E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 29 - Angado.pdf

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Angado by E. C. Tubb
Chapter One
Once, the place had been bright with the froth of
make-believe; domes, minarets, spires, towers, soaring arches
and sweeping promenades all blazing with variegated colors—a
skillful illusion created with paint and plastic, lying like a jewel
in the cup of rounded hills. The circus of Chen Wei was gone
now, leaving only an expanse of torn and barren ground, a
scatter of debris, the crusted surface of a fetid lagoon.
A monument to emotional waste, which Avro pondered as his
raft circled the area. How many work-hours had been poured
into its construction, operation and maintenance? How many
more had been squandered by those visiting the circus for the
sake of transient thrills? Time, effort, resources, skills all
dissipated to the wind. Leaving nothing but a raw devastation.
Time would heal the wound and soon the hills would seem as if
they had never been touched. More waste. Under correct
guidance things of lasting worth could have been constructed for
the benefit of humanity. Testimonials to the efficiency of the
Cyclan.
Instead the place was evidence as to its failure.
"Master?" The acolyte was deferential, the title more than an
acknowledgment of Avro's superiority. "Would you care to go
lower?"
"No." Avro had seen enough. "When did they leave?"
 
"Five days ago." Cardor added, "A week after the accident."
When Tron had died, and Valaban, and most important of all,
Dumarest. Avro looked again at the place where it had
happened, assessing, extrapolating, knowing the mental
bitterness of defeat. Too late. He had arrived too late. A matter
of days and his search would have been over, his mission
accomplished. Dumarest, taken and helpless in his charge.
Dumarest—and the precious secret he owned. One which had
made Avro into an angel.
The cyber leaned back as the raft headed toward town. High
above, a winged shape glided, others wheeling close. Small birds
feeding on airborne seeds, mindless creatures operating on a
plane of sheer instinct but, for a moment, he envied them.
Remembering the freedom of the skies, the rush of wind, the
thrum of pinions, the surging impact of alien emotions. Then he
had known hate and fear and anger and, yes, even concern. He
had known the burning flame of passion and, at the end, he had
experienced death.
Watching him, Cardor felt a mounting unease. He was young,
taken and trained by the Cyclan, yet still to don the scarlet robe
which was the mark of a cyber. He might never wear it. Not all
acolytes made the grade. Some continued to work in subordinate
capacities but the majority quietly vanished from sight, erased
by the touch of oblivion.
He said, "I did what I could, master. As I was ordered to do."
By Tron who had demonstrated his inefficiency. Who had
escaped his punishment by extinction.
"Tell me again what happened."
Unnecessary repetition, every detail was clear in Avro's mind
as the acolyte knew. As he also knew that, in making the
demand, the cyber had put him on trial. The next few minutes
would decide his fate.
"I arrived with Cyber Tron on Baatz fifteen days ago. We
stayed at the Dubedat Hotel. He was in contact with an agent in
 
the circus of Chen Wei. The man had reported that Dumarest
was attached to the circus and could be captured. Cyber Tron
visited the circus but neither Dumarest nor the agent was
present. He made a second visit later. That is when he died."
"And you?"
"Obeying orders, I stayed in town. To meet you should you
arrive and report on what was happening. When Cyber Tron
failed to return I made inquiries at the circus. There I learned of
the accident." Cardor paused, reliving the incident, recognizing
its importance. "The owner, Tayu Shakira, explained what had
happened. An animal had gone berserk, broken free of its cage
and had run amok. A klachen. It—"
"I know what it is. Continue."
"Its keeper, Valaban, had been killed. Cyber Tron and
Dumarest also. There were witnesses."
"Did you see the bodies?"
"No. But with Shakira's permission I tested the witnesses with
lie-detectors. All responses were positive. They were not lying."
"But you did not see the bodies."
"They had been disposed of before I arrived. A matter of
necessity, so it was explained. The scent of blood needed to be
eradicated in order to prevent further upset among the beasts.
And the bodies themselves were terribly mangled. But some
things had been saved. Cyber Tron's bracelet and a gun he
carried. I recognized them both."
Proof the cyber had died—but the others? Avro stared at
distant, wheeling shapes. Valaban, certainly, the man must have
died if Dumarest had escaped but, from the evidence, he had
joined the others in death. A fact Avro found hard to accept; he
did not want to accept. Yet to refute the evidence was to be
illogical.
"How many witnesses did you examine?"
 
"Eight. Three actually saw the incident. The others all saw the
bodies and three helped to dispose of them."
"And the owner?"
"He actually saw nothing. Cyber Tron must have contacted
the agent direct."
"But you tested him?"
"I did. With his permission after I pointed out how ill advised
he would be to make an enemy of the Cyclan. The findings
confirmed what he claimed."
Which meant that he had not lied. And yet… And yet…
"Relate the evidence of those who saw the incident," said
Avro. "Individually and in detail."
He sat immobile as he listened to the acolyte. The raft headed
toward the sun and warm hues painted his face with red and
gold and amber. Colors which accentuated the scarlet of his
robe, reflecting brilliantly from the sigil adorning his breast. The
Seal of the Cyclan, the symbol of his power. Yet despite the
sunlight and the warm tint of his robe a chill rested about him.
An aura emphasized by the skull-like contours of his face. One
thin to the point of emaciation, the scalp shaven, the deep-set
eyes meshed by lines. The visage of a living machine devoid of
the capacity of emotion. A flesh and blood robot who could only
know the pleasure of mental achievement.
Behind him the site of the circus fell away. The barren
ground, the litter, the crusted lagoon. The pool in which the dead
had been buried and, with them, the ending of a dream.
At night Baatz became a world of gaiety with bright lanterns
illuminating the tiered buildings and the market itself turned
into a playground. Here the venders, traders, merchants and
entrepreneurs put aside business and joined with stallholders,
farmers, shopkeepers, housewives, workers and the restless tide
of transients that made up the population.
 
A time of drinking and dancing and merriment but one free of
violence. The air saw to that, the invisible spores it carried from
the vegetation clothing the surrounding hills. Exudations which
calmed and reduced tension so that men laughed instead of
quarreling and sought peaceful solutions instead of bloody
settlements.
Like a scarlet ghost Avro moved through the town.
Cardor could have accomplished the task, as could others of
his own acolytes, but he needed to do it himself. The woman who
answered his knock frowned as she saw his face, became
respectful as she recognized his robe. Even on Baatz the Cyclan
was known.
"My lord!" Her head dipped in a bow. "This is an honor. How
may I serve you?"
"A man stayed here." Avro's tone was the even modulation of
his kind, devoid of all irritating factors. "Dumarest. Earl
Dumarest. I have the correct address?"
"You have, my lord. He hired a room upstairs. In the back."
She blinked sorrowful eyes. "Such a pity he died."
"You heard?"
"From the circus. They told me to sell his things and to let the
room if anyone wanted it. Not that he'd used it much."
"Let me see it."
It was a box containing a narrow bed, a cabinet, a small table,
two chairs. A rug half-covered the bare wood of the floor. A jug
held scummed water and a bowl had a chipped rim. Avro
assessed this at a glance then he was at the cabinet, searching,
the table, the drawers. They yielded nothing and he dropped to
his knees and checked the underside of the bed, the chairs,
finally stripping the cot and examining the bare, wooden
structure.
Nothing aside from a few crumpled papers, some packets of
 

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