"Is the Steiner DropShip still docked on the Folly?" he asked.

"It is scheduled to leave in three planetary days. The supplies have been unloaded, and a number of the badly wounded have been placed aboard for transport to the medical facilities on Tharkad," the messenger concluded.

"You are scheduled to go back down the Command Circuit tomorrow," Davion said, "and so you will arrive in time. Have Ardan Sortek placed in the care of Steiner. Their psychologists are among the best in any sphere. If anyone can help him, they can." He felt reassured, relieved. "Is there anything else of importance?"

"Only a minor matter," the messenger replied. "The officer leading the rescue mission was puzzled at how easily it was carried out. He insisted that I report to you his suspicions that we were intended to recover Sortek. He wonders if some sort of biological might have been used to infect him in order to bring a danger into your presence when he returns to New Avalon. With the uncatalogued infections already in his system, this would be quite possible."

Hanse sat forward, frowning. "If we got him back easily, after Liao took the trouble to capture instead of killing him, there is something beneath it. Not necessarily that, but something. Do warn the Steiner Meds to use utmost caution as they care for him. Assure them that we appreciate their faithful adherence to our treaty. Anything else?"

"All the technical data is being entered into the computers. You will receive a printout shortly. For now, that is all." The messenger looked a bit pale.

Hanse had a twinge of conscience. Jump was a strain on the system, and it showed on the messenger. He smiled at him and said, "You will find that your good work has earned you a fitting reward. I think a promotion and a grant of land to your family will be in order, later, when there is more time for such things."

The man looked surprised. Then he grinned, the first expression Hanse had ever seen on his tight face. He left the room less pale than he had entered it

Before the man was out of earshot, Hanse had touched a button on his desk. "I need an Adept, please," he said to the ComStar Tech who replied.

While waiting for the arrival of the Adept, Hanse composed a terse message to Katrina Steiner, asking her not only to take good care of Ardan but to take care that he did not reveal information sensitive to both their Houses. He was just finishing when Adept Ara tapped quietly at his door.

"Enter," he said at once.

Ara was assigned as liaison to the Federated Suns by her Order, and so she was not Hanse Davion's subject and had no need to salute him. Ordinarily, this irritated him, but he had no time for that now.

"I want a message to go through to Katrina Steiner on Tharkad. It is of great importance and secrecy. How soon can I expect it to reach her?''

Ara's smile was gendy reproving. "You know as well as I that the HyperPulse Generator signal travels the distance from New Avalon to Tharkad in three weeks. No more, no less. Impatience, Highness, is no virture in a ruler."

He sighed. She was right, which was the most irritating thing of all.

"Of course." He handed her the message he had been working on while waiting. It was dated Third Quarter, Ten-day, 3025. It would be on Tharkad before the ship bearing Ardan could possibly reach there. No need to worry about that.

Ara glanced at the message, which was coded. She smiled faindy. "A message to the fair Melissa?"

How did they know these things?Hanse shifted in his chair, but remained expressionless. Good thing he had used the new code. "You can see that it is addressed to the Archon," he said. "Only to her."

She took the message and nodded. "This will be sent at once. Good evening, Your Highness."

Hanse stared after her. Secrets were the leakiest of matters. If his own ComStar Adept knew of his secret engagement to Melissa Steiner, who else did? The union of their two Houses would form a formidable barrier to the ambitions of the Liao-Kurita interests. And that information could be of inestimable value to any of a number of other powers.

He sighed. One could only trust that ComStar was still the unaligned, impartial body it claimed to be.

19

The first jump, added to his existing condition, made Ardan very ill, indeed. While the group in transit waited for recharge, he was entrusted to a Doctor Karn, who kept a close check on him.

Ardan had waked fully for a time after the jump. He had been visibly distressed, trying to convey some information that seemed terribly important to him. It had required a sedative to quiet him, and now Ardan knew that Karn was peeping into his cubicle often.

He liked the young doctor. For one thing, the man was not talkative. The cool, clean feel of competence he brought with him was also extremely reassuring. And right now, Ardan needed a lot of that.

For the fifth time, Karn was saying, "Yes, Commander Sortek, you are on your way to Tharkad, as a guest of the Archon herself. Others of the expeditionary force are also being sent to our facilities for treatment. You are definitely out of the hands of the Liao forces. Please relax. Everything is all right, now. Sleep. Rest. You need that if you are to heal."

Ardan closed his eyes. They sprang open again as if his eyelids were on springs.

"There is something I must tell someone. I am not often as clear in my mind as I am right now, Doctor. But you must listen."

The young man nodded, a patient expression on his dark-browed face. "Yes. I am listening."

"There was a duplicate of Hanse, back there where I was. I take it that was the Liao base?"

Karn nodded.

"I woke up. Someone had just left the room. I found, unexpectedly, that I could move, though I hadn't been able to before. Or even to hold onto any single thought for more than a moment. But I seemed suddenly much better. I thought that I would escape, if luck were with me."

Ardan paused, as Karn held water to his lips. He sucked gratefully on the tube.

"I went down the hall. Someone was talking in the other direction, so I went the opposite. You see?"

Again the doctor nodded.

"There was a door at the end of the hall...on the side. I'd tried others, but they led into rooms with wounded men in them. This one went into a dark hallway. Halfway down were big glass doors on either side. I looked into one, and saw some sort of laboratory.

"I went into it. I don't quite know why, but I did. There was a table in the middle...I remember I had to lean on it for a bit to get my breath. There were glass boxes along one side." He shivered, and the doctor put a hand reassuringly on his shoulder.

"I looked into one of them, and Hanse was inside. Or someone just like Hanse, only...only different. His face... he had a face that never had been used.Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"You saw—you think you saw a double or a duplicate of your Prince of House Davion? Interesting. Most interesting."

"The other doctors told me I was hallucinating. They talked about doppelgangers, whatever those might be. But I did see that. Everything else is hazy, but I remember that, without any doubt. You do believe me?" He looked anxiously at Karn.

The young doctor bent his head. "I think that you did see something. Whether you are interpreting it correctly, I have no way of knowing. There must have been something there, to convince you so deeply. But now you must rest"

Ardan caught at his hand. "Why wasn't I put into cryogenic stasis for travel? That's the way we always brought home our wounded before."