In the Palace, he worked under the fretful eye of Old Chalmes, the human Head Valet. As Jon worked and learned to avoid Old Chalmes, so he found a wealth of opportunities for enriching the diet of his mother and hutfamily. Every week he took them the pickings of the meats, bottles of good wine, slabs of bread and cheese.
After the first few weeks Magelsa's demands upon him began to slacken. He realized that his time as her favorite was coming to its end. He also realized that all was not well within the Firgize household. Magelsa was unhappy. She disliked Lord Innoo, whom she found dull. She hated quiet, rural Glegan with its cool forests and windswept heaths. She longed for the bright lights and excitements of Ratan's great cities. Endlessly, she begged Innoo for permission to travel.
This did not endear her to Lord Deshilme. He had not sought the connection with the Gnovii. They were of Blue Seygfan, he of the Red and thus out of favor at court. Magelsa was a compromise of Seygfan, and while the link did add to the security of Firgize on Glegan, it also represented the leash of control held by the Heir himself.
Indeed, long interstellar voyages were most expensive. The cost of improving Castle Firgize to represent Deshilme's royal lineage was heavy. He would not consider another large outlay of funds. Not while he still awaited a grandson and heir.
Of course, Magelsa applied retroactive contraceptives every day with the hope that eventually she would get her way and be sent home to Ratan. There her disastrous marriage could be dissolved and she could resume the pleasures of her previous life.
Unfortunately for Magelsa, her dissatisfaction had been noted by Lord Firgize's own wife, the Lady Flaam. Flaam believed she had found her last chance to cement her own line to Firgize. Flaam came from the family Castigrii, upstarts on Glegan's south continent. She dreamed of enriching the Castigrii element in Firgize by arranging a match between Innoo and a young female cousin of Castigrii now entering puberty. But to achieve that end Magelsa had to be killed and disgraced. Should there be simply a divorce, once more freeing the princess on Ratan, then Innoo would be forced to wed another female Gnovii. The Gnovii would insist upon it, and they were well placed in Blue Seygfan. Only if there was some provable taint upon Magelsa could their claim be turned aside under cult rule.
One day, therefore, Jon was awakened early in his own bed by a pair of microcephals. Wearing silly little grins, the huge idiots bound him and put him into a sack, then carried him away and released him, much later, in the presence of the Lady Flaam. She was clad entirely in black, seated in a chair carved to represent the snarling skull of an angmot.
Jon realized he was in great danger. The Lady Flaam allowed no visitors and enjoyed a reputation for poisonings in her own family and casually disposing of her human favorites by dropping them into an underground pool swarming with bloodworms.
"You approach the end of your wretched existence, young man, unless you do exactly as I bid you." Her voice was a harsh whisper as she delivered her instructions then ordered him removed.
Back in his own room Jon faced a critical dilemma. According to Flaam, all he had to do was to disarm the security system on Magelsa's suite door and to send a signal when Magelsa and he were next entangled, naked and sweating on her bed.
Flaam and her guards would then burst in with cameras and microphones and catch Magelsa in the act. This would be Jon's pretext for using a hidden weapon, a small energy blade that Flaam had given him, to take Magelsa hostage and to kill her with when the guards went "berserk" and jumped him.
Flaam assured him that should he perform adequately, some other hapless fool would be substituted in the Agony Booth. Jon would instead be released onto the margins of the Polar Continent where a few small human settlements existed.
Was it possible to trust Flaam? He could visualize that last drop into the seething tank only too easily.
Later, alone with Magelsa, he took pity on the young princess and informed her of the plot that was taking shape around her. She had, after all, saved him from the Agony Booth.
Magelsa was instantly terrified. Her mother-in-law was already a figure of grim speculation from all the stories she'd heard. Now she became a source of hysterical fright. Magelsa ran to Innoo, threw herself down before him, and begged him to help.
Innoo was a survivor. He knew his younger brother would cheerfully seize any opportunity to replace him. He also knew that his mother cared little for him and disliked his match with the Gnovii. He made some thoughtful calculations and then called Jon into his presence.
"You must get into my mother's personal quarters one more time. I will see that you are equipped with the weapons for the job. You must kill her. If you succeed, I will reward you with freedom for yourself and your Hut group."
Jon had no choice but to agree. He submitted to the surgeon and one of his canine teeth was replaced with a poison fang. In addition, the end bones of his middle fingers were removed and replaced with artificial bones containing tiny pistols.
Several days later, Jon approached one of Lady Flaam's black-suited microcephalic Guards and gingerly handed the big man a slip of paper, then hurriedly withdrew. Later that same day, two huge guards appeared in the wardrobe where he worked. Solemnly they stripped him, examined him, and thrust him into the sack.
He was dumped out upon the carpet before Lady Flaam's grim throne.
"Why have you not done as I ordered?" She said.
"I cannot gain entry to her bedchamber. She has a new favorite."
Flaam's withered face screwed up in sudden rage. "You lie, I monitor her nightly orgies. She has no new favorite." She pressed a stud on the arm of her throne. A secret hatch opened in the floor, exposing a dark pit. He heard water lapping far below and something else—the excited hiss of bloodworms.
Jon whirled abruptly and caught the nearest guard napping. His hand lanced out, his finger rested momentarily on the man's tiny forehead. Jon pressed down, hard. There was a little crack, a flash of pain, as the end of his finger burst, then the guard's head exploded and he fell like some human tree, to land with a heavy thud on the carpet.
The other giant sprang forward, picked Jon up to crush him against the wall, but Jon bit down on the massive biceps. He felt his left canine crumple and spat furiously to eject any remaining poison. The guard fell backward with Jon atop his chest.
The Lady Flaam produced a handgun and fired. The pellet singed Jon's cheek and exploded in the masonry behind him. He dove at her feet and knocked her flying.
For a laowon of more than ninety-six years, Lady Flaam was remarkably agile. She landed well and spun to shoot at him again, but Jon had seized one of the guards' pain wands and hurled it straight into her face. She went down with a shriek and then he was on top of her, his hands around her throat, blood from his finger all over her face, his thumbs pressing deep into her esophagous. A red tide flowed across his vision, a roaring rose in his ears, and when he was finally done, she was dead. He stood up and stared about himself. Blood dripped steadily from his shattered fingertip, and more blood seeped from where her nails had raked his cheek. Quickly, he tilted the bodies into the pit and listened to them hit the water far below. The sound of the worms built to a horrible frenzy. He found the switch on the throne and closed the hatch once more.
Sucking his finger to avoid leaving a trail of blood, he ran to Innoo's apartments with his news. Innoo was not there, an ominous departure from the agreed plan. Nor was there a response at Magelsa's suite. In desperation Jon ran from the palace and hid himself in the woods.
The next day there was a hunt. Microcephals and sniffer grenk worked over the grounds of the estate. Jon ran farther into the hills. He lived wild, but his finger began to rot and after four more days he slipped into the township in search of medical assistance.
Hut 416 on the North West Alley was empty. Its occupants had been taken away to expiate in the Agony Booth.
All day, Jon lay under the floorboards of the Hut and wept. At night he moved silently into the palace and worked his way
through the familiar corridors to the entrance of the secret passageway.
In Magelsa's bedchamber the Princess and Lord Innoo quarreled furiously. She demanded to go home to Ratan. He demanded an heir.
"Why do you persist in your refusal?" He bellowed. "My father suspects me of my mother's murder. We must give him an heir lest his favor turn to my brother Lajook."
"Why should it matter?"
"Why do you think House Firgize rots here on this empty world?" Innoo shouted passionately.
She stared back silently.
"Because we are watched! Because my father escaped death only by coming here. Because the Heir will not accept any possible challenge in court. Because Blue Seygfan wishes to fly alone."
"But we're kiloparsecs away from court! We're beyond the back of beyond, we're almost in human space."
"Superior Buro is here. Old Chalmes, the head valet. He is Buro, my father told me ten years ago. 'Watch your words around Old Chalmes,' he said and he was right! I have observed Old Chalmes at work, he is a sly but persistent spy."
"So what?"
Innoo shrugged expansively. "My father escapes death only because they expect a Gnovii link cemented by an heir who will bring Firgize into Blue Seygfan. My father will not give up the Red!"
"Come to Ratan with me. Take one of my younger sisters, she'll give you your precious heir."
"How can I leave Glegan with that slave on the run? If he's found and questioned then both of us will face Expiation!"
Jon slipped into the room quietly and sprang to Innoo's side. He gave them a manic grin and pressed his hand to Innoo's face his middle finger tapping on the lao Lord's forehead.
"Surprise!" he said quietly. "I have to come to collect on your debt to me."
Innoo trembled, his eyeballs rolled up into his head.
"What do you want?" Magelsa's voice cracked with the strain.
"What the hell do you think I want?"
She looked blankly at him. "How should I know what a human wants? I mean, this is all I really need at this point. A feral human slave interrupting my life."
"How about a feral human slave who's been sleeping in your bed for the last month?"
She sniffed and turned her head.
Innoo groaned miserably, he begged for his life.
"That's funny, that's rich isn't it. You were happy to have me expiate, eh? Blame it all on the feral human, right? Think Innoo, one tap on your skull and my fingertip and your head will be joined forever in a little flower of death."
Innoo gulped air. Jon's voice grew cold and hard.
"This is what I demand," he growled and went on to detail his plan, as conceived lying beneath the boards of the empty Hut on North West Alley.
Eventually Magelsa went to the computer console and dialed a large amount of credit out of Innoo's accounts. She purchased two tickets on the next jumper outbound from Glegan, which would leave in two days time. Hers was a long distance ticket, to faraway Ratan. His was for a much shorter hop, to the free human system of Nocanicus, twenty-six light-years away in the direction of the Hyades stars. The cost fully liquidated Innoo's assets.
Then Innoo was made to dictate a full confession of his part in the death of Lady Flaam, which Jon copied and had Magelsa place in Lord Deshilme's personal computer files. It would be summoned up automatically by a simple coded call via telephone. Only Jon and Magelsa would know the code.
During the following forty-eight hours, Jon stayed awake on stimulants right next to Innoo, a handgun in his good hand, trained on Innoo most of the time. Medics came and tended to the rot in his damaged finger. He gave himself doses of local anaesthetic and endured the process while they cut away the tip and cauterized the wound.
Still sweating from that experience, he ordered them to pack a small bag for him. Into it went a bundle of laowon paper bills, some clothes, and a supply of stimulant drugs. In addition, there was a new set of identification papers for himself, describing him as Magelsa's handservant.
On the second day, Innoo, Magelsa and Jon flew to Calb, the small capital city of Glegan, two thousand kilometers west of Firgize. There they boarded the shuttle to the orbiting sat, and after passing through Emigration, passed onto the huge interstellar liner. Jon disposed of his handgun just before the embarkation gate. Now his only defense against Innoo was that coded recording sitting in Lord Deshilme's computer.
He boarded the jumper, keeping close to Magelsa in case she should attempt some treachery. He needn't have bothered. The situation was working out just as Magelsa would have wished. She was on her way back to Ratan, with a horror story to recount to her parents. The Gnovii would sunder their claim on Firgize, and she would be safe. As for Jon, she had come to admire the determination to survive she sensed in him. A determined search had found little rancor toward him in her heart, and even a few embers of her previous passion; he was a lean, muscular young man with narrow face and dark eyes, so unlike the bulky laowon males she had known all her life.
The jumper built up the gravitomagnetic field and departed the Glegan system.
—|—
Innoo went back to Castle Firgize with a troubling tale for his father, of an insane Magelsa who had killed his mother and absconded with a human lover. Lord Deshilme never discovered the recording implanted in his computer and never truly understood why the Gnovii consequently cut his connection to them and dissolved the match between Innoo and Magelsa.
Deshilme, truth to tell, felt he'd come out of the affair relatively well considering he was finally free of the Castigrii witch Flaam. He even considered remarrying and was on the point of requesting the Heir for permission to return to court to find someone suitable from the ranks of Blue Seygfan when he was murdered by unknown assassins.
After a week in which suspicion focused on Innoo, a new bride for the Firgize Heir arrived, one Lady Tsinka of the Point of Blue, sent from court. She was three times his age, a near-senile hag with disgusting habits. It was suggested that Innoo would preserve his own future by seeking out permanent vasectomy. Uncertainty concerning the death of Deshilme was, however, laid to rest forever.
Jon Iehard, in the meanwhile, had flown across the deeps of space into the human sphere. The trip took several weeks, subjective, from point to point across the starfields, usually traveling in short hops of one to three light-years. Each time the ship reemerged in normal space, it had to begin rebuilding the gravitomagnetic fields while the navigators aligned it precisely with its destination point, avoiding all gravity nodes along the way. The process could take many hours.
At Ialpitan Space Base, Princess Magelsa said farewell to Jon with even a few tears, and kisses of joy. She was due to board another, larger vessel, a liner that would head out on the truly immense voyage into the far Orion arm, where eventually she would reach Ratan.
Jon watched her go with some misgivings. At the space base, surrounded by laowon military, he felt the most vulnerable to any move by Innoo. He was alone, and without Magelsa to back his story, he might be unable to get Lord Firgize to listen to the tape of Innoo's confession. For all Jon knew Innoo had already seen to the destruction of the computer that contained the damaging file.
But no troopers appeared to arrest him before the jumper unshipped and headed out to the jump point.
Jon shared a small cabin on a crowded deck with an elderly woman who'd been given her freedom and a jumper ticket by her grateful laowon patron after a lifetime of service. She was en route to die in a free human system, and she spent most of her time burning incense and singing Panhumanist hymns in a doleful voice. It didn't take long for Jon to find her company oppressive and he forsook the cabin, spending most of his time idling in the small shipboard library.
Although the vast majority of its works concerned the laowon, a few volumes were devoted to the human race. There he found his introduction to perspectives on humanity that he had never before suspected. He discovered the universal alphabet of human ideografs. He set himself to memorize as much of
the seventy most commonly used ones as he could before he reached human space.
As he viewed and read and listened, the enormity of the galaxy, even of human occupied space, crashed home to him. There were thousands of human colony worlds. There were the old settled worlds of the inner core stars and then there were the remarkable High Cultures of the far flung clusters, the Hyades, the Dipper Region, the Aldebaran Group. In all those systems humans ruled themselves. That thought was strange to Jon, almost frightening in its novelty.
When at last the jumper arrived in the Nocanicus star system, they began the wearying period of fusion drive, with aching hours of acceleration and deceleration as the ship nosed into the asteroid belt that was the prime settled part of the system, which had no habitable planets. Finally they reached Hyperion Grandee, the largest single asteroid habitat in the system.
The books and videos he'd studied had described the marvels of a high corporate system in glowing terms—Asteroid colonies! Space habitats! Jon was primed for all the technological wonders, nor was he disappointed. The jumper had to ease its way through crowded space lanes to approach Hyperion Grandee.
On the screen, he'd watched spellbound as spindly ships, all grids and spheres and bright identification lights, slid by. Closer in, past rings of agrihabitats, swarmed smaller craft, only visible by their lights, winking myriads of red and white and blue.
As they curved onto the docking path, enormous shadowy structures passed by on either side of the jumper. Huge, intense lights blazed from a row of hexagonal openings. From the camera view, Jon had the impression they were approaching the hub of a vast wheel. Dimly lit, spokelike things, many times the size of the ship were drifting slowly past them.
The jumper docked with a slight shudder of vibration and shortly afterward Jon Iehard was out on the crowded corridors of Hyperion Grandee, his belongings in a small tote bag slung over his shoulder. He was a free man, standing on human-built floorspace.
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