The Nonborn King (49 page)

The radio chatter continued while Basil and Aldo reconnoitered the terrain, finally landing in a high valley below the northern flank of Monte Rosa that was free of glaciers but still well covered with fresh snow in mid-July. Both of the mountaineers had bodies that had been artificially adapted for highaltitude exploration during a previous rejuvenation; and so, after cautioning Pongo Warburton to remain safely inside the aircraft, they put on warm clothing and went tramping gleefully in the snow, ostensibly doing a final ground survey with sonic probes before calling m the other ships.

Manetti finally sat down on a protruding rock and gazed at the mountain looming above them. "What a perfect place this is to begin the ascent! How do you like the West Col for starters?"

"Quite feasible, I should say We're at, er, 5924 meters, which leaves quite a respectable jaunt to the summit " His voice lowered "It was the reason I came to the Pliocene, you know To find this, if it existed, and climb it Well, I've got this close "

"Maybe it'll be a short war "

Basil was looking around the perimeter of the valley with a small monocular "Devilish light place to get into without an aircraft You d have to come in from the north Almost a straight-up slog from the Wallis valley of the Rhone A logistic nightmare "

"No sweat as long as you have the two flyers tucked away in the Vosges Then later, when the Lowlife Air Arm is trained. you can shift this frozen fleet to a more convenient spot None of my business, of course but aren't your precautions against theft of the flyers Just a tnfle extreme?"

"Chief Burke' s orders. old chap Like the biblical centunon, I am merely a man subject to authority And rather glad to be"

Aldo got up and stretched "Well, we might as well call down the others, then get back to the Ship's Grave for the second batch Looks like we'll have no trouble getting them all femed today "

"We'll have to post extra guards at the crater tonight," Basil said as they walked back to their flyer "With only the two aircraft left now to take us back home well, 'Quis custodiel ipsos custodes,' as your old countryman Juvenal will one day remark "

"I might be tempted myself," Aldo laughed, "if I only knew how to drive one of the things And if I wasn't so eager to climb Rosa with you some fine day, compare nuo "

"We're so close to finishing our task, Aldo If something should go wrong now, "

"What could? Tomorrow, we fly home'"

Basil's expression was pained "There have been, er, hints of trouble "

"Thongsa again?" Aide's lip curled "Not to worry Phronsie s got that little pillroller so scared he won't even go to the loo without company "

"Something more ominous. I'm afraid I shouldn't burden you, Aido As expedition leader. I shall have to deal with the matter as best I can "

"A centurion's lot is not a happy one He had to give orders as well as take them, I recall "

The two of them crunched along wordlessly for a few minutes In spite of the altitude and the surrounding snowfields, the sun was hot They stripped off their balaclavas and opened their survival vests The parked aircraft was still half a kilometer away

"If Chief Burke were here." Basil said, "he'd make the necessary command decision in a tnce I'm afraid my own blood's too thinned by centuries of civilization to make me property ruthless. May I pose an abstract problem to you?"

The suddenness of the question took Aldo off guard "Go ahead "

"Suppose that last night, a trusted member of our company proposed treason, speaking to another member of our company The second member, being secretly one of my, er, enforcers, notified me of the treacherous proposition after having temporized with the potential renegade "

"Jesus H Christ'"

"Suppose this potential traitor is a person who has behaved in an exemplary fashion up until now Suppose the person is possessed of extraordinary talents that we had counted on utilizing when we begin adapting the aircraft for combat Suppose this person is not a pilot, and therefore hoped to suborn one in order to implement his treason, "

"To do what, for God's sake?"

"To turn over an aircraft, and the approximate location of this parking site, to Alken Drum In return for the usual perquisites '

"Keeping this abstract," Aldo muttered, "you seem to have two fairly clear choices Numero uno You kill the rucking bastard out of hand before he finds himself a pilot with shakier loyally Numero due, and this one holds good only if the guy's really valuable, you lock him up tighter than a Lyimik's bum and lei him live as long as he cooperates "

Basil pursed his lips and nodded in agreement "And which of those options, in your view, represents the most prudent choice?"

"Well so far, the guy's done nothing but talk Right?"

"Correct And the proposition made to my informant was couched in the most ambiguous possible terms Its basic intent was plain, however "

"Oh, hell, I don't know," Aldo said "You've only got this poacher's word What if he read the other guy wrong'? What tf your boy has some private little axe of his own to grind?" Manetti wiped perspiration from his forehead

"The possibilities had occurred to me, too "

"Why not keep the traitor under surveillance? Maybe even let him know your doubts about him? He might back off, figure the game's not worth the risk Then you'll still be able to use him Good rhocraft technicians don't grow under every bush in this Pliocene Exile "

"True " They were approaching the flyer "I appreciate your counsel, Aldo I thmk you've helped me A harder-hearted man would have chosen a more uncompromising course But you and I mountaineers are such romantics at heart I'd like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt "

Aldo began to climb up the aircraft boarding ladder He smiled over his shoulder at the don "A little artful psychology can do the job just as well as the big fist "

"I hope you're right," Basil said "I do hope you're right "

Basil groaned, shifting on the decamole cot Someone was shaking him by the shoulder There were staccato voices outside the tent and a wild sound of weeping It was very dark

"Basil, wake up " Bengt Sandvik was urgent "Emergency

"Oh, no "

The expedition leader pulled himself up and thumbed his wnst chronometer It was almost four His head spun from a belated touch of mountain sickness and he could barely understand what Bengt was saying He groped for his boots and stuffed his feel into them

cracked Nazir over the skull and tried to grab the Number One flyer if Mr Betsy hadn't come by with the stungun "

"Who?" Basil asked wearily He knew who

"Aldo Manetti And he had the Baroness along to do the piloting for him "

Basil threw on a shirt and went out of the tent Taffy Evans had a hammerlock on the mountaineer, who was still groggy from the stun charge Baroness Charlotte-Amalie was tense in the grip of Phronsie GiHis Betsy, efficient in a zippered flightsuit but still wearing the wig, had the prisoners covered with his Husqvama

Basil stepped closer to Aldo "So you weren't able to settle for numero due after all "

Aldo's head lolled and he spat weakly Saliva dnbbled on his dark chin

Basil turned away, consulting his watch again "Well, it's nearly dawn Time we were breaking camp " He looked off dt the two tall aircraft silhouetted against the graying starry sky and the crater lake "A pity there are no trees here But the drop from the belly-hatch should be sufficient "

"What are you going to do?" screamed the Baroness

"Tie the two of them to the landing struts of Number One until we're ready "

"What are you going to do?"

"Hang you, my dear," Basil said Then he went back into his tent to finish dressing

3

BODURAGOL, CHIEF REDACTOR OF AFALIAH, SAT ON HIS STOOL in the middle of the womb-dark Skin chamber, his eyes closed and his mind given over almost completely to his work. The great innovation had been an unqualified success. Both patients had improved markedly since he had thought of pairing their highly compatible enantiomorphous psychokinetic functions within the light yoking of his own redactive matrix. The atrophied right hemisphere of the male brain, especially, had undergone significant regeneration under the influence of the female's powerful iatropsychic input. The simultaneous acceleration of the woman's healing had been purely serendipitous. The scientist in Boduragot was fascinated by the outcome- The sentimentalist was gratified.

The bodies stood side by side in the suspensors, chaste as alabaster statues wrapped in clinging, transparent cauls- On one mental level, the Tanu man and the human woman were actively cooperating with the redactor- On another more intimate mode, behind a firm barrier, they were simply talking.

CLOUD: But, don't you see that it was almost the same for your generation as it was for ours? Your parents decided your destiny for you in advance. You had nothing to say about it and were forbidden to question their judgment. Neither did we.

KUHAL: How could it be any other way? Our people left the Duat Galaxy in order to be free. Free to follow a life we believe in. Was it not the same for yours?

CLOUD: Our parents said so. And for many years, we believed them.

KUHAL: But now you do not. Well... we Tanu also have our heretics.

CLOUD: Analytical criticism is not heresy if one is truly free.

KUHAL: You impute that we are not?

CLOUD: My generation was constrained by ignorance, inertia, even fear. The questioning was painful, dangerous. Ultimately necessary, nonetheless.

KUHAL: I do not understand.

CLOUD: Shall I tell you something of our story?

KUHAL: We have time... yes. Perhaps we Tanu have let ignorance and inertia rule us as well. In our relations with you. We knew only one small segment of your race: the voluntary time-travelers. The nonmetapsychics seemed to be useful servants. The latents we accepted into our family of the mind. Only Nodonn perceived the immense hazard in our developing relationship; but most of us would not listen to his warning. Blindness was more comfortable.

CLOUD: I know.

KUHAL: Do not let me distract you from the tale. Begin at the beginning. Tell me how metapsychic operants arose among you. Tell me how the Rebellion took root.

CLOUD: You know that the people of Elder Earth were slowly developing into natural operancy some millennia before they were contacted by exotic races and inducted into the Milieu.

KUHAL: This has been explained to us by our human Genetics Master.

CLOUD: The operants who lived toward the end of the twentieth century were fast approaching the adept status of coadunate minds. They were very circumspect about revealing their abilities to normal people. Certain ones, especially those with strong coercive or creative talents, used their metafaculties for personal aggrandizement. Others who were more altruistic studied the mental powers, using themselves and other operants as lest subjects. Eventually, these scientists developed the special educational techniques that brought quasi coadunation to numbers of their fetlows. They put together a small, imperfect replica of the Milieu's Coadunate Mind and broadcast the fact of their existence. This was the "beacon" that virtually forced the Milieu to initiate the Great Intervention of 2013, in spite of the fact that most humans were still ethical primitives... higher on the scale of psychosocial maturation than you Tanu, but still barbarians compared to the other five coadunate races. KUHAL: So you and I are both primitives' The mystery of our compatible heritages becomes somewhat less murky. But do not let me digress.

CLOUD: One of the principal centers for metapsychic research on Earth was at Dartmouth College, a small learning institution in North America. The two people in charge of the department prior to the Intervention were Denis Remillard and Lucille Cartier. They were both significantly operant and came from a similar ethnic background. Shortly after they became colleagues, they married. They were my greatgrandfather and great-grandmother. Denis and Lucille had seven children, all powerful operants. The youngest and most talented was my grandfather, Paul, who was born the year after the Intervention and trained in ulero by means of exotic procedures that later became standard. Paul became known as the Man Who Sold New Hampshire. Because of his efforts, this small area in North America became the planetary center of metapsychic operations as Earth entered the mainstream of the Milieu. KUHAL: And your family consolidated its dominance. CLOUD: It was inevitable. Paul became the first human being elected to the Concilium, the governing body of the Galactic Milieu, which is composed entirely of masterclass metapsychics having profound skill in psychosocial analysis and problem solving. Later, four of his five children also served as magnates. Marc was the oldest. He became a Paramount Grand Master, one of the most powerful minds in the galaxy. KUHAL: This is your father, the man called Abaddon?

CLOUD: Yes... That was the nickname he received during the Rebellion. In our holy book, there is a section telling of the last days of the world, when the forces of good and evil are engaged in a final confrontation. Abaddon is the leader of the demon army. He has other names; the Angel of the Abyss; the Destroyer. My Papa...

KUHAL: The war at the end of the world! It's part of our religious mythos as well. We call it the Nightfall War. When the persecuted Tanu and Firvulag were driven from their home planet to the edge of the Duat Galaxy, they thought that they would fight the Nightfall War themselves. But Brede intervened, and her Ship carried us to this starwhirl. Now Celadeyr and certain of his followers believe that the Nightfall War will be fought in the Many-Colored Land!... But you must forgive me, Cloud. Once again I interrupt. Tell me about your father's Rebellion.

CLOUD: I can't tell you very much. I was a year old. My brother Hagen was two. Both of our parents were involved in some colossal conspiracy to put the human race in absolute control of the Milieu. There was a grandiose scheme that Papa and Dr. Steinbrenner and some of the others devised that was supposed to eventually transform a group of us children into superbeings, ultrametapsychics. The rebels planned to inaugurate the scheme after the coup.. - but of course, the coup failed. Papa has never talked to us about his plans for us children, and the record of it has been expunged from the computer in Ocala. I'm afraid that something about the plan must have been horrible, because Mama, Mama,