Free Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds by Brian Daley Page B

hardships will be few."
    On a jaunt to Epiphany and back, with somebody out to get him—or us? Alacrity marveled at her knack for lying. But he felt a sudden resolve to see to it that the Earther did make it. After all, none of this was really Floyt's fault either. The conditioning made him feel that way so strongly, he knew, but a good deal of his real self was in there someplace too.
    Floyt made some halting reply. Though he'd gone through far lighter treatment than the breakabout, he was still a bit disoriented.
    Bear turned to Alacrity. The subzero cordiality only made him loathe her more. "You have a rare opportunity to atone for your crime by doing something worthwhile. I trust you'll show gratitude and make good use of it."
    "If I had my way, Bear, there'd be a filter in every urethral duct to eliminate your type."
    A shade paler, Bear launched into a general pep talk. The others listened deferentially, but Alacrity, anger smoldering, looked around the room restlessly. Then he noticed that, eyes still on Bear, the little clinician, Seism, was edging toward the console. He covered the movements of his hand with his body as he reached for the controls.
    As punchy as he was from the things that had taken place since Machu Picchu, Alacrity had nonetheless picked up a fair idea of how the console worked, his normal reaction in encountering new machinery. Seism seemed about to give a lethal twist to the control governing energy influx for Floyt's chair.
    Alacrity ejected from his chair, hurling himself across the room at Seism. The clinician whirled the dial; Floyt yipped in pain and surprise, stiffening. Seism faced Alacrity, aiming a slender, glittering tube his way.
    The breakabout never even slowed down; Floyt was injured but, for the moment, still alive. Alacrity tried to dodge, meaning to try a flying tackle, hollering for the others to help.
    Seism was faster than he looked. The beam caught Alacrity full in the face, stretching him headlong on the rich, imitation-Persian carpet.
    He only lost his sense of time for a moment; it felt like no more than seconds later that he came to, battered and sore, staring up at the replica chandelier.
    Paralyzer, stungun, whatever they call them on Earth, he realized; he couldn't have survived anything else at point-blank. At that, the gun must've been set at low power. He still felt as though somebody had dialed up a couple of extra gravities. He strained, raised his head.
    First he saw Floyt's face, wearing a strange mixture of perplexity and amazement. Bear was next to him, still wearing her bland expression over a certain gloating. The team stood in a loose circle, peering down.
    Skinner was taking his pulse manually. "Jus"n ole-fashioned doctor, huh?" The patient yanked his wrist free.
    Seism gazed down sympathetically; Subutai was murmuring psychometric observations into a recorder. Alacrity congratulated himself sourly on having fallen for another Earthservice setup.
    "Did I pass, you mucus wads?"
    "Magnificently," Skinner acclaimed. He helped Alacrity up, knowing the breakabout would be too weak to take more than an ineffective imitation of a punch or kick at him. "Sorry we had to do it, young man, but that was your final test."
    "I would say you're in dependable company, Citizen Floyt," Subutai observed.
    Alacrity saw from the look on Floyt's face that he'd been as much taken by surprise as the breakabout.
    Then, brows knit, the functionary faced Bear and Skinner. "That was a vicious, unnecessary thing to do." In his confusion and anger, he thought back to the woman who'd attacked him with the styrette.
    Another Earthservice ruse, a test? Of what?
    For the first time, Bear's countenance grew troubled. Floyt's asserting himself, particularly for the offworlder, was no part of her scheme. The team was watching the functionary intently.
    "Forget it," Alacrity said to Floyt in disgust. "We've got a ship to catch."
    Alacrity wanted their leavetaking to be inconspicuous—secret,