I'm not sure I can help you," Don Simpson slowly shook his head. "I don't know this person, nor have I ever seen him."

       "Anything you can tell us will be helpful," Gerrold Duncan replied.

       "There is another person who wears that same robe," Don scratched his head idly as he studied the picture. "He's about as close to a leader as you'll find around here, I s'pose." he rubbed his chin. "If anyone knows anything about this person, I'm pretty sure he will."

        "Okay," Duncan smiled patiently. "And where can I find him?"

        "He lives in the big stronghold about 2 kilometers outside the city. He maintains an office of sorts on the ground level. You can usually catch him there early in the morning. It's late afternoon there now. He will be in the city having supper."

       "We can't wait till morning," Duncan said, shaking his head and looking down. "It really is a matter of life and death."

       "We can ask the guards," Simpson frowned in thought. "At the city gate. They're usually friendly and helpful. We can ask them if they know where Amok is. He wears the very same robe as the person you're looking for."

       Gerrold stood. "Thank you very much. I have a dozen people scouring that city right now."

       "That may be," Simpson shrugged. "But, if he doesn't want to be found, he won't be. I'd wager a months supplies he knows you're here already. There little that goes on around here that he doesn't know about."

       "Good to know," Gerrold nodded. "What else can you tell me?"

       "they have been very kind and generous to us," Gerrold looked towards the window. "they helped us to be self sufficient much faster than we could have on our own. I would not like that relationship changed."

       "That depends on them," Gerrold stated in a neutral tone. "We want our ship back. There are over 10,000 people on board."

       Simpson eyed Duncan warily. "The Galactic Council has no jurisdiction here. These people might look like us, but I can assure you, they are most definitely not us. If you and your men start trouble..."

       "I have no intentions of starting a fight in the city," Duncan cut him off smoothly. "But if he refuses to help us, I am under orders to arrest him and drag him before the Council."

        "If the guy you're looking for is anything like Amok," Simpson looked skeptical, "I wish you the best of luck. You're going to need it."

        "So what can you tell me about this Amok?" Gerrold fiddled with his Data Access Point.

       "I don't think he's what you would call a very serious minded person," Simpson shook his head once and tried not to smile. "It can take a while to get a straight answer out of him sometimes."

      "You know him?" Gerrold looked up.

       "Oh yes," Simpson nodded. "He come here a couple times a month to visit us."

       "Will you come with me?" Gerrold sat forward. "The Company would look most favorably when calculating your next shipment of supplies. And a little something for you, perhaps?"

       "We're not getting supplies from your company any longer," Simpson replied stiffly. "We're doing fine. But, I would like to go. It should be interesting to see what he says about this."

                              .......................................................................................................

 

       Later that evening, Simpson and Duncan exited Duncan's shuttle and made their way towards the city gate.

       "We're in luck, "Simpson said in a low voice before raising it to one of the guards. "Garlak! I thought that was you."

       "Hello Don," the tall guard leaned on a spear. "What brings you so far this late? You told me you were a morning person."

        "We're looking for someone," Simpson replied. "Maybe you can help us."

       Duncan fumbled quickly for his DAP and handed it to Garlak. "Do you know this guy?"

       Garlak looked at the DAP for the barest moment before handing it back with an amused expression. "Oh, yes. That's Enderheim. "Why? What did he do now?"

       "We need to speak with him as soon as possible," Simpson tried not to wring his hands. "It's a matter of some urgency."

       "He's probably with Amok," Garlak nodded towards the interior of the city. "You'll find him at the Inn at the end of this street. It's a big, grey, two story. You can't miss it.

       It took them nearly half an hour to walk the distance. Duncan had only seen a brief description of the city, and he quickly saw that it was much larger that he thought. He made sure to take good clean sweeps of everything he saw. His implant was sending the images back to his superiors.

        It was getting dark, and streetlamps began to glow. Gerrold noted the muted, golden colors, different from the soft yellows and whites of their own towns and cities.

       The door to the Inn stood open and the pair walked inside.

       The interior looked just like any number of Inns on any world. Gerrold wondered at that for a moment. Just how long had this city been here?

        Simpson was looking towards the back. "There he is," he said above the murmurs of the patrons. "The guy you're looking for is sitting next to him."

        As they treaded their way through the smoky room, Dunc reached a casual hand to his lapel. "Target acquired," he whispered and pretended to cough slightly against the smoke.

       Both men wore the same brownish/gold robes, resembling monks of ancient times. Amok was the shorter of the two men, and had short brown hair. He had dark grey eyes and tanned smooth skin. Duncan judged him at around 30 years old, give or take a year.

       Enderheim was taller, had jet black hair and piercing blue eyes. His skin was pale, and he wore a perpetual half smile on his face, somewhere between amusement and a sneer. He looked the same age as Amok.

       "Well, look what the Gnomes ragged in," Amok's rich voice was full of humor. He indicated for them to sit with an expansive wave. "What brings you all this way?"

       "This is Gerrold Duncan," Simpson nodded towards his companion. "He came to me this morning. I just want to say that I knew nothing about any of this. If I had, I would have told you sooner. As it is I brought this to your attention as fast as I could."

        Duncan glanced over at Simpson angrily. What was he doing?

        "Well, I appreciate that," Amok said mildly, nodding. He smiled. "Brought what, exactly, to my attention?"

       "This," Duncan handed Amok his DAP, activating the video log of the last moments of the Archon.

       Enderheim leaned over and watched the DAP with Amok. 

       Amok looked over at Enderheim with an annoyed expression," What did we agree about playing with the Humans?"

       "We didn't actually agree to anything if I recall," Enderheim drawled. "Besides, I wasn't playing." he looked at Duncan with suddenly hard eyes. "They're lucky that's all I did."

       "Did you recharge the Gate?" Amok was scowling. Genred is coming to get it any day now."

       "No, Enderheim shrugged his shoulders slightly. "After the party and all, I guess the whole thing just sort of slipped my mind." he took a sip from his flagon.

        "Well, I'm not recharging it," Amok said in a stubborn voice. "You use it, you leave it recharged. That we have agreed on."

        "Okay, okay, "Enderheim rolled his eyes. "I'll start recharging  it first thing in the morning."

        "Excuse me, "Duncan felt his temper rising, "Stranding 10,000 people billions of light-years from home just slipped your mind?"

        "Yeah,"  Enderheim looked sheepish.

        Amok shook his head disgustedly, "Why would you do such a thing?"

        "Because they were shooting at me,"Enderheim's voice went up a notch. "That's why."

        "I see," Amok raised an eyebrow and fixed Duncan with a baleful glare. "Is that true?"

        "I think this is all some sort of misunderstanding, "Duncan began.

        "Were they trying to kill me or not?" Enderheim leaned forward thrust out his jaw.

        "Well, technically yes," Duncan shifted uncomfortably. "But they didn't know it was you. They were shooting at that creature you were riding in."

        "Oh, well," Amok waved a dismissive hand. "That's different. Instead of killing my best friend, you were only trying to kill our people's closest allies."

        "Not just that," Enderheim growled. "They were flying a deep core mining ship. They were coming here to drill."

       "Which part am I not understanding?" Amok folded his hands over his stomach.  "You weren't shooting at Enderheim, or you weren't going to land that monster here and wreck our home?"

        Duncan tried not to look pained as he said, "This is an independent planet. The company purchased harvest rights from the Galactic Council."

        "The Galactic Council has no more authority here than you do," Amok replied in a slightly belligerent tone. "They sold your company something that didn't belong to them. And you didn't answer my question."

       Duncan held up a hand. "I don't know anything about that. All I am here for is to try and get our ship back and the people on board safely home."

        "Then why ask me?" Amok frowned. It sounds to me like Enderheim is the victim here in all this. Ask him."

        Duncan tried not to flinch at the utter disregard for the people stranded. "Will you give us our ship back?"

        "An interesting choice of words," Enderheim looked thoughtful. "If I had to guess, I'd wager you superiors are more concerned about their expensive ship than they are about the people on board."

        "Nor are we in the habit of aiding thieves and murderers," Amok said coldly.

       "I can assure you that everyone involved is very sorry for what happened," Duncan spoke in his most genuine voice. "Nothing like this will ever happen again."

       "Of that we can be most certain," Enderheim said ominously.

        "So you're to let this go?" Amok looked at his friend puzzledly. "Really?"

       "I would not cause you problems, Amok." Enderheim looked down and fumbled with his fingers.

       "Well, that's a first," Amok barked a laugh. He looked at Duncan smiling. "I Enderheim doesn't care, then neither do I. No harm done I guess." he waved dismissively. "We'll call it a draw," he laughed again.

        Duncan felt huge relief sweep through him. "When can we get our people back?"

       "As soon as someone goes up and recharges the Supergate," Amok glanced at Enderheim darkly. "Three days, I guess, and I can go out there."

       "We were hoping you could go right now," Duncan said in a small voice."

       "Huh?" Amok jerked his head around. "What's the rush?"

        "Well, when he left them four days ago, they had five days of fuel left. If we wait three days, the ship and everyone on board will be dead."   

        Amok scowled at Enderheim. "Well, that's real nice."

        "It is, actually," Enderheim looked indignant. "Considering that if they'd got their way, I would be dead, and there would be a deep core mining rig ruining our world."

        "You must admit he has a point," Amok looked down his nose at Duncan. "If we help you, are you going to land here again?"

        Duncan's implant buzzed. "I can't say. I do not plan operations."

        Amok's eyes narrowed angrily. "Well, you make this all simple then." he look at this friend. "C'mon Enderheim. All of a sudden it stinks in here!"

        Both Enderheim and Amok vanished, leaving both flagons and Humans alike.

        "That was foolish," Simpson told Duncan quietly. "All you had top do was say yes."

       "I do not set company policy," Duncan was seething. "And neither do they."

        "So now what?" Simpson glanced around at the disapproving stares of the surrounding patrons.

        "We go back to the colony," Duncan said tightly. "Then, you are going to tell me everything you know about these people down the last detail."

                                                             ........................................