“You have been checking on Apheans, have you?”
“Yes, I have. You see, I didn’t call him a demon, did I? Even though you do sometimes yourself.” She knelt beside Adrian’s chair and took his hands. “I’m not saying he doesn’t like you. He probably does, in so far as he’s capable. But he can’t help what he is, Adrian. ‘Incapable of learning proper socialization.’ Do you know what that means? It means that when it’s more profitable for him to destroy you than to preserve your life, he will. And he’ll probably be a little surprised that you didn’t expect it.”
“Io, sweetheart, I’ve read these pages, too.” He clasped her hands.
“Have you? Did you read what some of these children did, before the government realized what was happening and outlawed that birth-mix? It’s no accident that every Aphean on record was killed before his fortieth birthday.” ‘Tal hasn’t killed anybody lately.”
“That we know about. You’re anthropomorphizing, Adrian.”
Well, well.
She went on, “He looks like a human, walks like a human, talks like a human … more or less. So you start to expect him to be one all the way through. But he isn’t, Adrian. This is a careless mistake. Forgive me for saying so, but I’m your wife and I don’t want to see you hurt. He’s your little piece of the Outside you’ve taken up just for yourself—all right, that much you could get away with. But now you’ve grown jaded and you’re bringing your panthers into the room without tranquilizers.”
“I would never do that.”
Her eyes had teared up in her passion, and now she sniffled. “I was speaking metaphorically.”
“So was I.” He kissed her. “What a package of surprises you are. I suppose Prudence was right when she said she’d see herself revenged one day.”
“You haven’t been listeningr She hit his thigh with her fist, still sniffling.
“I heard every word. Listen, darling, you see that light over there that I turned on? By the table?”
“Yes.”
“I turn it on whenever I come home, and now I want you to do it, too.” She looked up at him, puzzled. “It’s a jammer, love—in case anybody is trying to listen in.”
“Do you think somebody is?” Her voice was shocked. “I have no reason to think so. And we guard against it. But there’s no harm in being safe, so if there’s any possibility I’m going to be discussing policy, I turn it on.” She frowned, considering. “And now you’re telling me to. Why now?”
“Because, my beautiful counselor, you seem to be metamorphosing into an adviser on a par with Brandon Fischer. But without the beard, of course.” He kissed her again.
Was he humoring her? She said, “Does this mean you’ll take back the security ministry?”
“No,” he said, “But it means you can give me a hard time about it as often as you like. And any other opinions you may have in stock.”
She hauled herself into his lap and threw one arm around his shoulder. “Adrian—”
“No. I don’t let Brandon Fischer shoot me down more than so many times a day, and I won’t let you either. Save it for tomorrow, adviser.” He put his lips to her neck. “Oh, the benefits of a physical relationship with one’s cabinet. The options expand before me like a land of dreams.”
“Do you think that they’ve been listening to us make love?” she asked thoughtfully.
“Maybe.” He pushed back her hair. “At least it will bring some joy to their barren, chalklike existences.”
“How do you know they’re barren and chalklike?” She opened his robe with conscious boldness, pulling the silk sash very slowly out of its loops and dropping it over one of his shoulders. He laughed gently.
“Compared with ours? How could they not be?”
Chapter 51
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell
SHAKESPEARE, Macbeth
Macbeth: What is the night?
Lady Macbeth: Almost at odds with morning, which is which.
SHAKESPEARE, Macbeth
Hartley Quince was waiting for him in Transport. Will walked down the ramp of the shortie feeling very selfconscious; aware that Hart had paid a lot to get him back, aware that he was out of uniform, and aware before all else that this was Transport, Opal, where he’d halfexpected to never be again.
Hart raised an eyebrow as he approached. “Well? All over our little Panic attack?”
“That wasn’t the Panic,” said Will. “That was annoyance and worry. You haven’t seen the Panic, believe me.”
“I guess I’ll have to.” He motioned for Will to fall in beside him. They were heading, Will guessed, for the ecclesiastical administration section. “A little update for you: We’ve lost that excellent and valuable forgery of a crown to the Diamond: and we’ve lost the original in that direction, too.”
“Oh,” said Will, awkwardly. What does one say? “Yes, Things were a little difficult for me at one point, but never mind. That was then and this is now. By the way, you are not to officially admit anything of the kind.”
“I see.”
“There was also a rather odd mental burp we all took a few days ago; no doubt some one will mention it to you. You felt nothing on the planet, I take it?”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Just checking. Good to have you back, Willie.”
“Yeah.” Will had some items on his own agenda to bring up. “Listen, Hart, I was in that Station hospital for a while. I heard a lot of the things they did—to other people, I mean.” They entered the lift for the administrative levels. “And they drugged me up a lot of the time, even when I told them not to.”
“Well? What of it?”
Will gazed at him directly. “You didn’t tell them to fit me up with anything while I was over there? Throw in one of their little Empire gadgets while they had me on hand?”
Hart looked back coldly. “Try not to be any more paranoid than you can help, Willie.”
“Something to keep track of me, or keep me in line?”
“Willie, I will say this once more only. I
