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  Karen tried to make it sound joking, but some of her concern slipped through nevertheless. Jack paused, there in the Ark Angel passageway, to face her.

  "Tesla's due to speak to the leaders," he said in an emotionless voice. "I'm making final arrangements, and I'm very pressed for time, so if you don't mind-"

  "What are you now, that big slug's errand boy??she sneered. "Does he keep you busy kissing his feet? Is that why you and Gnea are holed up down in that compartment with him all the time?"

  Wrong tone, girl, she told herself. But she couldn't help it. She was angry at him for avoiding her, she was suspicious of all the time he was spending together with Miss Teenage Amazon, and she was worried about what Tesla might be cooking up. And she was PO'd at herself for caring so much about Jack Baker.

  He had that same distant, dispassionate look he had been wearing lately, studying her like

  she was something on a microscope slide. "You're an idiot," he said, and about-faced and marched off on his way.

  She fought the urge to go after him and put his lights out. Violence never solves anything unless you happen to live in certain parts of New Jersey, as someone-W. C. Fields?-put it.

  There was some slight reassurance in the fact that Tesla was about to make his long-postponed appearance before the Sentinels elite. Rick Hunter had decided he wasn't going to put up with any more stalling, and had in fact been in the process of organizing an armed contingent to drag the Invid before a board of inquiry-even if it meant clapping Gnea and Burak and Jack Baker in irons and giving the alien scientist a taste of the business end of a cattle prod.

  But Tesla's relayed announcement-that he had something of great importance to lay before the leadership forestalled all that. There were a hundred different scuttlebutt theories about what was about to happen, and some of them were awfully disquieting.

  But apparently Jack Baker wasn't about to clarify anything. Karen Penn found that she had curled her hands into fists. Idiot, huh? She went after him with every intention of dumping him on his keister.

  It surprised her almost as much as it did Jack Baker when, grabbing his elbow and dragging him around on his heel, she kissed him instead of belting him. She put one hand behind his head and the other on his cheek and went toil.

  It wasn't the first time they had kissed, but Karen made it something that said a lot more than the friendly/competitive necking they had occasionally done in the past. She knew then that Jack definitely wasn't his normal self; it was like kissing some unyielding stranger.

  But then the kiss changed, and for a moment Jack felt stirrings of his true self and his own free will. He put his arms around Karen and kissed her back, as astonished crewmembers of various species detoured around the two or stopped to stare. A few whistled and cheered and applauded.

  Tesla's mindlock reasserted itself, though, and Karen felt Jack go distant and emotionless. He held her at arm's length, his hands on her shoulders. The kiss had left her breathless, but he was behind some strange emotional barrier once more. The interplay of his features told her that there was a struggle going on somewhere inside.

  "Let's see you shrug that one off, Jack," she whispered to him, her hands pressed to his cheeks. He lurched free, staggering a bit, and continued on his way. There were a few sniggers from the sidelines. Karen spun to face the onlookers.

  "What're the bunch of ya doing standing around leering! Haven't you perverts got sex lives of your own?"

  Her temper was well known. In five seconds she had the whole passageway to herself.

  My god! Maybe we should shoot him right now, before it's too late! That was Rick Hunter's first thought when Tesla appeared before the Sentinels' leadership.

  The scientist was now fully as tall as the Regent, but more strongly resembled the Regis. He reminded Lisa of a store mannequin or an ancient statue, his bodily structure and face now clearly defined along Human lines but still devoid of any real identity.

  Tesla had had robes made for him-by Baker and Gnea, Rick supposed; the two were doing all his stepping and fetching in alarmingly devoted fashion these days-robes like those of the Invid monarch himself. He even wore the jeweled collar Lisa had once fastened around his throat; but now, Rick assumed, the Tango-niner explosive charges had been removed. Tesla looked...godlike.

  What Rick couldn't figure out was how the big grub was doing all this evolving. There had to be a technique or medicine or something, but no one had a clue as to what it might be. Of course, Burak and Jack and Gnea might know, but they were now over in Tesla's camp, and weren't talking.

  The Invid spread his huge five-fingered hands and spoke from his new mouth in a saintly voice. "I'm here for just one reason, my friends: to bring an end to these unfortunate hostilities between your races and mine. I propose to begin my great mission by alleviating the suffering and oppression down there on Spheris."

  "And how will you do that?" Rem asked in clipped, precise tones. More and more, he found himself a sort of moderator among the Sentinels, since he had a certain diligent impartiality and a need to repair the damage done by his species.

  Tesla raised a single, Human-looking forefinger dramatically. "The Invid were a peaceful race, since time out of mind; we didn't know the meaning of war until our Flower of Life was stolen from us.

  "We can go back to our peaceful ways again! For us, it would be like the Humans returning to the Garden of Eden. But for that to happen, the old leaders must pass away."

  He pressed on before anybody could raise an objection. "Self-actuated changes lie at the heart of the Invid psyche; this is well known. That is the form of existence the Flower decreed for us. Now, I am already more highly evolved than the Regent himself. I therefore intend to go to the garrison on Spheris and command the officers and Inorganics

  there to lay down their arms."

  "Just like that," Lisa heard Janice Em mutter. The Artificial Person wore the aspect of a human female just about constantly nowadays, yet something of the cold android logic bestowed on her by Lang had informed her persona.

  Tesla had caught it. "Yes, Miss Em, just like that. Think of the lives saved and the suffering and damage that world will be spared!"

  "What if it doesn't work?" Kami of Garuda said, inhaling through his special breathing mask. "What if you fail?"

  Tesla's wax-museum face turned toward him. "Then, proceed with the battle plan that Teal and Baldan II are prosecuting. And remember me with what compassion you can spare, for I shall be dead."

  That had people talking to each other, and Crysta, banging the gavel she manned as current chairbeing of the leadership, was some time in silencing it.

  "I don't trust 'im,' Rick said out of the side of his mouth to his wife. He was looking at Burak and Gnea and Jack Baker, who stood behind Tesla and gave every indication of rooting for him.

  "Whatever Baker and the rest've caught, I hope it's not contagious," Lisa agreed.

  "And what are the alternatives?" Tesla forged on. "Fighting the battle and suffering the casualties you'd planned on anyway? Give me a chance to make up for what my people have done! That's all I ask of you! This can still be a galaxy of peace and mutual understanding!"

  Not a dry eye in the house, Rick thought sourly, with a feeling he knew which way the voting was going to go.

  As for Tesla, he felt a spreading warmth within him as he sensed victory. How did the line from that Human story go? Don't throw me into dot briar patch!

  Or in this case, into the midst of an Inorganic garrison he could commandeer. Into a Protoculture garden where new varieties of the Fruit of the Flower of Life waited to speed Tesla's unprecedented evolution. Into a power base from which he would launch his campaign to dominate the entire universe.

  Once, an age ago, realizing that his star was on the ascendent, the Regis had asked him, "Tesla, why are you so wicked??

  And he had answered with a bored mental yawn, "Mistress, only mediocre intellects can endure the tedium of
being good."

  Contacted deep within Spheris, Baldan II and his people agreed to try Tesla's plan. The carnage that had accompanied previous battles with the Invid was well known now, and any idea that might prevent such ruin on Spheris was worth a try.

  Teal was wary of it, though; once reassured that others would take up the fight for them, the Spherisians might be difficult or impossible to work into a fighting mood once more.

  The Odeon's hornlike energy projectors gushed fiery bolts at him, but Wolff's Hovertank slewed aside, firing a close-in salvo from its own massive main gun.

  The Inorganic went up like a roman candle as the rest of the Wolff Pack followed their commander, battling their way through the determined Invid resistance toward the REF HQ building.

  The Hovertanks were making only the slowest progress; the Inorganics were being incredibly obstinate. Something to do with Edwards's control over them and the man's military zeal, Wolff supposed. The Inorganics had seemed paralyzed for a few moments a while back, and Wolff thought for a few seconds that the general was dead, but the alien mecha had shaken themselves awake and plunged into battle once again.

  When the Invid onslaught began, Wolff's first impulse had been to get his Hovers down into the catacombs under the Royal Hall, where the Brain that activated them floated in its vat. But even before the Wolff Pack could get organized for the assault, the Inorganics had established almost-unassailable defensive positions in the catacombs. Detectors said that something big, involving a lot for Protoculture, was going on down there, but nobody could figure out what.

  Since Edwards couldn't leave the Living Computer behind without losing the bulk of his fighting strength, Wolff deduced that preparations were being made to move it. But whatever was being done, it was no impediment to the combat capabilities of the Inorganics.

  Edwards and a major part of his force had made their break for the HQ building. Jonathan Wolff and most of his available mecha pursued. In the meantime word came of the hijacking of the SDF-7 cruiser; Wolff knew time was short.

  Much of the Hovertanks' success was due, pure and simple, to the colonel's single-minded determination to get through to the headquarters. There could only be one reason that Edwards would delay his escape and divert his troops in the way he was

  doing: Minmei. Though Edwards had declared to the council that he had no idea of her whereabouts, Jonathan Wolff never believed it for an instant.

  Assuming Tank, Battloid, and Gladiator configuration in compliance with his instructions and his deployment of them, his armored forces slugged their way closer and closer to the HQ. The Inorganics were making them pay for every yard of ground they gained along the elevated highways and wide, straight boulevards. Luckily, fully three quarters of the awakened enemy mecha were tied up in the fight by the Royal Hall or had been engaged by other REF and Human Sentinels fighters.

  Reinforcements from SDF-3 and elsewhere on Tirol would be some time in arriving, however, and the Inorganics would have the numerical advantage for another critical half hour or so yet. Wolff was undaunted, though: the key to victory lay not in the sheer attrition of set-piece battle, but rather in striking the head from the monster-literally. By killing Edwards.

  But Wolff's timetable was changed as Exedore's voice came up over the tactical communications net. "Colonel! We have Invid Terror Weapons rising from the Royal Hall! Some are heading for immediate rendezvous with the SDF-7, but others are coming your way!"

  So, that was Edwards's other ace in the hole. The Regent had left more than just troops and the Living Computer behind in his haste to abandon Tirol. The Invid Brain was no doubt on its way to safety already.

  Even as Wolff was getting the bad news, the Inorganics began disengaging, pulling back to defensive positions, awaiting evacuation. Soon, the way to the HQ was clear, but the building itself was alive with alien biped mecha putting out murderous, concentrated fire.

  Within a minute, two of the bizarre-looking Invid drop-ships were descending toward the roof, accompanied by skirmish fliers. With their increased fire superiority, the enemy craft drove back the few VTs the Humans still had in the air. Inorganics were soon embarking for their escape.

  Wolff saw that there was no way his force could stop them. He switched to Edwards's command frequency and broadcast in cleartext. "This doesn't end it, General! I'm coming after you! D'you hear me?"

  Unexpectedly, the static of on-line encrypted traffic broke, and Edwards's face appeared on a display screen on the tank's instrument panel. He looked like he had been in a fistfight, but had apparently come out the winner, because he still radiated that cynical, superior air of his. Wolff could see from the background that Edwards was already aboard a Terror ship.

  "That's fine with me, Colonel. You were lucky I was too rushed to finish you back there in the Royal Hall. I still have a score to settle with you.?

  "But until we meet again, here's someone else you might want to say good-bye to." The camera pulled back, and Wolff swore helplessly.

  Minmei stood there, eyes glazed-looking catatonic. Wolff breathed her name.

  "Why, Minmei!" Edwards smiled at her. "Aren't you going to tell the big, bad Wolff how much you love him? He's come home at long last to rescue you, after all."

  She looked up at the screen in the dropship that displayed Wolff's face. "Love? The man I love is dead."

  "Minmei, don't say that! Just hang on; I'll save you, I swear it-"

  "I don't want anything you have to offer, Jonathan. The man I'll love forever is dead."

  She wanted to be with Edwards so she could kill him as soon as she got the chance, not thrown back into the company of the colonel who had abandoned her-as she regarded his going off with the Sentinels now-after she had begged him not to leave. There was nothing Jonathan Wolff could do for her ever again.

  But there was one thing she could do, to take some of the weight off her conscience and vent the bitterness she felt toward the whole world in the wake of Lynn-Kyle's death. She could make the break clear and final.

  "Why don't you go back to your Sentinels buddies, Colonel?" she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Or better yet, why don't you go home to your wife and kids? Remember them, you two-timing pig!?She reached out and broke the connection herself.

  Edwards exulted at this sudden turn of luck. He had hoped that Minmei's grief and mental turmoil would make her rebuff Wolff-he had had nothing to lose by letting her and the colonel speak to each other once more. But this was simply marvelous! He vowed that he would make Minmei love him, as he had once before. She would come around in time.

  The dropships were rising over Tiresia, laying down suppressing fire to keep the REF's heads down. The hijacked starship was swinging low for pickup, its bays opening.

  Of course, it was a tragedy that Lang hadn't installed the new spacefold drive in the stolen starship yet; otherwise, Edwards could have had his ticket back to Earth, and a loyal army at his back.

  No point mourning that now. The Ghost officers aboard the ship were asking nervously

  what course they should set, to be ready for immediate departure.

  "Optera," the general answered curtly, and broke the connection. The Regent had already been of service, but that was nothing compared to how useful he was about to become to Edwards's dream of conquest.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  In summation, it is important to bear in mind how the "social insect" organization of the Invid renders them immune to certain politico-military strategems. Among the things we CANNOT do to the Invid are:

  1) Wreck their (nonexistent) monetary system

  2) Establish an underground or resistance

  3) Cause racial or religious friction

  4) Employ propaganda techniques

  5) Insert double agents

  6) Subvert them with things like material wealth, freedom, erotic literature, or baseball.

  7) Appeal to their better nature

 
from Limited Options: Warfare and the Invid Infrastructure, submitted to the REF Strategic Studies Group by Dr. Boscoe Highwater

  Lron, Rick Hunter, and others pointed out that in the wake of the ruse Tesla had used against the Invid garrison on Karbarra in the Sentinels' attack on that world, the enemy on Spheris wasn't very likely to roll out the red carpet for him.

  "That incident will be of no consequence here, because I am Evolved," Tesla said grandly. "Nothing you Mortals can understand, but take my word for it: my people will recognize my divine right to command."

  One thing in his favor was the fact that Gnea and Jack Baker believed so strongly that Tesla could deliver what he was promising. But Rick had his own suspicions about the two; they were too eager in their attitudes, too ready to back the Invid.