then the loop ended.
They all sat around the room in silence. Arran looked at Jason Worthing with loathing. Baak glanced at both the starpilot and his agent with an amused half - smile. Jason looked at Hop. Hop looked at Jason. "Jason, you're a bastard," Hop said.
Chapter 4
"THE LOOP is a fake, Hop," Jazz said, with feeling.
Baak chuckled. "Should we enlarge the image for you? Show you the fingerprints? It's not fake. Jason Worthing is up to his ears in a plot to help someone - this mysterious person who controls the Cabinet - take over somec, and with it the government, not in the subtle way he now controls it, but openly, overtly, taking the reins of power himself. And I don't think I'm the only one who objects to someone playing around with my somec. I like the thought of being immortal. So does everybody else."
Jason said again, now sounding more tired. "The loop is a fraud."
Hop shook his head. "You can't fake a loop, Jazz. I know you. And that was you."
"You know me, but you don't know what that loop means," Jazz insisted.
Baak swung himself off the bed again, where he had reclined during the playback of the loop, and walked over to Jason. "Actually, Jazz, Arran's little cup didn't contain enough to kill you. Remember, the ritual she offered you required only a little sip. It would have put you to sleep long enough for us to get you here, where I can find out from you the one thing that nobody knows right now."
"I don't know anything that you don't know," Jason said wearily.
"You know one thing, Jazz. You know who is supposed to walk out when you hold out your arm in that loop. You know who our enemy is."
Jason shook his head.
"Don't worry, Jason. We don't expect you to volunteer the information. When the probe gets through with you, you'll have so little mind left that you won't even notice when we kill you." Baak waved to the guards and they pulled Jason out of the room.
Before the door slid closed behind them, though, Jason called out, "Don't believe it, Hop!" Then silence.
Farl Baak looked at Hop with raised eyebrows. "He must value your opinion very highly, Mr. Noyock, to want so badly for you to deny the evidence of your own eyes."
"Maybe," Hop said.
"Now we have a problem, Hop. What to do with you. You're a witness, unfortunately, and there could be serious legal repercussions to what happened today. Shimon Rapth and I have a lot left to accomplish, even after we find out from your ex - client who our enemy is."
"My enemy, too," Hop said.
"I'm glad you feel that way. Unfortunately, Hop, there's always the risk that you might suddenly feel a rush of loyalty to the bastard whom you've served so well during the last few centuries, and we can't afford to have you wandering around, able to tell people what you know. You understand?"
"I'd rather you didn't kill me," Hop said, amazed to discover that he could say that calmly. Baak laughed.
"Kill you! Of course not. You'll just be my guest here for a few days. We aren't animals, Hop. At least we try not to be. Arran will show you to your room. Unfortunately, we'll have to lock the door behind you, but that can't be helped. We happen to know that you're a wily old devil, and there's a strong risk of you sneaking out if we don't bar the door." Baak laughed again, but it was a friendly laugh, the kind of laugh that a good man laughs when he's been worried for days, but now knows that things are going to work out well for him. Hop found himself feeling almost at ease.
Arran led the way down a short hall to another room. It was almost as plush as Farl Baak's own. The guard waited outside as Arran went in with him. She touched his arm as he stood surveying his surroundings.
"Hop, I'm sorry I almost killed you there in the hiding place. I was fighting for my life."
"All in a day's work," Hop said. "You aren't the first."
"What I'm saying, Hop, is that we were both forced into doing things we usually wouldn't do. By Worthing. I don't think we have to hate each other."
"Are you looping this?" Hop asked.
"No," she said, looking a little angry.
"Well, I am," he said, and smiled. "I have an exclusive. I'll give