Mind GamesConditioned to enhance an inborn ability to acutely perceive another's emotional state, Klavik, security director of a massive world ruled by the sole monarchy in neohuman interstellar society, investigates the ruler's assassination while on holiday in parsecs-distant Eden, a terraformed pleasure world operated by a distant syndicate peopled by alien exotics. A pair of royal companions force themselves upon Klavik during his sojourn in Eden, where his empathic perception “sixth sense” enables him to fasten on a nervous official as a prime suspect to interrogate, but is frustrated because his energies must be channeled toward protecting his illustrious companions. Eden's planetary director, Shatterhand, ushers the threesome into a “hall of mirrors” where nothing is as it seems. After feints and ploys designed to distract or frighten he and his charges away, Klavik senses “nibblings” at the limbic fringes of his mind, and intuits the the presence of an alien telepath. Sly mental assaults persist until his charges are taken hostage, and the ultimate confrontation erupts in a rapacious battle of wills. |
From inside the book
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... exotic e final confrontation ends in a npzcionsvbzll William Walling, a lifelong Californian and former zeros ace engineer, was employed during the Desert semi conflict y i 0 Menla Perk deve per of Flight Marian Simulators, Ind more ...
... exotics known only by hearsay due to its “otherness” and entrepreneurial brilliance, Parvons resemble neohumans in only one respect: intelligence. Following a round of stiff competitive bidding, the Parvon Syndicate awarded lucrative ...
... exotics encased in bioregenerative null-grav capsules to interdict them from the poisonous, oxygen-rich atmosphere — roamed Eden on a final inspection tour. They found the cloned android population enjoying its teens and early twenties ...
... exotic species in general. Where the Parvons are concerned, practically no information is tp be had on the planet itself, a distant hydrosphere, its infrastructure, social matrix, culture or anything else.” Kurani's contemptuous snort ...
... exotics, their sole aim to rake in gross quantities of stellars. Why in the name of the Holy First Principle would a gaggle of alien exotics hang a name like Eden on their plush bagnio? Surely not to honor a mythical garden spot from ...