LITMIR.BIZ

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toyed with his beard. “About a year ago, gentlemen, there was an alien ship around here then, wasn’t there? And you destroyed it, didn’t you?”

      “Yes, sir. When we located it, sir.”

      “You’ll destroy this one, too,” Extrone said.

      “We have a tight patrol, sir. It can’t slip through. But it might try a long range bombardment, sir.”

      Extrone said, “To begin with, they probably don’t even know I’m here. And they probably couldn’t hit this area if they did know. And you can’t afford to let them get a shot at me, anyway.”

      “That’s why we’d like you to return to an inner planet, sir.”

      Extrone plucked at his right ear lobe, half closing his eyes. “You’ll lose a fleet before you’ll dare let anything happen to me, gentlemen. I’m quite safe here, I think.”

      The bearer brought Extrone his drink.

      “Get off,” Extrone said quietly to the four officers.

      Again they turned reluctantly. This time, he did not call them back. Instead, with amusement, he watched until they disappeared into the tangle of forest.

      Dusk was falling. The takeoff blast of the rocket illuminated the area, casting weird shadows on the gently swaying grasses; there was a hot breath of dry air and the rocket dwindled toward the stars.

      Extrone stood up lazily, stretching. He tossed the empty glass away, listened for it to shatter. He reached out, parted the heavy flap to his tent.

      “Sir?” Ri said, hurrying toward him in the gathering darkness.

      “Eh?” Extrone said, turning, startled. “Oh, you. Well?”

      “We ... located signs of the farn beast, sir. To the east.”

      Extrone nodded. After a moment he said, “You killed one, I believe, on your trip?”

      Ri shifted. “Yes, sir.”

      Extrone held back the flap of the tent. “Won’t you come in?” he asked without any politeness whatever.

      Ri obeyed the order.

      The inside of the tent was luxurious. The bed was of bulky feathers, costly of transport space, the sleep curtains of silken gauze. The floor, heavy, portable tile blocks, not the hollow kind, were neatly and smoothly inset into the ground. Hanging from the center, to the left of the slender, hand-carved center pole, was a chain of crystals. They tinkled lightly when Extrone dropped the flap. The light was electric from a portable dynamo. Extrone flipped it on. He crossed to the bed, sat down.

      “You were, I believe, the first ever to kill a farn beast?” he said.

      “I.... No, sir. There must have been previous hunters, sir.”

      Extrone narrowed his eyes. “I see by your eyes that you are envious—that is the word, isn’t it?—of my tent.”

      Ri looked away from his face.

      “Perhaps I’m envious of your reputation as a hunter. You see, I have never killed a farn beast. In fact, I haven’t seen a farn beast.”

      Ri glanced nervously around the tent, his sharp eyes avoiding Extrone’s glittering ones. “Few people have seen them, sir.”

      “Oh?” Extrone questioned mildly. “I wouldn’t say that. I understand that the aliens hunt them quite extensively ... on some of their planets.”

      “I meant in our system, sir.”

      “Of course you did,” Extrone said, lazily tracing the crease of his sleeve with his forefinger. “I imagine these are the only farn beasts in our system.”

      Ri waited uneasily, not answering.

      “Yes,” Extrone said, “I imagine they are. It would have been a shame if you had killed the last one. Don’t you think so?”

      Ri’s hands worried the sides of his outer garment. “Yes, sir. It would have been.”

      Extrone pursed his lips. “It wouldn’t have been very considerate of you to—But, still, you gained valuable experience. I’m glad you agreed to come along as my guide.”

      “It was an honor, sir.”

      Extrone’s lip twisted in wry amusement. “If I had waited until it was safe for me to hunt on an alien planet, I would not have been able to find such an illustrious guide.”

      “... I’m flattered, sir.”

      “Of course,” Extrone said. “But you should have spoken to me about it, when you discovered the farn beast in our own system.”

      “I realize that, sir. That is, I had intended at the first opportunity, sir....”

      “Of course,” Extrone said dryly. “Like all of my subjects,” he waved his hand in a broad gesture, “the highest as well as the lowest slave, know me and love me. I know your intentions were the best.”

      Ri squirmed, his face pale. “We do indeed love you, sir.”

      Extrone bent forward. “Know me and love me.”

      “Yes, sir. Know you and love you, sir,” Ri said.

      “Get out!” Extrone said.

      “It’s frightening,” Ri said, “to be that close to him.”

      Mia nodded.

      The two of them, beneath the leaf-swollen branches of the gnarled tree, were seated on their sleeping bags. The moon was clear and cold and bright in a cloudless sky; a small moon, smooth-surfaced, except for a central mountain ridge that bisected it into almost twin hemispheres.

      “To think of him. As flesh and blood. Not like the—well; that—what we’ve read about.”

      Mia glanced suspiciously around him at the shadows. “You begin to understand a lot of things, after seeing him.”

      Ri picked nervously at the cover of his sleeping bag.

      “It makes you think,” Mia added. He twitched. “I’m afraid. I’m afraid he’ll.... Listen, we’ll talk. When we get back to civilization. You, me, the bearers. About him. He can’t let that happen. He’ll kill us first.”

      Ri looked up at the moon, shivering. “No. We have friends. We have influence. He couldn’t just like that—”

      “He could say it was an accident.”

      “No,” Ri said stubbornly.

      “He can say anything,” Mia insisted. “He can make people believe anything. Whatever he says. There’s no way to check on it.”

      “It’s getting cold,” Ri said.

      “Listen,” Mia pleaded.

      “No,” Ri said. “Even if we tried to tell them, they wouldn’t listen. Everybody would know we were lying. Everything they’ve come to believe would tell them we were lying. Everything they’ve read, every picture they’ve seen. They wouldn’t believe us. He knows that.”

      “Listen,” Mia repeated intently. “This is important. Right now he couldn’t afford to let us talk. Not right now. Because the Army is not against him. Some officers were here, just before we came back. A bearer overheard them talking. They don’t want to overthrow him!”

      Ri’s teeth, suddenly, were chattering.

      “That’s another lie,” Mia continued. “That he protects the people from the Army. That’s a lie. I don’t believe they were ever plotting against him. Not even at first. I think they helped him, don’t you see?”

      Ri whined nervously.

      “It’s

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