N-Space Part 56

"Everything! What good is a soldier who gets food poisoning? Anything a De Lap's Ghoul can eat, I can eat."

"That's not in the records." not in the records."

"That's why I can't cook. I can't tell when it tastes wrong, I can't tell when meat's rotten. I used recipes till I could teach some of the kids to cook."

"You couldn't talk, but you could fake the symptoms of a stroke. That's the part I just couldn't believe- G.o.d d.a.m.n!"

The left side of her face had gone slack as a rubber mask. She grinned with the other side. "Benda Curris," she said.

"Don't do that."

She reached across him and finished the collins in two swallows. "How long have you known?"

"Maybe fifteen years, but I didn't know, know, Brenda. I was still angry. There's a lot of time to think between the stars. I made up this Brenda. I was still angry. There's a lot of time to think between the stars. I made up this tale. tale. And worked on the kinks, and then I started thinking I must be crazy, because I couldn't pick a hole in it. You told the Marines about the Saurons to make them talk to you. They wouldn't notice how fast your speech improved. They were hanging on every word, trying to get a line on the escaped Sauron, and chattering away to each other. They taught you Anglic. And worked on the kinks, and then I started thinking I must be crazy, because I couldn't pick a hole in it. You told the Marines about the Saurons to make them talk to you. They wouldn't notice how fast your speech improved. They were hanging on every word, trying to get a line on the escaped Sauron, and chattering away to each other. They taught you Anglic.

"I used to wonder what you saw in me. I'm an outworider. I couldn't recognise a Tanith accent. You made love to me in the dark because you'd lost too much of your tan in the hospital-"

He stopped because her hand had closed hard on his arm. "I wanted your child! I wanted children, and Tarzan would look look like he was half outworlder. I didn't plan the power failure, Terry. h.e.l.l, it probably tipped you off." like he was half outworlder. I didn't plan the power failure, Terry. h.e.l.l, it probably tipped you off."

"Yeah, you moved like you could almost see in the dark. And wore dark gla.s.ses in daylight. The Tanith sun doesn't get that bright, love."

"Bright enough."

"Tanith must have been perfect for you. The sun never gets high. In this gravity everybody's everybody's got muscles." got muscles."

"True, but I didn't pick Tanith. Tanith was where the s.h.i.+ps went. What else did you notice?"

"Nothing you could have covered up. I talked marriage at you so you switched to Lex. While you were carrying my child."

"But I can't can't get married. In winter the tan goes away. I have to use tanning lotion and do everything by phone." get married. In winter the tan goes away. I have to use tanning lotion and do everything by phone."

"What was it like for . . . . . . you? Before?" you? Before?"

Brenda sat up. "For Sauron women? All right. I'm second generation. Test-tube children, all of us. Women are kept in. . . . . It's like a laboratory and a harem both. The first generation didn't work out. The women didn't like being brood mares, so to speak, and one day they killed half the doctors and ran loose." It's like a laboratory and a harem both. The first generation didn't work out. The women didn't like being brood mares, so to speak, and one day they killed half the doctors and ran loose."

"Good."

"There's nothing good about any of this. They were hunted down and shot, and I got all of this by rumor. Maybe it's true and maybe it isn't."

"They made you a brood mare too, didn't they?"

"Oh, sure. The second generation Sauron women, we like having children. I don't know if they fiddled with our genes or if they just kept the survivors for . . . . . . for breeding after the revolt. They gave us a TV wall and let us learn. I think the first group was suffering from sensory deprivation. Most of the children were bottled, but we tended them, and every so often they'd let us carry a child to term, after they were sure it'd survive. I had two. One was Miranda." for breeding after the revolt. They gave us a TV wall and let us learn. I think the first group was suffering from sensory deprivation. Most of the children were bottled, but we tended them, and every so often they'd let us carry a child to term, after they were sure it'd survive. I had two. One was Miranda."

"Survive?" He was sitting up now too, with the remains of his collins.

"Mating two Saurons is a bad idea. The doctors don't give a s.h.i.+t about side effects. Out of ten children you get a couple of soldiers and an officer and a couple of girls. They're the heterozygotes. The h.o.m.ozygotes die. Paired genes for infrared eyes give blindness. Paired genes for fast blood clotting gets you strokes and heart attacks in your teens. You get albinos. You get freaks who die of shock just because the adrenal glands got too big."

"Can you see why I don't want to find the Saurons? But these are good genes-" Her hands moved down her body, inviting him to witness: good genes, yes. "As long as you don't backbreed. My children are an a.s.set to the human race, Terry."

''I-"

"Six of us escaped. We killed some doctors on the way. Once we reached the barracks it was easy. The XYYs will do anything for us. They smuggled us into four of the troop s.h.i.+ps. I don't know what happened to the others. I got aboard Deimos Deimos as a soldier. None of the officers ever saw me. We were part of the attack on Tanith. When I saw we had a good burn-through in the Dagon City s.h.i.+eld, the whole plan just popped into my mind. I grabbed a soldier and we took an escape pod and ran it from there." as a soldier. None of the officers ever saw me. We were part of the attack on Tanith. When I saw we had a good burn-through in the Dagon City s.h.i.+eld, the whole plan just popped into my mind. I grabbed a soldier and we took an escape pod and ran it from there."

"You're incredible." He pulled back to look at her. Not quite a woman not quite his his woman, ever. woman, ever.

"Terry, did you wonder if I might kill you?"

"Yeah. I thought you'd want to know where the Saurons went first."

"You bet your life on that?"

"I bet on you."

"Fool."

"I'm not dead yet," he pointed out.

"Bad bet, love. When I knew you knew, I a.s.sumed you'd made a record somewhere, somehow, that would spill it all if you died. I couldn't find it in the city records. But suppose I decided to wipe out everyone who might know? Everyone you might have talked to. Charley, Sharon, Maria-"

Oh my G.o.d.

"-Lex, Bob because you might have talked to him, George Callahan in case Sharon talked, maybe a random lawyer; do you think I can't trace your phone calls? Okay, calm down now." Hands where his neck joined his shoulders, fingers behind the shoulder blades, rubbing smooth and hard. The effort distorted her voice. "We Saurons...we have to decide not not to kill. I've decided. But you've got a...real blind spot there, Terry. You put some people in danger." to kill. I've decided. But you've got a...real blind spot there, Terry. You put some people in danger."

"I guess I just don't think that way. I had to know whether you'd kill me, before I told you anything useful. I had to know what you are."

"What am I?" she asked.

"I'm not dead. n.o.body's dead since you reached the hospital."

"Except Van."

"Yeah. Van. But if any of this got out, you'd be dead and Tarzan would be dead and, h.e.l.l, they'd probably kill every kid who ever lived with you, just in case you trained them somehow. So."

"So," she said. "Now what?"

2656 AD, APRIL (FIREBEE CLOCK TIME).

Firebee approached the Alderson jump point with a load of borloi and bantar cloth. approached the Alderson jump point with a load of borloi and bantar cloth.

Tanith's sun had turned small. Terry searched the sky near that hurtingly bright point for some sign of Tanith itself. But stars don't waver outside an atmosphere, and he couldn't find the one point among many.

"We made some good memories there," Sharon said. "Another two minutes . . . . . . Troops, are we really going to try to reach Sparta?" Troops, are we really going to try to reach Sparta?"

Charley called from aft. "Sparta's a long way away. See what they buy on Gaea first."

Terry said, "I'm against it. Sparta's got six Alderson points. If they're not at war they'll be the center of all local trade. This beloved wreck won't be worth two kroner against that compet.i.tion. We might have to join a guild too, if they let us."

"Isn't there a chance the Emperor would buy the data we got from Morningstar?" Morningstar?"

"I'll run through those records, Captain, but my guess is we've got nothing to sell. There won't be anything Sparta doesn't have."

She nodded. "Okay. Jumping now." now."

And Firebee Firebee was gone. was gone.

Jerry Pournelle says I invented the Sauron supermen for THE MOTE IN G.o.d'S EYE. I don't remember. I did not (then!) have any mental portrait of these super-soldiers. It was just words.

A year ago he told me he was putting together an anthology of stories of the Sauron supermen. Would I like to get in on that?

I try not to make a promise until I know I can keep it. So we started downstairs for coffee. . . and I was beginning to describe a story before we hit bottom.

My pleasure in my own stories does not always depend on character development but I am well safisfied with Brenda.

He had had miscalculated, the blithering toad-a moon Is too big a thing for one man's revenge! Its weight would destroy a world for one man's pride! miscalculated, the blithering toad-a moon Is too big a thing for one man's revenge! Its weight would destroy a world for one man's pride!

And then it was drifting down, down like a monstrous soap soap bubble-Shoogar bubble-Shoogar hadn't hadn't miscalculated-down to where Purple capered on the black-scarred hill. miscalculated-down to where Purple capered on the black-scarred hill.

THE FLYING SORCERERS SORCERERS (with David Gerrold), (with David Gerrold), 1971 1971 .

THE RETURN OF WILLIAM PROXMIRE.

Through the peephole in Andrew's front door the man made a startling sight.

He looked to be in his eighties. He was breathing hard and streaming sweat. He seemed slightly more real than most men: photogenic as h.e.l.l, tall and lean, with stringy muscles and no potbelly, running shoes and a day pack and a blue windbreaker, and an open smile. The face was familiar, but from where?

Andrew opened the front door but left the screen door locked. "h.e.l.lo?"

"Doctor Andrew Minsky?"

"Yes." Memory clicked. "William Proxmire, big as life."

The ex-Senator smiled acknowledgment. "I've only just finished reading about you in the Tribune, Tribune, Dr. Minsky. May I come in?" Dr. Minsky. May I come in?"

It had never been Andrew Minsky's ambition to invite William Proxmire into his home. Still-' 'Sure. Come in, sit down, have some coffee. Or do your stretches." Andrew was a runner himself when he could find the time.

"Thank you."

Andrew left him on the rug with one knee pulled against his chest. From the kitchen he called, "I never in my life expected to meet you face to face. You must have seen the article on me and Tipler and Penrose?"

"Yes. I'm prepared to learn that the media got it all wrong."

"I bet you are. Any politician would. Well, the Tribune Tribune implied that what we've got is a time machine. Of course we don't. We've got a schematic based on a theory. Then again, it's the new improved version. It doesn't involve an infinitely long cylinder that you'd have to make out of neutronium-" implied that what we've got is a time machine. Of course we don't. We've got a schematic based on a theory. Then again, it's the new improved version. It doesn't involve an infinitely long cylinder that you'd have to make out of neutronium-"

"Good. What would it cost?"

Andrew Minsky sighed. Had the politician even recognized the reference? He said, "Oh . . . hard to say." He picked up two cups and the coffee pot and went back in. "Is that it? You came looking for a time machine?"

The old man was sitting on the yellow rug with his legs spread wide apart and his fingers grasping his right foot. He released, folded his legs heel to heel, touched forehead to toes, held, then stood up with a sound like popcorn popping. He said, "Close enough. How much would it cost?"

"Depends on what you're after. If you-"

"I can't get you a grant if you can't name a figure."

Andrew set his cup down very carefully. He said, "No, of course not."

"I'm retired now, but people still owe me favors. I want a ride. One trip. What would it cost?"

Andrew hadn't had enough coffee yet. He didn't feel fully awake. "I have to think out loud a little. Okay? Ma.s.s isn't a problem. You can go as far back as you like if . . . mmm. Let's say under sixty years. Cost might be twelve, thirteen million if you could also get us access to the proton-antiproton accelerator at Washburn University, or maybe CERN in Switzerland. Otherwise we'd have to build that too. By the way, you're not expecting to get younger, are you?"

"I hadn't thought about it."

"Good. The theory depends on maneuverings between event points. You don't ever go backward. Where and when, Senator?"

William Proxmire leaned forward with his hands clasped. "Picture this. A Navy officer walks the deck of a s.h.i.+p, coughing, late at night in the I 930s. Suddenly an arm snakes around his neck, a needle plunges into his b.u.t.tocks-"

"The deck of a s.h.i.+p at sea?"

Proxmire nodded, grinning.

"You're just having fun, aren't you? Something to do while jogging, now that you've retired."

"Put it this way," Proxmire said. "I read the article. It linked up with an old daydream of mine. I looked up your address. You were within easy running distance. I hope you don't mind?"

Oddly enough, Andrew found he didn't. Anything that happened before his morning coffee was recreation.

So dream a little. "Deck of a moving s.h.i.+p. I was going to say it's ridiculous, but it isn't. We'll have to deal with much higher velocities. Any point on the Earth's surface is spinning at up to half a mile per second and circling the sun at eighteen miles per. In principle I think we could solve all of it with one stroke. We could scan one patch of deck, say, over a period of a few seconds, then integrate the record into the program. Same coming home."

"You can do it?"

"Well, if we can't solve that one we can't do anything else either. You'd be on a tight schedule, though. Senator, what's the purpose of the visit?"

"Have you ever had daydreams about a time machine and a scope-sighted rifle?"

Andrew's eyebrows went up. "Sure, what little boy hasn't? Hitler, I suppose? For me it was always Lyndon Johnson. Senator, I do not commit murder under any circ.u.mstances."

"A time machine and a scope-sighted rifle, and me," William Proxmire said dreamily. "I get more anonymous letters than you'd believe, even now. They tell me that every s.p.a.ce advocate daydreams about me and a time machine and a scope-sighted rifle. Well, I started daydreaming too, but my fantasy involves a time machine and a hypodermic full of antibiotics."

Andrew laughed. "You're plotting to do someone good behind his back?"

"Right."