The Knights of the Black Earth by Margaret Weis, Don Perrin Page B

with his fellow Adonians. Bosk was
another.”
    “As a race,
Adonians are extremely attractive—the men and the women. Snaga Ohme
could not stand to be long in the presence of an ugly person. The only thing
that overcame his squeamishness on this point was money. Continue, Knight
Officer.”
    “Yes, sir. This
Loti had other advantages. He is firm friends— has an almost symbiotic
relationship—with an empath.”
    “Not unusual,”
remarked the Commander. “Empaths enjoy being around Loti because their
drug-induced tranquillity is rarely disturbed and thus the empath is not
subject to disturbing emotions.”
    “The two were
rarely apart, according to Ohme’s notes. The Loti is the only one who can
understand the empath. He acted as a sort of translator whenever Ohme needed to
know what someone was thinking or feeling.”
    “What race is the
empath?”
    “Bosk claims no
one knows. The empath was always cloaked in some sort of disguise. No one ever
saw the face. Ohme had no interest in trying to find out.”
    “So long as the
empath proved useful, Snaga Ohme wouldn’t care.”
    “On studying the
empath’s description, Commander, I think it probable that we are dealing with a
Tongan.”
    The Knight
Commander was silent again.
    “I have examined
all the facts, Knight Commander. The empath is extremely short in stature. He
is always disguised, which indicates that there is something unusual about his
features or his body, and the Tongans as a race are as ugly as the Adonians are
beautiful. He appears to have not only empathic abilities but telepathic
abilities as well. Tongans are the only race to meet all these requirements.”
    “You know, of
course, Knight Officer, that Tongans are forbidden on pain of death from
leaving their home world?”
    “All the more
reason for the disguise, sir.”
    “Perhaps you are
right. At any rate, such an unusual pair would be fairly easy to track.”
    “Bosk had no
difficulty, at first. He and the Loti kept in contact. Both of them were eager
to avenge Ohme’s death. But whereas Bosk had determined that Ohme was murdered
by Derek Sagan, the Loti was following a different theory. He was convinced
that the murderer was a man known as Abdiel. Following this theory, the Loti
worked in the Exile Cafe on Hell’s Outpost, figuring that either Abdiel or
someone who knew the old man’s whereabouts must come to this place eventually.
The last message Bosk received from him, the Loti was joining up with the late
Lady Maigrey Morianna. They planned on entering the Corasian system—”
    “So,” said the
Knight Commander, “the Loti was part of that small band of heroes. His Majesty
owes both his throne and his life to them. Their leader was a cyborg—a rather
unusual cyborg, as I recall.”
    “I have no
information on that, sir,” the officer admitted.
    He was not
surprised that these facts were known to the commander. The Knight Commander
knew every prominent and/or infamous person in the galaxy; he was familiar with
the political situations on innumerable major planets; he was privy to
knowledge not readily accessible to ordinary citizens of the realm. Once, when
the officer had first joined up with the organization, he had used such clues
in an attempt to puzzle out the Knight Commander’s true identity. That had been
almost twenty years ago. Now the officer—a true fanatic—no longer knew or
cared. He revered. And obeyed.
    “No further
information beyond that?”
    “No, sir. Bosk
indicates that he never heard from the Loti again and that attempts to find him
proved beyond his means.”
    “I believe I know
where to look. Return to home base, Knight Officer. Proceed with the
construction of the negative wave device and await my commands. When the
whereabouts of this Loti are discovered, you will be informed.”
    “Yes, Knight
Commander.”
    “What is the Loti’s
name, by the way?”
    “Raoul, sir. And
the empath is known as the Little One.”
    “Raoul and the
Little