It was actually no more than five minutes that Gar remained standing thus.  He shook himself presently, turned, and let himself out of the room.

Scarcely had he set foot in the outer passage than a troop of Broey's Gowachin shouldered their way past him into the conference room.  They'd been waiting for him to leave.

Angry with himself for what he knew he must do, Gar turned left, strode down the hall to the room where he knew he'd find Broey.  Three Gowachin wearing Security brassards followed him, but did not interfere.  Two more Gowachin guarded Broey's door, but they hesitated to stop him.  Gar's power had been felt here too long.  And Broey, not expecting Gar to follow, had failed to issue specific orders.  Gar counted on this.

Broey, instructing a group of Gowachin aides, stood over a table cluttered with charts.  Yellow light from fixtures directly overhead played shifting shadows on the charts as the aides bent over the table and made notes.  Broey broke off at the intrusion, his surprise obvious.

Gar spoke before Broey could order him removed.

"You still need me to keep you from making the worst mistake of your life."

Broey straightened, did not speak, but the invitation for Gar to continue was there.

"Jedrik's playing you like a fine instrument.  You're doing precisely what she wants you to do."

Broey's cheeks puffed.  The shrug angered Gar.

"When I first came here, Broey, I took certain precautions to insure my continued health should you ever consider violence against me."

Again, Broey gave that maddening Gowachin shrug.  This was all so mundane.  Why else did this fool Human continue alive and at liberty?

"You've never been able to discover what I did to insure myself against you," Gar said.  "I have no addictions.  I'm a prudent person and, naturally, have means of dying before your experts on pain could overcome my reason.  I've done all of the things you might expect of me . . . and something more, something you now need desperately to know."

"I have my own precautions, Gar."

"Of course, and I admit I don't know what they are."

"So what do you propose?"

Gar gave a little laugh, not quite gloating.

"You know my terms."

Broey shook his head from side to side, an exquisitely Human gesture.

"Share the rule?  I'm astonished at you, Gar."

"Your astonishment hasn't reached its limits.  You don't know what I've really done."

"Which is?"

"Shall we retire to a more private place and discuss it?"

Broey looked around at his aides, waved for them to leave.

"We will talk here."

Gar waited until he heard the door close behind him on the last of the departing aides.

"You probably know about the death fanatics we've groomed in the Human enclaves."

"We are prepared to deal with them."

"Properly motivated, fanatics can keep great secrets, Broey."

"No doubt.  Are you now going to reveal such a secret?"

"For years now, my fanatics have lived on reduced rations, preserving and exporting their surplus rations to the Rim.  We have enough, megatons of food out there.  With a whole planet in which to hide it, you'll never find it.  City food, every bit of it and we will . . ."

"Another city!"

"More than that.  Every weapon the city of Chu has, we have."

Broey's ventricle lips went almost green with anger.

"So you never really left the Rim?"

"The Rim-born cannot forget."

"After all that Chu has done for you . . ."

"I'm glad you didn't mention blasphemy."

"But the Gods of the Veil gave us a mandate!"

"Divide and rule, subdivide and rule even more powerfully, fragment and rule absolutely."

"That's not what I meant."  Broey breathed deeply several times to restore his calm.  "One city and only one city.  That is our mandate."

"But the other city will be built."

"Will it?"

"We've dug in the factories to provide our own weapons and food.  If you move against our people inside Chu, we'll come at you from the outside, shatter your walls and . . ."

"What do you propose?"

"Open cooperation for a separation of the species, one city for Gowachin, one for Human.  What you do in Chu will be your own business then, but I'll tell you that we of the new city will rid ourselves of the DemoPol and its aristocracy."

"You'd create another aristocracy?"

"Perhaps.  But my people will die for the vision of freedom we share.  We no longer provide our bodies for Chu!"

"So that's why your fanatics are all Rim-born."

"I see that you don't yet understand, Broey.  My people are not merely Rim-born; they are willing, even eager, to die for their vision."

Broey considered this.  It was a difficult concept for a Gowachin, whose Graluz guilt was always transformed into a profound respect for the survival drive.  But he saw where Gar's words must lead, and he built an image in his mind of fleshly Human waves throwing themselves onto all opposition without inhibitions about pain, death, or survival in any respect.  They might very well capture Chu.  The idea that countless Rim immigrants lived within Chu's walls in readiness for such sacrifice filled him with deep disquiet.  It required strong self-control to conceal this reaction.  He did not for an instant doubt Gar's story.  It was just the kind of thing this dry-fleshed Rimmer would do.  But why was Gar revealing this now?

"Did Jedrik order you to prepare me for . . ."

"Jedrik isn't part of our plan.  She complicates matters for us, but the kind of upset she's igniting is just the sort of thing we can exploit better than you."

Broey weighed this with what he knew about Gar, found it valid as far as it went, but it still did not answer the basic question.

"Why?"

"I'm not ready to sacrifice my people," Gar said.

That had the ring of partial truth.  Gar had shown many times that he could make hard decisions.  But numbered among his fanatic hordes there doubtless were certain skills he'd prefer not losing - not yet.  Yes, that was the way Gar's mind worked.  And Gar would know the profound respect for life which matured in a Gowachin breast after the weeding frenzy.  Gowachin, too, could make bloody decisions, but the guilt . . . oh, the guilt . . .  Gar counted on the guilt.  Perhaps he counted too much.

"Surely, you don't expect me to take an open and active part in your Rim city project?"

"If not open, then passive."

"And you insist on sharing the rule of Chu?"

"For the interim."

"Impossible!"

"In substance if not in name."

"You have been my advisor."

"Will you precipitate violence between us with Jedrik standing there to pick up whatever she can gain from us?"

"Ahhhhhh . . ." Broey nodded.

So that was it!  Gar was not part of this Jedrik thing.  Gar was afraid of Jedrik, more afraid of her than he was of Broey.  This gave Broey cause for caution.  Gar was not easily made fearful.  What did he know of this Jedrik that Broey did not know?  But now there was a sufficient reason for compromise.  The unanswered questions could be answered later.

"You will continue as my chief advisor," Broey said.

It was acceptable.  Gar signified his consent by a curt nod.

The compromise left an empty feeling in Broey's digestive nodes, though.  Gar knew he'd been manipulated to reveal his fear of Jedrik.  Gar could be certain that Broey would try to neutralize the Rim city project.  But the magnitude of Gar's plotting went far beyond expectations, leaving too many unknowns.  One could not make accurate decisions with insufficient data.  Gar had given away information without receiving an equal exchange.  That was not like Gar.  Or was that a correct interpretation of what'd happened here?  Broey knew he had to explore this, risking one piece of accurate information as bait.