Foundation And Chaos by Greg Bear Read Free Book Online Page B

implications. So many suspicions, so many theories!
    With a small, intent smile, Sinter lost himself in speculation for several minutes, then
     went to the desktop informer to look up the name of the largest world in the Galaxy.
    Sinter had never had brain fever, himself; had somehow escaped it, despite having an
     above-normal intelligence. He was eternally curious.
    And completely human. Farad Sinter had x-ray images taken at least twice a year to prove
     that fact to himself.
    The largest inhabited world in the Galaxy was Nak, a gas-giant circling a star in the
     Hallidon Province. It was four million kilometers wide.
    Now he had other matters to consider. He stood before his desk-he never sat while
     working-and scrolled through the briefs supplied to him by the informer. There was a stink
     rising over reassignment of ships to Sarossa, following the probable loss of the Spear of
     Glory. He could almost smell Linge Chen behind the growing public indignation. Yet that
     had actually been Klayus's doing, almost entirely. Sinter had gone along to allow the boy
     some sense of purpose.
    Chen was a very intelligent man.
    Sinter wondered if Chen had ever had brain fever...
    Lost in thought, he sat for five minutes as the briefs filed past, ignoring them. He had
     more than enough time to deal with Commissioner Chen.
    Mors Planch, in his fifty years of service to the Empire (and to his own ends), had
     watched things go from bad to worse with grim calm. Not much upset him, on the surface; he
     was quiet
    and soft-spoken and used to carrying out extraordinary missions, but he never thought he
     would be called upon-by Linge Chen, no less-to do something so mundane as go looking for a
     lost starship. And a survey vessel, at that!
    He stood on the steel balcony suspended above the Central Trantor spaceport docks, looking
     down the long rows of bullet-shaped bronze-and-ivory Imperial ships, all gleaming and
     brightly polished on the surface, and all run by crews who performed their duties more and
     more by ritual and rote, not even beginning to understand the mechanics and electronics,
     much less the physics, behind their miraculous Jumps from one end of the Galaxy to the
     other.
    Spit and polish and a shadow of ignorance, like an eclipse at noon...
    He smelled the perfumery on his lapel to put him in a better mood. The pleasant aromas of
     a thousand worlds had been programmed into the tiny button, an extraordinary antique given
     to him by Linge Chen seven years ago. Chen was a remarkable man, able to understand the
     emotions and needs of others, while having none of his own-other than the lust for power.
    Planch knew his master well enough, and knew what he was capable of, but he did not have
     to like him. Still, Chen paid very well, and if the Empire was going to rank growth and
     bad seed, Planch had no qualms about avoiding the worst of the discomforts and misfortunes.
    A tall, spidery woman with corn yellow hair seemed to appear by his elbow, towering over
     him by a good ten centimeters. He looked up and met her onyx eyes.
    “More Planch?”
    “Yes. ” He turned and extended his hand. The woman stepped back and shook her head; on her
     world, Huylen, physical contact was considered rude in simple greetings. “And you're
     Tritch, I presume?”
    “Presumptuous of you, ” she said, "but accurate. I have three ships we can use, and I've
     chosen the best. Private, and
    fully licensed for travel anywhere the Empire might care to trade. "
    “You'll be carrying only me, and I'll need to inspect your hyperdrive, do some
     modifications. ”
    “Oh?” Tritch's humor faded fast. “I don't even like experts doing such work. If it ain't
     broke, don't fix it. ”
    “I'm more than an expert, ” Planch said. “And with what you're being paid, you could
     replace your whole ship three times over. ”
    Tritch moved her head from side to side in a gesture Planch could not read. So many