clear. You may not survive a second impropriety.”
“Thank you.” Etienne went to the indicated door and used the facilities provided because
he didn’t want to appear a liar. Not yet.
After the short interruption, he and his companions continued down the dead corridor until
a door on their right slid open and they were instructed to enter the room beyond. They
found themselves in a chamber, somewhat larger than the anteroom, with several badly
upholstered armchairs scattered about the slate floor. The walls were a sterile white,
bare of decoration. Little compromise had been made to human comforts; the room was
hardly more hospitable than the anteroom they’d come through. It reminded Etienne of
nothing so much as a poorly furnished doctor’s waiting room.
“Please be seated,” the voice said. The trio sat and waited.
A large triscreen lowered itself from one corner and lit up to present the
three-dimensional image of Dr. Loxner. He was somewhat older than Etienne
remembered him, a touch more gray in the beard and hair, a few more lines on the thin,
wrinkled face, but it was definitely the same person. He still wore that identifying
necklace about his neck.
“What is the important news you have for me?” he asked, looking at Etienne.
“I must see you in person.”
The image smiled. “That’s impossible.” “I only deal with men, not their images.”
“In this case, tovarishch, I’m afraid you’ll have to. My image is all that exists of me
anymore. The corporeal form you knew as my body has long since rotted away. Only my
mind survives.”
Etienne d’Alembert wrinkled his brow. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t. Few people ever would. A brilliant colleague, the late Dr. Immanuel
Rustin, and I developed the procedures for scanning a brain and recreating its memory
patterns in electronic form. The patterns of memories and synaptical connections is what
makes up a person’s mind. The memory pattern-the mind-can then be transferred and
imposed on any other synaptical device, like a computer.”
Etienne’s eyes widened as the importance of what the doctor had said became clear to
him. “You’re talking about a form of immortality,” he said in hushed tones.
“Thank you,” the image said, smiling. “I always thought of it in those terms. It’s nice to
have it recognized by others. ”
“But this could be the biggest development since the discovery of subspace,” Helena
interrupted. “Why are you hiding it?”
“I published a few tentative reports discussing general principles. They were greeted with
raging apathy. Not even vehement denials, mind you; I would have welcomed that. A
good, hot controversy always sparks the greatest advances in medicine. But my
colleagues weren’t even that interested. I decided not to bother with them any further. I
had what I needed; let them flounder about on their own.”
“You mean you’ve got the secret people have been seeking since the days of cavemen,
and you’ve only applied it to yourself?” Fortier asked unbelievingly.
“Oh, there was one other about twenty years ago. She appreciated what I could do. She
had me build her an entire new body, physically perfect, superhumanly strong, and her
mind was transferred into that. But she was a very special case indeed, a unique
individual.”
“Where’s the body you created for yourself?” Etienne asked. “Why can’t I meet that?”
“Oh, you do think small, don’t you?” the image of Dr. Loxner laughed. “Why should I
confine my mind to a single, limited body when I can expand it to suit my whim? My
friend thought the same way you do. I tried to tell her a computer would give her greater
scope, but she said she already had a computer and she wanted a body for maneu-
verability. Personally, I think it was simple vanity, but who am I to judge her?”
“Who was this woman?” Helena asked.
Dr. Loxner ignored her question. “Instead of building myself a humanoid body, I built
myself an entire world. My mind rests in a computer that runs everything around you. In a
very real sense, I am this asteroid. I control the power, the lights, all the functions you’ve
witnessed. So you see, you are talking to me face to face. I am everywhere you look.
You are within me. I am all around you, holding you, controlling your environment. You
can’t escape me.”
The image chuckled playfully. “Why else do you think I allowed you entrance so easily?
Do you think I was really fooled by your excuses and lies? Do you think I wasn’t told that
people were asking questions about me back on Durward? Do you think I don’t recognize
Helena von Wilmenhorst? Because I’m not distracted by the needs of a physical body I
have more time to consider the facts, not less. Because my mental patterns are part of a
computer network, I think faster, not slower. I am immortal, I can’t die. I don’t fear puny
creatures like you.”
“I see,” said Duke Etienne calmly, rubbing his right thumb. “Then perhaps you won’t mind
if we take the information you’ve given us and return to Durward.”
“I said I didn’t fear you, rovarishch. I never said I was stupid. No, the three of you will
never return to repeat what I’ve told you today. I control all access here, and I refuse to
let you leave.”
To emphasize the point, the door to this waiting room slammed shut with a loud bang.
Etienne refused to be upset. He didn’t have to try the door to know it would be locked. “I
see, doctor. Do you intend to keep us prisoners here in this single room?”
“It might be interesting to watch you starve to death. I do have faster means at my
disposal, however, if that proves too slow.”
It was Duke Etienne’s turn to smile. “I’m afraid you’re a little too late for that, doctor. You
see, you’re not the only one among us who’s a mixture of man and machine.”
“What do you mean?” For the first time, there was an expression of doubt on the image’s
face.
In answer, the Duke held up his right hand. “I lost my real hand in an altercation some
years ago, and I replaced it with a better one. You know about prosthetics; I’m sure you
can appreciate the workmanship that went into this. The thumb is a radio transmitter. Our
entire conversation has been beamed back to my ship. The three of us didn’t come
alone; I had some friends hiding in the hold. I’ve just sent the signal to come in, so they
should be joining us shortly. ”
Dr. Loxner’s image froze momentarily. From his sensors scattered about the asteroid, he
learned quickly that Duke Etienne was telling the truth. Out of the ship’s tiny hold
swarmed a small army of Circus people led by Rick d’Alembert, the leader of the
wrestlers, and Luise deForrest. They had been cramped in their narrow confines for sev-
eral hours, and were eager for action. All were clad in heavy body armor; all were ready
to face any menace the asteroid could offer. They did not come down the passenger
tube from the ship, fearing it might be booby-trapped. Instead, they came out the
emergency hatch and used power tools to work their way to the asteroid’s interior,
through auxiliary entrances used by the workmen who originally hollowed out the space
rock.
“You’ll pay for this,” the image said coldly, and disappeared from the triscreen.
Fortier’s sensitive nostrils caught the faint wisp of an unpleasantly sharp odor. “Hold your
breath!” he yelled as warning, and pulled out his tunic to hold over his face as further
protection against the poisonous gas seeping into the room.
Etienne d’Alembert turned and pointed his right forefinger at the locked door. From the
fingertip came a beam of blaster fire, searing in its intensity. It burned through the locking
mechanism of the door in a matter of seconds, and the trio lost no time escaping to the
bare rock hallway beyond.
But there seemed to be no safety here, either. A full-fledged storm was raging through
the corridor, a high piercing whistle accompanied by buffeting winds that blew them
around. “What’s happening?” Helena yelled, trying to make herself heard over the sound
of the winds.
The Duke raced back toward the anteroom, and the others followed quickly. His voice
sounded very far away as he said, “Loxner’s letting all the air out of here. We have to get
back to the ship before we die.”
They raced to the anteroom at the end of the corridor, only to find the outside door
sealed shut. The air was getting very thin now, and each breath was a fresh stab in the
chest. There was never quite enough air to suck in, and it all wanted to go out much too
fast.
“Stand back,” the Duke said. “I’m going to blow that door-and if Loxner disconnected the