Sanctuary in The Sky Read Online Free PDF Page A

advantage, Ligmer hurried on, “No, of course not ! Let them make their empty claims—it impresses no one except themselves. You may be sure that we, and I, will do nothing so foolish.”
    “All right!” growled Ferenc. “But bear in mind what I said, remember.”
    “Of course. They’re not all as bad as that one we shipped with, fortunately; some of them are quite levelheaded. I’m going to be working with a woman from an archeological institute on Pagr who’s something of a subversive movement so far as this kind of subject is concerned, and refuses to have any part of their nationalist boasting.”
    “It sounds unlikely,” said Ferenc curtly. "Don’t let them fool you into thinking they’re reasonable beings—they aren’t capable of it.”
    Ligmer flushed and turned away, and Ferenc, after one last hard glare at the other’s back, finally allowed a receptionist to allot him the papers for his stay.
    He saw out of the corner of his eye that the stranger, Lang, had approached Ligmer a few moments later, and was driven by curiosity to pass within earshot of their talk when he was walking toward the elevator cars. Lang was speaking.
     
    “ . . compliment you on your attitude,” he said. Ligmer smiled in self-deprecation.
    "Oh, I mean it,” Lang was insisting. “I’ve traveled a good deal, as you know, and I always appreciate it when I find someone who doesn’t let prejudice rule his thinking.”
    Ferenc frowned, and passed on toward his elevator. He made a mental note to investigate Lang while he was here; he didn’t think Ligmer’s stability was adequate for him to be sent out here to come under Pag influence, and Lang’s remark—coming as it did from someone out of eye-range and therefore automatically regarded as a man of distinction— was apt to make the situation still worse.
    And there was another matter he ought to drop some hints about, too. That priest, Dardaino: where was the man? He glanced along the row of elevators and saw the plump figure waiting at another door for the car to arrive. He walked across and spoke authoritatively.
    “Dardaino!”
    The priest blinked a little and fingered a ceremonial symbol on his robe. Ferenc ignored the gesture; Dardaino’s creed had lost its hold on its home planet some time back.
    “Yes, my son?”
    “Officer Ferenc, if you please. Dardaino, I oughtn’t to have to say this to you, but I’d better if no one else did already. Don’t you know that this Iquida woman—the Lubarrian who came with us—represents a deliberate snub to the Cathrodynes? Haven’t you heard about the reason for her being sent here?”
    A little nervously, the priest nodded. “Yes, it struck me as odd to find her traveling with us, so I made inquiries.”
    “Yet you engaged her in conversation, and—one might almost say—attempted to make up to her. I suppose one can’t expect any better taste on your part, since you live and work among Lubarrians all the time. But one might have expected more restraint from -one whose first allegiance is to Cathrodyne.”
    Dardaino gulped. “I ... I was restrained in my behavior, I thought. She is of my own faith, after all, and it is my duty to foster the faith where I can. But I did not attempt to exercise my rights over her, in view of the circumstances. I had to express my disapproval in some way, and that was the —the most obvious.”
    “Rights over her?”
    “Why, yes—I did not bid her to my cabin, or visit hers.”
    “But isn’t she coming out here to her husband . . .?” Bells rang in Ferenc’s memory, and he checked himself. Of course. This faith of Dardaino’s incorporated some strange practices, the abusi of which had been a major factor in destroying its hold on Cathrodyne itself. Marriage, for example, was forbidden between the parents of children; all families were out- cros s ed, and it was considered anti-social to have more than one child by the same partner. It was, however, requisite to have a permanent