Death to the Imperium (Imperium Cicernus) (11 page)

The
man called Ozytan had landed his ship on the planet during the chemical storm.
It was parked near the cave, right next to a thin stream of lava. The man had
to be at least fifty—possibly older. But his eyes had a twinkle of extreme
youthfulness. His grey robe was simple and nondescript, but the man had an aura
of great power.

Ozytan
gestured to his ship. “Won’t you come in?”

“How
do we know we can trust you?” Glitz said.

The
man smiled, lifted up his staff, and brandished it towards a faraway mountain. A
stream of light poured out of the sapphire, and struck the face of the rock.
The mountain was demolished, reduced to dust in an instant. Glitz and Alyce
stared at the destruction. It was clear that they weren’t being given a choice.
Ozytan led the way into his craft. It was a handsome ship, but rather plain.
The hull had a dark matte finish, and there were no decorations or symbols. It
was clearly the ship that they had been searching for.

The
interior of the ship was equally unexceptional. The walls were black and the
ship was illuminated by bright lights. Ozytan led them through the ship, which
was apparently empty. They turned a corner, and Glitz yelled in surprise. Standing
outside a metal door were two terrible creatures, the same kind that had
attacked him inside the cave.

“Do
not be alarmed,” Ozytan said. “This is Regorn and Ragarn. They are my
servants.”

“You’re
keeping those…
things
as servants?” Glitz said, in disbelief.

Alyce
looked similarly shocked. “One of them nearly killed Glitz.”

The
man smiled. “Please, be at peace. I will explain everything shortly.”

The
creatures stepped aside to allow them to enter the room; Glitz looked uneasily
into one of the creature’s black eyes as they passed them. It was a small
conference room, with a long metal table. The room was as bare as the other
parts of the ship, and the benches were made of grey steel. Ozytan gestured for
them to take a seat, and sat down at the head of the table. Glitz and Alyce sat
down next to each other at the other end of the table. After a few minutes, two
more Weerms entered, dragging Doland and Tekka with them. They dropped the men
onto the floor of the conference room, and then left.

“Wh—what’s
going on?” Doland said.

“I
instructed my creatures to bring you here, my friends,” Ozytan said, smiling. “Please,
sit.”

Doland
and Tekka’s clothes were ripped, but they were clearly unharmed. The creatures
had been careful. They sat down, warily, and Tekka glanced from Glitz and Alyce
to the strange man at the head of the table.

“Now,”
the man went on, “My name is Ozytan. I want to tell you all about the planet
Chaos. You are—I assume—on a mission for the Imperium?”

Alyce
shook her head. “No, of course not. We’re Proteists. We were exploring the Sector
when we stumbled across this place.”

Ozytan
laughed. “A most original cover story, but I’m afraid the ZK-99 blasters are a
giveaway. Also, I know who you are, Captain Wickham. I have managed to access some
of the Imperium’s military records; blackmail can be a most useful tool.” He
frowned at Glitz, shaking his head. “Using non-military personnel for official
missions… well, well. The Senate has really become desperate. Now, what are
your names?”

The
others reluctantly introduced themselves. Then Alyce turned to face the man.
“And who are you?”

“I’ve
told you. My name is Ozytan.” He smiled. “I think you must have seen my brother
on public vidcasts. His name is Emperor Ferdinand.”

Alyce
was shocked by this revelation, but it explained why the man looked so
familiar. He had Ferdinand’s bone structure—the same rounded jaw and hooked
nose. The eyes were also similar, although Ozytan’s eyes had an intense edge
that almost seemed to suggest a touch of mania.

Ozytan’s
eyes narrowed. “You see, I am the eldest son of Emperor Quintill, the previous
ruler of the Imperium. The rulership of the empire should have been my
birthright. But my rightful throne was cruelly snatched away from me when the
Senate refused to name me as my father’s successor.”

Alyce
knew that the Senate had complete authority to decide who would rule the
Imperium. They tended to choose members of the same royal line, but public
knowledge of the Imperial family was very scarce. Back in the days when
Monarchism was the official religion of the Imperium, people had taken much
more interest in the Imperial lineage. Now the office of the Emperor was simply
a relic of a past age, albeit one that the Senate could not quite summon enough
courage to abolish absolutely.

“What
happened?” Alyce said, unable to conceal her curiosity.

“The
Senate disapproved of my character and plans for the future of the Imperium,”
Ozytan replied bitterly. “You see, I had some rather revolutionary ideas. To my
mind, the history of the Imperium is one of unchecked power and brutal
domination. I had it in my head to reform the Imperium—to implement a totally
new way of governing. I wanted the Imperium to become a true parliamentary
democracy, freed from the shackles of tyranny.” He tapped his staff softly on
the ground. “But the Senate discovered my plans, and were frightened for the
future of the Imperium. The Senate usually select the heir with the strongest
blood claim, providing they can be sure of his weak co-operation, but can
deviate from the line of succession with impunity. So they barred my ascension
to the throne. My brother Ferdinand, a weak-spirited, easily-controlled man,
was selected as the new Emperor. And I was left with nothing.” Ozytan paused
again, staring severely into the sapphire on his staff.”

Alyce
frowned. She was moved by Ozytan’s story, but she was a little confused. “Why
are you telling us all of this?”

“Because
I have a plan to reclaim my birthright,” Ozytan said, smiling for the first
time. “When I was seventeen years of age, I was in an utterly hopeless state. I
did not want to take any money from the Senate—not after what they had done to
me. Creditless and powerless, I spent years in a state of idleness. All those
wasted years… I roamed the galaxy like a cosmic vagrant, watching the Imperium
become even more powerful and destructive.

“Then,
around ten years ago, I took a hallucinogenic drug called Morpheus, which is
banned across the galaxy due to severe neurological side effects. But, far from
destroying my mind, the drug gave me a wondrous vision. Oh, the vision! I saw a
future of kindness and prosperity, a galaxy under the umbrella of a utopian
rule, shielded from dictating rain. I saw the Imperium transformed into a
democratic peacekeeping organisation, committed to dispensing wisdom and
justice. All inequality had been stamped out; every worker was paid fairly, and
no one went hungry.” Ozytan’s eyes became even more wide. It was if a tiny
flame had been lit behind each pupil. “What was more—I saw the means of
achieving that vision. Morpheus showed me how the utopian future could be
attained; it gave me a plan.”

Tekka,
Glitz, Doland and Alyce watched silently as Ozytan carried on speaking.

“I
already knew of a planet called Chaos, a planet of terrible natural events and
fierce predators. But I finally understood the
potential
of the world.
It was to become the foundation of a brand new species.” Ozytan grinned.
“Imagine a life form born into chaos. From its first waking breath, this
creature is hounded on every side by chemical storms and vicious animals. Every
second of its life is a bitter fight for survival, acted out on the stage of an
unforgiving, uncaring world.”

“Such
a creature would be terrible,” Tekka said.

“Precisely,”
Ozytan said. “Humans, while having the potential for goodness, have evolved
many undesirable traits on a planet as nourishing as Homeworld—or wherever else
the humans came into being. Imagine what kind of animal would be produced by
millions of years of evolution on a world such as Chaos.”

Tekka
was imagining it—and it was almost too terrible to consider.

“But
producing such an organism would take millions of years, and there would be the
risk of the creature becoming extinct before it reached a sufficient level of
ruthlessness. Right?” Ozytan tapped his stick excitedly as his voice rose in
fervour. “Wrong! I have managed to evolve such a creature in a matter of
weeks!”

“It
is not possible,” Tekka said.

“On
the contrary, it is perfectly possible. You see, after seeing my wondrous
vision, I started up a corporation called the East Galaxy Company—perhaps you
have heard of it.” Glitz raised his eyebrows. He had worked for that company
for years, but had never found out who owned it. “I sold my shares in the
company two years ago for fifty billion credits, and used the funds to develop
a chrono-disrupter.”

“Ah,”
Tekka said.

“A
chrono-what?” Doland said.

“The
device was designed to seal this planet within a time bubble—accelerating the
march of time within the isolation field. In short, it would allow millions of
years to take place inside the bubble, when only a few days have passed outside
it.”

Tekka
turned to Glitz. “Remember when we landed on the planet? There was a heavy
disturbance on our chronometer. That must have been the time field.”

Ozytan
nodded. “Of course, the acceleration process has finished, so we are currently
existing at normal time.” He smiled, as if admiring his own cleverness. “One
thing was clear to me after experiencing my vision. I knew that the Imperium
could only be taken down by a creature of utter depravity. I had to evolve an
animal with no compassion, no kindness, and no emotions except anger and hatred.
And I have succeeded.” He thrust his staff out towards the door. “Behold—the
Weerms!”

On
cue, the two creatures that had been guarding the conference room stepped
inside it. They were the same type of creature that had attacked Glitz in the
cave. They were human shaped, but with snake-like skin, under which powerful
muscles rippled. They had vicious claws attached to every limb, as well as a
barbed tail. Their teeth were like jagged pieces of painted glass.

“My
Weerms…” Ozytan said, with the pride of a father showing off the
accomplishments of his sons. “Living proof that—given a hostile enough
environment—evil is a desirable evolutionary characteristic.”

Alyce
and the three men were speechless in the face of the creatures. After hearing
Ozytan’s story, they all felt a sense of horror. To create such a creature… it
was madness.

“What
source material did you use?” Tekka said quietly, somehow already guessing the
answer. “From which animal did you evolve these creatures?”

Ozytan
stood up to his full height, basking in the glory of his creation. “From us, of
course. The Weerms are the evolutionary descendants of a hundred thousand
slaves that were bought from the Crystal Mines of Ziridian. They are the
distillation of every malevolent impulse that exists in the human brain,
stripped of all goodness.”

Alyce
stared at the two Weerms, feeling a sickness well up in her stomach. So they
used to be human…

Doland
pulled out one of the diamonds from his pocket, and showed it to Ozytan. “I
found this buried in the dust. I suppose you had something to do with this,
too?”

Ozytan
smiled, glancing at the glinting object. “Of course. I used various scientific
methods to encourage the formation of precious stones during the millions of
accelerated years. When I harvested the Weerms, I also mined a huge quantity of
diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds—the stones will help to fund my
military campaign against the Imperium.” He nodded at Doland. “You can keep
whatever you found. They are simply the table-droppings of what I have already
collected.”

Doland
tucked the stone inside his pocket, hoping that Oyztan wouldn’t change his
mind. Glitz was horrified by Ozytan’s actions, but a part of him felt that it
wasn’t anything to do with him. He had always kept out of politics, and since
his dismissal from the army he had had nothing to do with the military—not
until he was coerced into going along on the current mission. The Weerms were
clearly dreadful beings, but that only made him want to get away from them as
quickly as possible. But before he left the planet he wanted to find some
precious stones of his own…

Tekka
pulled out a ruby, and held it under the light. “Surely the chrono-disrupter
had a certain destabilising effect on the planet’s molecules? Of course, the
vibrations would cause little problem within the isolated field, but how did
you manage to remove the Weerms and the precious stones from the planet?”

“Ah,
that was a significant problem,” Ozytan said, smiling. “And I must say that it
is a pleasure to speak to someone with a scientific turn of mind. I got around
the problem by using a ship fitted with a second chrono-disrupter—the effect
was to remove the vibrations by oscillating on a reverse frequency.”

Tekka
nodded, feeling some admiration towards Ozytan. He might have committed acts of
unspeakable atrocity, but he was also clearly a genius.

Alyce
looked with disgust at Ozytan. She certainly didn’t have any admiration for the
man. “Why are you telling us all of this?”