'The easy answer, Earl, and the most obvious solution, but it's not for her. She needs to have an affinity with the child. She isn't an ordinary woman and can't accept an ordinary baby. Toyanna could tell you why; it has something to do with the rejection syndrome, a mental repulsion due to her attribute.' Vosper shook his head and sighed. 'A pity. I hate to see anyone living in hell especially someone like Govinda. She's a nice person.'
'Maybe too nice.' Massak frowned at Toetzer. 'Are you making love to those cards or stacking the deck? Come on, let's play.'
* * *
Vaclav came out of the dusk like a nocturnal bird of prey, scowling, infuriated at the brusqueness of the command which had brought him to Kooga's office. To the doctor when they were together he snapped, 'You summoned and I've responded. But if you have any more complaints as to unauthorized parking I shall not be amused.'
'Sit.' Kooga waved to a chair. Like the office it was of good quality and excellent taste. 'Let us understand each other. As Chief Guardian of Lychen you have a duty to-'
'Protect the persons, property and privileges of the ruling Houses,' interrupted Vaclav. 'Basically that is the sum total of my responsibility. To take care of the Insham, the Vattari, the Cerney, the Karroum. Especially the Karroum.'
'You don't like them?'
'They own most of the planet. They crack the biggest whip. When they say 'jump' we ordinary people ask 'how high?' I think you know that, Doctor.'
'And if I do?'
'You have the answer to your question.' Vaclav added, impatiently, 'There are things needing my attention. Why did you send for me?'
'A problem.' Kooga opened a drawer and produced a recording. He laid it before him on the desk. 'After our last meeting Mirza Karroum had me do something for her. She was convinced the cyber could help her locate Dumarest. At her insistence I connected a microphone to an electrode connected to the cyber's cranium so as to feed in the output of a tape. I also connected another from his larynx to a recorder. It was her hope that, by verbal stimulus, he would gain remission and be able to respond.'
Vaclav said, 'Would it work?'
'Theoretically, yes.'
'Did it?'
For answer Kooga touched the recording with the tip of a finger and said, 'We are dealing with the Cyclan. On Lychen the Karroum are powerful but we both know that if the Cyclan wished they would be ruined and destroyed. Also, and this you can understand, I do not take kindly to threats.'
Vaclav studied the doctor's face, seeing beneath the surface to the injured pride, the resentment which he knew so well. Familiar emotions which he had seen and used often before, but Kooga was not the subject for interrogation even if a charge could be made. Even so he could be led.
'So you made a decision,' said Vaclav. 'What?'
'This is in the strictest confidence, Chief.'
'Of course.'
'I had to make a decision and arranged a compromise. I made sure that the skull-connection was inoperative. The connecting wire wasn't quite making contact.'
'So you got nothing.' Vaclav mimicked a report. 'Too bad, my lady, I did my best but the cyber failed to respond.' He shrugged. 'Where's the problem?'
'A nurse went into his room to make a routine check. During it she noticed unusual activity of the encephalograph. She also made physical contact with the patient. This was within the scope of her duties but-' Kooga paused then finished with a rush. 'She must have moved the wire or touched the skull-connector and made it operable. She probably thought it a part of the monitoring device and did a routine check. This is the result.' Again he touched the recording. 'The final part contains the cyber's prediction of where Dumarest is to be found.'
'Where?'
'Chenault's. The Valley of Light.'
'Are you sure?'
'No. How can I be? The prediction comes from the cyber, not myself, but how often are they wrong?' Kooga frowned. 'You seem troubled.'
Vaclav said, 'At Mirza Karroum's insistence I ordered a wide-scan, high-fly survey. Costly, but what the Karroum want they get. Something which could have been the raft Dumarest used was spotted to the east of the mountain where Chenault has his home. But it was over a hundred miles distant. Why would he have wanted to walk so far?'
'To hide.'
'From us?'
'From the Cyclan. Listen.'
The voice from the recorder was weak, thin, drifting from fast to slow as if time, for the speaker, held a dimension different and more variable than for others. Words which blurred, changed, struck with sudden, crystalline clarity.
'It ends there,' said Kooga. 'The part where he mentions Chenault. That's the part Mirza took notice of.'
'She heard it?'
'I couldn't stop her. I thought the recording would be blank so there was no need to antagonize her. Later, after I'd played it again, I sent for you.'
'Why?'
'I told you the encephalograph showed unusual activity,' said Kooga. 'The wild variations from the normal seemed to be aligned to these spoken words. That was to be expected but there were other, wilder variations, all unfamiliar, but it's my guess there's a connecting link. The stimulus must have jarred his awareness and concentrated it on a special area. Now listen again. Really listen.'
Again the words, the thread of varying sound, but this time Vaclav concentrated harder, using his skill and training to filter noise from the relevant data, to fill in the missing pieces.
As the recording ended Kooga said, 'He was explaining what happened in the room. How Dumarest killed a man who had killed. That must have been Perotto. Then comes the interesting part; the reason the Cyclan are so interested in Dumarest. It seems he holds a secret they want. A pity it isn't made clear but there is no doubt as to his importance to them.' Pausing he added, meaningfully, 'His importance and his value.'
'Alive.'
'What?'
'Dead he would be valueless,' explained Vaclav. 'Mirza was right; he didn't kill Perotto in self-defense. If they fought it was because Perotto wanted to save his life. We know that he failed. Which makes Dumarest guilty of murder.'
'A technicality.' Kooga dismissed it with a gesture. 'Avro was the only witness and he would never put the man he came to find in danger. Soon the representatives of the Cyclan will arrive on Lychen. If we can hand Dumarest over to them, alive and well, we can ask our own price. Do I make myself clear, Chief?'
'You want me to find him, hold him, keep him from harm while you negotiate with the Cyclan.'
'Yes.' Kooga nodded, satisfied. 'I assume you have no objections to making a fortune? To being rich and freed of your present restraints?'
'None.'
'Then we are partners?'
Vaclav said, dryly, 'In what? If Mirza Karroum knows where Dumarest is she's on her way to kill him by now.'
Chapter Six
