Read Songs From the Stars for Free Online Page B

and the craftsmen who had examined the sorcery-tainted radios in the office she had commandeered while casually tending to a vast assortment of business with other people. While she let them convince her that only a true black scientist could have discovered the hidden atomic cores in the merchandise, she hoped that this public performance would convince her own people that the Lightnings were lying, that she hadn't knowingly betrayed her tribe to black science.
    Then she went through the blizzard of messages awaiting her. Levan wanted to see her at once, half a dozen scribes wanted interviews, and most of the astrologers and soothsayers in town were eager to improve her destiny for a stiff fee. There were dozens of notes from old friends and lovers telling her they were with her in spirit, but asking her to accept their regrets for wanting to make discretion the better part of valor.
    To hell with it all! she decided. I'm just going to take a bath and see no one for the rest of the day.
    She was just toweling herself down in her quarters and beginning to cool out a little when some bozo knocked on the door, despite the message she had left not to be disturbed.
    "Go away!" she shouted. "I don't want to be bothered."
    "Not even by a representative of Space Systems Incorporated?" said a basso voice on the other side of the door.
    "What?" Sue shouted. "What did you say?"
    "I'm a representative of Space Systems Incorporated. I must speak with you privately on a matter of vital mutual interest."
    Sure you are! Sue thought sourly. And I'm the wicked witch of the west! Still, anyone who was crazy enough to claim he was a Spacer deserved some craziness back. So she went to the door with the towel wrapped low under her armpits, exposing a goodly amount of breast. Maybe I'll just tease this maniac and see what happens, she decided.
    A creepy-looking young man stood in the doorway, heavy with pudge, bald on top, doughy like a baby around the jowls, and weird looking around his intense watery blue eyes. He seemed to stare right through her half-draped body without reacting. This is a sinister black scientist? He was a total turn-off, his seeming indifference to her fair flesh infuriated her, and she felt like an asshole. But she was damned if she was going to show it.
    "So you're a Spacer?" she purred sardonically. "Well come on in and let's get acquainted."
    The pudgy man took a seat by the dressing table while Sue reclined provocatively on the bed, letting the towel ride high up her bare thighs, determined to get a sexual rise out of this creature so she could torment him with rejection. "So?" she said in a sultry voice. "What do you really want?"
    "I'm John Swensen, and I represent Arnold Harker, Project Manager for the implementation of this scenario," the so-called Spacer said. "He wants to meet with you at once; the scenario calls for it." He did seem a little sweaty now, staring carefully at a fixed point slightly above her head as Sue let the towel drop a little, exposing the aureole of one nipple. "A great opportunity will be yours if you follow the scenario nominally."
    "Scenario? Nominally? Great opportunity? What the hell are you talking about?"
    "The scenario that brought you to La Mirage. It has been followed nominally thus far. You bought the radios, our operative in the Eagle Tribe arranged for the so-called black science to be revealed, and here you are to be judged by Clear Blue Lou. Phase two requires—"
    "Shit, this is serious, isn't it?" Sue said, sitting upright and drawing the towel more protectively around her. Suddenly she felt all too naked. This confirmed her worst conjecture—the damn Spacers had set her up, and this creature had just established his credibility by telling her how. Unlikely as he seemed in the role of a sorcerer, he was the real thing.
    "Of course it's serious!" the Spacer said in his first display of excitement. "It's a moment of great destiny for you and for the world. Phase two of the