It was a comfortable suite of rooms, deep underground, originally built for the Secretary of Justice as a blast shelter during the previous Acquataine-Kerak war.
“You’re certainly well guarded,” the old man said to Odal as he entered.
The Kerak major had been sitting on a plush lounge, listening to a music tape. He flicked the music silent and rose as Leoh walked into the room. The outside door clicked shut behind the scientist.
“I’m being protected, they tell me,” said Odal, “both from the Acquatainian populace and from the Kerak embassy.”
“Are they treating you well?” Leoh asked as he sat, uninvited, on an easy chair next to the lounge.
“Well enough. I have music, tri-di, food and drink.” Odal’s voice had a ring of irony in it. “I’m even allowed to see the sun once a day, when I get my prison-yard exercise.”
As Odal sat back in the lounge, Leoh looked closely at him. He seemed different. No more icy smile and haughty manner. There were lines in his face that had been put there by pain, but not by pain alone. Disillusionment, perhaps. The world was no longer his personal arena of triumph. Leoh thought, He’s settled down to the same business that haunts us alclass="underline" survival.
Aloud, he said, “Sir Harold Spencer has been in touch with your Foreign Minister, Romis.” Odal kept his face blank, noncommittal. “Harold has asked me to speak with you, to find out where you stand in all of this. The situation is quite confused.”
“It seems simple to me,” Odal said. “You have me. Romis has Hector.”
“Yes, but where do we go from here? Is Kanus going to attack Acquatainia? Is Romis going to try to overthrow Kanus? Harold has been trying to avert a war, but if anything happens to Hector, he’ll swoop in with every Star Watch ship he can muster. And where do you stand? Which side are you on?”
Odal almost smiled. “I’ve been asking myself that very question. So far, I haven’t been able to find a clear answer.”
“It’s important for us to know.”
“Is it?” Odal asked, leaning forward slightly in the lounge. “Why is that? I’m a prisoner here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You needn’t be a prisoner. I’m sure that Harold and Prime Minister Martine would agree to have you released if you guaranteed to help us.”
“Help you? How?”
“For one thing,” Leoh answered, “you could help us to get Hector back to safety.”
“Return to Kerak?” Odal tensed. “That would be risky.”
“You’d rather sit safely here, a prisoner?”
“Why not?”
Leoh shifted his weight uncomfortably in the chair. “I should think that Romis could use you in his attempt to overthrow Kanus.”
“Possibly. But not until the moment he’s ready to strike directly at Kanus. Until then, I imagine he’s just as happy to let me remain here. He’ll call me when he wants me. Whether I’ll go or not is another problem.”
Leoh suddenly found that he had run out of words. It seemed clear that Odal was not going to volunteer to help anyone except himself.
Rising, he said, “I’d like you to think about these matters. There are many lives at stake, and you could help to save them.”
“And lose my own,” Odal said as he politely stood up.
Leoh cocked his head to one side. “Very possibly, I must admit.”
“You regard Hector’s life more highly than my own. I don’t.”
“All right then, stalemate. But there are a few billion Kerak and Acquatainian lives at stake, you know.”
Leoh started for the door. Odal remained standing in front of the lounge. Then he called:
“Professor. That girl… the one who was so startled when I arrived at your dueling machine. Who is she?”
Leoh turned. “Geri Dulaq. The late Prime Minister’s daughter.”
“Oh, I see.” For an instant, Odal’s nearly expressionless face seemed to show something: disappointment, regret?
“She hates me, doesn’t she?” he asked.
“To use your own words,” said Leoh, “why not?”
7
Hector scratched his head thoughtfully and said, “This sort of, well, puts me in a… um, funny position.”
The Kerak captain shrugged. “We are all in an extremely delicate position.”
“Well, I suppose so, if… that is, I mean… how do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
The captain’s blunt, seamed face hardened angrily for a moment. They were sitting on the bridge of the orbiting star ship to which Hector had been brought. Beyond the protective rail, on the level below, was the control center of the mammoth vessel. The captain controlled his rage and replied evenly:
“A Kerak officer does not tell lies. Under any circumstances. My—superior, let us say—has spoken to the Star Watch Commander, as I explained to you. They reached an agreement whereby you are to remain on this ship until further notice. I am willing to allow you free rein of the ship, exclusive of the control center itself, the power plant, and the air locks. I believe that this is more than fair.”
Hector drummed his fingers on the chart table next to him. “Guess I’ve got no choice, really. I’m sort of, well, halfway between a prisoner and, um, a cultural exchange tourist.”
The captain smiled mechanically, trying to ignore the maddening finger-drumming.
“And I’ll be staying with you,” Hector went on, “until you assassinate Kanus.”
“DON’T SAY THAT!” The Captain almost leaped into Hector’s lap and clapped a hand over the Watchman’s mouth.
“Oh. Doesn’t the crew know about it?”
The captain rubbed his forehead with a shaky hand. “How… who… whatever gave you the idea that we would… contemplate such a thing?”
Hector frowned in puzzlement. “I don’t really know. Just odds and ends. You know. A few things my guards have said. And I figure that Kanus would have pickled my brain by now. You haven’t. I’m being treated almost like a guest. So you’re not working for Kanus. Yet you’re wearing Kerak insignia. Therefore you must be…”
“Enough! Please, it is not necessary to go into any more detail.”
“Okay.” Hector got to his feet “It’s all right for me to walk through the ship?”
“Yes; with the exceptions I mentioned.” The captain rose also. “Oh, yes, there is one other forbidden area: the computers. I understand you were in there this morning.”
Hector nodded. “The guards let me go in. I was taking my after-breakfast exercise. The guards insisted on it. The exercise, that is.”
“That is irrelevant! You discussed computation methods with one of our junior programmers…”
“Yes. I’m pretty good at math, you see and…”
“Please! I don’t know what you told him, but in attempting to put your so-called ‘improvements’ into the computer program, he blew out three banks of logic circuits and caused a shutdown of the computer for several hours.”
“Oh? That’s funny.”
“Funny?” the captain snapped.
“I mean odd.”
“I quite agree. Do not enter the computer area again.”
Hector shrugged. “Okay. You’re the captain.”
The young Star Watchman turned and walked away, leaving the captain seething with frustration. He had not saluted; he had not waited until dismissed by the superior officer; he just slouched off like… like a civilian! And now he was whistling! Aboard ship! The captain sank back into his chair. That computer programmer was only the first casualty, he suddenly realized. Romis had better act quickly. It is only a matter of time before this Watchman drives us all insane.