"No. I guess I'd been prepared just enough by that time. But then, you know, I forgot all about it again until Lyad and Flam opened that purse—and he wasn't inside. Then I remembered, and after that I didn't forget again."
"No. Of course." Pilch's slim fingers tapped the surface of the table between them. She said then, paying Repulsive the highest compliment Pilch could give, "It—he—was a good therapist!" After a moment, she added. "I had a talk with Commissioner Tate an hour or so ago. He's preparing to leave Maccadon again, I understand."
"That's right. He's been organizing that big exploration trip of Mantelish's the past couple of months. He'll be in charge of it when they take off."
"You're not going along?" Pilch asked.
Trigger shook her head. "Not this time. Ape and I—Captain Quillan and I, that is—"
"I heard," Pilch said. She smiled. "You picked a good one on the second try!"
"Quillan's all right," Trigger agreed. "If you watch him a little."
"Anyway," said Pilch, "Commissioner Tate seems to be just the least bit worried about you still."
Trigger put a finger to her temple and made a small circling motion. "A bit ta-ta?"
"Not exactly that, perhaps. But it seems," said Pilch, "that you've told him a good deal about the history of the Old Galactics, including what ended them as a race thirty-two thousand years ago."