The Fenris Device by Brian Stableford

the hood and connected the electrodes to my neck. I gave her a quick burst which took us away from the Saberwing in a long arc. I put a few thousand miles of empty space between ourselves and the doomed ship, and then I let her slip back into a groove at low velocity. Then I ripped the hood off and turned my attention back to the Gallacellan.
    â€œI know nothing about this,” said Ecdyon, as soon as he knew that he had my attention. “Nothing at all.”
    I didn’t know whether to believe him or not. If not Ecdyon, then perhaps it was Stylaster. But Stylaster would have had to use a go-between. Why not Ecdyon? Was this the sort of thing that Stylaster would even think of? The burst of insight began to look pretty faint in the light of reason. The Gallacellans were not, so far as was known, addicted to foul play. Quite the reverse. The idea of Stylaster using a man like Maslax for his own ends was patently ludicrous. And what did Ecdyon have to gain, if he were acting on his own behalf?
    Maslax was looking on with obvious amusement.
    â€œHow did you know about the Varsovien ?” I asked him.
    â€œI can read minds,” he said.
    â€œGallacellan minds?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen how did you know? Only the Gallacellans knew about the ship.”
    â€œYou knew.”
    â€œYou’re not trying to tell me you read it in my mind?” I said. “Is that how you knew my name? And Nick delArco’s?”
    â€œI know more than that,” he said, with a hint of a sneer. “And about the Varsovien , I know more than you.”
    I looked back at Ecdyon. He was totally unreadable. Eve had let go of his hands once Maslax had picked up the gun again.
    â€œIs that possible?” I asked the Gallacellan. “Could he know about the ship?”
    â€œI have told him nothing,” said Ecdyon. “I have never seen him before. If he knows anything, then he has another source of information—a Gallacellan source—or he really can read your mind, in which case he knows no more than you do.”
    â€œI know more,” Maslax said confidently.
    â€œProve it,” I said.
    â€œI know about the Fenris device.”
    Well, he certainly hadn’t got that from my mind. I’d never heard of any such thing. I looked at Ecdyon. “Well?” I said. .
    â€œI know nothing about any such device,” he said.
    Maslax looked disappointed. He might have been a very good actor, or he might well have thought that he was proving his point.
    â€œDoes the word mean anything to you?” I asked the Gallacellan.
    â€œI know what ‘device’ means,” he replied. “But I have never heard the other word. It is not a Gallacellan word. Its Gallacellan equivalent is quite meaningless.”
    â€œThe Varsovien has a Fenris device,” Maslax said definitely. “I know that’s so. It’s no good the alien lying. I know what I know.”
    â€œHe isn’t lying,” I said. “He doesn’t know what it means any more than I do. I never heard the word either. It doesn’t belong to any Earth language I know.”
    â€œYes it does,” said Eve.
    I stared hard at her. Maslax looked at her too, dumbfounded.
    â€œWell, don’t just stand there,” I said. “Tell me.”
    â€œFenris was a wolf,” she said. “A giant wolf that ate up the moon . In the story of the twilight of the gods.”
    I had no difficulty in extracting the relevant phrase from what she said. Ate up the moon sounded very ominous to me. Very ominous indeed.
    â€œThe Fenris device is a weapon,” I said.
    â€œThat’s it,” said Maslax, smiling. His teeth were bad. “I told you. I told you I knew.”
    He hadn’t exactly shown us anything yet. But I was beginning to think that he might not be as crazy as he seemed.
    The call circuit crackled. “ Gray Goose to Hooded Swan . Gray Goose to Hooded Swan .” The police