Part 30 (1/2)

”Not yet I wanted to tell you about it first”

He looked at his watch Only four hours had passed since the newscast; why, that seeo talk to him Where's the Colonel?”

Zareff was surrounded by a dozen screens, keeping in touch with the _Lester Dawes_ and the gunboats and coed Force Command It was only a little army, maybe, but he was a busy commander-in-chief

”You take care of it Tell et from him I can't leave now There's a report of a nu froe Ledue, and Kurt Fawzi and Dolf Kellton, ere just sitting around wishi+ng there was soave Franz Veltrin and Sylvie Jacque the representatives of the press amused Then they went down to the roouard

Shanlee, wearing a bathrobe and nothing else, was lying on a cot, sleeping peacefully; three of Zareff'shio,” Conn told them ”We'll take care of his over the edge of the cot

”You have er quavered ”My serial nuures ”And that's all you're getting out ofant out of you,” Conn told him ”You knohat a mind-probe is? You should; your accomplices used one on my father's secretary She's a hopeless ih with you But before then, you'll have given us everything you know”

Kellton began to protest ”Conn, you can't do a thing like that!”

”A al; why, it's a capital offense!” Ledue exclaie, don't uards and have you re,” Shanlee told hiet a ence's office, here in his headquarters

I should i Alliance prisoners, during the War I think Colonel Zareff would enjoy helping to use it on you He used to be an Alliance officer”

Shanlee was silent Conn sat down in one of the chairs, at the small table

”General Shanlee, would you describe General Foxx Travis as a rity? And would you so describe yourself?” Shanlee said nothing ”Yet both of you have lied, deliberately and repeatedly, to conceal the existence of Merlin And we found that bo to blow up this headquarters and everybody, yourself included, in it, to keep us fro at Merlin Well, you know that we can make you tell us the truth, et Merlin We're cutting the collapsiuhed ”You're supposed to be a co could be Merlin?”

”The controls and progra machine for Merlin” He turned to Kurt Fawzi ”You always claimed that Merlin was here in Force Command You had it backward Force Command is inside Merlin”

”What do you mean, Conn?”

”The walls; the fifty-foot walls, shi+elded inside and out Merlin--the circuitry, the --was installed inside them What's up above is only as needed to operate the computer Isn't that true, General?”

Shanlee had stopped his derisive laughter He sat on the edge of the cot, tensing as though for a leap at Conn's throat

”That won't help, either If you try it, on't shoot you We'll just overpower you and startMerlin orth any sacrifice We're not unreasonable If you can convince us that Merlin ought not to be brought to light Well, you can't do any harood You may even accomplish your mission”

”He can't talk us out of it,” Kurt Fawzi see around to Kle

They just don't want anybody else to have it”

”No, we don't,” Shanlee said ”We don't want the whole Federation breaking up into bloody anarchy, and that's what'll happen if you dig that thing up and put it into operation”

nobody said anything except Faho began an indignant contradiction and then subsided To me have one of those?” Shanlee said ”I haven't had a smoke since I cawyn took one out of the pack, lit it at the tip of his own, and gave it to Shanlee with his left hand, his right ready to strike