Unerringly, inescapably,
untraceably. We will not tell you the critical distance. And we will
give you three days."
He checked my startled exclamation with a gesture. "Of course this is a
test. Within the hour Cargill will receive a warning. We want no
incompetents who must be helped too much! Nor do we want cowards! If you
fail, or release the bird at a distance too great, or evade the
test"--the green inhuman malice in his eyes made me sweat--"we have made
another bird."
By now my brain was swimming, but I thought I understood the complex
inhuman logic involved. "The other bird is keyed to me?"
With slow contempt Evarin shook his head. "You? You are used to danger
and fond of a gamble. Nothing so simple! We have given you three days.
If, within that time, the bird you carry has not killed, the other bird
will fly. And it will kill. Rakhal, you have a wife."
Yes, Rakhal had a wife. They could threaten Rakhal's wife. And his wife
was my sister Juli.
Everything after that was anticlimax.
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