Leo Frankowski

of this junk. Let me make you something special. You known the professor long?”
    “About four
years,” Patty said, holding a spoon in her hand. “These are lovely, and I
think we’ve only service for four.”
    “I’ll make you a
service for twenty,” Jimmy said, “but not these. Can you come by day after
tomorrow? I’ll have some samples to show you. I’ve wanted to do something for the
professor for a long time.”
    “How long have
you known Martin?” Patty reluctantly let go of the spoon as Jimmy took it
from her hand.
    “A couple of
years, but he did me a real good turn once, so when I heard he was in Death
Valley, I gave my tree house to a couple of kids and hopped a freight out here.”
    “You heard he
was here?” Patty was surprised, remembering the difficulty she had finding Guibedo. “How?”
    “The grapevine.
Come back day after tomorrow, I’ll have something to knock your eyes out.” Jimmy turned and left.
    As they strolled on,
Patty said, “My goodness! I shouldn’t have done that. I mean, I don’t have
any money with me.”
    “Most people
don’t carry money around here, Patty. You just tell the telephone about your purchases, and it keeps track of that sort of thing.”
    “I mean I don’t
have much at home, either.”
    “Jimmy’s pretty
reasonable, ordinarily. But in this case, I don’t think you could get him to
accept money. He idolizes
Uncle Martin so much, it gets embarrassing. I think Uncle Martin avoids him.
But don’t worry about money. The telephone
will just bill Uncle Martin, and Heinrich
always covers his account, so the old dear won’t even know about it.”
    “But I can’t do
that!” Patty said.
    “Do it. Didn’t you know that they own
a gold mine?”
     
    “My lords!
Intruder alert in Sector Fifty-five!” the CCU said.
    “Dirk! Tell your
brothers to nail him! Unharmed!” Heinrich said. “How did he get past the
Gamma Screens?”
    “The surrounding
sector guards are converging, my lord,” Dirk said. “Gamma LDU 1096 reports that the
intruder was under heavy narcohypnosis. His primary programming is only now surfacing.”
    “Well, get
several Gammas on him. I want a complete probe,” Heinrich said. “Go
transponder mode.”
    “Yes, my
lord.” Dirk’s voice became a monotone, relaying transmissions from the LDUs in the area.
    “Sector Fourty-four. Wirka here.
Converging.”
    “Sector Fifty-four. Pacho here.
Converging.”
    “Sector Sixty-four. Kinzhal here.
Converging.”
    “Sector Fifty-five. Vintovka here.
Converging. I can see the intruder with my bird. He is armed.”
    Vintovka was a Beta series LDU in empathic
contact with an observation eagle. This
empathic contact was quite distinct
from telepathy. It amounted to a wide-band communication circuit, but it was limited to only two nodes. That eagle and the LDU had hatched from the same egg; they were really two parts
of the same being.
    “ETA for nine
LDU’s is eighty-five seconds,” Dirk said. “Gamma Units report that intruder
is KGB. Weapons
include AK-84 Assault rifle and fragmentation grenades. Intruder’s IQ is 126, Need
Affiliation four percent, Need Achievement seventy-eight percent, Need Power ninety-nine
percent. High sex drive converted to sadism.”
    “Uck! He’s worse
than the Air Force Intelligence type we stopped last week,” Copernick
muttered. “Dirk! My earlier command to capture the intruder unharmed is rescinded—he’s a
butcher. Stop him!”
    “Acknowledged,
my lord. Thank you,” Dirk said. “Perhaps ‘hunter’ would be a better
term. He is after Lord Guibedo.”
    Dirk returned to his
monotone. “Vintovka here. Intruder is in sports arena. Children’s
gymnastic class now in progress. I will attempt to lure intruder to the band shell, now vacant.
Other units converge there.”
    Vintovka charged,
his easily camouflaged skin glowing international orange. He threw rocks at
the intruder, and when one of them caught the man’s head, he opened fire. Vintovka
retreated, throwing rocks, maneuvering to keep behind him an area clear of bystanders.
Lead tore up
the sod at his feet and chips of bark and wood flew behind him, but Vintovka
kept himself in full view and retreated toward the band shell.
    The children stopped
and stared.
     
    Mona and Patricia entered a wide rolling
park that was bounded by a library, a band
shell, two theaters, a dance hall, and a few bars and restaurants.
    “There’s a
sports area on the other side of the band shell,” Mona