Part 36 (2/2)

”I'm right,” said the slave. ”He wors.h.i.+ps you. He would never do anything you didn't want him to do. You call him twin -- he's your other half, Rhani Yago. You're kind, gentle, generous to your slaves -- because he is there, to do what you will never have to do. I used to picture you standing outside the door of the room he put me in, listening. Did you do that? Did you watch?”

”Stop it,” Rhani said, with fury.

He laughed at her. ”Make me. Hurt me.”

Dana said, ”Rhani, you don't have to stay here. We can go.”

Ramas laughed, and coughed in the middle of it. ”That's right, protect her. Remember though, what I said. She won't protect you.” He leaned against the wall.

”No,” Rhani said, ”I want to stay. I still want to know about the Free Folk of Chabad.”

Ramas nodded. ”I'll tell you,” he said. ”Why not? The police will if I don't. They were all Hype cops. I didn't know that when I offered to help them.

No, that's not what really happened -- they approached me. In the mail. Your mail, which I opened every day. They asked me to be their spy, no more than that, to tell them where you went, who you saw, what your schedule was -- I did.

I told them everything. I rather hoped they'd kill you. If your owner dies, you go free.”

”Not if it's discovered that you had a hand in it,” Rhani said.

”I know, but I thought they were smart. After the bombing, the police didn't know where to look. It took a while before I saw that they didn't want to kill you. You were smart, you guessed that.” He coughed, and licked his lips.

”I'd like some water,” he said.

”Where is it?” Rhani asked. He pointed to a spout on the wall. There was a cup on a hook beside it. She filled the cup and handed it across the little cell to him.

He drank it thirstily. ”The fire?” she said.

”The fire -- the fire was my idea.”

”The Hype cops didn't know?” Dana said.

”They knew. They gave me the equipment. But they thought I would time the fire for daylight, for some time when there was no one in the house.”

”Did you send me away to save my life”

”No. I hoped they'd blame you for the fire. Since they weren't going to find my body either, I figured they could blame me, or you.” He grinned. ”Michel A-Rae planned it, every bit of it, except the last part. He wants to bring you down, Rhani-ka.” His tone was suddenly vicious. ”I hope he does it. He's got something else prepared for you, something I know nothing about, so even the drugs can't make me talk about it. He despises you. But he hates your brother more -- even more than I do.”

Rhani's face lost color at his tone. But her voice was still calm as she said, ”He's stupid, to think I would react to threat by panicking.”

Ramas said, ”Yes. He is stupid. I could have told him you don't frighten easily.” He slumped aginst the wall. His hair fell across his eyes, and he made no move to brush it away. ”Leave me alone,” he said. ”Go away. I've answered your questions, and I'm tired. I suppose they'll kill me tonight, and then you won't have to think about me anymore.” Dana said, ”What do you mean, they'll kill you?”

Rhani and her slave looked at him with identical expressions on their faces. Ramas answered, his tone irritable. ”I tried to kill her. It's in the contract -- if a slave kills his owner, or tries to, he's executed.”

”You knew that, and you still tried it?” Dana said.

”Sure.” Ramas grinned like a death's head. ”Are you telling me that, given an opportunity and a way to blame someone else, you wouldn't try to kill Zed?”

Dana swallowed. ”I don't know.” The thought of trying to kill Zed made him sick, because if it didn't work....”Zed's not my owner, though.”

”There's no difference,” Ramas said. ”She's just as bad as he is.”

Dana saw Rhani's hands twist together. ”I don't believe that,” he said.

”More fool you.” He held out the cup. ”Water, please.” Silently Rhani refilled the cup and gave it to him. ”Thank you, Rhani-ka.” There was rage in the last syllable. Dana tensed. His gaze flicked to the steady red of the scanner light. It was on, and Sachiko Tsurada still stood patiently waiting in the hall.

Suddenly Rhani stepped forward. Kneeling, she put a hand on the slave's knee. ”Ramas -- Binkie. Aren't you afraid?”

He looked at her, shrinking a little toward the wall. A tremor shook him.

”Of course I am.” He swallowed. ”I don't want to die. I -- ” He halted. ”Oh, leave me, _please_.” His pale face was chalk-white.

Rhani said gently, ”Are you sure you want me to?”

A communication pa.s.sed between them, a silent, mysterious thread. Hope?

Dana thought. Love? He did not understand what was happening. Rhani looked at the door, which from this side was gray and opaque. ”Officer Tsurada,” she said, ”I want to speak to you.”

The door folded back and Tsurada stepped to the doorway. ”Yes, Domna?”

”What happens now?” Rhani asked. She was still kneeling.

The policewoman looked faintly embarra.s.sed. ”Well, he's confessed. The sentence is automatic. Normally, we would wait until evening, when we would drug his food and then -- ” She did not finish.

”What drug do you use for the sentence?” Rhani said.

”Morphidyne.”

Dana had heard of it. It gave release from pain, but was said to be terribly addictive. Of course, in this case it wouldn't matter, he thought. The smell of the hallway was beginning to sicken him. He breathed deeply to push the nausea back.

Rhani said, ”Binkie?”

The slave's hands trembled. ”I -- oh, this is hard.”

”I'll stay,” Rhani said. She sat beside him on the narrow bunk and looked at Officer Tsurada. ”Do you have any objections to that”

Tsurada looked bewildered. ”No, Domna,” she said. ”But it isn't -- usual.”

”I don't care,” Rhani said. ”Go and get your drug, Officer.”

Tsurada left the room. Dana wiped his palms on his pants; he was sweating badly now. When Tsurada returned, she held a cup with a small black pill in it in one hand and a loaded syringe in the other.

”Which do you want?” she said.

Ramas stared at her laden hands. He nodded at the syringe. ”That's faster, isn't it?” he said hoa.r.s.ely. Dana felt dizzy. He put a hand on the white wall to hold himself upright. I refuse, he thought, I absolutely refuse to be sick.

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