After a while, the sound of Imp scratching at the door and whimpering brought her out of it. She picked up the piol and sat in her own guest chair, absently soothing him. When she told herself it wasn't what it seemed, some part of her knew she was kidding herself. Yet she couldn't believe it.

Her console was alight with requests from her staff. It was almost quitting time. She dragged herself to her desk and issued the wrap-up order. If they weren't as badly thrown as she was, they'd have the prospectus ready for publication by noon tomorrow. It would be a short one, but at least the scientific specs would be complete.

As she was sitting there, still unable to flog her brain into operation, the busy flow across her screen flicked aside, the imperial seal came into three-dimensional focus, and the Allegiancy anthem blared from the speakers.

The scene cleared to Rantan Lord Zinzik seated behind an enormous glittering desk. He seemed taller. Possibly his chair was higher than normal. He was in full regalia, complete with imperial green cloak and crown.

As a sonorous Lehiroh voice presented Rantan, her inner tension dissolved. He's going to stop this nonsense!

"Loyal subjects of the Allegiancy," read Rantan in a stilted accent. "We come before you to make a most fateful announcement. Grim though it be, the results should bring good cheer, for this means the end of our troubles.

"This morning, at dawn over the Empire's Capital, the Dushaun embassy withdrew from Onerir. At the same time, the outlying consulates of Dushaun on Onerir and elsewhere in the Allegiancy have been emptied. This means Dushaun has chosen to sever all ties with the Allegiancy.

"Although the Dushau have not confessed, their reason is no mystery to your Emperor. Our recent, vigorous investigation of the Dushau conspiracy has finally shown them that they cannot get away with it any more. No longer will we be tied to the decrees of Dushau exploration teams saying 'This planet is habitable. This one not,' thus controlling the speed and direction of the Allegiancy's growth. No longer will they strangle our prosperity, creating food shortages on some planets, economic ruin on others.

"Now that we are free of this conspiracy, all of these ills will be easily corrected.

"Our investigation continues into the Dushau Historians' "liberate misrepresentation of the downfall of the Corporate

League, the Allegiancy's inept predecessor. Their sedition will not be tolerated. There is no similarity between our current transient difficulties and the ending of the League, for we, unlike them, know that the Dushau are causing this, and we are putting a stop to it. Our laws have long ago prevented the Dushau from the heartless use of the only other species with a lifespan comparable to theirs—their natural allies, the Sentients—as tools to gain power and wreak destruction. We are promulgating a new law which will prevent them from using our own citizenry against us.

"From this day forward, falsifying or disseminating data supporting the Dushau is hereby made an offense against the Crown, punishable by death.

"Meanwhile, our main thrust will be to open as many new planets as possible in the next year. All Dushau remaining among us will be rounded up and transported to their home planet which will be set under the strictest quarantine. Every individual who has been deeply involved in the affairs of any Dushau will be investigated and brought to trial where there is any suspicion of conspiracy with the Immortals.

"If you're tempted to side with them, consider! Since we've ended their secret manipulation of the Allegiancy, your Dushau 'friend' doesn't mind destroying your Empire, for he will be around to engineer the next civilization, and carve out a position of influence for him and his species. Meanwhile, you and your children and grandchildren will suffer deprivations beyond your comprehension. And their grandchildren will bow under the yoke of Dushau domination.

"Anyone who cannot see these simple facts, be warned. Imperial justice will prevail, and health will return to the Allegiancy. Neither the Dushau nor anyone else will be allowed to overthrow this Crown. We have declared it."

The image of the Emperor dissolved and was overlaid by the imperial seal. The final, stirring strains of the anthem rose to a crescendo.

There were tears in Krinata's eyes, but not, this time, from a heart bursting with pride and patriotism. She had suddenly realized she'd never see Jindigar again. And he had been swept away somewhere, half out of his mind with disorientation and grief He had struggled so hard to serve the Emperor, and all he'd gotten for it was the most stupid accusation of conspiracy she'd ever heard of.

She put her face in her hands and let the unreasonable sobs come. How can an Emperor make such a mistake? They won't let him get away with it. They won't. But she knew that any backpeddling the Kings forced Zinzik to do would, for the sake of gracefulness, keep the Dushau bottled up on their home world. An Emperor could stop an action, but not admit to a mistake of that magnitude. Without the Dushau, her life's ambitions would never be realized. And without Jindigar... She refused to finish that thought. She'd buried people closer to her than Jindigar. She would survive and go on. At least he's not dead.

Imp climbed into her lap and licked at the tears until she got hold of herself. Tears never solved anything, but they dissolved a lot of barriers. She hadn't wanted to face it, but now she knew. Their new Emperor was not fit to command a single Sentient let alone an Empire. If that knowledge was what he termed treason, then so be it.

He's fabricated this Dushau conspiracy to buy time. She knew how desperately the Empire needed time to mend its trade basis from the series of statistical anomalies: massive crop failures; natural disasters closing down mining plants; major companies in interstellar trade going bankrupt, leaving contracted deliveries unfilled; three plagues; two widely distributed food additives that interfered with the reproductive cycles of a half dozen species; the ecological collapse of a chlorine-breathing species' home world which even two Oliat teams couldn't stop—ail striking during the last three decades. But she couldn't condone gaining time by blaming any species, let alone the one the Allegiancy owed the most to.

She'd never met a dishonest Dushau; certainly not an Oliat officer. Zinzik was planning to send thousands of colonists to their deaths on unlivable worlds, or to destroy the ecologies if worlds in order to mine their resources.

She couldn't imagine a power-mad Dushau. They'd even refused a seat in the College of Kings that set the rotation of the throne among the species. She knew no Oliat would falsify their findings, and she was unwilling to believe the Historians did. She could almost see from the Immortal point-of-view, and there was no motive to meddle in Ephemeral affairs. Why should I care who's king among mayflies?

She didn't know the cause of the ills of the Allegiancy. It couldn't be very serious, but even if it was, Zinzik's tactics were bound to be ineffective and ignored by all sensible people, who were busy solving the real problems.

Still shaking from nervous reaction, she went into the office's bathroom to wash, and discovered chaos. In the dressing room, drawers had been emptied onto the floor, clothing pulled down and turned inside out, seams ripped open. Shoes were scattered about. In the bathroom, her medicine cabinet had been emptied into a heap in the bathtub. The toilet tank had been taken apart, but at least they'd turned off the water first. The sink drain-trap had been opened and crud spattered on the carpet.

Searched! She found one clean towel in the closet, and damp-wiped her face. But she felt personally violated—ravaged by a beast. Not an immortal one, though.