Odal didn’t move a muscle. He refused to show any emotion, any fear, any weakness to his superior.
“For the time being you are assigned to my personal staff. You will remain at this headquarters building at all timesYour duties will be given to you daily by my assistants.”
“Very well.”
“And consider this,” Kor said, hunching forward in his chair. “Your failure with the Watchman made the Leader accuse me of failure. He will not tolerate excuses. If you fail the next time I call on you, it will be necessary to destroy you.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“Good. Return to your quarters until summoned. And remember, either we destroy Leoh, or he destroys us.”
Odal nodded, rose from his” chair, and walked out of tfie office. Us, he thought. Kor is beginning to feel the terror fie uses on others. If he could have been sure that he wasn’t being watched by hidden cameras, Odal would have smiled-
Professor Leoh eased his bulky body into the softness of an air couch. It looked as though he was sitting on nothingness, with the glistening metal curve of the couch several centimeters from his body.
“This is what I’ve needed for a long time,” he said to Hector. “A real vacation, with all the luxuries. It makes an old man happy.”
The Star Watchman was standing by the window wall across the room from Leoh, anxiously peering down at the bustling city far below. “It’s a nice apartment they’ve given you, all right.”
The room was long and spacious, with one whole side devoted to the window wall. The decorations were colorand scent-coded to change slowly through the day. At the moment the walls were in shades of brown and gold, and the air hinted faintly of spices.