Marune: Alastor 933 Read Online Free PDF Page A

appeared at Carfaunge Spaceport. This was an unusually busy day and you might have arrived aboard any of six ships of four different transport lines. The previous routes of these ships took them to a total of twenty-eight worlds, any of which might be your place of origin. Nine of these worlds are important junctions and it is possible that you made your voyage by two or even three stages. Amnesia would not be an insuperable objection. Stewards and depot personnel, taking you for a lackwit, would consult your ticket and shift you from ship to ship. In any case the number of worlds, depots, ships, and possible linkages becomes unmanageable. Or at least an inquiry of last resort. First we will visit the Connatic! Though I doubt if he will receive us personally.”
    “Too bad! I would like to pay my respects.”
    They rode by aircab across Flor Solana to Moniscq, a town beside the sea, thence under the Ocean of Equatorial Storms by submarine tunnel to Tremone Island. An airbus flew them south, and presently the Connatic’s so-called “palace” became visible, appearing first as a fragile shine, an unsubstantial glimmer in the air, which solidified into a tower of stupendous dimensions, standing upon five pylons, footed upon five islands. A thousand feet above the sea the pylons joined and flared, creating a dome of five groins, the underside of the first deck. Above rose the tower, up through the lower air, up through the sunny upper air, through a wisp of cirrus to terminate in the high sunlight. Kolodin asked casually: “Have you such towers on your home world?”1
    Pardero glanced at him skeptically. “Are you trying to trick me? If I knew this, I wouldn’t be here.” He returned to contemplation of the tower. “And where does the Connatic live?”
    “He has apartments at the pinnacle. Perhaps he stands up there now, by one of his windows. Again, perhaps not. It is never certain; after all, dissidents, rogues, and rebels are not unknown to Alastor, and precautions are in order.
    Suppose, for example, that an assassin were sent to Numenes in the guise of an amnesiac, or perhaps as an amnesiac with horrid instructions latent in his mind.”
    “I have no weapons,” said Pardero. “I am no assassin. The very thought causes me to shudder.”
    “I must make a note of this. I believe that your psychometry also showed an aversion to murder. Well, if you are an assassin, the plan will not succeed, as I doubt if we shall see the Connatic today.”
    “Who then will we be seeing?”
    “A certain demosophist named Ollave, who has access to the data banks and the collating machinery. Quite possibly we will today learn the name of your home world.”
    Pardero gave the matter his usual careful consideration. “And then what will happen to me?”
    “Well,” said Kolodin cautiously, “three options at least are open. You can continue therapy at the hospital, although I fear that Rady is discouraged. You cart accept your condition and attempt a new life. You can return to your home world.”
    Pardero made no comment, and Kolodin delicately forebore to put any further questions.
    A slideway conveyed them to the base of the near pylon, from which perspective the tower’s proportions could no longer be sensibly discerned, and only the sensation of overwhelming mass and transcendent engineering remained.
    The two ascended in an elevator bubble; the sea, the shore, and Tremone Island dropped below.
    “The first three decks and the six lower promenades are reserved for the use and pleasure of tourists. Here they may wander for days enjoying simple relaxation or, at choice, exotic entertainments. They may sleep without charge in simple chambers, although luxurious apartments are available at nominal expense. They may dine upon familiar staples or they may test every reputable cuisine. of the Cluster and elsewhere, again at minimal cost. Travelers come and go by the millions; such is the Connatic’s wish. Now we pass the