by Ian J Miller
What they would do was unclear, but there was a good chance they would wait for a while, and if that happened, to prevent a civil war, there would be a strong probability that the Church itself would solve the problem by disrobing Cardinal Sender. That would be a very simple solution to a complicated issue, and if they did not, they would risk war with the Xanex, and nobody knew where that would lead. Those wretched vegetarians apparently had weapons that had always kept the Ranhynn forces away, and worse than that there were those Ulsian battleships. It took very little imagination to see that eliminating Sender would solve all their problems.
The trouble with overthrowing someone so high up in the religious hierarchy was that to justify overthrowing him, the church would declare his having been in league with the devil. By itself that would not matter, but it would matter that the Cardinal must have been contacted by the devil's agents. The name Zander Thuygen had been recorded, and that meant he must be one of the devil's agents. He was in serious trouble.
He must do something, but what? Then, realizing that whatever had to be done, it had to be done somewhere other than inside his apartment, he put on a coat and a large hat and went out the front door.
* * *
Baht was convinced she had been sidelined. Hadell had suggested that the most important problem right now was to find where Cardinal Sender had set up his alternative headquarters. Hadell intended to search the electronic medium, to try to find communications between Sender and his men. Since what she was going to do was illegal, she did not want Baht to be caught up in the crossfire if her moves went wrong. The alternative means of finding Cardinal Sender's base was to follow someone who might know where it was. Accordingly, Hadell had suggested that Baht should carry out surveillance on Zander Thuygen's apartment, and follow Thuygen if he went anywhere. They both knew this was an extremely long shot, but Hadell also knew that whatever else Thuygen was, he was not a killer. Most of the time, Thuygen would do nothing of interest; some of the time he might just go somewhere of interest, and Baht was given strict instructions not to follow Thuygen into a nest of Conclave Guards.
"We just want to know where they are," Hadell had warned. "You must stay as inconspicuous as possible."
Baht was fairly certain nothing was going to happen. Thuygen was obviously going to stay home all night, and she was going to get cold sitting in this small vehicle and doing nothing. Then something happened. The lights went out. 'Great!' Baht thought. 'He's going to bed, and this early in the evening!'
But he was not. The front door opened and out came Thuygen in what Baht considered the most laughable disguise possible. As anyone who was unacknowledged quickly learned, the first rule of being in disguise was not to draw attention to yourself. That hat could be identified at a hundred meters.
Suddenly, she realized that it might be her that was being silly. If he gave that hat to someone else and she followed the hat . . .? But that assumed he knew he was being followed. He did not know that, did he?
It was decision time: stick with the vehicle or follow on foot? She would stick with the vehicle.
It was just as well that she did, because when Thuygen went around the corner, he got into a vehicle and either drove off or was driven. Baht followed.
The vehicle stopped outside a bar. Not any bar, but one of the rougher ones around the city, a place where it was said that thugs and Conclave Guards drank. This was not good, because an unacknowledged female could not really go in there, especially alone. She parked and waited.
About half an hour later, two Ranhynn who appeared to be off-duty Conclave Guards came out, more or less dragging Thuygen. They dumped him into another vehicle and drove off. Baht followed at a discreet distance. The vehicle headed along a reasonably well-known road, then turned off onto a road that was barely used, and went through an area that contained a number of warehouses. Baht decided that she would follow but she also turned off her lights so as not to be visible to those she was following, should they check rear vision mirrors.
However, the vehicle did not stop at a warehouse, but instead entered a rural lane where, in the distance, was a large factory-type building that was well lit up. Baht parked, and watched her target vehicle get smaller in the distance, and then make a turn into what should be the entrance to the building. Baht turned her vehicle around, facing the way she had come, drove to the first main road, turned towards the city, then moved towards the road edge and parked. Now what?
The first thing to do was to communicate with the others and pass on her information. She turned on her communicator and reached Methrell. She informed Methrell what she had seen, and where the place was, and when Methrell thanked her and stopped the call, Baht knew she would not be invited to the resultant raid on the shed. Still, she had had her moment.
She was wondering what to do next, when there was a knock on her vehicle's door. She looked up to see a young Ranhyn seemingly wanting to speak to her.
"Yes?" Baht said, after winding down the window.
"Please excuse me," the young Ranhyn said, "but wouldn't you consider going to the meeting? We need as many there as we can get."
Baht was stunned. Nobody asked one of the unacknowledged to be excused. It was unheard of. Of course, she realized, it was also unheard of for an unacknowledged one to be driving a vehicle by herself. This Ranhyn must think she was important!
"What meeting?" Baht said, in a voice that she hoped would be considered to indicate someone of standing.
"The one in the tailball stadium," the young Ranhyn said, then suddenly he decided that he should be more respectful, so he added, "Cardinal Sender is about to make a great announcement."
"Do you know what about?"
"I think he is going to rid us of those particularly annoying mammals that raid our larders."
"Oh!" Baht was stunned. This was the Cardinal's move. He would generate mass hysteria, and effectively take over through mob rule.
"It is important, don't you think?"
"Yes, it is very important," Baht agreed.
"So you will go?"
"I think I had better," Baht said. "Would you like a lift?"
The young Ranhyn was so excited to be taken in a vehicle by someone of sufficient standing to actually have one that there was no keeping him out. As soon as the door was closed, Baht sped off towards the stadium. She was uncertain what she was going to do when she got there, but she knew she would have to be quick. The rally would start about ten minutes after she parked the vehicle. In the normal course of events she would not even get into the stadium in that short time, but Baht believed she had an advantage. As one of the unacknowledged she had often earned small sums cleaning up after major events, and hence she knew a number of back ways into the stadium proper from the parking lot.
Chapter 49
So far there had been no real attempt to repeat the attack, and many of the humans had gathered in the mess set up near the Ulsian embassy. The wounded had been treated, and the Ranhynn were now kept in an embassy room under Ulsian droid guard. The prisoners were under no illusion as to what would happen to them if they tried to escape, or do anything to subvert the humans, for they were kept under Ulsian military rules, and the droids had been loaded with the ancient programming. There was only one punishment permitted for violating the terms of surrender, and that was death. Ulsian droids could not be reasoned with, nor would they listen to excuses.
Natasha was two-thirds the way through her meal when Livilla came running. "Leaders, come quick! We have a problem!"
"Are Ranhynn breaking in?"
"Not yet! It's the news!"
"The news?"
"Yes!" Livilla said, her voice trembling, as for that matter, so were her hands. "Cardinal Sender is holding a rally."
"Good for him," Marcus Junius shrugged.
"The subject is to get rid of parasitic mammals that are raiding larders. Katya wants us up in the Embassy as quickly as possible."
That had everybody's attention, and Nat
asha and several others stopped eating and ran towards the Embassy entrance. Inside the embassy, they found Katya communicating with Methrell.
"Can you get an engineer to arrange it?" they heard Katya say, then after a pause, "Good. I cannot guarantee that we shall use it, but it could be important."
There was another long pause, then Katya continued, "The announcer will be Ulsian."
Another pause, then, "I know there are no Ulsians here, but the Embassy has a standard opening presentation to introduce any presentation, and the Embassy signature will be on it. That makes it Ulsian rather than human, and that might make it important. We are trying to prevent a riot, and I doubt anyone in the crowd will be able to analyse sufficiently to know there are no Ulsians here. Remember, three Ulsian battleships are in the system. Who can prove no Ulsians accompanied them?"
This appeared to do something because Katya then turned off the communication, and turned to the others. "As you have gathered," she said, "Cardinal Sender is having a meeting at the main Tailball Stadium, and he is going to try to make a holy crusade out of getting rid of humans." She paused, then added, "That means you lot."
"We will have to fight," Lucius said.
"Can we run?" Alexius asked.
"The real question," Katya said, "is can we avoid having all of Ranh against us?"
"If we cannot," Aella agreed, "eventually we must lose, but how can we?"
"There is no guarantee," Katya said, "but the Tailball Stadium has giant television screens to show great replays, and so on. I have just asked Methrell to get us the option of accessing those screens."
"To say what?"
"To show that we are looking after the prisoners, and to show our recordings of the Conclave Guards pouring chlorine into the streets and thus killing some number of Ranhynn. What we must show is that you lot are resolute defenders, but magnanimous with your captives. Then you, Natasha, have to make a speech to them saying that the humans were brought here by kidnapping, but as long as this attempt at genocide is not initiated and the humans are treated fairly, Earth will forgive that. All Earth wants right now is a treaty of friendship with Ranh. You get the drift?"
"Of course," Natasha replied.
"Good, then compose your speech. "Some of you others start to look like doctors or nurses, and make sure the prisoners look as if they are being looked after."
"Of course, but they are!" Livilla protested.
"I know that," Katya said. "What we have to do is to make it obvious that the average Ranhyn knows that. Now, there are things to do."
Natasha decided to watch proceedings on the large screen in the room with Katya, on the grounds that her speech should also respond to whatever Cardinal Sender said.
The scene was not encouraging. A huge rally was focusing its attention on a small stand at one end, where there was a dais, microphones, and where one of the Conclave Guards was trying to stir up emotion from amongst the crowd. In front were about seventy thousand Ranhynn, mostly young males, and they were cheering madly at various exhortations, and questions such as, "Do we need to have our larders raided?"
"What's happening?" A clearly distressed Livilla asked. "Yes, I know. It's what we've often feared, but why now?"
"It is Cardinal Sender's last throw of the dice," Katya said.
"He's worked out that his Conclave Guard is not going to last long against Methrell's special forces, and the army will seemingly not revolt against Methrell," Natasha explained, "so he is trying to rouse the most basic hate amongst the mob, and I am afraid those down here are the targets."
"I am doing all I can to help," Katya said. "Our first task is to try to persuade the mob to abandon Sender, because if we cannot, we shall lose. We cannot defeat all of Ranh."
"Nevertheless, we shall fight," Lucius said. "Gather everyone. We must go to our maximum defence status right now. Make sure the air supplies are safe and held. Be prepared to recycle."
"Recycle?" Natasha asked.
"If they send gas into our air supply, we recirculate it into their air conditioning systems."
"Then let's hope it doesn't come to that," Natasha said, "because nobody wins that sort of fight."
"It may not take long to find out," Katya said. "Right now, there is Cardinal Sender being welcomed to the mob."
Katya was correct. The screen showed the Cardinal walking onto the stage from the right hand side, to the roars of approval from the crowd of rather riotous Ranhynn. The Cardinal waved to the crowd, then gave off a roar, to which he got a ferocious roar in return. The roaring went on for several minutes, then the Cardinal waved an arm towards the audience, which resulted in a swift drop to silence.
"Fellow Ranhynn, by the grace of the Creator I stand before you, and I wish to report that I have been given a message by the Creator . . ."
"This is not good," Aella muttered. "He's playing the religious card, and who can know whether he really heard a message or whether he is lying?"
"He's lying," Livilla said.
"Yes, but you can't prove it," Aella pointed out, "and you don't get a lot of chances with a mob buried in religious fervour."
" . . . and not only have you had your larders raided, but they have also raided the eggs in the nursery!"
"That is most definitely a lie," Lucius shouted. "Once upon a time we did that, but once negotiations stopped the war between us, we agreed never to do that again, and we have kept our word."
"Yes, but how do you prove it in time?" Aella countered. "You can't prove something did not happen."
" . . . and accordingly we need to act!" Sender waved his arms, and a huge roar of applause rang out. The roaring, accompanied by the stomping of boots, continued, and the crowd was clearly working up to a frenzy. Finally, Cardinal Sender raised both arms, and there was an immediate silence.
"Citizens of Ranh! I know that this is a time of great need, and I know that something has to be done. And it is at times of great need that the Creator speaks to those who are willing to listen. The Creator spoke to me, and his message was clear. Humans must be removed from Ranh. We must act at once, so gather your weapons and be ready to dine on fresh mammal!"
"That's fairly unambiguous," Aella said, as the crowd roared again.
"Right!" Lucius said. "No choice. We must prepare."
"Hold on!" Natasha said. "Something else is happening."
She was correct. A strange noise had come through the sound system, the crowd roaring had stopped, and a rather scruffy looking female walked onto the stage carrying a microphone.
"What's going on?" Aella asked.
"I don't know," Katya said, "but that's Baht."
Chapter 50
Baht parked her vehicle in a "No Parking" zone, she removed her boots, then she charged into the back of the stadium. She passed through the service entrance area without difficulty, and she began running towards some concrete stairs when an official leaped out from behind a pillar and ordered her to stop.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Baht stared at him for a moment, then said, "Cardinal Sender requested that I bring him some documents as quickly as possible."
"That's a lie!" the Guard said. "Only Conclave Guards are entrusted with documents," and with that he lashed out at Baht with a kick. Baht stepped back, and nearly avoided the kick, but a claw ran across her, tearing out a few feathers. Baht later admitted she had no idea why she did her next move. She had seen Methrell deal with an adversary, and as the kick passed by, she thrust herself forward and brought her leg up and raked the neck. The Guard fell down, blood spurting from the neck. She heard a roar from the stadium.
Baht ran up the stairs and approached the stage, which was usually retracted and replaced with seating when there was a game on, from the left of the stage. The roar had stopped, and she saw the Cardinal raising his hands.
"The message from the Creator was that humans must be removed from Ranh." There was a further roar of approval. Baht was horrified. She had to do something, but what?
Then a strange feeling came over her. In Ranhynn religious culture there was one section of the holy book that all unacknowledged knew by heart. Baht had always considered it a sop, to ensure that the unacknowledged had some reason to believe they had an important future, and now it suddenly occurred to her that she had just that opportunity. There to the right was a microphone. She took it, turned it on, and verified that it was connected to the speaking system. The Cardinal had allowed the roaring to continue until it began to ebb, when he held up his arms, and when silence ensued, he continued, "It is now clear what we must do. The Creator has shown us the way, and we must eradicate this pest from our lands immediately. We must take up arms and destroy this pest, and at the same time, get us some fresh meat."
Again the crowd roared. Baht reached for the microphone controls and turned up the amplitude to its fullest, at which point there was a severe feedback. Baht killed the bass amplitude, and the noise now became a high-pitched screech.
There was sudden quiet. The noise that Baht had transmitted into the speaking system had made it clear to those in the stadium that something was going to happen, but what? Cardinal Sender looked around, slightly bewildered, because that noise could have been generated anywhere, and his bewildered look was taken up by the crowd, who realized that he was not entirely in control.
Baht strode out into view, pointed at the Cardinal, and yelled, "Yertzah!"
There was a stunned silence. Nobody knew what that word meant, including Baht, but she recalled it was part of a prophecy, and she intended to try to fulfil it.
Cardinal Sender was at first stunned, but then he saw the ruffled plumage and the lack of any signs of rank, so he puffed himself to the full and roared, "How dare you stride onto this stage!"
"I fulfil the prophecy of chapter twenty, verse thirty-two of the holy book of Rhenthet!" Baht called.
"What? How dare you cite holy text to a Cardinal. Guards! Take this –"