"It did! It was a leader!" Helen declared, furiously. "I shall have its life, too, the jealous cat—the blood-sucking, back-biting louse!"
"She's all of that, in more ways than you know," Clarrissa agreed, grimly, and spread in the Lyranian's mind the story of Eddie the derelict. "So you see that Cleonie has got to be our starting-point. Have you any idea of where we can find her?"
"I haven't seen or heard anything of Cleonie lately." Helen paused in thought. "If, though, as I am now practically certain, it was one of the prime movers behind this brainless brat Ladora, it wouldn't dare leave the planet for very long at a time. As to how to find it, I don't quite know. Anybody would be apt to shoot me on sight. Would you dare fly this funny plane of yours down close to a few of our cities?"
"Certainly. I don't know of anything around here that my screens and fields can't stop. Why?"
"Because I know of several places where Cleonie might be, and if I can get fairly close to them, I can find it in spite of anything it can do to hide itself from me. But I don't want to get you into too much trouble, and I don't want to get killed myself, either, now that you have rescued me—at least, until after I have killed Cleonie and Ladora."
"QX. What are we waiting for? Which way, Helen?"
"Back to the city first, for several reasons. Cleonie probably is not there, but we must make sure. Also, I want my guns—"
"Guns? No. DeLameters are better. I have several spares." In one fleeting mental contact Clarrissa taught the Lyranian all there was to know about DeLameters. And that feat impressed Helen even more than did the nature and power of the weapon.
"What a mind!" she exclaimed. "You didn't have any such equipment as that, the last time I saw you. Or were you ... no, you weren't hiding it."