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Absolute dependence is the hallion It posits the supplicant and the one who dispenses gifts The supplicant employs ritual and prayer in the atteifts The kinship between this relationship and the days of absolute monarchs cannot be overlooked This dependence on supplication gives to the keeper of those two essentials - the ritual paraphernalia and the purity of prayerful forift dispenser

- "Training the Chaplain/Psychiatrist," Moonbase Docu a Colony passage with Waela TaoLini at his side They both wore insulated yellow singlesuits with collar attacha outside, but in here was the soft gold of dayside illumination that any Colonist could remember from shipside

The food of this diurn’s first meal sat heavily in his sto so to the shipside agraria? Could it be possible, as Oakes’ people hinted, that Ship was cutting down on hydroponics output?

Waela was oddly silent as shehim Their eyes flicked past a confrontation too brief to call recognition, but an orange glow suffused her neck and face

Waela stared straight ahead They were bound for the test-launch apron to inspect the new subondola and its carrier It would be tried first in the enclosed and insulated tank at the hangar before being risked in Pandora’s unpredictable ocean

Why can’t I just say no? she wondered She did not have to get at the poet in the way Thomas ordered There were other ways It occurred to her then to ask herself about the society of Tho that he thinks sex is the best way to lower the psyche’s guards?

As happened on rare occasions when she ith others, Honesty spoke within her head: "Men ruled and women were a subordinate class"

She knew this had to be true It fitted his behavior

Tho silently to himself: I ae thing about this inner chant which he had adopted as his personal litany was that it increased his sensitivity to doubts Could it be soer trusts m if she ever did

What is this poet and where is he? Processing was taking an unconscionably long time with hietting a poet on their team? It had to be a clue to Ship’s plans Obscure, perhap convolute but a clue This ame which he was required to discover for himself

How much tiame by rules that were just and fair

You’re not always fair, are You, Ship?

If you mean even-handed, yes, I am fair The answer surprised Tho this corridor

Tholanced at Waela - silent woman Her color had returned to its normal pale pink Did Ship ever talk to her?

I talk to her quite often, Devil She calls me Honesty

Thomas missed a step in surprise

Does she know it’s You?

She is not conscious of that, no

Do You talk to others without their knowing?

To many, very many

Thoe, this one illu - the color code which told thelanced at Waela’s hip, saw the ever-present lasgun in its holster there

Waela broke the silence

"Those new clones that Oakes says are being used out on Dragon - what do you suppose they are?"

"People with faster responses"

"I don’t trust that Lewis"

Thoure - the brutal alter-ego to Oakes? There were stories about Lehich suggested that Ship had held nothing back when lifting the lid of Pandora’s box

They had conaling the dogwatch to adh the transparent port, saw that the sky doors of the hangar were closed There should be little delay

"What’s eating you, Waela?"

Sheif there’s anyone I can trust"

Pandora’s curse, he thought, and chose to direct her suspicions at Oakes

"Why don’t we insist on an inspection tea?"

"Do you think they’d let us?"

"It’s worth finding out"

"I’ll suggest it to Rachel when I see her"

"Call her e get inside"

"Can’t The roster says she’s on vegetation patrol, south perihtside"

Without knowing precisely why, Tho this Was that stupid Deer? He shook his head They were all in danger, every h the port at activity in the hangar There were bright lights around the sub The LTA was lost in shadows above Many workers hted area He could see that they had opened the floorgate to expose the testing basin beneath the hangar The lights glistened off exposed water beside the plaz gondola and its carrier-sub Ahh, yes They were ondola

So Rachel would not be back froht by the curious persistences in Waela’s ship-style language

Nightside

The irregular diurns of a planet with two suns caused few circadian problems for Colonists They had been Shipht were not ti to help him in his search for a way to the heart of these people? He had thought that if he succeeded in coive hi to help us fit into the rhythms of Pandora

If Colonists learn to trust m if they look up to m then I can tell them what Ship really wants of them They will believe and they will follow

That sub in there - would it be the key? Persistent syetable? It was intelligent He was convinced of it So was Waela But the syht of the sea

Did they talk to each other beneath the waves?

We do

Waela gestured at the signal switch beside the hatch

"What’s the delay?"

"They’re ondola and the sub I didn’t want to call anyone away fro into place, then he depressed the switch

Presently, a green-clad work open Slow procedure, but this was a dangerous area Hatches could be locked either side - froroundside was designed to contain an attack

There was a ar which set Thoe

Waela preceded hi out with that watchful shich Colonists never put aside, head turning, gaze darting about Her pale singlesuit fitted her body like another skin

He had insisted they go through Stores for the new suits As he had ordered, they were insulated against the sea’s chill, eliondola Plaz was an excellent conductor unless doubled or tripled This decision gave theondola core

Waela had disconcerted him when they picked up the suits In shipside style, there were no separate dressing rooht into the try-on area with him That habit of bodily candor still bothered hi or undressing with a female companion Waela, on the other hand, remained frankly direct

"Raj, did you know that you have a funny-looking , he had turned his head toward her just in ti into her suit - breasts and pubis exposed There was just the slightest hesitation in her while she continued dressing, as though she spoke only to his eyes, saying: "Of course I’m a woman You knew that"

He found himself intensely aware that she was a wonetic attraction she worked on hi that she knew this and was ae in her ht even have contributed to her upset when he asked her to apply sexual pressure to the new tea

But what if Ship is cheating us?

Doubts - always doubts He found his Oakes had said On the other hand, he could not fault Waela’s argu each other"