WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:07.320 Operation Haystack by Frank Herbert. It's hard to ferret out 2 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:10.560 a gang of fanatics. It would obviously be even harder 3 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:13.480 to spot a genetic line of dedicated men. But the 4 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:19.559 problem Orne had was one step tougher than that. When 5 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:23.160 the Investigation and Adjustment Scout cruiser landed on Marek, it 6 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:25.839 carried a man the doctors had no hope of saving. 7 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:28.760 He was alive only because he was in a womblike 8 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:32.000 cresh pod that had taken over most of his vital functions. 9 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:36.159 The man's name was Lewis Orne. He had been a blocky, 10 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.640 heavy muscled redhead with slightly off center features and the 11 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:43.159 hard flesh of a heavy planet native. Even in the 12 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:46.280 placid repose of near death, there was something clownish in 13 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:50.200 his appearance. His burnt, ungan covered face looked made up 14 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:54.679 for some bizarre show. Marek is the League capital, and 15 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:57.439 the I a medical center there is probably the best 16 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.359 in the galaxy, but it accepted the cresh podud an 17 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:04.280 Orn more as a curiosity than anything else. The man 18 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:07.000 had lost one eye, three fingers of his left hand, 19 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:09.640 and part of his hair, suffered a broken jaw, and 20 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:13.879 various internal injuries. He had been in terminal shock for 21 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:19.280 more than ninety hours. Umbo Stetson, Orne's section chief went 22 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:22.519 back into his cruiser's office after a hospital flitter took 23 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:25.879 pod and patient. There was an added droop to Stetson's 24 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:30.599 shoulders that accentuated his usual slouching stance. His over large 25 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:34.879 features were drawn into ridges of sorrow. A general straggling, 26 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:38.840 trampish look about him was not helped by patched blue fatigues. 27 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:43.239 The doctor's words still rang in Stetson's ears. This patient's 28 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:46.319 vital tone is too low to permit operative replacement of 29 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:49.359 damaged organs. He'll lived for a while because of the pod. 30 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:53.439 But and the doctor had shrugged. Stetson slumped into his 31 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:56.359 desk chair, looked out the open port beside him, some 32 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:59.680 four hundred meters below. The scurrying beetlelike activity of the 33 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:03.560 eye's main field sent up a discordant roaring and clattering. 34 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:07.000 Two rows of other Scout cruisers were parked in line 35 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:11.479 with Stetson's port, gleaming red and black needles. He stared 36 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:14.639 at them, without really seeing them. It always happens on 37 00:02:14.759 --> 00:02:19.039 some routine assignment. He thought nothing but a slight suspicion 38 00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:22.199 about heleb. The fact that only women held high office, 39 00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:26.400 one simple, unexplained fact, and I lose my best agent, 40 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:30.759 he sighed, turned to his desk began composing the report. 41 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:34.360 The militant corps on the planet Heleb has been eliminated. 42 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:38.719 Occupation force on the ground. No further danger to galactic 43 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:43.879 peace expected from this source. Reason for Operation Rediscovery and 44 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.919 re Education. After two years on the planet failed to 45 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:51.680 detect signs of militancy. The major indications were one a 46 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:56.360 ruling caste restricted to women, and two disparity between numbers 47 00:02:56.360 --> 00:03:00.520 of males and females far beyond the Lutig norm. Senior 48 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.360 Field Agent Lewis Orn found that the ruling cast was 49 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:07.080 controlling the sex of offspring at Conception Sea, attached details, 50 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:10.680 and had raised a male slave army to maintain its rule. 51 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:13.879 The R and R agent had been drained of information, 52 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:17.879 then killed. Arms constructed on the basis of that information 53 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:21.680 caused critical injuries to Senior Field Agent Orn. He is 54 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:24.639 not expected to live. I am hereby urging that he 55 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:27.719 received the Galaxy Medal and that his name be added 56 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:31.840 to the role of honor. Stetson pushed the page aside. 57 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:34.759 That was enough for Comgo, who never read anything but 58 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.719 the first page anyway, details were for his aids to 59 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:41.599 chew and digest. They could wait. Stetson punched his desk 60 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.719 callbox for Orne service record, set himself to the task 61 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.120 he most detested, notifying next of kin. He read, pursing 62 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:53.919 his lips home Planet Chargon notify in case of accident 63 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:59.199 or death Missus Victoria Orn mother. He leafed through the pages, 64 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:02.280 reluctant to send the hated message. Orn had enlisted in 65 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:05.400 the Marak Marines at age seventeen, a runaway from home, 66 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:09.520 and his mother had given post enlistment consent. Two years later, 67 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:13.039 scholarship transferred to Una Galacta and R and R School 68 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:15.960 here on Marek. Five years of school and one R 69 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.160 and R field assignment under his belt, and he had 70 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:21.199 been drafted into the i A for Brilliant Detection of 71 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:26.720 militancy on Hamel and two years later kaput. Abruptly, Stetson 72 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:29.480 hurled the service record at the gray metal wall across 73 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:32.040 from him. Then he got up brought the record back 74 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:35.240 to his desk, smoothing the pages. There were tears in 75 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:38.560 his eyes. He flipped a switch on his desk dictated 76 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:42.360 the notification to Central Secretarial ordered it sent out priority. 77 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:44.879 Then he went ground side and got drunk on ho 78 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:49.319 car brandy, Oran's favorite drink. The next morning there was 79 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:53.399 a reply from Shargan Lewis Orne's mother, too ill to travel, 80 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:58.519 sisters being notified, Please ask Missus Ipscott Boullion of Marek, 81 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.319 wife of the High Commissioner, to take over for family. 82 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:07.040 It was signed Madrina ORNs standish sister. With some misgivings, 83 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:10.560 Stetson called the residence of Ipscott Boullioon, leader of the 84 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:14.160 majority party in the Marrick Assembly. Missus Boulion took the 85 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:17.160 call with blank screen. There was a sound of running 86 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:20.600 water in the background. Stetson stared at the grayness swimming 87 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:23.680 in his desk visor. He always disliked a blank screen. 88 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:27.839 A baritone husk of a voice slid. This is Polly Bullion. 89 00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:34.240 Stetson introduced himself, relayed the chargon message. Victorious boy dying here, 90 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:38.000 Oh the poor thing, and Madrine is back on chargon 91 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:42.040 the election. Oh yes, of course, I'll get right over 92 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:46.399 to the hospital. Stetson signed off. Broke the contact the 93 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:50.800 High Commissioner's wife. Yet he thought then because he had 94 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:53.399 to do it. He walled off his sorrow got to 95 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:57.240 work at the medical center. The oval cresh containing orn 96 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.279 hung from sealing hooks in a private room. There were 97 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:03.040 humming sounds in the dim, woodary greenness of the room, 98 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:08.439 rhythmic chuggings, sighings. Occasionally a door opened almost soundlessly, and 99 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:10.879 a white clad figure would check the grapht tapes on 100 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:15.040 the kresh's meters. Orne was lingering. He became the major 101 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:19.040 conversation piece at the intern's coffee breaks. That agent who 102 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:22.360 was hurt on heleb he's still with us, man. They 103 00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:26.360 must build those guys different from the rest of us. Yeah, understand, 104 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.360 he's got only about an eighth of his insides. Liver, kidneys, 105 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:32.879 stomach all gone. Lay you odds he doesn't last out 106 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.079 the month. Look what old sure thing McTavish wants to 107 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:39.040 bet on. On the morning of his eighty eighth day 108 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:41.839 in the crash, the day nurse came into Orne's room, 109 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:45.199 lifted the inspection hood looked down at him. The day 110 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:48.480 nurse was tall, lean faced professional who had learned to 111 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:52.160 meet miracles and failures with equal lack of expression. However, 112 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:55.199 this routine with the dying ia operative had lulled her 113 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:59.639 into a state of psychological unpreparedness. Any day now, poor guy, 114 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:02.879 sh thought, and she gasped as he opened his soul 115 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:08.560 remaining eye and said, did they clobber those dames on Heleb? Yes, sir, 116 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:13.759 she blurted, They really did, sir. Good Orn closed his eye, 117 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:17.720 his breathing deepened. The nurse rang frantically for the doctor's 118 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:21.519 It had been an indeterminate period in a blank fog 119 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:24.600 for Orn, then a time of pain, and the gradual 120 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:27.279 realization that he was in a crash had to be 121 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:31.000 He could remember his sudden exposure on Heleb, the explosion, 122 00:07:31.319 --> 00:07:35.000 then nothing good old Cresh. It made him feel safe, 123 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:39.120 Now shielded from all danger, Orton began to show minute 124 00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:42.600 but steady signs of improvement. In another month, the doctors 125 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:45.360 ventured an intestinal graft that gave him a new spurt 126 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:49.360 of energy. Two months later, they replaced missing eye and fingers, 127 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:53.759 restored his scalp line, worked artistic surgery on his burn scars. 128 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.720 Fourteen months, eleven days, five hours and two minutes after 129 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:00.920 he had been picked up as good as dead, Orn 130 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:03.720 walked out of the hospital under his own power, accompanied 131 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.040 by a strangely silent Umbo Stetson under the dark blue 132 00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:11.680 i a field cape. Orne's coverall uniform, fitted his once 133 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:15.600 muscular frame like a deflated bag. But the pixie light 134 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:18.360 had returned to his eyes, even to the eye he 135 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:22.120 had received from a nameless and long dead donor. Except 136 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:24.199 for the loss of weight, he looked to be the 137 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:27.879 same Lewis Orn. If he was different beyond the spare parts, 138 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:31.720 it was something he only suspected, something that made the 139 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:36.840 idea twice born, not a joke. Outside the hospital, clouds 140 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:40.840 obscured Marek's green sun. It was mid morning. A cold 141 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:44.159 spring wind bent the pile lawn tugged fitfully at the 142 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:47.679 border plantings of exotic flowers around the hospital's landing pad. 143 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:51.759 Orn paused on the steps above the pad, breathed deeply 144 00:08:51.799 --> 00:08:55.960 of the chill air. Beautiful day, he said. Stetson reached 145 00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:58.879 out a hand to help Orn down the steps, hesitated, 146 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:02.000 put the hand back in his pocket. Beneath the section 147 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:05.919 chief's look of weary superciliousness, there was a note of anxiety. 148 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:09.480 His big features were set in a frown. The drooping 149 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:14.159 eyelids failed to conceal a sharp, measuring stare. Orn glanced 150 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:17.000 at the sky to the southwest. The flitter ought to 151 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.639 be here any minute. A gust of wind tugged at 152 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:23.639 his cape. He staggered, caught his balance. I feel good. 153 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:27.919 You look like something left over from a funeral, growled Stetson. 154 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:32.840 Sure my funeral, said Orn. He grinned anyway. I was 155 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.919 getting tired of that walk around type morgue. All my 156 00:09:36.039 --> 00:09:39.240 nurses were married. I'd almost stake my life that I 157 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:42.919 could trust you, muttered Stetson. Orn looked at him. No, no, 158 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:47.360 stett stake my life. I'm used to it. Stetson shook 159 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:50.120 his head. No, damn it. I trust you, but you 160 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:53.519 deserve a peaceful convalescence. We've no right to saddle you 161 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:59.679 with stead. Orne's voice was low, amused. Huh. Stetson looked up. 162 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.639 Let's save the noble act for someone who doesn't know you, 163 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:06.120 said Orn. You've a job for me. Okay, you've made 164 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:10.200 the gesture for your conscience. Stetson produced a wolfish grin. 165 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:13.480 All right, so we're desperate and we haven't much time 166 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:16.120 in a nutshell. Since you're going to be a house 167 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:19.720 guest at the Bullions, we suspect Ipscott Bullion of being 168 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:22.279 the head of the conspiracy to take over the government. 169 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:27.639 What do you mean take over the government? Demanded Orn. 170 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:31.440 The Galactic High Commissioner is the government subject to the 171 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:35.320 Constitution and the assemblymen who elected him. We've a situation 172 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:38.320 that could explode into another rim war, and we think 173 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:41.000 he's at the heart of it, said Stetson. We've eighty 174 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.879 one touchy planets, all of them old line studies that 175 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:46.519 have been in the League for years, and on every 176 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:48.360 one of them we have reason to believe there's a 177 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:52.200 clan of traders sworn to overthrow the League, even on 178 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:56.080 your home planet, Shargon, you want me to go home 179 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:59.440 for my convalescence, asked Orn. Haven't been there since I 180 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:03.200 was seven. I'm not sure that. No, damn it. We 181 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.919 want you as the Bullion's house guest. And speaking of that, 182 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:08.600 would you mind explaining how they were chosen to ride 183 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:11.840 herd on you? There's an odd thing, said Orn, all 184 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:15.200 those gags in the I a about old upshook Ipscott Bullion, 185 00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:17.600 and then I find out his wife went to school 186 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:22.039 with my mother. Have you met himself? He brought his 187 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:25.080 wife to the hospital a couple of times. Again, Stetson 188 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.200 looked to the southwest, then back to Orn. A pensive 189 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.399 look came over his face. Every school kid knows how 190 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:33.799 the Nathians and the Moracian League fought it out in 191 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:37.159 the Rim War, how the old civilization fell apart, And 192 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:41.000 it all seems kind of distant, he said. Five hundred 193 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:45.200 standard years, said Orne. And maybe no farther away than yesterday, 194 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:49.000 murmured Stetson. He cleared his throat, and Orne wondered why 195 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:53.679 Stetson was moving so cautiously. Something deep troubling him. A 196 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:57.240 sudden thought struck Orn. He said, you spoke of trust. 197 00:11:57.559 --> 00:12:01.480 Has this conspiracy involved the I A We think so, 198 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:03.879 said Stetson. About a year ago, an our and R 199 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:07.759 archeological team was nosing around some ruins on Dabi. The 200 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.759 place was all but vitrified in the Rim War, but 201 00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:13.799 a whole bank of records from a Nathan outpost escaped. 202 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:17.840 He glanced sidelong at Orn. The raw and rob boys 203 00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:20.919 couldn't make sense out of the records. No surprise, they 204 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:24.200 called in an I, a cryptanalyst. He broke the complicated 205 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:28.159 substitution cipher. When the stuff started making sense, he pushed 206 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:32.039 the panic button for something. The Nathians wrote five hundred 207 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:36.559 years ago. Stetson's drooping eyelids lifted. There was a cold 208 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:39.960 quality to his stare. This was a routing station for 209 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:44.399 key Nathian families, he said, trained refugees. An old dodge 210 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:49.399 been used as long as there's been but five hundred years. Step, 211 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:52.879 I don't care if it was five thousand years, barked Stetson. 212 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:56.039 We've intercepted some scraps since then that were written in 213 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:00.679 the same code, the bland confidence of that. Wouldn't that 214 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:03.960 called you? He shook his head. And every scrap we've 215 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:07.840 intercepted deals with the coming elections. But the election's only 216 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:11.159 a couple of days off, protested Orn. Stetson glanced at 217 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:14.600 his wrist krono forty two hours to be exact, He said, 218 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.799 some deadline. Any names in these old records, asked Orn. 219 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:24.440 Stetson nodded. Names of planets, yes, people, No, some code names, 220 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:28.360 but no cover names code named on Chargon, was winner 221 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:32.559 that ring any bells with you? Orn shook his head. No, 222 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:36.879 what's the code name here? The head, said Stetson. But 223 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:39.440 what good does that do us? They're sure to have 224 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:43.279 changed those by now. They didn't change their communications code, 225 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:47.559 said Orn. No, they didn't. We must have something on them, 226 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:51.039 some leads, said Orn. He felt that Stetson was holding 227 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:55.240 back something vital. Sure, said Stetson. We have history books. 228 00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:58.360 They say the Nathians were top drawer in political mechanics. 229 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:00.879 We know for a fact they chose landing sites for 230 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:05.399 their refugees with diabolical care. Each family was told to 231 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:08.679 dig in, grow up with the adopted culture, develop the 232 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:12.279 weak spots, build an underground, train their descendants to take over. 233 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:15.559 They set out to bore from within, to make victory 234 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:19.399 out of defeat. The Nathians were long on patients. They 235 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:23.480 came originally from nomad stock on Nathia, Io. Their mythology 236 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:28.080 calls them ARBs or herbs. Go review your seventh grade history. 237 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:31.279 You'll know almost as much as we do. Like looking 238 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.080 for the traditional needle in the haystack, muttered Orn, how 239 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:37.720 come you suspect High Commissioner upshook? Stetson wet his lips 240 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:40.799 with his tongue. One of the Billyon's seven daughters is 241 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:44.559 currently at home, he said, names Diana, a field leader 242 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:47.799 in the Ia women. One of the Nathian code messages 243 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:52.720 we intercepted had her name and address. Who sent the message, Askedorn, 244 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.559 what was it all about. Stetson coughed, you know, Lou, 245 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:00.639 we cross check everything. This message was signed M O. S. 246 00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:03.320 The only MOS that came out of the comparison was 247 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:06.240 on a routine next of kin reply. We followed it 248 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:09.679 down to the original copy and the handwriting checked name 249 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:16.120 of Madrina Orn Standish Mattie Orn Froze turned slowly to 250 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:20.200 face Stetson. So that's what's troubling you. We know you 251 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:23.000 haven't been home since you were seventeen, said Stetson. Your 252 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.679 record with us is clean. The question is permit me, 253 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:29.600 said Orn. The question is will I turn in my 254 00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:33.480 own sister if it falls that way. Stetson remained silent, 255 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:37.039 staring at him. Okay, said Orn. My job is seeing 256 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:39.519 that we don't have another rim war. Just answer me 257 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:42.639 one question. How's Mattie mixed up in this? My family 258 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.799 isn't one of these trader clans. The whole thing is 259 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:48.799 all tangled up with politics, said Stetson. We think it's 260 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:53.080 because of her husband. Ah, the member for Chargon, said Oran. 261 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:55.879 I've never met him. He looked to the southwest, where 262 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:58.600 a flitter was growing larger as it approached who's my 263 00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:02.240 cover contact? That many transceiver we planted in your neck 264 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:05.600 for the geenad job, said Stetson. It's still there and functioning. 265 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:09.679 Anything happens around you, we hear it. Orn touched the 266 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:13.080 subvocal stud at his neck, moved his speaking muscles without 267 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:17.039 opening his mouth. A surf hissing noise filled the matching 268 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:20.799 transceiver in Stetson's neck. You pay attention while I'm making 269 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.799 a play for this Diana Bullion. You hear, then you'll 270 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:27.039 know how an expert works. Don't get so interested in 271 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.080 your work that you forget why you're out there, growled Stetson. 272 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:33.960 Missus Boulion was a fat, little mouse of a woman. 273 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:36.360 She stood almost in the center of the guest room 274 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:39.679 of her home, hands clasped across the paunch of a long, 275 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:44.120 dull silver gown. She had demure gray eyes, grand motherly 276 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:47.679 gray hair combed straight back in a jeweled net, and 277 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.720 that shocking baritone husk of a voice issuing from a 278 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:54.879 small mouth. Her figure sloped out from several chins to 279 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.919 a matronly bosom, then dropped straight like a barrel. The 280 00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:02.039 top of her head came just above Orne's dress epaulets 281 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.680 we want you to feel at home here, Louis, she husked, 282 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:09.559 you are to consider yourself one of the family. Orn 283 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:12.000 looked around at the bull you owned guest room, low 284 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:15.119 key furnishings with an old fashioned select a call for 285 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:18.519 change of decours, a pole. A window looked out onto 286 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:21.799 an oval swimming pool. The glass muted to dark blue. 287 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:24.759 It gave the outside a moonlight appearance. There was a 288 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.799 contour bed against one wall, several built ins, and a 289 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:32.920 door partly open to reveal bathroom tiles. Everything traditional and comfortable. 290 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:36.359 I already do feel at home, he said. You know 291 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:39.440 your house is very like our place on Shargun. I 292 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:41.720 was surprised when I saw it from the air. Except 293 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:45.720 for the setting, it looks almost identical. I guess your 294 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:48.119 mother and I shared ideas when we were in school, 295 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:52.960 said Polly. We were very close friends. You must have 296 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.079 been to do all this for me, said Orn. I 297 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:58.319 don't know how I'm ever going to ah here we are. 298 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:02.079 A deep, masculine voice boomed from the open door behind Orn. 299 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:06.720 He turned saw Ipscott Boullion, high commissioner of the Moroccan League. 300 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.960 Bullion was tall and had a face of harsh angles 301 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:13.559 and deep lines, dark eyes under heavy brows, black hair 302 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:16.960 trained in receding waves. There was a look of ungainly 303 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:20.880 clumsiness about him. He doesn't strike me as the dictator type, 304 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:25.319 thought Orn, But that's obviously what Stet suspects. Glad you 305 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:28.519 made it out all right, son, boomed Bullion. He advanced 306 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:31.240 into the room, glanced around. Hope everything is to your 307 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:34.160 taste here. Louis was just telling me that our place 308 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:37.079 is very like his mother's home on Chargon, said Polly. 309 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:40.599 It's old fashioned, but we like it, said Bullion. Just 310 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:43.720 a great big tetragon on a central pivot. We can 311 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.079 turn any room we want to the sun, the shade, 312 00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:48.720 or the breeze, but we usually leave the main salon, 313 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:52.519 pointing northeast view of the Capitol. You know we have 314 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:55.160 a sea breeze on Chargon that we treat the same way, 315 00:18:55.240 --> 00:18:58.359 said Orn. I'm sure Lewis would like to be left 316 00:18:58.359 --> 00:19:00.960 alone for a while now, said Poe. Dolly. This is 317 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.000 his first day out of the hospital. We mustn't tire him. 318 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.680 She crossed to the polar window, adjusted it to neutral gray, 319 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:11.759 turned the selectacole, and the room's color dominance shifted to green. 320 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:16.279 There that's more RESTful, she said. Now, if there's anything 321 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:18.759 you need, you just ring the bell there by your bed. 322 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:22.759 The autobuttle will know where to find us. The bulloons left, 323 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:25.279 and Orn crossed to the window looked out at the pool. 324 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:28.720 The young woman hadn't come back. When the chauffeur driven 325 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.720 limousine flitter had dropped down to the house's landing pad. 326 00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:34.839 Orn had seen a parasol and a sun hat nodding 327 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:37.200 to each other on the blue tiles beside the pool. 328 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:41.079 The parasol had shielded Polly Bullion. The sun hat had 329 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:44.039 been worn by a shapely young woman in swimming tights 330 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:46.960 who had rushed off into the house. She was no 331 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:50.400 taller than Polly, but slender and with golden red hair 332 00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:53.319 caught under the sun hat in a swimmer's sine yon. 333 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:57.240 She was not beautiful, face too narrow, with suggestions of 334 00:19:57.319 --> 00:20:01.400 Bullion's cragginess, and the eyes over long, but her mouth 335 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.319 was full, lipped, chin strong, and there had been an 336 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:07.759 air of exquisite assurance about her. The total effect had 337 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:12.759 been one of striking elegance, extremely feminine. Orn looked beyond 338 00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:15.920 the pool, wooded hills and dimly on the horizon a 339 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:20.079 broken line of mountains. The bull yons lived in expensive isolation. 340 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:24.880 Around them stretched miles of wilderness, rugged with its planned neglect. 341 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:28.559 Time to report in, he thought. Orn pressed the next 342 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:31.759 stud on his transceiver got Stetson told him what had 343 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:34.880 happened to this point? All right, said Stetson. Go find 344 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:37.440 the daughter. She fits the description of the galley saw 345 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:40.160 by the pool. That's what I was hoping, said Orn. 346 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:43.519 He changed into light blue fatigues, went to the door 347 00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:46.240 of his room, let himself out into the hall. A 348 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:49.519 glance at his wristchrono showed that it was shortly before noon. 349 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:52.319 Time for a bit of scouting before they called lunch. 350 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:54.920 He knew from his brief tour of the house and 351 00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:57.759 its similarity to the home of his childhood, that the 352 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:01.480 hall led into the main living salon. The public rooms 353 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:05.400 and men's quarters were in the outside ring, secluded family 354 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:09.680 apartments and women's quarters occupied the inner section. Orn made 355 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:12.759 his way to the salon. It was long, built around 356 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:16.079 two sections of the tetragon, and with low divans beneath 357 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:19.359 the view windows. The floor was thick pile rugs pushed 358 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:22.680 one against another in a crazy patchwork of reds and browns. 359 00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:24.880 At the far end of the room, some one in 360 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:27.839 blue fatigues like his own was bent over a stand 361 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:30.960 of some sort. The figure straightened at the same time 362 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:34.240 a tinkle of music filled the room. He recognized the 363 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:36.400 red gold hair of the young woman he had seen 364 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:39.759 beside the pool. She was wielding two mallets to play 365 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:42.720 a stringed instrument that lay on its side, supported by 366 00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:46.799 a carved wood stand. He moved up behind her, his 367 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:50.400 footsteps muffled by the carpeting. The music had a curious 368 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:55.160 rhythm that suggested figures dancing wildly around firelight. She struck 369 00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:59.279 a final chord, muted the strings. That makes me homesick, 370 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:04.240 said orn Oh. She whirled, gasped, then smiled. You startled me. 371 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:08.240 I thought I was alone. Sorry, I was enjoying the music. 372 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:13.000 I'm Diana Boullion. She said, you are mister orn Lou 373 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:15.720 to all of the Bullon family. I hope, he said, 374 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:19.799 of course, Lou. She gestured at the musical instrument. This 375 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.039 is very old. Most find its music well, rather weird. 376 00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:27.440 It's been handed down for generations. In my mother's family, 377 00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:31.480 the Kithra said, Orrin, my sister's play. It been a 378 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:35.319 long time since I've heard one. Oh, of course, she said, 379 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:39.400 your mother's. She stopped, looked confused. I've got to get 380 00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:41.720 used to the fact that your I mean that we 381 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:45.640 have a strange man around the house who isn't exactly strange. 382 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:49.240 Orne grinned. In spite of the blue eye, a fatigues 383 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:52.319 and a rather severe pulled back hairdo. This was a 384 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:55.839 handsome woman. He found himself liking her, and this caused 385 00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:59.799 him a feeling near self loathing. She was a suspect 386 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:02.839 he couldn't afford to like her. But the Bouillions were 387 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:05.279 being so decent taking him in like this, and how 388 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:10.440 was their hospitality being repaid by spying and prying? Yet 389 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:13.000 his first loyalty belonged to the i A to the 390 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:17.000 peace it represented, he said, rather lamely. I hope you 391 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:20.319 get over the feeling that I'm strange. I'm already over it, 392 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:23.519 she said. She linked arms with him, said if you 393 00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:25.680 feel up to it, I'll take you on the deluxe 394 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.440 guided tour. By nightfall, Orn was in a state of confusion. 395 00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:33.000 He had found Diana fascinating and yet the most comfortable 396 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:35.480 woman to be around that he had ever met. She 397 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:40.480 liked swimming, poloika hunting tetar apples. She had a poo 398 00:23:40.519 --> 00:23:43.599 poo attitude toward the older generation that she said she'd 399 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:47.000 never before revealed to anyone. They had laughed like fools 400 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:50.799 over utter nonsense. Orn went back to his room to 401 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.319