Consuela allowed her hand to be taken by each person in turn, forgetting the names and titles as soon as they were spoken, scarcely seeing the faces as belonging to individuals at all. The entire scene was too overwhelming, especially coming as it did so swiftly upon the heels of all the other shocks.
Then her attention was caught and held by a tall young man who stood at the line’s very end. Consuela stopped so suddenly that the statesman following bumped into her. She did not feel it.
The man wore pilot’s robes.
He made a deep and sweeping bow, the gesture adding to the majesty of his looks and his robes. “Pilot Dunlevy at your service, noble sister Scout. I am on temporary assignment to Avanti’s main spaceport. Might I have the honor of accompanying you?”
The pair of statesmen began an officious protest, but Consuela cut them off by offering her arm and replying, “Gladly.”
He moved in as close as decorum allowed and spoke in a voice meant for her ears alone. “We have a good deal in common, you and I,” he told her. “I too studied under Senior Pilot Grimson, and since then have piloted ships beyond the Rim. Where is your home?”
“Baltimore,” she said faintly. She glanced up at his face, guessed his age in the late twenties. A tall and striking man. If she were not suffering so from the pain of loss, she would even have called him handsome.
He shook his head in bewilderment. “Never have I heard of that one, but perhaps I know it by another name. No matter. Avanti was my birthplace, and my first allegiance is here. What has happened to this world and her sister planets is a disgrace.” His voice grew heated as he leaned even closer. “I must warn you, sister Scout, there are Hegemony spies everywhere. It is for this reason that I chose to approach you here.”
Something in his voice clutched at her. “You have news?”
“Move along, lest we draw unwanted ears,” he said, and forced a smile to his face. “Can you laugh for the people?”
“No.”
“Smile then. Not all the eyes upon us are here in this room. Nor are all those you see here your friends.”
Consuela made do with a thin grimace. “Tell me.”
“The chancellor himself asked me home to Avanti. He knows my family, and through them asked me to vacation here and see if I could help in solving the mystery.”
“What—”
He gestured her to silence. “Later. We have only until those doors up ahead. I was at the spaceport when the Hegemony vessel blasted in earlier today, unannounced and uninvited. I was there too when it left.”
Consuela stopped and wheeled about. “You saw where it went?”
“The quadrant only.” His face stretched taut in a smile that cost him much. “Alas, I am not a Talent.” He backed away and into another sweeping bow, then raised his voice so that it carried to those who sought to cluster close. “An honor to make your acquaintance, sister Scout. Perhaps you would do me the esteem of joining me at the spaceport tomorrow.”
“Of course,” Consuela replied, trying hard to match his formal manner.
“Excellent. Shall we say at noon?”
Chapter Four
The chancellor’s inner sanctum was not as grand as the formal hall, but in its own way was just as elegant. The great oval-shaped chamber was surrounded by tall pillars supporting a domed ceiling colored like a sky at dawn. The carpet was embossed with what appeared to be three planets forming a triangle, with a pair of brilliant stars gleaming from their epicenter.
“Scout Consuela, what an honor and a privilege.” The chancellor was a gray-haired gentleman who required neither height nor girth to grant him the stature of power. He wore his office like an invisible mantle, and authority shone from his clear gray eyes. He turned to the hovering statesmen and said, “Thank you, gentlemen, that will be all.”
Clearly this was not what they expected or desired. “But sire—”
The chancellor needed only to raise his head a fraction and glance in their direction for both to bow and scurry from the room. When the great portals were closed behind them, he said with quiet solemnity, “All Avanti grieves with you at this time of loss and sorrow.”
Consuela found herself losing control beneath the power of this man’s genuine kindness. She stiffened her chin to stop it from quivering, took a long breath, managed, “Thank you.”
He took note of her struggle for control with a single nod of approval. “Come over here and sit down. We shall not have much time to speak alone today. Avanti clamors for you. Later, perhaps, but not now. So you will excuse me if I do away with protocol.”
Consuela allowed herself to be guided into a brocade chair with gold-embossed arms and made do with a nod.
“The good Captain Arnol tells me that you are a practical and level-headed young woman. And that you are indeed a Talent. Is all this true?”
His abrupt manner startled her into an equally direct reply. “Yes.”
“Then I will come right to the point. We have long suspected that the Hegemony monitors the reaches available only to you Talents. How, we do not know, but we suspect that they must have amplifiers, the powers of which we cannot begin to imagine. Amplifiers so enormously potent that they can reach to the very borders of the empire. And they use these to constantly search out the sensitives who might have escaped them.”
“But why?”
“I was hoping you could tell me that for yourself.”
Consuela inspected the strong stalwart face and decided that here was a man she could trust. “I did not even know I was a sensitive myself until a few weeks ago. To be honest, I still find it a little hard to believe.”
“I am sorry to hear that.” The chancellor showed genuine disappointment. “Well, I suppose I should take comfort in the fact that your freshness no doubt explains how you managed to escape their clutches. Nonetheless, I am disappointed not to have an opportunity to have some of the mysteries encircling the Hegemony’s use of Talents resolved.”
“I don’t understand,” Consuela said. “Aren’t you a member of the Hegemony?”
“In word and on paper, yes,” the chancellor replied, his face settling into grim lines. “But in truth, less and less with each passing day. You see, we who make up the Three Planets were growing daily in power. Up until ten years ago, we pledged our unswerving loyalty to the Hegemony, and did so willingly. Still, they did not trust us. We were rich and growing richer. Other nearby star systems began forging stronger and stronger links, turning to us in times of trouble, rather than to the Hegemony. Our industrial might was unsurpassed. Our academies turned out the finest minds in the empire. Then everything changed.”
Then he stopped and looked at her, as though willing her to find the answer for herself. It dawned with blinding suddenness. “Pirates.”
“Precisely,” the chancellor said approvingly. “Whether or not the Hegemony is behind their stranglehold, we cannot be sure. But what we do know is that help has not been forthcoming. Furthermore, on one point the Hegemony’s rule is unbending; no single system is permitted its own military force. We may not arm ourselves beyond what is required to police our own internal borders. The Hegemony is responsible for all might and military presence beyond our own system. Yet we on Avanti have long felt that the local Emissary has orders to do nothing but stand aside and watch us suffer.”
“It has been hard for you,” Consuela observed, for the moment drawn beyond her own loss by the chancellor’s gravity.
“Worse than that, my dear. We are a trading system. It is another reason why the Hegemony is jealous of our wealth, for we compete directly with their own traders. Or did. Now we are cut off. And as a result, the Three Planets are slowly dying.”
Consuela studied the man’s open gaze, realized that someone of his power and position would take the time to speak with her only if something important was required from her. Despite the fog of her heavy heart, she understood what he was driving at. “Your goals and mine are the same.”
“I am most glad
to learn that Captain Arnol’s assessment of you is correct,” the chancellor approved. “You want to find your special man. We want to know where the Hegemony has taken him. And why.”
My special man. Just hearing the words warmed the night with hope. “I met a pilot outside. He says he may have found something.”
“Yes, I have read the pilot’s report.” Clearly the chancellor was less than optimistic. “I know Dunlevy’s family. They are good people. It was a long shot, requesting that he return. But to identify a possible segment of the empire, one which contains several hundred systems . . .” He gave a grim shrug. “In any case, tell him that anything he requires, anything at all, shall be placed instantly at his disposal. And yours.”
“Thank you,” she said, moved despite her own heartache by the man’s noble strength.
“Adriana knows how to reach me at any time of night or day. If you find something of even possible use in our quest, do not hesitate to contact me.”
A quest. Our quest. “You know my nurse?”
“Adriana is my own niece. She also happens to be one of a very special breed,” he replied, rising to his feet. “Above all else, she is a patriot. Come, my dear. We must hold further talk for another time and give the people their due.”
He led her across the chamber, pulled back heavy drapes embossed with the emblem of what appeared to be two suns, and revealed a tall glass portal. It was only as Consuela followed him through the doorway that she realized he walked with a slight stoop, as though weighed down by the invisible burdens he carried.
The balcony had been prepared for them, and was draped in bunting and flowers. Consuela stepped outside, waited while her eyes adjusted to the spotlights’ glare, and felt the waves of sound crash over her.
The chancellor permitted the tumult to continue for a short time, then raised his hands high and waited until the hubbub had eased. “My friends and fellow citizens of Avanti,” he declared, his voice amplified by a hidden microphone so that it rang out through the surrounding night. “It is with great joy that I stand here and proclaim with you the first sign of hope that we have known in ten long years.”
The rejoicing below carried a sense of renewed hope, so strong that even Consuela’s wounded heart knew a moment’s relief. So it was with a smile that she met the chancellor when he turned toward her, and from a wooden case brought out a shining gold medallion hung from a ribbon of rainbow colors.
“Scout Consuela,” the chancellor said, his voice booming through the unseen speakers, “while you lay, still suffering from the wounds received in our defense, your shipmates have already been so honored. Now it is your turn to be declared a Knight of the Three Planet Realm. All Avanti is in your debt.”
Consuela bowed her head and allowed the chancellor to place the ribbon around her neck. She then turned to the crowd and raised the medal toward them, the smile still coming easy. When the clamor had run its course, once more the chancellor raised his hands for silence. He then lifted a second slender box high over his head. “One other should also be standing here, sharing in the glory, and receiving his well-earned acclaim.”
The words were carried out and echoed back over a suddenly silent crowd. Their abrupt stillness caused her to realize what enormous risk the chancellor was taking, speaking thus in public. It was an unequivocal and direct challenge to the Hegemony.
“Scout Consuela,” the chancellor went on, turning back and extending to her the box. “I charge you with delivering this tribute, along with our heartfelt thanks, for the part that Scout Wander played in our triumph.”
Consuela accepted the box, turned to the crowd, lifted the box over her own head, and spoke for the first time since walking out on the balcony. “I will deliver this,” she said. “You have my word.”
Chapter Five
The Avanti spaceport was a massive affair, made enormously depressing by its emptiness.
Consuela arrived well before noontime, unable to wait any longer to learn what she could of Wander’s destination. Nothing could have prepared her for what she found.
As usual, she was accompanied on the floater by Adriana, surrounded by a sweeping phalanx of guards. The day was overcast, the air so heavy with approaching rain that it felt thick in her lungs. Thankfully, the trip was not long, as the spaceport lay on the same side of the capital city as the consular palace.
The port was void of activity. She could see that long before they landed. The vast space set aside for ground transport was almost empty. And there were no people at all. No movement around the empty thruster pads or the long line of colossal warehouses or the terminal itself. None.
Throughout the entire time of their approach, a single ship glided in, small and scarred and clearly intended for little more than lunar transport. Beyond the terminal, Consuela saw how weeds were pushing up between segments of the cracked and pitted concrete surrounding the launch pads.
“Ten years,” Adriana said quietly as the floater came to a halt. “Ten years we have watched as our world has slowly been strangled.”
Consuela peered through the sweeping expanse of glass and saw only vast, empty spaces adorned with chrome and polished surfaces and gleaming artwork. But no people. “This is terrible.”
“Before, it was said that Avanti lived and died by trade. Can the Hegemony truly not see what the pirates are doing here? I and most others think not.” She motioned toward the door. “Come, let us enter.”
The main hall was even grander than the spaceport where she had met Wander. The walls were rose-colored stone streaked with what appeared to be real gold. They changed colors dramatically as the sun finally emerged from behind the heavily overcast sky. Consuela looked up through the polarized ceiling glass and gasped.
Not sun. Suns. Plural. Two of them.
One great and orangish red, the other smaller and bright as an arc-lamp even through the glass. She shielded her eyes, saw how twin strands of brilliant power flowed from the top and the bottom of the larger sun, like ribbons of light tying the suns together. “Incredible,” she breathed.
“Careful,” hissed Adriana at her side, and from the corner of her eye she saw the guards stiffen to full alert. “The Emissary.”
Consuela lowered her head, saw an obese figure in flowing multicolored robes approaching them. He was flanked by stern-faced warriors with weapons at the ready. Despite the evident danger, she was far from frightened. Her growing anger left no room for fear. Besides, the fat man looked as though he were dressed in an over-bright bathrobe.
“Well, well, what have we here?” The silken voice carried undercurrents of dedicated cruelty. “If it is not the glorious scout. Or perhaps I should say, Knight Scout. Ah, but has she neglected to wear her well-earned medal of honor?”
Consuela squeezed down tight on her fury, focusing it with the precision of aiming down a rifle barrel. She walked straight up to him, so close that he not only stopped talking but jerked back a half step in surprise. Her eyes only inches from his, she said, “I want to know where you’ve taken him.”
Eyes slit down in calculated coldness. “Missing our little Talent, are we? How sad.”
“What you and your people did to Wander was as evil as what you’re doing to this planet.”
He drew himself up and back, then gathered his dignity with a sweeping motion of his robes. “You would be well advised to watch your brazen tongue.”
Her gaze did not budge. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Ah, but you should be.” He started to say more but glanced uneasily at Consuela’s guards, tensed and close at hand. Eyes hard as marbles turned back to her, and with a little mock bow he said, “We shall meet again, Scout. Of that I am certain.”
Only when the outer doors had sighed shut behind him did Adriana murmur, “I am not sure that was wise.”
“I don’t care,” Consuela replied stubbornly. “I’m in no mood to play games with a worm.”
“He is that,” Adriana agreed. “Come, the pilot is waiting.”<
br />
Like everything else about the spaceport, the control tower was twice the size of the only other she had seen. There were two half-moon control-mounds, set at an angle to each other so that they faced out over two separate collections of thruster pads. All this only made the emptiness even more aching. There were a total of four people on duty when they entered, all of them gathered in a cluster around the Watch Commandant’s station and ignoring the barren fields outside.
Pilot Dunlevy detached himself from the little group, walked over, spoke a greeting to Adriana, then bowed to Consuela. “It is indeed an honor to meet you again,” he said formally. “All the staff here are friends, and are to be trusted. Before we go on, allow me to say for all of us here how sorry we are over your distress. I hope you believe me when I say that this is truly all Avanti’s loss.”
The words and the genuine concern behind them were almost enough to shatter her fragile hold on control. Mentally Consuela pushed aside his words, drew herself back from the brink, and said, “What I’d like to know is how they got in so easily. If you were so concerned about their plotting against you, you’d have thought to put a couple of guards out there.”
“The hospital was surrounded with guards,” he responded defensively. “Top to bottom, the place was sealed. But they were warned to bar entry to strangers, not to officers of the Hegemony. Even the toughest of guards would think twice about questioning a diplomat.”
“So they just walked in,” Consuela said, sorrow welling up once again. “And took him.”
“Never for a moment did we think they would operate so openly,” Dunlevy said. “It is a first, and demonstrates just how desperately they wanted him.”
“But why?”
“I wish I knew,” Dunlevy replied grimly.
His helpless frustration pushed at her, forcing her once more toward the edge. Her eyes brimmed over with the same burning loss which seared her chest, and she had to turn away.
Dunlevy noticed her distress and changed the subject with, “You outworlders don’t have much time for us from the privileged classes, do you?”
The Dream Voyagers Page 16