Code Of The Lifemaker

by Hogan, James

"Well, that's just great, Caspar!" Seltzman said enthusiastically. "So you

  really did have it all figured, huh."

  "Congratulations." Giraud sounded pleased. "Zambendorf bought the story, then."

  "Looks like it," Lang agreed, lowering himself ponderously back onto the seat he

  had been occupying earlier. "So let's give Henry and the others the news. It

  should make things a lot easier all round."

  "Ready to go again, Sharon?" Giraud asked, looking at her through his faceplate.

  "Ready." She nodded and cleared the screen of the transmogrifier. Lang's news

  had obviously signified something to the others that was lost on her. Perhaps

  that was why she had been assigned this duty stint. If so, big deal.

  "Can we resume, please?" Giraud said, switching his speech channel into the

  transmogrifier's input channel. Sharon verified the interpretation on her

  screen, and the machine produced its Taloid equivalent at the correct pitch and

  speed. The Taloids took up their previous positions opposite, with Henry in the

  middle; Giraud nodded at Lang to commence.

  "My apologies for having to leave," Lang said. "I was called because we have

  received important news." He paused while Sharon monitored the conversion of his

  phrases into Taloid substitutions. Machiavelli, who seemed to be Henry's

  principal adviser at all the talks, indicated with a gesture that the Taloids

  had understood. Lang continued, "The pretender whom you seek has been found. We

  have delivered him to your city and placed him in the hands of your authorities

  to be dealt with by Taloid law." He paused again while Sharon restructured his

  words into shorter sentences. "Our criminals have not yet been located. When

  they are found, they will be taken to our city above the sky and dealt with by

  Terran law. So Taloid justice will have taken its course, and Terran justice

  will have taken its course. We trust that this action will be accepted as proof

  of our good faith."

  "They have found him!" Streyfoch exclaimed as he listened to the Lumian plant's

  strangled utterances. "They have found the Enlightener, who tricked our

  soldiers."

  "We shall see a public execution before this bright is through," Eskenderom

  promised grimly.

  "He was handed over fairly and without protest to our own authorities," Mormorel

  observed. He looked at Eskenderom. "Perchance we have judged these aliens

  hastily, for deeds such as they have described would constitute a most unusual

  form of treachery."

  A new light of hope had come into Eskenderom's eyes suddenly. If the Lumian king

  had handed the imposter over in Pergassos, then perhaps the rout of the Kroaxian

  army had been the work of Lumian criminals after all. If so, had they been

  working in league with Frennclech or with Kleippur?

  "What manner of reception was this imposter accorded at the city?" Eskenderom

  asked. In his absence, the policy would have been decided by Frennelech.

  Mormorel pressed the button to activate the Lumian plant, and repeated the

  question. After a brief exchange of queries and answers, the plant responded

  that as far as the Lumian eyes in the sky bad been able to ascertain, the

  imposter had been arrested. "Then does this not tell us that our culprit cannot

  be Prennelech?" Eskenderom said to Mormorel. "He would hardly welcome his own

  agent thus."

  Mormorel considered the proposition dubiously for a few seconds. "An agent who

  has passed forever beyond the point of further usefulness," he pointed out.

  "Readily expendable, perhaps, if such a sacrifice would establish Frennelech's

  blamelessness in Kroaxia's eyes?"

  "Hmm." Eskenderom sounded disappointed. "Observation of this impostor's

  treatment will therefore tell us nothing of Frennelech's complicity or

  otherwise," he concluded.

  "Not necessarily," Mormorel agreed.

  Eskenderom scowled to himself, and then slammed his open hand down on the table

  angrily. "Then by the Lifemaker I will have this Enlightener's head boiled in

  acid! Let both Frennelech and Kleippur read the warning, whichever of them was

  behind him . . . and anyone else who might be contemplating a compact with

  Lumian criminals to overthrow the Kroaxian Crown."

  "Attention please. Colonel Wallis here for Ambassador Giraud," a voice said

  inside the Terrans' helmets.

  "Yes, Colonel?" Giraud acknowledged.

  "Number three perimeter guardpost has intercepted a mounted Taloid who indicates

  that he is known to the visitors. Our records show him listed as James Bond.

  Request identity confirmation and your further instructions, sir."

  "One second, Colonel," Giraud said. Then, "Konrad, did you get that? Pass the

  message to Machiavelli, would you?"

  Seltzman talked to the transmogrifier, and the transmogrifier talked to the

  Taloids. Colonel Wallis sent a view of the new arrival through to a

  communications screen on one of the portable compacks beside the transmogrifier,

  and Henry verified that the Taloid was known and friendly. Giraud authorized

  Wallis to let Bond pass.

  A few minutes later, Skerilliane was escorted into the cavern by two Lumian

  soldiers. He looked as if he had ridden hard all the way from Pergassos, where,

  he informed Eskenderom and the others, the Enlightener had shown himself and

  been arrested by Frennelech's Palace Guards.

  "We know as much already from the Lumians," Eskenderom said. "But who is he? Can

  you tell us that?"

  "Indeed, Majesty, for he is no stranger to the city," Skerilhane replied. "None

  other than thy chosen one Groork, the brother of Thirg, who departed Kroaxia to

  serve the Dark Master's worldly lieutenant, thine enemy Kleippur."

  "Him?" Eskenderom roared, leaping to his feet. "The hearer that I offered to

  install in Frennelech's palace? ... He has come back from Carthogia as

  Kleippur's henchman? He is the one who directed Lumian sorcery down upon my

  army?"

  "The same, Majesty," Skerilliane replied.

  Eskenderom kicked aside the chair upon which he had been sitting and strode to

  the far wall and back again, all the time pounding his fist into his palm with

  rage and shouting. "The traitor! The deceiver! Is this the gratitude I am shown?

  Is this how I am rewarded for my generosity? Arghhh! The swamp-guzzler!

  Corruption and corrosion upon him! May the Reduction Furnace take him! I'll

  slow-melt his casing and leach his eyes! I'll hang him from high-voltage trees

  in the forest! I'll boil him in acid! Mormorel, find the servants and have them

  bring our horses at once. Indeed there will be a spectacle for the citizens of

  Pergassos to enjoy before this bright is through!"

  "Frennelech has already proclaimed a public execution to take place one-twelfth

  of a bright from now," Skerilliane said.

  "Then for once he and I have no quarrel," Eskenderom declared. "Let us repair at

  once, full haste to Pergassos, for this shall be entertainment that I would not

  wish to miss."

  Giraud stared in astonishment at Henry's reaction to whatever Bond had said.

  Machiavelli and Caesar stood up, and Machiavelli went over to the doors and

  began waving toward where the rest of Henry's party were waiting with the mounts

&
nbsp; in one of the nearby ground-vehicle sheds. "What in hell's going on?" Lang

  demanded.

  "It looks to me as if they're taking off," Seltzman said bemusedly. "I guess the

  meeting just adjourned."

  "Sharon, find out what's happening," Giraud instructed.

  Somehow Sharon managed to sustain a dialogue of sorts while the Taloids paced

  back and forth gesticulating wildly at one another, while mechanical steeds and

  more Taloids appeared outside the loading doors and Henry continued to show all

  the signs of throwing a fit. "They're going back to Padua," she said at last,

  shaking her head dazedly. "Something about a public execution that Henry doesn't

  want to miss."

  "Execution of whom?" Seltzman asked.

  "I'm not sure, but I think it's the messiah."

  "Can we let that happen?" Giraud said, looking uneasily at Lang.

  Lang's expression was stony behind his faceplate. "It's their business and their

  customs. Who are we to interfere?"

  There was a short pause. "Are you sure you're not really aiming at Zambendorf?"

  Giraud asked uneasily.

  "I've given you my decision," Lang said,

  Konrad Seltzman met Giraud's eye for a split second, then shifted his gaze to

  Sharon. "Did they say exactly when?" he asked her.

  Sharon glanced at the computer's conversion of the Taloid time measurement that

  had been mentioned. "About twenty hours from now."

  35

  THE OUTER DOOR OF THE MIDSHIPS AIRLOCK OPENED ON THE HIJACKED surface lander

  hidden in the valley two hundred miles north of Padua city, and the suited

  figures of Zambendorf and Andy Schwartz, the lander's captain, came out onto the

  extended stair-head platform and descended to join Drew West and Clarissa, who

  were already waiting on the ground. Then, walking two abreast and guided by

  hand-held flashlamps in the darkness, the melancholy little procession made its

  way through the labyrinth of steel and concrete shapes to the crude shanty-camp

  that the Taloids had made for themselves. Abaquaan, Fellburg, and Price, who had

  gone on ahead a while earlier, were waiting at the camp with Lord Nelson and

  Abraham, the leader of the Druids, and the rest of the Taloids gathered around

  on all sides. The time had come for Zambendorf to tell the cast officially that

  the show was wound up and they were being paid off, to wish them good luck, and

  send them back home.

  "We've told them they won't be going to Padua," Abaquaan said. The team had

  agreed on the storyline that Moses, his main task of preventing the invasion of

  Genoa now successfully accomplished, had been called elsewhere to attend to

  other things. It was hardly a satisfying end to their venture, but nobody had

  been able to suggest anything better.

  Zambendorf nodded inside his helmet. "How are they taking it?" he asked.

  "Not as badly as we thought they might," Abaquaan replied. "They're disappointed

  all right, but not disillusioned. They seem to have rationalized some way of

  coming to terms with the situation in their own minds."

  "I don't know ... A true believer is a true believer anywhere, it seems,"

  Zambendorf sighed. "Oh well, bring the transmogrifier here, would you, Otto. I'd

  like to say a few words to them before they go." The plan was that the surface

  lander crew, having ostensibly been released from forcible detainment, would fly

  to the Terran base at Genoa to return themselves and the vehicle to the

  authorities, and take the Taloid contingent home at the same time. As to what

  should happen after that, opinions were divided; Abaquaan, Fellburg, and

  Clarissa felt that the team had no alternative but to follow in the flyer and

  turn itself in, whereas Zambendorf and Drew West wondered if there might be some

  way of extricating Moses from his predicament first.

  Indeed this was modesty and graciousness of spirit that was truly worthy of

  noble beings, the Renamer—formerly Captain Horazzorgio —thought to himself as he

  listened to the enchanted plant speaking the Archangel's thoughts. So much had

  been accomplished in so little time —a new faith founded; a village saved; the

  whole sect of Waskorians at peace now with Carthogia; the Kroaxian tyrant

  checked and his army scattered—and yet here the Archangel was, expressing regret

  that the chosen ones who had descended over the desert on billowy wings would

  not be present to witness the Coming at Pergassos. For it was clear that the

  Enlightener had asked their assistance in the Meracasine merely as a precaution

  while he tested the powers that the Lifemaker had bestowed upon him. The powers

  had proved so awesome that he had elected to go on alone and complete the

  conversion of Pergassos single-handed, leaving his followers free to attend to

  other matters back in Carthogia.

  "Wish them good luck, and tell them I'm sure we'll meet again sometime, I hope

  in happier circumstances," Zambendorf said to Abaquaan.

  "Hear how the Archangel promiseth that he will return!" Ezimbial, the Druid

  prophet, told the assembled followers. As a prophet Ezimbial had always been

  holy and therefore hadn't needed renaming. "And let it be written that the time

  will be one of great rejoicing. Thus hath it been prophesied."

  "It has been a privilege to work with them. Their help will never be forgotten,"

  Zambendorf said.

  "This collaboration with angels hath brought great blessings. Our place in

  eternity is assured," Ezimbial interpreted.

  "They must return to Genoa now, and help Arthur to found institutions of true

  learning. That is the way to acquire the knowledge that will allow them to fly

  beyond the sky. Then—who knows?—perhaps one day we'll be able to welcome them at

  our world."

  "It is revealed that Carthogia is the Land promised in the Scribings. There

  shall the Enlightener's followers erect a Great Temple, and Kleippur shall

  direct them. And they who heed no false teachings before those that shall be

  preached in the Temple will be redeemed, and then will they arise and rejoin the

  angels in the shining land that floats beyond the sky."

  "I guess that's it, Otto."

  "And here endeth the lesson."

  "Andy, you'd better stay here and work out a schedule with them for getting

  packed up and loaded aboard," Zambendorf said to Schwartz. "Otto will stay with

  you to handle the translating. We'll see you both back in the ship when you're

  through."

  "Sure," Schwartz answered.

  Vernon watched Zambendorf and the others turn to leave, and then wheeled himself

  around in his suit to look at Nelson and Abraham. "I'd like to stay back too,"

  he said, ". . . for the last few minutes." He couldn't help feeling guilty about

  what had happened to Moses—he had started the whole thing with the ice slab he'd

  given Moses on the mountain. Now he instinctively put off what he felt

  subconsciously would amount to desertion of the remaining Taloids as well.

  "As you wish," Zambendorf said. "We'll see you later, Vernon." His party began

  to walk back to the ship, the probing, flitting beams of their flashlamps

  growing fainter and more distant in the darkness.

  Schwartz turned back toward Abaquaan. "Tell them I'd like to be ready for

&nb
sp; takeoif not later than three hours from now, but it'd help a lot if they could

  get all their personal stuff loaded right away. We can take all the animals they

  brought with them, but they'll have to let go the ones they've been collecting

  since . . . the big rock-crushers with the caterpillar tracks, anyhow."

  Abaquaan conveyed the message, and Abraham responded with a question that

  appeared on the screen as DESTINATION IN GENOA?

  "The Terran base just outside the city," Abaquaan replied.

  DRUIDS' ASSIGNMENT AFTER THAT? the screen asked.

  And Abaquaan answered, "We have no specific instructions to give. You'll be on

  your own then. Talk to Arthur's scientists at Camelot. That's where the most

  useful work is being done."

  Ezimbial puzzled over the plant's reply for a moment. "Kleippur's inquirers?" he

  said to the Renamer. "The Lifemaker will make known His wishes through them? But

  knowest thou which among them? Whom are we to approach?"

  The Renamer stared thoughtfully at the trees in the background. "Perhaps," he

  answered slowly. "There is a one called Thirg, whose steps the Lifemaker

  directed out of Kroaxia to enter the service of Kleippur. The workings of the

  Lifemaker's plan are clearer to me now. It was I who in blindness would have

  frustrated the Maker's design, and for that it has been my penance to bear the

  afflictions that you see."

  "How knowest thou it is this Thirg whom we should seek?" Ezimbial asked. "Does

  he carry some special qualification of eminence among Kleippur's inquirers that

  sets him apart as the object of our quest?"

  "None less than that of being the Enlightener's brother," the Renamer replied.

  "The Enlightener has a brother in Carthogia!" Ezimbial's eyes widened. "Indeed

  Kleippur's realm is the Promised Land of the Scribings, and artisans have been

  congregating thither from the corners of the world to build the Temple that was

  prophesied."

  Just to be sure, the Renamer activated the enchanted plant and said into it, "Is

  it our quest to seek Thirg, Asker-of-Questions, who was born brother to the holy

  Enlightener?"

  The plant replied, "Unclear hiss-buzz what-mean 'brother.' Want-say alternative

  hoo-whoo-bonk-bonk. Else obtain new word."

  The Renamer couldn't bring an alternative to mind immediately, and instructed,

  "Obtain new word."

  "EQUIVALENT ENGLISH WORD-FORM BEING REQUESTED," the screen advised Abaquaan.