Alfred van Vogt - The Players of Null-A

He suppressed an Ashargin impulse to tell her where he was going. Not that Enro wouldn't know in a few minutes. But he had the feeling that if he named his destination an attempt would be made to divert him.

Out in the hall, he walked swiftly toward the stairway, climbed one flight of stairs, which brought him within one floor of Enro's apartments. He turned off to the right, and a moment later he was being admitted to the apartment of the woman he had once known as Patricia Hardie. He hoped that Enro would be curious as to what his sister and the Prince Ashargin had to say to each other, and that the curiosity would restrain him from immediate punitive action.

As Gosseyn-Ashargin followed the servant into a large reception room he saw that Eldred Crang was standing at the window. The Venusian Null-A detective turned as the visitor entered, and gazed thoughtfully at him.

There was silence as they looked at each other. It seemed to Gosseyn that he was more interested in seeing Crang than Crang could possibly be in the Prince Ashargin.

He could appreciate Crang's position. Here was a Null-A who had come into the heart of the enemy stronghold, who was pretending—with her connivance—that he was married to the sister of the warlord' of the Greatest Empire, and on that tenuous basis—more tenuous even than he might realize, in view of Enro's belief in brother-sister marriage—was apparently prepared to oppose the dictator's plans.

Just how he would do it was a problem in strategy. But then there were people who might wonder how the Prince Ashargin could ever hope to set himself against the same tyrant. Gosseyn was trying to solve that problem by a bold defiance, based upon a plan that still seemed logical.

He had no doubt that Crang would be equally bold, if necessary—and that he would not have come at all if he had thought his presence would not have some effect.

It was Crang who spoke first. 'You wish to see the Gorgzin Reesha.' He used the feminine of the title of ruler on Enro's home planet.

'Very much.'

Crang said, 'As you possibly know, I am the Gorgzin's husband. I hope you don't mind telling me your business first.'

Gosseyn welcomed it. The sight of Crang had braced him immensely. The non-Aristotelian detective was so skillful an operator that his mere presence on this scene seemed partial proof at least that the situation was not as bad as it seemed.

Crang spoke again. 'What's on your mind, Prince?' he said pleasantly.

Gosseyn launched into a frank account of what had happened to Ashargin. He finished, 'I am determined to raise the level of the prince's position here in the palace. So far he has been treated in an unforgivably debasing fashion. I should like to use the good offices of the Gorgzin to alter the attitude of his excellency.'

Crang nodded thoughtfully. 'I see.' He came away from the window, and motioned Gosseyn-Ashargin into a chair. 'I hadn't really estimated your position in this picture at all,' he said. 'From what I had heard, you were accepting the debasing role which Enro had assigned to you.'

'As you can see,' said Gosseyn, 'and as Enro must be realizing, the prince insists that so long as he is alive he be treated according to his rank.'

'Your use of the third person interests me,' said Crang, 'and I am also interested in the qualifying phrase ‘so long as he is alive.’ If you are able to hold firmly to the implications of that phrase, it seems to me the, uh, prince might obtain redress from the Gorgzid.'

It was approval of a kind. It was cautious and yet unmistakable. It seemed to assume that the dictator might be listening in on the conversation, and so the words were on a high verbal level. Crang hesitated, then went on:

'It is doubtful, however, if my wife could be of much assistance to you as an intermediary. She has taken the position of being absolutely opposed to the war of conquest which her brother is waging.'

That was information indeed, and from the look on Crang's face, Gosseyn realized that the man had imparted it to him deliberately.

'Naturally,' said Crang, 'as her husband, I also oppose the war without qualification.'

Briefly, it was dazzling. Here was their method of boldness, different from his own, yet rooted in the special reality of Patricia's relationship to Enro. Gosseyn grew critical. The method had the same inherent flaws as did the opposition he was developing at this moment. How were they overcoming the flaw? Gosseyn asked the question.

'It seems to me,' he said slowly, that in taking such a stand, you and the Gorgzin have greatly restricted your freedom of action. Or am I wrong?'

'Partly wrong,' said Crang. 'Here in this sun system, my wife's legal rights are almost equal to those of Enro. His excellency is greatly attached to the traditions, the customs and the habits of the people, and so he has made no effort to destroy any of the local institutions.'

It was more information. And it fitted. It fitted his own plan. Gosseyn was about to speak again, when he saw that Crang was looking past his shoulder. He turned, and saw that Patricia Hardie had entered the room. She smiled as her eyes met his.

'I was listening in the next room,' she said. 'I hope you don't mind.'

Gosseyn indicated that he didn't, and there was a pause. He was fascinated. Patricia Hardie, the Gorgzin Reesha of the planet Gorgzid, sister of Enro—the young woman who had once pretended to be the daughter of President Hardie of Earth, and who had later pretended to be the wife of Gilbert Gosseyn—with so great a career of intrigue behind her, she was unquestionably a personality to be reckoned with. And, best of all, she had never to his knowledge wavered in her support of the League and of Null-A.

She was, it seemed to him, becoming more beautiful, not less. She was not quite so tall as Leej, the Predictor woman, but she seemed more lithely built. Her blue eyes had the same imperious expression in them as was in Leej's gray eyes, and both women were equally good looking. But there the resemblance ended.

Patricia glowed with purpose. Perhaps it was a youthful purpose, but the other woman didn't have it. Possibly, he knew what Leej was like, and knew, also, Patricia's career. That could be very important. But Gosseyn thought it was more than that. Leej was a drifter. As long as she had been aware of her future, she had had no reason to be ambitious. And even if she should suddenly acquire a purpose, now that she could no longer depend on her prophetic gift, it would take a long time to change her habits and her basic attitude.

Crang broke the silence. 'Prince,' he said, and his tone was very friendly, 'I think I can clear up your puzzlement as to why you are married to Lady Nirene. My wife, knowing nothing of the conversation of last week, took it for granted that any relationship between Nirene and yourself would be legalized by the church.'

Patricia laughed softly. 'It never occurred to me,' she said, that there were undercurrents in the situation.'

Gosseyn nodded, but he was grim. He assumed that she was aware of Enro's past intentions for her, and that she regarded those intentions lightly. But she was missing additional undercurrents, it seemed to him. Enro must still hope for a legal marriage relationship with his sister, or he would not have tried to prevent her from learning that he regarded the relationship as unimportant where other people were concerned. His about-face gave a sharp insight into both his character and his purposes.

'Your brother,' Gosseyn said aloud, 'is a remarkable man.' He paused. 'I presume he can hear what we're saying here—if he so desires.'

Patricia said, .'My brother's gift has a curious history.' She paused, and Gosseyn, who was looking directly at her, saw from her expression that she intended to give him information. She went on, 'Our parents were either very religious or very clever. They decided that the male Gorgzid heir should spend his first year after birth in the crypt with the Sleeping God. The reaction of the people was hostile in the extreme, and so after three months Enro was removed, awakened, and thereafter his childhood was normal.