Finally, though, Katrina Steiner rose from her chair. "If you will join me in the ballroom, those who wish to dance may do so. Oldsters like me may prefer to play at games that we have set out for your amusement. And, of course, those with duties or early rising hours may feel free to retire."

This was one of her most civilized habits. Many rulers required everyone to remain in attendance until they themselves had decided to retire. Katrina's leave gave Ardan the opportunity to return to his room and his preparations to leave Tharkad on the morrow.

He had barely had time to change when there was a light tap on his door. Melissa waited outside, clad again in her warm day-gown.

"What a deadly business that was," she said, "but we learned something valuable, don't you think?"

Ardan had been thinking of little else. "Yes, it seems strange...If my glimpse of that double had been accidental, you would think that whoever is behind it would hope that it remained a secret, and that no one would believe me. But tonight it looked as though some powers are disappointed that I seem to have accepted the doctors' verdicts and have ostensibly given up insisting upon its reality.

"I had expected...them...to be glad of my going to Argyle, to be with Hanse. But they weren't. They seemed shocked, as though expecting me to take some other step. Liao's man Klefft looked appalled."

"I saw it," said Melissa. "Did you know that Doctor Karns used hypnotherapy while you were so very ill? He said that it was to help you to deal with your fixations. And nobody was allowed to monitor, because he claimed it would be dangerously distracting."

Ardan stared at her, his mind going in circles, speculating, discarding theories.

Melissa looked grave. "He might have implanted something. Be very careful, Ardan...This next move of yours may not have originated with you."

Though he rejected that thought at once, it had shaken him, troubled him. "Did your mother agree to lend me a ship?"

Melissa nodded. "Not without a lot of argument, I must say. The doctors have almost persuaded her to their way of thinking. But she respects my judgment, too, thank goodness. The Atlanis charged. She is small but dependable. After your final jump, her DropShip will get you into synchronous orbit with the Folly's larger moon and keep you there until your friend Sep arrives. If, that is, she doesn't get there first"

The girl shook out and refolded neady the clothing he had crammed into the case she'd provided for him. Her hands busy, she continued, "The ship will be ready for jump just after sunrise. We thought it best to get you away quickly, just in case..."

Ardan dropped onto the edge of the bed and stared out the window. With the snow almost gone now, the rocks of Tharkad showed through like bones through tattered flesh. He turned his mind from the darkness of that thought, and bowed to Melissa, saying, "I am forever obliged to you, Your Highness."

She laughed. "None of that! Just plain Melissa is good enough for fellow rogues. But I will be eternally obliged to you, Ardan Sortek, if you save my future husband from disaster."

23

It had been a grueling day. The transshipment of all the personnel, 'Mechs, and supplies for the Guard to Argyle was always an unwieldy process, and Sep had just begun to get her unit back into shape after the move. She was well aware of the reason for the summer sojourn, however. Argyle was important to the Federated Suns, and its inhabitants were a crucial factor in the Prince's constant need to walk a tightrope to maintain his balance of power. Nevertheless, it was hell on the Guard, not to mention the servants of the Palace.

Sep had just now put things enough in order to begin drilling the unit again. The summer Gauntlet was in operation, and she had spent the morning putting MechWarriors through its inhospitable bag of tricks. They needed to get back their edge after the enforced inactivity.

She was tired. Tired and a bit sick of pushing resisting men and machines. She needed leave, but Ardan's departure had delayed her scheduled R and R. Jarlik, too, as her new second-in-command, was ready for some free time. She wondered if he might not like to join her. It would do Denek good to be in command for a time, as a MechWarrior never knew when he would have to take over without notice. And Denek was her own successor, as she was Ardan's.

These were the thoughts occupying Sep as she returned to her quarters and stepped into the Cleaning Unit. With the sweat and grime removed from her skin, she felt infinitely better as she stepped out to don a light robe. Already Argyle was balmy.

There was a message capsule in the drop inside her door. The messenger must have come while she was freshening up. It looked...it was!...a ComStar transmission.

Sep felt her heart thud warily, dreading bad news. The worst possible news had been Ardan's disappearance during the battle on Stein's Folly, but it had been wiped away by that of his recapture. What now?

Picking up the capsule, she felt for the seam, and cracked it open. A hiss of air guaranteed that the sealed message had not been tampered with upon receipt by the local ComStar Adept

The code was familiar. Ardan needed her! The thought sang through her like a fresh breeze.

She had known, of course, of his illness. Even word of his obsessions had been transmitted to her and Ardan's other friends, for Hanse understood the value of personal devotion among MechWarriors.

She reread the message, thinking all the while of the things she had been told. When she finished going over it for the third time, she knew what her old friend intended. She would have done the same.

Ardan was too sound a person to insist upon something that might be unreal. He believed he might uncover some evidence on the Folly. She knew fairly certainly that no search had been made of the facility where he had been found, for Davion's troops had been busy subduing the invaders and putting things back into order.

The planet's civilian population was scanty, principally employed as service personnel about the cities and the ports. The few others were farmers, intent on growing enough to supply the needs of the cities. She could see no reason for any of those people to go poking about in sealed bases, either.

No, if what Ardan had seen was real, some clue might have been left behind. The Liao forces had, after all, retired in considerable disarray. She and Ardan would need 'Mechs for their investigation, though. Davion's booby traps would make short work of any unarmored intruder prying into the installations.

All she needed do to gain an audience with the Prince was to move her name up the list of personal guards. Tonight, he was scheduled to consult with representatives of the New Avalon Institute of Science, and that was always a long, drawn-out affair. It had been a week since her last such duty. As she was the one making up the duty-rosters, there was nothing remotely unusual about her drawing it again.

Sep took quite seriously Ardan's request that she keep this matter secret and private. That night, she waited patiently while the Honorable Doctors of Science talked endlessly on abstruse subjects that did not seem to bore the Prince as much as it did his guard.

She could see the alertness in his eyes. He understood what those persons were saying, no matter how technical and puzzling. From time to time, he made a suggestion or an objection, and always it was one the men and women from NAIS had to consider seriously. She found herself with increased respect for the strictly intellectual side of this complex man.

When the last of the Doctors had gone and Hanse was preparing to leave the chamber, Sep gestured for him to remain, without speaking.