Wine of the Gods 05: Spy Wars Read Free

local workers led the horses away to the stables. Ajha took a good look at the rest of the embassy staff. Servaones and Clostuones. No Multitude, but a couple of the men looked to be Halfers. Everyone on this side would be a descendant of the Prophets, even if the Halfers had no power.
    Ajha braced his shoulders and joined the 'upper class' half of their group. A lot of Oners thought Clostuones ought to be kept in the lower orders with the Servaones. He was going to have to tap dance around prejudices and put on a façade of that arrogance the Near and Withiones seemed to be born with.
    Natives, servants working for the hotel, took their personal luggage. Ajha picked out the meanings of words despite the accents. Basic English sentence structures with a heavy addition of Arabic and Spanish terms. Close enough to the more mongrelized dialects of the multitude to sound almost familiar. He’d just have to remember to avoid the Hindu and Chinese derived terms he’d grown up with. The natives came in a rainbow of colors, including some startling combinations, oriental eyes with blonde hair, tawny golden skin with matching eyes and hair, dark skin with golden blonde hair. The dominant blonde was something that often cropped up in High Oners, with their genetic engineering. Perhaps the humans here had naturally evolved something similar to the Oner's Dominant Blonde gene.
    Ajha sighed. He had one copy of the C16 insertion with the Dominant Blonde gene. Unfortunately the other had the Dominant Brown gene. The result was a washed out brown. Getting a bit thin on top, already. So much for Oner superiority. In hair.
     
    The staff showed them to their rooms and fled. One of a group of men watching them laughed. "I'm Edmo Withione, Action Team Leader. Pay no attention to the staff, my people have them well in hand."
    Idre nodded politely. "I am Information Team Leader Idre Withione, this is Egto Neartuone, Wnco Withione and Ajha Clostuone."
    Edmo raised an eyebrow at that last, and ignored Ajha thereafter. Just the sort of thing Ajha was used to. He elevated his nose and stood straight.
    "So, you lot spent six months on the ground?" Edmo eyed them.
    "About that. Not much right here; the exploratory gate attached a thousand kilometers to the west. We checked out some of the smaller towns first. Had the accent right and enough knowledge of the world to sound legitimate before we got to the big city." Idre eyed them. "We've been on home leave for two months. You must have come fairly soon after we left."
    "Yeah. C'mon, we'll give you a tour of the City." Behind Edmo, the other seven men started stirring, grins appearing.
    Idre snorted. "A tour of the local fleshpots? No thank you."
    Edmo laughed. "The brothels? Avoid them to do your duty for the One."
    Ajha eyed the eight men cautiously.
    One aspect of the generally unsavory reputation of Action Teams had to do with women. The teams tended to concentrate the men whose genetic mix of three of the Prophet's genes produced an abundance of rapists. Technically speaking. On One, the definition of rape was so tight for Oners that the crime essentially didn't exist. And of course on Native planets like this, the One wanted a cadre of young Halfers to train up as quickly as possible.
    All of them grinned, together. "We're out every night. It's simple to influence thoughts, to get into as many beds as possible."
    "They are just animals, what do they know or care about the parentage of the babies they produce? Do not make the mistake of growing fond of one. They are animals. Lower than the Multitude on our Home. Service them in the name of the One."
    Egto and Wink looked a bit boggled, and Idre opaque. Ajha hoped he wasn't showing his own horrified reaction. Right, I know the natives aren't evolved and engineered to our status, but they are still human beings. Well, close enough. This lot have evolved to fit an agricultural society, and are starting to adapt to urban life. They aren't that far