"You were in the chamber where I keep the bodies I use. I felt your
presence."
Kael stared his surprise.
"I knew you watched," the High Mor went on. "I could have spoken to you
there. But it is better to meet you this way, face to face, away from
those reminders that I am not as you. In a humanoid body, I may speak
with you, as man to man.
"Only this way can I hope to convince you that I offer you more than
you can ever gain without me. I am no man. I am a god! A god of primal
space! I have lived for eon piled upon eon, hunting and seeking through
the stars, studying the worlds I found. On some I lived for ages,
on others I dwelt for only a little while. All those worlds, Kael
McCanahan, I offer you!
"Be an emperor, Terran! Rule every planet in all space. The greatest
jewels of Strae'eth or Vrann can be yours, to wear on your person or to
be hung in ropes of diamonds about the neck of any woman in all space!
Lead my battle fleets! On distant Sfar, my technicians shall make you a
hundred billion sfarrans to serve under your banner. They shall make
the greatest warships that ply the starlanes, each one encrusted with
your name!"
The McCanahan shivered. It was a prospect that shook a man loose from
his moorings.
To rule the stars! To sit on a throne and gaze out at the peoples of
the universe bowed before him. To have the faery women of Cygni and
Flormaseron in a harem, waiting his pleasure.
It was a thought that would have appealed to nine men in ten. Kael
McCanahan called himself a fool, but he turned his visions aside.
"I want no conquests. I want no jewels. The only woman I want is
Flaith. Where is she?"
* * * * *
The High Mor sighed. "In a tower, well guarded. No harm has come to
her. No harm will come. I am no sadist to harm a woman. Not when what I
seek is possessed by a man. Tell me, Terran. What is your price?"
"Peace! Friendship with Terra and the men of Terra. Let the Solar
Combine send its traders to Senorech. Peace between the peoples of the
stars."
The High Mor laughed. "I too, seek peace. A peace that will end with my
dragon banner floating above the towers of New Washington, Terra. With
your precious Solar Combine run by the sfarri. I offer you a place in
that peace, Kael McCanahan. A high place. The highest place of all! I
am a god! I have no need of earthly things. You do.
"Give me your answer, Terran!"
For a moment, the temptation was there. But in that same moment,
the McCanahan remembered the blasted _Eclipse_, and the dead Father
he loved, and Captain Edmunds, straight and lean in his white Fleet
uniform. A memory came to him of Cassy Garson and the kisses she had
given him in a drifting galley on the Tigranian Sea. The High Mor
was not human. He knew nothing of the loves and lusts, the fears and
terrors of human beings. He was as far removed from the Senn and
Terrans as man is from the ant.
"I answer--no! You'd blacken Earth with your rays and leave empty
ruins. You'd take everything in space! And me--what of me?"