Robert Charrette - Arthur 03 - A Knight Among Knaves

by Robert N. Charrette

  "Then I guess you'll just have to take my word for it." John didn't really care whether they did or not.

  "We don't have to take your word for anything," Hagen said.

  "Hagen," Bear said, clear warning in his voice. He sat with Caliburn across his knees, his fingers caressing the hilt. "This issue does not concern you and yours; it is between Jack and me. If he says that he has turned his back on Bennett, I believe him."

  Had John heard right?

  Hagen sputtered. "But he's an el—

  "I know what he is!" Bear roared. The dwarves, even Hagen, looked abashed. John was a little stunned himself. He knew what Bear thought of elves, and he'd known even before this loud admission that Bear knew John was an elf. He was even more astonished at what Bear said next.

  "More importantly, I know who he is. His word is good enough for me. I took him as my comes, and he has proven loyal. My comes he was, my comes he is. Do you wish to question the evaluation?"

  No one said anything.

  "Even good men can be misled for a time," Bear said. "Jack says he's here because of you, Dr. Spae. I know you less well. What about you, Dr. Spae? Mr. Kun has told me quite a bit about you. He speaks highly of you, but he also tells me that you work for Lowenstein Ryder Priestly & Associates. Is that correct?"

  ""What does it matter who signs my paycheck?"

  Hagen snorted. "Your paycheck? Is that how you define your loyalties?"

  Dr. Spae ignored him and spoke to Bear. "If Kun has told you anything about me, you know better than that."

  "Loyalties are important," Kun said impassively.

  Dr. Spae stared at Kun. Something passed between the two former Department M agents. John could only guess what. Spae nodded as if something had just made sense.

  "This is about the connection between Metadynamics and the monster, isn't it?" The edge in Dr. Spae's voice told John that she was nearing the end of her patience.

  "What connection would that be, Doctor," Wilson asked with mock innocence.

  "Don't patronize me, you scraggly bearded rock hopper!" Dr. Spae exploded. "I know the danger here better than you! If you think I'd have a part in aiding Van Dieman and his pet monster you should be shot before you infect anyone else with that insanity. Besides, I don't think you can afford to cut us out of this operation."

  "And why is that, Doctor?" Bear asked.

  "Because you're playing catch-up and there isn't enough time left for that."

  "We are quite prepared to chase down Van Dieman, and to deal with him and his 'pet monster,' " Hagen said.

  "Chase him all you want, little man. You won't catch him. Not in time, anyway. He's got too good a lead. We, on the other hand, know where he's going." Dr. Spae smiled at the dwarves. "Like us or not, you need us."

  "I would wager that we could say the same, Doctor," Wilson said. "You came here to do more than talk to Art, didn't you? There was something else you sought. Yes, your eyes answer when your tongue does not." He turned to Bear. "See where she looks. They came for Caliburn."

  "We came looking for a talisman," John said. "We didn't know it was Caliburn."

  "But I'd guessed," Dr. Spae added.

  John snapped a glance at her. She hadn't confided her suspicions to him. Had Caliburn's identity as the talisman been hinted at in the files Detective Gordon had given them? John

  wished he'd ignored her statement that there wasn't anything important in those files and gone ahead and scanned them after she had finished with them. Too little time, she had said. Can't afford to waste it. What else was in those files that he ought to know?

  Hefting the sword, Bear said, "So you wanted this, to deal with Van Dieman."

  Spae nodded. "He has a telesmon of great power. It's going to take another to counter it."

  "You would be the one to know," Bear said. "Tell me, Doctor, are you willing to kill Van Dieman to stop him?"

  "Yes," Dr. Spae answered.

  "With your magic, if need be?"

  Dr. Spae hesitated, but her answer was still "Yes."

  "I believe you," Bear said. "You think him that dangerous, then?"

  "I do. He believes himself to be what Luciferius called the Opener of the Way. He may be right."

  "So he is of the Followers of the Glittering Path," Hagen said.

  "What matter which cult? We knew he was a serpent lover," Bear said. "Our war has always been against them, whatever false face they wore. Will you fight any harder now that you know the name of his cult?"

  "No," Hagen admitted. "But I do like knowing just who it is that we're going up against."

  "It is clear that you understand the danger, Doctor," Wilson said. "And you understand the press of time. Let us waste no more of it. Tell us what you know. Where is he going?"

  "Only if we're in on the hunt," Dr. Spae said.

  "All men—ah—people of goodwill are welcome in the war against the minions of the Wyrm," Bear said.

  "I want a specific assurance that you'll take us along to confront him," she said.

  "Don't you trust us?" Wilson asked.

  "You have to ask?" she shot back.

  "You're in," Bear said.

  "I want to hear it from them," Dr. Spae added, looking at Hagen and Wilson.

  "Since Art vouches for you, you have a place," Wilson said. "Now will you tell us what you know before it is too late for all of us?"

  Dr. Spae told them what she and John had learned from Carter. The Antarctic destination clearly came as a surprise to Bear and the dwarves. Wilson and Hagen moved to seats at the chair consoles. Wallscreens sprang to life, cascading through maps and data fields as they reviewed options. It was, they concluded, just possible to intercept Van Dieman if he continued his slow, stealthy approach to the polar continent. New plans were contrived. John listened carefully to the proposals for ambushes along Van Dieman's route. To him, the only place that seemed to be a likely site was what Hagen called the "choke point" at McMurdo Station. The Antarctic research station was the only place they could be reasonably sure that Van Dieman would show up. As the discussions got more focused, John faded out, bored by the logistical details.

  Bear turned to John. "What about you, Jack? Are you ready to take on this battle?"

  Hell, no! As he had learned, real battles weren't as much fun as virtuality battles, but there were some things you couldn't let go. "I'll do what I have to do."

  "Good man."

  John had forgotten how much he enjoyed praise from Bear. He wondered whether this new phase of their relationship would be as good as their time among the Dons. No, not as good—better. All he had to do was look around at. the Pend Foundation's material wealth to see that it would be better, at least more comfortable although possibly more dangerous. Thinking about danger, he wondered anew about something he had noticed when he had first arrived. "How come you aren't suited up like the others?"

  "Because I'm not going."

  How could that be? "Why not?"

  "Van Dieman is not the only agent of the Wyrm. We are engaged in a war; stopping him is but one battle."

  "I thought this was like Armageddon or something."

  "It may be, or may not. I'm no prophet, to tell one way or the other. Everything we know says that it's important, but other things look important too. A man can't be in two places at once, and there are matters that require me to be here. Believe me, I'd rather be fighting, but I don't see that there's a better allocation of forces to be made. I feel better about it with you and Dr. Spae going."

  "But what about Caliburn? We need it to counter Van Die-man's telesmon."

  Bear looked at the sword, turning the blade slightly so that light flashed along the strangely dark steel. "It is something of a remedy against hostile magic, but it is much more than that. Sometimes I think that I can see the health of the land mirrored in its steel, but such visions are fleeting and hardly clear. When I look at it now, I am troubled and wonder if I was wise to seek it out. This age is not much for swords.

&nb
sp; "I hope that all the trouble we went through to get it back wasn't in vain. You know, Jack, when I first woke back at your slump, I thought that I had lost it, and I wasn't sure whether or not to be glad; but it turned out that Wilson and his people had held it safe for me. They made quite a ceremony about returning it to me, especially for a people who profess to dislike all things that partake of magic." He looked down at the sword. "Some burdens, it seems, one can never lose."

  "It's a good thing you didn't lose it," John said. "We need it against Van Dieman. We need you."

  "I think you're right that there is a need for the sword," Bear said. "But I'm not so sure about the other. Or rather, I am sure that you're not the best judge. The sword is needed, yes; but you know I am not the only one to have ever carried and used this."

  John suddenly saw where Bear was headed. He remembered the palace of the Lady of the Lakes. He had handled CaIiburn then. He hadn't known how to unlock its power, but back then he hadn't needed the secret; he had needed a sword more than a talisman. The situation was different now, and Bear wasn't locked in a spell this time. Bear would be able to tell John what he needed to know. The loan of the sword would confirm Bear's trust in John.

  Bear started to stand and John backed away to give him room. The others stopped their discussion and turned to look. That was fine by John. He didn't mind their watching. Bear cleared his throat and spoke.

  "Mr. Kun, would you do me the honor of carrying Caliburn into this battle?"

  What?

  "I thought I was supposed to be your comes! John was embarrassed to hear the hurt in his own voice.

  Bear handed the sword to Kun before turning to John and • lying calmly, "Caliburn is not for your kind to use."

  Holger was stunned by Bear's offer. He was holding Caliburn before he realized that he had accepted the offer.

  Caliburn, the sword of King Arthur.

  Holger had grown up knowing the weapon by the name Excalibur; he could not recall the number of times that in the dreams and daydreams of childhood, he had drawn the sword from the stone to vanquish the enemies of Christendom and In ing justice to the oppressed. But this was no dream. Holger held in his hand the most famous sword in the world. A distant voice urged him to report the acquisition of such an Item, but he ignored it.

  Caliburn was not meant for your kind either, Department

  M.

  Not for your kind, Bear had said to John Reddy, and the kid wasn't taking it well. Holger thought that maybe Bear might to say something else to the kid, but if any explanations were to be made, they were Bear's to make. Bear let his bald statement stand, and the kid didn't challenge it with more than a blazing glare that shifted from Holger to the sword to Bear, where it stayed.

  Bear seemed to find the mission more important than Reddy's hurt feelings. "So do you have a timetable yet?" he asked Wilson.

  "Since the destination has some special requirements, we're looking at a little delay, but I think that we can get delivery of the necessary supplies in about an hour. The delay shouldn't affect intercept."

  "Good. Keep Mr. Kun informed. He's in charge now."

  Hagen's expression soured a little at that announcement. The dwarf had expected otherwise. Well, so had Holger, but being placed in command of the field op was not as great a surprise as being entrusted with Caliburn. Still, having command of it put this op into new perspective for Holger, and a lot of details that he had only superficially noted suddenly became more interesting to him. While the others attended to their own last-minute details, he put himself in one of the console chairs and reviewed the plan and its timetable. He wanted to make sure that he had all the details right. He left it to Hagen to ensure that the others completed their own preparations.

  The supplies Wilson spoke of were cold weather suits and special lubricants for their weapons. They arrived on time aboard a verrie that looked too sleek for its public bus markings. Ten minutes later, leaving Bear and Wilson on the roof of the Pend Building, the team was on its way to rendezvous with the long-range Mitsutomo-owned transport aircraft that awaited them at T. F. Green Airport and would carry them most of the way to their destination. The transfer at Green went without a hitch. Holger could only hope that the rest of the op went as smoothly.

  Holger used the first part of the trip to review the Mc-Murdo Station site plans. McMurdo had once been dependent, directly and indirectly, on government sponsorship, but as public support for such distant and seemingly frivolous operations had waned over the years, corporations had taken over the burden of the day-to-day aspects of the base as well as nearly all the research projects. Station operations were now controlled by a consortium of corporations. The U.S. government remained involved, using its military forces for resupply of the base and to provide transportation to and from the station, but the bill was footed by the consortium. One member of the consortium was Mitsutomo, and Hagen's connections had gotten them the necessary clearances for the team to visit the base.

  Ostensibly they were an evaluation team checking into the progress of facility reconstruction at McMurdo Station. Almost a year ago, the station had been devastated by a fire, of Officially unknown origin. Dr. Spae's data suggested an origin—an origin that implicated the harbinger creature, since two of the bodies recovered from the wreckage of the base fit the profile of the creature's kills. Whatever had caused the lire, McMurdo had been closed down since the beginning of the last Antarctic summer. The corporate sponsors had begun rebuilding the station, but planned research was still off-line; only construction, transport, and weather crews were on site, and they were operating at skeletal levels. Holger was glad of that; the chance for collateral casualties in a place as con-lining as a cold-weather base was high. He reviewed I lagen's corporate clearances; they looked sufficient to generate plausible orders that would keep uninvolved parties clear of any danger.

  The involved parties were another issue.

  Holger considered the resources available to his strike team. The core was the dozen dwarven commandos, headed by Hagen. Holger had seen them go through some drills and knew that none of the dwarves were novices. If they were as steady as the dwarves he'd faced in the otherworld, they'd be good troops.

  Dr. Spae and John Reddy were supposed to be the magical arm of the operation. He'd worked with Spae before and had a good idea of her measure. She was impulsive but dogged, and her skills had improved dramatically since their trip to the otherworld. According to reports the dwarves had shown him, she was capable of things he didn't care to think about. In fact, he tried not to think too hard about her at all, because it tended to rouse the voices, and he was tired of their lies about her.

  Reddy was problematical. He was an elf—something Holger still had trouble accepting—and the dwarves distrusted him. Failure of confidence could destroy a mission team from within, and Holger could only hope that the dwarves would have the discipline to avoid that pitfall. He wasn't sure that he could expect the same from Reddy. He remembered the kid as a team player and steady enough in the otherworld, but Reddy had clearly seen some hard mileage sincc then. Still, when they'd been facedown in the pot, Reddy had broken Bennett's spell and saved them. That went a long way with Holger, and he hadn't yet had the chance to even thank Reddy, let alone repay the debt. Given the kid's reaction to Bear giving Caliburn to Holger, this wasn't the time to try. He hoped Reddy wasn't prone to letting jealousy and disappointment rule him.

  Holger wasn't about to second-guess Bear's decision.

  Logistics were much better than he could have hoped. They had good tech, which Wilson had informed him was ahead of the cutting edge, being of dwarvish work. He was willing to believe it after the demonstration they had given him. The cold suits were certainly better than anything he'd seen in ECSS service. Their weapons, from personal sidearms to the heavy gear four of the dwarves were carrying, were all of proven battlefield reliability.

  He would have been happier if they'd had better control of their transportation to the
site. Relying on Mitsutomo pilots bothered him a little, but so far they had shown a reassuring lack of interest in their passengers and their passengers' business; and they would be out of the picture as soon as the team was landed at McMurdo.

  Additional resources, personnel or materiel, were limited at the ambush site, and the team would be working to keep the resident personnel as clear of danger as possible. It would mean no additional help, but it would also mean no witnesses and no collateral casualties. The trade-off was reasonable, especially since their brief was to stop Van Dieman quietly. Hut if quiet wasn't possible, the mission had to go ahead however necessary. They had to stop Van Dieman and his monster regardless of witnesses and casualties.

  But could they do the job? They were facing an enemy of mostly unknown resources. Holger found that very uncomfortable.

  They knew that Van Dieman was traveling with conventional security. Hagen's Mitsutomo analysts reported that Van Dieman's bodyguard consisted of an assortment of mercenaries and Metadynamics personnel—-the latter presumably men who Van Dieman considered personally loyal. The bodyguard was likely under the command of a freelance operative called Benton, not Registered but listed in several unpublished databanks as an expediter with a good record of success. The spotty record that the dwarves had been able to supply suggested a man of strong physical assets and stronger covert skills. He would be a formidable opponent, hut he was the sort of opponent with whom Holger had been trained to deal. Aside from Benton, the composition and capabilities of the bodyguard were unknown, but several other freelancers previously associated with Benton had made sudden trips to New York during Van Dieman's stay, and a handful of Metadynamics personnel had taken trips to Kennedy about the same time and then disappeared. Holger reviewed their stats: muscle and security specialists all. Some of the forces that Benton had gathered had been told off to provide a cover team; it had already been encountered by the team of dwarves in direct pursuit. After studying the reports, he estimated a minimum cadre of three with a probable maximum of eight would be accompanying Van Dieman.

  But men, however well trained and equipped, weren't Holger's greatest worry. That was reserved for the creature that Dr. Spae called a harbinger. Tactically, the monster was totally unknown, but clearly capable of killing. Just the thought of its presence made Holger want to reconsider his involvement, but he couldn't back out now. He could only hope that Spae would have the means to deal with it.