Part 26 (1/2)

Polyon's perfectly shaped ears turned red and Alpha raised her head, suddenly alert. The flush of rage didn't improve Polyon's looks, but that was all right with her; if anything, his face in repose was a little too perfect. And now he looked ready to kill somebody-or tell something. Alpha mentally applauded. Blaize had finally hit on a nerve!

”And what better position might the family have arranged for you you, dear cousin?” Polyon inquired. ”Save a little of that pity for yourself. When your posting at Angalia is finished-if you ever do get off that G.o.dforsaken planet-you'll have nothing but your savings. Granted, they should be considerable, since there's nothing to spend money on there, but how much can a PTA-17's monthly salary add up to?”

”About as much as a factory supervisor's, I should imagine. Face the facts, Polyon. We've both been screwed over by our respective families. For once you're in the same boat I'm in, regardless of that pretty face and stiff back. I know why I'm here. What I'd dearly like to know is why they did it to you.”

Alpha, too. She leaned forward, tensing slightly in antic.i.p.ation of the answer, but Polyon chose to answer the first part of Blaize's goading speech rather than the second. ”Oh, but I've no intention of trying to make it on my savings, dear coz.”

”What, then?”

”Metachips,” Polyon said meditatively, ”are very expensive. Not to mention that they're in short supply.”

”Tell me something I don't know,” Blaize invited him.

”I plan,” said Polyon, ”to...improve on the current rationing system.”

Unnoticed in her corner, Alpha nodded thoughtfully. Polyon had a good point. Metachips were exceedingly scarce and costly, and for good reason. The metachip manufacturing process involved at least three different acids so hazardous to the environment that most planets refused to harbor the plants, despite the unquestioned financial benefits. Shemali, inhospitable, cursed with the perpetual biting north wind that had given the planet its name, with its one land ma.s.s dedicated to a maximum-security prison, was the only major metachip manufacturing site in existence; Shemali, where nothing you did could make the environment much worse, and where the workers bought their lives one day at a time by laboring in the metachip plant.

Because who else could you use, in the final a.n.a.lysis, but convicts already under sentence of death? One of the acids involved, when used in the quant.i.ties required for manufacturing, released a gas whose effects on human tissue were slow, painful, deadly... and so far, irreversible. Alpha was an expert on those effects; her research at Central Med had been devoted to trying various drug therapies to reverse the effects of Ganglicide. She might have had a major paper out of the work if the school's Ethics Committee hadn't got so upset about her testing methods...Alpha clamped her lips down on the flare of anger that possessed her. That was all in the past. The present was Polyon and his plan, which he was explaining to Blaize with a wealth of patronizing detail about the adverse effects on the economy of the present rationing system.

”It's ridiculous to have metachips distributed by a committee of old men and do-gooders,” he declared. ”Sure, the military is ent.i.tled to first cut at the chips, but after our applications have been satisfied, the remaining chips ought to go where they'll do the most good.”

”I thought that was the object of the rationing system,” Blaize remarked. ”Companies get Social Utility Marks for their intended use of the metachips, and the chips are distributed in proportion to the SUM. What's wrong with that?”

”Unrealistic,” Polyon said promptly. ”They're using chips for single-body operations like repairing kidneys or replacing damaged spinal nerves, when the same chips could go into, oh, applications that thousands of people could use at once. Dorg Jesen would pay millions millions for a handful of metas and a promise of steady supply.” for a handful of metas and a promise of steady supply.”

Blaize began to laugh. ”Dorg Jesen? The feeliep.o.r.n king? The feeliep.o.r.n king? That's That's your idea of a SUM?” your idea of a SUM?”

”Millions,” Polyon repeated himself. ”And if you don't believe I can think of a socially useful function for all that cash-”

”That,” said Blaize, ”I can believe. But just how do you think you'll sneak the feeliep.o.r.n application past the advisory board?”

”I see no reason why the matter should ever come before the board. QA testing for the metachips is one of the areas Governor Lyautey asked me to supervise. Disposal of the chips that fail QA will presumably also fall within my duties.” He looked so smug that Alpha felt the need to puncture his self-satisfaction.

”I wouldn't plan on selling defective chips to Dorg Jesen if I were you,” she interrupted Polyon's gloating. ”He's been known to rearrange the features of people who interfered with his business.” Her s.h.i.+ver wasn't a.s.sumed; one of her first tasks in med research had been to diagram the facial injuries on a girl who'd refused Jesen's offer of employment. Alpha had eventually made a complete inventory of the damage, together with holosims of the girl's face before the attack and as she would look after plastifilm had replaced what used to be living flesh.

Eventually.

After she rushed out of the lab theater and threw up in front of the senior surgical advisor.

At the time, she'd thought it would be the most humiliating thing that could ever happen to her in med school.

Remembering, she barely heard Polyon's bland reply that he had no intention of selling defective chips to anybody.

Blaize gave a low, admiring whistle. ”Of course. Fiddle the QA parameters one way for Governor Lyautey's reports, the other way for sales, and who knows what happens to the metachips in between? You could make a fortune in five years!”

”I intend to,” said Polyon.

He was really much much too self-satisfied, especially for a man who'd left the Academy under some kind of a cloud that he was afraid or ashamed to discuss. Alpha decided that it would be doing humanity a favor to wipe that smug smile off Lieutenant de Gras-Waldheim's face. He really shouldn't smirk like that. Spoiled his looks. too self-satisfied, especially for a man who'd left the Academy under some kind of a cloud that he was afraid or ashamed to discuss. Alpha decided that it would be doing humanity a favor to wipe that smug smile off Lieutenant de Gras-Waldheim's face. He really shouldn't smirk like that. Spoiled his looks.

”I do hope you'll still be able to enjoy your fortune by then,” she cooed sweetly at Polyon. ”Better stay out of the way of your convict laborers, though. Nasty accidents are so so easy to arrange in a D-cla.s.s facility, aren't they? But don't let it worry you. Even if you do get a little spot of Ganglicide on your precious skin, I'm sure Governor Lyautey will rush you to Bahati for medical treatment. And you're lucky to have an expert in Ganglicide therapy right there at the Summerlands clinic.” easy to arrange in a D-cla.s.s facility, aren't they? But don't let it worry you. Even if you do get a little spot of Ganglicide on your precious skin, I'm sure Governor Lyautey will rush you to Bahati for medical treatment. And you're lucky to have an expert in Ganglicide therapy right there at the Summerlands clinic.”

”You.” Polyon nodded stiffly. ”That was to be your thesis topic, wasn't it?”

Alpha suppressed a start. How had Polyon known of her research? Oh, well, the High Families were such an inbred group. Probably her aunt Leona had been gossiping over the chai tables. But Polyon wouldn't know much more than the t.i.tle of her projected paper; the symptoms of Ganglicide exposure were hardly fit material for chai-table gossip. She relaxed and prepared to enjoy her project of wiping that superior smirk off Polyon's face.

”I had some success with chemical treatments for the skin decay,” she told him. ”Halted the disintegrating process, anyway. I'm afraid we couldn't do much to reverse the effects, though. The skin shreds like paper and turns sort of blue-green. And it spreads very rapidly. If you get a drop of Ganglicide on one finger while you're on Shemali, your arm will look like it's been through a paper shredder by the time the shuttle delivers you to Bahati. Do Do try to keep it away from your pretty face.” try to keep it away from your pretty face.”

Polyon's handsome features betrayed only slight uneasiness, but there was a knowing look in his eyes. ”You-had to interrupt your research rather suddenly, didn't you?”

Alpha silently cursed all interfering, gossiping old relatives and friends. Never mind. ”More's the pity,” she sighed. ”I was just getting into the most interesting interesting cases. You know, when Ganglicide goes into its gaseous form it attacks nerves and brain synapses. Has much the same effects on them that it has on the skin; we dissected a really fascinating case, a senior a.s.sembly tech from Shemali, as it happens. The inside of his head looked like a wet blue sponge. Of course, by the time the Ganglicide got that far he was too far gone to know or care what was happening to him. A mercy, really. Not that we'll ever really know how long he felt the pain. Ganglicide goes straight to the pain receptors, you know; we can't block the effects with drugs. And towards the end he was screaming continuously. Like an animal dying under torture.” She licked her lips and regarded Polyon. He was standing quite still, two fingers beating a nervous tattoo on the command panel behind him. The dance of his fingertips on the sensitive pressure pads made the s.p.a.cED OUT screen on the far side of the room s.h.i.+ft back and forth jerkily, displaying alternate images of deep s.p.a.ce and of a flaming labyrinth where molten lava menaced the hapless play icons. cases. You know, when Ganglicide goes into its gaseous form it attacks nerves and brain synapses. Has much the same effects on them that it has on the skin; we dissected a really fascinating case, a senior a.s.sembly tech from Shemali, as it happens. The inside of his head looked like a wet blue sponge. Of course, by the time the Ganglicide got that far he was too far gone to know or care what was happening to him. A mercy, really. Not that we'll ever really know how long he felt the pain. Ganglicide goes straight to the pain receptors, you know; we can't block the effects with drugs. And towards the end he was screaming continuously. Like an animal dying under torture.” She licked her lips and regarded Polyon. He was standing quite still, two fingers beating a nervous tattoo on the command panel behind him. The dance of his fingertips on the sensitive pressure pads made the s.p.a.cED OUT screen on the far side of the room s.h.i.+ft back and forth jerkily, displaying alternate images of deep s.p.a.ce and of a flaming labyrinth where molten lava menaced the hapless play icons.

”If you're nice to me,” Alpha added, ”I'll promise to kill you before the Ganglicide eats out your brains. No human being should have to die like that.”

”Oh, I'll be nice to you,” Polyon said. His voice was still even; he thrust off from the control panel with two fingers and floated across the room. As he came closer, Alpha recognized the look in his eyes. Not frightened. Wary. Like a hunter waiting for his quarry to burst from cover. And as he reached out to encircle her wrist with strong, blunt fingers, the look changed to a light of triumph. ”I think we can be very very nice to one another, lovely Alpha. It's so kind of you to take an interest in my career.” His voice changed on the last words, mocking, savagely amused. ”But enough about me. Tell us about yourself, why don't you?” He gestured towards Darnell and Fa.s.sa, floating through the open door to join them. ”We'd all like to hear about your interrupted research. And why one of the school's brightest young medical researchers chose to donate five years of public service to an obscure clinic on Bahati. You're too modest, Alpha.” nice to one another, lovely Alpha. It's so kind of you to take an interest in my career.” His voice changed on the last words, mocking, savagely amused. ”But enough about me. Tell us about yourself, why don't you?” He gestured towards Darnell and Fa.s.sa, floating through the open door to join them. ”We'd all like to hear about your interrupted research. And why one of the school's brightest young medical researchers chose to donate five years of public service to an obscure clinic on Bahati. You're too modest, Alpha.”

Alpha tossed her head and tried to pull away from Polyon, but he was too strong for her. ”There's nothing to tell, really. I was tired-wanted a change of scene. That's all.”

”Is it?” Polyon murmured. ”Funny. The way I heard it, there were some other people who wanted to change your scene. The newsnibblers never beamed the story, did they? Can't have scandals about a High Families girl going out as entertainment bytes. But I fancy our friends on board here would find the story it?” Polyon murmured. ”Funny. The way I heard it, there were some other people who wanted to change your scene. The newsnibblers never beamed the story, did they? Can't have scandals about a High Families girl going out as entertainment bytes. But I fancy our friends on board here would find the story very very entertaining.” entertaining.”

Alpha stared up at Polyon, looking for a hint of compa.s.sion in the sharp planes of his face and the ice-blue eyes that had seemed so attractive a moment ago. ”I did nothing to be ashamed of,” she whispered. ”The tradition of scientific experiments-”

”Does not not include testing Ganglicide on unwitting subjects.” His voice was so low the others could not hear it. include testing Ganglicide on unwitting subjects.” His voice was so low the others could not hear it.

”Charity cases,” Alpha defended herself. ”Street b.u.ms. Some of them were so far gone on Blissto they didn't even know what was happening to them. They were incurable-nothing but an expense to the state as long as they lived. I did them a favor, making sure their lives ended for some purpose.”

”Somehow,” Polyon murmured, ”I don't think the court would have seen it that way. But then, you never did come to trial, did you? Hezra clan and Fong tribe wouldn't let that happen. Private settlement in the med school offices, records sealed.”

”How-did you find out?” Alpha gasped. He was very close to her now, his voice the subtlest vibration of sound from lips that almost brushed her cheek. The raw power of his will and his anger wrapped about her. She felt weak from the spine out. His smile made her s.h.i.+ver.

”That's my little secret,” he told her, still smiling. His face and gestures might have been those of a courts.h.i.+p; Alpha realized that the others in the room might imagine they were flirting. That was a relief. Anything was preferable to having her humiliation made public before these people who were to be her constant companions for the next two weeks-having them see her as the disgraced failure she was, instead of the successful young researcher with a social conscience she pretended to be. ”You were lucky to get off with five years of community service on Bahati, weren't you?” Polyon commented, stroking her cheek with his free hand. ”A commoner would have been doing time. Hard Hard time. Who knows, gorgeous, you might even have wound up on Shemali-getting a chance to check out Ganglicide at first hand, so to speak. Wouldn't our innocent little friends love to hear the story?” time. Who knows, gorgeous, you might even have wound up on Shemali-getting a chance to check out Ganglicide at first hand, so to speak. Wouldn't our innocent little friends love to hear the story?”

But he was still speaking in a low voice, head partially turned away from Fa.s.sa and Blaize and Darnell, who had grouped together in the far corner of the cabin and were pretending deep interest in a round of s.p.a.cED OUT.

”What-do you want?”

”Cooperation,” Polyon said. ”Only a little-cooperation.”

Blindly, drowning in a sea of air that somehow gave her nothing to breathe, Alpha turned her face up to meet Polyon's parted lips.

”Not that sort of cooperation,” Polyon told her, laughing gently, ”not yet.” His eyes measured her with a cold glance that made her more afraid than ever-and, somehow, more excited too. ”Maybe later, if you're a good girl. You were too uppity before, you know that, Alpha? Now you're the way I like my women. Quiet. And respectful. Stay that way, and we won't have to discuss any-ah-painful subjects with the others. Come with me and follow my lead. That's all I expect of you-for now.”

Submissive, head bowed, Alpha drifted towards the three s.p.a.cED OUT gamers in Polyon's wake. They were still pretending to be totally involved in the game, but she felt sure they had avidly witnessed her humiliation.

She would pay them back. That was certain, she vowed. Fa.s.sa, Darnell, Blaize-they would all learn not to laugh at her.

She didn't even think of retaliating against Polyon.