first? My guess is, they don’t know it exists. However, we’re safer in
motion regardless.”
She bit a knuckle till blood came forth, before she could say:
“Everybody died on our account?”
“No, I think not. Your father, at least, had to be gotten rid of, since
he knew the truth. And there was no being sure he hadn’t told somebody
else. I dare hope the enemy thinks we went out with him.”
“How did they learn, Dominic?” Through the curbed hardness of her voice,
he sensed dread. “Is Aycharaych in Zorkagrad?”
“Conceivable.” Flandry’s words fell one by one. “But not probable.
Remember, we did consider the possibility. If we were to land on the
taiga, Chives must proceed to the spaceport, simply to maintain our
fiction. Wearing his mindscreen would make him overly conspicuous.
Anyhow, Aycharaych wouldn’t fail to check on each newcomer, and he knows
both Chives and Hooligan by sight. I decided the odds were he went to
Dennitza from Diomedes, but having made sure the mischief he’d started
was proceeding along the lines he wanted, didn’t linger. He’s no coward,
but he knows he’s too valuable to risk in a merely warlike action–which
this affair has to bring, and soon, or else his efforts have gone for
naught. My guess was, he’s hanging around Zoria in a wide orbit known
only to a few of his most trusted chessmen,”
“Yes, I remember now. Talk on. Please, Dominic. I have to be nothing
except practical for a while, or I’ll fall apart.”
“Me too. Well, I still believe my assessment was confirmed when we made
such trouble-free contact with your father. Chives had been in Zorkagrad
for days. Aycharaych would have found him, read him, and prepared a trap
to spring on us the minute we arrived. Anything else would have been an
unnecessary gamble.” Bleakness softened: “You know, I went into the
manor house using every psychotrick they ever drilled into me to keep my
knowledge of where you were out of conscious thought, and ready to
swallow the old poison pill on the spot should matters go awry.”
“What?” She turned her head toward him. “Why, you … you told me to
leave the rendezvous if you didn’t return by sunset–but–Oh, Dominic,
no!”
Then she did weep. He comforted her as best he could. Meanwhile he found
a place to stop, a grove on the rim beneath which he could taxi and be
sheltered from the sky.
She gasped back to self-mastery and bade him tell her the rest of his
thoughts. “I feel certain what caused the attack tonight was the capture
of your father’s courier,” he said. “He must have been interrogated
hastily. Aycharaych would have found out about our cabin, whether or not
your father explicitly told his man. But a quick narcoquiz by
nontelepaths–” He scowled into murk. “The problem is, what made the
enemy suspicious of him? He wasn’t carrying any written message, and his
cover story was plausible. Unless–”
He leaned forward, snapped a switch. “Let’s try for news.”
“The next regular ‘cast is in about half an hour,” Kossara said in a
tiny voice, “if that hasn’t changed too.”
He tuned in the station she named. Ballet dancers moved to cruelly happy
music. He held her close and murmured.
A woman’s countenance threw the program out. Terror distorted it.
“Attention!” she screeched. “Special broadcast! Emergency! We have just
received word from a spokesman of the Zamok–officers of the Imperial
Navy have arrested Gospodar Miyatovich for high treason. Citizens are
required to remain calm and orderly. Those who disobey can be shot. And
… and weather satellites report a nuclear explosion in the Dubina
Dolyina area–neighborhood of the voivode’s residence–attempts to phone
there have failed. The voivode was, is … the Gospodar’s brother-in-law
… No announcement about whether he was trying to rebel or–Stay calm!
Don’t move till we know more! Ex-except … the city police office just
called in–blast shelters will be open to those who wish to enter. I
repeat, blast shelters will be open–”
Repetition raved on for minutes. Beneath it, Flandry snarled, “If ever
they hope to provoke their war, they’ve reckoned this is their last and