Go ahead."
She didn't, not immediately. Instead she asked what sounded like an
irrelevant question. "Is it true what he told me? That the Empire has a
standing offer of a reward for a working model of a matter transmitter?"
"That offer's been standing for three hundred years, Terran reckoning.
One million credits cash. Don't tell me he was figuring to invent one?"
"I don't think so. But I think he heard rumors about one. He said with
that kind of money he could bargain the Terrans right out of Shainsa.
That was where it started. He began coming and going at odd times, but
he never said any more about it. He wouldn't talk to me at all."
"When was all this?"
"About four months ago."
"In other words, just about the time of the riots in Charin."
She nodded. "Yes. He was away in Charin when the Ghost Wind blew, and he
came back with knife cuts in his thigh. I asked if he had been mixed-up
in the anti-Terran rioting, but he wouldn't tell me. Race, I don't know
anything about politics. I don't really care.
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