"No, but one can partially understand his reasons. It"s never easy to be a joker."

"What would you do if you were a joker?"

"Kill myself." Blaise gaped up at the indescribable expression on his k"ijdad"s narrow face.

"That"s silly. Anything is better than dead."

"I can"t agree. You"ll understand when you"re older."

"Everybody tells me that." Pouting, Blaise left the kitchen and flung himself on the sofa. "Jack, Durg, Mark, Baby. I suppose it must be true if ships and humans and Takisians all agree. But I didn"t mean being a yucky joker like Snotman.

What if you were like Jube, or Chrysalis or Ernie?"

"I still couldn"t live with it." Tach joined him on the sofa. "My culture idealizes the perfect. Defective children are destroyed at birth, and otherwise normal individuals are sterilized if it"s determined that they lack sufficient genetic worth."

"So to be ordinary is as bad as being de ... defective," he asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar word.

"Well, not quite, and too random a gene pattern can also endanger a person. I was almost sterilized because of my Sennari blood, but my outstanding mental abilities were deemed to outweigh the unpredictable Sennari, and my other...

failings."

"Do you have a little boy on Takis?"

"No."

Tachyon briefly wondered if the sperm he had left banked on Takis still existed, or if Zabb"s supporters had seen it destroyed. Or even worse, had Taj impregnanted some female? It was ironic that in a culture as technologically advanced as the Takisian, there was a fundamental distrust of artificial insemination, and artificial wombs. The wombs made a certain degree of sense; in a telepathic culture it was best that the child be linked with its mother, but there was little justification for the s.e.x act.

Except for the obvious ones.

Ten nwnths! Ten months without s.e.x.

He jerked his mind from that unpleasant thought and focused again on Blaise.

There was so much to teach him about his Takisian culture, and yet should he really bother?

The child could never be presented to the family. He was an abomination. Also there was much in Takisian culture that didn"t bear close scrutiny. How to indicate to an eleven-yearold child that the blood feuds, the controlled breeding, the tension and almost unbearable expectations that were part and parcel of life among the psi lords, were not romantic or wonderful, but rather deadly in the extreme, and had driven his grandsire to this alien world?

"Tell me a story."

"What makes you think I know any stories?"

"You"re more like a fairy tale than real. You have to know stories."

"All right. I"ll tell you how H"ambizan tamed the first ship. Long ago-"

"No."

"No?" Blaise"s expression suggested that his grandfather was an idiot. "Ahhh, of course. Once upon a time." He c.o.c.ked an inquiring eyebrow. Blaise nodded, satisfied, and snuggled in closer under Tachyon"s arm. "And so long ago that even the oldest Kibrzen would lie if they told you they remembered, the people were forced to journey through the stars aboard ships of steel. What was worse, they weren"t allowed to build these ships, for the Alaa-may their line wither-had signed a contract with Master Traders, and the people were forbidden to build s.p.a.ce-going vessels. So the wealth of Takis bled into s.p.a.ce, and into the pockets of the rapacious Network."

"What"s the Network?"

"A vast trading empire with one hundred and thirty member races. One day H"ambizan, who was a notable astronomer, was drifting among the clouds in the birthplace of stars, and he came upon an amazing sight. Playing among the clouds of cosmic dust like porpoises in the waves, or b.u.t.terflies through flowers, were vast incredible shapes. And H"ambizan fell to the deck, clasping his ringing skull, for his head was filled with a great singing. His a.s.sistants died of joy and shock for their minds could not absorb the thoughts of the creatures. But H"ambizan-being of the Ilkazam-was made of sterner stuff. He controlled his fear and pain and lanced out with a single thought. A single command. And so great was his power that the honor of ships fell silent and gathered like nursing whales about the tiny metal ship."

"And H"ambizan choose the leader of the honor, and suited against the vacuum, he stepped upon the rough surface of the ship. And curious, Za"Zam, father of ships, made a cavity to receive the man."

"And then H"ambizan mind-controlled the ship and made him carry him home!" cried Blaise.

"No. H"ambizan sang, and Za"Zam listened, and they both realized that after a thousand thousand years of loneliness they had found the separate halves of their souls. Za"Zam realized that guided by these strange small creatures the "Ishb"kaukab would leave their nomadic pastoral lives and achieve greatness. And H"ambizan realized he had found a friend."

Tach leaned in and kissed the top of the boy"s head. Blaise, chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip, glanced up. "Why didn"t H"ambizan realize that now he could fight the Network? Why did he realize something silly?"

"Because this is a story of longing and regret."

"Is this supposed to be subtle?"

"Yes."

"But did H"ambizan and Za"Zam fight the Network?"

"Yes."

"And did they win?"

"Sort of."

"Is this true?"

"Sort of."

"Isn"t that like being a little bit pregnant?"

"What would you know about that?" Blaise lifted his nose and looked superior.

"Someday when I"m not so tired, I"ll tell you about the genetic manipulation and eon-long breeding program that took place before we had ships like Baby."

"So there weren"t wild ships?"

"Oh, yes, there were, but they weren"t as bright as this tale indicates."

"But... But..."

Tach laid a finger on the child"s lips. "Later. Your stomach"s been growling so loud I was afraid it would jump out and take a bite out of my arm."

"A new wild card power! Killer stomachs!"

Tach threw back his head and laughed. "Come, little kukut, I"ll buy you dinner."

"At McDonald"s."

"Oh, joy."

The tutor hasn"t quit.

The thought was so breathtaking that it brought him up short.

"The tutor hasn"t quit!" Tachyon repeated with dawning wonder.

He ran to the office door, flung it open. Dita slewed around to stare nervously at him.

"The tutor hasn"t quit!" he shouted. "Dita, you"re wonderful!" Blood washed into her cheeks as he kissed her and pulled her around the office in a lurching polka. He dropped her back into her chair and collapsed on the sofa, panting and fanning himself. The weeks of unremitting work and strain were taking their toll. " I must see this paragon for myself. I"ll be back in one hour."

He could hear Blaise"s voice piping like a young bird, or a silver flute, and the deeper rumbling tones of the man"s voice. A cello or a ba.s.soon. There was warmth in that voice, and comfort, and something tantalizingly familiar. Tachyon stepped out of the tiny foyer and into the living room. Blaise was seated at the dining room table, a stack of books before him. A heavyset older man with graying hair and a faintly melancholy expression kept the boy"s place with a blunt forefinger. His accent was musical, rather like Tachyon"s.

"Oh, ideal ... no!"

Victor Demyenov raised his dark eyes to meet Tachyon"s lilac ones. His expression was both ironical and slightly malicious.

"K"ijdad, this is George Goncherenko." His grandsire"s alarming rigidity seemed to penetrate, and the boy faltered and added, "Is something wrong?"

"No, child," said George/Victor. "He is merely surprised to see us getting along so well. You have terrified so many of my predecessors."

"But not you," said Blaise. Then he added to Tachyon, "He"s not scared of anything."

You had better be afraid of me! Tachyon shot at the KGB agent telepathically.

No, we hold one another in the palms of our hands. "Blaise, go to your room.

This gentleman and I need to talk."

"No."

"DO AS YOU"RE TOLD!".

"Go, child." George/Victor coaxed him with a gentle hand. "It will all be all right." Blaise gripped the older man in a fierce hug, then ran from the room.

Tachyon flung himself across the room and poured a brandy with hands that shook with fear and shock.

"You! I thought you were out of my life! You told me you were retiring. It was finished. You lied-"

"Lied! Let"s talk about lying! You withheld something I needed. Something which cost me everything!"

"I ... I don"t know what you"re talking about."

"Oh, come now, Dancer, I trained you better than that. You deliberately withheld the information about Blaise. You have enough tradecraft to have known the value of that little piece of information."

Hamburg, 1956. A shabby but clean boarding house, and victor doling out booze and women in limited doses while he trained and questioned the shattered Takisian. A few years, and they had kicked him loose to continue his descent into the gutter. He had given them all that he had, and it hadn"t been enough.

The secret had gnawed at him for years, but thirty years was a long time, and he had begun to think himself safe. And then had come the phone call during the final leg of the World Health Organization tour, and his KGB control was back in his life.

"My superiors learned of Blaise, his potential and power, but I who trained you and ran you was left ignorant. They did not a.s.sume it was stupidity, but rather duplicity. They drew the only conclusion." His raised eyebrows drew the answer from his former pupil: "They a.s.sumed you had rolled over, become a double agent."

Victor grimaced a bit at the theatrical phrase. The brandy exploded in the back of his throat as Tachyon tossed it down. Some explanation, some justification seemed necessary.

"I wanted him safe from you."

"I would say I am the least of his problems."

"What do you mean? What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. Never mind."

"Is that a comment on me?"

"Good G.o.d, no. I merely point out that we live in dangerous times."

"Victor, are they looking for you?" Tachyon asked, not certain if he referred to the Russian"s KGB masters or to the CIA.

"No, they all think I"m dead. All that remains is a charred car and a pair of corpses burned past recognition."

"You killed them."

"Don"t look so shocked, Dancer. You too are a killer. In fact we have more in common then you might think. Like that child."

"I want you out of my life!"

"I"m in your life for good. You better get used to it."

"I"ll fire you!"

Demyenov"s voice froze him before he had taken three steps. "Ask Blaise."

Tachyon remembered the hug. Never in the weeks since he had smuggled Blaise out of France had the child given him so affectionate a gesture. The boy obviously loved the grizzled Russian. What would it do to Tach and the boy"s relationship if he now abruptly removed this man? He sank onto the sofa and dropped his head into his hands.

"Oh, Victor, why?" He didn"t really expect an answer, and he didn"t get one.

"Oh, yes, since we"re going to be friends you should know my true name. Friends don"t lie to each other. My name is Georgi Vladamirovich Polyakov. But you can call me George. Victor is dead-you killed him."

Addicted to Love by Pat Cadigan The view of the city from Aces High was breathtaking, even inspirational.

Beached on the sh.o.r.es of the afternoon, Jane stared blindly down at it from the kitchen window, frustration and unhappiness doing their usual waltz in her stomach. Behind her the kitchen staff worked away at winding down the afternoon luncheon service before preparing for the dinner custom, politely ignoring the fact that she"d left the salad they"d made for her untouched. Her appet.i.te was poor these days. Lately she had even abandoned the pretense of wrapping the food up for later and tossing it out on the sly.

She knew there were whispers that she"d gone anorexic, not exactly the best advertis.e.m.e.nt for a place such as Aces High. It was like a bad joke on Hiram, after he"d increased her responsibilities at the restaurant from hostessing to pinchhit supervising. Hiram was pretty weird himself these days, but he wasn"t shedding any weight. He"d been on a roundthe-world goodwill tour. Hiram Worchester, Goodwill Amba.s.sador. It beat the h.e.l.l out of Jane Dow, Mafia Dupe.

Memories of the time with Rosemary drove her deeper into depression. She missed her; rather, she missed the person she"d thought Rosemary had been and the work she"d thought she"d been doing for her. It had all sounded so fine and n.o.ble trying to counteract the antiace, antijoker hysteria that had been building up, fueled by hysterical extremist politicians and evangelists. Rosemary had been a real hero to her, someone with a shining light around her; she"d needed a hero very badly after all the nastiness with the Masons and the terrible, grotesque murder of Kid Dinosaur. Her own brush with death had not left much of an impression on her, except for the contact with that horrible, evil little creature called the Astronomer. She had seldom thought of it afterward, and Rosemary had been the antidote to the Astronomer"s poison.

Until March, when she began to find herself thinking that it might have been better if Hiram had just let her plummet to the street.

She seemed to have an unerring instinct for getting mixed up with exactly the wrong people. Maybe that was her real ace power, not the water-calling ability.