The Colors of Space

Without warning, Bart lost his temper.

"I don't care whether I prove it or not! You try proving something for

a change, why don't you? If you know Rupert Steele, I don't have to

prove who I am--just take a good look at me! Or so Briscoe told me--a

man who called himself Briscoe, anyway. He gave me papers to travel

under that name! I didn't ask for them, he shoved them into my hand.

That Briscoe is dead." Bart struck his fist hard on the desk, bending

over Raynor One angrily.

"He sent me to find a man named Raynor Three. But the only one I really

care about finding is my father. Now you know as much as I do, how about

giving me some information for a change?"

He ran out of breath and stood glaring down at Raynor One, fists

clenched. Raynor One got up and said, quick, savage and quiet, "Did

anyone see you come here?"

"Only the girl downstairs."

"How did you get through the Lhari? In that?" He moved his head at the

Mentorian cloak.

Bart explained briefly, and Raynor One shook his head.

"You were lucky," he said, "you could have been blinded. You must have

inherited flash-accommodation from the Mentorian side--Rupert Steele

didn't have it. I'll tell you this much," he added, sitting down again.

"In a manner of speaking, you're my boss. Eight Colors--it used to be

Alpha Transshipping--is what they call a middleman outfit. The

interplanet cargo lines transport from planet to planet within a

system--that's free competition--and the Lhari ships transport from star

to star--that's a monopoly all over the galaxy. The middleman outfits

arrange for orderly and businesslike liaison between the two. Rupert

Steele bought into this company, a long time ago, but he left it for me

to manage, until recently."

Raynor punched a button, said to the image of the glossy girl at the

desk, "Violet, get Three for me. You may have to send a message to the

Multiphase."

He swung round to Bart again. "You want a lot of explanations? Well,

you'll have to get 'em from somebody else. I don't know what this is all

about. I don't want to know: I have to do business with the Lhari. The

less I know, the less I'm apt to say to the wrong people. But I promised

Three that if you turned up, or if anyone came and asked for the Eighth

Color, I'd send you to him. That's all."

He motioned Bart ungraciously to a seat, and shut his mouth firmly, as

if he had already said too much. Bart sat. After a while he heard the

elevator again; the panel slid open and Raynor Three came into the room.