A trio of uniformed guards puffed up to the doorway;ehind them were a half-dozen people from the tri-di show, and Leoh.
“What’s going on? Who’s this? Are you. . ..”
‘This is Major Odal,” Hector said, pointing with the gun. “He’s … uh, under the protection of diplomatic immunityPlease escort him back to the Kerak embassy.”
His face expressionless, Odal nodded to the Star Watchman and went with the guards.
“You mean it all went out on the tri-di network? Every word?” asked Hector.
He, Leoh, and Geri were sitting in the back of an automated Dulaq ground car as it threaded its way through the darkened city, heading for Geri’s home. The midnight rain was falling for its programed half-hour, so the car’s bubble top was up.
Geri had not said a word since Odal was taken from the tri-di studio.
But Leoh was chuckling. “When you hit all those switches and turned on the commercial tapes, you also turned on the sound system for every studio. We heard the bedlam, with you and Odal shouting at each other over it all. It came over the speakers right in the middle of our show. You should have seen the look on everyone’s face! And I understand that you ruined at least six other shows that were being taped at the time.”
“Really?” Hector squirmed. “I … that is, I didn’t mean . . . well, I’m sony about that….”
Waving a hand at him, Leoh said, “Relax, my boy. Your fight with Odal—the audio portion of it—was beamed into nearly every home on the planet. Everyone in Acquatainia knows what a fool I’ve been, and that Kerak is still as much of a threat as ever “