CHAPTER 3Nasir Kalif was a hundred and thirty-two years old but artifice had lifted a barrier against the years. A mechanical heart beat within his chest, chemicals laved his blood, and fresh organs had replaced the old. Only his brain remained untouched—the unique organ that housed the mind and the conceptions it entertained, the power that had made him the Comptroller of Earth Confederation.
“Later you will be given a complete mental and physical examination,” he said to Varl. “For now, tell me how you feel.”
“Relieved.”
“At having left Voltan? I can appreciate your sentiments. A soft and congenial world but one cursed with peculiar customs.”
“Imported from Earth.”
“True.” Kalif made a small gesture with a hand as thin and as curved as the claw of a bird. “The Confederation embraces
