The Web and the Stars Read Online Free PDF Page B

from its original place of installation, unless one of two people personally deactivated the detonator. No one knew how to do that except him and his daughter Nirella, whom he trusted implicitly. The two of them worked closely together, so he would need to confer with her about this disturbing situation.
    Jacopo was developing an intense headache. His clothes were drenched in perspiration. He couldn’t stop shaking.
    The holo-image shifted as the transceiver tried to pick up a visual of whoever was talking on the other end. Nothing came across, no matter how much he tuned it, just static.
    One unmistakable conclusion occurred to him. The Mutatis now had their own version of the system. But how did they accomplish that? They didn’t seem to have perfected their version yet, since it was making static sounds. He recalled having had that problem himself early in the development process, and then figuring out the solution.
    Another voice came out of the transceiver. This time it was in Galeng, but with a whiny Adurian accent, complaining that the Mutatis had no access to podships anymore, and could no longer launch “Demolio attacks” against merchant prince planets.
    Demolio attacks?
    Jacopo’s pulse was going crazy. His thoughts could not keep up.
    Thinking back, struggling desperately to comprehend, Nehr remembered one unfortunate leak in security two months ago. On that day, Doge Lorenzo’s Royal Attache , Pimyt, marched into Nehr’s office and showed him a holo-image of the internal workings of a nehrcom transceiver. Nehr had been startled half to death, but felt immensely relieved when Pimyt promised not to reveal the secret—and ruin him—if Nehr just performed a few innocuous tasks for him. Discreetly, Nehr had launched an investigation to determine the source of the leak, but nothing had turned up.
    It was blackmail, to be certain. But the penalty had not seemed too great. Nehr only had to send occasional communiqués—provided by the Hibbil—to all planets in the Merchant Prince Alliance. The messages had been about corporate and military matters, the moving of business assets and war material around.
    Nehr had been adhering to their secret agreement. It seemed to be some sort of war-profiteering scheme that Pimyt had come up with, a way of boosting his government salary. Nehr had seen countless examples of greed in the Alliance, and he had learned to look the other way more than once.
    As for Pimyt, he was beyond reproach from a security standpoint, having once served as the Regent of the Merchant Prince Alliance, during a brief period when the noblemen could not agree upon the election of a new Doge. If he made some extra money during wartime, that just made him like so many others in the government.
    And now, Demolio attacks against merchant prince planets? Nehr would have to discuss the matter with Lorenzo. Perhaps … probably … it had something to do with the MPA planets that had been destroyed.
    But he couldn’t discuss any of this with Lorenzo. Pimyt had threatened to ruin him if he revealed their little arrangement to anyone, and the little Hibbil had mentioned the Doge by name. Beyond that, Pimyt had insisted that Noah come to him first if anything unusual happened involving nehrcom transmissions. This certainly qualified.
    Demolio attacks.
    Nehr and Lorenzo knew the Mutatis had a terrible planet-buster weapon—was it called a Demolio?—and the Doge had taken steps to block it. Steps that had worked only too well, cutting off all podship travel in Human and Mutati sectors. But should Nehr keep this new information from him? Having made his bargain with Pimyt, Nehr had no choice. If any of this got out, he could be charged with treason, based upon an accusation that he had sold nehrcom secrets to the Mutatis.
    He thought of his younger brother, how he had vanished. Could Gio have contacted the Mutatis and told them something about nehrcom technology? No, it wasn’t possible. Gio had not been