“Your pardon, master,” said a voice that Duke Harald recognized as belonging to his Terran acquaintance, Melton. “But I assumed… I believed, rather, just what I told our Arkadian friend. That TPH was nothing but a story.”
“In a sense, you were right. In another sense, however, the drug is… but hold! That would seem to be my call.”
The Arkadians could hear in the background a soft musical ringing; followed by a lengthy spell of silence.
“What’s wrong?” Count Godfrey asked in a whisper. “Did your transmitter go out? Now, of all times?”
“No—the carrier’s still on. Hear it?” There was a faint hissing sound coming from the machine, punctuated at that moment by a startling twang. “And that,” said Duke Harald, with a wry smile for his own momentary startle, “is Melton, getting restless. The only place I could hide the Sonotec was behind a leg of the visitor’s chair. And it sounds as though the springs creak!
“By the galaxy, I don’t know… yes, I do! Master Elwyn’s en rapport with another adept. They don’t use voice between themselves, you know.”
“Now, Melton,” the adept’s voice came in again, slowly and deliberately, “as I was saying, in a sense you are right. However, and in view of the fact that your initiation into the Esper Guild is almost upon you—your vigil is set for tomorrow night—there are some things that you now should know. To which end, I would suggest that you study these—”
An abrupt and thunderous crashing from the speaker, and all sound went out; even to the thin hiss of the carrier. The two noble conspirators stared at each other with a wild surprise. And Duke Harald reached out to cut the playback. Suddenly the speaker burst into a senseless gabble.
“What? Oh, sure,” said Duke Harald, and he deftly changed the scramble setting.
“Your grace,” a voice was saying, in purest Arkadian accents, “the Sonotec transmission went out at 0435 hours. From the nature of the readings at the time of the break, destruction of the sender is most likely. I shall try to pass this spool to you at the assigned time and place. I am now abandoning this location.”