knock the
_Lamia_ apart. The only question is, do we want to bother?"

By now, he had recovered from his surprise, but not from his
disappointment. If this fellow thought the _Nemesis_ was the
_Enterprise_--Before he could check himself, he had finished
the thought aloud.

"Then the _Enterprise_ didn't come here at all!"

The man in the screen started. "Isn't that the _Enterprise_ you're in?"

"Oh, no. Pardon my remissness, Captain Valkanhayn," Harkaman
apologized. "This is the _Nemesis_. The gentleman with me, Lord
Lucas Trask, is owner-aboard, for whom I am commanding. Lord Trask,
Captain Boake Valkanhayn, of the _Space Scourge_. Captain Valkanhayn
is a Space Viking." He said that as though expecting it to be
disputed. "So, I am told, is his associate, Captain Spasso, whose
ship is approaching. You mean to tell me that the _Enterprise_
hasn't been here?"

Valkanhayn was puzzled, slightly apprehensive.

"You mean the Duke of Wardshaven has two ships?"

"As far as I know, the Duke of Wardshaven hasn't any ships,"
Harkaman replied. "This ship is the property and private adventure
of Lord Trask. The _Enterprise_, for which we are looking, is owned
and commanded by one Andray Dunnan."

The man with the scarred face and hairy chest had picked up his cigar
and was puffing on it mechanically. Now he took it out of his mouth
as though he wondered how it had gotten there in the first place.

"But isn't the Duke of Wardshaven sending a ship here to establish
a base? That was what we'd heard. We heard you'd gone from Flamberge
to Gram to command for him."

"Where did you hear this? And when?"

"On Hoth. That'd be about two thousand hours ago; a Gilgamesher
brought the news from Xochitl."

"Well, considering it was fifth or sixth hand, your information was
good enough, when it was fresh. It was a year and a half old when
you got it, though. How long have you been here on Tanith?"

"About a thousand hours." Harkaman clucked sadly at that.

"Pity you wasted all that time. Well, it was nice talking to you,
Boake. Say hello to Garvan for me when he comes up."

"You mean you're not staying?" Valkanhayn was horrified, an odd
reaction for a man who had just been expecting a bitter battle
to drive them away. "You're just spacing right out again?"

Harkaman shrugged. "Do we want to waste time here, Lord Trask? The
_Enterprise_ has obviously gone somewhere else. She was still in
hyperspace when Captain Valkanhayn and h