Ministry of Disturbance
Page 5
sent more undercovers, who could pass forstudents, ahead of the Gendarmes to get the student side of it and thenames of the ring-leaders." He glanced down at the indicator in front ofhim, which had begun to glow. "If you'll pardon me, sir, Count Tammsan'strying to get me. He may have particulars. I'll call Your Majesty backwhen I learn anything more."
* * * * *
There hadn't been anything like that at the University within the memoryof the oldest old grad. Chancellor Khane, he knew, was a stupid andarrogant old windbag with a swollen sense of his own importance. He madea small bet with himself that the whole thing was Khane's fault, but hewondered what lay behind it, and what would come out of it. Greatplagues from little microbes start. Great and frightening changes----
The screen got itself into an uproar, and he flipped the switch. It wasViktor Ganzay again. He looked as though his permanent toothache haddeserted him for the moment.
"Sorry to bother Your Majesty, but it's all fixed up," he reported."First Citizen Yaggo agreed to alternate in precedence with King Ranulf,and Lord Koreff has withdrawn all his objections. As far as I can see,at present, there should be no trouble."
"Fine. I suppose you heard about the excitement at the University?"
"Oh, yes, Your Majesty. Disgraceful affair!"
"Simply shocking. What seems to have started it, have you heard?" heasked. "All I know is that the students were protesting the dismissal ofa faculty member. He must have been exceptionally popular, or else hegot a more than ordinary raw deal from Khane."
"Well, as to that, sir, I can't say. All I learned was that it was theresult of some faculty squabble in one of the science departments; thegrounds for the dismissal were insubordination and contempt forauthority."
"I always thought that when authority began inspiring contempt, it hadstopped being authority. Did you say science? This isn't going to helpDuklass and Tammsan any."
"I'm afraid not, Your Majesty." Ganzay didn't look particularlyregretful. "The News Cartel's gotten hold of it and are using it; it'llbe all over the Empire."
He said that as though it meant something. Well, maybe it did; a lot ofMinisters and almost all the Counselors spent most of their timeworrying about what people on planets like Chermosh and Zarathustra andDeirdre and Quetzalcoatl might think, in ignorance of the fact thatinterest in Empire politics varied inversely as the square of thedistance to Odin and the level of corruption and inefficiency of thelocal government.
"I notice you'll be at the Bench luncheon. Do you think you could inviteour guests, too? We could have an informal presentation before itstarts. Can do? Good. I'll be seeing you there."
When the screen was blanked, he returned to the reports, ran them offhastily to make sure that nothing had been red-starred, and called arobot to clear the projector. After a while, Prince Travann calledagain.
"Sorry to bother Your Majesty, but I have most of the facts on the riot,now. What happened was that Chancellor Khane sacked a professor, physicsdepartment, under circumstances which aroused resentment among thescience students. Some of them walked out of class and went to thestadium to hold a protest meeting, and the thing snowballed until halfthe students were in it. Khane lost his head and ordered the campuspolice to clear the stadium; the students rushed them and swamped them.I hope, for their sakes, that none of my men ever let anything like thathappen. The man I sent, a Colonel Handrosan, managed to talk thestudents into going back to the stadium and continuing the meeting underGendarme protection."
"Sounds like a good man."
"Very good, Your Majesty. Especially in handling disturbances. I havecomplete confidence in him. He's also investigating the background ofthe affair. I'll give Your Majesty what he's learned, to date. It seemsthat the head of the physics department, a Professor Nelse Dandrik, hadbeen conducting an experiment, assisted by a Professor Klenn Faress, toestablish more accurately the velocity of subnucleonic particles, betamicropositos, I believe. Dandrik's story, as relayed to Handrosan byKhane, is that he reached a limit and the apparatus began giving erraticresults."
Prince Travann stopped to light a cigarette. "At this point, ProfessorDandrik ordered the experiment stopped, and Professor Faress insisted oncontinuing. When Dandrik ordered the apparatus dismantled, Faress becamerather emotional about it--obscenely abusive and threatening, accordingto Dandrik. Dandrik complained to Khane, Khane ordered Faress toapologize, Faress refused, and Khane dismissed Faress. Immediately, thestudents went on strike. Faress confirmed the whole story, and he addedone small detail that Dandrik hadn't seen fit to mention. According tohim, when these micropositos were accelerated beyond sixteen and afraction times light-speed, they began registering at the target beforethe source registered the emission."
"Yes, I--_What did you say_?"
Prince Travann repeated it slowly, distinctly and tonelessly.
"That was what I thought you said. Well, I'm going to insist on acomplete investigation, including a repetition of the experiment. Underdirection of Professor Faress."
"Yes, Your Majesty. And when that happens, I mean to be on handpersonally. If somebody is just before discovering time-travel, I thinkSecurity has a very substantial interest in it."
The Prime Minister called back to confirm that First Citizen Yaggo andKing Ranulf would be at the luncheon. The Chamberlain, Count Gadvan,called with a long and dreary problem about the protocol for thebanquet. Finally, at noon, he flashed a signal for General Dorflay,waited five minutes, and then left his desk and went out, to find themad general and his wirehaired soldiers drawn up in the hall.
* * * * *
There were more Thorans on the South Upper Terrace, and after a flurryof porting and presenting and ordering arms and hand-saluting, the PrimeMinister advanced and escorted him to where the Bench of Counselors, allthirty of them, total age close to twenty-eight hundred years, weredrawn up in a rough crescent behind the three distinguished guests. TheKing of Durendal wore a cloth-of-silver leotard and pink tights, and abelt of gold links on which he carried a jeweled dagger only slightlythicker than a knitting needle. He was slender and willowy, and he hadlarge and soulful eyes, and the royal beautician must have worked on himfor a couple of hours. Wait till Marris sees this; oh, brother!
Koreff, the Lord Marshal, wore what was probably the standard costume ofDurendal, a fairly long jerkin with short sleeves, and knee-boots, andhis dress dagger looked as though it had been designed for use. LordKoreff looked as though he would be quite willing and able to use it; hewas fleshy and full-faced, with hard muscles under the flesh.
First Citizen Yaggo, People's Manager-in-Chief of and for the PlanetaryCommonwealth of Aditya, wore a one-piece white garment like a mechanic'scoveralls, with the emblem of his government and the numeral 1 on hisbreast. He carried no dagger; if he had worn a dress weapon, it wouldprobably have been a slide rule. His head was completely shaven, and hehad small, pale eyes and a rat-trap mouth. He was regarding theDurendalians with a distaste that was all too evidently reciprocated.
King Ranulf appeared to have won the toss for first presentation. Hesqueezed the Imperial hand in both of his and looked up adoringly as heprofessed his deep honor and pleasure. Yaggo merely clasped both hishands in front of the emblem on his chest and raised them quickly to thelevel of his chin, saying: "At the service of the Imperial State," andadding, as though it hurt him, "Your Imperial Majesty." Not being achief of state, Lord Koreff came third; he merely shook hands and said,"A great honor, Your Imperial Majesty, and the thanks, both of myselfand my royal master, for a most gracious reception." The attempt to grabfirst place having failed, he was more than willing to forget the wholesubject. There was a chance that finding a way to dispose of the grainsurplus might make the difference between his staying in power at homeor not.
Fortunately, the three guests had already met the Bench of Counselors.Immediately after the presentation of Lord Koreff, they all started thetwo hundred yards march to the luncheon pavilion, the King of Dur
endalclinging to his left arm and First Citizen Yaggo stumping dourly on hisright, with Prince Ganzay beyond him and Lord Koreff on Ranulf's left.
"Do you plan to stay long on Odin?" he asked the king.
"Oh. I'd _love_ to stay for simply _months_! Everything is so_wonderful_, here in Asgard; it makes our little capital of Roncevauxseem so _utterly_ provincial. I'm going to tell Your Imperial Majesty asecret. I'm going to see if I can lure some of your _wonderful_ balletdancers back to Durendal with me. Aren't I _naughty_, raiding YourImperial Majesty's theaters?"
"In keeping with the traditions of your people," he replied gravely."You Sword-Worlders used to raid everywhere you went."
"I'm