Surely you can take a minute…”
Tears formed in Robert’s eyes. “What is it, Robert? Tell me.” Ellie had a sudden fright. He’s married someone else, she thought in panic.
“What has happened to you, Ellie?” he said suddenly in a loud voice. “How could you possibly tell those soldiers that you were not kidnapped, and that the octospiders were not hostile? You have made me a laughingstock. Every single citizen in New Eden has heard me on television describing that terrible moment that you were abducted… My memories are so horribly clear.”
Ellie backed up at first when Robert began his outburst. As she stood there listening, still holding his hand, his anguish was obvious. “I made those comments, Robert, because I was, and am, trying to do whatever I can to stop any conflict between the octospiders and us. I am sorry if my remarks caused you pain.”
“The octospiders have brainwashed you, Ellie,” Robert said bitterly. “I knew it as soon as Nakamura’s men showed me the reports. Somehow they have tampered with your mind so that you are no longer in touch with reality.”
Nikki had started whimpering when Robert had first raised his voice. She did not understand what the disagreement between her parents was about, but she could tell that everything was not all right. She began to cry and to cling to her mother’s leg.
“It’s all right, Nikki,” Ellie said soothingly. “Your father and I are just talking.”
When Ellie glanced up, Robert had taken a transparent skullcap out of a drawer and was holding it in his hand. “So you’re going to give me an EEG,” she said nervously, “to make certain that I haven’t become one of them?”
“It’s not funny, Ellie,” Robert replied. “My EEGs have all been weird since I returned to New Eden. I can’t explain it, nor can the neurologist on my staff. He says he has never seen such radical changes in an individual’s brain activity, except in the case of severe injury.”
“Robert,” Ellie said, taking his hand again. “The octospiders planted a microbiological block in your memory when you departed. To protect themselves. That could be part of the explanation for your peculiar brain waves.”
Robert looked at Ellie for a long time without speaking. “They kidnapped you,” he said. “They tampered with my brain. Who knows what they may have done to our daughter? How can you possibly defend them?”
Ellie submitted to the EEG and the results showed neither irregularities nor major differences from the routine brain testing that she had undergone during the early days of the colony. Robert seemed genuinely relieved. He then told Ellie that Nakamura and the government were prepared to drop all charges against her and would let her return home with Nikki-under house arrest temporarily, of course — if she would provide information about the octospiders. Ellie thought about the request for a few minutes and then agreed.
Robert smiled and gave her a brisk hug. “Good,” he said. “You’ll start tomorrow. I’ll tell them right away.”
Richard had warned Ellie during the ride on the ostrichsaur that Nakamura might try to use her in some way, most likely to justify his continued prosecution of the war. Ellie knew that by agreeing ostensibly to help the New Eden government she was committing herself to a very dangerous course.
Nikki was unfamiliar with her old bedroom at first, but after an hour or so of playing with some of her toys, she seemed quite content. She came into the bathroom, where Ellie was taking a bath, and stood next to the tub. “When will Daddy be home?” she asked her mother.
“He’ll be late, darling,” Ellie replied. “After you’ve gone to bed.”
“I like my room, Mommy,” Nikki said. “It’s much better than that old basement.”
“I’m glad,” Ellie replied. The little girl smiled and left the bathroom. Ellie took a deep breath. It would have served no purpose, she rationalized, if I had refused and we had been returned to confinement.
4
Katie had not finished with her makeup when she heard the buzzer sound. She took a drag on the cigarette burning in the ashtray beside her and pushed the TALK button. “Who is it?” she said.
“It’s me,” came the reply.
“What are you doing here in the middle of the day?”
“I have some important news,” Captain Franz Bauer said. “Buzz me up.”
Katie inhaled deeply on the cigarette and stubbed it out. She stood up and looked at herself in the full-length mirror. She adjusted her hair slightly just before the knock on her door.
“This had better be important, Franz,” Katie said, letting him into the room, “or your ass is mud. You know I have a disciplinary meeting with two of the girls in a few minutes and I hate to be late.”
Franz grinned. “You caught them skimming again? Jesus, Katie, I’d hate for you to be my boss.”
Katie looked at Franz impatiently. “Well?” she said. “What was too important for the telephone?”
Franz had begun to walk around the living room. The room was tastefully decorated, with a black and white sofa and loveseat, two matching chairs, and several interesting objects d’art on both the end tables and the coffee table. “There’s not any chance that your apartment is bugged, is there?”
“You tell me, Mr. Police Captain,” Katie said. “Now, really, Franz,” she added, glancing at her watch, “I don’t have—”
“There is a reliable report,” Franz said, “that your father is in New Eden at this very moment.”
“Whaat?” said Katie. “How is that possible?” She was stunned. She sat down on the couch and reached for another cigarette from the coffee table.
“A lieutenant of mine is close friends with one of your father’s guards. He was told that Richard and one of those octospider creatures are being held in the basement of a private residence not far from here.”
Katie crossed the room and picked up the telephone. “Darla,” she said, “tell Lauren and Atsuko that the meeting today is off. Something has come up. Reschedule for two o’clock tomorrow afternoon… Oh, that’s right, I forgot. Dammit… All right, make it eleven in the morning. No, eleven-thirty. I don’t want to wake up too early.”
Katie returned to the couch and picked up her cigarette. She took a huge drag and blew smoke rings into the air over her head. “I want to know everything that you have heard about my father.”
Franz informed Katie that, according to his sources, her father, her sister Ellie, her niece, and an octospider had suddenly appeared, carrying a white flag, at the troop encampment on the southern edge of the Cylindrical Sea about two months ago. They had been quite relaxed and had even joked with the soldiers, Franz said. Her father and sister had told the troops that they had come forward with an octospider representative to see if an armed conflict between the two species could be avoided through negotiation.
Nakamura had ordered that the entire affair be kept secret and had taken them.
Katie was pacing around the room. “My father is not only alive,” she said excitedly, “he is here, in New Eden. Have I ever told you, Franz,” she said, “that my father is absolutely the smartest human being who ever lived?”
“About a dozen times,” Franz said. He laughed. “I can’t imagine how anyone could be smarter than you.”
Katie waved her hand. “He makes me look like an absolute idiot. He was always such a dear. I could get away with anything.” She stopped her pacing and inhaled on her cigarette. Her eyes sparkled as she exhaled the smoke. “Franz,” she said. “I must see him. I absolutely must.”
“That’s impossible, Katie,” he said. “Nobody is even supposed to know that he’s here. I could be fired, or worse, if anyone ever found out that I told you.”
“I’m pleading with you, Franz,” Katie said, crossing the room and grabbing him by the shoulders. “You know how I hate asking anyone for favors… but this is very important to me.”
Franz was delighted that for once, Katie was requesting something from him. Nevertheless, he told her the truth. “Katie,” he said, “you still don’t understand. There is an armed guard around the house at all times. The entire basement is bugged with audio and video monitors. There is just no way.”
“There’s always a way,” Katie said emphatically, “if something is important enough.” She reached inside his
