The Sagittarius Whorl

by Julian May

  Karl told us to call the cops.

  CCID was clearly flabbergasted at receiving a request for armed assistance from an Amalgamated Concern—big businesses always cleaned up their own messes—but Gunter Eckert's authority was not to be denied. Inside of twenty minutes Rampart Tower was sealed and swarming with Criminal Investigation personnel corraling Rampart executives and security employees. Half an hour after that, forensic teams from ICS and half a dozen other government agencies were administering DNA tests.

  Only a handful of InSec demis offered armed resistance. Even fewer managed to escape. All of the executives submitted meekly to the testing.

  Karl and his crew came from the skyport to the boardroom for instructions shortly after CCID arrived. By the time he reached us, Bea Mangan had already checked the DNA of Gunter Eckert and the other members of the board, as well as that of Morgan the Gorgon, who was vastly indignant that we should think a Haluk capable of impersonating her. Everyone was legitimate except snoozing Sam.

  I gave Karl custody of the unconscious demiclone, then arranged for a CCID SWAT team to accompany him and his associates to Rampart InSec's psychotronic lab. Karl had orders to commandeer the place and interrogate anyone in the building whose DNA wasn't up to human snuff. I promised to check with him after the second act of the day's melodrama played out at Assembly House.

  A felony theft-of-identity warrant was issued for the arrest of a human John Doe having the spurious iris-ID of Asa-hel Frost. Among other places, the APB was transmitted to every starport on Earth. I hoped we weren't locking the barn door after the horse had escaped. One of the messages sent by Fake Sam had gone to my old personal code, so Alistair Drummond knew we were hot on his trail.

  As we prepared to leave, Adam Stanislawski declared he'd had enough up-close-and-personal excitement for one day. He intended to watch the rest of the fun and games from the safety of his own private suite in Macrodur Tower. Cassius Potter dropped him off there beforeflying Bea, Joanna, and me to the media conference.

  It took place pretty much as Ef Sontag and I had scripted it.

  We appeared side by side, I in my concealing Joru robes, at a podium on a small improvised dais at the very center of the rotunda that fronted the Assembly chamber proper. Bea Mangan, her trusty equipment, and Joanna were poised just behind us, awaiting their cues. Experienced Macrodur flacks helped Ef's PR staff orchestrate the technicalities.

  There must have been close to six hundred reporters crowded into the glass-domed circular foyer, all festooned with the tools of their trade. Huge holovid monitors had been set up in adjacent areas to accommodate the nonmedia audience, who numbered in the thousands. Displays in the Assembly dining rooms also showed the news conference live, at the request of interested Delegates.

  I hoped the Servant of Servants of Luk and his entourage were paying close attention, too. A member of Ef's committee had reported that the Haluk were already in the building.

  After Sontag greeted the journalists and made brief introductory remarks, I flung off my concealing black-and-white robes to dramatic effect, standing on the dais naked to the waist while the cameras went crazy. Ef told the crowd who I was, why I looked like a Haluk, and what I was going to talk about today inside the Assembly chamber.

  Then Bea tested my genes and not only proved that I was Asahel Frost, but also demonstrated that I had been subjected to illegal demiclone therapy—presumably by the same entities whose superficial appearance I now wore. In a touching character-witness testimonial, Joanna declared once again that I was certainly her former husband, a man unjustly convicted of crimes and deprived of citizenship, whom she had never ceased to respect.

  Connected to the Hogan truth machine and interrogated by Sontag, I told the citizens of the Confederation of Human Worlds how I had been kidnapped by the Haluk and cloned. I described how my Evil Twin had taken my place at Rampart so as to gain control of the genen vector PD32:C2, and how he had used my name and reputation to promote the Haluk cause. I disavowed the lies that had cast doubt on the evidence presented by Sontag's committee. I dared the impostor wearing my face to come before the media and get tested as I had been.

  I did not identify the Fake Helly demiclone as Alistair Drummond.

  The galaxy-wide audience heard a heavily edited version of the Rampart Board of Directors meeting and my reclamation of the office of Rampart president. Racked with pain from the continuing zaps of the nasty little Hogan machine, which verified my every statement, I described the measures being taken at that very moment to flush demiclone agents from Rampart. I urged other Concerns and Commonwealth agencies to be zealous in the DNA testing of their own personnel.

  Another piece of intelligence I passed on was the demicloning of Sam Yamamoto. Where—I asked rhetorically—

  was my real friend being held prisoner? Where were the other unwilling human DNA donors whose places had been taken by Haluk spies? Were they captives of the aliens—as blue and miserable as I—or had they been callously executed after they had served their purpose?

  I told my listeners that the confessions being elicited from captured demis would probably come too late to be included in Delegate Sontag's Assembly summation. With luck, however, they might be released in time to influence tomorrow's vote.

  Keep tuned for late news at 2200 and 2300 hours! ...

  The last thing Ef Sontag asked me was, "Are the statements you have made here today truthful?"

  I said, "They are." And the psychotronic device socked it to me one last time, confirming it.

  Then, while the media people cafled out questions and Ef responded to a favored few, Bea Mangan detached me from the Hogan machine. Joanna gave me a drink of water and some painkiller perles. She wiped my streaming alien eyes and mopped my sweaty azure brow.

  "Delegate Sontag!" said PNN. "What reason would the Haluk have to spy on humanity with demiclones?"

  "That matter will be addressed inside the Assembly," he replied.

  "Do you have any evidence of demiclones infiltrating or influencing the Haluk Consortium of Concerns?" asked the Wall Street Journal.

  "Not at this time. The matter is under scrutiny."

  "Prominent Conservative party members have stated that the Haluk trade is vital to the continuing prosperity of the Hundred Concerns," said The Times. "Do you agree with that sentiment?"

  "I do not."

  Next, 20/20 Interactive asked, "Will the Liberal party call for revisions in the Haluk nonaggression and trade treaties if the new colonies are voted down?"

  "I can't speak for other Delegates. I will personally demand such revisions no matter how the vote goes."

  He shook his head negatively as more queries were shouted.

  "We have no more time for questions, ladies and gentlemen. It's almost 1400 hours and the afternoon session of the Assembly is about to begin. My committee and I will be presenting new evidence supporting a vast Haluk conspiracy against humanity. One of our witnesses will be the genuine Asahel Frost. After we've spoken, Delegates favoring the new Haluk colonies will summarize their position. A final vote on the measure will be taken tomorrow at 1000 hours Toronto time."

  He paused, taking a breath, then burst into an uncharacteristically passionate peroration. "Citizens of the Commonwealth, I urge you to observe the upcoming Assembly session. Use the PlaNet to inform your own Delegate of your reaction to this media conference and to the Assembly vote. Powerful commercial forces have exerted pressure on your Delegates, demanding that the three hundred new Haluk colonies be approved. These forces wish to ensure that trade with that race will continue without significant human oversight or inspection of Haluk planets in the Milky Way. Do not let this happen. Tell your Delegate that the Haluk cannot be trusted. Tell your Delegate that you will not permit Haluk demiclones to infiltrate human institutions and undermine our economy. Citizens—tell them! ... Thank you for listening."

  "A little showboaty," I whispered to Ef as we left the dais surrounded by a wall of security person
nel, "but it's been that kind of a day."

  Politicians are often keen showmen. Ef Sontag, for all his natural reticence, was no exception. He decided it would bore our galactic audience—and the Delegates, most of whom had been listening avidly to the news conference one way or another—to repeat my genetic testing and psycho-Ironic interrogation inside the Assembly chamber. So Bea and Joanna would not be asked to testify after all.

  Ef arranged for the women to watch the proceedings from the VIP gallery. Maybe they'd meet Simon or Thora Scranton or Crista Wenzel up there. The other Rampart directors had declined to attend, either afraid of being cornered by the media or engaged in damage control at Rampart Tower.

  When the session warning-chime sounded, Ef and the six Delegates of his committee led me into the chamber. I had discarded the remnants of the Joru costume and was dressed once again in Dan's track suit, complete with twin burn-holes in the breast of the jacket. We took our places at small desks on the central testimony platform—alias "the floor"— that stood immediately before the Speaker's bench. Above the bench was a representation of the Great Seal of the Commonwealth, and behind that rose a colossal holoscreen that would show close-up images of persons addressing the Assembly.

  Semicircular tiers encompassed the chamber; inset within them were the shell-shaped carrels of the fifteen hundred legislators. About three-quarters of the delegates were physically present, and the rest were participating virtually. The spectator galleries and regular media boxes were packed. A quick flick of my desk display panned the VIP section. I didn't see any Rampart people, but Bea and Joanna had good seats. Most of the alien visitors occupied special loges at the front.

  I searched carefully—and there he was: the Big Blue Cheese himself, the Servant of Servants of Luk.

  In honor of the occasion, he'd forgone frivolous human attire and was garbed in magnificent rainbow-hued formal regalia, topped off with the ostentatious platinum diadem and ceremonial fossil jewelry. The SSL was surrounded by somber figures in black robes that I took to be the Council of Nine. No one seemed to know if their role was only advisory or if they enjoyed genuine authority. Other Haluk in handsome dress uniforms had to be a security force. There were at least two dozen of them crowded into the loge.

  Another chime. Silence fell.

  The Speaker, Aziza Alameri, called the session to order and invited those opposing the Haluk colony bill to give final testimony. There was some procedural backing and filling. Members of Sontag's committee presented a brief summation of their earlier arguments, then Ef himself called the first of only two witnesses who would be asked to support the summation.

  "If it please the Speaker and this Assembly: in evidence of ongoing Haluk hostility toward the Commonwealth of Human Worlds, I call Citizen Hengpin Kang, Sheltok Field Operations officer. He will testify under subpoena via sub-space communicator from his office on the planet Lethe in Zone 8."

  The giant holoscreen activated, and the real show began.

  sontag: Citizen Kang, have you been informed by Sheltok counsel of your legal rights and obligations relative to this Assembly subpoena?

  kang: I have.

  sontag: Do you affirm that the statement you are about to make is completely truthful?

  kang: I do.

  sontag: Are you aware that your statement may be verified sub duritia, by means of psychotronic interrogation, at the request of Assembly Delegates?

  kang: I am.

  sontag: Very well. At this time the Assembly requires answers only to selected questions. We reserve the right to depose you in more depth at another time... My first question: Do you have personal knowledge of pirate attacks upon Sheltok transactinide carriers traversing the Sagittarius Whorl during the past twelve months?

  kang: I do.

  sontag: Approximately how many such attacks have taken place during that time?

  kang: I have personal knowledge of thirty-four. Others may have taken place that were not brought to my attention.

  sontag: How many of these attacks resulted in the hijacking of the carrier vessel or its unexplained disappearance?

  kang: Twenty-eight.

  sontag: To which race did the pirate vessels belong?

  kang: It wasn't always possible to tell. Some of them were certainly Y'tata. We've always had trouble with Y outlaws in Zones 3 and 4, most of it relatively minor. But in the past year or so ... Haluk corsairs have been positively identified in about half of the incidents, sometimes in company with Y'tata, sometimes not.

  sontag: To the best of your knowledge, has Sheltok Concern deliberately concealed knowledge of these Haluk attacks from Commonwealth authorities, from the media, or from Sheltok stakeholders?

  kang: Our personnel received strict orders from Sheltok Earth management not to discuss the Haluk attacks with the media or the general public. I have no knowledge of whether stakeholders knew of them. Following regulations, my staff regularly reported hostile Haluk activity to Zone Patrol and to the Secretariat for Xenoaffairs.

  sontag: Did official action result from your reports?

  kang: None that I was ever aware of.

  sontag: In your opinion, why has this Haluk activity been concealed?

  kang: In my opinion ... so as not to inflame the citizenry against the Haluk trade treaty and the Haluk Consortium of Concerns.

  sontag: Is it true that, approximately seven months ago, the element carrier SBC-11942, Sheltok Eblis, under the command of Ulrich Schmidt, arrived at the planet Lethe and reported an attack by sixteen Haluk pirate ships?

  kang: This is true.

  sontag: Is it true that Captain Schmidt's vessel was saved from hijacking or destruction by the intervention of an armed cruiser, human in conformation, whose identification was unknown?

  kang: This is true. Captain Schmidt reported that the unknown human starship destroyed sixteen Haluk bandits. The cruiser commander identified himself only as Hugo. Captain Schmidt assumed he was a Good Samaritan smuggler, if you can imagine such a thing ...

  sontag: Thank you, Citizen Kang. You are excused. [To the Assembly:] The next witness, Asahel Frost, will also address this incident. First, however, my committee and I will ask him to provide background information on his personal involvement with the Haluk.

  Sontag read me the same caution that had been given to Kang. At the pleasure of the Assembly I could be interrogated later, till my eyeballs popped and blood flowed from every orifice. For now, I took a simple oath to tell the truth and nothing but.

  Then, with Ef and his fellow Delegates prompting me, I began to relate my adventures with the Haluk, beginning with the appearance of the titanic Haluk starship at Helly's Comet, in support of Alistair Drummond's scheme to seize control of Rampart Interstellar Corporation. I described my horrific adventures on Cravat and Dagasatt. I deplored the secret collusion of the Hundred Concerns that had enabled the Haluk to acquire advanced astrogation technology and other embargoed human science—including the genetic engineering therapy that had illicitly eradicated Haluk allomorphy.

  I didn't say a word about Emily's Mystery Mutant Exon, or my suspicion that the eradication therapy might not be permanent.

  I removed my jacket and showed my Halukoid torso— monstrously magnified on the holoscreen behind the Speaker's bench—as evidence that the Haluk were continuing to create demiclones. I stated that my own DNA had been stolen, and a Haluk demiclone of me had been created for the purpose of gaining control of Rampart, the Perseus Spur worlds under Rampart Mandate, and the genen vector PD32:C2 necessary to suppress Haluk allomorphy. I stated my opinion that the Haluk intended to use their Spur colonies as jump-off points for a general invasion of our galaxy, and then gave evidence to support my belief.

  I described my quixotic Barky Hunt, and what I had learned from Tregarth about the severe population crunch in the Haluk Cluster. It was hearsay, I admitted; nevertheless it provided a motive for the obstinate, even desperate, determination of the Haluk to migrate out of their home star-cluster.r />
  I admitted my personal intervention in the Haluk pirate attack upon Sheltok Eblis, confessing that I was Hugo. I had concealed my identity from Captain Schmidt because of personal notoriety and a desire not to compromise my search for Barky Tregarth. I stated that I was positive that the pirate ships were Haluk.

  Ef Sontag entered in evidence the report on the pirate attack I had sent to Karl Nazarian, as well as Captain Schmidt's report to Hengpin Kang. The Delegates would be able to read the documents at their leisure.

  I went on to tell how I was captured on Phlegethon, and how the demiclone agent Dolores da Gama had boasted to me that ultraheavy fuel elements were being stolen by the Haluk in order to cripple human starship capability and fuel an alien invasion fleet.

  Finally, I told what I knew of the Haluk Grand Design to overwhelm humanity, gleaned while I eavesdropped on the Servant of Servants and Council Locutor Ru Kamik as I floated in a dystasis tank in Macpherson Tower. I pointed a blue finger at the Servant himself—sudden close-up of his affronted face on the holoscreen—and invited him to submit to psychotronic interrogation and affirm that his people did not intend to use their Perseus Spur colonies as stepping-stones for an invasion of the Milky Way.

  Then I told Delegate Sontag and the Assembly that I had nothing further to say, and I was excused.

  Speaker Alameri invited the Servant of Servants of Luk to comment on my testimony.

  The Haluk leader declined the invitation to submit to a truth machine. He consented to give a brief voluntary statement, should the Assembly care to receive it.

  The Assembly did. So the Servant stepped onto an anti-gravity transporter that wafted him down to the floor, where Sontag and his committee and I were still seated. I gave a little finger-twiddle of greeting. The Servant stonily ignored me and delivered his speech in simultaneous translation.