Ranh

by Ian J Miller

  "What do you think about humans?"

  "Up until very recently, I didn't even know they existed," Tharryt replied. "Since then, like many, I have watched the news but I can't say I am particularly impressed."

  "You realize they occupy the planet of creation?"

  "I assume the Creator ordained that," Tharryt said, then bit his tongue a little. That was not the sort of thing to say to a Cardinal.

  "Of course," the Cardinal muttered. "It could not have been otherwise." While the Cardinal said that in a strangely mechanical tone, Tharryt breathed a sigh of relief, but he was quickly brought back to his present situation when the Cardinal continued, "I don't know whether you realize this, but the humans do not believe in the Creator."

  "What?" Tharryt did his best to simulate surprise. "But that is terrible."

  "Yes, it is," the Cardinal said. "The question is, what do we do about it?"

  Tharryt quickly swallowed the response of "Send missionaries!" which he recognized would be seen as glib, and instead he managed to come up with, "I would hope you would guide us on this matter, your eminence."

  "Yes," Cardinal Sender nodded. "That is the task we Cardinals must face up to. What do you think should guide us?"

  "I don't know," Tharryt replied. This was a particularly concerning switch in the conversation, or interrogation, depending on how he looked at it. Judging by Sender's mood, a wrong answer here could be fatal. But not knowing was also not going to be good enough, judging by the look that was growing on Sender's face. "As far as I am aware," Tharryt continued, "the Holy Scriptures contain no reference to humans, so the Creator has not given us clear instructions."

  "Yes, but the Creator has corrected this omission."

  There was a silence, and Tharryt knew he had to say something. "But that is wonderful," he finally managed. "What has the Creator done?"

  "The Creator has spoken to me," Cardinal Sender said, and once again stared at Tharryt, studying his response.

  "Then what does the Creator want?" Tharryt asked, with a slight tremble in his voice. His concern that he was speaking to someone who appeared to be mentally deranged, but fortunately he knew that the Cardinal would expect him to be somewhat awed by speaking to someone who had spoken with the Creator, and some change of tone was inevitable.

  "The Creator wants humans to be removed from both Ranh and the planet of creation."

  Tharryt realized that he was now about to succeed in the quest he had been given, namely to find out Sender's plan, but he was also entering a far more dangerous phase. He was about to say something supportive, when a warning flashed in his head. Sender might be testing him still. "According to one of the news items, that's tantamount to declaring war on Ulse," he offered.

  "Yes, that is a problem," Sender said, "but not really yet. Ulse cannot respond for over a thousand years, so the question then is, what does it respond to?" Tharryt stared at the Cardinal, unsure whether to say anything, and if he did, what, so the Cardinal added a "Well?"

  "I think there is only one response from Ulse if we simply wipe them out with a sneak attack," Tharryt offered, "but I suppose there might be a way around that."

  "Well?" The Cardinal seemed to be strangely interested.

  "We need an excuse," Tharryt suggested. "We don't attack them, but they have attacked us first, and we –"

  "Yes!" the Cardinal exclaimed. It was then that Tharryt realized that the Cardinal had not even thought of this himself.

  Tharryt stood there, uncertain as to exactly what he had done, although he feared the worst.

  "Yes, you see it too," the Cardinal said. "You have potential, young Kyurta qu' Tharryt. Now, how would you go about arranging this?"

  "I suppose you have to goad the humans into attacking Ranh," Tharryt said, then he realized he had to be a bit more credible, so he added, "or at least they attacked someone important while they are in Tukhranh."

  "Yes, you're getting there," the Cardinal seemed even more enthused. "What we have to do is to goad them into it. And there's a straightforward way to do this." He stopped, and stared at Tharryt.

  "There is?" Tharryt asked, to fill the space.

  "There is," the Cardinal confirmed. "There are a number of underground tunnels, and so on, such as were once built for public transport, but have since been abandoned. There is quite a network below the city, and these tunnels have been infested with humans." Again, he stared at Tharryt.

  Tharryt quickly realized that again he was being tested. "They are?" he questioned, and put on the most surprised look he could manage. "Where did they come from?"

  "That's irrelevant," the Cardinal snorted. "The point is, they are there, and what do you expect will happen if these humans are attacked?"

  "You expect the Roman to do something," Tharryt said. "But what say he doesn't?"

  "Then we keep at it until we have exterminated those humans on Ranh," the Cardinal said, in a matter-of-fact tone. "At least one problem is solved."

  "Then what happens if the Roman sends a message to Ulse to say he has been attacked?"

  "We deny it."

  "Or if the Roman sends one of his ships to Ulse with evidence?"

  "We prepare for trouble in fourteen hundred years."

  "And what say the Roman turns his ship's weapons on Tukhranh?"

  "We get the excuse we need."

  "But a huge number of Ranhynn could be killed."

  "Unfortunate," the Cardinal said almost without emotion. "There has to be a price to pay for carrying out the Creator's wishes."

  Tharryt wondered whether he should ask what would happen if the alien weapons were directed at the Cardinal's residence, but he thought better of it. His job was not to reason with the Cardinal, because it was clear that path was futile. "Then what do you want me to do?" he asked.

  "I shall send soldiers to clear the tunnels," Cardinal Sender said. "You must go to the Roman's hotel, and not in uniform, and if you get a chance, kill him with a blade. Will you do that?"

  "As you order, your eminence."

  "Good. Now, you had better get going."

  As he was leaving the Cardinal, he knew this would his last time in this building.

  Chapter 38

  Food was provided by one of the army cooks, and since Methrell had informed him that humans would be present, some of the more bloody excesses were to be avoided, and something suitable for the humans was mandatory. Yes, they would be quite happy to have cooked meat, but some other vegetable derived food was required. Natasha had sent Katya to find Lucius and Livilla, and to escort them to the barracks. They were a little nervous when they heard that the party would dine, but Methrell assured them that they were protected, and any Ranhyn that made even a coarse suggestion to them would be considered to have done that to her. It was fairly obvious that nobody would do that to her.

  Gaius arrived and greeted Natasha about the same time as the first course was presented, and Gaius was stunned. What was presented to them was effectively a lavish dinner in the Roman style, but with some quite different fruit and vegetables. The meat was essentially reptilian in origin, but it tasted delicious.

  "You can take back anything left over for your friends," Methrell said, as she noted Livilla's eyes almost pop at the amount there.

  "Thank you. You're most gracious," Livilla replied.

  "If you think that's gracious, be ready for some real surprises," Methrell cackled. "You lot helped me catch Tes, and I assure you, that is worth very much more to me than meals."

  "Anyway," Kazyn finally said, "Thank the cook for us, and thank whoever is responsible for permitting us to use this facility. Having said that, I think it is time to make better use of the facilities you have shown me," he added as he turned towards Methrell.

  "You propose?" Methrell asked, with what the humans now recognized as an expression of mild amusement.

  "We need information from the captive Guards, and I would also like to show Natasha the technique I used to locate her on Earth." He pa
used, and turned to Methrell and explained, "I needed information as to her location, and I offered to release those who were helpful."

  "How kind of you," Methrell replied, clearly unimpressed.

  "I also pointed out that the rest would end up in my larder."

  "That is more of an edge. I assume you got what you wanted?"

  "Oh yes, both the information and a lot of good quality dining."

  "Then I see no reason why you shouldn't try on our prisoners," Methrell said. "After all, if you fail, we can always try something else."

  "Thank you. I would like to use the lecture and training room."

  "No problem. There is one condition to your exercise, though. You are not permitted to release Tes."

  "I was thinking of just the guards," Kazyn replied. He then turned towards Gaius and asked, "You don't object?"

  "He has no grounds to object," Methrell said. "This issue is clearly a Ranhyn issue, and Scaevola has already conceded that he wants us to settle it. Accordingly, we settle it."

  "If you wish," Kazyn said to Gaius, "you are excused."

  "I shall remain excused from eating raw meat," Gaius replied, "but I shall remain here in case I have some use."

  "Good, then let us go to the briefing room."

  "But before we do," Gaius said, "I suggest Livilla and Lucius take that food back to their friends, and Katya can escort them, and guard them."

  "I shall send ten soldiers to escort them," Methrell said, "and they will be under very strict orders that they had better die before letting those they are escorting suffer hurt."

  There was a small delay as this expedition was organized, and while the two humans were at first a bit nervous, the soldiers made it very clear to them that they would be unharmed. At that point, Methrell and Kazyn headed to the training room, and Gaius and Natasha were permitted to watch.

  The training room was large and the furniture fairly basic. There were rows of tables and chairs that were well separated; the furniture was very functional but equally it was very basic. At the front of the room was a platform where senior officers could address the troops, and on the wall behind that was a large screen that today was turned off. Above the screen was a large shield with the insignia of the Special Forces and on other parts of that wall, and scattered around the other walls were various symbols commemorating various actions from antiquity. Ranh had had no significant military action for an almost incomprehensible length of time, except for the expeditionary force to Plotk. That expedition had yet to report back, but Natasha noted a space at the centre of the back wall that had been freed for whatever came back, and the names of the units that had been sent had already been applied.

  It was only then that Natasha realized that this was really quite an old building. There may have been good maintenance, but it had been constructed millennia ago. She brought her attention back to the present, and surveyed the tables more closely.

  Each of the tables had a small computer, the purpose of which was for the troops to individually, when requested, enter their tactical decisions regarding what to do when faced with whatever situation was presented on the screen. No soldier could see what the others were proposing. The room was naturally lit during daylight, but as this was fading, electric lighting was now turned on.

  Kazyn looked around and seemed quite satisfied. Methrell moved to the back and with a slightly bored expression on her face, she sat down. "Excellent," Kazyn said, then turned to Natasha who was by his side and whispered, "Methrell is sitting roughly in the same position as Hadell was, and she looks just as enthused. Take a seat, and watch." He then turned towards a soldier and said, "Please bring in our prisoners."

  The rather sorry-looking Conclave Guards were brought into the briefing room, escorted by a number of Methrell's soldiers who were actively prodding the more reluctant ones with some form of rod that provided electrical shocks.

  "Please take your seats," Kazyn said. "You have been invited here to provide information, and also to reproduce a version of a game I played on Earth, which they call the Prisoners' Dilemma." He paused, then added, "As you might guess, you are the prisoners.

  "First, some rules. You must not attempt communication with any other prisoner. Any such attempt will immediately lead to the loss of whatever you use. For example, suppose you were to attempt communication by winking at each other, why each of you will immediately lose their eyes. If any of you attempt to talk, you will immediately lose your tongue. I hope all that is clear, because I would hate to have to do that sort of thing because you were not aware of the rules. If anyone is so stupid as to not understand, raise your arm, and I shall cut it off to teach by example."

  He looked around the room. As expected, no arms were raised.

  "Excellent news. Now, here is the dilemma. You have to decide who you fear the most. In the human game you always lose unless you all succeed in retaining the information and I learn nothing. For some reason, the humans let the prisoners go under those circumstances, but naturally I shall not. At the end of this, those who have not provided useful information will eventually be plucked, properly singed, then, of course cut into useful pieces and donated to the humans' larders. So, feel free to retain such knowledge, in the firm knowledge that you will be used to feed mammals! As an aside, I understand they will find your meat quite tasty, although I suppose you will not appreciate that because somewhere along the cutting up line, I expect you will die.

  "Right. Now the other option. You tell us what we want, then all you have to do is to avoid Cardinal Sender. Now I know he will probably order your deaths as soon as he finds out you have betrayed him, but look on the bright side. There is still a way out, because he has to prevail to carry out your executions.

  "So, what do we want to know? We need to know where we can get evidence to show unambiguously he has acted against the best interests of Ranh. We don't really care what that is. Evidence he ordered my father's death, or for that matter, Methrell's, will be fine. Evidence he has tortured other Ranhynn will be fine. What we want is evidence of anything illegal, so that we can depose him. Evidence that he is subverting the treaty with Earth will be fine. Note that we want evidence, and not merely your word, which you could later deny. You don't have to have it, but merely tell us where it is.

  "So, now in front of you are electronic tablets. Your job is to sit there and write. Refuse to write, and you will be butchered alive."

  At first there was a stunned silence, but before long one of the guards must have decided that his situation was sufficiently dire that whoever won in the long term was irrelevant because the short term was the immediate problem. He began to write, and the sound of claw tapping keyboard could be heard over several desks. That meant somebody was writing, and before long the tapping spread.

  It was about three quarters of an hour later that the tapping stopped. Kazyn thanked them, suggested they insert their names on their keyboard if they thought they had contributed so that they could be identified for a reward, then he signalled for a soldier to take them away.

  "Right!" Kazyn announced. "Methrell and I shall examine what we have."

  "You want help?" Gaius asked.

  "No. This must be solely a Ranhyn analysis, and what follows must be solely our responsibility. Our next task is to clear whatever we find with the Justice Department, if it needs it, and it is imperative that we can say honestly that our evidence had no alien input."

  "As you wish," Gaius said. "Natasha, we might as well return to our hotel, and –"

  "No," Methrell said. "You should stay here for the night at least. This is the only place we can be sure to protect you."

  "You don't think we can look after ourselves?" Gaius queried.

  "Maybe you can, maybe you can't," Kazyn said. "Our problem is, we can't afford the risk. We are trying to avoid war with Ulse and Kroth, and if you were assassinated, such war is inevitable."

  "Added to which," Methrell added, "when we go to Justice we shall inevitably be asked,
are you in contact with the humans? We shall reply, you are here, under Ranhyn military protection, and that will be the truth. Maybe not the entire truth, but nevertheless, the truth."

  "You are not under arrest," Kazyn said, as he suddenly saw the implication of not being allowed to leave, "but we ask you to remain voluntarily."

  "We shall remain," Gaius agreed, "however, I ask that Marcellus be permitted to return to the hotel. He can gather up useful things, and if necessary create illusions to the effect that Natasha and I are there." He knew the request to remain voluntarily was not exactly the truth; the Ranhynn would do whatever they could to prevent their leaving; he also knew that if he put is mind to it he could escape, but that could be put aside until later if need be. He also saw the merit in remaining friendly with them should they win. Would they win? Of that he could not assess, and he felt that they might need all the help they could get, but on the other hand if they could win and it was clear that there was no Ulsian or human involvement in what amounted to a coup, then the result would be far more beneficial.

  "Agreed," Methrell said, after some consideration. "I am not sure what the implications of an attack on him would be but . . ."

  "If whoever attacks believes he is a human, they would be rather bad," Gaius said. "Any such blatant attack would be considered as an attack on Ulse, and the Actium would send such a signal. Also, it would be sent in a machine form that would guarantee its veracity. Finally, killing an Ulsian-made machine is not as easy as you might think."

  "I never thought it would be easy for them to succeed," Methrell cackled. "I just don't know what the outcome would be if the attempts failed, and your machine killed some Ranhynn. Still, as you say, it would be an Ulsian machine that did it, and I doubt anyone will be keen on accusing Ulse of treaty violation."

  Marcellus set off for the hotel, and Gaius and Natasha were given separate rooms, usually reserved for officers, however, as expected, the furniture and bedding was clearly of Ranhyn design. They talked for a while after Kazyn and Methrell had departed, then they went to their rooms.