The shaft tilted minusculely farther. Then the entire pylon disintegrated into shards no bigger than a fingernail with a trembling roar like that of ice breaking in a spring freshet.
The countergrav rings flew loose, freed when the shaft they bound dribbled out of their grip. Glittering ruin filled the pit with the remnants of an object that had survived longer than men had used fire. Kotzwinkle had started to climb up the sandy slope. The crystal flowed over him. The Melungeon's screams continued for a little longer than even his outstretched arm was visible.
Mincio swallowed. Her eyes were open, but tears blinded her. From her side Nessler said in a low voice, 'I'm glad we didn't bring Ms. deKyper. It'll be bad enough that she has to hear about it.'
The last fragments tinkled down. In the silence to which even his own personnel had been struck, Orloff said, 'Well, shall we play poker, Sir Hakon? Let's see if things go right for at least one of us this day!'
'Yes,' said Nessler. 'I think we should play cards.'
'I've always loved poker, but I'm afraid I'm not very good at it,' Nessler said as he sat in the indicated chair to Orloff's left. Two other Melungeon officers took their places at the table; the remainder watched with greedy expressions, some of them toying with the prostitutes as they did so. Enlisted personnel drifted to their burrows or sat stolidly around the glittering wreck.
Mincio stood at the flap of the Manticoran tent. She heard Nessler's voice through the intercom in her left ear canal and, a half-beat later, via the air in normal fashion.
'Hah, don't worry,' Orloff said, taking the deck of special cards from his servant. He put the pipe in his mouth. 'We teach you to play good today, not so?'
'If you can hear me,' Mincio said softly, 'lace your fingers against the back of your neck and stretch.'
Nessler laced his fingers and stretched. 'Well, so long as we play for table stakes,' he said, 'I don't guess I can get into any serious problems. Can we stipulate table stakes?'
'Well…' Orloff said.
'I don't mean small stakes, necessarily,' Nessler added. He brought a sheaf of credit vouchers from his purse and laid them on the table. Each was a chip loaded by the Royal Bank of Manticore, with an attached hardcopy of the terms and amount of the draft.
Orloff picked one of the printouts at random and looked at the amount it represented. 'Ha!' he bellowed. 'I should say not! Table stakes indeed! Let us play, my friends. Sir Hakon thinks he can buy all Melungeon, or so it seems!'
'I'm going to check the imagery, Nessler,' Mincio called. Everyone ignored her; Orloff was shuffling the cards.
She went into the tent; Beresford walked over to stand in front of the flap, his eyes on the card game in the adjacent tent.
Rovald had a receiver set up inside. It already displayed the deck's arrangement in the form of an air- projected hologram. The glowing layout shifted instantly every time Orloff mixed the cards.
'All he's got is a code signal through his teeth on the pipestem,' Rovald explained proudly as Mincio seated herself before the display. 'It tells him what the top card in the deck is. You see the whole thing.'
'Yes,' Mincio said. 'Now, don't move till I tell you, and don't talk.'
The technician jerked as though slapped. Mincio, though wholly immersed in the job at hand, knew she'd sounded very like her late father. Well, she could apologize later.
Play started with Orloff dealing. Nessler plunged deeply on two pair, losing the hand to another of the Melungeons with three queens.
Mincio said nothing during that hand or any of the scores of hands following. She'd instructed Nessler to bet heavily and to bluff frequently — precisely the sort of mistakes that came naturally to someone rich and unskilled. Mincio needed to get the measure of the opposition, and Nessler had to lose a hefty amount before he could move in for the kill anyway. There was no need to force the pace.
'Another drink!' Nessler's voice snarled through the intercom. 'Goddammit, isn't it enough that my cards are all shit? Do I have to die of thirst as well?'
He was a good actor; she could almost believe the anger and frustration in her pupil's tone were real. Maybe they were: even though he knew that losing was necessary to the plan, it couldn't be a great deal of fun for somebody like Sir Hakon Nessler. He prided himself on being extremely good at the narrow range of categories in which he chose to compete.
The shifting display was all Mincio's life for the moment. The Melungeons played five-card draw, nothing wild; an expert's game, and Edith Mincio was the greatest expert on Hope.
'Goddammit, I've got to sign over another of these drafts,' Nessler's voice snarled. 'You'll have my shirt before I leave here, Orloff. And where's that damned bottle? Can't a man get a drink in this place?'
A youth with more money than sense. A bad player growing even wilder as he gulped down brandy…
It took three hours before the deck broke the way Mincio needed it. Orloff was dealing. Even before the second round of cards pattered onto the table, Mincio turned to Rovald. 'Switch the signals from these two cards,' she ordered.
The technician touched the keyboard. The minuscule cue reprogrammed the chosen pair of cards.
The deal finished. Nessler's hand contained the ten, nine, seven, and six of spades, and the king of clubs. So far as Lord Orloff knew, the top card remaining in the deck was the jack of diamonds.
'Nessler, this is it,' Mincio said crisply. The bone-conduction pickup was part of the bead in her ear canal. 'Bet as high as you can. There won't be another chance. Discard the king and take one card on the draw.'
'By God, I'm tired of this penny-ante crap!' Nessler's voice rasped in her ear. 'What's the pot? Well, let me sign this over and we'll have a real pot!'
'God and holy angels!' one of the Melungeons said, loud enough to be heard through the tent's insulating walls.
Mincio got up from her chair and wobbled outside. Her legs were so stiff they threatened to cramp. She was dizzy, thirsty, and sick with fatigue. She had nothing more to do, so she might as well watch. Beresford stepped aside to give her room, but he kept his eyes on the game.
The two officers who'd been makeweights for the game folded their hands immediately. By luck or design the big pots had all gone to their captain. Table stakes meant they had to show the money they were betting, and they simply didn't have it.
'So, we put another of your little chits in to match you,' Orloff said genially. 'You must have very good cards, my friend. Still, God loves a brave man, not so?'
'From the cards I've been getting, He doesn't love me today,' Nessler grumbled. He drank off the rest of a beaker of Musketoon and slapped the king of clubs facedown in the center of the table. 'One card!'
Orloff slid the top card to his opponent, then set the deck down. 'The dealer stands pat,' he said. 'Perhaps I have very good cards too, or perhaps…'
He laughed loudly to imply he was really bluffing. He wiped spittle from his mustache with the back of his hand. Orloff was nervous despite what must be his certainty that everything was in his pocket. The amount the fool from Manticore had already lost would make Orloff one of the wealthiest men on Melungeon.
'So, are they this good?' Nessler said. He thrust three more drafts onto the table, equalling the full amount of Orloff's winnings and original stake. 'Brandy! Somebody give me a glass of damned brandy, won't you?'
A Melungeon officer instantly handed over the full beaker which he'd been holding for the purpose.
'I will see you, yes,' Orloff said. His voice was no longer confident. He stared for a moment at the remainder of the deck, but he pushed out the matching bet.
Melungeon officers whispered among themselves; Beresford was as taut as an E-string. Mincio was relaxed as she watched events roll to their inevitable conclusion.
Nessler slammed down the beaker, empty again. 'Then by God I'll raise!' he said. 'I'll double the damned pot!'
He pulled another draft from his purse. The printout had red wax seals and the face amount was five times that of any document already on the table. 'Do you see me now, Orloff?'
Orloff's bare scalp glistened with sweat. 'I see you,' he said. 'But I call. We would not have it seem that you bought the pot.'
'I accept your call,' Nessler said. He laid his cards faceup on the table.
