"I wish you weren"t going!" Sparline said. "Or Bran, either. And now Liesel and Hawkman want to go to Earth. By the time I see any of you again-if I ever do-I"ll be an old woman!"
Rissa sighed. "The long view-between stars, the years compress. It works well for dynasties. But for individuals- Sparline, I wish I had answers for you, but I do not."
"Oh well-" Sparline tried to smile. "Ernol and I-we"ll breed our heirs and raise them-then maybe we"ll go to Earth."
"It is a possibility. Now, shall we return to Maison Renalle?"
As they entered the Maison, an attendant called to Rissa. "Ms. Obrigo? A young man was asking for you-and others. He didn"t say who he was; I called your room, but you were out. He gave me this." He handed her a memo sheet, and she read: Rissa Kerguelen Lysse Harnain 199.
Tari Obrigo CeleMetrokin The man said, "I told him nothing-only that if I saw any of these persons, I"d show them the paper. Then he left-said he"d be back later."
"Yes. Thank you." No Laura Konig. She showed the note to Sparline. "From Earth, not Far Corner. But Erika, or UET?" She turned to the attendant. "What did he look like?"
"Nothing out of the way, at first look. Thin, pale, medium tall. Black hair-a little long for here, and tied back. Quiet-speaking man. But he moves like a cat."
Rissa shook her head. "I do not recognize anyone from the description." Except Ilse Krueger"s inquisitive pa.s.senger. "But it is unlikely that I would know him."
"Instructions, Ms. Obrigo?"
"If he returns while I am here, put him through on the viewscreen, but do not tell him the number of my room."
"Right-I"ll do that." The two women left and went toward the room. On the way, Rissa told what Krueger had reported.
Sparline said, "What are you going to do? What if he doesn"t come back while you"re here?"
"I will leave a blind relay set up to the Lodge, then to wherever I expect to be at a given time. For a while, at least."
"Aren"t you worried?"
"Not greatly-there is no point to it. As Bran would say, merely exercising normal caution." They were at the door, Rissa opened it and stepped inside. When Sparline had followed and the door was closed, a man stepped out of the bathroom. He fit the attendant"s description-as well as Krueger"s.
Watching his hands, Rissa dropped her parcels and circled to the man"s left. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"
Tight-lipped, he smiled. "It"s you, all right. Don"t you recognize me? Not a very friendly greeting from my own sister."
"Ivan?" Shocked, thinking rapidly, she paused. "How can I be sure? Tell me-oh-the day our parents were killed- what color dress did I wear?"
He frowned. "I don"t remember much from then, clearly- or from before Erika"s, for that matter. But- red, I think- and your hair was in pigtails and-no, that"s, all I get." He shook his head. "But who besides Erika knew those four 200.
names?" He spread his hands wide. "I have papers from her -will that help?"
Suddenly she knew. "Ivan!" She rushed to embrace and kiss him. Then, "Sparline-my brother, Ivan Marchant. He is the one who has been asking of me.
Ivan, this is Sparline Moray-she"s a niece of Erika"s."
Sparline shook the man"s hand, but said to Rissa, "You"re sure? How?"
"When he looked puzzled, just now. Ivan studied far ahead of his age group, as did I. And when he struck something he could not solve and went to ask our mother or father, his face had that exact same expression."
She turned again to her brother. "Oh, Ivan-it is so good to have you here! Now tell me of yourself."
"For starters," said Sparline, "how did you get in here?"
He grinned. "I learned a lot about security measures at Erika"s. And compared to Earth"s, yours are behind the times."
"Yes." Rissa nodded. "Always, the time lag plagues the Hidden Worlds. But you have not said-how did you come t"o this place?"
"To the planet, on Graf Spee-but I didn"t know it until this morning, because I was transshipped in freeze. At Terranova, by one of Erika"s agents-I knew that much in advance, and the name of this world she"d just learned of-we agreed it sounded good. Then today, getting off the ship, I heard the name Maison Renalle. I figured it had to be a Hulzein connection, so I tried the wild chance that you might be here."
Sparline said, "The attendant said he gave you no information. How did you locate this room?"
"He tried to call here. I watched him punch the number."
"Part of your specialty? What are some of the others?"
Now he did not smile. "What I do best, Ms. Moray, is kill. I"m very, very good at killing-and there"s always a market for it."
Rissa touched his arm; he looked at her, then relaxed. "Ivan? Are you here for that purpose?"
He put a hand on her shoulder. "If that"s what you want of me-or anything else.
It"s your money that got me out of Welfare and into Erika"s for two years, putting me mostly back 201.
together. I owe you service. And I don"t have anybody else. So now I"ve found you- and who did I find, by the way? Which name goes here?"
"Here, and with the Hulzeins, my own. Publicly, Tari Obrigo-though I no longer bother with that name"s disguise. But now-sit down, shall we? Have some wine and tell me what has happened."
They sat. Sipping pale wine, Ivan began. "As I said-two years at Erika"s. She"s a great old one, isn"t she? Taught me, had me taught-broke most of the blocks Welfare"d carved into my mind. Not all, but most." His mouth tightened, then made effort to smile.
"You shocked her once, Rissa-you know that? When she heard what happened to the scheisskopf that killed our parents, she knew it was your doing. And she said, "Peace knows what I"ve turned loose against this world!""
"Peace knows, indeed-but what of yourself, Ivan?"
"I-before I left Earth, I paid a little of our debt myself. Got two members of the Committee-one by poison and one with my hands. It was a hot time for a while, I tell you-but I chose the two I was the size to impersonate, and got away with it. Partly due to help set up by Erika. Why, I shipped out- believe this?-disguised as a UET agent supposed to be sent in a disguise of his own, to get a look at the Hidden Worlds. The Underground caught him and stripped his mind. Erika persuaded them not to waste his perfectly good ident.i.ty."
He drained his gla.s.s; Rissa refilled it. "Now then, Rissa- and Ms. Moray-do you think I can be of any use to you?"
"You are welcome with us," said Rissa. "For now, at least, I do not think you need kill for us."
Sparline gave a faint laugh. "Maybe you"re a little behind t h e times, about Rissa. n.o.body has to do her killing for her-or for her husband, my brother."
"Husband? You"re married, Rissa?"
"Yes-and he should be here soon. I have married Bran Tregare Moray."
"Tregare? Tregare the pirate!" He laughed. "Peace be pampered, but you made a great choice! Back when I was still on Earth, that name was giving UET hermorrhoids. What it must be like there, by now-with the Underground playing its deadly pranks-"
202.
"UET expects attack by Tregare?" This could wreck his entire plan.
"UET"s scared of its own shadow-and the more scared, the more brutal. That kind of rlower can"t keep a clear conscience. The second Committee member I got-Shelda Fains- way, and the disguise was a real ch.o.r.e-begged me to do it fast. She"d supervised enough torture to know what it was like, and-"
"Did you oblige her?" said Sparline.
His lips pulled apart in a snarl. "Not right away. I-" Then his face went blank of all expression, as Rissa had seen it at Erika"s.
"Ivan? There is something? Something you need to say?"
His voice was dead monotone. "One thing Erika couldn"t fix. I"m not potent with women-and not interested in meny for that matter. In Welfare the worst punishments the pain-shock reinforcements-were done by women. And the way they did it-well, two years didn"t cure me; I think it"s permanent. So I gave Shelda Fainsway a little-only a little- of what she"d helped authorize doing to me."
"Ivan-" Rissa shook her head. "I cannot blame you- such beasts-and as you say, my arrangements for Newhausen were hardly gentle. But do not surrender yet to what was done. You are-how old?"
"I don"t know-let"s see. Forty-seven chrono, I"m told; probably only about twenty- two bio. But what good does that do?"
"Your mind is hardly more than two years out of Welfare. Give it time to heal."
"Well, maybe." He looked at her. "How come you seem older than I do? I don"t mean looks, but the way you think."
"I have had the chance to do more and learn from it. As you will now, also." She poured more wine. "Now let me tell you of my life since leaving Erika and Earth."
She told it briefly, then said, "Did I omit anything, Spar-line?"
The other woman shook her head. "Not that I know of."
Ivan said, "They make mistakes, don"t they? You, me, Tregare-they let us live. I suppose they can"t kill everyone who might be dangerous.""
"I-" Rissa began; then the door opened and Tregare entered. "Bran!" She ran to him. "Here is-"
203.
His kiss sealed her mouth; then he reached a hand to the other man. "h.e.l.lo, Ivan Marchant. I"m glad you made it to here."
"Bran-you knew? Why did you not tell me?"
The handclasp done, Tregare shook his head, grinning. "I didn"t know-I found out when you did." He gestured for everyone to sit. "You fooled Liesel"s alarms, Ivan, but you missed one of mine. A gadget in my pocket started buzzing, and I came back here on the run." He turned to Rissa. "You two had already gone up here-if it was trouble I"d be too late to help. So I unlocked a special monitor circuit-when you came in I was watching, with one finger on the sleepy-gas b.u.t.ton. Right at first I almost pushed it-but I knew you"d be mad as h.e.l.l, Rissa, if you didn"t get a chance to handle things yourself." She returned his smile.
Ivan said, flat-voiced, "Then you heard it all?"
"No. First, just to where Rissa knew you. Then I had to rea.s.sure the clerk so he didn"t call for help, and missed some. Then you were saying the Underground uses my name to scare UET with, and I want to hear more about that-so I switched off and locked the monitor again. Now, then-what kind of thing do they say?"
Ivan relaxed. Rissa thought, If Bran knew his trouble, he would feel shamed-but it is all right now. Her brother said, "Anything and everything-the wilder the better. Let"s see-that you have fifty ships, maybe a hundred, and all armed. That you"ve begun exterminating UET colonies. That you"re force-growing zygotes from extracted sperm and ova and have millions of fanatic troops on a world UET never heard of. That you"ve allied with aliens that have faster-than-light travel. You name it; it"s been said." He paused. "Is that the kind of thing you want to know?"
Tregare grinned. "Exactly-and it helps my purpose. Because the one thing they"ve missed, apparently, is what I do plan." He drank some wine. "And that part, if you don"t mind, I"ll tell you after we"ve had a little talk-on the other side of the Big Hills."
The truth field, Rissa thought. Well, Tregare could hardly accept, on faith, a man whose mind had been mauled as Ivan"s had. Her brother said, "Of course. Not before you"re sure.
I understand, Tregare."
"Good. Well, then-anybody else ready for dinner? I am."
204.
AFTER the meal, Sparline left to fly to the Lodge. Ivan arranged for a room of his own.
The next day, with Tregare still busy obtaining supplies, Rissa took her brother on a walking tour of the city.
About mid-afternoon, they heard a rumble and turned to see Graf Spee lift to cross the Big Hills. She accomplished her business quickly, thought Rissa, and reflected that unless Ilse Krueger had stayed behind, she would not be joining them for dinner. Reminded, she told Ivan of the evening plans; they turned back toward the Maison. So when Tregare arrived with Norden and Ressider, all was ready.
They had dinner in a small private room off the Maison"s main dining hall. Tregare, Norden, ard Reisider dominated the talk, pooling information on colonies and Hidden Worlds each had visited. Rissa paid close heed and occasionally asked a question. Ivan spoke little; she could not guess his feelings. He drank sparingly, as did she; the others ended the evening in jovial, reminiscent mood. But afterward Tregare drove his guests to the port- Ressider toValkyrie and Norden to a nearby hostel-and brought the aircar back safely.
RISSAand Ivan, next morning, rode with Tregare to the port. He landed alongside two new aircars. "These are the ones I said I was ordering," he said. "Quick delivery, and all checked out. Make free with one today, if you want. I"ll leave word for Hawkman, when he arrives, to take the other to the Lodge. And I"ll use Old Reliable, here, and see you at the Maison."
"Yes," said Rissa, "when all our today"s businesses are concluded." She kissed him and he walked away toward Valkyrie.
Flying back over the city, Rissa explained the traffic indicators. Ivan nodded. "Yes-with your light traffic here, it"s a good system. When you come to need more levels and get into diagonal routes, the transitions get harder to indicate."
Explaining her mission as they flew, she went to the Delayed 205.
Reproduction Center. Estelle Marco drew forth the ovum successfully and a.s.sured her that the first zygote was frozen at an optimum stage; the second would be formed and join it shortly.
Rissa introduced the doctor to Ivan but did not mention their relationship. When the older woman was absent for a few minutes, Rissa said, "Ivan? Why do you not deposit sperm here? You can, can you not?" Expressionless, he nodded. "Then you should do so-your genes are worth preserving, and in case-"
Scowling, he said, "What for? Oh, I can-and Erika had my plastic valves opened, thinking there"d be a psychological difference or something. But they"d gotten that from me several times already, back at Welfare. You must know that much."
"But that was to breed slaves-here you would sire free persons."
Estelle Marco returned. Rissa raised eyebrows to her brother, and finally he nodded.
She made the request for him. Marco agreed, and a few minutes later they left the building.
In the aircar he said, "You know-it"s been a long time since I"d even done that."
"You should. It is healthier than nothing at all."
He said nothing; when she looked at him, his face was pale and tense. "If I could kill all of them-maybe then-"
"To take away their power is better-and that is what Tregare plans to do."
SHE flew south, along the rise of the Big Hills to their left. Far in the distance they saw the beginning of that gigantic fall of stone monoliths piled like matchsticks-the Slab Jumbles. She said, "I wish there were time to see that place more closely-I have not been there. But now it is time to turn back."
They had flown a long way; noon was past. Expecting disappointment, Rissa opened the compartment in which sealed snacks were usually kept, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Tregare had provided them. They ate in flight.
Halfway to One Point One, they saw Valkyrie lift. Rissa took the car higher; they watched the ship cross the Hills and 206.
begin to drop again. "Now I see better," she said, "where Tregare"s base is, from the city. I have gone usually by a roundabout way-and once so busy with other matters that I did not pay heed."
Ivan did not answer; when she turned to see him, he said, "Let me fly this thing for a while?"