Instead, the old inventor sat therestudying me
intently for several minutes. Shortly after hisdeparture, Rapas got up.
Uldak, one ofUr Jans men, was killed the last night
I saw you, as you will recall.
If you fail me, Vandor, you shall die such a death
as only themind of Fal Sivas can conceive. It is just as well that I got out tonight
before you came, I said.
Well, it is strange, he said; Fal Sivas was
friendly enough before Itook you there. Fal Sivas looked up at me from beneath
lowering brows. Now you will never leave this terrible place.
But at last, when I had about given him up, he
came.
When Fal Sivas dies, his secretsdie with
him.
I should find a way to kill him, even if I had to
descend to thedagger or poison.
The next morning, immediately after breakfast, Fal
Sivas sent for me. Of course, its vision and its mentalfunctioning are purely
mechanical but none the less accurate.
At that, he came forth slowly, his long sword in
his hand.
THE FACE IN THE DOORWAYNonchalance is a corollary
of poise. I need such a man as you, he said, if I could only find someone whomI
might trust. It will travel routes that no man or ship has evertraveled. I watched
her as she worked, noticing her shapely hands and gracefulfingers.
Well, it is strange, he said; Fal Sivas was
friendly enough before Itook you there. I knew that he was mean and ignorant and at
heart a traitor. I thought that if I could causeit to do that, I could cause it to
do anything that Fal Sivas could.
I will wait for him, I said, and I went to the
table The Rat and Iusually occupied. I should find a way to kill him, even if I had
to descend to thedagger or poison.
Together we walked out into the avenue and started
in the direction ofthe House of Fal Sivas. It is just as well that I got out tonight
before you came, I said.
Your people, I asked, are they still
living?
I am seldom wrong, he continued
musingly.
But we will put anend to that as soon as he
returns. But now he had relaxed, and his tone was a littlebantering.
If it will not obey you, it is reasonably safe to
assume that it willobey no one but me.
The mechanicalmind that I have installed in the
ship responds to thought waves.