| |
Lodar Veran was a High Priest of the Sri.
From a distance, in his outward appearance, he seemed like any other man. Once closer, the skin appeared vague, slightly ashen, the eyes withdrawn. A further step revealed an almost translucent quality to the entire exposed portion of the body; hands, face, neck. His clothes were the robes of the Emperor’s inner court, black and gold velvet, with a dark gray hood covering the head providing constant shade to the eyes. It was said the Sri priests were sensitive to the light; perhaps, it was rumored, a result of their taking of the starfire, the legendary biological agent through which their bodies were transformed. It was said that the starfire, ‘the blood of the ancients’, made them something other than human. Not more, nor less, merely, something else.
The countenance of Veran betrayed no hint of what lay beyond, in the nether region of his mind. A mind only the Sri, in their most intimate way, could comprehend. A mind whose possible contemplations filled Pal Bennis with greater and greater loathing with each step he took.
“Come, come!” said Veran to Bennis impatiently, not bothering to look up from the chess board he was preoccupied with. Veran sat in the desk chair previously owned by Nathan Cochrane, then usurped by Bennis, in the luxurious master bedchamber of the North Palace. The fact of this brash invasion of privacy was not lost on Bennis. It merely added anger to his loathing for the man. If indeed he was a man. Perhaps the Church is right after all, he thought, observing his rival.
Non-human.
“I’ve just been contemplating your game here. Which color are you?”
“The white,” said Bennis, standing a full half dozen paces from the desk, and Veran.
“Hmm. The strategies you employ are simplistic.”
“I am a former master,” said Bennis as evenly as he could.
“Yes,” Veran said with little-disguised contempt. “The black player does show promise. Very... imaginative. Who is your opponent?”
“Arin, of course.”
“Yes. Prince Arin. I should like to meet him. Soon.”
“That should be unavoidable. He does rule this planet.”
“We both know who rules this planet,” said Veran sharply, looking up from the board and locking eyes with Bennis. “Come and sit,” he gestured to the side chair. Bennis found himself going to the chair and sitting, despite his better judgment. I want no part of this... thing, he thought.
“The young Prince Regent, he has been of great service to you, I suspect?” said Veran.
“Perhaps ‘great’ is too strong a word, but of service, yes.” Bennis found himself being drawn into conversation with the priest.
“And our spies tell us you have things well under control here on Quantar?”
“Well under control, except for an occasional rebel incursion from the Earth Sanctuary.”
“Ah, yes, the rebels. They damaged your Starliner, did they not?”
“At a great cost. But we have affected repairs at Callis. The Vixis is well stocked now with soldiers and equipment, and new armaments.”
“What kind of armaments, may I ask?”
“You mean your PKI vermin don’t know?”
“I did not say that, I merely asked the question.”
Loyalty test, thought Bennis. He decided to respond with as much truth as he dared to share.
“Two forward nuclear-thermal cannon, with enough gigatons to engulf a Habitable World in eternal flame.”
Veran smiled grimly. “Ah, Habitable Worlds are not easy to come by. Do you plan on using your new weaponry on one in the near future?”
“Very near future, your eminence,” said Bennis, leaning forward in the chair in an intimidating manner.
“Do you have a target already selected?”
“Yes, but perhaps you would like to provide an alternative? The new home world of the Sri, for instance?”
Veran laughed loudly, his mouth open, the flesh inside looking red and inflamed to Bennis, a result of the enzyme treatments required to absorb the starfire, no doubt. It made Bennis hate him all the more.
“We have no home world now, unless you intend to attack Corant itself, and the emperor you have sworn allegiance to?” said Veran.
“If I did intend to attack Corant, I would not tell you, your eminence. But I would wait until you had returned there.”
The laugh came again, cold and hollow, without a trace of real humor in it. And abruptly it was over.
“Do you know the source of our power?” came the sudden words, confronting Bennis.
“No, and I have no wish to know.”
“Still, you must be curious?”
Bennis decided to humor Veran. “It is said you can see the future.”
“Ah yes. Rumor and innuendo,” the priest shuffled his garments, the first sign of discomfort he had shown. “We do not ‘see’ the future, as such, we merely predict it. The starfire gives us that. Call it the power of association. We are rarely wrong. So let me predict your future for you.”
Bennis’ gaze grew narrow and harsh on the Sri priest. “You are planning an attack on the Earth Sanctuary, which has never been successfully attacked before. The Defensive Shield is of an unknown origin. We cannot measure it, nor can our probes penetrate it. Your direct attack will fail, and the Emperor will be forced to censure you for your pirate act, which although he might support it enthusiastically privately, he could never do so publicly, because of the opposition of the Kallaket. Arin will be empowered to rule Quantar for the emperor, and you will be exiled.”
“All of this is very interesting,” said Bennis, “but you cannot know the outcome yet. You can only make suppositions. Earth has never been attacked by a Starliner before, the Convention of Ince forbade it. I believe we will win. I believe what you really fear is my increased power in the Empire.”
“Perhaps, but if I could give you a better plan...” Veran let his voice trail off.
“Such as?”
Veran smiled, knowing he had Bennis interested. “The emperor is one of us now, did you know? But we can never completely control him, he will always have a mind of his own. He came to us late in life, I’m afraid. We need someone else, someone younger, someone to... succeed the Emperor when he is gone.”
The warning in Bennis’s voice was clear. “You are very close to treason, eminence.”
Again the grim smile came from Veran. “Come now, ultimately that is why we are both here, you know that as well as I.”
Bennis hesitated only a moment. “Go on,” he said.
“We know of your intentions on the throne. And we find your plan, with the exception of the attack on the Sanctuary, to be sound. But a word from our PKI operatives and your life is ransom, and the Emperor will declare a price on your head.”
“I warn you, walk softly now,” said Bennis angrily. Veran smiled the smile of a man who knew he was in no danger whatsoever.
“In exchange for allowing your plan to continue, both long range and short range, we want something in return.”
“And that’s why the Emperor sent you?”
“We came of our own accord to this world.”
“So what do you want?”
“In short, we want a future. Someone we can manipulate to our will, someone who will rule in our name, and under our control.”
“I would be of no use to you in this regard.”
“Yes, but young Prince Arin, he could be of great service to us.”
Bennis took only a moment to decide. Frankly, the thought of the two of them together amused him.
“Agreed,” he said.
“Good, then summon him, we will discuss our plan for attacking the Sanctuary with him here.”
“Why? He is of no importance.”
“Precisely, but we want him to believe that he is.”
Bennis nodded. “One more thing, ‘our plan’ for attacking the Sanctuary?”
“We must seem unified to him. If you succeed, our plans are accelerated. If you do not, we have, how can I say, contingency plans of our own. In any case, I have been sent to accompany you.”
“As a spy?”
“As an interested observer. As for your plan-”
“It has changed some. Just today I have decided to exact some revenge from the rebels for damaging my precious Starliner, and my reputation, with their impudent attack.”
“This will not distract you from your original goal, I trust?”
“Of course not,” said Bennis, then went to the intercom on his desk.
“Summon Prince Arin,” he ordered, then sat down in silence to wait.
***
PRINCE ARIN ROSE AT the sound of the intercom chime.
“What is it?” he said testily.
“Governor Bennis requests your presence in his quarters,” said the duty chief.
“At this hour? What for?”
“He did not say, Sire. But he was insistent.”
Arin contemplated this a moment, debating whether or not to obey, then replied. “Five minutes,” he said, then switched off the intercom. He began to dress.
“You may go back to your quarters if you wish,” he said to the woman in his bed, “We will resume when I return. If I have not contacted you within the hour return immediately. I do not like to be kept waiting.”
She smiled, then approached him, all darkness and seduction, pressing her body next to his, forcing him to stop dressing. He looked at her with annoyance. Then she kissed him, violently biting his lower lip as she pulled away. He grabbed her firmly by the throat, spitting his own blood to the floor.
“Do not push me. I could quickly grow tired of you,” he said.
“I think not,” she replied defiantly as she broke his grasp. “I think you are enamored with me.”
True enough, he thought. He preferred the women of his own world to the ones Bennis had brought with him from Callis. And he had been surprised to find out how many of them voluntarily chose to indulge his baser pleasures. He finished dressing in silence, carelessly letting his uniform tunic hang open. He turned back to her.
“I’ll be waiting,” she said, returning to the bed and setting herself languorously down on it. He merely nodded in silence, then departed his quarters.
The walk to Bennis’s chambers was short. Nonetheless, Arin took some time to mull over the implications of this call. Bennis was also a man who valued his daily private pleasures. It would take something of importance to shake him from his preoccupations at this hour.
He arrived at his father’s former quarters, nodding to the sentries in the hallway. They let him pass wordlessly. Obviously he was expected. He pushed lush fabrics aside as he came to the chamber’s inner door, then rang the chime. The door opened silently.
He entered to the sight of a seated and slightly bored looking Bennis and another man, dressed in the robes of the Sri priesthood. Arin barely disguised his disdain for the one man, and revulsion for the other.
“You summoned me,” he said absently, tunic still hanging open in disrespect.
“Yes, I did,” said Bennis, rising slowly. “Do you know my guest, Lodar Veran, High Priest of the Sri?”
“No,” replied Arin.
“And I imagine he has no wish to know me, do you young man?” said Veran in a baiting manner.
“No, I don’t,” said Arin, “you have taken me from my evenings’ recreation, and I don’t care for that. But I’m sure your kind wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh, we understand,” said Veran, moving from behind the table. His form of motion was an awkward dance, like a skeleton walking. He took several steps closer to Arin, deliberately making him uncomfortable as he smiled his red-mouthed smile. “We simply have no interest in indulging. We choose to explore... higher pleasures,” he said.
Arin turned to Bennis. “Why have you brought me here?” he asked. Veran answered.
“To discuss the coming attack on the Earth Sanctuary. There has been a change of plans.”
“There has?” quizzed Arin, feigning disinterest.
“Yes,” said Bennis. He rolled a large paper scroll onto the desktop.
“We will attack first here, Zaed Vadela Three, a mining outpost in the Kanaris system. The rebels have been using it as a staging post to run their raids and contraband in and out of the system. It has a civilian population of two-hundred thirty thousand. The outpost has been useful to us on occasion in the past. Its destruction will signal to the rebels that we are coming now for them.”
Arin went straight into military analysis. “Is it wise to signal our intent so clearly? Won’t this attack galvanize them into a more aggressive posture?” questioned Arin.
“It could,” answered Bennis. “It could just as easily panic them into a mistake. We don’t know what kind of defenses the Sanctuary has beyond the Defensive Shield. But it is almost certain they have no aggressive weapons. None that could withstand a Starliner, anyway.”
“There are legends from the war,” said Veran.
“Legends?” said Arin, focusing on the unpleasant sight of the priest for the first time.
“Of gleaming church spires in space. Of weapons of lightning.”
“Child’s tales!” laughed Bennis.
“Perhaps,” said Veran. “But every ship who ventured in to the Sol system during the war was destroyed, or at least never heard from again. Our own included. I would not dismiss such tales so easily.”
Arin eyed the two men. “Are you sure this mining outpost attack is necessary?” he said.
“We need a demonstration of our power,” said Veran. Arin looked to Bennis, who merely nodded.
“And what guarantee do we have of success?” said Arin.
“A Starliner is all the guarantee we will need,” said Bennis.
“And if I require more?”
“You will not get it,” said Bennis angrily. “You will do as we tell you, and you will learn. Believe me, it is my fondest desire to turn this cold rock of a world of yours over to you and leave as soon as possible. But I will do it on my terms, and I’ll tolerate no insolence from you. You will follow orders and there will be no guarantees. Understood?”
Arin merely nodded.
“Good, our shuttle leaves in the morning and we’ll dock aboard Vixis at 2200. The attack on the outpost will be the following day. Pack your military journals and prepare to be taught. You are dismissed,” said Bennis sharply, pointing to the doorway.
Arin bowed ungraciously to both men and left quickly, anxious to return to his pleasures.
“I like him,” said Veran when Arin had gone.
“I’m so glad for you,” said Bennis sarcastically.
“I’ll have our operative administer the first enzyme treatment tonight,” said Veran.
“You have an operative here? In my command?”
“Of course. Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t.”
“I will need the Prince in good working order for the attack on the outpost.”
Veran smiled. “He will be fine. The enzymes will take weeks to build up in his system. He’ll hardly notice, nor will you.”
Then Veran smiled the humorless smile again.
“Yes. An excellent choice.”