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from you again.
But I am speaking to you now on an unhappy occasion. Your uncle, Kensie, was
assassinated shortly over a month ago in the back streets of the city
ofBlauvain , on St. Marie, by a local terrorist group in opposition to the
government there. Ian, who was, of course, an officer in the same unit, later
somehow managed to discover the headquarters of the group in some alley or
other and killed the three men he found there with his hands. However, this
does not bring Kensie back. He was a favorite of us all; and we are all hard
hit, here at home, by his death.
It is Ian, however, who is presently the cause of our chief concern. He
brought Kensie s body home, refusing burial on St. Marie, and has been here
now several weeks. You know he was always the dark-natured of the twins, just
as it seemed that Kensie had twice the brightness and joy in life that is the
usual portion of the normal man. Your mother says it is now as if Ian had lost
his good angel, and is abandoned to the forces of darkness which have always
had such a grip on him.
She does not say it in just that way, of course. It is the woman and the
Maran in her, speaking but I have not lived with her twenty-seven years
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without realizing that she can see further into the soul of a man or woman
than I can. You have in some measure inherited this same gift, Donal; so maybe
you will understand better what she means. At any rate, it is at her urging
that I am sending you this signal; although I would have been speaking to you
about Kensie s death, in any case.
As you know, it has always been my belief that members of the same immediate
family should not serve too closely together in field or garrison in order
that family feelings should not be tempted to influence military
responsibilities. But it is your mother s belief that Ian should not now be
allowed to sit in his dark silence about the place, as he has been doing; but
that he should be once more in action. And she asks me to ask you if you could
find a place for him on your staff, where you can keep your eye on him. I know
it will be difficult for both of you to have him filling a duty post in a
position subordinate to you; but your mother feels it would be preferable to
the present situation.
Ian has expressed no wish to return to an active life; but if I speak to him
as head of the family, he will go. Your brother Mor is doing well on Venus and
has recently been promoted to commandant. Your mother urges you to write him,
whether he has written you or not, since he may be hesitant to write you
without reason, you having done so well in so short a time, although he is the
older.
All our love. Eachan.
The spool, seen through the little transparent cover, stopped turning. The
echoes of Eachan Khan Graeme s voice died against the gray walls of the
office. Donal sat still at his desk, his eyes fixed on nothing, remembering
Kensie.
It seemed odd to him, as he sat there, to discover that he could remember so
few specific incidents. Thinking back, his early life seemed to be filled with
his smiling uncle and yet Kensie had not been home much. He would have thought
that it would be the separate occasions of Kensie s going and coming that
would be remembered but instead it was more as if some general presence, some
light about the house, had been extinguished.
Donal sighed. It seemed he was accumulating people at a steady rate. First
Lee. Then the scarfaced El Man had asked to accompany him, when he left
Freiland. And now Ian. Well, Ian was a good officer, aside from whatever
crippling the death of his twin brother had caused him now. It would be more
than easy for Donal to find a place for him. In fact, Donal could use him
handily.
Donal punched a stud and turned his mouth to the little grille of the desk s
signal unit.
Eachan Khan Graeme, Graeme-house, South District, Foralie Canton, the
Dorsai, he said. Very glad to hear from you, although I imagine you know how
I feel about Kensie. Please ask Ian to come right along. I will be honored to
have him on my staff; and, to tell the truth, I have a real need for someone
like him here. Most of the ranking officers I inherited as War Chief have been
browbeaten by these Elders into a state of poor usefulness. I know I won t
have to worry about Ian on that score. If he would take over supervision of my
training program, he would be worth his weight in diamonds natural ones. And I
could give him an action post either on my personal staff, or as Patrol Chief.
Tell Mother I ll write Mor but that the letter may be a bit sketchy, right at
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present I am up to my ears in work at the moment. These are good officers and
men; but they have been so beaten about the ears at every wrong move that they
will not blow their nose without a direct order. My love to all at home.
Donal.
He pressed the button again, ending the recording and sealing it ready for
delivery with the rest of the outgoing signals his office sent daily on their
way. A soft chime from his desk reminded him that it was time for him to speak
once more with Eldest Bright. He got up and went out
The ranking elder of the joint government of the Friendly Worlds of Harmony
and Association maintained his own suite of offices in Government Center, not
more than half a hundred meters from the military nerve center. This was not
fortuitous. Eldest Bright was a Militant, and liked to keep his eye on the
fighting arm of God s True Churches. He was at work at his desk, but rose as
Donal came in.
He advanced to meet Donal, a tall, lean man, dressed entirely in black, with
the shoulders of a back-alley scrapper and the eyes of a Torquemada, that
light of the Inquisition in ancientSpain .
God be with you, he said. Who authorized this requisition order for
sheathing for the phase shift grids on the sub-class ships?
I did, said Donal.
You spend credit like water. Bright s hard, middle-aged face leaned toward
Donal. A tithe on the churches, a tithe of a tithe on the church members of
our two poor planets is all we have to support the business of government. How
much of this do you think we can afford to spend on whims and fancies?
War, sir, said Donal, is hardly a matter of whims and fancies.
Then why shield the grids? snapped Bright. Are they liable to rust in the
dampness of space? Will a wind come along between the stars and blow them
apart?
Sheathe, not shield, replied Donal. The point is to change their
appearance; from the ball-and-hammer to the cylindrical. I m taking all ships
of the first three classes through with me. When they come out before the
Exotics, I want them all looking like ships of the first class.
For what reason?
Our attack on Zombri cannot be a complete surprise, explained Donal,
patiently, Mara and Kultis are as aware as anyone else that from a military
standpoint it is vulnerable to such action. If you ll permit me He walked
past Bright to the latter s desk and pressed certain keys there. A schematic [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]