Matheson lit the burner and started the Prussian blue drip.
Castle Noisvastei, Province of Baya, 13 Muharram,
1538 AH (24 October, 2113)
Petra lifted her head away. I don't have anything to offer, she thought, except for this. Maybe it will be enough to make him really want to take me away. Or maybe it will just remind him that I'm a filthy whore. I wish I had more to give. Might as well wish to turn back the clock and change history.
She looked up into Hamilton's eyes, hoping to find that she'd pleased him. Instead she saw a look she had never seen before on any man's face. She really didn't know what it meant.
Nor did Hamilton explain. He just pulled her up along the bed, toward the pillow. Then he spread her legs, and took a position very similar to the one she had held until a few moments before.
This wasn't exactly new to Petra, after all, she and Ling had been lovers for years now. But none of her clients had ever shown any interest.
He's not as good as Ling, she thought, dreamily, but he's better than any man who's ever had me. And . . . he smells more . . . right than Ling does.
Honsvang, Province of Baya, 14 Muharram,
1538 AH (25 October, 2113)
Bernie was a mere observer as Richter stopped the drip and then turned off the burner. Almost immediately, gaseous bubbles that had been rising in both of the beakers stopped. In one beaker, bathed in lye, was a layer of whitish crystals. He shared minds, to a degree, with Richter and knew that these were hydrogen cyanide, harmless in the current form. The crystals Richter separated out, storing them in one of the larger glass jars. The used lye was thrown away and replaced. The charcoal-water slurry likewise went down the toilet and a new batch was added to the second beaker.
I can smell almonds, Bernie thought.
Good, answered Richter. That means you're not one of those people who can't smell cyanide. Don't worry, this is not a dangerous concentration.
If you say so, but that's my body you're exposing.
I'd feel your death, said Richter, in defense.
Sure, but you'd still wake up back in Langley, safe and sound, while my corpse cooled here.
Relax.
Bernie tried. Nonetheless, the potentially deadly bubbles arising on the second batch reminded him continuously that this chemist operating his body from thousands of miles away held his life in his hands.
And they were going to be at this all night.
I said, "Relax," Richter thought. I can do this without you. Why don't you let your mind go to sleep?
Because I might wake up dead. How much of this shit do we need?
By your plan? To put a sufficient concentration into four barracks rooms of thirty-two thousand cubic feet each to kill everyone in them in a couple of minutes? More, a lot more.
Fuck.
Relax. It's a piece of cake.
Castle Noisvastei, Province of Baya, 14 Muharram,
1538 AH (25 October, 2113)
"Can't you tell them to knock it off?" Ling's mouth asked as her torso bent over the tuning set attached to the first of the five communications systems Hans had lifted from unit supply. She gave a dirty look toward the room in which Petra and the American, Hamilton, were staying. "It's unnerving."
"Jealous?" Hans asked with a smile.
"Since I am not Ling, how can I be jealous?"
"Oh. Sorry, I forgot."
"I understand. Now go tell them to shut up and you do the same."
Hans arose and started to go but then stopped.
"I can't," he said.
"Why?"
"She's my sister. It would be too . . . embarrassing. For both of us."
With Ling's head shaking with annoyance, the teleoperator went to the door and knocked. When there was no answer—indeed, the couple in the other room seemed not even to notice—she opened the door, walked to the bed, grabbed Hamilton by the hair and pulled him away from Petra's body. In a voice that was only half Ling's, the body said, "Stop it. You're ruining my concentration. Fuck; if you must fuck. But do so quietly."
Ling's body turned around brusquely and marched out of Petra's room, slamming the door behind her.
"Jealous, you think?" asked Hamilton.
"No . . . no, that wasn't my Ling."
"Still, the suggestion was a good one," Hamilton said
"Suggestion. Ooohhh . . . her 'suggestion.' But I don't think I can do it quietly . . . not with you," Petra said.
"Let's try."
"Yes," she said with a wanton smile. "Let's!"
Honsvang, Province of Baya, 14 Muharram,
1538 AH (25 October, 2113)
The sun was already over the horizon and streaming in through the suite's windows.
Is that enough? Bernie asked, looking at four large glass jars, partly filled and sealed with the hydrogen cyanide crystals, standing against the wall. There were other jars, smaller ones, containing an oily liquid. Those were all in the sink. In addition, several more small jars were better than half full with the crystals. Of the lye and Prussian blue dye, almost none remained.
I think so. You've enough for the four barracks, plus some more for just in case. If you need to change the distribution around, the crystals are safe enough. Just don't get any acid on them.
I won't. Time for you to go?
Yes.
Well . . . not to be rude or anything but . . . get the fuck out.
You'll still need me for the thermobaric bomb you may need to sterilize the laboratory, Dr. Richter pointed out.
Later. If we need it. For now . . . just go away. This shit is worse than rape.
Castle Noisvastei, Province of Baya, 14 Muharram,
1538 AH (25 October, 2113)
Finally they've quieted down, thought the Chinese communications specialist controlling Ling's body.
What's your problem, asshole? I'm the one who's losing a lover; I'm the one who has to give up my own body.
I am not used to working in these kinds of circumstances, thought the specialist.
I don't see what's so difficult about it, Ling thought back.
It's reading the proper settings here and then transferring them through your body to the set. And it isn't difficult; it's tedious. Worse, distractions mean I might set it wrong, input the wrong codes, so that either you won't be able to talk to each other or, worse still, the Caliphate's people will hear you. Now shut up and quit pestering me.