To Fear The Light

by Ben Bova

  “He told me that he could be Javas. That all it would require would be for him to access Javas’ private files, to take the files and have the Gatanni imprint them on him; years of personal recollections and insights, all the recorded thoughts, doubts, and introspection that Javas put into his private journal. He said that with these, he would become Javas.”

  Eric considered this, then said, “What do you think of this idea, Mother?” He knelt at the side of the chair, his arm resting gently across her shoulders.

  “You can’t be serious?”

  He rose and pulled another chair over, then sat next to her. “This Empire is dead; it has stagnated itself out of existence. We both know that. It needs to change into something else, something stronger that can meet the needs of every one of what used to be the ‘Hundred Worlds.’ And I am not sure that I am the one to do it.”

  “How can you say that, Eric?” she demanded. “You have been an excellent leader. What has happened to the Empire, the way it has evolved, is more my doing than yours.”

  “I agree that what it has become during my tenure was unavoidable; nor should anything have been done to try to keep it from becoming what it should naturally be. For me to have attempted to keep it in the form it was … surely, that’s no better than what Jephthah has attempted.” Adela started to say something, but he silenced her with a touch of his hand on her arm. “The people of the Empire need to be encouraged to form a new mutually beneficial association, a commonwealth, but they need as their advocate someone other than me. I am the ‘old’; they need someone new. My best role would be to turn the reins over to another who would, with my encouragement and support, take the Hundred Worlds in this new direction.” He sighed, shaking his head. “My children have no interest in this. I was hoping that maybe …”

  Adela took his hand in hers, squeezing gently and looking into his eyes. “This man will never be Javas,” she said firmly. “Nor would he ever be accepted as Javas was. If anyone is to do what you wish, it won’t be him.” She laughed softly, kindly. “Besides, I think you underestimate your children.”

  32

  KEEPING SECRETS

  “It is about time,” Rihana said testily, as the entrance chime sounded. She still was not used to doing for herself, and even the simple act of answering a door was sufficient to bring her foul mood bubbling to the surface, especially since the security people she was supposed to meet were nearly twenty minutes late. She slapped her hand on the opening plate and immediately turned away and headed for the sofa, calling over her shoulder, “I was told that you would be here at precisely eight o’clock!” She sat, crossing her arms defiantly in front of her, and faced the pair for the first time. “Let’s get on with this … .” At a loss for words for the first time in recent memory, she could do little but stare at them as the door slid closed behind them.

  Both the man and woman wore the standard-issue coveralls she had already grown tired of seeing, and orange-striped badges identifying them both as security. The woman was fair-skinned, pretty, even perky in her short bob haircut, and hardly seemed the type to have made a life for herself in security.

  The man, meanwhile, was tall and athletic, with wide shoulders and light brown hair that just covered the tops of his ears. The name on his badge read HANSON. He gave no indication, there was no clue on his face or in his movements, that suggested that he recognized her.

  Well, my dear Mr. Rapson, she thought, deciding not to expose him at this time. I see that we are still into game playing.

  “Since the two of you have seen fit to keep me waiting unnecessarily, may we begin?” She extended her arms to either side of her on the backrest of the sofa, and stared intently into the man’s eyes.

  “Mistress Valtane,” the woman said, smiling pleasantly but professionally. “My name is Cindie Andina, and this is Kal Hanson. We’ll be working with you to coordinate whatever information you can give us that may lead to the identification of Jephthah.”

  “Of course,” Rihana replied, still staring at Rapson. “As I told the Emperor himself, I’m very willing to help catch this bastard. Please, be seated.”

  Andina sat in the upholstered chair facing the sofa, while Rapson got a chair from the dining area. He placed it next to his partner’s, saying, “Before we get started, however, there’s something you should be aware of.” Andina turned to him curiously, the look on her face clearly indicating that she didn’t know what he was referring to. He reached casually into the breast pocket of his coveralls and pulled out a small object, which he started to hand to Rihana.

  She leaned forward to accept whatever it was, but he suddenly pulled it away and pressed it to Andina’s right temple. There was a sharp pop! sound and the woman slumped forward, tumbling out of the chair and landing in a heap on the floor. Rihana stared at the woman in disbelief, noting the ugly, round purple-red mark on the side of her head.

  “Thanks for not giving me away,” he said, ignoring the body on the floor and sitting back nonchalantly in the chair. He slipped whatever weapon he’d just used back into his pocket. “Although I must admit, I’m at a loss to understand why. I was fully prepared to come in here and kill both of you.”

  “No,” she said, “I don’t think you would have been that stupid.” She recovered her composure quickly from what had just transpired, but the thought lingered, How do you do that? How do you kill so easily, so remorselessly?

  “So you’re not here to identify me, then?”

  “If I was, I could already have given them an accurate enough description of you—and your abilities—to have them following you around. But no, I have not done that.”

  He came over to the sofa and sat next to her. She removed her arm from the back of the sofa behind him, but made no effort to move away. “So, why are you here?”

  “I’m here because somehow—Oh, I don’t know; maybe it was the way you deserted me, or the way you deceived me with your ‘Krowek’ program. But somehow I felt suddenly left out of our bargain. I’m here to remind you that we have a partnership, and to share the benefits of that partnership, just as we agreed.”

  “In that case,” he said quietly, leaning in to kiss her neck, “I guess it’s up to me to determine if you’re telling me the truth or not.” She didn’t move, and allowed him the small pleasure. Neither, however, did she respond in kind to his overtures. He sat up straight again, his voice changing to a businesslike tone. “If you’re telling me the truth, then I need you to do something for me.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “In about an hour, I’m going down to the planet with the other IPC agents to escort the Emperor to the observation deck, an area overlooking one of the native settlements. They’ve piled on a huge amount of security for this—” His face broke into a sardonic smile, and he added, as if it had just occurred to him, “All because of me, I suppose. Anyway, they’ve activated every available IPC agent in the system. Those he brought with him, the ones who’ve been assigned to his sons here without their knowledge, and the four sent along with the astrophysicist as her bodyguards. Oh … that’s what I am now, by the way.”

  “A mercenary,” she laughed, genuinely amused. “A truly difficult role for you, I’m sure.”

  “What I need from you,” he went on, ignoring the sarcasm, and pointed to Cindie Andina’s lifeless body, “is to allow me to keep her here for the next twenty-four hours. There is nothing more scheduled for today for you to do regarding your work with security, so no one else will call on you in an official capacity regarding security matters; and I’ve manipulated the duty-assignment files so that our friend here won’t be missed.”

  She hesitated, as though thinking over his request. “And just what is it you plan to do down on the planet?”

  He raised both eyebrows, and gave a tiny shake of his head. “It’s probably better if you don’t know. I can give you all the details tomorrow when I come back to get rid of her. Now, can I trust you?”

  She reached a hand to him,
playing her fingers against his neck. “Haven’t you always been able to trust me?”

  He took her hand, kissing her wrist gently, then cradled her face in both of his and pulled her toward him. He kissed her on the lips, softly at first, then more passionately. He pulled away slightly, and looked into her eyes. Still cupping her face softly in his hands, he smiled at her again, their lips mere centimeters apart, and nodded.

  “I didn’t think so,” he whispered.

  Still smiling, he bent her head sharply back in a single, quick jerk, snapping her neck before she even realized what he was doing.

  33

  JOUR NOUVEAU

  “I already have twenty Imperial guards at the regular landing site, Father,” Lewis said as the hopper shuttle began the pad-down sequence in preparation for landing at South Camp. “And several have already been positioned along the trail—” He interrupted himself with a snort that almost sounded as if he were angry, and frowned deeply as he continued. “I insisted that Captain Anmoore bring a hover platform in the cargo bay. I wish you would take it from the landing site to the observation deck; it’s nearly five kilometers!”

  “Less than an hour’s hike,” the Emperor responded, chuckling at his son. “I’m not that old yet. Besides, Anmoore’s had everyone going in to the observation deck on foot for a good reason, to keep the chances of being spotted by the natives to a minimum. It’s a good operating guideline and I see no reason to alter it for me. We’ll hike in.”

  Lewis looked at him, his eyes narrowed. “You know, Anmoore said that’s what your reaction would be. How do you suppose he knew that?”

  Eric shrugged. “Good judge of character?” he asked jokingly.

  “He said that in the short time he spoke to you, he felt he knew you well enough to anticipate your desires in this matter.”

  “I was joking before, but the fact is that Anmoore is a very perceptive man; that’s why he’s a good person to head up a planetary survey like the one here. Dealing with Tsing Four and places like it is one long series of making judgments on one unknown after another, based on available information. I’m just one more unknown … .” The Emperor raised an eyebrow. “ … just as you were, and yet he anticipated your needs and reactions, didn’t he?”

  Lewis didn’t answer, but instead settled back into his seat across the aisle and watched the landing sequence on his viewscreen, trying unsuccessfully to hide his annoyance at his father. Eric looked around, meanwhile, and caught the twinkle in Adela’s eye, and winked at her in the seat behind him—clearly, she had heard the exchange.

  There were four IPC security agents with them in the passenger cabin, two sitting in the forwardmost seats and two in the last row. Another agent, the one in charge, rode with Anmoore and the copilot up on the flight deck. The liaison “Javas,” meanwhile, was seated across from Adela in the seat just behind his son.

  The hopper settled down on the pad, almost at the same instant as an identical craft carrying Brendan and the other two Gatanni/human liaisons, as well as four more IPCs. None of the spheres were with them now, but Ettalira and two others were to ride to the observation deck with them. He had invited a Sarpan representative, but Captain Tra’tiss had declined.

  The moment they were down, the IPC in front of Lewis turned and said a few words over the back of his seat. “Captain Anmoore has put the shield dome up over both shuttles, Father,” Lewis announced once the man had made his report. “We can go out on the landing pad at any time.”

  “Well, then; let’s not keep them waiting.”

  They stepped out on the concrete surface of the pad to a roar of applause and shouting from the hundreds of people gathered around the perimeter of the dome. The Emperor waved to them, truly pleased with his reception. These were people, he had learned, who genuinely believed in what they were doing here; their loud approval was for the fact that he supported them, even to the point of coming here to help them prove to the Hundred Worlds that Jephthah was to be ignored.

  You are the people who understand what this tired union needs, he thought, looking at the faces of those in the crowd and making eye contact with as many individuals there as he could. It is not me who helps you, but rather you who are helping me send this Empire in the direction it must go.

  At about the same time that Brendan and the others came around to join them, Eric saw the first of the Gatanni spheres. It floated from the rear of the crowd, golden and shimmering in the sunlight, and was followed by another, and then still more until there was a veritable swarm of liquid copper, gold and silver. They were beautiful. The recordings he had studied since his arrival at Tsing did no justice to the reality of what he saw before him now.

  The spheres bobbed along the front of the crowd, settling into positions about a meter off the ground, when a man started walking closer with three of the silver orbs hovering around him. This would be the Allie, the Gatanni/human liaison that had been made for Anmoore. They came straight forward at first, but when the liaison stopped just short of the edge of the shield dome, the spheres arced high above them, as had been arranged, in order to come through a temporary opening that had just formed in the top of the generated safety shield. Two of the spheres went to hover near the liaisons with Brendan; the other floated to a position in front of him. Allie nodded in Anmoore’s direction, then returned to the waiting group of spheres at the front of the crowd.

  “Your Highness,” it said, the voice—his mother’s voice—seeming to emanate from a circular, vibrating portion of the liquid metal surface. “It is an honor to meet with you at last.”

  “And with you, Ettalira.” Eric bowed formally, and extended his hand, meeting the tendril that formed at the Emperor’s movement. “This is a great day, for both our peoples.”

  They separated, whereupon he waved to the crowd again and turned back for the hoppers, indicating to Anmoore that it was time for them to get going. The IPC agents conducted them up the short steps of the two spacecraft, with Ettalira riding in the Emperor’s vehicle, the other two spheres in Brendan’s.

  “Thank you for showing me this, Captain,” the Emperor said, gazing out over Jour Nouveau. The vista was idyllic, and he wished he could stay here longer. “The work you’ve done here, the way you’ve handled a difficult situation, the correct judgments you’ve made—all speak well of you. My congratulations.” He shook his hand vigorously, clapping a hand to the man’s shoulder. “And my personal thanks for a job done well.”

  “Thank you, Sire.”

  “I hate to leave, but there’s much to do before I give my findings to the Hundred Worlds.” He released his hand and turned to Adela and his sons, nodding that he was ready to depart.

  Brendan and the two liaisons who had accompanied him elected to stay behind at the observation deck, as did the two spheres who had ridden in his hopper. The IPC agent in charge, a man named Hanson according to his ID badge, assigned several of his people to stay at the deck, while he and the four agents he’d selected would accompany them back down the trail to the shuttles. He wore a headset, and spoke frequently into his collar pickup.

  They walked along the trail, the footing and pace easier now that it was in a downhill direction. The air was warm, and the sun broke through the trees in numerous spots. Several times along the way Eric stopped to examine a tree or other native growth, or to watch an animal as it bounded away at their approach, with Anmoore gladly pointing out what they had learned about the wildlife here. Occasionally, Ettalira would show a similar interest in their surroundings and go zipping off the path to scrutinize one thing or another before coming back to join them. As they traveled, Eric received constant updates from the security team as to their progress, which Lewis passed along sparingly. Lewis knew, as did Adela, that Eric loved the woods, and they spoke to him only on occasion, allowing him to enjoy the serenity of the forest.

  At one point, slightly more than halfway to where the hidden shuttles waited, Adela moved ahead in the line of hikers to talk to Anmoore up near
the head of the group. Seeing this, and taking advantage of Adela being out of earshot, the liaison who looked so disturbingly like Javas caught up with him on the trail. “May I speak with you a moment, Sire?” he asked tentatively. Ettalira floated up behind him, and extended a tendril that touched him momentarily on the exposed skin of his arm, reading his mood, before withdrawing it back into her lustrous surface.

  “I have been anticipating this conversation,” Eric replied, regarding them both. “Although I must admit that I haven’t been looking forward to it.”

  “Because of who I am?”

  The Emperor laughed. “No, of course not. It’s because of who you are not.”

  “He is not responsible for either,” Ettalira put in ashamedly. “Please forgive me, but understand that he never asked to be here. It was a mistake to construct him—in this form—I know that now. He is unlike the other three. They have settled easily into their roles, and have begun the process of developing their own unique personalities, without having a specific persona imprinted on them, just as the natives on this world have done. But he has—”

  “I can speak for myself,” he interrupted, the power in his voice startling Eric with how closely it matched that of his father. “The others like their roles because they know who they are. They have, from the moment of their creation, been no one but themselves, even though they were incomplete; they correct that every moment of every day that they interact, observe, and become one with their environment. But I …”

  “But you were given a partial personality that already belonged to someone,” the Emperor finished. “No wonder you are confused.”

  “It is even worse than that,” he said, watching the ground below them as they walked. “It is a remembered personality, belonging to someone who saw him through loving eyes, that has been further colored with the passage of time.” He looked up from the trail, and gazed around him at the pristine forest.