Agent of the Terran Empire

The woman caught a delighted gasp. “I’ve never seen it so close up,” she whispered. “Who ever made it?”

The artificial satellite had Jupiter for background, and the Milky Way and the huge cold constellations. Glass-clear walls faced infinity, curving and tumbling like water. Planar gravity fields held faceted synthetic jewels, ruby, emerald, diamond, topaz, massing several tons each, in orbit around the central minaret. One outward thrust of bubble was left at zero gee, a conservatory where mutant ferns and orchids rippled on rhythmic breezes.

“I understand it was built for Lord Tsung-Tse about a century back,” said Flandry. “His son sold it for gambling debts, and the then Merseian ambassador acquired it and had it put in orbit around Jupiter. Symbolic, eh?”

She arched questioning brows, but he thought better of explaining. His own mind ran on: Eh, for sure. I suppose it’s inevitable and so forth. Terra has been too rich for too long: we’ve grown old and content, no more high hazards for us. Whereas the Merseian Empire is fresh, vigorous, disciplined, dedicated, et tedious cetera. Personally, I enjoy decadence; but somebody has to hold off the Long Night for my own lifetime, and it looks as if I’m elected.

Then they neared the portal, where a silver spiderweb gate stood open. Ruethen himself greeted them at the head of an iridescent slideramp. Such was Merseian custom. But he bowed in Terran style and touched horny lips to Lady Diana’s hand. “A rare pleasure, I am certain.” The bass voice gave to fluent Anglic an indescribable nonhuman accent.

She considered him. The Merseian was a true mammal, but with more traces of reptile ancestry than humankind: pale green skin, hairless and finely scaled; a low spiny ridge from the head down along the backbone to the end of a long thick tail. He was broader than a man, and would have stood a sheer two meters did he not walk with a forward-stooping gait. Except for its baldness and lack of external ears, the face was quite humanoid, even good-looking in a heavy rough way. But the eyes beneath the overhanging brow ridges were two small pits of jet. Ruethen wore the austere uniform of his class, form-fitting black with silver trim. A blaster was belted at his hip.

Lady Diana’s perfectly sculped mouth curved in a smile. “Do you actually know me, my lord?” she murmured.

“Frankly, no.” A barbaric bluntness. Any nobleman of Terra would have been agile to disguise his ignorance. “But while this log does burn upon the altar stone, peace-holy be it among us. As my tribe would say in the Cold Valleys .”

“Of course you are an old friend of my escort,” she teased.

Ruethen cocked an eye at Flandry. And suddenly the man sensed tautness in that massive frame. Just for a moment, then Ruethen’s whole body became a mask. “We have met now and then,” said the Merseian dryly. “Welcome, Sir Dominic. The cloakroom slave will furnish you with a mind-screen.”

“What?” Despite himself, Flandry started.

“If you want one.” Ruethen bared powerful teeth at Lady Diana. “Will my unknown friend grant me a dance later?”

She lost her own coolness for a second, then nodded graciously. “That would be a … unique experience, my lord,” she said.

It would, at that. Flandry led her on into the ballroom. His mind worried Ruethen’s curious offer, like a dog with a bone. Why—?

He saw the gaunt black shape among the rainbow Terrans, and he knew. It went cold along his spine.

II

He wasted no time on excuses but almost ran to the cloakroom. His feet whispered along the crystalline floor, where Orion glittered hundreds of light-years beneath. “Mind-screen,” he snapped.

The slave was a pretty girl. Merseians took pleasure in buying humans for menial jobs. “I’ve only a few, sir,” she said. “His lordship told me to keep them for—”

“Me!” Flandry snatched the cap of wires, transistors, and power cells from her hesitant fingers. Only when it was on his head did he relax. Then he took out a fresh cigaret and steered through lilting music toward the bar. He needed a drink, badly.

Aycharaych of Chereion stood beneath high glass pillars. No one spoke to him. Mostly the humans were dancing while non-humans of various races listened to the music. A performer from Lulluan spread heaven-blue feathers on a small stage, but few watched that rare sight. Flandry elbowed past a Merseian who had just drained a two-liter tankard. “Scotch,” he said. “Straight, tall, and quick.”

Lady Diana approached. She seemed uncertain whether to be indignant or intrigued. “Now I know what they mean by cavalier treatment.” She pointed upward. “What is that thing?”

Flandry tossed off his drink. The whisky smoked down his throat, and he felt his nerves ease. “I’m told it’s my face,” he said.

“No, no! Stop fooling! I mean that horrible wire thing.”

“Mind-screen.” He held out his glass for a refill. “It heterodynes the energy radiation of the cerebral cortex in a random pattern. Makes it impossible to read what I’m thinking.”

“But I thought that was impossible anyway,” she said, bewildered. “I mean, unless you belong to a naturally telepathic species.”

“Which man isn’t,” he agreed, “except for rare cases. The nontelepath develops his own private ‘language,’ which is gibberish to anyone who hasn’t studied him for a long time as a single individual. Ergo, telepathy was never considered a particular threat in my line of work, and you’ve probably never heard of the mind-screen. It was developed just a few years ago. And the reason for its development is standing over there.”

She followed his eyes. “Who? That tall being in the black mantle?”

“The same. I had a brush with him, and discovered to my … er … discomfiture, shall we say? … that he has a unique gift. Whether or not all his race does, I couldn’t tell you. But within a range of a few hundred meters, Aycharaych of Chereion can read the mind of any individual of any species, whether he’s ever met his victim before or not.”

“But — why, then—”

“Exactly. He’s persona non grata throughout our territory, of course, to be shot on sight. But as you know, my lady,” said Flandry in a bleak tone, “we are not now in the Terrestrial Empire. Jupiter belongs to the Dispersal of Ymir.”

“Oh,” said Lady Diana. She colored. “A telepath!”

Flandry gave her a lopsided grin. “Aycharaych is the equivalent of a gentleman,” he said. “He wouldn’t tell on you. But I’d better go talk to him now.” He bowed. “You are certain not to lack company. I see a dozen men converging here already.”

“So there are.” She smiled. “But I think Aycharaych — how do you pronounce it, that guttural ch baffles me — I think he’ll be much more intriguing.” She took his arm.

Flandry disengaged her. She resisted. He closed a hand on her wrist and shoved it down with no effort. Maybe his visage was a fake, he told himself once in a while, but at least his body was his own, and the dreary hours of calisthenics had some reward. “I’m sorry, my lady,” he said, “but I am about to talk shop, and you’re not initiated in the second oldest profession. Have fun.”

Her eyes flared offended vanity. She whirled about and welcomed the Duke of Mars with far more enthusiasm than that foolish young man warranted. Flandry sighed. I suppose I owe you a thousand credits, Ivar. He cocked his cigaret at a defiant angle, and strolled across the ballroom.

Aycharaych smiled. His face was also closely humanoid, but in a bony, sword-nosed fashion; the angles of mouth and jaw were exaggerated into Vs. It might almost have been the face of some Byzantine saint. But the skin was a pure golden hue, the brows were arches of fine blue feathers, the bald skull carried a feather crest and pointed ears. Broad chest, wasp waist, long ski