somebody had there. Yes, it was I. And the DeVegas hierarchy is broken, and the airmentines run out of trannist. Two very bad spots, those were. I don't recall having heard what they did to your friend Pooley. I heard, Trigger said. He just got blacklisted by Grand Commerce finally and lost all his shipping concessions. However, his daughter is married to an up-and-coming young businessman who happened to be on hand and have the money and other qualifications to pick up those concessions. She laughed. It's the Inger lines now. They're smart characters, in a way. Yes, had Pilch in a way. Did you know Liat Ermentine put in for a voluntary rehabilitation with us, and then changed her mind and joined the service? I'd heard of it, Trigger hesitated. Did you know Liat paid me a short visit about an hour before you got here this morning? I thought she would, Pilch said. We came into Macadone together. Trigger had been a little startled when she answered the door-trium and saw Liat standing there. She invited the Ermentine in. I thought I'd thank you personally, Liat said casually, for a recording which was delivered to me some months ago. That's quite all right, Trigger said also casually. I was sure I wasn't going to have any use for it. Liat studied her face for a moment. To be honest about it, Trigger R.G., she said, I still don't feel entirely cordial toward you. However, I did appreciate the gesture of letting me have the recording. So I decided to drop by to tell you there isn't really too much left in the way of hard feelings on my part. She shook hands restrainedly and the Ermentine sauntered out again. The other reason she came here, Pilch said, is to take care of the financing of Mantelish's expedition. I didn't know that, Trigger said surprised. It's her way of making amends. Her legitimate hub-holdings are still enormous, of course. She can afford it. Well, Trigger said, that's one thing about Liat. She's wholehearted. She's that, said Pilch. Rarely have I seen anyone rip into total therapy with a verve displayed by the Ermentine. She mentioned on one occasion that there simply had to be some way of getting ahead of you again. Oh, said Trigger. Yes, said Pilch. By the way, what are your own plans nowadays aside from getting married? Trigger stretched slim tanned arms over her head and grinned. No immediate plans, she said. I've resigned from pre-call, got a couple of checks from the Federation, one to cover my expenses on that plasmoid business, that was the Dawn City Fair mainly, and the other for the five week special duty they figured I was on for them. So I'm up to five thousand crowns again, and I thought I'd just loaf around and sort of think things over till Quillin gets back from his current assignment. I see. When is Major Quillin returning? In about a month. It's Captain Quillin at present, by the way. Oh, said Pilch. What happened? That unwarranted interference with a political situation business. They'd broadcast a warning against taking individual action of any kind against the plasmoid station, but when he got there and heard the commissioner was in a kind of coma, and I wasn't even on board, he lost his head and came charging into the station after me, flinging grenades and so on around. The plasmoids would have finished him off pretty quick, except most of them had started slowing down as soon as repulsive turned off the main one. The lunatic was lucky the termites didn't get to him before he even reached the station. Pilch said, termites? Trigger told her about the termites. Ah, said Pilch. I hadn't heard about those. So they broke him for that. It hardly seems right. Well, you have to have discipline, Trigger said tolerantly. Apes a bit short on that end, anyway. They'll be upgrading him again fairly soon, I imagine. I might just be going into space scout intelligence myself, by the way. They said they'd be glad to have me. Not at all, incidentally, remarked Pilch. My service also would be glad to have you. Would they? Trigger looked at her thoughtfully. That includes that total therapy process, doesn't it? Usually, said Pilch. Well, I might some day, but not just yet. She smiled. Let's let Laiad get a head start. Actually it's just I've found out there are so many interesting things going on all around that I'd like to look them over a bit before I go charging seriously into a career again. She reached across the table and tapped Pilch's wrist. And I'll show you one interesting thing that's going on right here. Take Mantelish's big tree out there. The sequoia? Yes. Now, just last year it was looking so bad they almost talked the professor into having it taken away, hardly a green branch left on it. Pilch shaded her eyes and looked at the sequoia's crown far above them. It looks, she observed refractively, in fairly good shape at the moment I'd say. Yes, and it's getting greener every week. Mantelish brags about a new solvent he's been dozing its roots with. You see that great big branch, like an L termed upward, just a little above the center? Pilch looked again. Yes, she said after a moment. I think so. Just before the L turns upward, there's a little cluster of green branches, Trigger said. I see those, yes. Trigger picked up the field glasses and handed them to her. Get those little branches in the glasses, she said. Pilch said presently, got them. Trigger stood up and faced up to the sequoia. She cupped her hands to her mouth, took a deep breath, and yelled, Yoo-hoo! Repulsive! Down in the garden, Mantelish straightened and looked about angrily. Then he saw Trigger and smiled. Yoo-hoo, yourself, Trigger! He shouted, and turned back to his spading. Trigger watched Pilch's face from the side. She saw her give a sudden start. Great galaxies, Pilch breathed. She kept on looking. That's one for the book, isn't it? Finally she put the glasses down. She appeared somewhat stunned. He really is a little green man. Only when he's trying to be. It's a sort of sign of friendliness. What's he doing up there? He moved over into the sequoia right after we got back, Trigger said. And that's where he'll probably stay indefinitely now. It's just the right kind of place for repulsive. Have you been doing any more, well, talking? No. You strenuous both ways. Until a few days before we got back here there wasn't even a sign from him. He just about knocked himself out on that big plasmoid. Who else knows about this, asked Pilch? Nobody. I would have told Holate, except he's still mad enough about having been put into a coma. He might go out and chop the sequoia down. Well, it won't go into the report, then, said Pilch. They just want to bother repulsive. I knew it would be all right to tell you. And here's something else very interesting that's going on at present. What's that? The real hush-hush reason for Mantelish's expedition, Trigger explained, is, of course, to scout around this whole area of space with planetary plasmoid detectors. They don't want anybody stumbling on another setup like Harvest Moon and accidentally activating another king plasmoid. Yes, Pilch said, I'd heard that. It was Mantelish's idea, said Trigger. Now Mantelish is very fond of that sequoia tree. He's got a big, comfortable bench right among its roots where he likes to sit down around noon and have a little nap when he's out here. Oh, said Pilch. Repulsive's been up to his old trick, say. Sure, he's given Mantelish very exact instructions, so they're going to find one of those setups all right, and they won't come back with any plasmoids, but they will come back with something they don't know about. Pilch looked at her for a moment. You say it. Trigger's grin widened. A little green woman, she said. End of Chapter 29. End of Legacy by James Schmitz