is feet. His face burned and a red mark stretched across his left cheek. "Listen, Terence," the official said, chewing on his lips, "you will fall out the zealots' favor this morning. It will be bad if you also fall out of my favor..." Bemish sagged heavily in a chair. "Well, tell me what happened." "There is nothing to tell you. You know it all. This morning I was supposed to meet the White Elder in Archan. The White Elder was going to reconsider his attitude towards Earthmen. Now he is as dead as a wasted frog and, since it happened thanks to his meeting with an Earthman, the zealots will consider us demons just as they considered us before. They will also remain banned and, being more dangerous for the country, they will be less dangerous for you, Shavash." The small official grinned. "Don't you think Terence that if you meet a man who signed a death warrant to your friend, you should let you friend know about it?" "No." Shavash threw himself back in the chair. His voice became flatter and less caressing. "Suppose," Shavash said, "that somebody informed me about the White Elder's stay in Archan and his meeting with you. Don't I know the conditions of this meeting and what they asked you to do so that Earthmen would stop being demons?" "They didn't ask me anything." "They would have asked my resignation from you." "And it's better for you to kill a man who could make a peace between Earthmen and millions of people that to resign, isn't it?" "Oh, Terence, you don't understand anything. Tell me, what could you tell the sovereign that the sovereign could revoke my appointment?" "What?! One tenth of what I know..." "Exactly. You can get me to resign only based on the deals we have handled together. And if my part in these deals is known, would I keep silence about your part? And if your part is known, even the moderate newspapers will agree that you are a demon." Shavash spread his hands. "The White Elder had no intention of making peace with Earthmen. He was going to use you as a tool to cause my resignation and your own destruction while the sect's attitude would not change a bit. I think that this decision was made in Inissa during the same sect's meeting that you beloved Ashinik attended." "This is bullshit," Bemish said, "This is bullshit that you don't believe, because if it had happened this way, you would have just talked and told me that the White Elder was leading me by my nose. Instead of that you killed him, because they came to another decision at the sect's meeting." "Actually, I was going to talk to you," Shavash replied, "today, after your meeting with the White Elder. But somebody outwitted us both." "Who is it?" "It's Yadan." "Who?" "He is the teacher of your Ashinik, the number two man in the sect who will become the first one now. I bet that he was the only one who knew or suspected about the White Elder's plan to throttle you with your own hands. He killed him to take his position, knowing that in the current circumstances half Weia would blame me for the murder and the other half would blame you." "Bullshit! I saw enough to be sure that it was a professional assassination. Should I believe that the same people who call all the Earth technology a phantom, used sinex explosives?" "They call it a phantom but they can use it quite well, Terence. Don't worry. And they have many more opportunities to organize an assassination; I can bet my life that it was a suicide bomber." X X X Ashinik spent this night in the company director's bed with Inis, as he spent all the other nights when Bemish was away from the spaceport. He learned about the accident from the morning news report, right from one of the multiple screens hanging in a lounge that Ashinik was passing through. Ashinik stood in silence boring the screen through with his eyes. A worker passed by and slid a note into the lad's hand. He unwrapped and read it; the note ordered him to attend a meeting at one of the sect's secret places - an old temple next to a tavern three hundred kilometers to the north from Assalah. Ashinik paled and hurried to an exit. They waited for him at the exit - two people in black and white uniforms of the security service silently blocked his way. Ashinik made an attempt to turn aside. "Follow us, vice-president," an officer said quietly, "the boss would like to talk to you." He raised his hand to his mouth and spoke into a round badge on his wrist, "We are going upstairs, sir," Richard Giles, the spaceport security head was waiting for Ashinik in his white soundproof office on the tower's twelfth floor. When Giles saw the vice-president who actually outranked him, he didn't even move. The people in black and white uniform seated Ashinik in an armchair and left at a sign from their boss. The office doors slid towards each other behind their backs with a soft hiss; Ashinik and Giles were alone. "Have you introduced the White Elder to Terence?" Giles asked. It was useless to deny it. "Yes." "Why haven't I been notified?" "It's Mr. Bemish's prerogative," Ashinik answered, "If he had liked to, he would've let you know. When I came to work here, Bemish promised me that I didn't have to answer any questions and I haven't been asked anything so far." "That was under different circumstances. What did Bemish and the White Elder talk about?" "I don't know." "What was discussed at your sect's meeting in Inissa?" "I won't tell you." "Either you, Ashinik, tell me what happened in Inissa or I will tell Terence in whose bed you sleep every night that he spends outside of the spaceport, including tonight." Ashinik paled. "And I can even show him some pictures." Ashinik sat motionlessly. "What happened in Inissa? "We... we agreed not to consider Earthmen to be demons." "How interesting... Why?" "It was my suggestion." "Did everybody support it?" "The White Elder agreed. That was enough." "What about the others? Who was against it?" "Yadan, Akhunna and a man nicknamed Garlic Dan were against it." "Why did the White Elder agree?" "He said that he would make peace with the spaceport's boss if the latter broke up with Shavash." "Aha. So, who killed the White Elder, Shavash or Yadan?" "I don't know." "What will happen to you?" Giles was silent. "Ashinik, have you received anything from the sect after the assassination?" "No." Giles looked at the youth carefully. "When you receive anything, let me know." Ashinik was silent. "Ashinik, don't you understand? You were the one who supported making an agreement with Earthmen! You will be the next victim after the White Elder. They will kill you if you are not with us!" "I know," Ashinik said quietly. Giles sighed. "Listen, Ashinik," he spoke suddenly, "why have you gotten involved with Inis? She is a dumb broad; you can get a bunch of them for an ishevik." X X X In the evening Ashinik sat at the same table again, together with Giles and Bemish. Wind and engines howled behind a huge dark window, the glares of the beacons darted across the landing field and chunks of pollen from blooming nut trees traveled back and forth over the landing space. Technicians cursed under their breath - the pollen found its way inside all the hardware. Superstitious locals said that it was a bad omen. Pollen whirlwinds were always considered to be witches and the places where they moved particularly high were known to be damned. On the space field open to the winds and to the powerful blows from plasma engines the witches danced their best. "When are you meeting Yadan?" Bemish asked. Ashinik was silent. He had burned the note long ago but its words still flared inside his mind. Should he answer or not? But here Giles entered the conversation. "We know that a courier from Yadan arrived in the spaceport territory. He gave you a note. When did it happen?" "Nobody has given me any notes. Where is your courier? Have you arrested or photographed him?" "No," Giles admitted. "Why not?" "Shavash's people saw him. They told me." "Don't you understand that Shavash lied to you," Ashinik asked, "and that you can't believe a single word of his?" "Listen, Ashinik," Giles said, "I know that after the death of your sect's head, the new head has to be elected in two days. And I know that as a member of the upper circle, you have to be there because otherwise the meeting will be invalid. Where and when do you meet?" "I don't know." Giles grabbed the youth by the lapels of his jacket. "Idiot! Do you understand that they called you there to kill you? You will get out of there alive only if you agree to kill Terence!" Ashinik paled. His pupils suddenly dilated covering his whole eyeballs. "Don't touch me, demon!" the youth suddenly screamed. Bemish leaped up. Ashinik's face was contorted and foam bubbled on his lips - a fit started. X X X Ashinik was carried away and then an inner door to Giles' office opened and a man, who had watched the conversation from the next room, walked out of it; it was Shavash. "Are you sure that a meeting will occur?" Giles asked. "I am three hundred percent sure," Shavash replied. "The top of the sect will be there. It's our only chance - to pick them all and cut them down to a demon's snot!" "It's your only chance," Bemish said through his teeth. "Terence! We are both in the same shit here. Zealots are not like Galactic police. Nobody is gonna care whether it was you or me who sent the bomb to the White Elder. They will finish both of us off. Give me Ashinik." "What do you mean?" Bemish inquired. "Are you a child?" And a private jail's owner made a straightforward gesture with his hand as if he was squeezing water out of a sheet. "No," Bemish cut him off. "Ronald will be very angry with you," Shavash purred. "He has already started the negotiations with the owners of large debt blocks. If you don't join BOAR stock owners..." "I will think about it," Bemish said in a suddenly low voice. Shavash didn't insist. He knew that the Earthman had never exchanged a friend's life before for a certain - even if very large - amount of money and he thought that a man had to get used to such a thought. He stopped talking and he excused himself soon. Giles stepped out to walk him down. On the space field where nobody could overhear them, Giles whispered several words to Shavash and the latter smiled at the spy with his eyes. X X X Ashinik woke up late at night. He was in the medical room on the fifth floor and the sky blinked red and blue behind the window. He didn't remember what exactly happened before and during the fit. It seemed like this demon, Shavash, demanded something from him. A demon? How could it be a demon? Shavash is a Weian. But Yadan is also a Weian and he killed the White Elder. Only a demon could kill the White Elder. Then, are the zealots demons? No, they only invent demons. But if you invent somebody, you will turn into him... Ashinik sat up in bed with a jerk. He remembered now. He, as a member of the first circle, was called to the sect's meeting. If he doesn't arrive, he will be outlawed. What if he arrives? It's crazy. The Earthmen are watching him. He will act as a bee leading them to its beehive and they will burn the beehive out with their rocket launchers. Ashinik looked around. The room wasn't large and though he couldn't see anything out of ordinary around him, Ashinik felt as if the closed circuit cameras were zooming in at him from all directions. Ashinik dug in his clothing hanging on a chair next to him and fished out a flat pebble with two holes. They had given him this pebble at Inissa meeting and told him that the pebble had been bewitched and it would render all Earthmen electronic eyes impotent. Ashinik smiled bitterly; he knew all too well that no sorcery would help against a video camera. "If I don't come and use surveillance as a reason they will accuse me of unbelieving into the power of the holy talisman," a thought glanced in his mind. Why would they watch him though? He usually stayed in bed for a day or two after a fit. Who would figure it out that the foam on his lips came from a "foamy nut" that he had chewed on and that he fainted from this nut for a couple of hours at most. At the same time he needed to leave due to a very simple reason. Ashinik couldn't rely on Bemish's behavior. It's true that the Earthman had been very magnanimous so far but it had also been in his interest. Now Bemish was utterly interested in the destruction of the sect and he would doubtfully be particularly nice to Ashinik. Ashinik stood and pulled on the door handle. It was not locked but the corridor it led to was blocked by a closed department door in two or three meters. Ashinik knew it for sure that unlocking this door would be dangerous. It was connected to the night alarm system in case of thieves and other accidents. Ashinik stuck his nose into a couple of offices. They were mostly filled with medical equipment. Two rooms teemed with plastic paint buckets and other construction paraphernalia - they were being furnished. Sharp paint smell hadn't disappeared completely yet and the workers laboring here during the day had left a window ajar. A couple of disgustingly dirty worker overalls lay on the floor. The next moment, Ashinik's eyes gleamed and he rushed to where the paint was. Yes! A small white roll, about an elbow wide, was there, behind the plastic buckets. It was not a rope, no; it was just sound resistant insulation tape that was used for seal soundproofing linnit blocks. Ashinik knew, however, that the tape was incredibly strong - the construction workers loved to sell it on the side to the peasants who wove horse harnesses out of it. The tape length in a standard pack was sixty meters but the workers had already utilized some. By Ashinik's estimate, about one sixth of the tape had been used. It should be enough for eighteen floors. Ashinik pulled torn overalls over his pajama, walked to a window and wrapped the tape's end around the window frame. He briefly prayed to the White Elder and climbed out of the window. The descent was hard. The tape was sticky just to the right degree and it was unwrapping slowly under Ashinik's weight. Sometimes it got stuck and Ashinik had to pull the tape off jerkily with one hand while hanging from the other one. In five minutes, Ashinik jumped down onto a sidewalk and ran at top speed across stiff and booming thermoconcrete. This spaceport's sector was relatively empty - two helicopters stood next to its border and a hefty trans-galactic liner was being loaded far away. With an open mouth, Ashinik stared at the containers floating into the cargo hatch for several moments. What if he just crept in the ship and flew away from this damned planet? At least, nobody would kill or betray him there. Ashinik raced to the fifth sector, squeezed through a hole in the fence and ran down an unpaved road, illuminated by silvery moonlight, to a small jeep that was perched at the curb. Earlier, he had asked a worker to leave a car there. Ashinik jumped into the jeep and stuck his hand under the driver's seat. Thank God - the car keys were right where they were supposed to be, wrapped in a dirty rag. Ashinik turned the ignition on and a cold gun barrel touched his temple and somebody said quietly, "Be nice and drive straight, cutie." Ashinik glanced aside - he could see the speaker in the rearview mirror. Ashinik recognized him to be a personal bodyguard of Shavash's, one out of five that he was rumored to hold in his complete confidence. "Go!" The jeep started moving slowly. The guard got his radio out and quietly reported, "The fish is on the hook. Meet us behind the bridge." Ashinik ground his teeth. "Just wait," he uttered, "my master will learn that you seized me and you will get you butt kicked!" The guard laughed. "Firstly," he spoke, "it would be difficult for Bemish to find out that we caught you because you escaped on your own. But if you are really interested in it, it was Mr. Bemish who handed you over to us. He told us where the jeep would be and suggested that we trapped you. Ashinik's heart plummeted. "You are lying! The master wouldn't do it!" "Eh, my dear, the master didn't do it while he still hoped to make peace with the sect. And now he can only hope to find out where the Meeting of Choosing will occur and burn them all out with a laser or with DDT. We can learn where it is from you, right? Of course, Mr. Bemish could skin you himself but Bemish is a squeamish Earthman. Why should he get his hands dirty if there are other people around? That's why he sold you out, Ashinik." Ashinik drove silently. Nearby, the spaceships' exhausts hissed warming up and signal lights blinked behind the spaceport wall. The unpaved road finally ended, the jeep climbed onto a six lane highway and rolled towards Lannah Bridge. "So, where is the meeting?" "I don't know." The car raced over a ramp next to the spaceport eastern gates; a passenger car's lights blinked below. "Ashinik, why are you so stubborn? Don't you understand that you are the third one on their extermination list, right after Bemish and my boss? You aren't crazy. You don't believe that Yadan was born out of a golden egg, do you? Tell us and we will let you go because my masters are normal people and yours are nuts!" Ashinik suddenly swerved the steering wheel all the way to the right. The car hit the concrete sidewalk, jumped and hit the fence head-on. The guard shot and the bullet burned Ashinik's hair and made a neat hole in the windshield. "Ouch! What are you doing, bastard?!" The rail caved in, bursting. Ashinik threw the door open and rolled out. He was barely able to grab the poles at the ramp's edge. The busted rail links glimmered on their way down and the car followed them spinning in the air. Ashinik heard it hitting the ground; the sound of a muted explosion came next. Ashinik climbed onto the ramp and ran as fast as he could. The next morning, barefoot Ashinik dressed in peasant clothing with a sack behind his shoulder stepped out of a bus three hundred kilometers away from Assalah. In half an hour, he entered a village tavern on Mer Lake shore. Five people in simple clothing sat in the tavern. It seemed that none of them paid any attention to Ashinik. It was as if not a man came through the door but just a bug flew in. "Why have I come," a thought desperately beat at Ashinik's mind, "Why have I come? They will kill me like they killed the White Elder." Ashinik sat on an unoccupied chair. Now all six chairs at the table were taken. "Rashan is dead," one of the seated people stated quietly. "He is dead because he desired to make peace with the demons and the man who advised him to do so is responsible for his death." Rashan was the White Elder's name and it was forbidden to say it while he held this position. Since this name was mentioned, it meant that the White Elder had already been elected and Ashinik's heart shuddered when he realized that it had been done without him. All five people turned and started looking at Ashinik. "Rashan's soul is lonely; those that defiled it should follow it," Dush said; he sat next to Ashinik. Two small seven-year-old boys entered the room and started walking among the people with two goblets, a white and a black one. Everyone put his hand into one goblet and then into the other one. Dush also lowered his hand into the white goblet and then into the black one. He had a dry bean in his hand - he was supposed to drop it in one of the goblets - nobody could see in which one. Ashinik didn't have any difficulties, however, guessing that Dush chose the white one. The boys walked around all six people and then they turned the goblets over onto the table. There was nothing in the black one and there were five beans in the white one. Five out of six people sitting here voted for Ashinik's death. The sixth one abstained. Ashinik observed himself with a cold curiosity. His mind separated in two halves and both halves were watching the current events independently. One half was Ashinik-Assalah vice-president, the youngest Weian manager, the man who earned ten times more money than all the other people here combined. Another half was Ashinik-zealot who put the Elder's orders above his death. What's the value of one life if there are so many of them? It's better to die with honor and come to your next life into a good family than to die as a coward and be reborn as a spider. Two men in red hoods picked Ashinik up by his hands, dragged him for several steps and put him on a rug unrolled between two tripods. One of them threw a sturdy rope noose over Ashinik's neck quickly and efficiently. "No!" Ashinik wanted to cry out as an Earthman would have cried at his place. "Let me put my hair in place," Ashinik heard his own voice and his hands rose and removed several hair curls from under the rope." One executioner pushed him closer to the altar and the other one started unhurriedly putting the candles' flame out with a wooden board. Ashinik knew that he would be killed when the last candle dies. Ashinik stood on his knees immobile and watched how darkness was slowly conquering the room. Soon only one flame tongue was left... "Leave us alone," a voice spoke suddenly. The rope on his neck was loosened up. Ashinik heard the chairs and door squeaking quietly. He turned his head slightly and saw that he was left alone with Yadan. He realized that Yadan was now the White Elder by how quickly his order had been obeyed. "It's not right to kill a man," Yadan said, "who can serve our purpose still, however guilty he is. You want to serve our purpose, don't you?" "I want it with all my heart." "Do you agree that you are responsible for Rashan's demise?" "Yes." Ashinik answered automatically. He knew what he would be told to do now. He would be commanded to kill Shavash or his master. "The demons taught you a lot. Can you return to Terence Bemish?" "No. Bemish betrayed me." "It's not important that Bemish betrayed you," Yadan noticed sarcastically. "It's important that Bemish betrayed Rashan. He will answer for that." X X X Two days later, when Bemish flew to hunt with Khanadar, he heard that yet another assassination attempt had been made on Shavash's life. This time, it was no longer amateurs. A car packed with serit explosives had been parked in Shavash's car path and it exploded exactly when the cars were next to each other. The assassination attempt had been organized very well; the criminals had clearly studied all of the vice-minister's possible routes and they had maintained constant radio communication. Once it became clear that Shavash would drive by Azure circle, the corresponding order had been given. The car with explosives had been parked literally five minutes before the official drove by. Shavash was saved by a freaky accident. Just a moment before the explosion, a doll rolled onto the road and an eight-year-old girl rushed out there after it. The driver stepped on the brake sharply trying not to hit the girl and the car spun across the road. Right then the explosion hit. Since the car faced the blast with its back instead of its side, it was hurled forward for several meters and it hit a glass shop window (while it was already disintegrating) head on. It bounced backwards, jumped and its trunk hit a small electric auto that was quietly hurrying to the Cheese Precinct. The car leaped quite nimbly on the electric auto with its rear wheels, jumped from its hood onto its roof, froze there for a second, tipped over and banged into the road cover face on. The driver banged his forehead on the steering wheel and hurt himself quite a bit. Shavash obtained a minor concussion and got the driver's blood all over his excellent suit. The bodyguard had been sitting in the back seat, against the regulations, and he was not so lucky - he sustained a rib fracture and a lacerated spleen. Having learned about serit explosives, Bemish went cold. This particular explosive had been used often in the earlier stage of the spaceport's construction. Quite a crowd gathered in the foyer in front of Bemish's office. Bemish walked into his office gesturing to Giles to follow him. The security service director's face acquired a wooden expression and he came after Bemish. "Ashinik hasn't showed up, has he?" Bemish asked Giles. "No," the latter said. "Dick, run a check on the used explosives up to the last milligram," Bemish said quietly. "If I was you, I would not address this issue," Giles answered just as quietly even though they were alone. "Being me, I will not wait till Shavash addresses this issue." In an hour Inis entered Bemish's office. Bemish raised his eyes and got a surprise - Inis was very serious, her eyebrows were furled and her face was pale. She even wore a skirt that almost reached to the ground though it was somewhat transparent. "Terence," she said, lowering her eyes, "Ashinik has been arrested. He had just being sitting in a tavern and they jumped upon him and drove him away." "How do you know this?" "I got a phone call." Bemish paused. "Terence, I swear to you that he is not guilty! These people... they just used him as a dummy front! It's their technique - they decided to get rid of the man who is half Earthman already and they decided to do it with Shavash's hands!" Bemish was astonished. Inis could well be correct. But how did this girl figure it out? Who suggested this to her? Bemish almost asked her this question and then he went pale. He understood what had happened. It was not "who" it was "what." "You should go to Shavash," Inis said. "Why?" Inis suddenly put her hands on her hips. "Three months ago you would not ask, "Why?" You would know that you couldn't control the workers without Ashinik. Now Ashinik has performed his function and you can give him away! He taught the workers to be rich and sated and nobody will betray you anymore!" Oh my God! Inis was no longer a bedding girl, content with her dresses and sweets. Bemish leaped from his armchair and grabbed her by her shoulders. "Why are you asking for him? Why do you care about my deputy? Why have they called you and not me?" Then, Inis burst into tears. She kneed, embraced Bemish's legs and wailed confusedly, "I... I can't be without him..." Bemish paled. "Are you lovers?" Inis was crawling next to his feet. Bemish ran his hands over the table and the woman cried out and leapt up. She looked at the intercom button with horror as if she was expecting Terence Bemish to push it and order the spaceport's security service director to find a jute sack somewhere, stick the unfaithful lover of the general director in it and sew it up. Bemish turned and rushed out of the office. When Bemish got to Shavash, the small official was eating a breakfast. "You've arrested my employee!" Bemish declared at the doorstep. "On what grounds did you do it?" "He is a zealot and he was involved in yesterday's assassination attempt." "Where is the proof?" Shavash grinned. "The arrest comes first. He will supply us with the proof later." "If I were you, I wouldn't particularly trust to a testimony obtained under torture." "And I would never," Shavash said, "trust a zealot's testimony obtained without torture. Why are you looking at me as if a live carp is stuck between my teeth?" "You are a scoundrel!" Bemish shouted. "You have said it before, Terence." "And you are shaking with fright and rushed to arrest everybody left and right!" "Terence," Shavash said, "we are now on one side. Look, Ashinik had run away from you and he never came back to you. Why? Because he was ordered to wring our necks." "If he had returned to Assalah," Bemish noticed, "it would have been much easier." "If he had returned to Assalah, Giles would take him apart in half a minute." "Shavash, I know Ashinik a little bit. Listen, if he had set this assassination up, you would not have survived. He would have used three times more explosives. He would not let any accidents get in his way." "It's possible," Shavash said, "but you see, if you arrest a fool that carried out the assassination, he can only tell you what a fool knows. If you arrest Ashinik who is not particularly strong in his faith, thanks to your efforts, he will tell us everything. Three days later, after Ashinik tells us everything, nothing will be left of the sect." "Nothing will be left except the reasons for its existence - poverty of the people, embezzling officials and rude Earthmen." Shavash grinned. "You are a strange man, Terence. If I were you, I would thank a man who arrested my concubine's lover." Bemish paled. Even that was out. Damn it, everybody, including the zealots, knew it except for him... "You, of course, do not love Inis. You love another woman. But still it's not a reason to appeal on Inis' beau's behalf." Shavash yawned and covered his mouth with his hand. Bemish shouted in such a voice that the glass doors in a cabinet clanged. "Either you will show me the proof that Ashinik's arrest is based on or you will go with me and free him!" Shavash thought for a bit and then he rose, gestured at Bemish with his finger to follow him and stepped out of the office. They walked down a corridor with a beautiful hardwood floor, passed by two or three halls decorated with the utmost luxury and covered with ancient rugs. It was rumored that Shavash had ordered these rugs to be ripped off the walls of Isia-ratough temple in Chakhar (they had processed this robbery later as the sale of these rugs at some ridiculously low price). Having passed two or three more doors, they found themselves in a concrete corridor leading underground. Bemish suddenly remembered with a shudder how Shavash had boasted about his personal jail. He also recalled the words attributed to Shavash, "You are powerful not if you can afford a personal villa; you are powerful if you can afford a personal dungeon." So, they hadn't even taken Ashinik to a state prison... A low desperate cry came from behind a door at the very end of the corridor. Shavash threw the door wide open. Bemish noticed a pile of bloody rags in a corner, some pliers in a bowl and Ashinik's dead eyes. Completely naked, he was hanging head down on metal rings attached to a wall and Bemish's attention was pulled to his right hand - all the nails there had been torn out. Then Shavash stepped forward moving his friend aside and said in a tired and ironic voice, "The first set is finished. Take the pear off the branch." They took half-dead Ashinik off the rings and seated him astride a chair. Shavash stood above the prisoner, pulled his head up and asked, "Who placed the bomb?" Ashinik was silent. His black hair stood up straight soaked with blood. Bemish rushed to the youth but the guards blocked his way at once and one of them, baring his rotten teeth, silently stuck a gun into Bemish's side. Ashinik's eyes were as empty as RAM in a turned off computer. Then he whispered something. His lips didn't work. Bemish understood only the end of the sentence - Ashinik swore dirty. "That's not an answer." Shavash said. Ashinik licked his broken lips and spit with all his strength at Shavash's face. His saliva and blood were all over the official's lips and chin. Everybody froze. Shavash slowly turned and walked to an old sink built into the room's right corner. The splashing water and the washing official's snorts sounded very clear in the quiet room. Shavash closed the tap and approached the prisoner again. "Do you hope that your boss will get you out of this?" He spun to Bemish. "Choose, Terence - this guy or the controlling stock block of BOAR." The single second, that passed by, seemed like eternity to Ashinik. Then the Assalah general director pushed the gun, pointed at him, away and said loudly, "You are such a scoundrel, Shavash!" Astonishment glanced in Ashinik's wide open eyes. "You are free," Shavash told Ashinik, "And when you set up another assassination, take care that your boss is around, otherwise nobody will step in on your behalf." Bemish pushed the official away, looked around and, grinning viciously, started pulling the pants and shirt off one of the torturers. The torturer squeaked fearfully, pulled out of the boss' hands and ran away. He came back in a minute, carrying clean clothes. The second guard smiled exasperatedly and unlocked the cuffs holding Ashinik's bloodied wrists together. "Shouldn't we wash the lad?" he asked. Bemish hissed at him like a goose and started pulling the pants on Ashinik. Then he buttoned up the jacket on the youth and dragged him away. Bemish had dropped his car right at the main staircase of the city manor. He threw the lad into the car like a sack and he drove the car over a flower bed planted with rare orchids while making a turn. Bemish stopped at the first private hospital; they washed Ashinik and a physician with frightened eyes bandaged him. The youth was silent and he only cried occasionally. Bemish looked at the crying Ashinik and thought that he and the official had not even discussed whether or not the lad was guilty. When they arrived to Assalah, the sun was setting down. The pilot and Bemish picked up Ashinik and helped him to walk to the administration building. Ashinik was slowly getting over the shock and his eyes started looking more alert. Bemish locked the youth in his office and went to deal with the representatives of the freight company SpaceMart. When he returned in an hour, he had a white plastic folder in his hands. Ashinik had squeezed into a corner and he sat there shaking horribly. A comfortable leather armchair was next to him but Ashinik squatted in his ancestors' way. It was strange to see a man in Earth clothing squatting. Bemish walked to the youth. "Did you have anything to do with this explosion?" "No." "Will you lie to me, like you just lied to Shavash? Do I look like his executioners?" The Assalah company vice president squeezed himself further into the wall. "Ashinik, I know that there are people you must obey unquestionably. They could have given you orders. If this is the case, I wouldn't tell Shavash anything. I will help you to go to Earth, to any place where nobody can give you orders. Did you have anything to do with this explosion?" "They told me that you had sold me to Shavash. That you exchanged me for a controlling stock block of the aluminum plant!" "Oh-ho," Bemish muttered, "and you tried to kill Shavash. Did you try to kill me, too?" Ashinik hid his face in his knees and burst in tears. "Master! Why are you torturing me? It was Shavash first, now it's you! Not again!" Bemish was silent. In six months he grew attached to this twenty-year-old youth as if the latter were his son. The lad was almost the right age. Bemish had gotten used to feeling like Ashinik's patron. He picked up a dirty guy with lice in his hair and crazy visions and he transformed him into a manager with a tie around his neck and a cell phone in his pocket. And now this manager seduced his concubine. He also tried to send to the other world a man who in a strange way had become one of Terence Bemish's closest friends. And, possibly... Bemish paused. "Our score is even, Ashinik," the Earthman said. "You saved my company. I saved your life. It's one to one. I don't owe you anything." Bemish threw the white plastic folder at his deputy. "You will find here your last check from Assalah Company, two tickets to Earth, and an application form to Havishem; it's one of the best business schools. I talked to Trevis - they will accept you to Havishem. Trevis will pay your tuition fees." Ashinik pulled the papers out of the folder. His bandaged right hand shook slightly. "There are two tickets," Ashinik said suddenly. "Don't worry," Bemish snickered, "I'll buy myself a new concubine." X X X While all these unpleasant adventures related to the White Elder's assassination were taking place on the planet of Weia, Kissur napped in a wide first class seat of a passenger spaceship flying to the planet of Lakhan. The flight took almost eighteen hours. Kissur left the spaceport for a cheap hotel, took a shower, changed into old grey pants and a worn out shirt with a popular band's logo pictured on it, made a couple of phone calls and took off. He went to the western part of the city, to Danachin University; the famous Lakhan student uprising had taken place there ten years ago. Kissur took the main street across the block, turned left and left again and, bending slightly, dived into the roar and light of a bar's entrance. He chose a table next a window, leaned to a wall and started waiting. In half an hour, Kissur finally saw a tall and skinny guy with olive skin and a ponytail who was finding his way to the bar's stand. "Hey, Lore," Kissur said. Lore turned around and shuddered but he recovered and, having picked up a beer can, he joined Kissur. "How is it going, dude?" Lore asked. "You haven't gone back to your Weia, have you?" Kissur just waived his hand. "I have a question to you," he said, "You've told me once that you knew a man who was ready to trade a tiny gadget." "What gadget?" Kissur picked up a napkin and drew something on it. Lore's eyes widened a bit. "There is such a man," he said, "but capitalist rot has eaten all the way through him. He will not do anything for his brothers, he only works for money." "Tell him that there is a man who will pay money for his goods." "How many pieces do you want to buy?" "I want everything." Lore's eyes grew suspicious. "Kissur, where have you gotten the dough?" Kissur silently presented a three-day-old newspaper to him. It was a Weian paper published in Interenglish and an article about a daring robbery of Weian Industrial Bank, the second largest bank in the Empire, covered its front page. "We will teach these capitalists a good lesson," Kissur spoke, "we will show them that we can fight for peace not only with our mouths." X X X Denny Hill worked on a stationary base Nordwest located on a tiny natural moon of Danae planet. Nordwest was the only base constructed on a planet that didn't have either atmosphere or population. It was only fitting that it had assumed an unpleasant role of a nuclear waste garbage pit for all the outdated and not particularly outdated armament of the whole Galaxy. Nordwest storage areas bored through the planet like huge honeycombs. Weaponry was sent there if it becam