"Well, who?"
"Zinganna and Kostran Galth," she replied. "They've gotten interested
in one another; they're talking about a tentative marriage."
"It'll have to be mighty tentative," Vall said. "Kostran Galth can't
marry a Prole."
"She won't be a Prole very long. I'm going to adopt her as my sister."
Tortha Karf looked at her sharply. "You sure you know what you're
doing, Dalla?" he asked.
"Of course I'm sure. I know that girl better than she knows herself. I
narco-hypped her, remember. Zinna's the kind of a sister I've always
wished I'd had."
"Well, that's all right then. But about this marriage. She was in love
with Salgath Trod," Tortha Karf said. "Now, she's identifying Agent
Kostran with him--"
"She was in love with the kind of man Salgath could have been if he
hadn't gotten into this Organization filth," Dalla replied. "Galth is
that kind of a man. They'll get along all right."
"Well, she'll qualify on IQ and general psych rating for Citizenship.
I'll say that. And she's the kind of girl I like to see my boys take
up with. Like you, Dalla. Yes, of course; take them along with you.
Sicily's big enough that two couples won't get in each others' way."
A phone-robot, its slender metal stem topped by a metal globe, slid
into the room on its ball-rollers, moving falteringly, like a blind
man. It could sense Tortha Karf's electro-encephalic wave-patterns,
but it was having trouble locating the source. They all sat
motionless, waiting; finally it came over to Tortha Karf's chair and
stopped. He unhooked the phone and held a lengthy whispered
conversation with somebody before replacing it.
"Now, there," he explained to Dalla. "That's a sample of why we have
to set up this duplicate organization. Revolution just broke out at
Ftanna, on Third Level Tsorshay Sector; a lot of our people, mostly
tourists and students, are cut off from their conveyers by street
fighting. Going to be a pretty bloody business getting them out." He
finished his drink and got to his feet. "Sit still; I just have to
make a few screen-calls. Send the robot for something to eat, Vall.
I'll be right back."
THE END
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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