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right from wrong if you know you speak falsely, it knows. If you lie without intent to harm, to spare
someone's feelings we call that 'white lying' it shows pink. And if you intend to kill by treachery, it
turns black."
Alp put away the sword, noting how its light showed through small holes in the scabbard. Uga might not
be a true Uigur, but he was admirably cunning! "Pink for a white lie," Alp muttered. "And white for a
pink lie?"
"Now I have revealed the secret of my power," Uga said. "How I can recruit strangers yet avoid
betrayal, and how I know when the Khagan plots against me if I have a chance to substitute the
weapons of his envoys. Even the Game Machine does not know what I have done with these weapons
or if it does, it has not taken steps to prevent me. I am a laser-medic in life, and rather skilled... I charge
you not to betray me, as I shall not betray you."
"I shall not betray you," Alp said, not looking at the swordlight. "That is inherent in the oath of fealty I
made you."
"But that was before I exchanged your weapon. I was unable then to verify "
"I do not lie at the behest of a weapon!" Alp said angrily. "I lie only when dealing with enemies, as is
proper."
Uga shook his head, smiling. "That Uigur code of honor how I admire it! But don't depend on it
among Galactics. They are not made of the same stuff as you." He paused reflectively. "But all this is
mere diversion. What is on your mind?"
"I must do well in the Game. Well enough to be able to enter another part when this one ends. And
another after that, until "
"Until the Game ends and you can enter another?" Uga frowned. "This is perilous. Your identity would
be subject to thorough scrutiny at Game's end, and you would not be allowed to continue to the next. If
you really want to survive beyond Steppe, your better bet is to purchase a Galactic pardon, so that you
cannot be sent back."
"A pardon? For what?"
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"For your origin. For entering our framework illegally. Since it was not entirely by your own choice,
you should have some legal basis for your plea. But with enough money you can ensure success. Our
governing council is forthright about such things."
"Graft?"
"Naturally not!" Uga said with another smile. "Merely a monetary facilitation. We are civilized!"
"How much?"
"Much, I'm afraid. Perhaps half a million Galactic points."
"I would have to be Attila!" Alp exclaimed, appalled.
"Perhaps you can be. With foreknowledge of course Attila is past, but there must be other conquerors
coming." He looked at Alp shrewdly. "Surely you have something in mind."
"I can not foresee events beyond my own time," Alp said. "But I think I might learn these if I could
leave the Game for a while, undetected."
"Leave the Game? Without a stake for re-entry?"
"I leave. The part remains. When I return, with new information "
Uga was thoughtful. "You are an aggressive thinker a man of my stripe, I flatter myself. You wish to
maintain your part, so there is no record of your absence and the mundane police will not be alerted."
"I also wish to play this part out to the end, for it seems to have good potential especially if I achieve
the knowledge I need."
"How do you plan to sneak out of the Game? The Machine is a regular mother hen; it keeps close
watch."
"I think it would be better if you did not know. My attempt may fail, and if you are implicated "
"I am already implicated! The police would have everything from your head, believe me! Even if you
died before capture, they would analyze the chemistry of your brain and read off pertinent memories on
a computer printout. Besides which: how can I help if I do not know?"
"I require no help. Just an understanding of my motive, and patience."
Uga nodded. "Spoken like a true oh, never mind that! You have sworn service to me within the
environs of the Game, and you have no proper existence outside it. So your profit is my profit, until my
part terminates naturally. If you should come anywhere close to achieving an Attila, my association with
you should reward me greatly. Apart from the fact that I do have a certain moral responsibility for your
welfare, so long as you are my man. Suppose I send you on an isolated mission of indeterminate length,
to another region of space, perhaps bearing a report to the Khagan "
Alp shook his head negatively.
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"To some foreign court, then. You could visit the fabulous Byzantine "
Alp shook his head again.
"No," Uga decided. "I need you nearer to me. A mission to another section of this planet, which happens
to be your own Earth, one of the springboards of humanity. Unsurprising, considering that it was a
timesnatch that brought you here, not a spacesnatch! A secret mission no company."
"I may be gone two Days or forever," Alp warned.
"Two years or indeterminate," Uga said, unconsciously modifying the statement. "I wonder purely
hypothetically how a man without identity or economic resources or even any lasting knowledge of
Galactic society might succeed in obtaining information made available to no other person even those
who have made it their avocation to outsmart the Game Machine? There would seem to be prohibitive
obstacles."
Alp realized that he would have to trust Uga a little further. The man was not questioning his motive or
his integrity, but his ability and had accurately identified the weakest aspect of his scheme. "He might
locate the demons the men who brought him to this universe and use their time machine to fetch a
document from more recent history before the Games were instituted. Such a document could reveal
the historical future."
"Clever, very clever," Uga said appreciatively. "But not clever enough. I might tick off several excellent
reasons why this would not work."
Alp stared at him gravely. "What reasons?"
"First, it might take many days or weeks to locate such people, assuming they remain on the planet. And
longer to convince them. And yet longer to arrange financing for such a mission into the past. Time
snatches are costly under the best conditions, and subject to many limitations both legal and paradoxical,
and payment is required in advance. Even prominent archaeological ventures have difficulty raising the
fees. I fear the Game would be over before the information was obtained."
Alp had been primarily concerned with the first problem: escaping the Game secretly. He had planned to
work out the other stages of his project extemporaneously. Now he saw that forthright Uigur scheming
had no place in this complex galaxy.
"Still, there might be a way to avoid that hurdle," Uga continued after a pause. "The four men do not
really need to be located. They expended their resources mostly on bribes for key officials, I suspect
and are out of the Game. They intended you no favor, and you owe them nothing, any more than does a
white rat who escapes the scalpel. All that is really required is the time machine and all that is
ultimately required for this is sufficient Galactic assets. As it happens, I have sufficient."
"Then you hardly need success in the Game," Alp pointed out.
"You don't comprehend the motivations of affluence," Uga said. "I do need that success as much in my
way as you do in your way! The man who has wealth without success is not complete. I am a very [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]