Zach Hughes - Closed System

"Anybody home?" Pat asked, speaking to thehigh backs of the command chairs. One chair be­gan to turn. "Ha?" Pat said, for there was thequiet purr of an electric motor. In the temple, atleast, there was power. And this brought a quickthought. The power source was damned wellshielded, for he'd flown right over the templein Skimmer and had been unable to detect any­thing.

The motor hummed, and the command chair turned slowly. He saw her profile first. Her hair had been swept up into a neat, shimmering, au­burn mass, and the mass was topped by a diademof gold and jewels. She was dressed in flowing royal purple, and the material was definitely notthe homespun vegetable fibers of the clothing wornby the villagers.

Literally stunned by her beauty, Pat was unable to speak. The command chair turned to face him.She looked down at him with a smile which seemedto enlarge her mouth.

"Hello, Pat," she said.

He had to swallow, then moisten his lips. "Hello,Corinne."

"Now that you're here, you'll have to stay, you know."

"With you?" he asked.

"Yes," she whispered, rising, gathering her long,purple skirt in one hand to run down the steps ofthe throne dais toward him.

EIGHT

The purple material, of Corinne's long gown wassilky-smooth. It clung to her, and allowed the soft warmth of her to come through to Pat's hands.Her lips were more than he had remembered, andthere was an urgency in her kiss which sent asurge of elation through him. Something of valuelost, then reattained, increases in value. With herin his arms he forgot, for the moment, all that hadhappened between them in the past.

After a long, delicious time, she pushed him away,her small hands against his chest. "You shouldn't be here," she said.

Sanity returned to him. This small, exquisitely constructed lady had drugged him, had comman­deered his ship and altered restricted computertapes in a way which had almost cost him his shipand his license. She'd stolen Murphy's Stone. Beau­tiful she was, and he loved her. He knew that now,his mouth still tasting her kiss, but she had someexplaining to do.

"Come," she said, taking his hand. "It wouldn'tdo for the priests to see their goddess being sohuman."

"Just what goddess are you?" he asked.

"I am Hera, Queen of Heaven, and Inana, Astarte,Isis, plus a few others."

"You'll have to introduce me," Pat said. "I don'tknow any of those ladies."

"That's not surprising," Corinne said, as sheopened a door leading into an apartment whichwas well lit and furnished with modern items. "Itwas strange to me, too, until I read the sacredbooks."

"I'd like to read them."

"Perhaps you'll have the chance." She flowedtoward a bar, turned. "I have only Taratwo wines."

He grinned wryly. "The last time you gave me adrink it hit me pretty hard."

"Pat, I'm sorry. That was necessary."

"I think I'd like you to start explaining now whyit was," he said.

She sighed, poured two glasses of red wine,flowed to stand in front of him. "I will explain,"she said. "First let me say that I'm so happy to see you. Really."

He wanted to believe. He took the glass. "No funny Zedeian drugs this time?"

"No," she said, with a sad little smile.

She was the only stimulant he needed. He didn'tneed the wine. He took one sip, reached out andtook her glass from her hand, put the glasses on a table. She made no resistance as he pulled her intohis arms. Her arms went around him and hismouth covered hers, and as the kiss deepened hefelt a small, insignificant sting at the base of hisneck. Her kiss deepened, but the joy of it was goneas a wave of shock and deep hurt killed his desirefor her. He jerked her hands down from around hisneck and forced her right hand open. The smallhand syringe was cupped there. The quarter-inch injection needle showed a small drop of clear fluidat its tip.

"Oh, damn," Pat said, as weakness seemed toflow throughout his body.

"It will be all right," she said, her face no longersmiling. "Sit down, please."

He made it to a large sofa before the darknesstook him.

Awareness came back to him with a rush. Hefelt fine. There was no fuzziness in his brain. Heopened his eyes and squinted, for he was looking into a bright light on the ceiling over his head. He tried to move and discovered that he was secured quite firmly by straps. He was in a half-recliningposition on a soft, comfortable couch. His shirthad been removed. There was a slight chill to the air which told him that, in addition to the electric lights, the room was climate-conditioned.

He jerked his head to the left. A man in a white smock stood beside him, looking down at him withhis

lips thrust out thoughtfully.

"Relax, Captain Howe," the man said. "No harm will come to you. We merely require some infor­mation."

"Where is Corinne?" He needed to talk to her, totell her how disappointed he was by this new be­trayal. And yet he was not too chagrined. It didn't really matter, did it? He felt fine. There seemed tobe a glow of health and well-being in him.

The man in the white smock turned his back,walked away. Pat saw that under the smock theman wore a

long, dark robe like the priest whohad greeted him upon his arrival at the temple.

The man came back. "You will feel no pain," hesaid, as he pushed a mister against Pat's bare arm and injected something that burned only slightlythrough Pat's skin. The man then pulled a tallstool up beside the couch and perched there, look­ing down.

Ah, Pat was thinking, it was a beautiful world, and the couch was so comfortable, and how con­siderate of them to make him so comfortable.

"I am your friend," the man said, smiling.

"Yes."

"You are my friend. You want to help me. Youwant to tell me everything I want to know."

"Sure, be glad to," Pat said, filled with warmthfor the man, filled with peace, and happiness.

"And you will hold nothing back," the man said,"because you want Corinne to know all, don't you?"

Such a burst of emotion in him as he thought ofher. "Oh, yes," he said. He laughed. He knew ev­erything. They were using a mind-domination drugon him, and that was so very, very illegal that it was funny.

"You are happy," the man said. "You are laugh­ing with happiness, and you want to help us."

"I'd have done it without the illegal drug," Patsaid, still laughing happily.

"I'm sure you would have," the man said, with asmile. "Now, let us begin. Tell me, Captain Howe, how you found us and tell me who knows that youare here."

Pat chuckled happily and told all. He told howXanthos Central Control had detected Corinne's tampering with the trip tape, and how he'd wormedthe truth out of the old man, and how he'd beenable simply to follow the blink coordinates to Dorchlunt.

He was chortling so happily that he had to be primed to go on.

"And did you file a flight plan with XanthosCentral?"

"Heck, no," Pat said. "Couldn't, except in gen­eral. I gave them the known blink beacon, of course,and then I just said that I'd be exploring unchar­teredspace."

"And the blink coordinates?" the man asked."Did you file the blink coordinates for Dorchlunt?"

"No," Pat said. He laughed. "But they're on fileat X&A. They have copies of the old man's tapefrom his self-diagnosis chamber. All they'd have todo is dig out the coordinates from that tape and they'd come right here, no problem. Simple trip once you have the right coordinates."

"In your opinion, how long will X&A wait, whenyou don't close your flight plan?"

"Oh, weeks and weeks, I'd say. Maybe months. Itold Jeanny that I might be gone for a while. Yousee, I guess that I believed, deep inside, that I'dfind Corinne, and that I might be staying withher."

"And so you have found her," the man said."Now, let us begin again, Captain Howe."