'You're thinking it was lip-synched for each of us?' he demanded. 'No. Forget lip-synching. Maybe you could get away with that for European languages. Mandarin Chinese, no. DuValier was actually speaking those words, Dan.'
Dannerman nodded. 'But that wasn't exactly what I was thinking. What I'm thinking is that it wasn't lip- synched, and that's the part that's hard to understand. Martin? Did this Colonel duValier know all those languages?'
Delasquez looked indignant. 'That ass? No! I was astonished to hear him even speak Spanish. I do not even know how he succeeded in getting a spacecraft on course to Starlab, he is such a notorious fool.'
Pat was looking at Dannerman expectantly. When he didn't speak she prodded. 'What's your point, Dan?'
'I wish I knew. The whole thing sounds funny.'
Patrice nodded. 'I know what you mean. If I saw that on TV at home I'd turn it right off. 'Beloved Leaders,' for Christ's sake! Only-well, if what he says is the truth…'
Jimmy Lin finished the sentence for her. 'Then,' he said, 'the world is really in the deep shit.'
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Dan
Dannerman didn't have to be told that the world was in trouble. It always was. That was the reason it hired him and others like him, to do their best to protect it against itself.
Now here was the biggest threat of all, and shouldn't-he asked himself-shouldn't he be doing something about it? There was only one answer to that for Jim Daniel Dannerman. The question wasn't whether. It was what.
And to that he had no answer. Every other time he had found himself in harm's way he had known exactly what he wanted to accomplish. If he'd been in any doubt, Colonel Hilda Morrisey or someone like her would have spelled it out for him at the briefing. There was always a hierarchy of defined objectives. First, you stayed alive. Second, you got the evidence. Third, you called in the strike force and watched the malefactors being led away.
Here there was no briefing to tell him what to do. There was also no evidence to get, no way to get out and no strike force waiting to be called. And here the stakes were higher than they had ever been before. It was the entire population of Earth who were at risk now-Hilda herself, and sweet Anita Berman from Theater Aristophanes Two, and his landlady Rita, as well as everyone at the Dannerman Observatory… as well as everyone else he'd ever known in all his life, villains and colleagues and civilians alike. He wondered what they were doing now. He wondered how much comfort they could take in the promise of help from the 'Beloved Leaders.'
And he wondered, too, just how much help those Beloved Leaders had any real intention of giving. There just wasn't enough data! He knew nothing useful of those shadowy figures, had no idea what sort of bizarre alien personality traits motivated them. And had little reason to believe that benevolence was among them.
He opened his eyes when he heard Pat raising her voice. She was saying something harsh to Jimmy Lin, who was grinning as he held her by one arm. She wrenched herself free, saw Dannerman looking at her and came over to sit beside him. 'Bastard,' she said.
He didn't take it personally, but, 'You mean Jimmy?' he asked, just to make sure.
'Who else? You'd think he'd have enough decency to give it a rest, the way things are.'
'I take it he was hitting on you.'
'Me, and Patsy, and Patrice-he doesn't care. He just wants to get laid. He said-' She hesitated, then shook her head. 'He said what he always says, so what's the use of talking about it? Forget him.' Then she looked apologetic. 'Did I interrupt something?'
'Nothing that was going anywhere,' he admitted.
'Well, if you're sure… Listen, I've been wanting to ask you something, Dan. What did you mean about it's being funny?'
'Funny? Oh, right. I almost forgot. Well, it is funny. Why would Dopey show us that message?'
'Why? Hum.' She thought for a moment, then said, 'Yeah, I see what you mean. Dopey doesn't do anything that doesn't do him some good, so what good can that do him?'
'That's the question, all right. I don't suppose you happen to have an answer?'
'I wish I did. I wish I knew how much of it to believe, too.'
'So do I.' Dannerman thought about telling her some of his own doubts, but there wasn't much point; they weren't clear in his own mind. Anyway, he saw that Pat was glaring again at Jimmy. Who was standing over the cooker, waiting for his next meal to heat, and leering at them.
'Bastard,' she said again. 'Not that I don't understand how he feels. It's been a long time-but here? With everybody watching? Although I have to say he thought about that part, too.'
'Oh?' said Dannerman, surprised to find a sudden interest growing.
She looked at him, her expression unreadable. 'Well, yes. Like in an airplane, you know, when you get a couple of blankets from the stew. There are all those blankets from Starlab. Then- well, did Jimmy ever explain the Rabbit Nibbles the Hare to you?'
'Frequently,' he said-surprised again to find that he was feeling just a tiny bit of unexpected jealousy. 'Is that what you and Jimmy talk about?'
'It's what Jimmy talks about,' she corrected. 'All the time.' She was still studying his face as she added, 'But, listen, Dan, just for the record-I mean, in case you're interested-Jimmy and I never actually did anything. Not now, or ever. The only thing I ever wanted from Jimmy Lin was for him to help me make a lot of money.'
One more surprise: the feeling of relief. But, 'Always thinking of the big bucks, aren't you?' he chided. He meant it lightly, but her expression changed.
'I don't want to be poor,' she said.
'I'm sorry-'
'No, you were right. I wanted the bucks. That's why I wanted Starlab so badly.'
'Our dear old family lawyer told me you had made some bad investments,' Dannerman said, remembering.
'Did he now? Our dear old family lawyer has a big mouth, but that wasn't it. Well,' she said, reconsidering, 'I did make one real bad investment, maybe. That was Ferdie. My ex-husband-the sweet one. He'd spend the whole day lying naked by the pool, communing with nature, when he wasn't writing poetry. Ferdie was very Zen; made me learn my mantra and everything. But after a while I got tired of having this big, healthy man around the house who couldn't even remember to flush his own toilet, but I couldn't let him starve, could I? So before the divorce I endowed this lectureship for poetry and got him put in charge of it. I figured that would keep him eating for the rest of his life.'
'And your generosity bankrupted you?'
'Well, not directly. It cost me a bundle, but I had plenty left… but, on the other hand, yes, I guess it did, because after I'd laid out the cash to finance the lectureship-and, believe me, Dan-Dan, I was generous-the next thing that happened was Ferdie's lawyers came to see my lawyers and said, 'Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about how we're going to divide up the community property.' '
'Skunks,' he said. The diffuse light that came from nowhere made her unkempt hair radiant.
'Lawyers,' she corrected. 'He got some really good ones working for him, I'll say that much. They had every last thing I owned on their database. I had to give him half-which meant I had to sell off a lot of stuff that I didn't really want to sell, to keep the house and the personal stuff. But Ferdie really was a sweet man.' She stretched and yawned. 'Now you,' she ordered.
He considered. 'What do you want to know?'
'Everything. Especially about the women. Start with whoever it was who kept you from collecting Uncle Cubby's inheritance.'
He leaned forward and lifted her hand to kiss, and the hell with who might be watching. It was the first time in a long time-maybe, he reflected, the first time ever-that he'd had this kind of boy-girl talk without having to lie through at least some parts of it, to cover up what he was really doing. But now there was nothing to lie about. 'That would be Use, I guess. In a way, anyway. She was in the Mads-'
