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to full consciousness. Ignoring her, he got on the intercom.
"Ghormley?" At her response, he said, "In about fifteen, twenty minutes, get
here to Eldons quarters with your medic kit Make sure to bring some anti-shock
stuff. " He listened to her startled questions, and said, "You'll have a shock
patient, all right. Take my word for it. Tregare out. "
* * *
When a sharp piece of iron smashed nine-year-old Brans fingernail and punched
a vee-
shaped segment under the rest of it, to put agonizing pressure on the bruised
nerves, the boy had felt the worst pain of his entire life and nearly died of
shock. So now he couldn't think of a simpler way to get the most impact with
the least damage. Tanit Eldon was tougher than the boy Tregare had been; it
took two fingers on each hand, and occasional harsh tapping on first one
damaged nail and then another, before she gave up on pleading and began
talking.
He had most of it from her before shock hit and he had to wait for Eda
Ghormley to come up and counteract the effect. "Hypnosis, Tregare, " she kept
repeating. Automatically he ignored the screams and curses, listening only to
the words that made sense. "The chemical presence of any truth drug in the
bloodstream triggers the hypnotic implant; whatever my cover ID is, my cover
story, under the drug it's true for me. " Was she the only one like this? She
didn't know, except that the technique was fairly new. And only one such agent
would be slipped into any given ship.
Eldon hadn't been to the Hulzein Establishment in Argentina; she had been
infiltrated into the
Underground, though. Her story of Erika wanting an alliance was sheer
improvisation; when she boarded
Inconnu she didn't know its identity or status; she was one of an experimental
group
designed to go onto ships and be monitors. It wasn't her job to blow an
Escaped Ship's cover immediately, but first to gather data, such as
coordinates, on Hidden Worlds. "And I had two, now, so it was time. One's
plenty, but Muspelheim went wrong. " Then, for a time, shock took her.
Knowing the disabling effects of that reaction, before Ghormley arrived
Tregare had Tanit
Eldon untied and even clothed. Seeing the injuries, the medic gasped. "What
happened to her?"
"I did. " And then, "She's our traitor, and I had to know how. "
Further, "Twice she beat the drugs; I knew that. So "
Shrugging, Ghormley punctured the blood-blistered nails to relieve the
agonizing pressure, then administered the hypo to bring the woman back to
consciousness. Tregare said, "Give her some pain-killing shots, too. "
"Why ?"
I've got most of what I need; the rest's not important. And just because she
has to die in a
few minutes, doesn't mean she has to hurt, up until I space her. "
Bran didn't need any words then, from Ghormley, to know what kind of monster
she thought he was.
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Tanit didn't resist his further questions; she said, after answering them, "I
wish we could have been on the same side. "
Him supporting her, because drugs and trauma had her shaky; they were heading
downship to the main airlock. "If you'd wanted to switch, you could have. "
Headshake. "Couldn't. More hypnosis. I don't remember it, of course, but it's
standard for field agents. Total loyalty to UET, total animosity toward its
enemies. No choice. " What her face did, then, was probably trying for a
smile. "So you don't have to feel badly about spacing me;
it's your only option. "
Thank you, Tanit. " For what, he wasn't quite certain. But remembering Butcher
Korbeith he forced himself to watch as vacuum drew her out the lock to death.
She didn't scream or struggle or void her body wastes in panic; Tanit Eldon
met death with dignity.
Heading back up to Control, Tregare wasn't sure whether her stoicism made him
feel better or worse.
Almost but maybe not quite, Tregare had himself back in gear. I
killed Tanit.
But he forced himself to listen to the playback of what Deverel had said to
The Islands, and of what groundside had said back.
It smelled good. This place sounded less paranoid than most places Tregare had
visited, UET
or
Hidden. Relying on M'tanas data, Deverel had cited Terranova as the ship's
most recent stop, and near as Tregare could tell, The Islands believed
everything Deverel had said.
When Tregare turned off the tape and said as much, Gonnelson cleared his
throat. "Sure?"
"Sure as I
can be, from up here. I've learned to judge these communications. Any time the
other end hesitates, except to look up data, somebody's thinking something
over or up. On
Deverel's tape, counting-in the decreasing range and transmission lag, the
only real pause was when Hain asked for longitude, of their port with respect
to the terminator, for our ETA. And that one, they had to look up. " "Hope so.
"
When Tregare entered his quarters, he found Zelde M'tana waiting, sipping a
drink. There was one for him, too. As he sat, she said, "Heard what you had to
do. Thought I might could help some. He felt his face go tight. "Bad, huh?" He
nodded. "I done a Utie the same once. Carlo
Mauragin. All the way downship, he yelled. "
"This one didn't. And Zelde I'd loved that woman. Or damned close to it,
anyway. " Honesty forced the qualification.
"Pretty one, too. Not a big skinny giraffe like me. " Startled, not knowing
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