Chapter 5: And Throw Away the Key

"Good," said one of them.

"Morning," said the other.

I did a quick look between the two of them, and thought that if these are Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, then where is Alice? Phlad introduced us all to Morss, and Ndvr. I was surprised by the fact that he had correctly remembered all the names of our party.

"That's because he," said Ndvr.

"Is a politician," said Morss.

"Do you two," I asked, "always finish each others speeches?"

"No," replied Morss, "but it helps us,"

"Confuse a suspect, and enables," said Ndvr.

"Us to get at the truth," finished Morss.

"Now, you two," said Phlad, "you've teased Bill enough. How is the investigation going?"

"The bio-tech who reported the theft of the Sith virus has enabled us to determine who actually engineered the theft. That person has confirmed that the virus was taken out of the facility by Councillor Barst, but what he couldn't confirm was whether the Councillor was aware that he was doing so."

"So, what is your next step?"

"We need to interview Barst without him realising what we are doing."

"How will you do that?"

"We think that we could make use of Bill, here. Barst is due to attend the Charity ball tomorrow night at Keise College. We think that we could use Bill to distract Barst while we discover what he has done with the virus. Is that acceptable to you, Bill?"

"Yes, of course. All of us from Earth are ready, and willing to help."

Phlad showed us a recording of a previous ball which gave us an idea about the dances on this planet. They were almost all of the formal type where everyone on the dance floor were moving around in a synchronized fashion. Some of the dances looked similar to Scottish reels. The people were dressed for the most part in long flowing robes. I was glad that we had included our dress uniforms in our luggage. The remainder of the day was spent by most of our party practising some of the easier dances.

Meanwhile, Morss, and Ndvr were quizzing me on my crime-busting experiences. These were almost nil, and were limited to determining which students had plagiarized their course work, or were, perhaps, guilty of cheating in their end of term examinations.

Suddenly, I had a rapid dizzy spell, as though I had passed into another dimension. Then I found myself listening to their thoughts. It took me a few moments to realise that what I appeared to hear as a normal conversation, was not, and that their mouths weren't moving.

"Do you think that we can really make use of this primitive," thought Ndvr.

"Yes, at least he should worry Barst by his thoughts," thought back Morss.

During this exchange, they appeared to be contemplating what I had just explained to them.

Morss handed me a notebook, which, I discovered, contained a number of simple pictures.

"Select one of these pictures," Ndvr told me, "and study it. We shall question you about it in a few minutes. See if you can block your thoughts while you are doing so."

I selected a picture of what I took to be a performance of a ballet. At the same time, my mind thought back to a picture of a field of a growing crop of what looked like wheat. A few moments later, Morss reached for the notebook putting a finger in the page I had been studying. His face showed his astonishment as he looked at the open page. He showed the page to Ndvr who expressed his astonishment with a sharp intake of breath.

"What is the subject of the picture you looked at?" asked Ndvr.

"On my world, it would be a stage presentation using dance."

"How many dancers are there?" asked Morss.

"Eight."

"My, you sure," said Ndvr.

"had us fooled," finished Morss.

"How long can you keep masking," said Ndvr.

"Your thoughts like that?" said Morss.

"I don't know," I replied. "Perhaps this primitive could fool you for a little bit longer. I don't know. Telepathy is new to me."

They even blushed in unison.

"What am I thinking now?" asked Morss.

"That I might be just good enough to fool Councillor Barst."

"Very good," said Ndvr.

"I'm puzzled," I said. "I've never been telepathic, before. How is it happening to me, now?"

"It is not usual for a small child to have the gift. Something has to trigger it as they grow up. Its strength varies enormously. Some never get past the stage of sensing emotions. We have the gift to a much greater degree than most, but we believe that you may even outstrip us," Morss explained.

"Now let us get back to the subject in hand," said Ndvr. "We need to plan how we are going to get Barst to confess, and also to get him to reveal where the Sith machine can be found."

"Do many other races have telepathic abilities?"

"Very few," said Ndvr, "There's five in a total in the local federation of,"

"Five hundred, and seven planets," finished Morss.

"Then perhaps, I can get some information from Councillor Barst more readily without your help. Let me practice on say ... Gaft. What do you think?"

"That you are thinking,"

"Very creatively."

"I've just thought of something," I said. "What position does Barst hold on the Council?"

"He holds the position of,"

"the advisor on interplanetary health."

"I see. So that must mean that he knows about the different diseases that abound in the Federation?"

"Yes," they replied in unison.

"Right," I said, "I must discover something about the subject, so that I can converse intelligently with him. Who would teach me something about it, and keep it to himself."

"Have a word with,"

"Feloni, she trained,"

"as a doctor."

I was getting used to speaking with these two. It was like speaking with a single person whose voice was being switched between two loudspeakers. I got the impression that they were trying to shut me out of their minds. I thought that I might delve a little deeper into their private lives.

"Tell me, you two, what are the disease controls like in the federation?"

As I spoke, I found my mind wandering down a darkened corridor with labeled doors on either side. Entering one called Mina, I saw pictures of the twins with their girlfriends/wives. The pictures were titled Mina, and Sush, and they also looked like twins. Some of the pictures were very intimate, and I quickly withdrew from their minds.

"Again you should,"

"talk to Feloni."

"Why not to Mina, and Sush?"

"Because they are not doc..."

"Who told you,"

"about them?"

"Why, you two did. Are they twins, as well?"

Morss, and Ndvr looked blankly at each other for a moment.

Then Morss said, "We think that you will do a very good job on Barst. We did not feel you in our minds, and we are two of the strongest telepaths in the Federation. We will stay in the background at the ball, while you milk his mind, that is until you need us to arrest him."

"Mina, and Sush are our wives," added Ndvr, "and yes, they are twins."

That was when they left in silence, but gesturing as though they were deep in conversation. Feloni was a mine of information about diseases in the Federation. Sith has a lot in common with hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola. The difference being that the Sith virus keeps its victims alive for a much longer time as they die in exquisite agony.

At last, it was time for the ball. Phlad called up a bus for our party of twelve, and we were on our way. It was a fine night, and the lights shone out illuminating the building that housed the ball. The hosts greeted our party with genuine sounding interest. It can't be often that a brand new party from a pre-apprentice world attended a function on the capital planet of the local group.