"ITAA Security?"

"Yes, sir. Who told Lord Schreck's Regulators to work in Cusifat last night? Our security leaks like a sieve, sir. It's getting out of hand lately."

"Tell me, Captain Blake, how have you survived here? You've served five years now."

"I try and stay unpredictable. It comes and goes."

"They've tried?"

"About twelve times now."

"I see." Chang felt a sudden gust of apprehension. How was she going to overturn all this?

"Sir, I must emphasize the security problem. Because if they think you're going to go against them they'll kill you. Or just see that you're injured so badly you're transferred elsewhere. They have a total disregard for any consequences."

She hesitated for a moment. This was an extremely frank conversation; she was a little surprised. If Blake was MI, wouldn't he be more reticent?

"Who are 'they'?"

"The Committee for the Preservation of Society would do the job. They regulate Doisy-Dyan."

"And who do they report to?"

"You want particulars right now, Colonel?"

"No, just generalities."

"The Committee is dominated here by the Plantain family, but names like Bourcey and Shogt should be noted. Police Chief Hafka is one of them, of course."

"And they represent the tiny oligarchy that murders anyone who stands against them?"

"You know, sir, I've heard that murder rate described as 'natures way of keeping things stable.' A fourteen-year-old girl, daughter of a very wealthy family, told me that as matter of fact, as if she was talking about putting down rabid dogs."

Chang sighed. "Why do you think the ITAA force has been so ineffective?" she said.

"Fear and greed, sir. They usually grease the commanding officers real good and then terrorize the rest."

"So what you're saying is that I'm up against a planetwide conspiracy by the landowning elite."

"It's as natural to them as breathing, I'm afraid."

"Mmm, well, if I'm to believe that then I have to rate my own chances of changing things as poor."

"Not if you can stay alive, sir."

"Yes, and how would you suggest I do that, Captain?"

"Put yourself in my hands, Colonel. Don't let Cachester have anything to do with your personal security. Don't ever sleep in the same place twice in a row, make all your movements unpredictable.

Never ride in the same ATV, never depend on anyone else to do your security sweep."

Luisa Chang felt a mounting sense of panic. These were ideas that'd already occurred to her and been dismissed as paranoid.

"Well, thank you for your kind offer, Captain. Your advice is sound and I will certainly take precautions. However, I will take care of my own security needs. I hope we can work together to make some changes here."

"I have ten months left to serve here, sir, and then I'm afraid you'll be on your own. Don't take too much time, sir; act quickly or you will never get the chance."

"Yes, Captain, well, I'll see. I like to set my own timetable."

Blake looked down. "Whatever you say, Colonel, sir." He sounded as if he had already consigned her to the ash heap of history.

Chang composed herself. "In the meantime, Captain, I want to get a feel for the ground situation. I would like to accompany you on a patrol. When are you going out next?"

Blake was not surprised by her request; he'd read her file. "Oh-eight-hundred hours tomorrow morning, sir. We're going back to the Skullas."

"Really, you think the Regulators will be out once more?"

"We do, sir. The harvest has been dismal in the region and the tax collectors have been squeezing harder and harder on the poor. There's nothing left, so the people have taken up liberating once more."

"Stealing back their own produce, I take it."

"That's about the size of it, sir."

"You'll be patrolling through the villages there?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well in that case, Captain, you can expect me."

"Look forward to it, sir." He hesitated a moment, then nodded to the small scarlet combat strip she wore on her tunic. "You were at Kursk, I believe, Colonel."

"That's right, Captain, and you were there, too."

"I saw Strantung, after it was captured."

"Not a pretty sight, Captain. That was fierce fighting that day."

"I was there with the 24th Orbital Division, General Licino's division."

"I remember the 24th well. We were relieved by units from the 24th. I was with the Advanced CF, nominally the 42nd Orbital, but we hadn't seen anybody from Division in months by that point."

Blake hid a small smile-a carefully hoarded thing, she imagined.

"So our paths cross once more, Captain. See you tomorrow morning."

Blake left.

Chang spun her chair and put her hands to her temples.

No wonder Sector General Nomura had warned her against taking this job.

He'd sent her a character poem just before she left.

The rock waits, The waves are not gentle The ship comes Who will watch the sky?

Captain Cachester called. "Colonel, Is waiting for you in my office. We must talk."

Chang smiled. Cachester was so relentless. "Captain, I'm afraid I've been rather busy this morning, why don't we schedule this meeting for later today, in my office."

"Colonel." Cachester became very serious. "It is very important that we meet. You have to know how it is around here."

"Well, Captain Cachester, I believe I'm getting an idea or two about how it is around here."

"The situation is complex, Colonel. As you know, there are extremes of social disparity, a great deal of poverty."

"And a tech level in places akin to the Stone Age, too."

"I'm afraid it's been this way for centuries, sir."

"Indeed, and it is up to the ITAA to try and do something about it in this century."

"Why not pop over right now?" Cachester said.

"I'm afraid that would be impossible. Why don't we meet, here, at five this afternoon?"

Cachester displayed his level teeth in a wintry little grin. "A better idea, since you're so busy getting settled today, Colonel. Why not meet here for breakfast tomorrow morning. I can have Chakes fetch up whatever you like from the canteen."

Chang shrugged. "I'm afraid I'm on the move tomorrow, all day, starting very early, so I can't make any appointments at all.

I won't be back here till very late."

Cachester put a hand to his forehead as if he were suddenly in great pain. "Blake," he groaned aloud in a theatrical tone.

"I should have known it. He's got at you and got you running off on one of his wild-goose chases."

Luisa kept smiling. Cachester grew impatient with her.

"Colonel, I have to speak frankly, to protect you. You don't know Blake, I'm afraid. He's been here too long and he fights all our attempts to have him reassigned. He's become infected with Liberator attitudes, I'm afraid. Personally I think he's overdue for a psych assessment."

"Liberator attitudes?"

"Well, sir, he just automatically takes a position against the leading elements of society here. Every time, sir; it's so predictable it's pathetic. I mean, we're dealing with an ancient civilization here, sir; Wexel has just basically gone its own way. It's no good condemning everyone here because they don't live up to ITAA technocrat standards. Everyone who serves here comes to realize that after a while, but Blake, well, he's become an extremist."

"You have some kind of evidence to back up these charges against Captain Blake?"

"Evidence?"

"Yes, Captain, proof that what you say is true."

"Well, I guess so, sir."

"Then bring it to me, I want to study it at once."

"It may take time to assemble, sir, I mean."

"I don't want excuses, Captain, I want evidence, understood?"

Cachester bristled. "Colonel, mine is a Fleet command, I don't think your authority runs that far."

Chang was no longer smiling. "Read your orders, Captain.

Scopus Central has posted me here on full Planetary Command, Directive Nine. If you disagree with the orders I suggest you take it up with Admiral Heldheim at Sector Fleet."

Cachester glowered at her.

"But until that order is rescinded I am planetary commander and that means everyone here, including all Fleet officers, is under my authority."

"Does Commodore Benx know about this, sir?"

"He should, if he's looked at his orders."

"I had better call him and make sure that he has, Colonel.

The commodore is a very busy man."

"That sounds like a good idea to me, Captain. Tell Benx to call me."

"I will, Colonel, count on it."

CHAPTER FIVE.

IT WAS NIGHTFALL BEFORE THE VTOL FINALLY SET DOWN AT Karvur Farm. The weather was atrocious, with rain driving in horizontal sheets while the winds moaned down from the moor.

Caroline awoke from a doze in which she'd dreamed of water weeds, alive and writhing like worms, reaching up to the dim brown light of a dying sun. It was an unsettling dream.

The engines cut off, leaving nothing but the wind. Some small lights ahead showed that Karvur's servants were coming. A door opened in the dark mass of the house, and yellow light spilled out for a moment.

"We're here," said Karvur. Caroline nodded, still not completely awake.

"We should unload right away; I'm still worried about the battery power. I want to get it hooked up to the farm grid as quickly as possible."

Caroline observed further signs of strain in Karvur's gaunt, harried face. He popped open the door on his side of the compartment and a blast of wind and rain came in that sent her scurrying for her parka.