"Aha. So, who killed the White Elder, Shavash or Yadan?"
"I don't know."
"What will happen to you?"
Giles was silent.
"Ashinik, have you received anything from the sect after the assassination?"
"No."
Giles looked at the youth carefully.
"When you receive anything, let me know."
Ashinik was silent.
"Ashinik, don't you understand? You were the one who supported making an agreement with Earthmen! You will be the next victim after the White Elder. They will kill you if you are not with us!"
"I know," Ashinik said quietly.
Giles sighed.
"Listen, Ashinik," he spoke suddenly, "why have you gotten involved with Inis? She is a dumb broad; you can get a bunch of them for an ishevik."
In the evening Ashinik sat at the same table again, together with Giles and Bemish. Wind and engines howled behind a huge dark window, the glares of the beacons darted across the landing field and chunks of pollen from blooming nut trees traveled back and forth over the landing space. Technicians cursed under their breath — the pollen found its way inside all the hardware. Superstitious locals said that it was a bad omen. Pollen whirlwinds were always considered to be witches and the places where they moved particularly high were known to be damned.
On the space field open to the winds and to the powerful blows from plasma engines the witches danced their best.
"When are you meeting Yadan?" Bemish asked.
Ashinik was silent. He had burned the note long ago but its words still flared inside his mind. Should he answer or not?
But here Giles entered the conversation.
"We know that a courier from Yadan arrived in the spaceport territory. He gave you a note. When did it happen?"
"Nobody has given me any notes. Where is your courier? Have you arrested or photographed him?"
"No," Giles admitted.
"Why not?"
"Shavash's people saw him. They told me."
"Don't you understand that Shavash lied to you," Ashinik asked, "and that you can't believe a single word of his?"
"Listen, Ashinik," Giles said, "I know that after the death of your sect's head, the new head has to be elected in two days. And I know that as a member of the upper circle, you have to be there because otherwise the meeting will be invalid. Where and when do you meet?"
"I don't know."
Giles grabbed the youth by the lapels of his jacket.
"Idiot! Do you understand that they called you there to kill you? You will get out of there alive only if you agree to kill Terence!"
Ashinik paled. His pupils suddenly dilated covering his whole eyeballs.
"Don't touch me, demon!" the youth suddenly screamed.
Bemish leaped up. Ashinik's face was contorted and foam bubbled on his lips — a fit started.
Ashinik was carried away and then an inner door to Giles' office opened and a man, who had watched the conversation from the next room, walked out of it; it was Shavash.
"Are you sure that a meeting will occur?" Giles asked.
"I am three hundred percent sure," Shavash replied. "The top of the sect will be there. It's our only chance — to pick them all and cut them down to a demon's snot!"
"It's your only chance," Bemish said through his teeth.
"Terence! We are both in the same shit here. Zealots are not like Galactic police. Nobody is gonna care whether it was you or me who sent the bomb to the White Elder. They will finish both of us off. Give me Ashinik."
"What do you mean?" Bemish inquired.
"Are you a child?"
And a private jail's owner made a straightforward gesture with his hand as if he was squeezing water out of a sheet.
"No," Bemish cut him off.
"Ronald will be very angry with you," Shavash purred. "He has already started the negotiations with the owners of large debt blocks. If you don't join BOAR stock owners…"
"I will think about it," Bemish said in a suddenly low voice.
Shavash didn't insist. He knew that the Earthman had never exchanged a friend's life before for a certain — even if very large — amount of money and he thought that a man had to get used to such a thought.
He stopped talking and he excused himself soon. Giles stepped out to walk him down. On the space field where nobody could overhear them, Giles whispered several words to Shavash and the latter smiled at the spy with his eyes.
Ashinik woke up late at night. He was in the medical room on the fifth floor and the sky blinked red and blue behind the window.
He didn't remember what exactly happened before and during the fit. It seemed like this demon, Shavash, demanded something from him. A demon? How could it be a demon? Shavash is a Weian. But Yadan is also a Weian and he killed the White Elder. Only a demon could kill the White Elder. Then, are the zealots demons? No, they only invent demons. But if you invent somebody, you will turn into him…
Ashinik sat up in bed with a jerk. He remembered now. He, as a member of the first circle, was called to the sect's meeting. If he doesn't arrive, he will be outlawed. What if he arrives? It's crazy. The Earthmen are watching him. He will act as a bee leading them to its beehive and they will burn the beehive out with their rocket launchers.
Ashinik looked around. The room wasn't large and though he couldn't see anything out of ordinary around him, Ashinik felt as if the closed circuit cameras were zooming in at him from all directions. Ashinik dug in his clothing hanging on a chair next to him and fished out a flat pebble with two holes. They had given him this pebble at Inissa meeting and told him that the pebble had been bewitched and it would render all Earthmen electronic eyes impotent.
Ashinik smiled bitterly; he knew all too well that no sorcery would help against a video camera. "If I don't come and use surveillance as a reason they will accuse me of unbelieving into the power of the holy talisman," a thought glanced in his mind.
Why would they watch him though? He usually stayed in bed for a day or two after a fit. Who would figure it out that the foam on his lips came from a "foamy nut" that he had chewed on and that he fainted from this nut for a couple of hours at most.
At the same time he needed to leave due to a very simple reason. Ashinik couldn't rely on Bemish's behavior. It's true that the Earthman had been very magnanimous so far but it had also been in his interest. Now Bemish was utterly interested in the destruction of the sect and he would doubtfully be particularly nice to Ashinik.
Ashinik stood and pulled on the door handle. It was not locked but the corridor it led to was blocked by a closed department door in two or three meters. Ashinik knew it for sure that unlocking this door would be dangerous. It was connected to the night alarm system in case of thieves and other accidents.
Ashinik stuck his nose into a couple of offices. They were mostly filled with medical equipment. Two rooms teemed with plastic paint buckets and other construction paraphernalia — they were being furnished. Sharp paint smell hadn't disappeared completely yet and the workers laboring here during the day had left a window ajar.
A couple of disgustingly dirty worker overalls lay on the floor.
The next moment, Ashinik's eyes gleamed and he rushed to where the paint was. Yes! A small white roll, about an elbow wide, was there, behind the plastic buckets. It was not a rope, no; it was just sound resistant insulation tape that was used for seal soundproofing linnit blocks. Ashinik knew, however, that the tape was incredibly strong — the construction workers loved to sell it on the side to the peasants who wove horse harnesses out of it. The tape length in a standard pack was sixty meters but the workers had already utilized some. By Ashinik's estimate, about one sixth of the tape had been used. It should be enough for eighteen floors. Ashinik pulled torn overalls over his pajama, walked to a window and wrapped the tape's end around the window frame. He briefly prayed to the White Elder and climbed out of the window.