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There was a brief glimpse of toilet facilities before the door closed. The
guard returned to his seat with a satisfied grunt.
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Prosik lowered his head and once more studied the supports that concealed the
erasure system. Two had been badly twisted but the protective covers remained
intact. Critical structures with the controls showed a few dents but the
system was duplicated and allowance had been made for possible damage.
Essential elements were buffered by protective shielding. Prosik swiveled his
eyes inward and began the idmaging to extrude a manipulative arm. Before he
could do this, he smelled a familiar odor.
Bazeel!
A small mound of the wonderful drug lay on a flat surface of the wreckage only
centimeters away.
Prosik moved his head toward the bazeel and his tongue flickered out in its
automatic snake fashion. The tongue withdrew with a generous dusting of
bazeel on the tip. Prosik felt the familiar soothing sensation.
Ahhhhhh.
He allowed himself another taste.
A small dalliance, he told himself.
Only when he was close to complete bazeel torpor did he remember the Earther's
remark about bait.
A sound behind him cut across his memory. Prosik, his head wavering
deliciously, turned and looked toward the sound.
Horrors!
The guard stood there with the muzzle of a long weapon pointed directly at
Prosik.
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"What have we here?" the guard asked.
Prosik could not move a muscle. He wanted only to sink into bazeel fog but
terror would not permit this.
The menacing muzzle of the weapon moved closer.
Prosik stared at it, completely fascinated.
"A snake?" The guard's tone was clearly incredulous.
Summoning all of his energy, Prosik dropped his head behind a broken metal
surface and sought a way to bury himself in the wreckage. He knew he could
not move backward without tearing scales from his snake body and that effort
was beyond him.
An ear-shattering explosion interrupted his frantic search and a metal surface
slammed against his back. This was followed immediately by another explosion
and the sizzling eruption of a self-
destruct system. Molten metal seared one side of Prosik's snake body and he
reacted instinctively, slithering out of the wreckage as fast as he could.
The guard lay on the floor, half his head torn away by the blast that had
ignited the self-
destruct system.
Without thinking it through, Prosik idmage-scanned the dead guard and cast
himself into that shape, complete with torn uniform and a few bloody but
lesser wounds. It was done in seconds and
Prosik stood in his new form to hurl the guard's body into the inferno that
had been one of the ship's erasure activating systems.
As he slumped back to the floor, there to allow himself to be discovered by
the Earthers he could hear racing toward the scene of disturbance, Prosik knew
he had added a new dimension to his problem. In the brief moments of his
flight into this disguise, he had seen the drive supports still standing on
the far side of the wreck. If they survived, he now had only one control
system with which to carry out his mission but, if his disguise succeeded, he
might be able to gain undisturbed access to what remained of the erasure ship.
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Leaders must never set a bad example for those who follow. But the band of
followers also must set a good example -- both for their leaders and for their
fellows. Otherwise, the social compact dissolves and society descends into
chaos.
-- Dreen aphorism
Lutt awoke on the cot in his office with a most memorable headache, which, on
asking a few internal questions, he found was shared by Ryll, the partner of
his flesh.
We will tend to share most bodily ills and good feelings, Ryll explained.
But I seldom have hangovers, Lutt complained.
Perhaps it was the combination of the foods and the drink, Ryll suggested.
There wasn't anything I hadn't eaten before . . . or drunk.
In that combination?
Well . . . we sure got around one helluva lot of pesto.
At mention of the dish that had contained the bazeel, Ryll felt an involuntary
shudder go through their shared body.
You seemed to like the pesto, Lutt said. He glanced at his watch. Keerist!
I'm due at the editorial conference. Gotta order up some coffee.
Ryll found the coffee helpful but he sensed the beginnings of suspicion in
Lutt about the contents of their meal.
Lutt asked himself if certain Earther foods might have an adverse effect on
Dreens and if there might be an advantage in this. A dangerous line of
questioning, but Ryll felt helpless to divert it. Any such attempt would be
sure to increase Lutt's suspicions.
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The editorial conference definitely was not a rerun of the earlier one Ryll
had watched. From his first entry into the room, Lutt displayed a new
confidence and sense of his own power.
Suzanne Day, obviously aware of his hangover, had closed the shades on the
eastern windows to reduce the morning light. Lutt felt grateful for this as
he sat down and scanned the six faces around the long table. His head still
felt misused and his eyes burned.
City editor Anaya Nelson, who had been reading through a stack of notes, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]