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irritated circle. "End this, Kees. Have yourself declared Emperor of the
Human-Nuel alliance and dispose of the sham! Think not to fool me, I've
watched you for too long. The government makes many decisions you have no say
in, because you choose not to. It does nothing you do not approve of. Why hide
behind this veil of false modesty? It fits not your character."
"It pleases me," the industrialist said in response to the psychologist's
accusing outburst, "to keep out of the public eye."
"Truly? Tell me, Kees, what if I were to take my conclusions, my sociographics
and computer results, to the board responsible for monitoring government
activities? To the moralists and lovers of freedom?"
"Wouldn't make any difference," Loo-Macklin replied calmly. "Even if they
believed you and you roused them to action, they couldn't do anything.
You might find a few allies among other social scientists, but the inhabitants
of over a hundred worlds have come to think of me as sort of a father figure.
I have a hundred and sixty billion friends, Chaheel. I don't think your
theoretical course of action would bring you anything but grief."
"You're still nothing but a professional vaper, a killer," said
Chaheel. "You're acknowledged a legal, but that's superficial. That doesn't
change what you are inside. You've killed whenever necessary to protect your
interests. Now you've murdered the freedom of two races."
"My, the grandiose gesture. It fits not your character," he said mockingly.
"On the contrary, human and Nuel have greater freedom now than ever. The
freedom to move between the worlds of their neighbors without trailing fear
behind them or pushing prejudice before them."
"Tell me, Kees vaan Loo-Macklin, does that mean anything to you? Does that
matter, or is it just an incidental by-product of your personal ambitions?
It's power and control you've always sought. If you could have accomplished
your ends by having human and Nuel war against one another, would you not have
incited such a war? The Tremovan forced you to impose peace. It became
necessary for 'business,' not necessarily desirable."
"It's true that I did consider the results of war at one time. As you point
out, though, it was important to encourage peace and alliance."
Something strange, Chaheel thought. Something strange in that always enigmatic
smile-expression of his. Missing something important am I?
"This honor you accept, this posture as savior of both races, is all sham. I
had your psychological profile correct from the beginning, from that day when
you witnessed the Birthing."
"I always thought you did, Chaheel. Worried about you from that same day.
'There,' I recall telling myself, 'is one mighty dangerous and smart
Nuel.'"
"Tell me," said the psychologist, "what would you have done if someone had
believed my story of suspicious transactions between you and the Tremovan, had
acted on it years before you were ready to betray them and thus force the
alliance?"
"Ah, the Tremovan," the industrialist/killer laughed softly.
A genuine laugh, I believe, Chaheel thought. Over the years he had become
acutely sensitive to human mannerisms.
"Yes. You betrayed them as you threatened to betray us. Three races at one
time or another betrayed. The character of our savior!"
"I can't say for certain what I would have done, Chaheel. Had you killed, I
suppose."
"I thought as much."
"Nothing personal. I like you, Chaheel Riens."
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"I am not flattered. None of your murders are personal. You may have emotions,
but they do not involve themselves in those slaughterings you deem
necessary."
"Why recriminate based on events passed? Everything worked out as planned. I
would truly have missed you. You were the pin around which a great deal
pivoted, Chaheel Riens. I needed you alive and suspicious. It was the timing,
which was important. I wanted your story believed, at the proper moment."
Chaheel's thoughts stumbled, forced him to backpedal mentally. "You ...
you wanted my story believed? Then that means that you wanted..."
"You to have the information. Truly. You remember the voluble computer
programmer who first piqued your interest, the one who so kindly supplied you
with the proof of your suspicions about me? The one who told you about the
additive plot?"
Chaheel Riens searched his memory. "Thomas Lindsay. But there was no additive
plot. You had him killed to protect your plan to deceive the human government
on the Families behalf."
"Yes, but he was no renegade from my company. He was sent to seek you out and
give you that information."
"And still you had him killed."
"It was necessary to maintain the fiction."
"But that means that you wanted me to come to you and try to kill you."
Loo-Macklin nodded. "Then it was necessary that you return to your ship,
uncertain of my true motives but persuaded that I was still working on the
Families' behalf. Then the message your commander intercepted arrived and you
were compelled to return to Evenwaith and take a position where you could keep
watch on me."
"You had the commander and the others killed."
Loo-Macklin said nothing.
"The information on the Tremovan which I 'discovered'?"
"You have discovered many things, Chaheel Riens. You are persistent."
"All arranged, all planned by you. For why?"
"Isn't that obvious? So that when the Tremovan fleet was detected, your
previously ignored accusations and suspicions would lend validity to their
presence."
"That means you had to know well in advance when the Tremovan were going to
attack. But at the time..."
He stopped. Kees vaan Loo-Macklin was laughing. Chaheel had never seen him
laugh before and he was fascinated and appalled all at once. No one else had
ever seen Loo-Macklin laugh long and hard either. No one ever would again.
"Always the Tremovan! I thought you would have it by now, Chaheel. Your
instincts were always correct, always! It was your range which let you down."
"I do not understand, Kees."
"You will. I promise you. I owe you that much. I've used you for too many
years."
He turned and touched several contacts in sequence. A whirring noise filled
the huge room as somewhere large motors came to life. Chaheel tensed.
Across the room to his left a panel was sliding upward into the wall.
Behind it stood a large, globular body some twelve feet tall. Its golden
scales glistened in the light that poured in through the window-wall and
multiple black eyes gleamed like cabochons of malevolent onyx. It stepped out
into the room, the weight of it clicking against the polished wood floor at
the terminus of the carpet.
Chaheel Riens started to back away from that towering, threatening shape. Then
something caught his eye and he hesitated. The Tremovan had stopped. It
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