Part 2 (1/2)
”Of course not; they wouldn't be that simple. But why would you . . .”
”To feel him out.”
”You've professionals for that job.”
”But he wants to see me.”
”Here is real danger. Let him once suspect and he'll not bid. He'll just snoop until he has us all in his noose.”
”He may not bid anyway. Someone must find what will tempt him.”
”We know what'll tempt him! But let him get just the faintest hint that we can interbreed with these savages, the most vague suspicion and we've lost him . . . and ourselves as well.”
”I'm not a child to be lectured to, Ynvic. I'll see him.”
”You're determined, then?”
”I am. Where is he?”
”Out on the surface with a tour crew.”
”Ahhh. And we're monitoring, of course. What does he think of our creatures?”
”The conventional things: they're so gross, ugly -- like caricatures of Chem humanity.”
”But what do his eyes say?”
”The females interest him.”
”Of course they do.”
”Then you're going to withdraw from the war drama and set up a story for him?”
”What else can we do?” his voice revealed frustration and resignation.
”What'll you use, that little group in Delhi?”
”No, I'm saving that one for an emergency, a real emergency.”
”The girls' school in Leeds?”
”Inappropriate. What do you think, Ynvic -- will violence catch his mind?”
”Definitely. It's the murder school in Berlin, then, eh?”
”No, no! I think I have something much better, I'll discuss it after I've seen him. As soon as he returns, have . . .”
”One moment,” Ynvic said. ”Not the immune -- not that one!”
”Why not? Compromise him completely.”