Wanliet and I walked to the Banquet Hall together. He looked sidelong at me, chuckled, and said, “Well, Jaf, howdja like your encounter with those Valkyries of Andromeda last night?”
That was the second time he’d used that phrase, and I was more confused about its meaning now. “Your Excellency,” I began with his title for we weren’t alone, “I have a rough idea of what I encountered last night, and what was in the other ship as we were leaving Mobahey when you used that expression before, but I don’t catch the connection.”
“’The Valkyries of Andromeda’ are screeching and pursuing you when you’re in waaay deeper than you thought you were, when all of a sudden it smacks you in the face that this is one of those ‘what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’ experiences. Last night and the Mobahey escape have that in common. Not for the first or last time are the Valkyries of Andromeda on your tail. Looks like you made it through last night, barely.”
I smiled as I imaged Sirah and Aspe as winged Furies, or whatever the original Valkyries were.“Final results aren’t in, but so far I’m encouraged, Excellency.”
“Without the whole show, I’d like to know, was it not what you might have sought? Was the dance enhanced, perchance?”
I pondered only a moment and had to agree. This wasn’t the first time two sexy women had thrown themselves at me like that, but it was still unusual. Maybe with the mystery drug this would happen a lot; I could only hope. But enhanced? Yeah, near as I could recall, uh-huh, that was the word. “The beast increased, you might say, Excellency. I think I became the monster last night.”
“An-Tine mocked shock, but I thought you were taking a test drive in his floater. He knew what was up – besides your napkin. How eager are you to try it again?”
“Excellency, I’m not sure how much of ‘it’ might have been enhancement. The dinner I could have done without, I guess, but I’m thinking that’s not what you had in mind. If your Excellency would like to set up some controlled experiments, with one, two, or three women, I’m a willing test subject.”
He shook his head, chuckling some more. “I was young like you, once. If you want to grow older you might want to chill a bit, to a smolder, not a conflagration!
“But I think we know now what it is that An-Tine wants to export. How deep, how high, how wide is the organization? If An-Tine’s involved, there’s bound to be a cartel. I wonder if that’s the real point of the PU? To market this love drug? And what’s the source of this stuff?”
“Excellency, I’ll see what I can learn. Without experimenting.” And then we were at the Banquet Hall, and with a great fanfare and flourish we entered.
Aspe and Sirah were together with An-Tine – I took a quick, hard look at them to see if they looked intoxicated, but saw nothing. Then I heard voices I’d forgotten about – “Excellency, great to see you again!” and “Excellency, wondering we were when seeing you again we would be!” Into that complicated mess Jedub and Lordano had dropped. Normally I would have counted them as allies, since they were in on the con, but they’d been gone, and I figured they were as easy to flip as a palmed card. More uncertainty in the mix.
So, determine Jedub and Lordano’s game, learn more about An-Tine’s drug and his plans and confederates, figure out what Sirah and Aspe were up to, and if it was only sex try to get in on it again, and also avoid blowing it all with a slip. I’d known Wanliet only a few weeks, but if anybody had told me on Mobahey that in a ticklish situation he would be my level-headed clear-thinking partner, I would have concluded that I would be in serious trouble. And I would have been right.
Every time I start to get my feet set this planet throws me a curve. Okay, his Excellency the Inspector General says that’s when I am at my best – time to put it to a test.