Free Topaz Dreams by Marilyn Campbell Page A

world.
Now, after she finished her song, he asked her to tell him about the laws of her people.
As
always, she was more than happy to please. "The Noronian people,
whether on their home planet or in Innerworld, are subject to a handful
of basic laws: One must work at something productive, enjoy the work
one chooses, and maintain one's body in a good and healthy manner.
Violence and dishonesty are not tolerated."
Underwood thought it
sounded like paradise until she said that. "It sounds like a
workaholic's idea of heaven, as long as he's honest and nonviolent. But
what if he's not such a perfect specimen?"
"If someone cannot abide
by these laws, there are different methods of handling the problem. In
the most extreme case, one might be reprogrammed to help one become a
useful citizen."
"Reprogrammed?" Underwood said in disbelief. He did
not need a terribly active imagination to have an idea of what that
meant. He knew without asking that Delphina would not know how that was
done, either, so he merely encouraged her to go on.
"As important as
our work is, though, so is our leisure time. It is divided almost
equally, unlike Outerworlders who have a difficult time balancing the
two."
"Oh? And how do you know about Outerworlders' habits?" Gordon asked with a chuckle.
"I
have met a few in Innerworld. Since there are many who live in my
world, particularly at the mining camps, I was required to learn about
your culture and history."
Underwood learned that was how she had
been able to step into her role as empress so easily, right down to her
archaic speech. She had studied his world, not knowing she would ever
be whisked into it. "But Delphina, how did Outerworlders get into
Innerworld in the first place?"
"Through the doorways, of course."
He
pressed her for more information, but she knew very little about how it
was done, only that they were referred to as accidents, and there were
many doorways on the surface of the Earth. Immediately, he vowed to
find one of these doorways and to see her world for himself.
It was
not only a matter of curiosity, it was also because of something else
she had told him. The average life span there was at least one hundred
fifty years, and often much longer. Doubling his lifetime would be more
valuable than any high-tech secrets he could glean from her people.
What good would all his money do him if he was stricken with cancer?
According to Delphina, they had a cure for that and most other diseases
common to Terrans, as she called his kind. They had the ability to
replace defective body parts successfully, even restore life within a
limited time period. It was better than he could have dreamed. But how
could he locate one of these doorways?
Gradually over the past three weeks he had realized one of the major pieces to the ring's puzzle.
If
Delphina could be brought out by something Nesterman had done to the
ring, then someone could go in as well, back and forth between two
worlds at will. It had occurred to him that if Nesterman accidentally
transported himself into Innerworld, that would certainly convince the
scientist once and for all that Underwood had been right about the
alien civilization.
Delphina had explained to him that the ring
could be used for many purposes, such as moving a person from place to
place in seconds, and she had told him that the Noronians had ships in
which they could travel to distant galaxies in relatively short spans
of time. How these things were done did not interest her. They just
were. A person's behavorial motivation was much more interesting to her.
The
only subject close to science or industry he had discovered that she
was familiar with was mining. She had told him she had expected to
arrive at one of the mining camps where she was to begin work as an
entertainer. The Noronians mined for volterrin, a dustlike substance
located in the inner core of the Earth. It was the source of energy
used in Innerworld as well as shipped back to their home planet. That
was the