Removing his glass the buyer said, "You have excellent taste, madam. These items are truly works of art."
"You will take them?"
"Naturally." He mentioned a price. "It is not as high as you may have expected but the market is slow and the cost of storage high. If you would prefer us to sell them on commission you would probably get more but it would take time."
"I accept your valuation. Can you give it to me now?"
"Of course, madam. I will arrange for a check immediately."
"Not a check, jewels. Small stones easily negotiable. I will shortly be traveling to various primitive worlds," she explained. "I want something I can use to purchase local products."
He was too polite to display surprise. "In that case I suggest unmounted gems. The tax is lower and they should meet your requirements."
For travel, for bribes, for escape. She still retained enough influence in the palace to be able to get information. Dumarest had been captured and was being questioned. Vargas would not be gentle and would learn everything he knew.
And she had asked him to assassinate the Technarch!
If nothing else, his testimony would damn her. Without support she wouldn't stand a chance. Even with it the crime was enough to send her to trial as an enemy of the state.
Her only hope lay in flight.
Chapter Eleven
Dumarest woke to the sting of minor irritation, hearing the click of metal on glass, the regular breathing of a person very close. Opening his eyes he stared at a white ceiling barred with stripes of shadow. His mouth was dry and he had a throbbing ache behind his temples. Trying to rise, he felt the pressure of a hand on his bare shoulder.
"Be still," warned a voice. It was female and vaguely familiar. "I haven't finished yet."
"What are you doing?"
"Taking a series of samples. Your sweat, blood, lymph, spinal and seminal fluids-there are exactly fifty-eight of them. Do you want me to list them all?"
"No."
"You had a set taken when you were carried from the questioning. Now I'm taking another." Dumarest felt a slight prick at the lobe of his ear. "You've had slow-time therapy giving you the equivalent of thirty hours of sleep. How do you feel?"
"I'm thirsty and I've a headache."
"It's probably a hangover from visual strain. I'll give you something for it in a minute."
Instruments made small noises and Dumarest heard the sharp hiss of a hypogun as it blasted drugs through his skin and into his bloodstream. The pounding ache eased a little though the thirst remained.
"Can I get up now?"
"You'd do better to rest." He heard the rattle of movement as if vials were being shaken in a holder. "You recovered sooner than I expected. You must have strong powers of recuperation."
Quietly he said, "Yes, Elaine. I have."
He heard the soft intake of breath and sat upright, turning to look at the woman where she sat beside a medical trolley beyond the head of the bed. Elaine Delmayer was dressed all in white, the rich olive of her skin accentuated by the sterile fabric, the warm tones deepened by lack of contrast.
"Coincidence," she said calmly. "Well, it happens."
Dumarest rose. He was in a cube seven feet square, one wall completely barred. The cell contained the bed, a toilet and washbasin. He crossed over to it, turned on the tap, drank from the running faucet and then laved his face and neck. He was completely naked, droplets of water gleaming like pearls on the hard whiteness of his skin.
Turning, he looked at the woman. "Why?"
"Why did I drug you?"
"We can start with that, yes."
"I didn't know who and what you were," she said flatly. "All I was certain of was that I knew who you weren't the man you claimed to be. I know Major Keren. Jack and I are old friends and I was expecting to see him when you arrived. I couldn't understand why you used his name and so I gave you something in the tisane. I wanted to render you helpless while I called Jack and made inquiries." She lifted one hand and touched the side of her jaw. "You gave me no chance for that. Do you often strike women?"
"Only when I suspect their motives. And the men waiting outside?"
She frowned. "I know nothing of that."
"Never mind." Mada, of course. She must have had him followed from the train. "But why should you have been afraid of me?"
"I'm from Loame," she said evenly. "That makes me an enemy alien. A planet at war is inclined to become hysterical and to see spies under every bed. You could have been sent to test my loyalty, to trap me in some way. It was a risk I dared not take." She saw the movement of his eyes. "Don't worry. This place isn't fitted with microphones. We have other ways to learn the truth."
Dumarest was grim. "So I discovered."
"You had a bad session," she admitted. "Far more intense than anyone has ever had before. You were exhausted when they carried you from the chair. I had to give you intravenous feeding with saline and glucose together with restoratives to avoid total physical and mental shock."
He could believe it. The questions had become hammers beating at the naked surface of his brain, each answer becoming a greater effort as he struggled against fatigue. Twice, he remembered, they had paused to give him water. Well, it was over now. They had searched his mind and learned what they wanted to know.
"What are the charges and when is the trial?"
Elaine said, "I don't know what you mean."
"Do I have to explain?" Dumarest was curt. "I have been questioned. All right. Now they know all they wanted to find out. The next step is surely to try me for breaking the law. What are the penalties for landing without permission, escaping from custody, theft and assault?"
"I don't know," she said. "But it doesn't matter. I don't think they intend to try you."
"Why not? This is a civilized world, isn't it? A highly sophisticated culture which operates on the basis of law. Or are they going to release me now they know I had no criminal intent."
"Not that either. Vargas-"
"Is a man," he interrupted. "The head of the council. Or are you saying that he has set himself above the law? Is that it?" He stepped toward her, gripping her shoulders as she made no answer. "And you are willing to work for a system like that? A society in which the individual has no rights at all? Are you so in love with slavery that you run to meet it?"
"I work here." She responded to his anger with a rising fury of her own. "I am a doctor and a skilled pathologist. I have degrees in ecology, botany, economics, social science, psychology, chemistry-" She broke off, eyes hard as they met his own. "What's the difference? You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"On Technos I am respected. I have a high position and live well. On Loame what would I be? The wife of a grower and a virtual serf. A-"
"A person who could entertain a guest without fear of a trap." Dumarest released her and stepped back. "You drugged me because you feared that very thing. And still you try to justify your blindness. Are you trying to climb higher still? To get a seat on the Supreme Council?"
"That's impossible! Only the native born are allowed to stand for the examinations."
"Not impossible. What about Mada Grist? She comes from Loame. She denied it but she lied. The color and texture of her skin is unmistakable."
"Mada Grist?" Elaine frowned, puzzled, her anger evaporating. "You know her?"
"Yes."
"And she looks like me?"
"Very much like you. You reminded me of her when we met. You have the same coloring and height, and even your figures are much the same. She is a little younger, perhaps, but that-" He broke off at the sound of her laughter. "Elaine!"