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from getting to the information. Then, when it blows over, they could have
their own people mixed in with our crews and download and recover what they
need. That is not going to happen. I believe we can crack their codes, but
whether we can or not, the computers there and all their data will be either
in our hands or completely destroyed." "You sound pretty confident you can get
it," Julian noted with skepticism dripping from her tongue. "What if you
can't?"
"The drug business is the inspector's problem," the colonel told her. "Our
interest is quite different. Some suitable prisoners, people who work there
routinely day in and day out, should be what we need, although getting access
to the records would make it simpler and surer. If our quarry is in there, we
will have her. If not, we need to know where she might have been taken."
"If they don't just kill her when you break in," Gus put in.
"If they can kill her, she's not who we are interested in," the colonel
responded coolly.
"However, I have already seen enough evidence on my own to suspect that this
is not a problem."
"Yes, but Lori isn't some superman!" Tony pointed out. "We could be killing
him!
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Kurdon looked up impatiently at the Dillian. "We have been through this
already. Everything we know suggests that if we cannot free him, he's
probably better off dead. He is certainly addicted to a particular mutation
of this drug in any event, which will cause enough of a problem. I am open to
any suggestions on making it safe, but so far I've heard none. Until I do,
this matter is closed. Now, if you will excuse me, I still have a lot of
preparation to do. If there are no further questions, you should go and get
acquainted and eat and finally sleep."
"Just one question," Gus said. "How you gonna get in there?"
The impassive turtlelike head looked straight at him. "Come tomorrow night and
you'll see."
As Kurdon expected, the rest of the evening was much more relaxed, with a
great deal of talking and comparing stories and experiences. For the first
time Gus heard the account of the kidnapping of Lori and Mavra Chang and got
a picture of the latter totally at odds with any memories he had of her back
in the jungles. In fact, the Mavra Chang who emerged from the descriptions
and tales of the twins and from Julian sounded to Gus an awful lot like a
female version of Nathan Brazil.
This at first glance seemed to make even more mysterious their estrangement
from one another, but, Gus thought, often the pairs that seemed to work best
together were ones one would never put together on one's own. A ship with two
equally strong-willed captains was a ship that sailed forever in circles.
The colonel was something of the odd man out in the circle. There was
something about him that made everybody who met him feel slightly
uncomfortable, and aside from some reminiscences with
Tony of their shared homeland in their original native Portuguese, the
colonel did not participate all that much. He excused himself early, but the
rest of them went on talking well into the night. Terry liked almost everybody
except the colonel. Somehow this group of very strange-looking creatures
seemed very comfortable, very natural. It was something in the way they
thought and interacted; no matter how alien they now were physically from one
another, they were more alike in the way they thought than any of the other
creatures she'd met, including the doctor. It was a familiar, relaxed feeling
that was hard to describe, but it was comfortable to her. Somehow, in a way
she didn't quite get, she knew that all these people were her people, the
same way she'd felt about Gus from the start. She didn't really try to follow
much of their conversation; it was kind of dull, and a lot of it made no
sense to her. They seemed to be able to talk and talk and talk on the same
topic over and over without getting bored, but it didn't matter. The
underlying din felt like a warm, safe blanket, a haven from the unknown and
truly alien world out there.
Finally, when it was quite late, they couldn't keep it up any longer. Gus told
them that he would find a place suitable for himself and not to worry; Terry
was physically best suited for Julian's tent, which had that floor of soft
pillows. Gus couldn't make Julian out at first. She'd been a guy, Mister
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