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.But who had blown off the after-section of the pirate’s vessel? Had the Investigator arrived, spotted the pirate ship, and blasted it? If so, the Investigator must surely be at Shoulder now, so all Odis need do was wait until the storm lifted enough to get a message back there.He settled down to wait, keeping a weather eye on the approaching storm front.He had no intention of cutting it too close back to the safety of his own boat.So why was Murv hiding? Had those three space shots been hostile rather than for identification?The rain-laden wind began to keen in the darkening sky.Gouts of lightning spat through the bilious clouds.Warm air masses were moving in, Odis thought with pleasure.Storm is breaking up a little.Weather was capricious: a real mach-storm like this one, despite the pull of two moons and the conjunction of another planetary mass, could break up with a crustal shift up north.Murv was moving, not merely shifting position but moving forward, darting to cover as he worked his way back up the slope.The rising wind was bothering him, Odis decided, and followed him obliquely.A flash of a head beam and Odis saw that Murv was definitely searching among the hollows and crevices of the cliff.Odis climbed faster.He arrived in time to hear raised voices echoing in an argument.But the sounds were so diffuse and the rising wind so noisy that he could not pinpoint their location.Odis cursed softly under his breath as he jumped from crag to block, flashing his own beam in and out the darker hollows.The next thing he knew, Murv had emerged from a low ledge, his arms wrapped around a foam-cask.Since there was no chance for Murv to reach his hand weapon, Odis stunned him with a full charge, neatly catching the cube as Murv folded.Keeping one hand on the cube, Odis knelt and flashed his beam into the cavern.He caught sight of a dark lump that was a prostrate body.He turned it over and was reassured by a groan.Rain began to spray across his back as he crouched between the two unconscious forms.He could just leave them here; they’d both be out a while.No.He didn’t know where Murv’s boat was and he couldn’t permit the man to escape.Resigned, Odis settled down to wait.“I don’t know what you expected to find here,” Okker said, his seamed face flushed with anger, “but are you satisfied now?”“I really don’t understand, Investigator,” Tallav put in with understandable anxiety as he picked his way across the debris.“You certainly cannot have suspected Okker here, and he is absolutely the only one permitted in the Eye.”Brack was sweating from his exertions.He had pulled out every drawer, shelf, and movable fixture in the rock chamber, rapped on every inch of the rock walls, trying to find a hollow.He had moved his geiger counter over everything without a crackle for his pains.He didn’t mind alienating Tallav or the ancient, but he was furious over the fruitlessness of his search.He glanced at the two men, somehow now allied against him.That wouldn’t do.“This is the only installation known as the Eye on Welladay, isn’t it?” he demanded curtly.“What’s left of it,” Okker replied.“Unavoidable.I.I intercepted a message, obviously from the pirates, setting up a contact point.I caught only part of it due to the storm’s interference.Southern edge of the lagoon where the eye is centered.”Brack pointed to the lagoon harbor which the single big window of the harbormaster’s control room overlooked.“Your control room is on the southern edge of the lagoon.This place is called the Eye.What other eyes are there on this fladding planet?”Okker regarded him with a deep scowl, then slapped his thigh, and burst out into a cackle.“You sure you heard where, and not when?” He pointed an accusing finger at the Investigator as he danced about in an excess of amusement.“You fladding idiot, stop that!”“I believe I can answer you, Investigator,” Tallav said, his manner stiff as he waved Okker to be still.“Logical topical references are deceptive to a newcomer.” He smiled at the Investigator.“You see, this is not the only lagoon on Welladay
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