The Far Shore of Time

“Yet the Beloved Leaders do not wish to take this step unless you force them to it. It would be tragic if your entire species went prematurely to the Eschaton. You are a young race. You have not attained full development. You cannot ever achieve that on your own. That can only happen to you under the wise and benevolent guidance of the Beloved Leaders. That generous proposal is still open to you, but you must act now. Destroy that vile Horch. Invite our people to come to you. Accept the great gift that is offered you.

“Remember, four days! And if you have not done as instructed, at the very moment of the end of that time you and all your species will immediately perish.”

And the Dopey curled his lipless little mouth into what he might have thought of as a friendly smile, and his image faded from the screen.

Next to me Dan M. was wearing the strangest expression I’d ever seen on his face, part anger, a lot confusion; mostly he looked as though he were either going to laugh or cry. “But, Dan,” he complained, “how? The Pats guarantee that there’s absolutely nothing in orbit that can get here in four days! Do you think he’s bluffing?”

I was staring at the blank screen, hardly hearing him. “No,” I said, “I think it’s worse than that. I think maybe we’ve been worrying about the wrong thing. I’d better talk to Hilda right away.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-T W O

When I got to Hilda’s room she was there, all right, but the medics didn’t want to let me in. “She was sleeping,” the doctor in charge told me. “We woke her up after we saw the message from the Scarecrows. She’s watching a replay now, but she doesn’t want any visitors while she’s undergoing dialysis ...”

I didn’t argue with the man. I just pushed him out of the way. As I opened her door I called, “Hilda? Sorry to break in on you, but-“

And then I stopped, because I saw why Hilda Morrisey didn’t want any visitors.

I had never seen Hilda like that before. It was bad enough trying to get used to her white-enameled box. This was worse. She was out of her steel-enamel shell, but she still didn’t look anything like the Hilda I used to know. She was lying flat on an airbed, with tubes going into her in a dozen places and a sort of steel corset surrounding her upper body. The thing pulsed rhythmically, because it was doing Hilda’s breathing for her. Apart from that, all she was wearing was one of those inadequate hospital shifts, and she looked smaller, older and more defenseless than I had ever imagined her before. The sheet that had been thrown over her didn’t hide the fact that there wasn’t much left of Hilda Morrisey.

But she spoke right up as soon as she saw me. “It isn’t going to be a comet, is it, Danno?” she demanded. “It’s something to do with the subs, isn’t it?”

She had put her finger right on it; it was what I had picked up on as soon as I heard the Dopey speak.

The fact that Hilda was ahead of me again didn’t surprise me; she often was, which was what made her bearable as a boss. Her voice did surprise me, though. It was the voice of the authentic Hilda Morrisey. I guess most of the toxins must have been dialyzed out of her blood by then. She still looked terrible, but not pathetic anymore. I said, “I think so, yes. But I want to get something settled first.” I hesitated, then got to the point. “We aren’t going to kill Beert for them, Hilda. No matter what. I won’t let that happen, and that’s definite.”

She gave me a Hilda Morrisey stare. “Are you giving me orders, Danno?”

“I’m telling you that we can’t afford to. He can help us figure out just what the Scarecrows are up to. And,” I added, “we’ll need that robot of his; it has a lot of information Beert doesn’t. So get it flown in from Arlington right away, will you?”

She made a face. “Christ. Marcus will have a fit. All right. I’ll give that order, and then I’ll tell Marcus about it.”

I didn’t want to let it go at that, so I insisted. “And you’ll tell him not to get any ideas about stalling the Scarecrows by wasting Beert in front of the cameras.”

She gave me an opaque look. “Not right away, anyway. Now get the hell out of here so they can take all this crap off me.”

Then it got crazy.

While Hilda was getting a team together I took a quick run to the sub. There was only one Doc on listening duty, and it was Foozh. He was jabbering at the duty guard as I came through the hatch, and mewed and whined at me twice as fast as soon as he saw me. Of course I couldn’t understand a word, but I could hear the meows and growls that were coming from the speaker. Lots of them. They were busy out there, and when Pirraghiz and Mrranthoghrow got there she began translating at once.