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There was an awkward interval. “Don’t you recognize me?” he demanded.

Clarey shook his head. The girl laughed again.

“A blow to my ego, but proof that you’re the right man for this job. I’m General Spano. And this is my Mistress, Secretary Han Vollard.”

The girl inclined her head.

“At least you must know my name?” Spano said querulously.

“I’ve heard it,” Clarey admitted. “‘The Fiend of Fomalhaut,’ they call you,” he went on before he could catch himself and stop the words.

The girl clapped her hand over her mouth, but the laughter spilled out over and around it, pretty U-E laughter.

Spano finally laughed, too. “It’s a phrase that might be used about any military man. One carries out one’s orders to the best of one’s ability.”

“Besides,” Clarey observed in a non-Archivistic manner, “what concern have I with your military morality?”

“He’s absolutely perfect for the job, Steff!” she cried. “I didn’t think the machines were that good!”

“We mustn’t underestimate the machines, Han,” Spano said. “They’re efficient, very efficient. Someday they’ll take over from us.”