The Fifty-Ninth Stone 19
Li Shai Tung was silent a moment, looking down. When he looked up again his eyes seemed troubled. "I don't think so." He looked across at Shepherd. "Ben was right after all, Hal. We've killed the men, and yet the symptoms remain."
Shepherd smiled bleakly. "Not all the men. There's still DeVore."
The old T'ang lowered his head slightly. "Yes. But Karr will get him. As he got Berdichev."
Tsu Ma leaned forward. "A useful man, Karr. Maybe we ought to mass-produce the fellow. Give Old Man Ebert a patent for the job."
Li Shai Tung laughed and lifted his feet one at a time from the turtle stool. "Maybe . . ." He pulled himself up and stretched. "First, however, I have another idea I want you to consider—something Li Yuan has been working on these last few months. I'm going to introduce it in Council tomorrow, but I wanted to sound you out first."
Tsu Ma nodded and settled back with his drink, watching the old T'ang as he walked slowly up and down the room.
"It was an idea Li Yuan had years ago, when he was eight. He was out hawking with Han Ch'in when one of the hawks flew high up in a tree and refused to come down to the lure. Han Ch'in, impatient with the hawk, took the control box from the servant and destroyed the bird."
"Using the homing-wire in the bird's head?"
"Exactly."
Tsu Ma took a sip, then tilted his head slightly. "I've never had to do that, myself."
"Nor I," agreed Li Shai Tung. "And it was the first I had heard of the matter when Li Yuan told me of it six months ago. However, until then Li Yuan had not realized that the birds were wired in that way. It made him wonder why we didn't have such a thing for men."
Tsu Ma laughed. "Men are not hawks. They would not let themselves be bound so easily."
"No. And that is exactly what Li Yuan told himself. Yet the idea was still a good one. He argued it thus: if the man was a good man he would have no fear of having such a wire put into his head. It would make no difference. And if the man was a bad man, then he ought to have the wire."
"I like that. Even so, the fact remains, men are not hawks. They like the illusion of freedom."
Li Shai Tung stopped before Hal Shepherd and leaned forward a moment, placing his hand on the shoulder of his old friend, a sad smile on his face; then he turned back, facing Tsu Ma.
"And if we gave them that illusion? If we could make them think they wanted the wires in their heads?"
"Easier said than done."
"But not impossible. And Li Yuan has come up with a scheme by which the majority of men might do just that."
Tsu Ma sat back, considering. "And the technicalities of this?" Li Shai Tung smiled. "As ever, Tsu Ma, you anticipate me. There are, indeed, problems with creating such a control system. Men's brains are far more complex than a hawk's, and the logistics of tracking forty billion separate individuals through the three hundred levels of the City are far greater than the problems involved in tracing a few hawks on an estate. It is fair to say that Li Yuan has made little progress in this regard. Which is why there is a need to invest time and money in research."
"I see. And that's what you want from the Council tomorrow? Permission to pursue this line of inquiry?"
Li Shai Tung inclined his head slightly. "It would not do for a T'ang to break the Edict."
Tsu Ma smiled. "Quite so. But rest assured, Shai Tung, in this as in other things, you have my full support in Council." He drained his glass and set it down. "And the rest of your scheme?"
Li Shai Tung smiled. "For now, enough. But if you would honor me by being my guest at Tongjiang this Autumn, we might talk some more. Things will be more advanced by then, and Li Yuan, 1 know, would be delighted to tell you about his scheme."
Tsu Ma smiled. "It would be my great honor and delight. But come, talking of Li Yuan, we have neglected your son and his new wife far too much already. 1 have yet to congratulate him on his choice."
Both men pretended not to see the flicker of doubt that crossed the old T'ang's face.
"And you, Hal?" Li Shai Tung turned to face his old friend. "Will you come through?"
Shepherd smiled. "Later, perhaps. Just now I feel a little tired. Too much Yang Sen, I guess."
"Ah. Maybe so." And, turning sadly away, Li Shai Tung took Tsu Ma's arm and led him out into the gathering in the great hall.
KARR LEANED across the desk and with one hand pulled the man up out of his seat, the front of his powder-blue silk tunic bunched tightly in his fist.
"What do you mean, can't? I'm leaving today. By the first craft available. And I'm taking those files with me."
For a moment the man's left hand struggled to reach the summons pad on his desk, then desisted. He had heard what a maniac Karr was, but he'd never believed the man would storm into his office and physically attack him.
"Don't you know who I am?" he screeched, his voice half-strangled. "I'm Governor of Mars. You can't do this to me!"
Karr dragged the man across the desk until he was eye to eye with him. "You're a fine one to lecture me on what can and can't be done, Governor Schenck. You were ordered to give me full assistance, but you've been nothing but obstructive since I came back to Tian Men K'ou City."
The Governor swallowed painfully. "But . . . the investigation . . . Feng Shou Station destroyed, the pipeline badly damaged."
"That's your concern. Mine is to report back to my T'ang at the earliest opportunity, and to take back with me all relevant information. You knew that. You had your orders."
"But. . ."
Karr leaned back across the desk, and threw Schenck down into his chair, then slammed his fist down on the summons pad.
"Do you want war with the Seven?"
"What?" Schenck's face blanched.
"Because that's what you'll get if you take any further measures to keep me here. By a special Edict of the Seven 1 was authorized to do as I saw fit to bring the traitor Berdichev to justice and to reclaim any files or documents relating to that same person. That I have done. Now, tell me, Shih Schenck, what has your investigation to do with me?"
"I . . ." he began, then saw the door open behind Karr.
Karr turned at once. "Bring the Berdichev files. At once."
The underling looked past Karr at Governor Schenck. "Excellency?"
Karr turned back to Schenck. "Well? Will you defy the Seven and sign your own death warrant, or will you do as I request?"
Schenck swallowed again, then bowed his head. "Do as he says. And while you're at it, prepare Major Karr's clearance for the Tientsin. He leaves us this afternoon."
"At once, Excellency."
"Good," said Karr, settling his huge frame into the tiny chair facing Schenck. "Now tell me, Governor, who ordered you to keep me here?"
back ON chung KUO, DeVore looked up from the files and stared hard at his lieutenant. "Is this all?"
Wiegand bowed his head. "For now, Excellency. But our contacts have promised us more. You'll know all you need to know about these scum before you meet with them again."
"Good. Because I want to know who's good at what, and who's responsible for what. I want to know where they came from and what they ultimately want. And I want no guesses. I want facts."
"Of course, Excellency. I'll see to it at once."
Wiegand bowed low, then turned and left. A good man, thought DeVore, watching him go. Intelligent and reliable, despite that business with Lehmann and the Notice.
He got up and walked around his desk, then stood there, studying the huge blown-up photograph of the five Ping Two leaders that Wiegand had pinned to the wall.
The simple black and white image was clear and sharp, the life-size faces of the five terrorists standing out perfectly, Gesell in their center. It had been taken ten or fifteen seconds into the meeting, the tiny lens cameras activated when he'd nodded to indicate the half-map on the table in front of Gesell. His intention had been merely to get images of the other four Ping Tiao leaders so they could be traced through his contacts in Security, yet what the picture captured most clearly was the intense, almost insane suspicion. DeVore smiled. He had sensed something of it at the time, but had been too engrossed in his own scheme to make anything of it.