Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

position to disobey an official request. He was surprised to see Carroll, though, although somewhat pleased. The agent could almost read his mind. Morah’s getting rid of his only threat this way. But both he and Fallen were civil to the agent, and that was for the best. Both seemed interested in what would happen when Carroll met Ypsir, though.

To everyone’s surprise, Ypsir, in a spacious office, was ell smiles and cordiality, the politician supreme. In a corner, on satin pillows, reclined the stunning Ass.

“Well, now, what’s all this about a vote and my computer?” the First Minister wanted to know.

“They need it. Its capacity is probably the largest in the Diamond, and it’s doing nothing but running this station right now,” he told them. “The fact is, this station can be maintained on a much smaller and more basic model Cerberus can and will supply. There are few manufactured goods right now, and we need them desperately. The picket ship is being quickly outfitted, but it’s going to need your computer to control the industry we’re putting into her. Nothing else will do the job, and we can’t make any more major computers until we have the picket running.”

“They had then: nerve, voting without me,” Ypsir complained.

He shrugged. “We tried. You didn’t answer the call. That’s why Morah sent me here.”

Ypsir smiled. One oj the reasons, he thought, in accord with his two assistants, but he said, “Well, I don’t like it but I’m hardly in a position to object at this point. One hopes that the Cerberan techs can do it without having to shut down this station.”

“I’m sure they can.”

“Have you met Ass?” Ypsir asked suddenly.

He smiled and nodded. “Yes, I have. In more ways than one, First Minister. You see, using the Metron Process, I was Tarin Bid.”

Talant Ypsir’s face broke into a wide grin that became a real belly laugh. “Oh, my, but that’s perfect! That’s wonderful!” he chortled.

“The matter of the computer is not the only reason I’m here,” Carroll added. “I’ve decided that I need a better position than errand boy for the Four Lords.”

Ypsir, savoring the irony, hardly heard him. Instead he turned to Ass and said, “Did you hear that, my pretty? You were once him!”

Showing puzzlement and confusion, she looked up at the agent, but. said nothing.

“Ass?” the agent called to her. “Do you know who these people are? This is Haval Kunser, and this is Shugah Fallen, and that is Talant Ypsir.”

Her eyes grew even larger, and her mouth dropped a bit, and then she frowned, shook her head, and looked up again.

“I decided I’d either be dead or the Lord of Medusans,” Carroll told her, but she wasn’t really listening to him.

Talant Ypsir’s head was torn from his body before the bodies of Fallen and.Kunser had hit the floor.