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"So it shall, so it shall," said Naras Sharaf, now clearly excited.
"Our business interests also are strong."
"In fact," Loo-Macklin went on, "I find your offer, providing we can come to
precise terms as to surreptitious methods of exchanging goods and services,
quite beguiling."
"Really, I did not expect..." began Sharaf.
"Such a reaction is unbecoming in a hard bargainer, Naras Sharaf." Loo-
Macklin was feeling good enough to tease the alien slightly. "Though I don't
doubt it is a shock to you to discover I am the individual you hoped to find.
Should our situations be reversed I'm sure I would react in the same manner."
Loo-Macklin had always been the smoothest of liars.
"True, oh true. You will truly then take credit for information, material for
money, technology for knowledge?"
"I don't have access to everything," Loo-Macklin warned him. "I know some
people in the government. I have holds on certain of them that vary from weak
to strong, legal to illegal. I have to be very careful when working such
sources of information. I'll need to concoct reasons for using them, which
won't arouse suspicion in those whose business it is to monitor such sources.
But I will do my best for you. I pride myself on being a good supplier as well
as a good consumer."
The Nuel made a gesture of agreement, thought a moment, then inquired
hesitantly, "It does not then trouble you to become a traitor?" Naras Sharaf
could still not believe his good fortune.
"I owe allegiance to nothing and no one," Loo-Macklin told him softly.
Soft and cold, so cold that even the alien who was not terribly well versed in
human voice tones was conscious of it. "I owe responsibility only to myself. I
have no more, no less fondness for the Great Families of the Nuel than I do
for the Board of Operators, the Orischians, or anyone else."
The Nuel asked a highly (to it) personal question: "Are you then ...
familyless?"
Loo-Macklin nodded. "In both the Nuel and human sense of the term."
"Well, it needn't concern us. We have our own prejudices, you see, but as an
alien they needn't apply to you."
"I don't care if it does or not. I'm used to it."
A tentacle toyed with an arm of the horseshoe-shaped chair. "You are fully
aware, I am sure, of what the reaction would be among your own kind if your
work for us were ever to be discovered."
"That's my problem and worry, not yours."
"Quite truly." The lids half-closed over those vitreous orbs, sliding in from
the sides until only the long pupil showed between them.
"You are also aware that we will check back on all information you supply to
us. We will check as thoroughly and in as much detail as possible.
We have enough sources within the UTW to do that much, at least. Your veracity
will be ever on trial.
"Should we discover that you have agreed to work for us only to go in turn to
the human government and function as a double agent for them, well, we have
numerous ways of dealing with such duplicity, with those who would break a
contract made with a family. As bioengineers, I can tell you, our methods are
unpleasant in ways humanity has not imagined."
"I never break my contracts, Naras Sharaf, no matter who they're forged with.
Feel free to do all the checking on me you wish. I won't disappoint you.
And all knowledge of our business will remain hidden from my own people, let
alone the government."
"Why should I believe you, Kee-yes vain Lewmaklin?" asked the alien, heedless
of courtesy. "If you will betray your own kind, why should you not also betray
those who are alien to you?"
"Because it is to my advantage not to betray you, Naras Sharaf. If you should
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somehow succeed during my lifetime in taking control of the UTW, which
I have no doubt is your eventual aim, or of the Orischians, or any of the
eighty-three worlds, I know that there are not enough experienced Nuel in all
the worlds of the Families to direct the human government efficiently. You'll
still need human operators and bureaucrats."
"Light enters through the window and opacity is vanished!" exclaimed the
alien. "You would be a Family Head, then? Pardon ... a chief of the Board of
Operators."
"No, I would not," was the unexpected reply. "I don't like the kind of
attention and publicity that attends such positions. I prefer to operate from
the background, quietly. I would like very much to maintain the fiction that a
Board of Master Operators still consults on the majority of planning decisions
which program the life of the United Technologic Worlds."
"While you," said Naras Sharaf approvingly, "'quietly' program the
Board."
"Without their knowledge if possible; with it if not," admitted Loo-
Macklin.
"You are quite right in your assumption that the fulfillment of the grand
design of the Great Families requires the cooperation of human operatives."
Naras Sharaf was enjoying himself. It was a delight to dispense a favor that
might not be called in.
"Ambition is a powerful instrument. Yes, I believe you will hold to your
contracts."
"My word on it." Loo-Macklin stood and approached the Nuel. Heedless of the
slime oozing from the alien's tentacles (which, after all, was nothing more
than a hygienic cleansing gel, which helped to protect its sensitive skin from
bacterial infection while also aiding in locomotion), he extended a hand.
Naras Sharaf hesitated. "I would take the word you offer along with your
family's, but you have no family."
"You have it by me as an individual, that I will do whatever I'm able,
provided the Nuel keep their end of the bargain, to see to it that some day
the members of the Families can travel without fear and with impunity
throughout the eighty-three worlds of the UTW."
The Nuel extended its pair of right-side tentacles and wrapped the
flexible tips wetly around Loo-Macklin's hand, the rubbery tips entwining with
his fingers.
"That will suffice for me, Kee-yes vain Lewmaklin. You shall regret not the
decision you have made."
"I know that," said the man matter-of-factly, "or I wouldn't have made it."
He withdrew his hand and, again, inconspicuously wiped it dry on the back of a
pants leg.
"Now as to the details." Naras Sharaf shifted the transparent plastic cube
containing the organic recorder so it rested on the little table between them.
"There are fees to be set for specific items, arrangements to be made for
private communications, members of my own Family to contact. This is a great
day for me."
Turning, he activated a screen of a thinness Loo-Macklin had never seen
before. As he would learn, it was composed of electrostatically charged
chemophotic microbes, each one lightening or darkening and changing color on
command to form a beautifully clear image. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]