The Dark Design by Phillip Jose Farmer

“Just consider Piscator then.”

“He was one of them samurai,” Johnston said.

“I don’t think race would have anything to do with it,” Sam said. “So far we haven’t uncovered any Mongolian agents, though I suppose there could be plenty. Consider this. Thorn did not want Firebrass and Obrenova to get into the tower. So he cold-bloodedly blew them up, not to mention the innocents with them. Maybe, though, Thorn didn’t know Firebrass was an agent. If so, he got two for the price of one.”

“Maybe there were more than two …” Gwen said. “No, only two had those black balls in their heads.”

“Jumping catfish! Don’t make it more complicated than it is!”

Gwen said, “If those two could’ve entered, then we should compare their characters with Piscator’s.”

“I vath around Firebrathth a lot, and he thmelled chutht like any human. Thith Ethical left a thmell behind him when he vithited Tham. It vathn’t human. Pithcater, he vath human, though he did thmell Chapanethe. I can dithtinguith different typeth of people becauthe of their diet.”

“But you never met a person who smelled nonhuman,” Sam said. “So we don’ t know if the agents are nonhuman. They certain­ly look as if they are human.”

“No, but they mutht’ve been around me,” Joe said. “And thinthe I never thmelled anybody that didn’t thmell human-though that ain’t nothing to brag about-thmelling human, I mean, then the achentth mutht be human.”

“That mought be,” Johnston said. “It seems to this here child that if a non-Earthman cain look like a real person, then he cain smell like one.”

Joe laughed and said, ”Vhy don’t ve chutht potht a notithe in the main lounge? Any Ethicalth or achentth aboard pleathe report to Captain Clementh.”

Gwenafra had been fidgeting about and frowning. She said.

“Why do all of you duck the question I brought up? What about Piscator?”

“Maybe we’re like the circus midget who found the giant’s shoes under his wife’s bed,” Sam said. “Afraid to ask.

“Very well. I wasn’t too well acquainted with the gentleman from Cipango. He showed up about two months before the Mark Twain left. From all reports, he was a very quiet and likable person. Not withdrawn or aloof, just not aggressive. He seemed to get along with just about everybody. Which, in my book, makes him suspect. Yet he wasn’t a yes-man. I remember he got into an argument with Firebrass about the size of the airship to be built. He thought that it would be better to build a smaller one. The end of the discussion was that Piscator said he still thought he was right. But since Firebrass, was the boss, he would do as he said.”

“Did he have any peculiarities?” Gwenafra said.

“He was crazy about fishing, but I don’t count that an eccentrici­ty. Say, what’re you asking me for? You knew him.”

“I just wanted to get another viewpoint,” she said. “When Gulbirra gets here, we’ll ask her about him. She knew him better than we did.”

“Don’t forget Thyrano,” Joe said. “He knew him.”

“Joe loved Cyrano,” Sam said. “The Frenchmen’s got a bigger nose than his. Makes Joe feel right at home.”

“That’th a crock of thyit. Ain’t none of you pygmieth got a nothe to be proud of. I chutht like him even if you two get along like two male hyenath in mating theathon.”

“I don’t care for the simile,” Sam said coolly. “Anyway, what do you think of Piscator, Gwen?”

“He radiated a sort of, what do you call it? Not animal magne­tism, since there was nothing sexual about it. Just a warm attractive­ness. You knew he liked you. Though, again, he wouldn’t put up with fools. He’d go along with them, even when they were being stupid. But he got rid of them in a nice way.

“I don’t think he was, what is the word? A fundamentalist or fanatic Moslem. He said the Koran was to be understood allegori-cally. He also said the Bible was not to be read literally. He could quote long passages of both, you know. I talked to him a number of times, and I was surprised when he told me that Jesus was the greatest prophet after Mohammed. He also said the Moslems be­lieved that the first person to enter heaven will be Mary, the mother of Jesus. You told me Moslems hate Jesus, Sam.”