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No Plagiarism!JqTrZca1beKLMBKfU4X6posted on PENANA In the dining hall of the Mat E'trov great house, suspensor lamps had been lit against the early dark. They cast their yellow glows upward onto the black bull's head with its bloody horns, and onto the darkly glistening oil painting of the Old Duke.
Beneath these talisman's white linen shone around the burnished reflections of the Romanov silver, which had been placed in precise arrangements along the great table---little archipelagos of service waiting beside crystal glasses, each setting squared off before a heavy wooden chair. The classic central chandelier stayed unlit, and its chain twisted upward into shadows where the mechanism of the poison sniffer had been concealed.
Pausing in the doorway to inspect the arrangements, the Duke thought about the poison sniffer and what it signified in his society.
All of a pattern, he thought. You can plumb us by our language---the precise and delicate delineations for ways to administer treacherous death. Will someone try dhuiniklav tonight---poison in the drink? Or will it be dhuinuk---poison in the food?
He shook his head.
Beside each plate on the long table stood a flagon of water. There was enough water for the table, the Duke estimated, to slake the thirst of a poor Dyuni family for more than one year.
Flanking the doorway in which he stood were broad laving basins of ornate yellow and green tile. Each basin had its rack of towels. It was the custom, the housekeeper had explained, for guests as they entered to dip their hands ceremoniously into a basin, slop several cups of water onto the floor, dry their hands on a towel and fling the towel into the growing puddle at the door. After the dinner, beggars gathered outside to get the water squeezings from the towels.
How typical of a Seppanen fief, the Duke thought. Every degradation of the spirit that can be conceived. He took a deep breath, feeling rage tighten his stomach.
"That custom stops here!" he muttered.
He saw a serving wench---one of the old and gnarled ones the housekeeper had recommended---hovering at the doorway from the kitchen across from him. The Duke signaled with an upraised hand. She moved out of the shadows, scurried around the table towards him, and he noted the leathery face, the blue-within-blue eyes.
"Milord wishes?" She kept her head bowed, her eyes shielded.
He gestured. "Have these basins and towels removed."
"But....Nobleman..." She looked up, mouth agape.
"I know the custom!" he barked. "Take these basins to the front door. While we're eating and until we've finished, each beggar who calls may have a full cup of water. Understood?"
Her leathery face displayed a twisting of emotions: dismay, anger, etc.
With sudden insight, Nicholas realized that she must have planned to sell the water squeezings from the foot-trampled towels, wringing a few rubles from the wretches who came to the door. Perhaps that too was a custom.
His face clouded, and he growled: "I'm posting a guard to see that my orders are carried out to the letter."
Memories rolled in his brain like the toothless mutterings of old women. He remembered open water and waves---days of grass instead of sand---dazed summers that had whipped past him like windstorm leaves.
All gone.
I'm getting old, he thought. I've felt the cold hand of my mortality. And in what? The greed of an old hag?
In the Great Hall, the Lady Alexandra was the center of a mixed group standing before the fireplace. An open blaze crackled there, casting flickers of orange light into jewels and laces and costly fabrics. He recognized in the group a stillsuit manufacturer down from Mur Eldhe, an electronics equipment importer, a water-shipper whose summer mansion was near his polar-cap factory, a representative of the Guild Bank (lean and remote, that fellow), a dealer in spare parts for spice mining equipment, a thin and hard-faced woman whose escort service for off-planet visitors reputedly operated as a front for various smuggling, spying, or blackmail operations.
Most of the women in the hall seemed cast from a specific type---decorative, precisely tuned out, an odd mingling of an untouchable sensuality.
Even without her position as hostess, Alexandra would've dominated the group, he thought. She wore no jewelry and had chosen warm colors---a long dress almost the shade of the open blaze, and an earth-brown band around her bronzed hair.
He realized she had done this to taunt him subtly, a reproof against his recent pose of coldness. She was well aware that he liked her best in shades like these---to him, a living rustle of warm colors.
Nearby, more an outlier than a member of the group, stood Grady Ukrainia in a glittering dress uniform, his flat face unreadable, the curling black hair neatly combed. He had been summoned back from the Szganys and his orders from Botkin---"Under pressure of guarding her, you will keep the Lady Alexandra under constant surveillance.
The Duke glanced around the room.
There was Alexei in the corner surrounded by a fawning group of the younger Mat E'trov richece, and, aloof among them, three officers of the House Troop. The Duke took particular note of the young woman. What a catch a ducal heir would make! But Alexei was treating all equally with an air of reserved nobility.
He'll wear the title well, the Duke thought, and realized with a sudden chill that this was another death thought.
Alexei spied his father in the doorway, avoided his eyes. He looked around at the clustering of guests, the jeweled hands clutching drinks (and the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast detectors). Seeing all the chattering faces, Alexei was suddenly repulsed by them. They were cheap masks locked on festering thoughts---voices gabbling to drown out the loud silence in each breast.
I'm in a bad mood, he thought, and wondered what Gustav would say to that.
He knew his mood's source. He hadn't wanted to attend this function, but his father had been firm. 'You have a place as well as a position to uphold. You're old enough to do so. After all, you're nearly a man."
Alexei saw his father emerge from the doorway, inspect the room, then cross to the group around the Lady Alexandra.
As Nicholas approached Alexandra's group, the water-shipper was asking: "Is it true the Duke will install weather control?"
From behind the man, the Duke said "We haven't gone that far in our thinking, sir."
The man turned, exposing a bland, round face, darkly tanned. "Ah-h, the Duke," he said. "We missed you."
Nicholas glanced at Alexandra. "A thing needed doing." He returned his attention to the water-shipper, explained what he had ordered for the laving basins, adding: "As far as I'm concerned, the old custom ends now."
"Is this a ducal order, milord?" the man asked.
"I leave that to your own....ah...conscience," the Duke said. He turned, noting Holstein coming up to the group.
One of the ladies said: "I think it's a very generous gesture, giving water to the..." Someone hushed her.
The Duke looked at Holstein, noting that the planetologist wore an old-style burnt umber uniform complete with epaulets of the Imperial Civil Servant and a tiny gold teardrop of rank at his collar.
The water-shipper asked in angry voice: "Does the Duke imply criticism of our custom?"
"The custom has been altered," Nicholas said. He nodded to Holstein, marked the frown on Alexandra's face, thought: A frown does not become her, but it'll increase rumors of friction between us.
"May it please the Duke," the water-shipper said, "I'd like to further inquire about customs."
Nicholas heard the suddenly oily tone in the man's voice, noted the watchful silence in this group, the way heads were beginning to turn toward them around the room.
"Isn't it almost time for dinner?" Alexandra asked.
"Our guest has some questions," said Nicholas. He looked at the water-shipper, seeing a round-faced man with big eyes and thick lips, recalling Botkin's memorandum: ".....and this water-shipper is a man to watch---Makar Lagounov, remember the name. The Seppanens used him but never fully controlled him."
"Water customs are so interesting," Lagounov said, and there was a smile on his face. "What do you intend with regard to the conservatory attached to this house. Will you go on flaunting it in the people's faces, milord?"
Nicholas held back his anger, staring at the man. Thoughts raced through his mind. It had taken courage to challenge him in his own ducal castle, especially since they now had Lagounov's signature over a contract of allegiance. The action had taken, also, a knowledge of personal power. Water was, indeed, power here. If water facilities were mined, for example, ready to be destroyed at a signal----The man looked capable of such a thing. Destruction of water facilities meant the destruction of Dyuna. That could well have been the club this Lagounov held over the Seppanens.
"Milord, the Duke, and I have other plans for our conservatory," Alexandra said. She smiled at Nicholas. "We wish to keep it, yes, but only to hold it in trust for the people of Dyuna. It is our dream that one day the climate of Dyuna may be changed sufficiently to grow such plants anywhere in the open."
Bless her! Nicholas thought. Let our water-shipper chew on that!
"Your interest in water and weather control is obvious," the Duke said. "I suggest you diversify your holdings. Someday, water will not be a precious commodity here on Dyuna."
And he thought: Botkin much redouble his efforts at infiltrating this Lagounov's organization. And we must begin building standby water facilities at once. No man is going to hold a club over my head!
Lagounov nodded, the smile still on his face. "A commendable dream, milord." He drew a pace.
Nicholas's attention was caught by the expression on Holstein's face. The man was staring at Alexandra. He seemed transfigured, like a man in love, or caught in a religious trance.
Holstein's thoughts were overwhelmed at last by the words of prophecy: "And they shall share your most precious dream." He spoke directly to Alexandra: "Do you bring the shortening of the way?"
"Ah, Dr. Holstein," the water-shipper said. "You've come from tramping around with your mobs of Szgany. How nice of you."
Holstein passed an unreadable glance across Lagounov, said: "It is said in the desert that possession of water in great amount can inflect a man with fatal carelessness."
"They have many weird sayings, those Szganys," Lagounov said, but his voice betrayed uneasiness.
Alexandra crossed to Nicholas, slipped her hand under his arm to gain a moment in which to calm her nerves. Holstein had said: "....the shortening of the way." In the old tongue, the phrase translated as "Sokratit' Puti." The planetologist's odd question seemed to have gone unnoticed by the others, and now Holstein was bending over one of the consort women, listening to a low-voice coquetry.
Sokratit' Puti, Alexandra thought. Did our Zashchitnyye Missii plant that legend here, too? The thought fanned her secret hopes for Alexei. He could be the Sokratit' Puti! He could be!
The Guild Bank representative had fallen into conversation with the water-shipper, and Lagounov's voice lifted above the renewed hum of conversations. "Many people have sought to change Dyuna."
The Duke saw how the words seemed to pierce Holstein, jerking the planetologist upright and away from the flirting woman.
Into the sudden silence, a house trooper in the uniform of a footman cleared his throat behind Nicholas and said: "Dinner is served, milord."
The Duke directed a questioning glance down at Alexandra.
"The custom here is for host and hostess to follow their guests to the table," she said, and smiled. "Or will we change that one as well, milord?"
He spoke coldly. "Well, that does seem like a goodly custom, so we will let it stand---for now."
I must maintain the illusion that I suspect her of treachery, he thought. He glanced at the guests filing past them. Who among you believes this lie?
Alexandra, sensing his remoteness, wondered at it as she had done frequently in the past week. He acts like a man fighting with himself, she thought. Is it because I moved so fast setting up this dinner party? Yet he knows how vital it is that we start to mix our officers and men with the locals on the social plane. We are surrogate father and mother to them all. Nothing impresses that fact more firmly than this kind of social sharing.
Nicholas, watching the guests file past, recalled what Eugene Botkin had said when informed of the affair: "Sire! I forbit it!"
A grim smile touched the Duke's lips. What a scene that had been! When the Duke had remained adamant about attending the dinner, Botkin had shaken his head. "I've got bad feelings about this, milord," he'd said. "Things move too fast on Dyuna. That's not like the Seppanens. Not like them at all."
Alexei passed his father escorting a young lady half a head taller than himself. He shot a sour glance at his father, nodded at something the young lady said.
"Her father manufactures stillsuits," Alexandra said. "I'm told that only a fool would be caught in the deep desert wearing one of the man's suits."
"Who's the man with the scarred face ahead of Alexei?" the Duke asked. "I don't recognize him."
"A late addition to the list," she whispered. "Gustav arranged the invitation. A smuggler."
"Gustav arranged that?"
"He did so at my request. It was cleared with Botkin, though I thought Botkin was a little stiff about it. The smuggler's name is Ud. Ud-Hi. He's a power among his kind. They all know him here. He's dined at many of the houses."
"What is he doing here?"
"All will be asking that question," she said. "Ud-Hi will sow doubt and suspicion merely by his presence. He'll also serve notice that you're ready to back up his orders against graft---by enforcement of the smugglers' end as well. This was the point Botkin seemed to like."
"I'm not sure I like it." He nodded to a passing couple, saw only a few of their guests remained to precede the. "Why didn't you invite some Szganys?"
"There's Holstein," she said.
"Yes, there's Holstein," he said. "Have you arranged any other little surprises for me?"
"All else is most conventional," she said.
And she thought: My darling, can't you see that this smuggler controls fast ships, that he can be bought off? We must have an exit, an escape hatch from Dyuna if all else fails us here.
As they emerged into the dining hall, she disengaged her arm, allowed Nicholas to seat her. He strode to his spot at the table. A footman held his chair for him. The others settled with a swishing of fabrics, a scraping of chairs, but the Duke stayed standing. He gave a hand signal, and the house troopers in footman uniform around the table stepped back, standing at attention.
An uneasy silence fell over the room.
Alexandra, looking down the length of the table saw a faint trembling at the corners of Nicholas's mouth, noted the dark flush of anger on his cheeks. What has angered him? she asked herself. Surely not my invitation to the smuggler.
"Some question my changing of the laving basin custom," Nicholas said. "This is my way of telling you that many things will change."
Embarrassed silence settled over the table.
Do they think him drunk? Alexandra wondered.
Nicholas raised his water flagon, held it aloft where the suspensor lights shot beams of reflection off it. "As a Chevalier of the Imperium, then," he said, "I give you a toast."
The others grasped their flagons, all eyes focused on the Duke. In the sudden quiet, a suspensor light drifted slightly in an errant breeze from the serving kitchen hallway. Shadows played across the Duke's classically handsome Slavic features.
"Here I am and here I stay!" he yelled.
There was an abortive move of flagons towards mouths---halted as the Duke remained with an arm upraised. "My toast is one of those maxims so dear to our hearts: 'With business comes progress! Fortune passes everywhere!"
He sipped his water.
The others joined him. Questioning glances passed among them.
"Gustav!" the Duke called.
A minor chord from the ostriolkusk floated out of the alcove. Servants began putting plates of food on the table at the Duke's gesture, releasing them---roast desert hare in sauce sepeda, apolmage siriyskiy, slimik under glass, coffee with smesh' (a rich cinnamon odor from the spice wafted across the table) a true pot-a-oie served with sparkling Eseri wine.
And still the Duke stayed standing.
As the guests waited, their attention divided between the dishes placed before them and the standing Duke, Nicholas said: "In the old days, it was the duty of the host to entertaining his guests with his own talents." His knuckles turned white, so fiercely did he grip his water flagon. "I cannot sign, but I give you the words of Gustav's son. Consider it another toast---one to those who died to bring us this station."
An uncomfortable stirring sounded around the table.
Alexandra lowered her glass, glanced at the people seated nearest her. There was the round-faced water-shipper and his woman, the pale and austere Guild Bank representative (he seemed like a whistle-faced scarecrow with his eyes fixed on Nicholas) the rugged and scar-faced Lagounov, his blue-within-blue eyes downcast.
"Review, friends---troops long past review," the Duke intoned. "All to fate an eight of pains and rubles. Their spirits wear our silver collars. Review, friends---troops long past review: Each a dot of time without pretense or guile. With them passes the lure of fortune. Review, friends---troops long past review. When our time ends on its rictus smile, we'll pass the lure of fortune."
The Duke allowed his voice to fade away on the final line, took a deep pull from his water flagon, slammed it back onto the table. Water slopped over the brim onto the linen.
The others drank in embarrassed quiet.
Again, the Duke lifted his water flagon, and this time he emptied its remaining half onto the floor, knowing that the others around the table must follow suit.
Alexandra was the first to follow his example.
There was a frozen moment before the others started emptying their flagons. Alexandra saw how Alexei, seated near his father, was studying the reactions around him. She found herself also fascinated by what her guests' actions revealed--especially among the women. This was clean, potable water, not something already cast away on a sopping towel. Reluctance to merely discard it exposed itself in trembling hands, delayed reactions, nervous laughter....and violent disobedience to the necessity. One woman dropped her flagon, looked the other way as her male companion recovered it.
Holstein, though, caught her attention most sharply. The planetologist hesitated, then emptied his flagon into a container beneath his jacket. He smiled at Alexandra as he caught her watching him, raised the empty flagon to her in a quiet toast. He seemed totally unembarrassed by his action.
Vasa's music still wafted over the room, but it'd come out of its minor key, lilting and lively now, as if he were trying to lift the mood.
"Let the dinner begin," the Duke said, and sank into the chair.
He's angry and unsure, Alexandra thought. The loss of that factory crawler hit him more deeply than it should have. It must be something more than that loss. He acts like a desperate man. She lifted her fork, hoping in the motion to hide her own sudden bitterness. Why not? He is deseprate.
Slowly at first, then with increasing animation, the dinner got under way. The stillsuit manufacturer complimented Alexandra on her chef and wine.
"We brought them from Eser," she said.
"Superb!" he said, toasting the slimik. "Simply superb! And not a hint of smes' in it. One gets so tired of the spice in everything."
The Guild Bank representative looked across at Nichols. "I understand, Dr. Holstein, that another factory crawler has been lost to a wurm."
"News travels fast," the Duke said.
"Is it true?" the banker asked, shifting his attention to Nicholas.
"Yes, damn you, it's true!" the Duke blasted. "The miserable carryall disappeared. It shouldn't be possible for anything that big to disappear!"
"When the wurm came, there was nothing to recover the crawler," Holstein added.
"It should not be possible!" the Duke repeated.
"Nobody saw the carryall leave?" the banker asked.
"Spotters customarily keep their eyes on the sand," Holstein said. "They're mostly interested in wurmsign. A carryall's compliment is normally four men--two pilots, to journeymen attachers. If one, even two, of this crew were in the pay of the Duke's enemies..."
"Ah-h-h-h-h, I see," the banker said. "And do you, as Judge of the Change, challenge this?"
"I will have to consider my position very carefully," Holstein said, "and I surely will not discuss it at the table." And he thought: That pale skeleton of a man! He knows this is the kind of infraction I was instructed to ignore.
The banker smiled and returned his attention to his food.
Alexandra sat remembering a lecture from her Bala Garrasaid school days. The subject had been espionage and counterespionage. A plump, happy-faced Mother Baba had been the lecturer, her jolly voice contrasting weirdly with the subject matter.
"A thing to note about any espionage and-or counterespionage school is the similar basic reaction pattern of all its graduates. Any enclosed discipline sets its stamp, its pattern, upon its students. That pattern is susceptible to analysis and prediction.
"Now, motivational patterns are going to be similar among all covert operatives. That is to say: there will be certain types of motivation that are similar despite differing schools or opposed aims. You'll study first how to separate this element for your analysis---in the beginning, through interrogation patterns that betray the inner organization of the interrogators; secondly, by close observation of language-thought orientation of those under analysis. You'll find it fairly easy to determine the root languages of your subjects, of course, both through voice inflection and speech pattern."
Now, sitting at the table with her son and the Duke and their guests, hearing that Guild Bank representative, Alexandra felt a chill of realization: the man was a Seppanen agent! He had the G'ob' Prime speech pattern---subtly masked, but exposed to her trained awareness as if he had announced himself.
Does this mean the Guild itself has taken sides against House Romanov? she asked herself. The thought shocked her, and she hid her emotion by calling for a new dish, all the while listening for the man to betray his real purpose. He'll shift the conversation next to something seemingly innocent, but with ominous overtones, she told herself. It's his pattern.
The banker swallowed, took a sip of wine, smiled at something that was said to him by the woman on his right. He seemed to listen for a moment to a man down the table who was explaining to the Duke that native Dyuni plants had no thorns.
"I enjoy watching the flights of birds on Dyuna," the banker said, directing his words at Alexandra. "All of our birds, of course, are carrion-eaters, and many exist without water, having become blood drinkers."
The stillsuit manufacturer's daughter, seated between Alexei and his father at the other end of the table, twisted her pretty face into a frown, said: "Oh, Soo-Soo, you say the most vulgar things."
The banker smiled. "They call me Soo-Soo because I'm financial advisor to the Water Peddlers Union." And, as Alexandra continued to look at him without comment, he added; "Because of the water-sellers' cry----'Soo-Soo-Sook!" And he imitated the call with such accuracy that many around the table laughed.
Alexandra heard the boastful tone of voice but noted most that the young woman had spoken on cue---a set piece. She had produced the excuse for the banker to say what he had said. She glanced at Makar Lagounov. The water baron was scowling, focusing on his dinner. It came to Alexandra that the banker had said: "I, too, control that ultimate source of power on Dyuna---water!"
Alexei had marked the falseness in his dinner companion's voice, saw that his mother was following the conversation with Bala Garrasaid intensity. On impulse, he decided to play the foil, draw the exchange out. He addressed himself to the banker.
"Do you mean, sir, that these birds are cannibals?"
"That's an odd question, young Master," the banker said. "I just said the birds drink blood. Does it have to be the blood of their own kind?"
"It was not an odd question," Alexei said, and Alexandra noted the brittle riposte quality of her training exposed in his voice. "Most educated people know that the worst potential competition for any young organism can come from its own kind." He deliberately forked a bite of food from his companion's plate and ate it. "They are eating from the same bowl. They have the same basic requirements."
The banker stiffened, scowled at the Duke.
"Do not make the error of considering my son a child," the Duke said. And he smiled.
Alexandra glanced around the table, noted that Lagounov had brightened, that both Holstein and the smuggler, Ud, were grinning.
"It's a rule of ecology," Holstein said, "that the young Master appears to understand quite well. The struggle between life elements is the struggle for the free energy of a system. Blood's an efficient energy source."
The banker put his fork down, spoke in an angry voice: "It is said that the Szgany scum drink the blood of their dead."
Holstein shook his head, spoke in his best academician's tone of voice: "No, not the blood, sir. But all of a man's water, ultimately belonging to his people....to his tribe. It's a necessity when you live near the Raamsen Waste. All water's precious there, and the human body is composed of some seventy percent water by weight. A dead man, surely, no longer needs that water."
The banker put both hands against the table beside his plate, and Alexandra thought he was going to push himself back, leave in a rage.
Holstein looked at Alexandra. "Forgive me, my Lady, for elaborating on such an ugly subject at table, but you were being told falsehood and it needed debunking."
"You've associated so long with Szganys that you've lost all sensibilities," the banker rasped.
Holstein looked at him calmly, studied the pale, trembling face. "Is that a challenge, sir?"
The banker froze. He swallowed, spoke stiffly: "Of course not. I'd not so insult our host and hostess."
Alexandra heard the fear in the man's voice, saw it in his face, in his breathing, in the pulse of a vein at his temple. The man was terrified of Holstein!
"Our host and hostess are quite capable of deciding for themselves when they've been insulted," Holstein said. "They're brave people who understand defense of honor. We all may attest to their courage by the fact that they're here---now---on Dyuna."
Alexandra saw that Nicholas was enjoying this. Most of the others were not. People all around the table sat poised for fight, hands out sight beneath the table. Two notable exceptions were Lagounov, who was openly smiling at the banker's discomfiture, and the smuggler, Ud, who seemed to be watching Holstein for a cue. Alexandra saw that Alexei was looking at Holstein in admiration.
"Well?" Holstein said.
"I meant you no offense," the banker muttered. "If offense was taken, please accept my humblest apologies."
"Freely given and accepted," Holstein said. He smiled at Alexandra, resumed his meal as if nothing had happened.
Alexandra saw that the smuggler, as well, had relaxed. She marked this: the man had shown every aspect of an aide ready to leap to Holstein's assistance. There existed an accord of some kind between Holstein and Ud.
Nicholas toyed with a fork, looked speculatively at Holstein. The ecologist's manner indicated a change in attitude towards the House of Romanov. Holstein had seemed colder on their trip over the desert.
Alexandra signaled for another course of food and drink. Servants appeared with langues de lapins de garrene---red wine and a sauce of mushroom yeast on the side.
Slowly, the dinner conversation resumed, but Alexandra heard the agitation in it, the brittle quality, saw that the banker ate in sullen silence. Holstein would have slain him without hesitation, she thought. And she realized there was an offhand attitude towards killing in Holstein's manner. He was a casual killer, and she guessed that this was a Szgany quality.
Alexandra turned to the stillsuit manufacturer to her left and said: "I find myself continually amazed by the importance of water on Dyuna."
"Very important," he agreed. "What is this dish? It's heavenly."
"Tongues of wild hare in a special sauce," she said. "An old recipe."
"I must have that recipe," the man said.
She nodded. "I'll see to it."
Holstein looked at Alexandra, said: "The newcomer to Dyuna frequently underestimates the importance of water here. You are dealing, you see, with the Law of Minimums."
She heard the testing quality in his voice, said, "Growth is limited by that necessity which is present in the least amount. And, naturally, the least favorable condition controls the growth rate."
"It's rare to find members of a Great House aware of planetological problems," Holstein said. "Water's the least favorable condition for life on Dyuna. And remember that growth itself can produce unfavorable conditions unless treated with extreme care."
Alexandra sensed a hidden message in Holstein's words, but knew she was missing it. "Growth," she said. "Do you mean Dyuna can have an orderly cycle of water to sustain human life under more favorable conditions?"
"Impossible!" the water baron barked.
Alexandra turned her attention on Lagounov. "Impossible?"
"On Dyuna, yes," he said. "Don't listen to this dreamer. All the laboratory evidence is against him."
Holstein looked at Lagounov, and Alexandra noted that the other conversations around the table had stopped while people concentrated on this new interchange.
"Laboratory evidence tends to blind us to a very simple fact," Holstein said. "That fact is this: we are dealing here with matters that originated and exist out-of-doors where plants and animals carry on their normal existence."
"Normal!" Lagounov snorted. "Nothing about Dyuna is normal!"
"On the contrary," Holstein said. "Certain harmonies could be set up here along self-sustaining lines. You just have to understand the limits of the planet and the pressures on it."
"It'll never be done," Lagounov said.
The Duke came to a sudden realization, placing the point where Holstein's attitude had changed---it'd been when Alexandra had spoken of holding the conservatory plants in trust for Dyuna.
"What would it take to set up the self-sustaining system, Doctor Holstein?" Nicholas asked.
"If we can get 3% of the green plant element on Dyuna involved in forming carbon compounds of foodstuffs, we've begun the cyclic system," Holstein said.
"Water's the only problem?" the Duke asked, sensing Holstein's excitement, felt himself caught up in it.
"Water overshadows the other problems," Holstein said. "This planet has much oxygen without its usual concomitants---widespread plant life and large sources of free carbon dioxide from such phenomenon as volcanoes. There are odd chemical interchanges over big surface areas here."
"Do you have pilot projects?" the Duke asked.
"We've had a long time in which to build up the Zhukov Effect---small unit experiments on an amateur basis from which my science can now draw its working facts," Holstein said.
"There's not enough water," Lagounov said. "There's simply not enough water."
"Master Lagounov is an expert on water," Holstein said. He smiled, turned back to his dinner."
The Duke gestured sharply down with his right hand, barked: "No! I want an answer! Is there enough water, Doctor Holstein?"
Holstein stared at his plate.
Alexandra watched the play of emotion on his face. He masks himself well, she thought, but she had him registered now and read that he regretted his words.
"Is there enough water?" the Duke demanded.
"There---may be," Holstein said.
He's faking uncertainty! Alexandra thought. With her deeper truthsense, she caught the underlying motive. She had to use every ounce of her training to mask her excitement. There is enough water! But Holstein doesn't wish it to be known!
"Our planetologist has interesting dreams," Lagounov said. "He dreams with the Szganys---of prophecies and messiahs."
Chuckles sounded at odd places around the table. Alexandra marked them---the smuggler, the stillsuit manufacturer's daughter, Grady Ukrainia, the woman with the mysterious escort service.
Tensions are oddly distributed here tonight, Alexandra thought. There's too much going on of which I'm not aware. I must develop new information sources.
The Duke passed his gaze from Holstein to Lagounov to Alexandra. He felt oddly let down, as if something vital had passed him here. "Maybe," he muttered.
Holstein spoke fast: "Maybe we should discuss this some other time, milord. There are so many...."
The planetologist broke off as a uniformed Romanov soldier hurried in through the service door, was passed by the guard and rushed to the Duke's side. The man bent, whispering into Nicholas's ear.
Alexandra recognized the capsign of Botkin's corps, fought down uneasiness. She addressed herself to the stillsuit manufacturer's feminine companion....a tiny, dark-haired woman with a doll face, a touch of epicanthic fold to the eyes.
"You've barely touched your dinner, my dear," Alexandra said. "May I order you something?"
The woman looked at the stillsuit manufacturer before answering, then: "I'm not very hungry."
Abruptly, the Duke stood up beside his soldier, spoke in a harsh tone of command: "Stay seated, all. You'll have to forgive me, but a matter has arisen that needs my personal attention." He stepped aside. "Alexei, take over as host for me, if you will."
Alexei stood, wanting to ask why his father had to leave, knowing he had to play this with the grand manner. He moved around to his father's chair, sat down in it.
The Duke turned to the alcove where Botkin sat, said: "Gustav, please take Alexei's place at the table. We mustn't have an odd number here. When the dinner's over, I may want you to bring Alexei to the field C.P. Wait for my call."
Vasa emerged from the alcove in dress uniform, his lumpy ugliness seeming out of place in the glittering finery. He leaned his ostriolkusk against the wall, crossed to the chair Alexei had occupied and sat down.
"There's no need for alarm," the Duke said, "but I must ask that no one leave until our house guard says it's safe. You will be perfectly secure as long as you stay here, and we'll have this little trouble cleared up very shortly."
Alexei caught the code words in his father's message---guard-safe-secure-shortly. The problem was security, not violence. He saw that his mother had read the same message. They both relaxed.
The Duke gave a short nod, wheeled and strode through the service door followed by his soldier.
Alexei said: "Please go on with your dinner. I think Doctor Holstein was discussing water."
"May we discuss it another time?" Holstein asked.
"Of course," Alexei said.
And Alexandra noted with pride her son's dignity, the mature sense of assurance.
The banker picked up his water flagon, gestured with it at Lagounov. "None of us her can surpass Master Makar Lagounov in flowery phrases. One might almost assume he aspired to Great House status. Come, Master Lagounov, lead us in a toast. Maybe you've got a dollop of wisdome for the boy who must be treated like a man."
Alexandra clenched her right hand into a fist beneath the table. She saw a handsignal pass from Vasa to Ukrainia, saw the house soldiers along the walls move into positions of maximum guard.
Lagounov cast a venomous glance at the banker.
Alexei glanced at Vasa, took in the defensive positions of his guards, looked at the banker until the man lowered the water flagon. He said: "Once, on Eser, I saw the body of a drowned fisherman recovered. He..."
"Drowned? What's that?" This from the stillsuit manufacturer's daughter.
Alexei hesitated, then: “Yes. Immersed in water until dead. Drowned.”8964 copyright protection226PENANAJ0JUSJ1s8T 維尼
“What an interesting way to die,” she murmured.8964 copyright protection226PENANAzjV8DVAeqJ 維尼
Alexei’s smile became brittle. He returned his attention to the bunker. The interesting thing about this man was the wounds on his shoulders---made by another fisherman’s claw-boots. The fisherman was one of several in a boat---a craft for traveling on water---that foundered---sank beneath the water. Another fisherman helping to recover the body said he’d seen marks like this man’s wounds several times. They meant another drowning fisherman had tried to stand on this poor fellow’s shoulders in the attempt to reach up to the surface---to reach air.”8964 copyright protection226PENANAi4s09A03SC 維尼
“Why is this interesting?” the banker asked.8964 copyright protection226PENANAliBMJk36Mh 維尼
“Because of an observation made by my father at the time. He said the drowning man who climbs upon your shoulders to save himself is understandable---except when you see it happen in the drawing room.” Alexei hesitated just long enough for the banker to see the point coming, then: “And, I should add, except when you see it at the dinner table.”8964 copyright protection226PENANA3nwZ6b9kMN 維尼
A sudden stillness enfolded the room.8964 copyright protection226PENANAZfArtSYJxM 維尼
How rash! Alexandra thought. This banker might have enough rank to call out my son. She saw that Ukrainia was poised for instant action. The House soldiers were alert. Gustav Vasa had his eyes on the man opposite him.8964 copyright protection226PENANApoRrTyUqbH 維尼
“Ho-ho-ho-o-o-o!” It was the smuggler, Ud-Hi, head thrown back laughing with total abandon.8964 copyright protection226PENANAOgfUs9TAiw 維尼
Nervous smiles appeared around the table.8964 copyright protection226PENANA3PktgF9Nup 維尼
Lagounov was grinning.8964 copyright protection226PENANAcouKydw2IU 維尼
The banker had pushed his chair back, was glaring at Alexei.8964 copyright protection226PENANAwEOrTfOy9w 維尼
Holstein said: “One baits a Romanov at his own peril.”8964 copyright protection226PENANABN33rfcOrY 維尼
“Is it the Romanovs’ custom to insult their guests?” the banker demanded.8964 copyright protection226PENANAtFTHaS6BI9 維尼
Before Alexei could answer, Alexandra leaned forward and said: “Sir!” And she thought: We must learn this Seppaenen beast’s game. Is he here to try for Alexei? Does he have help?8964 copyright protection226PENANAxlFtJr9eIn 維尼
“My son displayed a general garment and you claim it’s cut to your fit?” Alexandra asked. “What a fascinating revelation.” She slid a hand down to her left to the crysnozh she had fastened in a calf-sheath.8964 copyright protection226PENANAvkxjNz16LW 維尼
The banker turned his glare on Alexandra. Eyes shifted away from Alexei and she saw him ease himself back from the table, freeing himself for action. He had focused on the code word: garment. “Prepare for violence.”8964 copyright protection226PENANAFsvpMEIAtk 維尼
Holstein directed a speculative look at Alexandra, gave a subtle hand signal to Ud-Hi.8964 copyright protection226PENANA4YUnUiHyGk 維尼
The smuggler lurched to his feet, lifted his flagon. “A toast!” he said. “To Alexei Romanov, still a lad by his looks, but a man by his actions!”8964 copyright protection226PENANABH8JobzCRV 維尼
Why do they intrude? Alexandra asked herself.8964 copyright protection226PENANAqX6yFEHfga 維尼
The banker stared now at Holstein, and Alexandra saw terror return to the agent’s face.8964 copyright protection226PENANAcYS9VHDtXE 維尼
People began responding all around the table.8964 copyright protection226PENANAoXTtBn6bmr 維尼
Where Holstein leads, people follow, Alexandra thought. He's told us he sides with Alexei. What's the secret of his power? It can't be because he's Judge of the Change. That's temporary. And surely not because he's a civil servant.8964 copyright protection226PENANAYedrKFI9A1 維尼
She removed her hand from the crysnozh hilt, lifted her flagon to Holstein, who responded in kind.8964 copyright protection226PENANABBBWwm6ltb 維尼
Only Alexei and the banker----(Soo-Soo! What an idiotic nickname? Alexandra thought.)----remained empty-handed. The banker's attention stayed fixed on Holstein. Alexei stared at his plate.8964 copyright protection226PENANABFdXXZRNUo 維尼
I was handling it right, Alexei thought. Why do they interfere? He glanced covertly at the male guests nearest him. Prepare for violence? From whom? Surely not from that banker fellow.8964 copyright protection226PENANATWGGrXDReG 維尼
Vasa stirred, spoke as if to nobody in particular, directing his words over the heads of the guests across from him: "in our society, people shouldn't be quick to take offense. It's frequently suicidal." He looked at the stillsuit manufacturer's daughter beside him. "Don't you think so, miss?"8964 copyright protection226PENANAaOv4GZZp1j 維尼
"Oh, yes. Yes. Indeed I do," she said. "There's too much violence. It makes me sick. And lots of times no offense is meant, but people die anyway. It doesn't make sense."8964 copyright protection226PENANANZ7MQGD6Wm 維尼
"Indeed it doesn't," Vasa said.8964 copyright protection226PENANAIYevulXuuh 維尼
Alexandra saw the near perfection of the girl's act, realized: That empty-headed little female is not an empty-headed little female after all. She saw then the pattern of the threat and understood that Vasa, too, had detected it. They'd planned to lure Alexei with sex. Alexandra relaxed. Her son had probably been the first one to see it---his training hadn't overlooked that obvious gambit.8964 copyright protection226PENANArErQYwpZlL 維尼
Holsten spoke to the banker: "Isn't another apology in order?"8964 copyright protection226PENANADhfzOkXAwV 維尼
The banker turned a sickly grin toward Alexandra, said: "My Lady, I fear I've overindulged in your wines. You serve potent drink at the table, and I'm not accustomed to it."8964 copyright protection226PENANA7Idqcgf5R3 維尼
Alexandra heard the underlying venom in his tone, spoke sweetly: "When strangers meet, great allowance should be made for differences of custom and training."8964 copyright protection226PENANAGhnYiKhAKY 維尼
"Thank you, my Lady," he said.8964 copyright protection226PENANAqBtJ5TJz9r 維尼
The dark-haired companion of the stilsuit manufacturer leaned toward Alexandra, said: "The Duke spoke of our being secure here. I do hopen that doesn't mean more fighting."8964 copyright protection226PENANAv53HM9MFmx 維尼
She was directed to lead the conversation this way, Alexandra thought.8964 copyright protection226PENANATzv3HQHtL6 維尼
"Likely this will prove unimportant," Alexandra said. "But there's so much detail requiring the Duke's personal attention in these times. So long as enmity continues between Romanov and Seppanen we cannot be too careful. The Duke has sworn kanly. He will leave no Seppanen agent alive on Dyuna, of course." She glanced at the Guild Bank agent. "And the Conventions, naturally, support him in this." She shifted her attention to Holstein. "Is this not so, Dr. Holstein?"8964 copyright protection226PENANAYy5M7mnvxT 維尼
"It is so," Holstein said.8964 copyright protection226PENANAJlUmLI1b3U 維尼
The stillsuit manufacturer pulled his companion gently back. She looked at him, said: "I do believe I'll eat something now. I'd like some of that bird dish you served earlier."8964 copyright protection226PENANAlVJJqGX1cr 維尼
Alexandra signaled a servant, turned to the banker: "And you, sir, were speaking of birds earlier and of their habits. I find so many interesting things about Dyuna. Tell me, where is the spice found? Do the hunters go deep into the desert?"8964 copyright protection226PENANAhZIbd0Wby1 維尼
"Oh, no, my Lady," he said. "Very little's known of the deep desert. And almost nothing of the southern regions."8964 copyright protection226PENANAIYyixIhvKS 維尼
"There's a tale that a great Mother Lode of spice is to be found in the southern reaches," Holstein said, "but I suspect that it was an imaginative invention made solely for purposes of a song. Some daring spice hunters do, on occasion, penetrate into the edge of the central belt, but that's extremely dangerous---navigation is uncertain, storms are frequent. Casualties increase dramatically the farther you operate from Barrier Wall bases. It hasn't been found profitable to venture too far south. Maybe if we had a weather satellite...."8964 copyright protection226PENANADYQxyr0Hwl 維尼
Lagounov looked up, spoke around a mouthful of food: "It's said the Szganys travel there, that they go anywhere and have hunted out soaks and sip-wells even in the southern latitudes."8964 copyright protection226PENANA1q48t8lUxw 維尼
"Soaks and sip-wells?" Alexandra asked.8964 copyright protection226PENANA8zEdsKmrPD 維尼
Holstein spoke fast. "Wild rumors, milady. These are known on other planets, not on Dyuna. A soak is a place where water seeps to the surface or at least near enough to the surface to be found by digging according to certain signs. A sip-well is a form of soak where a person draws water through a straw---or so they say."8964 copyright protection226PENANAXhHfa0oksK 維尼
There's deceit in his words, Alexandra thought.8964 copyright protection226PENANAgzTWMkBXvE 維尼
Why is he lying? Alexei wondered.8964 copyright protection226PENANA1CuoYoblKL 維尼
"How very interesting," Alexandra said. And she thought: "or so they say.... " What curious speech mannerism they have here. If only they knew what it reveals about their dependence on superstitions.8964 copyright protection226PENANAZXmxqAS7KN 維尼
"I've heard you have a saying," Alexei said, "that gold comes from the cities, wisdom comes from the desert."8964 copyright protection226PENANAHBmEKK9yDl 維尼
"That is but one among many Dyuni sayings," Holstein said.8964 copyright protection226PENANAT7J9KFY25X 維尼
Before Alexandra could frame a new question, a servant bent over her with a note. She opened it, saw the Duke's handwriting and code signs, scanned it.8964 copyright protection226PENANAqVLO5af9TY 維尼
"You'll all be delighted to know," she said, "that our Duke sends his reassurances. The matter that called him away has been settled. The missing carryall has been found. A Seppanen agent in the crew overpowered the others and flew the machine to a smugglers' base, hoping to sell it there. Both man and machine were turned over to our forces." She nodded to Ud-Hi.8964 copyright protection226PENANAE8LeqTW0fP 維尼
The smuggler nodded back.8964 copyright protection226PENANAWF2vUPVfR4 維尼
Alexandra refolded the note, tucked it into her sleeve.8964 copyright protection226PENANAiFynjtuU6U 維尼
"I'm glad it didn't come to open battle," the banker said. "The people have such high hopes that the Romanovs will bring peace and prosperity."8964 copyright protection226PENANAWAo8Mt01F2 維尼
"Especially prosperity," Lagunov said.8964 copyright protection226PENANAsfillKiR30 維尼
"Shall we have our dessert now?" Alexandra asked. "I've had our chef prepare an Eser sweet: pongi rice in dolsa sauce."8964 copyright protection226PENANA60oKSD8W5G 維尼
"It sounds wonderful," the stillsuit manufacturer said. "Would it be possible to get the recipe?"8964 copyright protection226PENANAnkdQWeEpLd 維尼
"Any recipe you wish," Alexandra said, registering the man for later mention to Botkin. The stillsuit manufacturer was a fearful little climber and could be bought.8964 copyright protection226PENANATFRB6uefd9 維尼
Small talk resumed around her: "Such a lovely fabric..." "He is having a setting made to match the jewel...." "We might try for a production increase next quarter....."8964 copyright protection226PENANAZ816VR7FK2 維尼
Alexandra stared down at her plate, thinking of the coded part of Nicholas's message: "The Seppanens tried to get in a shipment of phasguns. We captured them. This may mean they've succeeded with other shipments. It surely means they don't place much value on barriers. Take all the needed precautions."8964 copyright protection226PENANA3QHKmhl1ks 維尼
Alexandra focused her mind on phasguns, wondering. The white-hot beams of destructive light could cut through any known substance, provided that substance was not barrier-protected. The fact that feedback from a barrier would explode both phasgun and barrier did not bother the Seppanens. Why? A phasgun-barrier explosion was a dangerous variable, could be more powerful than nuclears, could kill only the gunner and his barrier-protected target.8964 copyright protection226PENANAuQWyDd1cVr 維尼
The unknows filled her with fear.8964 copyright protection226PENANAQ07a7Ln55x 維尼
Alexei said: "I never doubted we'd find the carryall. Once my father moves to solve a problem, he solves it. This is a fact the Seppanens are only beginning to discover."8964 copyright protection226PENANAobjRsIfrO6 維尼
He's boasting, Alexandra thought. He shouldn't boast. No person who'll be sleeping far below ground level this night as a precaution against phasguns has the right to boast.8964 copyright protection226PENANAJ88Yd7JtkU 維尼
230Please respect copyright.PENANAEEzj0yf0L4
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