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and his face. "No excuse is needed, sir." Her voice was musical. "What question can I answer for you?"
Sabel paused a moment in appreciation. Every-thing about this girl struck him as quietly delight-ful. Her
manner held just a hint of timidity, com-pounded with a seeming eagerness to please.
Then he gestured toward the far side of the plaza. "I see that our honored Potentate is here with us today.
Do you by any chance know how long he plans to stay at the Fortress?"
The girl replied: "I heard someone say, ten standard days. It was one of the women wearing
purple-bordered cloaks ?" She shook brown ringlets, and frowned with pretty regret at her own
ignorance.
"Ah one of the vestals. Perhaps you are a vis-itor here yourself?"
"A newcomer, rather. Isn't it always the way, sir, when you ask someone for local information? Tm a
newcomer here myself.' "
Sabel chuckled. Forget the Potentate for now.
"Well, I can hardly plead newcomer status. It must be something else that keeps me from know-ing what
goes on in my own city. Allow me to introduce myself: Georgicus Sabel, Doctor of Cosmography."
"Greta Thamar." Her face was so pretty, soft, and young, a perfect match for her scantily cos-tumed
body. She continued to radiate an almost-timid eagerness. "Sir, Dr. Sabel, would you mind if I asked you
a question about yourself?"
"Ask anything."
"Your blue robe. That means you are one of the monks here?"
"I belong to the Order of Ex. Helen. The word 'monk' is not quite accurate."
"And the Order of Ex. Helen is a branch of the Templars, isn't it?"
"Yes. Though our Order is devoted more to contemplation and study than to combat."
"And the Templars in turn are a branch of Christianity."
"Or they were." Sabel favored the girl with an approving smile. "You are more knowledgeable than many
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newcomers. And, time was when many Templars really devoted themselves to fighting, as did their
ancient namesakes."
The girl's interest continued. By some kind of body-language agreement the two of them had turned
around and were now strolling slowly back in the direction that Sabel had come from.
Greta said: "I don't know about that. The an-cient ones, I mean. Though I tried to study up before I came
here. Please, go on."
"Might I ask your occupation, Greta?"
"I'm a dancer. Only on the popular entertain-ment level, I'm afraid. Over at the Contrat Rouge. But I...
please, go on."
On the Templar-governed Fortress, popular en-tertainers were far down on the social scale. Seen talking
to a dancer in the plaza... but no, there was really nothing to be feared from that. A mini-mal loss of
status, perhaps, but counterbalanced by an increase in his more liberal acquaintances' perception of him
as more fully human. All this slid-more or less automatically through Sabel's mind, while the attractive
smile on his face did not, or so he trusted, vary in the slightest.
Strolling on, he shrugged. "Perhaps there's not a great deal more to say, about the Order. We study and
teach. Oh, we still officially garrison this Fortress. Those of us who are Guardians maintain and man the
weapons, and make ber-serkers then. field of study, besides acting as the local police. The main defenses
out on the outer surface of the Fortress are still operational, though a good many decades have passed
since we had a genuine alarm. There are no longer many berserkers in this part of the Galaxy." He smiled
wryly. "And I am afraid there are no longer very many Templars, either, even in the parts of the Galaxy
where things are not so peaceful."
They were still walking. Proceeding in the di-rection of Sabel's laboratory and quarters.
"Please, tell me more." The girl continued to look at him steadily with attention. "Please, I am really very
interested."
"Well. We of the Order of Ex. Helen no longer bind ourselves to poverty or to permanent celi-bacy.
We have come to honor Beauty on the same
level as Virtue, considering them both to be as-pects of the Right. Our great patroness of course stands
as Exemplar of both qualities."
"Ex. Helen... and she really founded the Or-der, hundreds of years ago? Or "
"Or, is she really only a legend, as some folk now consider her? No. I think that there is really substantial
evidence of her historical reality. Though of course the purposes of the Order are still valid in either case."
"You must be very busy. I hope you will forgive my taking up your time like this."
"It is hard to imagine anyone easier to forgive. Now, would you by chance like to see something of my
laboratory?"
"Might I? Really?"
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"You have already seen the Radiant, of course. But to get a look at it through some of my instru-ments
will give you a new perspective..."
As Sabel had expected, Greta did not seem able to understand much of his laboratory's contents. But
she was nevertheless impressed. "And I see you have a private space flyer here. Do you use it to go out
to the Radiant?"
At that he really had to laugh. "I'm afraid I wouldn't get there. Oh, within a kilometer of it, maybe, if I
tried. The most powerful spacecraft built might be able to force its way to within half that distance. But to
approach any closer than that impossible. You see, the inner level of the Fortress, where we are now,
was built at the four-kilometer distance from the Radiant because that is the distance at which the
effective gravity is standard normal. As one tries to get closer, the
gravitic resistance goes up exponentially. No, I use the flyer for field trips. To the outer reaches of the
Fortress, places where no public transport is available."
"Is that a hobby of some kind?"
"No, it's really connected with my work. I search for old Dardanian records, trying to find their [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]