DeVore met the Governor’s eyes, smiling. “Later, perhaps. They’re new, aren’t they?”
Schenck nodded and came down the wide, slatted steps, tightening the sash about his formal robe. “The very latest designs. They’re what we call ‘interims.’ Part vegetable, part animal. The end result of thirty years’ research. Beautiful, aren’t they?”
DeVore studied them a moment. To be honest, part of him found them quite ugly—an offense to natural form. Even so, Schenck was right. If they weren’t beautiful in themselves, then the idea of them was beautiful. This, too, was something new. Something that had not existed before Man had made it exist. Thinking that, he felt a small thrill pass through him and looked back at Schenck, nodding.
“I’ll send you some,” Schenck said, coming across.
“Thanks. So how did it go?”
Schenck had just returned from the official reception held to celebrate his reelection for a third term as Governor of the Martian Colonies. The cream of Martian society had been there in Kang Kua City tonight, representatives of all nineteen “Colonies.” “Well enough,” Schenck answered, stopping a few ch’i from where DeVore stood. “You know how these things are, Howard. My face simply aches from smiling.”
“I suppose it was buzzing with the latest news, neh?” “What else? After all, it’s official now.” Schenck looked away, laughing to himself. “You can’t imagine how many times I was drawn aside tonight. If I’d said yes once to endorsing a candidate, I’d have had to say it fifty times, and as there’ll be only twenty-six representatives from Mars, that could have got me into serious trouble.”
DeVore studied him a moment, then lowered his eyes. “And the other
matter?”
Schenck glanced at him, then leaned across, plucking one of the masklike flowers from its stem. There was a faint puckering of the flower’s expression, a sudden release of fragrance. “Our friends the merchants, you mean?”
DeVore nodded.
Schenck lifted the flower to his face and nibbled at the edge, then turned, meeting DeVore’s eyes. “They’re pleased, Howard. Very pleased indeed.”
“So the prototypes were useful?”
Schenck felt in the pocket of his pau, then handed something across. It was a tiny box, like a pillbox. DeVore opened it. The insect—a termite, its segmented body the color of darkest night—stared up at him from beneath the translucent ice, its compound eyes inquisitive. “It’s semiautonomous,” Schenck explained, looking down into the box. “You can send it into the offices of your rivals and it will serve as your eyes and ears. It has augmented sensory apparatus and a memory capacity rivaling the field comsets Security use. Moreover, you can program it either to look for something specific, or—and this is the really clever part—you can simply trust it to look for the unusual. It seems that all you have to do is give it an idea of what it ought to find, and then let it get on with the job.”
DeVore smiled, remembering when his copy had sent the prototype for this from earth. This was Kim Ward’s work—he had designed this little beauty. “A bug,” he said. “An intelligent bug.”
“A semiautonomous robotic unit,” Schenck corrected him. “It merely looks like a bug.”
DeVore closed the lid and slipped it into his pocket. Schenck smiled, making no attempt to take it back.
“And the Machine?”
Schenck lifted the flower to his mouth, taking another tiny bite. “I’ve had it shipped. It’ll be there in two days. I saw to it myself.” “And they’re going to pay for that? As agreed?” Schenck nodded, then threw the flower down. It lay there, its smile fixed and eternal. “They’ve paid for everything. What’s more, the dome will be ready two weeks from now. To your specifications, naturally.” “Good.” But he was thinking that he would have to do something about that.
To stop word getting out.
“Oh, and one more thing before I go and change. An old friend of yours has turned up. I thought you might like to meet him.” “A friend?” He looked past Schenck, suddenly aware of the figure on the terrace. A big, broad-chested man in uniform. He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out who it was, then gave a great roar of delight, making his way across.
“Will! When did you get here? Why didn’t you let me know?” Auden came down the steps and embraced DeVore, then stood back, coming to attention, his head lowered.
“I got in yesterday. From Callisto. I was going to contact you at once, but the Governor asked me not to. He wanted to surprise you.” DeVore let his hand rest on Auden’s shoulder a moment, then, still smiling broadly, he looked across at Schenck. “For once I’m glad you did, Hung-li. This is a marvelous surprise!”
Schenck came over to them. “You’ve things to talk about, I’m sure, so I’ll leave you. I’ve got a call to make, but I’ll join you in a while, neh?” DeVore watched Schenck go, then turned back, taking Auden’s arm. “Well, Captain William Auden, so where have you been? And what in the gods’ names have you been up to? I thought you were dead!” Auden laughed. “I’ve felt like it some days, to be honest. But no. I’ve been out to the edge of the system. Out there among the ice and rock.”
“And?” DeVore eyed his old lieutenant, curious to see what he’d made of
it.
“And I’m glad to be back. Even this far out. You know, they’ve an expression for us out there—warm-worlders, they call us. Well, I’d rather be a warm-worlder than a rock-breather any day.” He shuddered. “It was awful. Like death. We weren’t meant to live out there.” “But now you’re back. So what do you plan to do?”
Auden shrugged.
DeVore considered a moment, then smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll find something. You always were useful.”
“Talking of which . . .” Auden hesitated and glanced at the house, as if to check that Schenck were out of hearing. “I’ve news,” he said, his voice lowered. “Something I picked up on Callisto. It seems the Marshal’s daughter will be here within the week.”
DeVore’s smile faded. “Then you must have heard it wrong, Will. The Tientsin won’t be docking here for another two months.” “That’s true. But Jelka Tolonen isn’t on the Tientsin. The Marshal sent out new orders. She was to travel to Callisto on a special Security flight, then transfer to one of the direct Jupiter—Mars shuttles.” “And that’s why you came? To let me know?” Auden smiled. “I knew you’d be interested. Besides, Callisto’s a small place, and there was a good chance I’d bump into her if I stayed, and where would I have been then? Locked up and returned to Chung Kuo in the next ship out.”
“So when does she arrive?”
“Three days from now, at Tien Men K’ou in the south.” DeVore raised an eyebrow, surprised. “Tien Men K’ou? That’s rather unusual, neh?”
“Again, it’s the Marshal’s orders. He’s getting jumpy, it seems. He’s seen how things are shaping here and he’s worried in case something happens while she’s here. If he’d had his way he’d have had her flown straight back to Chung Kuo from the Saturn system, avoiding Mars altogether, but that simply wasn’t possible. However, the Shenyang leaves here in a week’s time and he wants her on it.”