Sanctuary in The Sky by John Brunner Read Free Book Online Page A

of,” snapped Temmis. “Merely postponed owing to administrative difficulties.”
    “That’s wonderful, sir. I never disbelieved it, naturally—”
    “Well, stop sounding as though it was news, then,” said Temmis with heavy irony, and Ferenc bit his lip, aware of having made a serious error.
    “A ll right,” went on Temmis after a pause. He picked up a document from the table before him and ran his eye down it with a critical expression. “I’ll look into what you say about Ligmer, but I doubt if there’s anything we can do, and you can be sure he’ll be pulled out in short order if he does show signs of falling under Pag influence. These other people who came in with you, now: How about the Pag officer?”
    “A typical bitch,” said Ferenc, with slightly more force than he intended. Temmis’ baldness extended to his eyebrows, but he raised the patch of skin where the eyebrows would have grown.
    “You sound as though she got at you,” he commented.
    “I’m afraid I can’t deny it, sir. Her arrogance was uncalled for. I intend to ask permission to run into her by accident during my stay, and have it out with her in a private wrestling room.”
    “Permission withheld, Ferenc. I understand your urge, but don’t lose sight of the fact that Pag women are nonetheless women, and fighting women is hardly a dignified undertaking. What’s more, one part of your job during this visit is to get acquainted on a friendly basis with a Pag.”
    “What?” Ferenc jerked forward in his seat, his mouth falling open. “You—you can’t be serious, sir!”
    “Ferenc, something seems to have happened to you since you left the staff here. When I knew you before you were a levelheaded sort of person, and sufficiently reliable. Now you seem to have degenerated into the kind of excitable hothead who flunks cadet school. Do you imagine that I habitually make jokes about serious matters?”
    “No, sir,” Ferenc said miserably.
    Temmis gave him a stone-hard glare. “Then I’m perfectly serious, am I not? And a moment’s cool thought would have spared you such an idiotic remark!” He selected a sealed package from a tray at one side of his table. “Take this— it’s your detailed instructions. Go away and read them carefully. You’ve got civilian dress, I suppose, as well as your uniforms?” he added as an afterthought.
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Don’t let me see you in uniform again before you leave, then; it’s out of keeping with the character we want you to present. You’re here to see a few old friends on the staff, which you will do. Over the course of a few days you’ll lose interest in this, because—so you’ll say if people ask you—you find us stuffier and less likeable than you remembered. You’ll drift into a round of amusements. Keep your head! We think—in fact we’re fairly certain—that half a dozen Pag women here on the station have been relenting toward Glaithe staff and even to Majkos and Lubarrians. Because they are as inflexible as ever toward the Alchmids, there must be an ulterior motive. We want to know what they’re after. It would be bad for morale to have one of the regular staff associating with a Pag—therefore it’s your job. .You’re big enough not to be ridiculously small by Pag standards; you’re tough enough to wrestle your way out of tight comers if you have to—and the odds in favour are good—and on top of it, you are alleged to have an outstanding record.” Temmis’ eyes transfixed Ferenc like a pin securing a butterfly. “Go ahead and prove it.”
    Ferenc took the sealed package of orders in his left hand and got smartly to his feet. “Yes, sir,” he said, and delivered a salute he felt would have pleased his cadet school drill- master.
    “Man alive, Ferenc, where do you think you’re going?” Temmis bawled. "Did I dismiss you yet? Sit down again ! Quick! I want to know about this last passenger you came in with—a man called Lang.”
    “He’s out of