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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... turning his back” on grossly unsettled conditions in the homeworld. Planning to be offworld for a standard month or more, Kraan's beloved sovereign had invited Grand Marshal Kurani to form a bipartisan government, seemingly a spur-of ...
... turned command of the verticraft over to ground control. He felt a sharp drop off in power as the verticraft fell toward the roofpark, flared to a semi-hover, surged propulsively twice, and settled on wheels beneath pneumatic shock ...
... turned rubbery, Klavik sank back into a lounge. He stared upward, speechless, at the artificially stoic mask of Prime Minister Kurani. two Massed drummers beat a slow dirge tempo, the heartbeat of a planet in mourning. A uniformed Royal ...
... turning up —” “We could be there for some time,” insisted Kurani. Then his manner softened somewhat. “Your objection is noted, and deserves a meaningful response. Where the big picture at home is concerned, the Lord Regent is not only ...
... turned, and the library's high, hand-carved doors swung inward manually. “Thought I'd find you here, Prime Minister.” Poised in the doorway, a hand on either handle, stood the adolescent heir to Kraan's ancient throne. # The PM and ...