Cyborg from Earth

CHAPTER ONE JeffersonKopal is a coward. He knows it, and if he doesn't do something about it soon, so "will everyone else. Jeff wrote the words on the yellowing sheet of paper that he had found folded in the back of one of the old books. He read the note aloud, three times. Finally he crumpled the sheet into a ball and looked around for a good way to dispose of it. Logically, the end of an exorcism ought to be by fire. He should burn the page. But how? The library fireplace was wide and deep, but it was too early in the year for anyone to think of lighting a fire there. No one would anyway, since Jeff seemed to be the only person who ever came to browse through the shelves of old books, with their leather and cloth covers and their look of having been here forever. Everyone else preferred the new library, with its instant and flexible services. It was centrally heated, and the regular array of terminals would never see a naked flame. What about his rooms, or one of the never-used upper suites? There were matches in his bedside tab≤ but with fire monitors scattered everywhere through the vast old house, it was difficult to know where something might be burned without setting off alarms. Outside, then. Jeff walked over to the library window. The weather was clear and calm, with distant trees showing the first tinge of a fall change of color. He looked across the broad lawn toward die pasture and felt a twinge of nervousness, like a sudden cramp in die belly. It was ideal conditions. There was not the slightest chance that die competition would be postponed. He put die ball of paper into his trouser pocket and left the old library that occupied part of the second floor's west wing. It was Jeff's favorite haunt and hideaway. His private suite of rooms was one floor higher. To reach them he had to head over to the house's central atrium, then ascend the wide, curving staircase. He hurried that way, thankful that he didn't meet anyone. It was bad enough to have the framed portraits of the Kopal family staring at him accusingly from the walls. At the very top, the full-length painting of Rollo Kopal had been there to terrify Jeff for as long as he could remember. Rollo had died long before he was born, but Jeff's earliest memories included the frowning picture of his great-grandfather in full uniform, hand on sword pommel. The hard, pebble eyes of the Space Navy admiral and founder of Kopal Transportation stared right at you, no matter where you stood on the staircase. When Jeff reached his rooms die attention light was flashing on the monitor inside the entrance. He called for messages and was surprised to hear Midgeley's voice. The senior servant of the Kopal household sent routine information over the house's public-address system. That meant this message must be personalor Midgeley had some other reason why he would not send it to Jeff in public. "I have important information, sir, regarding your mother." There was no picture, and the voice was totally impartial. No one listening to itor seeing the man himselfwould ever know what Midgeley's own opinions might be of anything that he conveyed to the members of the household: It was the subject, not the tone, that brought Jeff to instant attention. He at once forgot his own worries. He waited, fearing the worst, until Midgeley went on, "It is good news." Before Jeff could decide that the old man maybe had feelings after all, Midgeley was continuing: "Three days ago, Lady Florence was judged well enough to be shipped down to Earth for continued treatment. Given the uncertainty of her condition, she did not wish to arouse advance expectations that might not be fulfilled. Therefore, she instructed me to inform no one of her arriSheffield, Charles is the author of 'Cyborg from Earth' with ISBN 9780765346247 and ISBN 0765346249.