eventually is too late,Candar."
Candar picked up a small gold knife. "Go on," he said, "but do notbluff. I do not like bluffs."
"There is no question of bluffing," Thane said impatiently. "But thereare other matters that must be settled before I will go on."
"Just what would you have us settle, spy?" Candar asked sardonically.
"First, the matter of my own immunity. I'm being hunted throughout theGalaxy. The Allied Systems are searching for me. Darzent agents haveattacked me twice. I have disregarded orders and I'm about to committreason if I'm assured of safety."
Candar put down the knife and leaned forward. His voice showed hisreluctant interest as well as his habitual suspicion. "Tell me why,spy. Why should I assure your safety?"
Thane said scornfully, "I didn't say that you should assure it. I saidI wanted it assured. And it will be. If it isn't, you'll be wiped out,and what's left of the Onzar system will be in slavery."
"You may think, Systems Spy, that you know the kind of death you willdie if this is a trick," Candar said slowly and coldly. "But you donot. There are specialists here, experts whose life work is thegradual dispatching of men who try to trick Candar." He paused for amoment. "If you can prove what you say, I, Candar, will personallyguarantee your safety and immunity."
Thane snorted. "You'll get your proof, but not on your personalguarantee. You'll transfer me to the custody of the church on thecondition that I'll be turned back to you if I can't prove everythingI say."
Candar pushed himself to his feet. Thane could see the veins throbbingin his forehead. "That's enough!" The harsh voice mounted to a roar."You have insulted Onzar and its ruler." He turned to his officers."Take him out. We'll see what he knows, and how much he can standbefore his death."
* * * * *
The room they entered was a spotlessly clean room, an antiseptic room.Thane wondered how often the blood was scrubbed from the floor as herecognized the instruments.
They pushed him into a chair and strapped him down. "Now let's seewhat he'll take," Candar said. The commander himself applied thefittings and turned on the switches. Then the pain came. In longshivering waves. No body pain. Just pure pain, applied directly to thesynapses of his brain. It was unbearable--and then it got worse. Itwent up and up. Through a dim red haze, Thane saw Candar shove thedial up still another notch. Then he blanked out.
As he came back he looked up at them. Stinging drops of sweat blurredhis vision but he managed to smile. "Now try your psychograph. Justtry it. Here's what you'll read: _conditioned against physicaltorture. Brain waves lack stable pattern. History inconsistent.Standard drug susceptibility predicted negative._ Then decide,friends, if I'm bluffing."
Candar growled, "Do as he says."
The test was run. They looked at the results. All three of them walkedover to the corner of the room behind him. With his head strapped hecould not see them. He heard their conversation in undertones. Hebroke in. "There's your choice, Candar. Kill me or turn me over to thechurch. And if you're afraid to know what's coming, if you're afraidto know how you're going to die, you'd better kill me now."
There was a long silence. Then Candar: "Unstrap him." Candar walked upand stood before him as the straps were taken off. "You'll curseyourself for postponing the end, if this is a trick. The transferpapers will be prepared now." He gestured to the commander. "Bring himback to my chambers, and call the emissary of the church." The doorslammed jarringly behind him as he strode out.
When the conditions were made out, signed and countersigned andsealed, and a copy transmitted to the Cathedral of Keltar, and whenthe young emissary in cloth-of-gold had signed the receipt for him,Thane began. "At this moment," he started, "the Darzent Empire ispreparing an attack. They have a space-drive, stolen from the AlliedSystems, which allows almost instantaneous travel through the Galaxy.You will learn of this drive, and you will learn something thatDarzent does not know. You will learn how to locate any ship usingthis drive at any time the drive is in operation."
That was enough to stimulate Candar's driving, paranoid megalomania tothe full. Thane had already threatened him with destruction. Now heheld out to him the opportunity to be master of the Galaxy. Thane feltit would be simple now to obtain the transfer of Astrid to the custodyof the church. He thought so, but there was another hour of argumentbefore he had overcome Candar's suspicions and convinced him of theabsolute necessity of having Astrid to supervise the building of theTracer and the Drive.
At last it was settled. Then Thane committed his treason. He told allhe knew, about the second-stage drive and the tracer, and when Astridcame in, she finished the job. Between them they gave away the mostimportant secrets of the Galaxy to an enemy, a man of endless,pathologic ambition.
* * * * *
Candar, of course, wanted confirmation. It was fast in coming. Withall the technical resources of Onzar at her disposal, Astrid had aprototype of the tracer in operation the following day. An hour laterthe existence of a ship using the catalyst drive was reported by thetracer. Its position could not be determined until a base line hadbeen established. The following day, three more tracers were set up atwidely separated points across the planet. More movement of ships wasreported--and they were definitely placed within the Darzent Empire.One more day passed, and more tracers had been set up on Onzar III,across the sun from the capitol planet.
At the same time, Candar pushed work on the second-stage drive withall possible speed. As Thane had guessed, the use of gold in thecatalyst principle gave Candar pause, but only momentarily. It wastrue that such a use of gold violated one of the oldest and strongesttaboos in the religion but Candar's hunger for power was stronger thanhis fear of revolt. As Thane had supposed, Candar went ahead with thedevelopment of the drive, thinking that when he had it his power wouldenable him to ignore the church. The church was powerful on just thissystem. With the drive, Candar would rule the Galaxy.
Candar had taken certain precautions. Almost complete radio silencehad been clamped down, partially to prevent any information gettingout, and partially to provide enough power for the tracer. No ships ofany registry could enter or leave the system. Only his personaladherents of unquestioned loyalty were allowed to work on the assemblyof the drive. But there were leaks. And there was Thane....
With one legal pretext after another, Candar had succeeded in keepingThane in isolation within the palace for three days. Finally, he gavein to the demand of the church that Thane be turned over to theCathedral. He did not want Thane loose but still he could not afford abreak with the church just a few days before his great victory.
So Thane at last managed to see Selan in her personal chambers in theKeltar Cathedral. It was a small, comfortable room that did not seemto share the bleakness of most of Onzar. Perhaps, as much as anything,that was due to the personality of the Priestess Selan. She was veryold. She had remained slim, and her lined face retained much of itsoriginal golden color. Her yellow eyes were alert. The only term Thanecould think of for their expression was cynical compassion. She sat bya small writing table in one of the traditional, intricately carvedchairs of Onzar.
"The developments of the past few days, Priestess Selan, are ofextreme importance to Onzar and the church. The tracer device hasalready confirmed our belief that Darzent is preparing to attack.Already their trial maneuvers with the second-stage drive have ceased,and they have begun the marshalling of their fleet. When they come,they must come through the Onzar Confluence, not more than a parsecfrom this system. This attack must be stopped, and we hope that timeenough is left."
"I am aware of these developments, Roger Thane," she said with aslight smile. "We still have our sources of information."
"Perhaps," Thane said, "you are also aware of the industrial use ofgold in the second-stage drive?"
"We have heard rumors," she said wearily, "but perhaps my position onsuch matters is not clear to you. I have never been a religiousdoctrinaire. I have lived through
tremendous changes on this planet,and I know that the church must conform to survive. You certainly mustknow that from the history of religions in your own system. The churchis conservative, yes. It can never move with the skeptical flexibilityof the politician or the scientist. But it must change with them,sometimes leading, sometimes following. Otherwise it becomes a thingof quaintness, a building without an institution, a place fortourists."
Thane regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. Even this brilliant,experienced woman would be ensnared by her own long-range theoriesinto a disastrous inaction in the short-run crisis. And there would beno long-range for her or her church unless there were