he growled.
Quick sighed. “If I knew that, sir, I probably wouldn’t have had to call on you. The truth is, though, what will happen soon is unpredictable. If matters go wrong, I may well be unable to maintam secrecy alone. Nor was I ever used to doing so to this extent. Your advice, your connections, your action- Do you follow me?
“Suppose everything does proceed as we hope. Chinook comes to the T
machine, obediently maintaining outercom silence. The regular watchship is Copernicus, the hastily dispatched special one is Alhazen. Crews of both have been warned that the travelers are wanted on Demeter on criminal charges and must be presumed dangerous. Additionally, Broussard of the European Confederacy has seen to it that the captain and gunner on Aihazen, though not privy to the facts, are men who can be depended on to obey his command to shoot when in any doubt; his national government will protect them afterward before the board of inquiry.
However, suppose Chinook passes through to Phoebus without incident.
There Lomonosov waits to conduct her off. When remote from Bohr, Lomonosov sends a boarding party which secures the Demetrians, interrogates them, communicates with Governor Hancock, and waits for further instructions.
“We still won’t know for a while exactly what the Brodersen gang has done or can still do. We may get a nasty surprise. For instance, they may have propagandized the Wheel. We had better be prepared to respond fast and decisively.
“For now, though, what if trouble comes in the next few hours, in any of a hundred unforeseeable ways? What then? I repeat, sir, events are moving too rapidly for us. We’ve had to improvise, we’re overextended, our cover stories are full of gaping holes, too many people – from Hades to the Wheel and back –
will shortly be asking too many questions. What shall we do?”
Makarov blew smoke. It stank. “That will depend on what the reality is,”
he said. “You are right, I had best keep vigil with you.” After a moment he added: “The absolute reality is always death.”
Quick sat straight. I half feared this. Did I also half wish for it?
“I don’t quite understand,” he faltered.
“Do they not have a proverb in English, `Dead men tell no tales’?”
Yes; and how many graves have your executioners filled, Makarov? Quick’s mouth was turning cottony. He felt cold, though the office was well heated. “We have… our group has
discussed extreme measures, true. But strictly in case of dire need.”
“You have been telling me the need has become dire – whether you know you have or not.”
Quick clutched the arms of his chair. Attack! “Perhaps you should be more specific, sir.”
Makaroy waved his cigarette. “Very well.” His tone stayed matter-of-fact. “I have given thought to this, you realize, and have sounded out others in our team. If you were not included, no insult. Your actions, yes, your leadership demonstrate you are fundamentally a realist.
“We can have Chinook and her crew destroyed. We can send a trustworthy detachment to dispatch the personnel in the Wheel, including Troxell’s.
Side 104
Anderson, Poul – Avatar, The
“Faraday – I am not yet sure. We can have Lomonosov destroy her at Hades. Later we can explain these losses as a sad set of accidents, coincidentally happening in close succession. Well, there is no haste about Faraday. If possible, I prefer we spare her, since her crew is primed with hints of monsters from the stars.
“Ideally, we arrange the scene at the Wheel so it appears the monsters, who had enslaved the Emissary crew, took over the quarantine station as well.
Yes, and when Brodersen arrived on his private investigation, they lured him to them, captured him and his men, departed in his ship for their planet.
Fortunately, they betrayed themselves to the alert Lomonosov, which blew them to pieces.”
Despite having entertained similar notions – as fantasies, as fantasies
– Quick felt it incumbent on him to whisper, “Do you seriously imagine we could get the whole human race to swallow such a piece of sensationalism?”
“Enough of it, probably,” Makarov said. “Nothing a government claims is too preposterous for most of its citizens.