"I'd do whatever has to be done," you shrug, feigning nonchalance despite your excitement. "Assuming we could find a Stellae for me to be."
"You're forgetting your first great coup after joining us," Hyde-White replies. "You were able to copy the mind and memories of one. Since then we have had almost all of them under a distant and cautious, but constant, observation.
"Oh, there have been changes to their composition," he continues as you make a startled blink. "Some have died. New ones, we think, have joined. We have never made any further forays against them, even for data collection, and our surveillance operation has been Dark Stars's most closely guarded secret, executed not by our own agents but by independent investigators who do not know who is paying them or for what purpose. Nonetheless, we could drop one of own agents next to any Stellae with almost no prior notice."
"Is this the assignment you're offering me? An infiltration of the Stellae?"
"Need I be so blunt as to say 'yes'?" His expression turns very puckish.
"I'm definitely interested in the assignment, professor. Uh, is it to be supervised by Diana or by—?"
"By myself. Vulcan. You would be loaned to us. Would you object?"
"No, but Dey might."
"Julian has already signed off on a loan. He understands the dividends to be collected. But it would be a Vulcan operation, because it would be a stress test of our technology. It would be hazardous duty, I must warn you."
"You mean you haven't got the bugs worked out it?" You nod at the nearby machine.
"Oh, it works perfectly. What I mean is that there are unknown hazards in using it to infiltrate the Stellae. Would they be able to detect the imposture? We don't know. We can't know until we attempt it."
That caution does give you pause, but does not change your determination to take the assignment. "So would this just be a test run, to put me in to see if anyone spots me?"
"Yes," the professor says with a slight hesitation. "Of course, we should like additional dividends. To have a spy in their midst would be most useful. To have a spy who could bring us additional Stellae we could replace. There might be other possibilities—" He shifts in his chair. "Possibilities that would not occur to us until our infiltrator pointed them out to us."
"But it doesn't really matter which one I infiltrate."
"Well, we've drawn up a list of likely infiltrations, ones that would be useful on a long-term basis." The professor takes out his glasses and opens his attaché case. From it he draws a manila folder. He studies it awhile.
As he does so, you look over the machine. It doesn't look very portable. They can't be planning to lure a Stellae into this building, can they?
"We have sorted our potential targets into three categories," Hyde-White says, and you turn back to him. "In the first are what we might call our safest targets, the ones where we would be able to afford you our greatest protection. They are Stellae who often work alone, so you would not be around their colleagues so much. You would also be able to meet a Vulcan handler, and submit your new body and its characteristics for testing and study without arousing suspicion."
"Sounds like a smart play," you cautiously admit.
"The second we think would also be safe, though it would not pay immediate dividends. There are a number of new recruits in training with the Stellae. We would infiltrate you into one of them. You would train as a Stellae and work as a long-term mole."
That doesn't sound very safe. "How old are these trainees?"
"One is a child. The other two are young teenagers."
"They couldn't fight, and they'd be under close observation."
"Yes, it is a risk," says Hyde-White. "We are rather counting on the fact that they are new to the Stellae, and that any changes the Stellae notice might be explicable as evolutions in the children, not as the insertion of a cuckoo into the nest."
"It's still more risky."
"Then call it a risk," he shrugs. "The third option is to infiltrate a senior member of the cult. You would be quite powerful and could protect yourself, and you could repay us immediate dividends. But you would be exposed to the scrutiny of the others."
You nod. "These all make sense. But are there any particular names to go with these categories? Who in particular could I be?"
The professor starts to hand you a glossy photograph, but pauses to fix you with a stare. "You are a professional, Mr. Prescott," he says. "You take assignments on their merits, not on their glamour. I think you should use your judgment on where you should be before deciding on who."
You can't help swallowing. Just how ugly are these people?
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