Lauren nodded, “And his children protect his legacy. And I believe we should thank the Founder that for you at least, the worst is over.”
“Yes, thank the Founder,” Sharné agreed while thinking otherwise.
“Your physician has just informed me that you have made unexpectedly good progress in your recovery. She said you will soon be able to resume a portion of your duties, if you so desire. But given all that has happened, it is understandable if you wish more time to recover.”
She looked the minister in the eyes and said, “No, I believe the sooner I can return to normalcy, the better. In fact, I believe I am ready to resume all my duties immediately, or at least as many as the doctor will allow.”
“Wonderful,” Lauren smiled warmly. “I should have expected no less from you.”
Sharné mind raced at this unexpected opportunity. She said, “Thank you, and may I ask a favor?
“Certainly Sharné, you may ask anything that is within my power to grant.”
“Thank you. As my first official act, I would like to be briefed on where we are in reacquiring access to the Primes.” She dared not ask about Owens directly. She hoped a briefing would tell her what she needed to know. She rushed on, “I understand I have not been exposed to the requisite indoctrination, but I hope the merit of my contributions will allow me to take some part in this, the most significant event since the Founding.”
Lauren smiled, “Bless you. I am sure the acting Grand Patriarch will allow you to continue to play an active role. To fulfill your destiny, I agree you should be privy to all information related to this most crucial period of time in our grand history. After all, once your neglected education has been remedied, you will assume your role as the Grand Matriarch.”
Sharné managed to hide her dismay. With all that had happened, it had quite slipped her mind that she was next in line to assume Golstar’s mantel of power. She could not think of anything intelligent to say in reply, so she simply nodded, fighting to keep the sudden feeling of nausea at bay. After a moment, she decided to change the subject.
“What of my father’s condition? I was provided the reason for his removal from office. Given his actions of late, it was easy for me to see, if not fully understand, he was not in a normal state of mind. Has any progress been made in his treatment?”
Lauren’s demeanor seemed to stiffen. “Your father is receiving psychotropic treatments, but I am sorry to say that little progress has been made to date. He has proven to be highly resistant to the medications. As the Grand Patriarch, he received conditioning treatments to protect against chemical coercion. As his body does not make the distinction between beneficial and harmful substances, it may be some time before an effective treatment can be found.”
Sharné’s eyes narrowed, “Then he has not divulged the numerical key sequence.” It was a statement, not a question.
The minister paled at these words. She seemed search for an answer.
“It is alright, Lauren. My father told me of the key when I met with him and the Outsider.” She saw the minister’s shock seemed to fade a little. “He made a point of telling us only he knew the secret.”
Lauren sighed. With regret in her voice, she said, “Then in answer to your question, no, he has not revealed the numerical code sequence, nor have we been able locate it on our own.”
“Then, can I assume that a mind probe will be utilized if he continues to resist?”
“Sharné, I…”
Sharné waved away the beginning of Lauren’s explanation. “As much as it pains me, the People’s welfare must take precedence. Do what you must. If my father was in his right mind, he would agree.” She paused, “But then again, I suppose if he was in his right mind, he would simply provide you the numerical code sequence.” She looked at the minister’s shocked face. “As I said, my father briefed Owens and me about how access to the Primes would be regained, so I well understand we must regain that part of the key at all costs. Without it, the Outsider can be of no use.”
“Of course, but still I am sorry to be the bringer of such unfortunate tidings.”
Sharné shook her head, “Though I am aggrieved by what must be done to my father, I take some solace in that it will benefit the People. As the Founder said, it is the eternal balance between the Light and the darkness that must be maintained,” she almost choked on the words. “The key will provide the means to do so.”
Lauren did not appear to notice Sharné’s momentary discomfort. “Truly,” she said. “You will make a fine Grand Matriarch.”
● ● ●
Owens was getting tired of maintaining the pretence. He kept up his deranged act for three days. Between the periods of frantic exercising, pacing, mutterings and sporadic bouts of irrational shouting at the monitor, he hoped that his watchers were getting fed up with his antics. In any case, he was ready to try reciting the numerical sequences. His anticipation was interrupted by the door opening.
A uniformed guard entered and motioned with a weapon, “Step back.”
Owens grinned, “Oh. You're back again? You’re a big man with that gun in your hand. Why don’t you drop it, and then we’ll see who steps back.”
The guard’s face flushed in anger. “If you want to eat, step back.”
Owens raised his hands in mock surrender, “Gee, why didn’t you just say so? You know I can’t resist Golstar cuisine.” He stepped back against the far wall and another guard brought in a tray of food, placed it on the table and rapidly retreated, the gun-toting guard following him out. The heavy door slammed shut.
Owens walked over to the table and looked up at the monitor dome. Rubbing his hands together in exaggerated anticipation he said, “Ooh, this looks good.” He abruptly grabbed a bowl of food and hurled it at the dome. It exploded in a shower of plastic and vegetables. “I just thought I’d share.” He beamed a wide idiotic smile and then sat down and began to eat the remainder of the meal. He had to admit to himself that the food wasn’t bad.
When he was finished, he picked up the tray and placed on the floor, near the door. He straightened and looking back up at the dome, he shouted, “One-two-three, why in the hell are you looking at me?” He began to pace back and forth, muttering, “What to do, what to do?” After a while, he suddenly stopped. “A game, I’ll play a game; that's what I’ll do.” He immediately began to leap in the air, pretending to catch an imaginary ball, careful to use as little strength as possible. He didn’t want them to know his true physical condition, which was surprisingly good. The constant pacing and seemingly random fits of violent exercise helped to maintain much of his muscle tone.
As he moved to catch a ball again, he glanced at his wrist-comp. Its power and transmit indicators were still lit, had been since he had first put it on. Hec had been monitoring his verbal antics from the beginning. By now, he was sure Hec understood his strategy. “Throw me the ball,” he muttered, and made motions of receiving a football. The ancient Earth-game was still a favorite back home. He looked up at the silver dome and stuck out his tongue. He turned back and bent at the knees, crouching as if quarterbacking a team. He called out the next code sequence, finishing with a “Hike.”
As he drew back and made arm-throwing motions, he looked again at his wrist comp. It winked twice. Damn, still no luck. He tried two more sequences with the same negative result before he decided to quit, for the time being. He abruptly stopped the imaginary game and stood motionless for a few minutes. He cocked his head as if listening to something and then just as suddenly, he resumed his pacing.
The guard turned away from the monitoring screen, his expression beleaguered. “Can you believe it?” he looked over to the other guard lounging in a chair. “Look at him. He has been acting strange for days. Now he is talking to himself and making those weird pantomimes again. The man has completely lost his mind.”
“Provided he had one to begin with,” the other guard smirked. “I wonder if all the men in Confederated Planets are like him.”
The guard lounging in the chair straightened. “That is just an unfounded rumor, Connell. I would not put much stock into it if I were you. His body might be strong, but his mind is weak. There is no possible way someone like him could prevail against even one of our men. I know for a fact he used the Keeper of the Way as a shield to hide behind. He is a pathetic coward whose streak of unbelievable fortune has finally ended.” He looked at the monitor behind the other man. “Just look at what he is doing now.”
The other guard groaned, “Do I have to?”
CHAPTER 57
The former Grand Patriarch sat alone in his quarters, a prisoner. They had blocked his access to the Sanctum and disabled the rooms’ defenses. Now unfettered and completely powerless, he sat alone in his velvet-lined cage waiting for them to lose their patience. It would likely not be much longer, he thought.
Soon they would tire of their fruitless interrogations. They would then take him for one last walk, down the long featureless corridor to the innocuous-looking door behind which an enigmatic piece of apparatus stood poised, ready to render a human soul into little more than that of a mindless animal. Perhaps just before they placed him in it, he would be given one more chance to provide the code sequence. If he refused, he would then be strapped into the thinly padded metal chair and the glass helmet studded with thin metal rods would be carefully placed on his cranium.
As it began to extract his memories, in all likelihood his mind would splinter under the probe’s collateral radiations. If he tried to resist, he might be able to delay the inevitable, for at least a few minutes. However, in either case, his mind would eventually succumb and yield all of its secrets. Afterwards, if he was fortunate, he might still be able dress himself and perhaps communicate in some rudimentary fashion. If he was not, he would be reduced to an empty shell, without even a tiny spark of intellect remaining. In the end, it mattered little. Either fate was equivalent to a death sentence.
A bitter laugh escaped his lips. In the past, he had found the mind probe a most effective tool for interrogation and had directed its use a number of times. He had never given its deadly side effects a second thought. The value of the information he had gained outweighed the pain and mental degradation his enemies endured during the memory extraction process. He thought it ironic he was now going to experience what they had undergone under his direction.
He shook his head angrily, trying to dislodge these errant thoughts. With clenched fists, he pounded the arms of the chair in frustration. That he could find himself in this situation was unthinkable. His plan should have worked! He tried to anticipate every contingency. But he did not plan for simple betrayal, betrayal by those closest to him. The bitch Joselé, and the weak-minded members of the Assembly were not surprising; he could have handled them. But he had not expected treachery from Talin, his so-called friend and trusted advisor, and his own daughter. They had joined forces with his enemies and worked against him in the end. These bitter thoughts brought forth the taste of bile, sickening him. He grimaced, fighting back the nausea with his hate. The feeling slowly receded and the hate was soon replaced with a growing feeling of emptiness.
His eyes became glazed, staring at the far wall as his thoughts began to recycle his failures for the hundredth time, and how it had gone so wrong. All of his planning, all of his scheming, it had all come to nothing in the end. He imagined he could feel the Light beginning to diminish, retreating from the oncoming darkness that he had tried to prevent. He would have been the savior of his civilization, a heroic figure that would have stood out in the annals of Golstar’s rich history. Instead, his reign might now garner a mere footnote, a footnote listing his inadequacies and ultimate failure as a leader, provided that anyone remained to write it.
His brooding was interrupted by a soft noise, the sound of a door opening from a distance. He listened carefully, welcoming the minuscule diversion even though it might portend yet another interrogation. He heard the muted rattling of dishes as a heavy cart crossed the threshold from the outer corridor into the next room. He sighed in relief. It was time again for the evening meal. The time for the dissolution of his mind had not yet come.
Though he was not the least bit hungry, he would force himself to eat. He needed the fuel to maintain his strength. He needed that strength to think clearly and continue his resistance. He stubbornly refused to go to his fate quietly. He looked up as the latch rattled and the door opened. One armed guard, with his weapon drawn, smoothly entered and stood aside as Jason Waverly walked in, pushing a food cart. Another armed guard entered and closed the door. Waverly approached the ousted leader and with his back to the guards, he winked.
Geoffrey Firestone, ex-ruler of Golstar, hid his surprise well. As he watched his former aide carefully place the tray of food on the table, he allowed himself a small kernel of hope. Perhaps some of his planning would bear fruit after all.
● ● ●
Hec continued to monitor Owens’ communications link. He could sense the Controller’s presence hovering in the background, virtually looking over his non-existent shoulder, waiting for the proper numerical sequence. Owens was running out of possible combinations. It should only be a matter of time before Owens finally voiced the correct code. At that point, the Controllers would acknowledge his access and transport him away from his imprisonment.
It would all be over very soon, but something was troubling Hec... a small niggling thought that related to his recent interaction with the Controllers. Something didn’t feel quite right. Along with the coldness of the machine minds, he sensed something else, something indefinable far in the background, something carefully concealed. Hec wondered if it was only his imagination. Then he wondered, in his present incarnation, did he even have an imagination? Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling in his circuits the Controllers were hiding something. He wanted desperately to talk to Owens. Once the Boss escaped his imprisonment, Hec needed to find some way to speak to him... in private.
Hec listened as Owens began another cycle of his erratic performance. He started with singing in his usual off-key voice yet another nonsensical song followed by a rambling dialog interspersed with occasional curses directed at his silent watchers. Hec impatiently waited for the next sequence of numbers. It wasn’t long in coming. Owens recited the next string of numbers, punctuated by a loud “Hike.” A long period of silence was followed by... “Hec, can you hear me? It finally worked! I’m in the Prime complex.”
● ● ●
Alarms reverberated throughout the palace. The sounds of running feet echoed along its corridors as security personnel rushed to set up searches. Talin met Joselé in the hallway leading to his official offices. His usual escort had grown to six guards, two blocking the passageway in each direction while the remaining two stood close to Talin.
Joselé looked disheveled. Her clothes had been hastily thrown on in answer his abrupt summons. The palace alarm suddenly stopped its plaintive wail. The immediate transition to silence was equally unnerving to the fidgeting minister. She looked at him with fear in her eyes. “What is happening? Are we under attack?”
He shook his head, almost as if trying to clear it. “Fortunately no, but my news is almost as dire. I am afraid Janus Owens has once again managed to escape.”
It took a few seconds for the import of his words to sink in. “That is simply not possible,” she sputtered. “It just cannot be.”
“I am sorry to say that it is,” his voice was hard; his anger barely kept in check.
She stared at him with dazed eyes, searching his face, verifying this was not some horribly cruel joke. Her voice was barely above a whisper, “But how?”
“He simply vanished. However, by
the fact his disappearance occurred without any observable phenomena, we know that he had significant help… help from a totally unexpected quarter.”
“But he was totally isolated was he not? He was under constant, close surveillance,” she protested. “How could anyone have…?”
Talin interrupted her, “I am afraid it was not just anyone, rather it was some thing. I believe that it was the Controllers. Only they could have intervened in such a manner. But the question remains, why?”
She became speechless at his revelation. He continued, “The surveillance team is adamant that he was ranting and raving one moment, and gone in the next. The monitoring record supports their assertion. Janus Owens simply vanished. The only way for him to disappear in that manner would be by the use of the Trah-tang transport technology. So, it appears evident the Controllers have unexpectedly assumed an active role in determining Janus Owens’ fate.”
Joselé found her voice, “Why would they intervene? Without the access code, what would be their purpose in rescuing him?”
The acting Grand Patriarch shook his head. “At present, it remains a complete mystery…” He was interrupted by a woman in uniform rapidly approaching. He recognized her immediately. She was a ranking member of Palace Internal Security. She stopped for a moment and talked briefly to one of the guards blocking the hallway. After receiving a curt nod from the guard, she approached Talin. Bowing respectfully, she said, “Your Luminance, I come with grave news.”
He wondered how the news could get any worse. “Tell me.”
“We just reviewed he surveillance recording immediately prior to the outsider’s disappearance. And we discovered…” She seemed to be having trouble with the words.
Talin’s voice was harsh, “Do not waste my time, and tell me what you have found.”
She bowed again and said, “Please forgive me. We completed our initial interviews with the security personnel on duty prior to the prisoner’s escape. They stated it was not unusual for the prisoner to spout nonsense, including curses and random sequences of numbers from time to time. It seemed to be some sort of imaginary game in which the man frequently engaged. In reviewing the video log just before he disappeared, the prisoner was reciting a long string of numbers. On voicing yet another sequence of numbers, he simply vanished from the room. It would seem now that it was some sort of code.”
Shadows of Golstar Page 65