Heller's anesthetics wear off late in the afternoon, and Gris has Ske bring the airbus around so Heller can embark without the Widow Tayl seeing him and going into more hysterics. They drop him off at the hangar so he can continue to recover in Tug One, while Gris goes home to his apartment to see if the bugging equipment works.
Initial tests are disappointing, showing only darkness and silence. But after cranking up all the receivers and installing that super-relayer, Gris can just make out a rhythmic, faint sound - Heller snoring. He soon wakes up when the Countess Krak comes home, revealing distorted, low-quality images of her haranguing him for letting himself be unconscious in Gris' presence. She's mollified when Heller produces the recording device, and with the sounds of Gris expressing his nausea at the sight of Heller's blood, Krak nods to herself, content that her hypnotic suggestions are still working.
We also learn that Heller's idea for a good lock combination is 3-2-1. This is obviously meant to be the endearing kind of stupid, not the Gris kind.
There's a dangerous moment when Heller inspects the "arrowhead" the doctor left him as a souvenir, and is puzzled because he remembers an obsidian arrowhead, while he's holding some flint. But he shrugs it off. He must be out of it, or else he would have noticed - with his uncanny eyesight and geologic knowledge - that the arrowhead's granulation was identical to the ornamental statues in the widow's garden. Which was something Gris really should have remembered when trying to pull one over Heller, but that's why he's a Hubbard Villain.
Gris watches and listens through Heller's eyes and ears as he sits in Tug One's sauna (!) for a bit before working out. He learns some vital intelligence when the Countess reveals that she, in her soldier disguise, has been practicing for the big launch party in two days, so Gris finally learns when Mission Earth will actually be departing. But he's disappointed in how low-quality the transmissions from Heller are, even from just a few miles away, and despairs at how he's supposed to monitor him on Earth (or more specifically, Turkey, while Heller flails around the States).
And then Heller steps outside Tug One, with its magical stealth shielding that blocks all energy waves, and immediately Gris is nearly defined by the sound and blinded by the crisp images coming through. And his landlady yells at him for having his space TV turned up too loud, and there is much merriment to be had by all.
So the bugs work, and Gris knows when he's supposed to meet with his boss before the mission departs. The only damper on his good mood comes when he listens to the Countess and Heller swearing bloody retribution on whoever harms the other while they're apart.
Only five chapters left.
Back to Chapter Three
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