He handed it to the sergeant, who looked it over, peered at Mike"s face, and saluted. As Mike returned the salute the sergeant said: "Okay, sir; you can go on in. The security office is past the double door, first corridor on your right."
Mike the Angel tried his best not to look surprised. "_Security_ office?
Is there a war on or something? What does Chilblains need with a security office?"
The sergeant shrugged. "Don"t ask me, Commander; I just slave away here.
Maybe Lieutenant Nariaki knows something, but I sure don"t."
"Thanks, Sergeant."
Mike the Angel went inside, through two insulated and tightly weather-stripped doors, one right after another, like the air lock on a s.p.a.ceship. Once inside the warmth of the corridor, he unzipped his electroparka, shut off the power, and pushed back the hood with its fogproof faceplate.
Down the hall, Mike could see an office marked _security officer_ in small letters without capitals. He walked toward it. There was another guard at the door who had to see Mike"s ID card before Mike was allowed in.
Lieutenant Tokugawa Nariaki was an average-sized, sleepy-looking individual with a balding crew cut and a morose expression.
He looked up from his desk as Mike came in, and a hopeful smile tried to spread itself across his face. "If you are Commander Gabriel," he said softly, "watch yourself. I may suddenly kiss you out of sheer relief."
"Restrain yourself, then," said Mike the Angel, "because I"m Gabriel."
Nariaki"s smile became genuine. "So! Good! The phone has been screaming at me every half hour for the past five hours. Captain Sir Henry Quill wants you."
"He would," Mike said. "How do I get to him?"
"You don"t just yet," said Nariaki, raising a long, bony, tapering hand.
"There are a few formalities which our guests have to go through."
"Such as?"
"Such as fingerprint and retinal patterns," said Lieutenant Nariaki.
Mike cast his eyes to Heaven in silent appeal, then looked back at the lieutenant. "Lieutenant, _what_ is going on here? There hasn"t been a security officer in the s.p.a.ce Service for thirty years or more. What am I suspected of? Spying for the corrupt and evil alien beings of Diomega Orionis IX?"
Nariaki"s oriental face became morose again. "For all I know, you are.
Who knows what"s going on around here?" He got up from behind his desk and led Mike the Angel over to the fingerprinting machine. "Put your hands in here, Commander ... that"s it."
He pushed a b.u.t.ton, and, while the machine hummed, he said: "Mine is an antiquated position, I"ll admit. I don"t like it any more than you do.
Next thing, they"ll put me to work polishing chain-mail armor or make me commander of a company of musketeers. Or maybe they"ll send me to the 18th Outer Mongolian Yak Artillery."
Mike looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Lieutenant, do you actually mean that you really don"t know what"s going on here, or are you just dummying up?"
Nariaki looked at Mike, and for the first time, his face took on the traditional blank, emotionless look of the "placid Orient." He paused for long seconds, then said:
"Some of both, Commander. But don"t let it worry you. I a.s.sure you that within the next hour you"ll know more about Project Brainchild than I"ve been able to find out in two years.... Now put your face in here and keep your eyes open. When you can see the target spot, focus on it and tell me."
Mike the Angel put his face in the rest for the retinal photos. The soft foam rubber adjusted around his face, and he was looking into blackness.
He focused his eyes on the dim target circle and waited for his eyes to grow accustomed to the darkness.
The Security Officer"s voice continued. "All I do is make sure that no unauthorized person comes into Chilblains Base. Other than that, I have nothing but personal guesses and little trickles of confusing information, neither of which am I at liberty to discuss."
Mike"s irises had dilated to the point that he could see the dim dot in the center of the target circle, glowing like a dimly visible star.
"Shoot," he said.
There was a dazzling glare of light. Mike pulled his face out of the padded opening and blinked away the colored after-images.
Lieutenant Nariaki was comparing the fresh fingerprints with the set he had had on file. "Well," he said, "you have Commander Gabriel"s hands, anyway. If you have his eyes, I"ll have to concede that the rest of the body belongs to him, too."
"How about my soul?" Mike asked dryly.
"Not my province, Commander," Nariaki said as he pulled the retinal photos out of the machine. "Maybe one of the chaplains would know."
"If this sort of thing is going on all over Chilblains," said Mike the Angel, "I imagine the Office of Chaplains is doing a booming business in TS cards."
The lieutenant put the retinal photos in the comparator, took a good look, and nodded. "You"re you," he said. "Give me your ID card."
Mike handed it over, and Nariaki fed it through a printer which stamped a complex seal in the upper left-hand corner of the card. The lieutenant signed his name across the seal and handed the card back to Mike.
"That"s it," he said. "You can--"
He was interrupted by the chiming of the phone.
"Just a second, Commander," he said as he thumbed the phone switch.
Mike was out of range of the TV pickup, and he couldn"t see the face on the screen, but the voice was so easy to recognize that he didn"t need to see the man.
"Hasn"t that triply bed.a.m.ned rocket landed yet, Lieutenant? Where is Commander Gabriel?"
Mike knew that Black Bart had already checked on the landing of the latest rocket; the question was rhetorical.
Mike grinned. "Tell the old tyrant," he said firmly, "that I"ll be along as soon as the Security Officer is through with me."
Nariaki"s expression didn"t change. "You"re through now, Commander, and--"
"Tell that imitation Apollo to hop it over here fast!" said Quill sharply. "I"ll give him a lesson in tyranny."
There was a click as the intercom shut off.
Nariaki looked at Mike the Angel and shook his head slowly. "Either you"re working your way toward a court-martial or else you know where Black Bart has the body buried."
"I should," said Mike cryptically. "I helped him bury it. How do I get to His Despotic Majesty"s realm?"
Nariaki considered. "It"ll take you five or six minutes. Take the tubeway to Stage Twelve. Go up the stairway to the surface and take the first corridor to the left. That"ll take you to the loading dock for that stage. It"s an open foyer like the one at the landing field, so you"ll have to put your parka back on. Go down the stairs on the other side, and you"ll be in Area K. One of the guards will tell you where to go from there. Of course, you could go by tube, but it would take longer because of the by-pa.s.s."
"Good enough. I"ll take the short cut. See you. And thanks."
8