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intent on some ble task.
Only the volunteers stood out. Everything else was a
i haste and dedicated fury, but the six Albans seated in ca ted chairs
near the front of the room, facing the had an air of stillness about
them. They seemed to be in,
a part of the activity which swirled around them.
nervous statues, idols or gods being served by an acolytes. Jim
watched their eyes: they shifted minutely movements of the techs but
never looked at the directly--it was an awareness coupled with fear.
He
[ ' how voluntary the service of these volunteers actually was.
"Oh, they volunteered, all right," Korkal assured him.
just scared spit less Wouldn't you be?" ':
"Yeah. I guess so." He had told the scientists everything. knew, and
most of what he suspected. He had told them of Pleb Psychosis, and
admitted he had no idea whether the his genotype addressed that
issue---that it was only his part. He even reminded them he wasn't
entirely sure codes were what he thought they were.
So he had breathed an inward sigh of relief when phered the code and
told him it did contain the plans for a computer made up of linked
living minds. The techs had mightily impressed; without giving him any
details, expressed their amazement that anything so utterly new have
been created in a technological backwater like Terra.
I g4
Jim had learned enough about Alban expressions, voice tones, and body
language to pick up something else: some of the scientists obviously
believed the source of the discovery was not Terra at all. That
somehow trickery must be involved, since the level of the technology
was so obviously beyond human capability.
The were unable to explain how, if that was the case, such advanced
technology had gotten into Jim's genetic code, and this plainly made
some of them uncomfortable. He noticed he'd not been consulted much
after the first flurry of interest, and that suited him.
True to his promise to the pack lord he'd told them everything he knew,
and he was glad to have that over and done with. When he'd finished,
he felt an amazing lightness of spirit, as if something dark and
smothering had been lifted away from him. The secret was out. It was
no longer his own private responsibility. Maybe, someday, he would be
able to become just plain Jim Endicott again.
"What happens now?." he asked Korkal. "Can we go in?" 'hey're going
to try it out soon. Just the six volunteers. We'll stay out here. The
view's better anyway. Not that there should be anything to see. If it
works at all, maybe the techs will start, cheering. I don't know. But
the volunteers will be behind inter force helmet shields--new ones.
Evidently the techs did some modifications, based on the stuff they got
from you. They say the cyberneural interface will be far beyond
anything. Delta used. He didn't have access to the interface
technology we do."
"I see. So we just wait?"
"It'll happen soon. Look. Here come the neck rings."
Jim watched as technicians carefully fitted the rings that would
generate the inter force shields around the necks of the volunteers.
One of them flinched away slightly, then caught himself and remained
unnaturally still as the ring settled onto his shoulders.
Jim turned to Korkal. "What... ?"
Korkal raised one hand. "There," he replied.
Jim looked back. Now a silvery globe enclosed each volunteer's skull.
The globes looked a little larger than normal. The room had Suddenly
gone still. All the techs stood motionless, some watchhng their
machines, the rest staring at the volunteers with Unblinking
intensity.
Jim felt a surge of tension ratchet up his spine and leaned
closer to the window, then jerked back as he bumped his the
transparent shield. "OuchI"
Korkal chuckled softly and patted his shoulder. "Down, i he murmured.
Then, abruptly, his fingers tightened so that Jim yelped again.
"What--" Then he went silent for a long moment before whimpering
softly, "Oh... my God..."
H ith Mun Alter sat in his office and thought about means and ends.
Despite what he'd told Jim Endicott killing the soul to save the body,
he wondered if he wouldi turned the boy over to the un tender mercies
of his
He leaned back into the soothing comfort of his sofa and Yes, he would
have. All such equations must be possible risk to the mind of one
Terran boy was not great as compared to the survival of the Alban
Empire, to larger moral considerations. He would offer himself up to
risk, if it came to it.
But he was glad he had not been forced to that many reasons. And now
that it all seemed to have been thing... He glanced up as a bell tone
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