Clyde Mitchell

“ I was pretty sure I knew where Holdreth Khain stood, but I couldn't take any chances.
I knew he wasn't carrying a theta bomb on him; the detectors would have picked up the radiation from the two spheres. Even if he'd had it concealed inside his body, there would be no way of putting enough lead around it to conceal it. I wished there was some way I could X-ray him, but X-rays are deadly to the Damakoi. Unlike human beings, the Damakoi can't even stand a little bit of hard radiation; they die if they're even X-rayed. ”

“ Zorvash Pedrik isn't and never has been carrying a bomb."
I was careful with my expression. "You mean he's going to use some other method to blow up the Grand Capitol? Or is there some other trick he's going to try?"
The Damakoi shook his head. "That isn't it. What I mean is that Zorvash Pedrik is a lunatic—he's absolutely insane!"
"Tell me more."
"Zorvash Pedrik is a madman," the Damakoi repeated. "He's been in neuropsychiatric hospitals more than once. He likes to think of himself as a great savior of the people—any people. On Damak, he has denounced more than one person falsely. ”

“ Jedon Onomondo just looked at me, frowning.
"I have a hunch that Holdreth Khain is telling the truth; Zorvash Pedrik is a looney, all right, but now he's going to be a big hero in the proper way. If he sets off a theta bomb in the Grand Capitol Building, two-thirds of the people of Damak will hail him as a hero. They'll forget about the silly things he's done before. ”

“ There was something in her face—the same kind of thing you see in all their faces—"
"Yeah," Pulley said bitterly. "I know the look."
"Do you?" The other man turned around. "What do you see? Hate?"
"Yeah. What else?"
"No." Bolgar shook his head and stared moodily at himself in the sliver of glass. "It's not hate anymore, Pulley. The hate died out of 'em a long time ago—right after the war, right after the contamination...."
"They hate us," Pulley stated flatly. ”

“ I shook my head. "Neutrino radiation isn't dangerous, not even to a Damakoi. Don't worry about it."
"But how do you know it was a neutrino generator?"
"I know what those things look like," I told him. "They are expensive as hell, and no one would go to the expense of making one just to load it with ordinary radioactives."
"I hope you're right," said the Damakoi.
I drove Holdreth Khain back to the Capitol. "Look," I told him, "there are going to be plenty of trigger-happy policemen roaming around this town for a while. ”

“ He shook his head.
"It's greed, you know," the woman said confidentially. The other women of the tribunal nodded in agreement. "Greed's the downfall of all men. How many wars do you have to lose before you realize that?" ”

“ I asked. "A theta bomb has to be heavily shielded; even when they're several feet apart, the radiation is enough to kill whoever's carrying it unless they're pretty heavily shielded."
The Damakoi spread his hands in a shrug. "I do not know; all I can tell you is that I know the assassin personally. I can recognize him."
It sounded good, but I still didn't trust the being. His kind were too treacherous and fanatic. Even the ones on the side of the Galactic government were a hotheaded bunch. ”

“ Better get goin'. Your girl friend's waiting."
"I'm going," Bolgar said, strapping on his watch. He clanked to the doorway of the barrack, but turned before going out. "This place stinks," he said. "We got to clean it up one of these days."
"Sure," Pulley said lazily. He flopped over on the sagging bunk and turned his head to the wall. "Have a good time, Lieutenant." His chuckle ended in a yawn.
The area was deserted, just as Bolgar knew it would be.
He walked quick march towards the mess hall, hoping that he would be unobserved, regretting now the cluster of medals on his uniform. ”

“ Pulley swung his boots to the bed. "Okay, pal," he chuckled. "Have it your own way. You're asking for the same amount of trouble—whether you kiss her or kill her—"
"I'm going to kiss her," Bolgar said vacantly, dabbing at his face with a grimy cloth. "I'm going to wait for her by the mess hall. She comes out of quarters on Barton Street every night around ten o'clock. She cuts across the square, over to Pitcher Street. It's pretty deserted there, that time. I'm gonna jump out and—"
"Operation kiss," Bolgar laughed, toying with the medal on his chest. "The last victory of the war...." ”

“ But in the section where we are keeping Holdreth Khain, they were all supposed to be shut off because you Damakoi are so sensitive to radiation." I turned to Ned again. "It looks as though there's not much else we can do except take Jedon Onomondo into the Grand Capitol to identify Holdreth Khain. We've got to see whether he's our killer or not." ”

“ Zorvash Pedrik. Room 706A.
I left one of my men at the desk to make sure that no one warned Room 706A, and headed for the lift tube. Holdreth Khain and I went up to the seventieth floor and looked for 6A.
I took out the key which the clerk had given me and carefully slid it into the lock, trying not to make a sound. I really didn't think anything would happen here. The Damakoi wouldn't set off the bomb this far away from the Grand Capitol; fanatics don't waste their lives on nobodies like me—not when they're out after much bigger game. ”

“ That's the sort of thing the Grand Council is working on right now. Once the proper laws are passed, we'll have Damak under our thumb and force them to be law-abiding citizens. That's why they're so anxious to blow up the Capitol before anything definite is done. ”