Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

of the risk my profession always ran, and one that all of us accepted. I also had no real fear of routine psych probes or even physical torture. I was trained and propped by the best for that. But I have to admit that a total assault on my mind, enough to break it, was possible. So although they would still get no information from such an effort, they could, in fact, destroy me mentally. It was always a possibility, one that revolted me.

“Do you want to become a Goodtime Girl, Bul?” she asked, sensing my discomfort.

“No. Of course not,” I told her, my voice weak.

“Well, here is what we are going to do. Two of those people were in the city of Rochande, more than sixteen hundred kilometers southwest of here. It so happens we run three trains between Gray Basin and Rochande, two of which are freights. It is the passenger-freight combination train that interests us, since we have some information that at least one contact was made on that train. We intend to assign you to that train, on a regular basis, as a normal promotion. Since the trip, with preparation and cleanup, takes a full shift, you will have two residences, one here and one there, and work different directions on alternate days. We believe that, sooner or later, either on the train or at Rochande, you will be contacted.”

It figured. Bait. But the actual routine sounded like fun, and it would give me the first opening in my own little campaign. “And when—if—I’m contacted?”

“You will join. You will go along with what they ask. We don’t want you to just report a contact. We want you to join the organization, perhaps for some time. We want to know who these people—this cell—are. We want their leader, because she will be the only one with enough information to take us further.”

I nodded as several questions immediately leaped to mind. “Ah, Major, I may not be very old but I was trained for organization and administration. I know how these political things work. First of all, I will never know their real names, most likely, and only one of them will know mine, unless we run across each other by accident in the street or on the job.”

“But you’ll know what they look like and you’re a bright boy. You’ll be able to figure out a lot of information about many of them. Somebody will make a slip about her family, or somebody else will betray knowledge that will indicate her Guild, at least. Eventually we’ll have pictures from your description to match with our computers, and we’ll come up with a fair number of them. Don’t worry—we understand the limits of this work better than you do.”

“All right, I’ll accept that. But the one that they killed worries me. That means they have some way to check sincerity. One of ’em’s probably either a psych or a technician for a psych lab. That’s going to be hard to fake.”

She gave that smile again. “You are a bright boy. Your objection can be very easily disposed of. The equipment has to be basic and portable. They can’t possibly do a full job on you. The solution is very simple, then—you tell them all about this meeting and you tell them about me.”

“Huh?”

“You tell them you’re playing along with us, but you really sympathize with them. That will be the truth— don’t bother to deny it. The ambivalence will be enough to confuse their devices, our psychs assure me. You’re still new enough and fresh enough to cause no problem on that score.”

I frowned and looked nervous at the suggestion, although she was perfectly correct and it was exactly what I was planning to do anyway. “How sure are you about that?”

“Very,” she assured me. “Believe me, we have the best here. And it worked before. The third one, the one whose mind is gone, was one of ours. Unfortunately for her, she went too far over to their side and tried to double- cross us. In that case, what happened to her will happen to you, Bul. Remember that.”

I shivered. “I’ll remember,” I assured her. “But—sooner or later they’ll rig some way to make a final test, and that’ll be with the full gear. Ill have to go through that before I’ll really know who they are.”

She nodded. “We anticipate that, although we have no direct knowledge. There is some evidence that this operation is-Confederacy-backed, by person or persons unknown elsewhere in the Diamond who are, if not in the Confederacy’s employ, at least working against us. When that kind of test comes, you will be ready. The one who went before you passed it, we think—rwith the help of our own people. If you get into trouble on that, we will give you a basic psych overlay that will fool them. We’re certain it will, since it will simply build on those anti-State parts of your own nature and background. We will make a rebel out of you, and then we will unmake it.”

I could hardly tell her that I could make any psych probe read exactly what I wanted, probably including their best. “All right—I understand so far. But if this works so well, why did they kill one of us?”

“She wasn’t working for us, directly. We mishandled the situation and have learned from our mistake. We made no mistakes the second time—except that she got to the point where she decided to play us for suckers. You’re our third, Bul. We have all the prep techniques down pat now, and we’ve covered our trail on the last two very well. Nobody, and I mean,nobody, except you and me knows about this arrangement right now. At the proper time, two others in TMS, one a top psych, will be informed—and that will be all. There is no recording in this office, no record at all of what happened here. A very convincing and totally fictional dressing-down for a minor infraction is being substituted.”

“Okay. I admit I’m very bored cleaning buses and I would sure like some more credit. Besides I can play a pretty good part. It wasn’t easy getting into that reception back on Halstansir, you know, particularly carrying a sword.”

She liked that. I wondered if she were native, as her accent suggested, or a convict. Probably I would never know.

“I am glad you approve, Bul—but you realize you have no choice in this matter?”

I nodded. “I’ve had very few choices in my life.”

“Now, we’ll get on to the procedures for reporting. You will not report to or trust your terminal or other TMS officers. I will give you a code which can be keyed from any terminal. It is simply a variation on getting your credit and debit statement from the Central Bank—and it witt give you that. But it will also be a signal to me. Key it, and I will know, and you will be picked up for a routine interrogation as you were today. Understand?”

I nodded. “One thing, though—what about Ching?”

“While we have been having this talk, Ching was picked up and taken to the psych used only by my special branch. Oh, don’t look so worried—there will be no change. All we’ve done is to reinforce a weakness already obvious in her. She practically worships you now. From this point, that will simply dominate. You’ll notice no change, nor will she even be aware that she’s been to a psych—as far as she’s concerned, she’ll have been waiting for you in your room all this time. But she will be very uncritical of your attitudes and inclinations on the social and political front. She was born and raised here. As a loyal native, she would bave turned you in for your own good, or reported anything odd to us. She won’t now. If you say to betray the government, she will go along with you. If you join the Opposition, she will go along and accept it. And if you later betray the Opposition, she will think all the more highly of you for it. They will have no trouble passing her on that basis. That is one reason we thought of her as a logical pair-mate for you. As with most totally frustrated people, she is an incurable fantasizing romantic.”

I didn’t like the idea of messing with Ching’s mind—she had enough problems as it was—but it didn’t seem too bad, and it would keep her out of trouble as long as I was all right. However, she would now be exposed to exactly the same dangers—and fate—from either side that I faced, and she was not well prepared for it. I liked her too much not to worry about what might happen, but I was a. professional. If it had to be, it had to be—and, if it came down to her or me, I knew I would have no such romantic notions.

CHAPTER SIX A Disloyal Opposition

Ching was, as promised, no different on my return than when I’d left her and, also as advertised, she told me that she’d been waiting in the room for me worriedly for the previous few hours. If I hadn’t been told differently, I would have sworn she was narrating the correct version of events, rather than just what she was told to remember.

Two days later we were both summoned to the Guild Hall for an audience with a top-grade supervisor. I