If the released intelligence has nowhere to return then it will dissipate. A stronger stimulus, applied now, might destroy those few cells within the cortex which could be of paramount importance.'
A guess but a good one and, failing all concrete evidence to the contrary, might well be true. If Marie insisted his suggestion be followed, and the result should be less than successful, his own efficiency would be thrown into doubt.
He stepped back, arms folded, hands thrust into the wide sleeves of his robe. A gaunt and watchful pillar of flame. One who noted every detail as his mind expanded to engulf a vast section of the cosmos. The world on which Avro's intelligence was lodged-how did he see it? How did he assess it? How easily did he manipulate the host body? How efficient was the transfer?
The early studies had been staggering in their implications, the data promising incredible powers. The affinity twin could give the old a new, a young and virile body. A bribe no man or woman could resist. But it went much further than that. The mind of a cyber could be placed within the brain and body of a ruler. Gone would be the need for tedious manipulation of events. Decisions, once made, could be acted on without delay.
The Cyclan could rule the entire galaxy within a matter of decades.
A dream of power soon to be regained and Marie felt the euphoria of it. The glow of mental achievement which was the only pleasure he could know.
'A positive increase in neurological activity.' One of the assistants reported to Tyzach. 'Synaptic time-lag decreasing.'
'Muscular response?'
'Improving.'
'Apply vibro-massage to extremities.' Tyzach added, 'Note muscular contraction rate and build up of fatigue toxins.'
Marie said, 'The encephalograph?'
'Functioning on both prime and secondary levels of cortical activity. Scintillometers are tracing neutron paths within the cortex.'
'Electronic scan of the basic area?'
'No, for the reason already given. The dominant half of the affinity twin must not be influenced. Once the subject has woken a full scan can be made.'
'Heart-beat accelerating.' The voice of the assistant maintained the even modulation devoid of any irritant factors, the vocal hallmark of all cybers. A moment then, 'Master! He wakes.'
Avro opened his eyes.
The bowl held a nourishing soup scientifically composed so as to give the maximum of energy-potential together with essential minerals. With it had come a portion of bread with a high percentage of roughage. Fuel for the engine which was his body, but even as he ate it Avro remembered other foods, unfamiliar tastes.
A time in which he had been an angel.
He leaned back, closing his eyes, recalling the rush and pressure of air, the strain of outspread wings as he had ridden the uprising thermals. A thing which had happened in a flash, his mind leaving his body as it fell from the prick of a needle. For a long moment he had been disorganized, the host body failing, wheeling as it fell to the rocks below, then its autonomous system came to the rescue and the pinions carried it up and safely away.
Flying.
Flying as no man had ever flown before.
Now it was over and he was back in his own body among his own kind. They had fed him, bathed him, checked his body and mind, questioned him with probing efficiency. Now, fed again, he was to learn his fate.
Marie looked up from his desk as Avro entered the office remaining silent until the aide had left them alone.
Without preamble he said, 'It is the decision of the Council that you failed in your mission. Do you agree with their finding?'
'No.'
'You claim to have succeeded?'
'Not wholly.' Avro continued, 'There are degrees of success. I went to find Dumarest and I found him. That was not failure.'
'You went to capture him,' corrected Marie. 'You elected to do so and the Council met your every demand as regards supplies and men. A special ship. A special crew. The entire resources of the Cyclan placed at your disposal. Yet you returned with nothing. Dumarest eluded you and retains the secret of the affinity twin. We still lack the correct sequence in which the fifteen units must be assembled. The Council has determined that your lack of positive results illustrates your inefficiency and merits the penalty of failure.'
Total extinction, both body and brain reduced to ash. His personal awareness, his ego, destroyed along with the rest.
Avro felt an inward chill as he considered it. An unusual reaction; as a cyber he should be a stranger to fear. And the punishment was normal; the penalty paid by all who failed. Marie himself would suffer the same end should he demonstrate his inefficiency.
Avro said, 'I failed to effect Dumarest's capture, that is true, but even in defeat things can be learned.'
'Not to underestimate your opponent?'
'I did not underestimate him. But his luck, the factor which seems to play such a prominent part in his like and which I suspect stems from some paraphysical source, saved him yet again. But I am not wholly to blame. The crew failed to operate with the expected efficiency. No matter what happened to me they should have taken Dumarest.'
A mistake-explained by the debilitating effects of the journey, bluff, fear of losing their quarry, of killing their superior.
Dumarest was clever, Marie had never doubted it, but only now had he come to appreciate how elusive the man had made himself. Was it because of some paraphysical power he possessed? Certainly his luck seemed incredible at times. A trap set, sprung- and still he had managed to escape. Using the dedication of the servants of the Cyclan to their master to aid his plan.
What had it been like to fly?
Avro had done his best to tell them; spools of tape were filled with his report, but none of them could convey what he must have really known. Dead that knowledge would be lost. Alive it could be used to spur him to greater efforts.
Avro said, as if following the other's thoughts, 'I know Dumarest now better than before. I've met him face to face, talked with him, tested his resolution. Incorporated into previous data the experience could be the turning point. The next time I shall not fail.'
'Are you asking for another chance?'
'Eliminating me will gain the Cyclan nothing. If I try and again fail what would have been lost? To discard a useful tool is both illogical and inefficient.'
Arguments bolstering Marie's own conviction. Avro had lived too long, had served too well not to have value. His failure must be punished but total extinction need not be the answer. Not how. Not when he could be of use.
The depiction of the galaxy blossomed into life as Marie touched a control. It expanded as he operated another, stars streaming outward from the center to cast swaths and streaks of transient brilliance over their faces and robes, the utilitarian furnishings of the office. As it settled he indicated a glowing point, a tiny speck beside it.
'There,' he said. 'Heaven.'
A world of soft winds and soaring hills, of rolling plains and wide-stretching seas. Of crystalline nests hugging precipitous faces. Of winged figures which rose to wheel and dive and rise again.
And, suddenly, Avro was an angel again.
He felt the lash of wind against his face and body, relived the euphoria induced by the thrumming pulse of blood through veins and arteries, the drumbeat of his heart loud in his ears. Rising to soar, to glide while beneath him the terrain shrank to the dimensions of a toy. To lunge at others of his own kind, to drive off arrogant males, to circle the females, ushering them back to the nest.
'Avro.' Marie was facing him, his eyes questing. 'Is something wrong?'
