«Oh, it's been in operation for some time now,» said Detcharn. «I will send you out there to see it yourself in a few days. And you're right, we should patrol the area around it more closely. But the Tribes spend too much time fighting each other to ever unite against us or Kaldak. Also, the new station is a good hundred miles from the nearest Tribe with Newtec weapons. Long before they can find it and send warriors that far, the Day will fall on them as it will on Kaldak.» He dismissed adding the Tribesmen to his planned genocide with an airy wave of his hand and poured more drinks.

At least Blade needed no help to learn about the missile base. It was all laid out in front of him anytime he stepped out on the terrace, which he did about twice a day. He quickly memorized every key point so thoroughly he could have easily built a model of the base.

Taking out the base was not going to be a one-man job. Blade knew that almost at once. But twenty or thirty men armed to the teeth and taking it by surprise would have a chance. Forty or fifty would have a very good one. There were usually less than a hundred guards, they were scattered widely, and only a few of the Seekers bothered to carry weapons. The base was also a couple of hours' flying time from Doimar itself. The raiders could do their work and be long gone before reinforcements arrived.

Assuming you could conjure up the men needed, how likely was surprise? There Blade had to do more guessing than he liked, but finally decided that the chances were good enough to make the raid worth trying if he could get the men. The Doimari seemed to assume that the Kaldakans not only didn't know about the base but couldn't have done anything if they knew. There were virtually no antiaircraft defenses and all the radar sets were used for tracking missiles as they took off.

And if all else failed, there was still a one-man job which could upset Doimar's plans. Blade could kill Detcharn.

Killing his own son wasn't something Blade would normally have been contemplating this calmly. But then, normally he wouldn't have had to contemplate it at all. It was a tragedy that a mind as brilliant as Detcharn's had to be destroyed, but that very brilliance meant there was no one to take his place.

Of course Blade's own chances of survival afterward would be small. But he'd made up his mind on that point, too. Detcharn was too dangerous to be allowed to live.

«More wine, Voros?»

«Thank you, Moshra.» Blade held his cup out as she poured from a crystal jug. It was good wine, tart and strong.

Through the picture window he saw the distant glow of the research base on the horizon. This was the second time Moshra had invited him to dinner. It was the first time she'd brought him to her private villa several miles from the base. Blade wondered if he was facing a second attempt by one of his daughters to seduce him.

Conversation died as they drank. The glow on the horizon brightened momentarily. After a bit the house started vibrating and gently. The rumble of the launch swelled, then died away.

«They're sending one off almost every night,» said Moshra. Her voice was so toneless it was impossible to tell if she approved or not. Blade studied her as a woman, setting aside for the moment their blood relationship.

She was actually quite attractive, or would have been if she hadn't been wearing a shapeless gown and pulled her thick brown hair back into a tight knot. She also had the same remote, impersonal manner as when he'd first met her. He wondered if telepaths were required to be celibate?

Instead he said, «Your mind seems to be far away tonight. I might be in Kaldak for all the attention you're paying me.»

She blushed, then managed a smile. «My mind has to be some distance away from yours. Otherwise it might be in yours.»

«You don't have to touch me?»

«I can reach you more strongly when I am touching you. But even without that, I might read thoughts you did not want known.» She sighed. «Being able to speak mind to mind is a great gift-they say. I have not always been better off for having it, though. But I think a good time is coming.» She reached out and held Blade's hand.

Blade suppressed a start, then the urge to pull away. The gesture was so clumsy that he could hardly believe it had any sexual meaning. Or did Moshra want to get rid of her virginity, if she had it, but didn't quite know how to go about persuading him to help her?

That was as far as he let his guessing go before he clamped a barrier over his mind. Cheeky yeeeped in protest. Blade tossed him a piece of bread with his free hand but didn't relax his mental control. He couldn't jerk his hand away without causing a scene, and as long as Moshra was touching him she could far too easily detect the questions he was asking in his mind.

Moshra's free hand fluttered over the wine jug like a moth around a candle flame. Suddenly it jerked convulsively, and the jug toppled off the table. Wine and shards of crystal made a mess on the rug.

«Oh, curse the-«began Moshra, but Blade was no longer listening to her. He'd heard a sound where no sound should be, from the curtained alcove in the rear of the room. His chair went over with a thump as he jumped up, and he was drawing his pistol as he whirled around.

Then the curtains parted and revealed a heavy-set, white-haired woman in a powered wheelchair. She pressed a button and the wheelchair rolled out into the room. Then her face split in a familiar grin.

«Welcome back to Doimar, Richard Blade.»

Chapter 17

It was Feragga, the woman who had ruled Doimar when Blade last visited.

Blade had heard of people's hearts stopping from sheer surprise. He came closer to having the experience than he liked this time. However, his mind kept working. He even kept some control over his mouth.

«I suppose there'd be no point in suggesting that you're imagining things in thinking I'm Richard Blade?» he asked drily.

«Of course not,» said Feragga with her old bluntness. «After Moshra's reading of your thoughts, I don't care a pile of munfan dung who you say you are. I know you're Blade.» She rolled her wheelchair close to the table. «Pour me a drink, Moshra.»

«Mother Feragga, do you think you should?»

«I don't think about what I should or shouldn't do, Moshra. I haven't the time left to waste on thinking about such things. I just go on the way I did, and that means wine when I want it. Or do, you want your father to pour it?»

Blade grinned. Feragga hadn't changed a bit. She was still accustomed to getting what she wanted, when she wanted it. Moshra sighed and poured the wine. Feragga drank thirstily, smacking her lips.

«Good. Thank whoever's done it that I can still taste. When that goes, I will be ready for laying out and burning.» She set the cup back on the table and stared at Blade. «You haven't aged hardly at all. I suppose time passes at a different rates where you spent the last thirty years?»

«It obviously does,» said Blade. If Feragga and Moshra had dug out his major secret, there wasn't much point arguing over the minor ones. There also wasn't much point in wasting time with polite conversation. Feragga couldn't have brought him here just to talk about old times.

«You're still a canny soul, aren't you?» said Feragga. «Well, I hardly expected anything else, and indeed it makes me glad. You'll understand what I want of you, and you'll do it better.»

«Mother Feragga-«began Moshra again, but a shake of the white head silenced her.

«Remember how much trouble it took to get me out here tonight without anyone knowing?» Feragga said. «And remember that every new trip means more danger of discovery. Then think-do we have that much time to spare?»

«No.»

«I knew you'd see it my way.» She turned back to Blade. «First, let me just tell you that I adopted your daughter, Moshra, after her natural mother died in childbirth. In this way, I was able to have one of your children for my own, even though my seed was dry when you visited here last. I had great plans for Moshra and Doimar, but then Detcharn began assuming more and more power. I was considered too feeble to be a threat, so I was left alone, but that's where Detcharn made his greatest mistake. Blade, I want you to escape from Doimar and warn Kaldak of what Detcharn plans.»