Part 55 (2/2)

”And a stint as Special Liaison would look good on your record, I would imagine.” Cortin chuckled. ”We share that much, at least. Consider yourself accredited, Miss Conley. And Family Cortin's guest, until your superiors require you to return to your duties.”

”I'd like that--thank you, Excellency. When would you like to learn how to use your blaster?”

”As soon as I can. What facilities do you need?”

”A standard target range will do fine for the blaster function. If you want the stun function demonstrated, you'll need a volunteer and some good strong headache medications.”

Cortin frowned. ”I thought stunning wasn't harmful.”

”It isn't,” Conley said. ”At least, it doesn't do any physical damage--unless the fall itself injures you, of course. But it does leave you with a nasty migraine for most of a day.”

”Interesting,” Cortin said thoughtfully. A weapon that caused pain without injuring its target sounded like an extremely useful tool for an Inquisitor. ”Does it cause actual unconsciousness, or is it the pain itself that's incapacitating?”

”At standard intensity, it causes about four hours' unconsciousness.

The headache's just a side effect we can't seem to get rid of.”

That was even more interesting, Cortin thought. If Kingdoms scientists could isolate the ”side effect” and eliminate the unconsciousness, the severe migraine would do very nicely to intensify an Inquisitor's other attentions. She didn't want to upset the young Imperial with that line of thought, though. ”I should be able to find a suitable test subject,” she said. ”Not right now, though; I need to get to work.

Let's go back inside; you can explain the controls, then I can familiarize myself with it if I get any breaks.”

”Just a moment, please, Excellency,” Odeon said. ”I know you're busy, but there are going to be a lot of troopers here soon, and if the Imperials go into town, they may stop at the joyhouses; don't you think they ought to know about our favorite plague?”

”Plague!” DeLayne exclaimed, his expression horrified.

Cortin chuckled. ”Yes--the only one I know of that most people wanted to catch. But you might not want to export it to the Empire, so Captain Odeon's right; I ought to warn you. It's called the satyr plague, which should give you some idea of its nature.”

DeLayne nodded. ”I think so--but I don't care to guess at the details, so tell me about it, please. And what a large number of troopers has to do with it.”

”The troopers first,” Cortin said. ”Because of the hazardous nature of our work, the Royal Enforcement Services have both Church and civil dispensations from the s.e.xual restrictions that apply to everyone else--except their partners at the time, of course. So they won't have any hesitation asking any of your people they find attractive, or accepting offers from them. The joyhouses don't have that dispensation yet, but since the plague appeared, working in or patronizing them's no more than a venial sin and a misdemeanor the RES pays attention to only if there's a complaint; we have far more serious crimes to worry about.

”The plague itself, of course, is s.e.xually transmitted. There's no danger of infection from casual contact, only about a one percent chance from kissing, but the odds improve with the intimacy of contact.

As far as we can tell, intercourse with someone who has the plague guarantees you'll get it; other genital contact is high-probability but not certain.”

”But what does it do?” Conley asked.

Cortin grinned at Odeon, who answered. ”What it does, Miss Conley, is increase both s.e.xual desire and capability. That's most noticeable in men, though it affects women as well. As you can probably imagine, it's had quite an effect on our society the last three decades.”

”What about immunization or a cure?” DeLayne asked.

”Who'd want it?” Odeon asked in reply. ”I d.a.m.nsure wouldn't; I like what it's done for me. And for our wives and Family head.”

DeLayne raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. ”We'll work on both, then, if you could provide a blood sample from someone who's infected.”

”How big a sample?”

”A few drops should be enough.” DeLayne grinned. ”Scouts may be small, but we get state of the art medical equipment, and people to use it who want a challenge.”

Odeon turned to Cortin. ”If you don't mind, Colonel, I'll give him his sample, then come help you.”

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