Exiles at the Well of Souls

Underside—1040 Hours

Trelig’s communicator buzzed. He reached under the folds of his white robe and unclipped it from a little stretch-belt, then held it up to his mouth and pressed a stud.

“Yes?” he snapped, annoyed. This close to his triumph he did not like interruptions.

“Ziv, sir,” a guard reported. “We awakened the representatives as you ordered. One of them is not in the assigned room.”

Trelig frowned. Even less than interruptions did he want complications, not now. “Which one?” he asked.

“The one called Mavra Chang,” Ziv replied crisply. “It’s simply amazing, sir. There’s a holographic projection of her on the bed so real it fooled even us—let alone the camera. And it had no apparent generation source!”

The master of New Pompeii didn’t like what he heard at all. He tried to remember which one she was—oh, yes, the real tiny woman with the strong Orchi features and the silky smooth voice.

“Find her at all costs,” he ordered. “Shoot to stun if you can, but if there is any blatant threat to life or property you have my permission to kill her.”

He reclipped his communicator and looked around at the master control board. Gil Zinder, sitting in a folding chair, noted Trelig’s worried expression and smiled a bit. This irritated the councillor all the more—Zinder should not be so bold on this of all days.

“What do you know of this?” Trelig snapped angrily at the little man. “Come on! I know it’s some of your doing!”

Gil Zinder hadn’t the faintest idea what the man was talking about, but he couldn’t help a touch of satisfaction at seeing that something was obviously wrong.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Trelig. How could I have anything to do with anything, kept cooped up here and away from the controls?” Zinder responded with a trace of amusement.

Trelig towered over the small scientist, face becoming red. For a moment Zinder was afraid that he was about to be torn limb from limb. But Antor Trelig had not gathered his power by losing complete control, ever. He stopped, held back for a moment in frozen fury, and gradually normal breathing and color returned to his face. His expression, however, was still dangerous. “I don’t know, Zinder, but you and that brat of yours will pay dearly if anything goes wrong,” he warned.

Zinder sighed. “I’ve done everything you want. I’ve designed and built your big dish and massive storage, linked it, and checked it. Your creature Yulin has kept the only controls, and I see my daughter only under guard. You know full well I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

That last remark triggered something in Trelig. He stood dumbstruck for a moment, then snapped his fingers.

“Of course! Of course!” he mumbled to himself. “It’s the girl she’s after!” He grabbed for his communicator.

“Cameras in full deployment,” Obie’s voice came to them. “Asteroid target in position in seventy minutes.”