Let them think anything they wished of
him and his dog. All that mattered was
the black thought slithering of the ...
MINDSNAKE
By JIM HARMON
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, November 1960.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"Witch! Witch!" The cry was among the walkers, but he didn't bother totrack it down. It was no longer a fighting word to Hammen. He wore itlike a badge of honor. It tasted of brass, but it gleamed on him.
A puzzled growl came from the Familiar at his heels. The dog couldnever understand how people could hate Hammen. Lad, the dog, oftenasked Hammen how anyone could possibly hate Hammen, and Hammen alwaystold him to shut up; he couldn't understand—he was only a dog.
The walk ramp was crowded this afternoon with people fresh from thetransmatter stations, eager to tell themselves they were walking ona strange planet. Hammen passed among the nudists, the cavaliers,the zip-suiters, the zoot-suiters, the Ivy-coated, the Moss-covered,walking not for novelty or exercise but because he preferred to goeverywhere under his own power. Even to the stars.
Hale and Lora saluted him a few paces away from the entrance to thestation. They were a beautiful blond couple, with brightly polishedfaces. Hammen didn't much like them, but he didn't feel sufficientlypressed to be rude enough to let them become aware of it.
"How goes it, kids?" he asked them.
"Couldn't be better," Hale said.
"Of course not," Lora added.
Hammen's slate eyes moved from the man to the woman. "Are you troubled?"
"This isn't the time to talk about it, not before you and Lad transmityourself," the girl said quickly.
It wasn't, Hammen admitted to himself. Only now that they had let itslip, he would rest better knowing the whole truth of it.
"Come on," Hammen urged. "It's not as if I wasn't interested."
Hale looked at his wife. "Lora doesn't like Wagner any more."
"Perdition!" said Hammen. "I never liked Wagner. She's growing up."
Lora put a half-closed fist to her lips, and didn't look at either ofthe men, or at the dog who stood with freshly pointed ears.
"No," she said softly. "I lost something on the last one. Gee, I wonderif the Mindsnake likes Wagner now? Still, it's not as if I had stoppedliking music altogether, or books. Not this time."
Hale grabbed her arm roughly. "You're sure doing a great job of gettingHammen ready for the jump."
Lora's eyes clouded. "I'm sorry, Ham." She looked up, smiled warmly,kissed her fingertips and placed them on Hammen's lips. "Companion'sCode, huh?"
He took her hand and for the moment liked her. "Okay, honey. I guesseven a Witch squeezes in under the wire for that."
The young team was abruptly embarrassed. "Oh, well, Witch," Hale saiddeprecatingly, "what does cargo know, anyway?"
Hammen laughed and scratched Lad's ears. "They know I'm a Witch. Butit has its advantages. I don't have to worry about Lad losing his tastefor Wagner. A dog does not have that much to lose. If it comes to that,he's just gone."
Lora shuddered delicately, the way of a watered flower. "How could youstand to lose a Companion with so little feeling?"
"I've lost three Companions, and got myself and my cargo into port.They were only dogs."
Hale looked at him sharply. "But you were Companioning with them. Itmust have been," he selected a w