Lord of Janissaries by Jerry Pournelle, Roland J. Green Page A

really.”
    “But—right now? Just like that? Where do we go?”
    “That’s the part I can’t tell you. A long voyage to exotic and distant lands. I can promise you that.”
    “With you.”
    “Yes. With me.” He drove with both hands on the wheel, both eyes on the road; almost as if he were afraid of the truck. Now he let go to take her hand for a moment and squeeze it. “With me. I promise you that.”
    She thought about it. But it was all so strange. “What’s in the truck? Your travel equipment? What—who are you? CIA?”
    “What if I were?”
    “I—wouldn’t like that.”
    “Then I’m not,” he said. “Let’s see. Other question. The gear in the truck is for travel, but it is not mine. I get equipment for others. Get it and deliver it.”
    “But always at night—”
    “Generally,” he agreed.
    “Les, where are we going? I thought Mexico for a moment, but we’re going northeast. Where—”
    “Can’t tell you. But will you come with me?”
    “If I don’t?”
    He let the truck slow. “I turn around and take you home.”
    “And then?”
    “And then I leave. I have to go, Gwen. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to tell you much, but I can’t. I do want you to go with me, but you don’t have much time to make up your mind.”
    “How long—how long will we be gone?”
    “A long time. Years. But you’ll see exotic places, faraway places, places you’ll never see unless you come with me.”
    “I didn’t pack very much,” she said. “Not for being away that long. Will you buy me a grass skirt?”
    The truck ran on for a second more. Then he stopped, turned, and kissed her. “I’m glad,” he said. Then he started up. “We don’t have a lot of time. They won’t wait all night.”
    “Who won’t?” she asked.
    An hour later she knew.

2

    Gwen was on the Moon. She had to keep telling herself that. She was on the Moon and talking to a TV set.
    The face on the TV was human. Strange, but human, and after what Gwen had seen on the ship, any human face was a relief.
    The man looked bored. “You have come voluntarily?” he asked.
    An embarrassing question. Gwen was naked, except for a sheet that she wrapped around herself when she realized that the TV screen worked both ways. She sat on the edge of the bed to talk to the man in the rust-colored tunic who’d appeared on the screen. Les lay partly covered on the bed, and his expression was—worried? Why worried, she wondered.
    “Yes, I came voluntarily,” she said. “Les asked me to come. He said I would visit strange and exotic lands and—”
    “You boarded voluntarily,” the man said. “Will you be missed? Will your disappearance cause difficulties? Widespread search by the authorities?”
    “I don’t think so. I left a note for my landlady that said I was going for a weekend trip. She’ll worry when I don’t come back after that. She may call the police.”
    “They will probably assume you were murdered. That is no problem of mine.” The screen went blank.
    “That’s over,” Les said. He looked relieved.
    Why relieved? And why had he been worried? There was a lot that Gwen didn’t understand. But certainly she was glad she had come. There were marvels enough, even here in the compartment. It was lavishly furnished, mostly with goods from Earth; but some of the furnishings were new and strange. There was the TV with its strange control box that could call up books and maps and all kinds of interesting material—the only problem was that she couldn’t read a word of it. And there had been the aliens, and the experience of seeing Earth from space. Now she felt the low gravity of the Moon and could see the lunar surface on the TV screen. It was all frightening, but exciting, too.
    “Who was that man?” she asked.
    “A policeman,” Les said.
    “What would have happened if I had said you kidnapped me?”
    “He probably would not have believed you. But if you had said the Shalnuksis had kidnapped you, there would