No World of Their Own
“Langley went to bed shortly after sunset. Spy-beams went right through the communicator, Valti had said, but he wore his pajamas anyway. He lay for an hour, threshing about as if unable to get to sleep. Then he commanded loud music. The recorded caterwauling should drown out a low-pitched conversation.
He hoped the stomach-knotting tension in him didn’t show on his face.
Scratching, as if after an itch, he pressed the stud. Then he struck a cigarette and lay waiting.
The tiny voice was a vibrat...ion inside him. He thought about sonic beams heterodyned and focused on his skull-hones. It was distorted, but he’d know Valti’s phrasing anywhere: “Ah, Captain Langley. You do me an unprecedented honor. It is a pleasure even to be routed out of a snug bed to hear you. May I advise that you speak with your lips closed? The transmission will be clear enough.”
“All right.” There was one hopeless question which had to be asked. “I’m prepared to bargain with you—but do you have Blaustein and Matsumoto?”MoreLess
He hoped the stomach-knotting tension in him didn’t show on his face.
Scratching, as if after an itch, he pressed the stud. Then he struck a cigarette and lay waiting.
The tiny voice was a vibrat...ion inside him. He thought about sonic beams heterodyned and focused on his skull-hones. It was distorted, but he’d know Valti’s phrasing anywhere: “Ah, Captain Langley. You do me an unprecedented honor. It is a pleasure even to be routed out of a snug bed to hear you. May I advise that you speak with your lips closed? The transmission will be clear enough.”
“All right.” There was one hopeless question which had to be asked. “I’m prepared to bargain with you—but do you have Blaustein and Matsumoto?”MoreLess
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