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'From above, it reverses!' Jessica exclaimed. 'Instead of down outside, down inside!' She had a mental
picture of her Solarian body, blue hair floating upward with the force of the fall, legs kicking beneath
the cone of material that surrounded them. Her dress, skirt, slip, clothing, apparel female Solarians
wore was supposed to conceal the upper sections of her lower legs, lest observing males of her species
become unduly intrigued. Alien it was, but now Heem found the image peculiarly attractive. She was
probably a creature of considerable physical appeal to her own kind.
'I would be, if I ever had a chance to be myself, instead of a fake man. But I guess it was out of the
frying pan and into the fire.' Now her image was of the falling Solarian female descending from a
large rimmed disk into the leaping flames of some nether conflagration. 'From male apparel to a male
host.'
The flames were consuming her dress, exposing more of her upper legs. Heem found those legs quite
interesting. Now the upper section of her garment was also disintegrating, exposing-
"Heem!" she cried, and he broke off his mental gaze. "Heem-we're still falling!"
So they were. But they were falling slowly. "This is not free-fall-it's counter-gravity!" Heem sprayed.
'There is no such thing as anti-gravity!' But her protest lacked force, as they floated down. Ancient
science seemed to mock the limitations of the moderns.
They came to rest in a cylindrical chamber beneath the base of the tower. Its walls were of a material
similar to that of the dial-globes outside: they were clearly perceptible to all senses. Five passages led
out from the central plaza. There was no dust, and the air was pleasant.
Here it was-an entire, functional Ancient complex to be explored. A treasure of a magnitude found
only once in a millennium in any given galaxy. But they could not explore it; they had to settle which
Star had the right to exploit this site. For that Star would shortly be the dominant one of this Segment.
The vicious triangle remained.
Not quite. There was another creature present. Its torso was vaguely like a stem, but thicker; at the
base were several little feet, not roots; at the center were several manipulative appendages, not
Squam-limbs; and the apex terminated in a complex spiral wire.
"An Ancient?" Heem sprayed, startled.
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�Hardly!� the creature jetted back at him. �I am the Competition Authority Representative, a native of
Segment Fa�, selected as an objective arbiter for your Segment's activity. I was examining a
decorative globe near the access ramp, when I was precipitated here, and was unable to return.�
Heem relaxed. 'So that's what happened to the Representative!' Jessica exclaimed. 'He must have been
brought by floatercraft, and not realized the significance of the dials.'
The creature carried a translator, from which emerged the jets and other modes of communication. It
was evident that the Squam and Erb understood him also. �Which of you was first to achieve the apex
of the tower�
"I was," Slitherfear answered immediately.
"You falsify!" the Erb flashed indignantly. "I was first."
The representative oriented on Heem. �You make a similar claim?�
'Brother!' Jessica exclaimed. Heem only sprayed agreement.
�We shall then await arrival of the Competition Authority Vehicle, and convey the three of you to an
interrogation station, where the truth shall be ascertained. Analysis of your aural printouts will
immediately-�
The communication was cut off by Slitherfear's action. The Squam lunged into the Fa�, knocking him
down. One limb reached for the apex-spiral, and the pincer clamped on it and wrenched it out of the
body.
Both Heem and the Erb moved forward, but Slitherfear was already slithering away. One pincer
grasped the translator. "There will be no aural printouts," the Squam said. "I have nullified the Fa�."
"You have not nullified us!" Heem jetted, his shock at this horrendous deed converting to cold anger.
"We know the truth, not the Fa�."
The Squam's body heaved. His stomach extruded- and it was no living membrane, but a fiber sac.
That meant that Heem's action, there in the valley of Morning-mist, had been effective; the Squam
had had to have his stomach amputated. He probably lived on artificial infusions of chemicals.
From the sac tumbled a cylindrical object. The fiber stomach was then sucked back in, and Slitherfear
picked up the object. It fitted neatly in one set of pincers the three surfaces holding it without
slippage. "So nice of you to allow me leisure to extract my tool. You, HydrO, will murder the Fa� by
needling him through the torso; he is only comatose while his spiral perceptor is disconnected. I will
then have to kill you and the Erb in defense of self."
'This is so dastardly it's crazy!' Jessica exclaimed. 'Heem, you're not about to murder the Competition
Authority Representative!'
"I believe you are overly optimistic," the Erb flashed at the Squam. "I was not first to the apex of the
tower, but if you kill the HydrO, he will be eliminated by death and you by disqualification, and I will [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]