Gordon Dickson The Last Master (v1.1) (lit)

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again; when he did, there was a catch in his voice, almost a note of
astonishment, that was again very out of character for Rico as Ett had seen
him so far.
Ah& I don t know the person. Do you mean the redhead in her twenties or
thirties, with
He broke off. Ett looked sharply back at him.
That s right, Ett said. With the tall dark man and that particularly
beautiful black-haired woman. Do you know them?
The man s Patrick St. Onge, said Rico. His face and voice now betrayed no
emotion of any sort.
And the black-haired lady?
I don t believe I know who she is.
Who s St. Onge? Ett asked. I suppose I should say, what s St. Onge? He
watched Rico closely.
An auditor, Mr. Ho. For the Earth Council. Auditors are responsible only to
the Accounting Section Chief.
You meanWilson ?
Mr. Wilson, yes, said Rico. He looked at Ett a little strangely. You
certainly know that the EC Auditor Corps has the responsibility of uncovering
and arresting offenders against the guidelines of the GWP forecasts. For that
matter, the black-haired young lady could also be a member of the Auditor
Corps open, or undercover. But as I say, you must know all this.
No. How would I? I ve lived on minimum subsistence almost all my life.
The work of the EC auditors is necessarily classified under Security, said
Rico. It s good manners not to refer to the fact that a person is an
auditor.
Oh? said Ett. As an R-Master, how do I rank compared to an auditor?
Rico laughed a little. Of course there s no such thing as rank, he said.
But naturally, there are always people capable of being trained as EC
auditors, and the few R-Masters in the world are the result of accident.
Fine, said Ett. Do me a favor. Step over to those three people and ask
them if they d do me the kindness of joining me at my table. Explain that I m
a brand-new R-Master and that the occupation of EC auditor fascinates me.
Rico got half to his feet, then hesitated.
Mr. Ho, he said. If I might suggest
Don t suggest, said Ett gently. Just do it.
Rico nodded, straightened up all the way, and went off to a corner where
small floating aircars nuzzled the edge of the dining pad, waiting to convey
diners from the pad to the elevator at the base of the bubble, or from pad to
pad. A second later, Ett saw him in one of the cars, sliding across through
the open air to the pad on which Maea Tornoy sat with Patrick St. Onge and the
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unknown girl with the black hair and the face of a cameo beauty.
Rico landed on the outer edge of the pad and walked across toward the three.
Before he had quite reached the table, though, Maea stood up abruptly and left
the other two, hurrying off in the opposite direction from that in which Rico
was approaching, and vanishing among the leaves of a jungle garden in the
middle of the pad. Thus, when Ett s secretary reached the table, only the two
were left there. Ett watched as Rico stood and spoke to them, and their heads
turned in his direction. He smiled and beckoned. Their heads nodded at least
St. Onge s did and turned back to Rico. There was a little more conversation,
and then, somewhat slowly, they both got up and followed Rico back to his
aircar.
A few seconds later, Rico had them at Ett s table and was introducing them.
Mr. St. Onge, this is Mr. Etter Ho, said Rico. Miss Cele Partner, Mr. Ho.
Good of both of you to come over and talk to me, said Ett, when they were
seated around the table. I wouldn t have imposed on you, but I saw you were
friends of Maea Tornoy
Tornoy? Oh, yes, that was her name, wasn t it? St. Onge said, looking at
Cele Partner. He glanced back at Ett. I m afraid I hadn t met her before
today, myself.
Maea, said Cele Partner, in a soft voice as attractive as the rest of her,
was working on the societal impact of deep-level gold mining in
thePhilippines at a time when I was there, and we got to know each other. I
ran into her today inLucerne and brought her along to lunch with Patrick.
But she s an old friend of yours? St. Onge asked Ett.
Of my brother s. He s dead, said Ett. He smiled at both of them.
St. Onge smiled back. He was a lean, handsome knife of a man with a level
mouth and level dark eyebrows over shadowed eyes that seemed as devoid of
depths as the eyes of a hawk or an eagle.
It seems something almost like a misunderstanding has brought us together,
the auditor said. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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