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It would be so easy to give up, to assume things would still get better
without Recorps. But until the
Imperial and Recorps effort had begun, what had there been? Savages and
shambletowns, a declining local population, and despair. Who wanted to go back
to that?
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He ran his fingers through his thinning hair, then touched the centuries-old
console, the once-gray plastic sheathing now nearly black, not with dirt, but
from the continued exposure to the radiation of the interior lights, designed
so long ago to supplement the sunlight that had been virtually nonexistent.
Would there he a time when Recorps would not be needed?
He hoped so, but was glad it would not be soon, would not be in his time.
He flicked off the console, and stood, stretching, before he straightened his
uniform and headed for his empty quarters. Unlike his predecessor, he lived in
quarters, not in New Denv.
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He frowned and shook his head as he went out through the open portal.
185
LVII
THE SLENDER BLOND man halted his work on the painstakingly squared golden log
and stood up as he watched the agent vault from the flitter with the grace of
the trained hunter.
The uniformed man moved with an easy stride from the flats where he had landed
the flitter, a narrow space requiring more than mere skill, more even than
recklessness or nerve.
The blond man nodded. He recognized the step of the other. He did not bother
to touch the knives hidden in his wide belt, knowing that the other could not
have immediate violence on his mind or hands.
He continued to wait until the agent, wearing a sky-blue uniform he did not
recognize, with the
Imperial crest that he did, halted several meters from him.
The woodworker smiled and set down the tool with which he had been smoothing
the log.
"Commodore Gerswin?"
"Answered to that once." He nodded at the uniform. "Corpus Corps?"
"Yes. But not on official business not the kind you mean."
"No uniform on those missions."
The agent smiled faintly and half nodded in acknowledgment.
"Nice location here."
"For me . . . under the circumstances."
The agent looked around the partly built structure, noting the perfect joint
where each golden log had been fitted into place, the dark stones that seemed
to fit precisely without mortar, and the way the home-to-be nestled against
the cliff behind it.
"You do good work, Commodore, not that you always haven't."
The blond man smiled wryly, dismissing the compliment.
"One way of looking at it."
The agent looked down at the stone underfoot, then back at the man who looked
no older than he did.
"Why did you put in the change of address for your retirement pay with the
Recorps base here? And why did you use coded entries?"
"Why not? No sense in the Empire having to keep searching. Waste of resources.
You either get me, or decide it's not worth it. Too tired to play god much
longer."
"You? Too tired? Why didn't you use those tacheads? There were nine left . . .
somewhere . . .
wherever they are. Not to mention the hellburners."
"Assuming I had any," sighed the thinner man. "Just wanted to get home, not
that it is, you understand."
"It isn't? Thought you were from here."
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"Was. But you know better. You can't really go home. So long no one really
remembers. Why I used codes. Be worse if they knew for sure I was the captain.
Won't matter someday. Doesn't matter to the
Empire already, I suspect."
The agent frowned, started to shake his head, then stopped, fingering the wide
blue leather belt, centimeters from the stunner in the throw-holster.
"You win, Commodore, just like you always did." The words carried a tinge of
bitterness.
"Didn't win. Lost. You lost. We both lost. Lerwin, Kiedra, Corwin, Corson they
won. So did the children, those lucky enough to have them . . . and keep
them."
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"That may be," answered the agent, "but you won. The Empire is coming apart,
and the Ydrisians, the Ateys, the Aghomers you name it, you're their patron
saint."
The slender man pursed his lips, waiting.
The Corpus Corps agent studied the wiry man in the thin and worn singlesuit,
but kept his lips tightly together.
"You drew the duty of having to tell me?"
"No. I asked. I wanted to see a living legend. I wanted to see the man who
single-handedly brought down the Empire."
"I didn't. May have hurried things. But not me." He smiled wryly once more.
"Disappointed?"
"No." The agent's tone said the opposite.
The slender man's hands blurred.
Thunk! Thunk!
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