'The what?'
'The Mad King Ludwigs. The Bavarian secessionist movement. Well, the terrorists; that's what they really were. I was undercover, investigating them, when Uncle Cubby died, and I'd cut all my links with home. We were on the run, Use and I, although I always kept my team leader informed. And Use finally must've rumbled me. Or someone else did, and tipped her off.'
'Who were you running from?'
'The Bay-Kahs-the Bundes Kriminalamt. The cops. They were after us because we'd tried to blow up the Kunstmuseum as a protest. I made sure the bomb didn't actually go off- maybe that's what made the Mads suspicious-but we had to get out of there. Anyway, one night Use and I had a lot to drink in this pension in the Alps. Now that I think of it, I was the one doing most of the drinking. Then I just went to sleep, not a care in the world, and when something woke me up an hour or so later, in the middle of the night, Use was gone and four big bastards with hockey sticks were crashing through the door after my blood. I knew them all. They were aktion-the organization's muscle men. I'd seen them doing their stuff at demonstrations, but I hadn't expected them to be coming after me just then.'
He leaned back, meditating. 'You know how you're never prepared for the really big challenges? If you knew something like that was coming up you'd get a good night's sleep first and make sure your reflexes were all tuned… Mine weren't. I was still half in die bag and all tangled up in the bedclothes, and there
I was.
'But you overpowered them anyway.'
'Oh, no. I did break the arm of one of them, but the other three beat the shit out of me, until Hilda got there.'
'Another of your women?'
That made him laugh. 'Jesus, no. My team leader. She'd been surveilling the building. When she saw Use come out and the leg-breakers go in she decided she'd better make sure I was all right. Which I was, after I healed up for a while, though I had to stay out of sight for a month or so-the Mads had planted a couple people in the police, and they had to be collected first.' He scratched himself. 'Hilda had intercepted the lawyer's notice about the estate,' he added, 'but she didn't pass it on, because she didn't want to blow my cover.'
'Poor bastard.'
She was yawning as she said it, which made him yawn too. 'Dirt poor,' he agreed drowsily. Well, except for what the Bureau had been putting away for him, but he couldn't collect that until he retired… which didn't seem like a very early probability… unless, he corrected himself, you considered that in a way he was, perforce, pretty much retired already…
His thoughts were going in circles again. He abandoned them and let himself drift off. It was getting to be a habit to fall asleep with Pat Adcock on his shoulder, he thought, and couldn't decide whether it was a good one or not.
His body had its own opinions. When Dopey appeared again and roused the whole cell Pat's proximity had started a few glands flowing; and Dannerman woke with a major erection and the rapidly dissipating recollection of some more than normally erotic dreams. Beside him Pat was scrambling to her feet. 'Come on, Dan!' she urged him. 'In a minute,' he said, waving her away. By the time he felt fit to stand up everyone else was clustered around Dopey and his two Docs as they dispensed more largesse.
'I have brought you more blankets and food,' Dopey said unnecessarily. 'You do not presently need them, I am aware, but there is always the risk that supplies may be temporarily interrupted. Meanwhile, I have some urgent business.'
'What kind of business?' Patsy asked, but was outweighed by two or three others demanding to know what kind of 'temporary interruptions' Dopey was talking about.
'Merely more of the difficulties we have already experienced,' he explained. 'They will be dealt with. Now, as to the more important matters-'
But Rosaleen, poking around in the mounting heap of supplies the Docs were lugging in, had more important matters of her own. Arms akimbo, she faced Dopey angrily. 'We need more than food and blankets,' she said. 'We need medical supplies. We need-'
'We need to know what's going on on Earth, too,' Patsy put in.
Dopey said defensively, 'I cannot promise that. I do not have authority to make such promises. I have in fact asked those who decide for permission to provide you with additional data, but I have not received an answer. You do not understand how difficult things have become.'
'I don't care how difficult things have become.'
'But, you see, at present I am unable to reach the ones who could give permission. Just at present, that is to say.'
'Everything's 'just at present,' ' Jimmy Lin sneered, and Dannerman, looking at the stack of food packages, had a comment of his own:
'You must expect us to be here for a long time.'
'That is also not for me to decide, but the reason for the large quantity is that I do not know when I will be able to get more.
I have said this. Now we must deal with the urgent matters. Do you have any questions about the announcement made by your Colonel duValier?'
Dannerman was surprised that that was the 'urgent' business, but it was Pat who spoke up. 'We've got plenty of questions, but they're not about Colonel duValier. For instance, these 'Horch' the colonel talks about in what you transmitted to the Earth. Are they related to the problems you're having?'
Dopey didn't answer immediately. Dannerman expected him to thrust his paws into the muff and go again into the thinking-it-over trance, but he merely looked pained-as much as a kitten face can look pained. Finally he announced, 'There is a disjunction here. You are correct in one respect. The Horch are indeed responsible for our problems, because they are evil. They have performed acts of terrorism which have caused great hardship for us. You will understand what terrorists are like, Agent Dannerman, from your own experiences with Colonel Hilda Morrisey. The Horch are criminals in much the same way as your human terrorists, but far more dangerous than any you can imagine. However, you have made a false assumption.'
'Which is?' Dannerman demanded.
'That message has not been transmitted. The reason for that is that Colonel duValier has not yet arrived on Starlab.'
'Hah!' Jimmy Lin shouted. 'I knew it! It was a damn simulation.'
'The problem was not understood,' Dopey admitted. 'It will be corrected.'
Something was bothering Dannerman. He asked, 'Why bother with simulating somebody who isn't there? If you wanted to send a message that seemed to come from a human being, why not use one of us?'
Dopey hesitated again. 'That would not be effective,' he said, and would not say why. The only subject that he seemed willing to discuss was what their reactions had been to the message, and when they began asking questions in return-what would be in the second message? What other languages would it be delivered in?-he did not respond at all.
Not until, at a venture, Pat asked, 'Are we in personal danger from these Horch?'
That made Dopey pause to think once more. 'At this time, no,' he said at length.
'Oh, fine,' Patrice muttered. 'You're making me feel all cuddly warm and protected.'
'I understand you. That is sarcasm, meaning the opposite,' Dopey said. 'You will, however, be protected.'
'By you?'
'I? No, of course not I. That protection will come from a far more advanced race than my own.'
'Meaning,' Dannerman asked, 'those odd-looking scarecrows we saw on TV?'
Dopey winced. 'That was an unfair picture our enemies transmitted. The Beloved Leaders come from a light- gravity planet and thus are rather frail in physique.'
He paused as Jimmy Lin made a sound of disgust. ' 'Beloved Leaders,' ' Lin sneered.
Dopey looked inquiring. 'Your tone of voice indicates disapproval,' he said.
'You damn bet it does! 'Beloved Leaders' is what the old Koreans called their dictators. That's not a good
