Free Thousandstar (#4 of the Cluster series) by Piers Anthony Page B

announced. "Arrival is correct."
    They were going rapidly! Forty-eight ships of out sixty-six total. The next would be—
    "Rich is correct. Czeep of Czealake has Ship Forty-nine."
    He had better figure ahead several ships, so as to be ready when his chance came up. Right now he was guessing correctly, but losing out to others who were responding more quickly. He would try three ships ahead. Rich had been a D concept; E-F-G—he needed a G. G was— he paused, ransacking his memory—G was Intellectual Faculties, like Wisdom and Stupidity. Had these specific concepts been used? Probably. So he had to take something different like Eccentricity. That had an original feel. Eccentricity—his ticket to space!
    "Stream is correct." There were now very few wrong guesses; only those who knew they had fathomed the pattern were expressing themselves. The ships were going swiftly. "Six is correct."
    Now it was up to G—his turn. Heem started his jet—
    And balked. His jet clogged, the fluid dribbling down his skin meaninglessly. What had happened? It wasn't like him to clog in the crisis!
    It's a repeat , he thought suddenly. A void response!
    "Sanity is correct," the public spray came. "Prosperity is correct."
    A repeat! Quite possible, for he had hardly assimilated the concepts themselves. He had translated them to letter-tastes automatically, depending on Swoon of Sweetswamp to recall the specifics—and now she was gone. He could not trust his memory on any of the repeat concepts!
    "Vice is correct. Knyfh is correct."
    Two more ships gone—the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth. Only eleven left—and though he had fathomed the pattern, his memory was suspect. He had perhaps two chances in three of choosing correctly on any single one—but he hardly wanted to stake his freedom on those odds. He wanted to be certain . What was he to do now?
    "Firm is correct. Maat of Mainstream wins Ship Fifty-six."
    The fifty-fifth concept had been Knyfh—evidently the new category J, Cluster Geography. Segment Knyfh had been at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy defense, during the Second War of Energy. Probably the next J concept could be any of the other Galactic Segments—Qaval, Etamin, LoDo, Weew, even Thousandstar itself. But this was too obvious; a number of contestants would fathom it, and be waiting for J to roll around again, and it would be pure chance for him to get his answer in first. He could not jet his answer in one moment beforetime; an answer out of place was a wrong answer.
    "Excitement is correct. Departure is correct. Spicy is correct."
    Three more ships gone—and Heem could have taken any of them, had he dared risk a repetition. He still could not risk it! According to his understanding of the pattern, the sixty-sixth ship would represent a completely new concept. While the others were jetting over the second J concept, he should needle in with the K concept.
    The problem was that K, sixty-six, was the last ship available to a HydrO host. If he lost that one, he lost everything.
    "Exhilaration is incorrect. Seven is incorrect." Two bad guesses. What was required was an E concept, relating to Water, while these related to Emotion and Number—B and F. Other contestants were getting nervous, afraid they would lose out by failing even to try for the remaining ships in time. Well, good, the more fools who washed out, the fewer to interfere with his own guess at the end.
    Heem was abruptly tempted to take his chance on this next ship. Had Ocean been used? Lake? Sea?
    "Lake is correct," the public spray proclaimed. "Soop of Soulwet has won Ship Sixty."
    Six ships to go! He could have won Ship Sixty if he had only jetted Lake. But supposing he had jetted Sea, and it turned out to be a repeat? In fact, he was almost sure now that Sea had been used, back in the first or second E. He had to stick to his decision: a completely new concept-category for Ship Sixty-six. That remained his last and