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"In what regard was Bustamonte obstinate?" Beran persisted. "He refused to
concede to all your desires?"
Palafox chuckled hollowly. "Ah, you young rascal! I believe you would deprive
me of all my prerogatives."
Beran was silent, reflecting that if he ever became Panarch, this indeed would
be one of his primary concerns.
Palafox spoke on in a more conciliatory tone. "These affairs are for the
future, and need not concern us now. At the present we are allies. To
signalize this fact, I have arranged that a modification be made upon your
body, as soon as we arrive at Pon."
Beran was taken by surprise. "A modification?" He considered a moment, feeling
a qualm of uneasiness. "Of what nature?"
"What modification would you prefer?" Palafox asked mildly.
Beran darted a glance at the hard profile. Palafox seemed completely serious.
"The total use of my brain."
"Ah," said Palafox. "That is the most delicate and precise of all, and would
require a year of toil on Breakness itself. At Pon it is impossible.
Choose again."
"Evidently my life is to be one of many emergencies," said Beran. "The power
of projecting energy from my hand might prove valuable."
"True," reflected Palafox. "And yet, on the other hand, what could more
completely confuse your enemies than to see you rise into the air and float
away? And since, with a novice, the easy projection of destruction endangers
friends as well as enemies, we had better decide upon levitation
Each differed from the others in height, weight, skin- and hair-color, but
each was like the others.
"My sons," said Palafox. "Everywhere on Pao you will find my sons...But time
is valuable, and we must set about your modification."
Page 38
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Beran alighted from the car; the sons of Palafox led him away. They laid
the anaesthetized body on a pallet, injected and impregnated the tissues with
various toners and conditioners. Then standing far back, they flung a switch.
There was a shrill whine, a flutter of violet light, a distortion of the space
as if the scene were observed through moving panels of poor glass.
The whine died; the figures stepped forward around the body now stiff, dead,
rigid. The flesh was hard, but elastic; the fluids were congealed; the joints
firm.
The men worked swiftly, with exceeding deftness. They used knives with
entering edges only six molecules thick. The knives cut without pressure,
splitting the tissues into glass-smooth laminae. The body was laid open
halfway up the back, slit down either side through the buttocks, thighs,
calves. With single strokes of another type of knife, curiously singing, the
soles of the feet were removed. The flesh was rigid, like rubber; there was no
trace of blood or body fluid, no quiver of muscular motion.
A section of lung was cut out, an ovoid energy-bank introduced.
Conductors were laid into the flesh, connecting to flexible transformers in
the buttocks, to processors in the calves. The antigravity mesh was laid into
the bottom of the feet and connected to the processors in the calves by means
of flexible tubes thrust up through the feet.
The circuit was complete. It was tested and checked; a switch was installed
under the skin of the left thigh. And now began the tedious job of restoring
the body.
The soles were dipped in special stimulating fluid, returned precisely into
place, with accuracy sufficient to bring cell wall opposite cell wall,
A week passed, while Beran, still comatose, healed. He returned to
consciousness to find Palafox standing before the pallet.
"Rise," said Palafox. "Stand on your feet."
Beran lay quiet for a moment, aware by some inner mechanism that considerable
time had passed.
Palafox seemed impatient and driven by haste. His eyes glittered; he made an
urgent gesture with his thin strong hand. "Rise! Stand!"
Beran slowly raised himself to his feet.
"Walk!"
Beran walked across the room. There was a tautness down his legs, and the
energy-bulb weighed on the muscles of his diaphragm and rib-
sheathing.
Palafox was keenly watching the motion of his feet. "Good," he exclaimed. "I
see no halting or discoordination. Come with me."
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