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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 the office.Us, Kor is beginning to feel the
he thought.
terror he 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 color-and 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.
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"The best part of it," Leoh said, stretching slowly on the couch, "is that the dueling machine is fixed so
that a telepath can't bring in outside helpers without setting off a warning alarm, and I've got nothing to do
until the new school year begins at Cannae. I might not even go back then; as long as the Acquatainians
want to treat me so royally, why shouldn't I spend a year or so here? There's plenty of research I can do
... perhaps even lecture occasionally at the university here. . . ."
Hector tried to smile at the old man's musings, but looked worried instead. "Maybe you shouldn't stay in
Acquatainia too long. I mean, well . . . the Kerak people might still be after you. Odal was going to
challenge you before I ... that is. ..."
"Before you saved me."
The Watchman's face colored. "Well, I didn't really mean . . . that is, it wasn't. . . ."
Leoh chuckled. "Don't be so flustered, my boy. You're a hero. Surely Geri regards you as such."
"Urn, yes, I guess so."
Changing the subject, Leoh asked, "And how are your quarters? Comfortable, I hope."
"Sure." Hector nodded. "The Terran embassy's almost as plush as this apartment."
"Not bad for a junior lieutenant."
Hector fidgeted from the window waif to the couch, then sat on the edge of a web chair.
"Are you nervous about Sir Harold's visit?" Leoh asked.
"N . . . nervous? No, sir. Terrified!"
Laughing, Leoh said, "Don't worry. Harold's a pleasant enough old grouse . . . although he tries his best
to hide it."
Nodding without looking convinced, Hector got to his feet again and went back to the window wall.
Then he gasped, "He . . . he's here!"
Leoh heaved himself up from the couch and hurried to see. A sleek ground car with Star Watch
markings was pulled up at the building's entrance. Official Acquatainian escort cars flanked it.
"He must be on his way up," Leoh said. "Now try to relax and act. . . ."
The simple-minded door computer announced in a tinny monotone, "Your expected guests are here."
"Then open up," Leoh commanded.
The door slid open to reveal a pair of sturdy, steel-eyed Watchmen, a half-dozen Acquatainian honor
guards, and- in their midst-the paunchy, jowly figure of Sir Harold Spencer, dressed in a shapeless gray
jumpsuit.
The Star Watch Commander in Chief broke into one of his rare smiles. "Albert, you old scoundrel, how
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are you?"
Leoh rushed to the doorway and grasped Spencer's outstretched hand. "Harold ... I thought we'd never
see each other again, in the flesh."
"Considering the amount of flesh between the two of us, perhaps we're violating some basic law of the
universe by being in the same room together."
They laughed and walked into the room. The door slid shut, leaving the guards outside. Hector stood
transfixed beside the window wall.
"Harold, you look wonderful. ..."
"Nonsense. I'm a walking geriatrics experiment. But you, you ancient schemer, you must have
transferred to another body since I saw you last."
"No, merely careful living. ..."
"Ahah. My downfall. Too many worries and too much wine. It must be pleasant to live the university life,
free of care...."
"Of course. Of course. Oh ... Harold, I'd like to introduce Junior Lieutenant Hector."
Hector snapped to attention and saluted.
"Stand easy, Lieutenant. No need for formality. So, you're the man who beat Kerak's assassin, are
you?"
"No, sir. I mean yessir ... I mean, Professor Leoh is the one...."
"Nonsense. Albert told me all about it. You're the one who faced the danger."
Hector's mouth twitched once or twice, as though he was trying to say something, but no sounds came
out.
Spencer stuck a massive hand into his pocket and pulled out a small ebony box. "This is for you,
Lieutenant." He handed the box to Hector.
The Watchman opened it and saw inside, against a jet-black setting, two small silver pins in the shape of
comets. The insignia of a full lieutenant. His jaw dropped open.
"The official notification is grinding through Star Watch processing, Lieutenant," Spencer said. "I thought
there was no sense letting you wait until the computers straight-ened out all the records. Congratulations
on a well-earned promotion."
Hector managed a half-strangled, "Thank you, sir."
Turning to Leoh, Spencer said, "Now then, Albert, let us recount old times. I assume you have some
refresh-ments on the premises?"
Several hours later the two old men were sitting on the air couch, while Hector listened from the web
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chair. The room's color had shifted to reds and yellows now, and the scent was of desert flowers.
"And what do you intend to do now?" Sir Harold was asking the Professor. "Surely you don't expect me
to believe that you're going to luxuriate here and then return to Carinae, in the midst of the deepest
political crisis of the century."
Leoh shrugged and hiked his eyebrows, an expression that sent a network of creases across his fleshy
face. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'd still like to take a good look at some ideas for better
interstellar transportation. And I'd want to be on hand here if those savages from Kerak try to use the
dueling machine for their own purposes again."
Nodding, Spencer rumbled, "I knew it. You're getting yourself involved in politics. Sooner or later you'll
be after my job."
Even Hector laughed at that.
More seriously, Spencer went on, "You know, of course, that I'm here officially to attend the
inauguration of General Martine as the new Prime Minister."
"Yes," said Leoh. "And yourreal
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