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who materialized but rarely and then vanished.
One had materialized now, across the room from Williams.
"I came aboard, you might say, with the new Commissioner. She's been very
pleased with my work. So have my real employers. I could have killed you and
your companions before you left, but if you didn't find Yingyapin, there was
no reason to complicate matters and if you did, I expected Antal and his
people to take care of you. Your return is a minor complication easily
resolved. It was very thoughtful of you to come straight here, without telling
anyone else your story."
"The security guard downstairs saw me come in."
"That's all it's his business to do."
"The Tran who brought me here will demand to see me again."
"You think the Commissioner is going to call for a peaceforcer on the advice
of a few excitable natives?" He grinned humorlessly again. "Why do you think
Antal didn't send his remaining skimmer and every ice ship he could muster out
after you when the first skimmer didn't come back? It was because he knew I
was here to look after things."
"Killing me won't save Bamaputra's operation."
"Of course it will. If your friends come back, I'll kill them, too. Right now
I'm a little out of practice, but killing isn't something you forget how to
do. It stays with you, like riding a bike." He cracked his knuckles, the sound
loud in the room. "Your presence here will give me some practice. If you were
that September fellow, I
might be a little nervous about not having worked in so long, but you won't be
any trouble, teacher."
This was without a doubt, Williams thought wildly, the craziest conversation
he'd ever participated in in his life. At the same time he was coldly aware it
might also be his last.
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Still, as long as he was talking, he wasn't dying. Maybe someone would break
in on them. Stanhope he didn't expect. That had obviously been a ploy.
"What about the rest of the scientists here? They're going to get worried when
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Cheela Hwang and her colleagues don't return."
"That's Antal's problem, not mine. He's a resourceful supervisor. He'll think
of something." Marquel was starting to edge around the far side of the desk,
his movements casual, assured. "Fatal accidents are not unknown on this world.
The science staff here will accept a reasonable explanation, have a bit of a
cry, then go back to their work."
"If you work for Bamaputra, then you must have some idea of what this is all
about. Even so, I don't suppose it would do me any good to appeal to your
sense of morality, assuming you have one."
"Oh, but the Qwarm are very moral, my inquisitive friend. Like everything else
in life, however, morality is flexible."
"Not where I come from. So you don't care that tens .of thousands of Tran are
going to die if Bamaputra's plan becomes reality?"
Marquel shrugged. "I am in the business of death. Numbers don't frighten me.
Just between you and me, I don't like the idea, no. But being a killer myself,
I'm hardly in a position to question the motives of others for the killing
they may do. In the case of the Tran who will fail to survive the rapid change
in climate, they will never connect their deaths with a specific killer. There
will be no personal contact involved, no face-to-face acceptance of
responsibility. It will appear an act of nature and that's a shame. One should
know who is responsible for one's passing.
There's no intimacy to the act. As a professional I find that sad.
"With you and me things will be much different. You will know how you are
going to die and by whose hands. You'll go to your grave without questions
tickling your soul. Don't you think it's best that way? Much better than
fading away like a song in some indifferent hospital bed, or being stricken by
an attack on the way home from a job. Face-to-face assassination is a positive
statement. Each of us goes to his death burdened by enough other unanswered
and unanswerable questions."
"How are you going to do it?" Williams kept sliding along the far wall. If
nothing else, he'd make himself a moving target.
"There are many ways. I'd like to be as inventive as possible, but your
showing up unexpectedly precludes that. Besides, this is a very
straightforward situation.
Really no need to make it any more complex than necessary. The best thing for
me, of course, would be to make it look like an accident in case I have
difficulty smuggling your body out of Administration and over to the
incinerator."
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His hand dipped into a narrow pocket that was sewn into one leg of the tight
suit.
When it reappeared Williams saw the tiny, collapsing stiletto protruding from
enfolding fingers. Like Marquel's attire, the blade and handle were obsidian
black.
"That doesn't look much like an accident."
Marquel nodded approvingly. "I'm glad to see you're taking this in the proper
spirit.
So many can't. They fall down and weep and wail and plead even though they
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know it's all a waste of time. It'll be a good change to kill someone who
knows how to handle the inevitable like an adult." He held the stiletto up to
the light, admiring it.
"You're right. This wouldn't look very accidental. But it's traditional. Much
as I
would like to use it, it'll be easier for both of us if you'll just swallow
this." He held out a pill. For a change it was bright blue instead of black or
red.
"Why should I make things easier for you?"
"Because this kills in less than a minute, quietly and bloodlessly. It'll be
just like going to sleep. No pain. Efficient. If you don't take it, then I'll
have to cut you. That will be slower, messier, and much more uncomfortable for
you. The end result will be the same. This office is soundproofed but I'd
still have to take the precaution of cutting your vocal cords first. Some
people can get very loud."
He was moving purposefully toward the teacher now, gliding rather than walking
across the floor. "Resistance on your part is useless. I'm considerably
stronger than
I look, much stronger than you, and a great deal quicker. Killing is my job.
You know, I've never killed a teacher before. I'm not sure any Qwarm has had
occasion to kill a teacher. There isn't much call for it."
"You're sure nothing I can say would make you reconsider? Not so much for my
life as for all the others that are at stake here."
"Noble. I like that. Don't see too much of that these days either. No, I'm
afraid there isn't. An assignment is an assignment. No matter how I might feel
personally
I have guild rules to abide by."
"Oddly enough, I do understand your situation." He sighed. "Well, I almost
died out there on the ice half a dozen times this past year." He extended a
hand. "Give me the pill. I'm not one for pain. You're sure it won't hurt?"
"Not at all." Marquel passed the blue capsule across. "Actually I rather envy
you.
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That's tronafin, a very powerful narcotic. You're going to enjoy the biggest
high of your life, even if it won't last very long. Not only won't you feel
any pain, you're going to be overwhelmed with pleasure. You see, we're very
businesslike, not cruel at all unless somebody's paying for that, of course.
We try to make every effort to& "
A startled expression came over Marquel's face. The black stiletto rose and
struck.
Williams ducked and rolled as the blade sliced down into a bookcase and the
wall beyond. As he struggled back onto his feet the Qwarm turned and staggered
toward him.
Tran artifacts and tools had been used in the decoration of the Commissioner's
office. Very attractive, very ethnographic. One of them was a Tran dart
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