She heaved a sigh. “All right. Why not? A few more pregnancies, angry calls and expense billings… That’s all I have to worry about, isn’t it?”

  “Nothing more nor less.”

  “All right,” she said. “But you’ll use the casting device this time. I want a recording.”

  “Hmm… okay. You want to eat breakfast with me first?”

  “Forget it.”

  So that was that. I was kicked out of her office. After I consumed a hearty meal alone, I found my way down to the nearest unoccupied Gray Deck. Several of these sterile, wire-webbed places could be found inside Central these days.

  Using a bit of charm and some muscle from Galina, I was able to get a team of hogs to strap me into a device that looked like the Devil’s own dentist chair.

  In the end, it was less than two hours after I’d been revived when I was trussed up and fired across the cosmos once again.

  I arrived at my destination relatively unharmed. Standing up from a crouched position, I was immediately unhappy. This planet was freezing cold. My coveralls weren’t up to the job of warming me up.

  I stood in a cavern of sorts. Fifty meters off to my right, I saw a cave mouth. Dim, uninviting blue-white sunlight shined in from that direction.

  That wasn’t the bad part, however. The bad part was the freezing wind and swirling drifts of snow. I hadn’t brought anything special for gear. I had a basic paper-thin pressure suit and a pistol. That was about it.

  Cursing, I walked around and investigated the cave. It was a natural cave, of that much I was sure. It wasn’t some anthill tunnel, which ruled out Vulbites. They didn’t like it cold, anyway.

  I was surprised it was as icy as it was. The last Claver worlds I’d visited had been warm, even tropical. This was an unhappy surprise.

  Shivering a little, I walked to the entrance. Sticking my helmeted nose out into a wind-whipped snowstorm, I found it unpleasantly cold. It was going to be frostbite-city if I spent more than a few minutes on this planet. Fortunately, the casting device effect never lasted for long.

  “James?”

  I startled. I’d forgotten that modern casting was better than it had been in the old days. Years ago, when I’d been cast to the four winds, I’d gone naked, and the people tracking me could only watch. Now taking some gear was possible, and the crew back home could speak to me.

  In a way, it was comforting. The worst part about casting was there was no way back. The teleport agent had to look around, showing Earth whatever they could find that was worth looking at, then get himself killed before the connection broke. If it did before you died, well… you were permed.

  Even when things went right it was no picnic. The trouble came during the suicide. I’d never been able to shake the suspicion that maybe no one was watching me, and that I was killing myself for nothing—perming myself, in effect.

  But the feminine voice in my ear today removed all those worries. I knew for certain that the nerds back at Central could see me.

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  “It’s Abigail, you big dummy.”

  Slowly, I turned around. I wasn’t hearing Central at all. I was hearing the only female clone of Claver in the cosmos.

  “Oh, hey! It’s great to see you again, girl. To what do I owe this unexpected honor?”

  She had a pistol trained on my chest. I took no notice of this, giving her a hearty wave and smile. She didn’t return either of these.

  “When we Clavers first explored this frozen rock,” she explained, “we landed at these coordinates. I figured if anyone blabbed and gave you directions to get out here, you’d end up on this spot.”

  “Huh… That’s pretty smart. I did get a tip from a friend, and I suited up and came out here as fast as I could.”

  “I’ve been waiting in this shitty cave for days. Do you call that fast?”

  “Yeah, well… I did a bit of dying first, see.”

  Abigail put a gloved hand up. I noticed her glove was heavily furred. She was properly attired for this climate.

  “All right, all right,” she said. “I don’t need any details. I wouldn’t believe any of them anyway.”

  “Uh… right. Where’s Claver-X?”

  Abigail made a face at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. By the way, you used the casting device to come here, didn’t you? I don’t like that you did that.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “You should have used a harness. I don’t want people watching me from Central.”

  “Oh… right. Sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be too sorry. Just in case you chose this method of transport, I had this cave shielded the moment you arrived. The casting crew can’t see you. As far as Central is concerned, you just permed yourself.”

  I blinked a couple of times, and I felt a cold finger go down my spine. What she was saying was probably true, I realized. I hadn’t heard any voices from Central at all.

  That meant no one was tracking me. No one was recording where I was or who I was talking to.

  Glancing down at the pistol in her hand, I felt a bit annoyed with myself. This woman had shot me several times before. Damnation, the last time we’d met she’d killed me with a grenade.

  “Aw, hell…”

  -14-

  The storm outside was gusting, and a strong wind whistled over the cave entrance. It sounded kind of spooky. Spinning mini-tornadoes of snowflakes came down into the cave now and then to die.

  “Listen Abigail. I’m real glad to see you again and all that.”

  “You already told me that.”

  “But I came to see Claver-X—not you. No offense.”

  She tightened her grip on her pistol, which didn’t improve my confidence any. “None taken, James. In fact, this Claver-X business is the only reason you’re still breathing.”

  “Aw, come on. I thought we were friends.”

  “Friends? James, the last time we met you tricked me, and I’m still ashamed to admit it. You brought your legion out to Green World, and you destroyed an entire army of my brothers.”

  “Well… yeah. But that was different. I’m not in conflict with your people now. Back then, you guys were building up a rebel force to attack Earth.”

  “That’s all true… but I’m not quite understanding why you’re here now. Who is this Claver-X you keep mentioning?”

  So that’s how it was going to be. She was pretending she didn’t know Claver-X, even though they’d once come to my shack together. Hell, as far as I understood it, Claver-X had created her originally.

  But as I talked to her some more, I became concerned. She really didn’t seem to know who Claver-X was. Hmm…

  “Abigail? Have you detected any gaps in your memories? Sort of… large gaps?”

  She glanced up at me, and I could tell she was troubled. “A few of my lives are hazy, of course. You can’t live and die all over the cosmos without a slip-up or two. For instance, I can remember the time Drusus had me executed, but I can’t remember how I got back home afterward…”

  “Huh… maybe I can shed some light. Not on that one, mind you, but on another topic. You realize there aren’t supposed to be any lady-Clavers right?”

  “Yes. Some of the primes here still hold me in disregard. They’d like to perm me if they could.”

  “That makes perfect sense.”

  “Why?” she asked with what sounded like honest curiosity.

  I proceeded to tell her that she’d originally been created by a renegade brother of hers that I called Claver-X. The fact that she didn’t remember this detail—well, that was worrisome.

  She studied the ice-coated rocks between us, and I tried not to shiver. I had to let her decide for herself if she believed me or not.

  “That does make some level of sense. So many of my brothers don’t seem to like me. If I caused an incident simply by being born… but why wouldn’t I remember any of this?”

  “They must have edited out some of your memories upon revival. Either on purpose, or by accident.”

  Lowering her pistol, she sat down on a rock. I could have taken her gun right then, but then she would’ve stopped talking to me honestly.

  “You might be right. The thought that I’ve lost my memories is very upsetting. How did you come up with this theory?”

  “Well, for one thing, you don’t remember coming to my place with Claver-X. He’s the one who created you, so that’s kind of weird. The other weird thing is that you now mingle with the normal Claver males without being shunned or outright hunted. I don’t think they could have allowed such a violation of their own rules without a good reason, or a plan.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “There has to be a plan. An underhanded plan. They must want to find Claver-X, as you call him. Why else let me live among them?”

  I could think of a few dozen other reasons a crowd of conniving lonely men might want to keep a female around their remote outpost—but I decided to keep those thoughts to myself.

  “I’ve been a fool,” she said. “I’ve ignored the obvious. I’m one of a kind, as far as I can tell. That means the one you refer to as Claver-X must have created me for a special purpose. But what could it be?”

  “Uh… companionship?”

  She glanced at me and twisted up her lips. “Rude—but possibly correct. All right. What am I going to do with you now?”

  “Huh? Why, you could turn off your shielding and let me reconnect to Central. Then, I’ll be out of your hair. You can even shoot me if you want to.”

  “That would be satisfying, but I need your help.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I want to find this Claver-X now, if he still exists. Will you help me do that, James?”

  My face screwed up into a scowl of deep thought. I scratched under my helmet. “Well, I know how he behaves, how he talks, how he thinks. He looks just like all your other brothers, but I could probably spot him if I met him again.”

  “All right,” she said lifting her pistol back into line with my chest. “You play prisoner, and I’ll march you into our camp. Deal?”

  “Sure thing,” I said, and I raised my big hands high in a gesture of surrender.

  We walked out of the cave, and the bitterly cold winds really hit me. I was envying Abigail’s parka, let me tell you.

  The cave mouth opened up and soon we were standing on the side of a craggy mountain. This mountain wasn’t alone. A half dozen of its rocky siblings stood all around us, their massive bulks made hazy by the snowfall. There were gaps between these peaks, but those spots had been blocked off with tall puff-crete walls. The walls looked like big dams I’d seen back on Earth.

  Closer to hand was the valley in the middle of these peaks and walls. The valley was filled with a forest of white-coated conical trees. These strange trees had meaty leaves and swollen trunks that were almost bulbous.

  “McGill?” said a voice.

  “Huh?” I responded.

  Abigail looked at me strangely. That’s when I realized she hadn’t said anything.

  “I didn’t say anything.” she replied. “Sometimes, James, I wonder about you.”

  “People do that all the time.”

  Shaking her head, she pointed downslope toward a huddle of prefab buildings that sat in the center of the forested valley. “That’s our camp. It’s miserable down there. This planet is positively unpleasant.”

  I gazed downhill, nodding. I let my face go slack. If Abigail hadn’t spoken to me just now, then someone else had. There was only one possible source: my “guardian angels” from Central. They were back, and they were watching and listening.

  “McGill?” the voice said again. “We’re getting a signal now. Who’s with you?”

  I wanted to grin, but I stopped myself. Even if I died right now, at least I wouldn’t be permed. That was a big relief.

  I thought about getting myself shot. I really did. I’d already wasted a lot of time here on this icy planet swapping stories with Abigail. With the visuals the nerds were picking up and recording, they could probably locate this world and pinpoint some good LZs for later—but I wasn’t done snooping yet.

  “Damnation,” I said loudly. “It’s colder than a witch’s tit out here!”

  “You should have brought a parka,” Abigail said. “You’ll get frostbite in that skimpy outfit.”

  We picked our way down the mountainside toward the village. Snow fell hard and the wind howled. I had thin gloves on, but my hands were already going numb.

  My mind was churning with every step. Before we’d gone fifty paces from the cave, I’d concocted my plan.

  In my special case, coming up with a plan of action was almost always followed up by employing it. I didn’t have a whole lot of second-guessing going on inside my brain pan. Never had.

  Accordingly, I tripped and slid on the ice. “Damn! My hands are numb, I can’t feel anything.” I said aloud.

  Abigail followed me and I heard her small boots crunching snow. This next part was risky, but a man who knows a revive is around the corner is always willing to take chances.

  Without looking, I swept my hand back and hit her in the ankles. It really was slippery where I was struggling, and she went down fast.

  If I’d turned to face her, the odds were she’d put the gun in my face, but with my back to her, she was off-guard.

  She whooped and slid. The pistol clattered. I scooped it up and helped her to her feet.

  “James, give me that gun.”

  “Sorry, Abigail.”

  “Come on! We were getting along so well. Were you just full of bullshit when we talked about finding Claver-X? If so, then I should kill myself out of shame for being so gullible.”

  “Nope. It was all real. But I work better alone in these situations. Let’s go back to the cave.”

  She complained every step and made all kinds of accusations. When we got to the cave, I popped her tapper and borrowed her coat. She was really pissed after that.

  “Damn you, James. I’m going to shoot you the next three times I see you.”

  “I hear that a lot. But listen, let me just snoop around on my own for a bit. When they find you up here, you’ll have a good alibi. We can’t let them suspect you know about Claver-X. They’ll erase your mind again, or maybe even perm you.”

  She looked troubled and rubbed at her injured forearm. I apologized and left her, and she flipped me off as I walked out.

  “Ugh…” I grunted when the winds hit me again. The parka was tighter than a Burmese condom, but it was way better than nothing. My arms shot out of the sleeves and there was no hope of zipping it up, but I didn’t care. A good half of me was warm now.

  Marching over the ice, I saw a spark off to my right. A moment later, one of the trees made a clicking sound, and a branch came crashing to the ground.

  That’s when I started to run. A sniper was after me. He wasn’t very good, because I made it into the trees without going down and spraying blood everywhere.

  Diving into snowbanks and wriggling through the weird fat pines, I kept working my way into the forest. Either Abigail had found a rifle, or someone else had spotted me.

  “McGill? We’ve got you back on track again. Stop going into underground regions. The techs here have reached a consensus: these mountains are interfering with the signal.”

  “Look,” I whispered. “I can’t really talk right now. I’m under sniper fire.”

  “Oh? That’s interesting. So, this planet you’ve found is hostile?”

  The snow in front of my nose jumped, and I cursed, plowing deeper into the trees for cover. The sniper was still on me.

  “You might say that.”

  Soon I found a spot that was thick with snow and needle-covered branches. I burrowed into what looked like a safe hiding place and waited. My breath was blowing out in white plumes.

  The sky seemed to be darkening overhead. Did that mean the days were short here, due to a rapid rotation period? Or was it just a case of mountainous regions falling into deep shadow more quickly? I wasn’t sure.

  I lay in the snowbank under a fat pine for about ten minutes. I tried not to shiver or blow steamy breath into the air, but I failed at both efforts.

  In that brief span, it became significantly darker out. I was now convinced this icy rock of a planet had a short day-night cycle.

  A twig broke as the eleventh minute began. I’d been waiting for this—but it still came as a surprise.

  My left hand lashed out, and I caught a man’s boots around ankle-level. I heaved and tried to sweep him off his feet. Unfortunately, my opponent was equally cunning and quick.

  Instead of knocking a Claver-Prime down on his can beside me, grunting and cursing, I found he’d regained his balance and even put the muzzle of his rifle into my face.

  I returned the favor at almost the same instant, bringing my pistol into line as well.

  We were both sitting on our cans in the snow, blowing out big puffs of breath.

  Now, any sane man would pull the trigger. Maybe I would win, or maybe he would, or maybe we’d both kill each other.

  No matter what the outcome would be, I could then decide what to do next.

  But I hesitated instead. This was because he was hesitating too.

  “Claver?” I asked. “Sorry to drop in on you guys like this, but I was feeling lonely and bored, see—”

  “Your words are unacceptable,” the Claver said. He was a prime, one of the smart ones. “I lost contact with Abigail, and now I find you wearing her coat. You’ve been caught red-handed, McGill.”

  Uh… I didn’t kill her, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

  “Where is she, then?”

  “Back there—up in that cave.”

  He glanced upslope, and I considered reaching for his rifle—but I didn’t. I was already beginning to suspect something.

  “Why are you here?” he demanded.

  “Well… I think I’m here to find you. You’ve got a special interest in our mutual lady friend, don’t you?”

  His eyes were firmly fixed on his rifle, and he fondled it for a moment. I knew he was thinking about killing me.

  It was getting dark now, all around us. Damn, this planet spun around pretty fast. If I had to guess, I’d say the days were only around six hours long, tops.