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Show told him long before-when he'd first recruited him-to keep himself in deep cover, even from his son who, in t r u t h , the old Smith-Sheblem trusted not at all with overmuch power, the power of accessing the great, monstrous, bloated Governor's main memory. Hence the absence of a holograph image in his message to Dr'Igor, and even a disguising of his mournful voice. Aye, Dr'Igor's folk never knew who had been working with them, had never seen him, didn't know a man named Phrapp existed. Only old Doctor Smith-Sheblem had known him-and as a quiet, brooding young man with hooded eyes and large, sensitive mouth, who harbored such a dislike of the huge, smothering BauerNetwork and who was, at the same time, something of a mathematical genius. And no one at all knew how much the young man had worshipped Anya, the daughter of one of Smith-Sheblem's colleagues-in-crime, Doctor Rice- Needlesmith. Even the woman herself had never seen him, hadn't known a man named Phrapp existed. Aye, and that particular secrecy had been Phrapp's decision, for old Smith-Sheblem never dreamed of his student's attachment to the young Anya. Phrapp had known well that it was one thing for a Doctor to arrange a marriage between his daughter and the son of the rich Gundarholt merchant family, but quite another to consider as belle-son a landless member of the Bauercrats. Aye, the mournful young Phrapp had known that fact full well. "Dr'Anya," murmured Phrapp as he slid his hands over the'keys. Then he noticed a slight difference in the room , an electric feel...some presence.... It had been then that the lights were palmed off and he'd been seized 164 |