Star quest

ruddy cheeks, and a nose like a beacon.
    "Aye," he said, reverting to the speech pattern he knew was Basa II's own.
    "Where were ye when the town itself vanished?"
    "Coming home. Aye, coming home I was. I got here and seen there was nothing." He hoped they didn't ask where it was he had been coming from.
    The captain ordered the entry ramp lowered, smiled down at him. In a moment, it clanked upon the dock, sending a booming echo the length of the wharf. "C'mon aboard, then."
    He walked up to the gangplank, still exhausted, and stepped onto the deck. The captain was standing there with the crew behind as if seeking protection. He had no legs. A single limb of metal welded the stumps of his legs together well above the knee and ended in a floating ball which rolled about, taking him where-ever he wished. He rolled over to Tohm, conscious of the appearance he made, and liking it "Ye look o' the upper class."
    He thought quickly. "My father deals in concubines."
    "Really now," the captain said, his eyes twinkling.
    "What happened to the city?" Tohm asked, looking about uneasily. He was determined to find out as much as possible before someone asked a telling question and his disguise was revealed. It was difficult to tread knowledgeably on the ground of a world you knew the customs of but not the basic concepts behind them.
    Triggy Gop was indeed a prophet. He was going to have to grasp a better basis of understanding.
    "Ye haven't figured it out yet?" the captain asked.
    The men behind him grumbled.
    "I… I've been away—"
    "An awfully long time and awful far away if ye can't figger it out. The Muties, man! The Muties! Fooling around with the Fringe agin."
    "I should o' known," he said, still totally in the dark.
    "Ya. Ya, all trouble comes from them. But we are in luck! They didn't exchange it. They couldn't hold the Mollycools apart long enough. They didn't exchange it-only managed to move it."
    "Move it?"
    "Ya. We got a report from the capital radio and defense system. We first thought it was the end; one minute there was a city, the next—poof! But then our communications boy picked her up. The Muties set her down eight hundred miles farther up the coast."
    Tohm shook his head in disgust, as he felt he was expected to.
    "Be an improvement, actchilly," the captain said, rolling closer. "More moderate climate up there. The name's Hazabob. Captain Hazabob." He offered a weathered hand.
    Tohm shook it. "Could ye use a crewman? I'll work my way up to the city."
    Hazabob looked around to his men. Tohm thought the old bird winked. "I'll tell ye what I'll do, Tohm, my lx)y," he said, throwing a fatherly arm about Tohm's shoulder. There was a smell of dead fish and perspiration. "I don't need a crewman. Ye'd be in the way, ye would. But I’ll take ye along anyway."
    "Well thanks," Tohm said, grinning, his sunny hair windblown over his forehead.
    "I'll take ye, think nothin' o' it. And while ye's talkin' about the city—" He turned and openly winked at his men this time. A few of them winked back, grinned. "While ye's talkin' about the city, perhaps I should say we'd like ye to persuade yer father to reward us, if ye knows what I mean."
    Tohm looked blank.
    "With a conkeebine o' our own, ye ninny!" Hazabob roared.
    Tohm swallowed. "Certainly. My father always has a broad selection o' women. Ye may have yer pick."
    "Heh, heh," Hazabob wheezed. "Fine. Fine indeed. The ship is yers to explore. Just stay out o' the cargo hold, cause we got a load o' delicate spices there. Yer breath might contaminate them if ye have a cold or something."
    "Sure. O' course."
    Hazabob snapped two brittle fingers together. "Jake, show Mr. Tohm to his cabin. Be quick about it!"
    Jake lumbered forth, a seven foot, three hundred pound giant. "Sure, Cap. This way, Mr. Tohm."
    Tohm followed the man, listening to the faint rumble as the captain rolled away to see about the launching of the ship. He would have to make his getaway quickly when they reached the capital. These men wouldn't show any mercy to an impostor, especially one who promised them a concubine and then reneged.
    "This is the guest room," Jake said, shoving the door open.
    Tohm peered in. There was little luxury to the place. It was strictly utilitarian. The commode and shower were unconcealed. The bed was bolted to the wall, a wilted foam mattress and ratty woolen blanket draped across the springs. Springs, Tohm thought, which were probably broken and bent. But it was a way to the