by Chris Bunch
Then he got it, remembering that layered map and his own term as conscientious head of the Imperial bodyguard. And he remembered a certain prison break some months afterward, a prison break from Arundel's dungeons.
Sten nodded.
"Take it away, Alex," he said. "What kind of backup do you need?"
"Ah dinnae need but whae Ah hae. M' snip thae Wild's loaned me. M' pilot. Ah'll hae transport waitin' ae Prime. Frae there, it'll be one in, twa oot i' th' motto."
Alex saluted, quite precisely, as if he and Sten were back in the service. Sten puzzled, stood, came to attention, and returned it. It was a very crisp, very military farewell.
And Kilgour was gone.
Alex was telling only some of the truth. He had considered that his scheme against Poyndex could succeed best as a solo run. But there was more to it than that.
The back of his neck still crawled.
He savored each day, each minute, because he had the feeling it could well be the last. He had put his house—his huge estates and castles on Edinburgh, assuming they were yet unburnt by the Emperor's revenge—in order.
Now he was ready.
At least, he thought, i' Ah'm answerin't m' weird, Ah'll noo take wee Sten wi' me.
He shut the mood and the thought off.
Dinnae be gloomin't aroun' ae i' y'r some braw Norsemen. Back on Earth, aeons gone, we listen't't' their keenin' an' slipped behind 'em an' slit their weasands.
Go oot wi' a smile, lad.
He was at the door to his own compartments. As he palmed the doorswitch and it slid open, he heard a giggle.
The first woman he saw was Marl.
Oh dear, he thought. Ah'd recked th' lass was gie'in' me th' look back whae Ah wae trainin' her, an' th' Laird knows she's a fine woman, haein' strength i' her bones an' a brain i' her skull. M' type, exactly, an' Ah did hae plans f'r th' twa ae us.
But wee Hotsco made her moves first, and Alex, kindhearted thug that he was, hadn't quite known what, if anything, to say to Marl, assuming he'd been right about the mutual attraction, not egotistical, and so he'd sort of stayed clear of the Counter-intelligence Division he'd setup.
Marl, he noted, as the door slid shut behind him, was looking especially gorgeous, in a sleek wrap of a skirt, a frothed blouse, and a wrap laid to one side.
As was Hotsco, who was wearing one of Alex's shirts and a dab of perfume behind each ear.
Oh dear, he thought. This'll noo be splendifer'us.
"Ladies," he managed.
Marl and Hotsco looked at each other and laughed. Alex noted an empty bottle in an ice bucket nearby.
"I would guess," Hotsco said, "that our hero there is wondering what he should be doing."
"Ah'm nünkint," Alex managed, "Ah'll be needin't a wee drink."
Hotsco got up and got him a drink from the compartment's bar. Stregg. Iced.
"Your friend Marl showed up a couple of hours ago. She's been telling me stories about spying and that. And we've been… talking."
Hotsco's tongue came out… moistened her lips.
"It turns out… that we have some common interests," she said. "Besides you, I mean."
"Oh dear."
It was Marl's turn to laugh.
"With Sten dead," she said, "there's not much in the way of CI to do. The Bhor have everything well in hand. And since I'm Head of Section, I gave myself a talking-to. Told myself I was working too hard, and deserved a break."
Alex shot back the stregg and, while his esophagus returned from hyperspace, poured himself another.
"Marl came here," Hotsco said. "And I invited her in. She's quite a woman, you know."
"Ah ken," Alex said, now with a note of suspicion.
"Her world has some… interesting social customs. Very interesting," Hotsco purred. "Ones that both of us would be intrigued with."
"Oh dear."
"You're repeating yourself, Alex."
Marl and Hotsco were both trying—with little success—to keep straight faces.
"I thought that she might want to come with us to Prime," Hotsco said. "It's a very long passage, you know. She thought that was a wonderful idea. So I helped her pack. She's ready to travel. Isn't that exciting?"
Alex recovered.
"Aye. Aye. Y're welcome't' go, wee Marl. Ah think y're daft, thinkin' goin' int' th' belly ae th' beast is a holiday, but y're welcome."
Marl walked up, and sedately kissed him on the cheek, in thanks.
"When's the ETD?"
"Ah thought," Alex said, "we'll lift ae once. Hotsco's ship's fueled an' ready."
"Do we have to leave now?" Hotsco wondered. "I talked to Marr and Senn… and they're sending in a wonderful farewell meal. Perhaps in the morning shift?"
"Why then?" Alex asked.
Hotsco walked to the huge, circular bed and sprawled across it. It had been originally built, it was surmised, for one of the Emperor's favorite's pleasure. She stretched and rolled, a smooth, lithe kitten.
"Why," she purred, "there's so much more mom here. A lot more than on my ship. Even if we put the bunks together in my cabin. Isn't there, Marl?"
And all Alex could manage was yet another "Oh dear."
Chapter Thirty
"DOWN WITH THE Emperor!" the woman screamed, her mouth ragged with hate.
"Death to the slayer of the Manabi!" another being shouted—its display organ swollen to bursting.
"Kill the great blasphemer!" a huge bear of a man bellowed. "Kill him."
The three were among fifty agitators working the crowd to a fever pitch. Not that it needed it. Some twenty thousand angry beings were spread out in front of the Parliament building.
They were being held back by a wavering line of black-uniformed Internal Security storm troops.
Banners the size of small buildings jutted from the crowd of demonstrators. The largest one—in the center—was a huge blowup of the Emperor's face. Splashed in blood-red paint across the face was the word MURDERER.
The crowd started chanting in unison: "Down with the Emperor! Down with the Emperor!"
Poyndex's gravcar swooped over the crowd. He keyed his mike: "Move in the tracks," he said, calm. "Then activate Alpha and Delta companies."
"Yessir," crackled the voice of his aide.
Poyndex watched with professional interest as nine enormous personnel carriers burst into view. They struck from three sides, boxing the crowd against the front of the Parliament building. Thick clouds of pepper gas spewed from their turrets. As the crowd screamed and pulled back in shock, hundreds of IS troops exploded out of hiding and attacked with clubs and stun rods.
A com shrilled at Poyndex's belt. He glanced down. Irritated. Then he saw the winking red light. It was the Emperor.
Poyndex sighed. Even in the middle of a riot, the Emperor came first.
He patched into his aide and turned over command. Then swung the gravcar around and headed for Arundel.
Poyndex was definitely not looking forward to the meeting. With a full-blown riot in his own backyard, the Emperor was not likely to be the happiest of supreme rulers.
He braced for the worst.
"I'm sick of this nonsense," the Eternal Emperor roared. "Don't they know they've lost? Sten is dead. The head has been cut off. There is nothing left for them to do but bleed to death and die, dammit."
He pointed an accusing finger at Poyndex. "You're not keeping the pressure on. You're just sitting back and resting on my laurels. My victory."
"The rebels can't persist much longer, Your Highness," Poyndex said. "It's only a matter of time."
The Emperor's fist slammed down on the desk. A mass of reports spilled to the floor. "Time? Don't speak to me about time!
"My fleets are still spread out over two-thirds of the Empire. A day doesn't go by that the Zaginows or the Honjo or the Bhor—or some such group of malcontents—find a new and interesting way to embarrass me.
"What's more… this madness is costing me. I'm bleeding cash like a pricked pig. And ev
ery week these fools oppose me adds at least a year to our eventual recovery."
The Emperor glared at Poyndex—as if he were the source of all his woes. "They think we're weak, Poyndex," he said. "Even after the Manabi, they don't think we have the nerve to hold the course."
"A few more victories, Your Majesty," Poyndex said, "and the opposition will collapse. All the progs will bear this out"
"Drakh on the progs," the Emperor said. "My gut says different. My gut says this has taken on a life of its own. That bloody mess outside the Parliament building is just one example. No one would have ever dared it, before. And how the hell did they get onto the palace grounds, anyway?'
Poyndex grimaced. "We should have that mopped up shortly, Your Majesty," he said. "And the ringleaders brought to justice."
"Be damned to justice," the Emperor said. "I'm the judge. I'm the jury."
He grew silent a moment. Lost in thought. Then he looked up at Poyndex. He spoke. So soft Poyndex had to strain to hear.
"Why do they make me angry?" he said. "I can be kind. Generous. Ask any of my friends." The Emperor looked around the empty room as if to seek them out. Unconsciously his hand moved forward—reaching for the com unit. Then stopped. There was no one to call. The hand snatched back.
Poyndex remained quite still. It was no time to draw notice. He watched emotion play across the Emperor's features. Then they became stone.
He turned to Poyndex. "I must secure my godhead now," he said. "Crush this thing once and for all."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Poyndex said, ready for orders.
"They shall go the way of the Manabi," the Emperor said. "I want their'home worlds destroyed. So when their ships and troops return, they find nothing but dust."
"Yes, Your Highness," Poyndex said, already thinking of how to put the order into motion. Choosing the ships, the teams, and the trusted officers who would lead.
"It is not necessary for the explosions to go off simultaneously," the Emperor said. "There should be just enough delay—a few hours at most—between each planetbuster for the reality to sink in.
"And by god, when I'm done, they'll know what terror is. They'll know my wrath. They want a better life? Fine. Let them look for it in the hereafter."
He glared at Poyndex. "Why are you still here?" he snarled. "You heard what I want. Do it."
"Immediately, Your Highness," Poyndex said. He came quickly to his feet, saluted, and moved to the door.
"One more thing, Poyndex," the Eternal Emperor said.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Next time there's a riot… Clot the gas. Use guns. You hear me?"
"Absolutely, Your Highness," Poyndex said.
The Emperor stared at the door as it hissed closed behind Poyndex. Perhaps he had given the man too much leeway. Lately he'd begun to notice all the Internal Security forces around him. Forces Poyndex commanded.
He realized that he had become isolated. Cut off from all opinion. And everyone about him was a stranger. This was not healthy.
Why had he allowed this to happen? The answer came to him, grudgingly. Fear. Of dying. Clot the duplicate who would replace him. It really wouldn't be him, would it? Freedom from the judgment machine came with a curse. The curse of mortality.
So he needed Poyndex and his guards to keep him safe. He required a ring of security so tight, no one could possibly penetrate it.
Yes. But what if Poyndex turns on you? Like he turned on the privy council.
The Emperor didn't think this would happen. Poyndex was ambitious. Supremely so. But he wasn't the kind who desired the spotlight. He'd prefer to rule from the shadows. From behind the throne.
Still… his goal is to rule, isn't it? To make the Emperor his helpless puppet?
The Emperor decided then what Poyndex's fate would be. But he would wait just a little longer.
A great deal more blood needed to be shed. And when it was done, he would need a fall guy.
To the Eternal Emperor, Poyndex looked like the perfect Judas goat.
Chapter Thirty-One
"EACH TIME I pick up a new trail," Cind said, "I think, This is it. Now I've finally got the SOB."
Cind picked up beach sand and then let it fall in a gentle stream. "But then I hit a dead end and that bastard wins again. I can almost hear him laughing at me."
"You're not alone," Haines said. "I've fine-toothed Mahoney's files and come up with a lot of great leads. But they all peter out before I'm barely started. Makes me feel like a clottin' rookie."
"I still think this is the right way to go," Sten insisted. "I'm convinced this is the quickest—and least bloody—way to defeat him. Once we learn where the Emperor gets his AM2, then we can go for his throat."
"No one's ever done it before," Cind said. "Imperial history's littered with failures. Look what happened to Kyes."
Silence overcame the small group. They were sprawled on one of Nebta's gentle beaches. The day was cozy. The waves lapped softly at the shore. Flying creatures soared above the water, crying their lonely cries.
But the beauty of the day was lost to the conspirators.
Except for one. The gentle giant who was Raines's husband—Sam'l. He was listening to their talk with interest, but a part of his mind kept free. To soar with the flying creatures.
"Discovery is a remarkable thing," he said, a little dreamily. "There are stirring tales of beings who have dared and suffered much to succeed in their quest. I read those tales when I was a boy. It's probably why I became an archaeologist. So I could have adventures of my own."
Sten smiled. He quite liked this big, shambling man. And he had learned to listen with patience. Because Sam'l always had a point.
"And did you?" Sten asked.
"Oh, yes. Many. I shall bore you with them some night over more wine than is good for me. Because that's all they are good for… polite conversation.
"In fact, some of the greatest discoveries are found in museum basements. Incredible things. Astounding thoughts. Dumped in a heap to wait for several centuries until some bored student happens to paw through the mess."
"You're saying the answer is probably right in front of us," Sten said.
"Something like that," Sam'l answered. "Perhaps we just have to hold up what we already know. Turn it this way and that. Until we find the proper light to view it in."
"Where should we start?" Cind asked.
"Why not start with the element itself?" Sam'l said. "Anti-Matter Two."
"If it were gold, or iron, or even Imperium X," Cind said, "we'd have a pretty good idea where to look. We'd have the laws of planetary geology and three or four other sciences to go by."
"That's interesting all by itself," Haines said. "In other words—Anti-Matter Two has no counterpart in nature."
"Possibility one," Cind said, "is that AM2 comes from someplace in the universe that has yet to be found. By anyone except for the Emperor, that is. But that's sort of the assumption I've been going on. And that hasn't gotten me anywhere except very old, very cold trails."
"What about another universe?" Sam'l the dreamer suggested. "An alternate universe? That would explain why its structure has no counterparts in nature as we know it."
"I don't mean to be a wet blanket," Sten said, "but it was my impression that everyone who's dabbled in alternate-universe theory was pretty much of a strange-o. And that modern science agrees no such thing exists."
Haines stirred. "Mahoney had something in his files about that," she said. "I didn't pay much attention at the time."
"What did he have to say?" Sten asked.
"Nothing specific," Haines said. "Except he thought it was pretty interesting that the Emperor has always seemed to go out of his way to quash any research on alternate-universe theory. According to Mahoney, some very prominent scientists had their wings clipped for venturing into that area."
"Maybe I'd better wake up," Sten said, "and start paying more attention to some of Ian's weirder ideas."
"Like the immortali
ty business?" Haines laughed.
"Yeah. Exactly like that. Maybe one has something to do with the other."
"I like it," Sam'l said. "One answer for two. That always makes for an elegant solution."
"That's what Kyes was after," Cind said. "And he came pretty close."
"I don't know what hat the Emperor pulls his rabbit out of," Sten said. "He dies. He comes back. I'll ignore Haines's bit of intelligence that this time around maybe we're not dealing with exactly the same person. Just for a time, we'll put that aside, and stick to what we know.
"One… Each time he disappears, according to Mahoney, he's gone for about three years. It was six this last time, but I think we should put that aside as a one-time break in the record.
"Anyway, for three years no one hears or sees anything of him. Which means he must have a hideout. A hideout so secure that no one has found it for—I hate to say this—a couple of thousand years.
"Two… Anti-Matter Two comes from a place equally secure. Equally hidden. The privy council found out how well hidden it was, to their extreme bad luck."
"It would be stupid to use two different places to accomplish pretty much the same thing," Cind said.
"One thing the Emperor isn't," Haines said, "is stupid."
"So if we find one," Sten said, "then that should give us the other."
"Are we still considering the possibility of an alternate universe?" Sam'l asked.
Sten shrugged. "Good as anything else."
"Actually, for our purposes it's far better than most things," Sam'l said. "The Emperor would need an entrance and an egress. A door, so to speak. A gateway between universes."
"Yeah?" Sten looked at him. Blank.
"If I recall my undergraduate physics," Sam'l said, "the kind of gateway we are discussing would cause a disturbance in the cosmic background. A discontinuity, I believe it is called."
Sten got it. He said, "Finally, we're talking about something you can measure. Instead of never-never lands and spooky supposition. If there's a blip in the cosmic background, we have a chance of finding it."
"Except, we don't know which way to look," Haines pointed out. "It's a big sky. We could spend a lot of forevers checking it out, bit by bit."