Wolf Among the Stars-ARC Read Online Free PDF

broke out,” Andrew said thoughtfully.
    “And shortly after it broke out, Reislon vanished.”
    “Vanished? You mean he stopped working for us?”
    “I mean he dropped from sight altogether. As far as we were able to determine, Hov-Korth also lost sight of him.” A wry smile. “After the Battle of Upsilon Lupus, while the peace talks were going on and you were still out-system with Arnstein’s fleet, Svyatog happened to be on Earth, and he dropped in on us. It was all I could do not to ask him if he knew anything about what had happened to Reislon. But of course we couldn’t let him know that Reislon had been playing a double game—assuming he didn‘t already know it. So I kept my mouth shut. Being less than frank with Svyatog didn’t sit too well with me; as you know, he is more than a friend to me and your mother. But . . . well, nobody ever said the spook game is a nice one.”
    “Svyatog is on Earth now,” Andrew mused.
    The copy of his father’s mind produced a sharp look. “Remember, the same considerations still apply. Officially, we never even knew Reislon existed. You can’t spill the beans to Svyatog by asking about him.”
    “Does it really matter anymore? I mean, the war ended seven years ago, and Gev-Harath—especially Hov-Korth—have always been our friends.”
    “You know better than that! The security classification of this information hadn’t been lifted at the time I was uploaded, and I doubt if it’s been lifted now. I don’t know what the possible consequences of blowing it now would be, and you don’t know, either. When we start letting individuals decide for themselves when security restrictions no longer make sense or need to be obeyed, people’s lives get put in jeopardy!”
    And how, exactly, are you going to stop me . . . Dad? But of course Andrew didn’t say that. For one thing, he had to admit to himself that the upload had been quoting Intelligence gospel. “Well, I can ask him in general terms if he can shed any light on the Black Wolf Society, can’t I? Maybe he’ll be willing to share information derived from Reislon without revealing its source.”
    “Maybe—but just be careful.” The expression on the ravaged face abruptly softened. “I’m a pompous old hypocrite, you know. I’ve already violated security by telling you all this. Even if you were cleared for it—which you’re not, even as Admiral Arnstein’s chief of staff—you don’t have a need to know. At least not what officialdom would define as one. But—”
    “But you were never one to give a damn about what officialdom thought, were you? If you had been, the history of the last four and a half decades would have been very different. And don’t accuse me of flattering you. At this stage of the game, what would be the point?”
    The image actually goggled at him. “By God! You really are an SOB, aren’t you? I guess I must have done something right!” And the image grinned.
    Andrew grinned back. But then he sobered as he remembered something that had been bothering him. “Uh, I suppose I ought to . . . sign off now. But what is the effect ? I mean, how will you . . . ?”
    “Don’t worry about it, son. I’ll just go to sleep. Actually, not even that. You see, I don’t dream. Probably just as well.”

    ***

CHAPTER FOUR

    The “Enclave” —the extraterritorial compound in Northern Virginia that the Lokaron had demanded as one element of the treaties they had dictated to the American government in 2020—had been largely destroyed in the course of the events of 2030, after which it would have been irrelevant anyway. Nowadays, the governments of the gevahon maintained normal diplomatic relations with the CNE, while the hovahon operated principal and branch offices in accordance with the laws of Earth’s various nations, as permitted under the new treaties.
    Hov-Korth’s headquarters, however, was practically a mini-Enclave in itself, without the extraterritoriality. Located in