“Then you rate their success as probable?”
The man shrugged. “Hey! We did all we could, but short of going in and getting it ourselves and handing it to them on a silver platter, there is no way in hell we can do more now. For the first time, and not the last, they are now truly on their own. We couldn’t interfere if we wanted to. You know the rules that bind us. Even with everything, this one’s not gonna be any snap, although I think they came up with some real original touches in their planning. Now they got two ignorant girls soon to be in very strange clothing whose only gift to the universe is that they can pick any lock ever imagined by machine and man, one girl who knows the route but is gonna still hav’ta learn to be a hoofer, and one creature—whatever the hell that thing is—against maybe sixty troops, the entire Center security system and its personnel and computers, and a shipload more troops lurking around under the command of a Val. How can they lose?
“You are not amusing.”
“I do not intend to be. And if they somehow manage to pull this one off, the next one has its own real problems, and the third’s a dilly and a half. And we won’t mention number four, considering even we aren’t real sure where it is, but they got some clues and bright ideas. Did your people bring in this Ikira girl? She’s a real asset.”
“We had no knowledge of her or her ship being involved in this. I am pleased to hear it, though. The more they depend upon themselves and the less they need us, the more—comfortable—I am. This is no easy thing for any of us, as you should know.”
“You really don’t believe they’re gonna do it, do you?”
The creature paused a moment. “No. I cannot see how they can, with or without our help. Each victory will make defeat more certain down the road as Master System redoubles its efforts.”
“Yeah, well, we know well how infallible Master Systems is. Scratch one Val, build a pirate fleet, and maybe snatch one big fat ring to stick in Master System’s guts.”
“Perhaps. I do not like to hear you say that. I find this whole thing most distasteful, as you know. It is a logic loop of gigantic proportions. If it is mad, then am I not also mad by definition? And if I am mad, then am I abetting a mad thing by aiding this attempt at Master System’s destruction?”
“Beats the hell out of me, pal,” Arnold Nagy said, lighting a cigarette.
“You are no help at all, Nagy,” the Val responded.
The Rings of the Master continues with
Warriors of the Storm
Jack L. Chalker
coming soon from Del Ray Books
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jack L. Chalker was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on December 17, 1944, but was raised and has spent most of his life in Baltimore, Maryland. He learned to read almost from the moment of entering school, and by working odd jobs amassed a large book collection by the time he was in junior high school, a collection now too large for containment in his quarters. Science fiction, history, and geography all fascinated him early on, interests that continue.
Chalker joined the Washington Science Fiction Association in 1958 and began publishing an amateur SF journal. Mirage, in 1960. After high school he decided to be a trial lawyer, but money problems and the lack of a firm caused him to switch to teaching. He holds bachelor degrees in history and English, and an M.L.A. from Johns Hopkins University. He taught history and geography in the Baltimore public schools between 1966 and 1978 and now makes his living as a freelance writer. Additionally, out of the amateur journals he founded a publishing house, The Mirage Press, Ltd., devoted to nonfiction and bibliographic works on science fiction and fantasy. This company has produced more than twenty books in the last nine years. His hobbies include esoteric audio, travel, working science-fiction convention committees, and guest lecturing on SF to institutions such as the Smithsonian. He is an active conservationist and National Parks supporter, and he has an intense love of ferryboats, with the avowed goal of riding every ferry in the world. In 1978 he was married to Eva Whitley on an ancient ferryboat in midriver. They live in the Catoctin Mountain region of western Maryland with their son, David.
Table of Contents
UNSAFE HAVEN
HOSTILE MAKEOVER
By Jack L. Chalker
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
1. The World That Moves Through Stars
2. The Pirates of the Thunder
3. An Island in the Wilderness
4. Settling Some Political Matters
5. A Nice Little Layover
6. Scouting Expeditions
7. The Pirates Strike
8. Reconnaissance Mission
9. The Vulture of Janipur
Passage: Two Characters Meet in Hell
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pirates of the Thunder Page 28