Even as the first hour of the Gathering approached, the informal politicking continued. Many of the attendees came from worlds where the Phaestor aristocracy had not yet exercised their authority as dramatically as they had on Thoska-Roole and Burihatin. Some of the TimeBinders remained skeptical of the stories and rumors they had heard of atrocities and violations of the Regency Charter. Nevertheless, across the disk of the Forum, various groups still came together to consider their next actions. With the full weight of d’Vashti’s Armageddon-class warship hanging over them all, many of the arguments against the Phaestor had taken on a new credential.
At a gathering place at the outer edge of the Forum, Lee-1169 spoke patiently with Fariah, Lord K’aenar, and Calvin, three of the most conservative TimeBinders. Fariah had glowing red skin and long black hair that reached to her waist; she wore an elegant gown of pale silk. Lord K’aenar had olive skin and dark black eyes; he wore an ornate ceremonial kimono, so intricate that it defied easy description. Calvin wore only a simple harness for his weaponry; he had orange hair that covered his entire body; and Lee remained uncertain of his genetic heritage. The three TimeBinders listened patiently as Lee presented his case to them. They stood at the top of a rise of wide marble steps near the edge of the disk. Here, where the atmosphere thinned considerably, they had a remarkable view of the stars.
Around them, the other surviving members of the Lee clone-family stood, occasionally interjecting their own thoughts and comments, but mostly allowing their more world-wise brother to say it for all of them.
“I can’t speak for the rest of the Cluster,” said Lee, “but I can tell you what I’ve seen in my lifetime. Ask me about the Kilpatrick Massacre,11 and I’ll tell you of one of the great turning points in the history of the Regency. The Dragon Guards have taken it as a sacred oath to kill judges and councilors and clone-families ever since. The Regency has become a partner in the commission of these illegal acts.”
As he detailed the events of the Kilpatrick Massacre, a small crowd began to gather around, their faces rapt with attention. His passion and his fury made Lee a compelling speaker. The force of his personality infused his whole presentation and the crowd reacted with gasps and anger as he spoke of the Dragons’ rage, their killing frenzies—the way they slashed fathers to death in front of their sons, the way they tormented and looted and laughed at the pain of others. Lee spoke calmly at times, furiously at others, but overall he evoked an emotional response from his listeners that no mere dry recanting of facts could ever produce.
At the back of the crowd, two small humans watched with sour expressions, Gito and Juda-Linda. Neither had any great concern for the problems of other species; partly this grew out of their own sense of alienation from the taller elements of their species, partly it came from their own personal resentment at the patronizing way that others had often treated them, and partly it came from the built-in bias of their culture. The people of Tharn didn’t complain—and certainly never in public—they got even. Gito frowned uncomfortably. Robin’s words still haunted him. He knew that he had failed to understand something. It bothered him. Now, Lee’s words disturbed him even more. Lee understood it. But listening to him, Gito still couldn’t hear what he really meant. It just sounded like more weeping and wailing at the unfairness of the universe.
Something rumbled behind them. Automatically, Gito stepped out of the way, pulling Juda-Linda with him. Several Dragons had appeared around the edges of the gathering. Some of them grumbled uncomfortably—deep sounds of warning and danger. The listeners in the crowd began turning their heads to stare at the Dragons. Standing to one side, the other Lees began to show their concern as well. They whispered among themselves, wondering if they should withdraw or stand by their brother.
Finally, even Lee-1169 acknowledged the presence of the warrior-lizards. “Ho,” he said. “Here I stand. A Lee that you missed.”
One of the Dragons, the biggest, spoke in a voice like doom. He wore black armor, trimmed with silver. “Anywhere else in the Cluster, we would punish your treason with instant death. Here, we have to let you speak with impugnity.”
Around them, the crowd had grown enormously. Word of this confrontation had spread across the disk, and people of all races and species moved quickly toward the scene—like bystanders rushing toward the scene of an accident, hoping to see the bloodshed.
Lee remained unfazed. “I know that you want to kill me. And hear this. In my heart still burns a desire for revenge as well. I want to hurt those who hurt me. As do you. As do we all.
“I came here to tell the TimeBinders that the corruption that caused the Kilpatrick Massacre has spread throughout the Cluster—that we can’t trust the Phaestor nor the Moktar Dragons. But in the journey to get here, I discovered something else. I discovered that I had to give up part of my hatred.”
Now, Sawyer and Finn came charging up to the crowd, began trying to force their way through the thickest part of it. Sawyer pointed out the Dragons to Finn.
Finn replied, “I don’t like the looks of this. They came to create an incident.” The brothers pushed through to stand beside an unhappy-looking Kask. “Will they attack?” Finn asked.
Kask rumbled. “I would—if I believed in Dragons’ honor.”
Lee-1066 whispered up to Lee-1169, “This looks dangerous, Lee—please come down.”
1169 waved his brother away. “We have to take a stand. We have to take the chance.” To the Dragons, he said, “Yes, I thought I wanted to kill Dragons—” said Lee to the scowling Moktar lizards. “But I have learned that Lees and Dragons do not have to kill. Not each other, not any more. I have shared bread with a Dragon. He and I served together in the battle against a larger foe than either of us alone could defeat. And from that we learned a larger truth. We can both stand for the same possibility—that all of us together can serve the Alliance of Life. We don’t have to fight. We can build.
“So, now I ask you the same question that I asked him. What will it take to end the enmity between your family and mine?”
Two of the Dragons grunted. “We’ll show you what it’ll take—the silence of the Lees.” They started for Lee-1169; the crowd scattered, scrambling to get out of their way. The Lees tried to get to their brother, but the surge of the crowd pushed them sideways and away.
“Here they go,” shouted Finn.
“And here we go,” said Sawyer.
Gito started forward too, not knowing what he intended to do, but Juda-Linda grabbed his arm and held him back. “No. This argument belongs to the tall ones, not you and me.”
The brothers Markham jumped up onto the raised steps to stand beside Lee, so did Robin—and Kask and Ibaka. He pushed them all away, angrily. “No. This argument belongs to me.”
“It belongs to all of us,” said Sawyer.
“No, it does not.” said Lee. “I have to stand alone here. I let you stand alone when your brother needed my blood. Let me reclaim my honor my own way.” Standing on the side, other Lees watched in horror, not knowing whether to run—or leap up to stand beside their brother.
Abruptly Kask put himself between Lee-1169 and the two advancing Dragons. He growled warningly. “No, you cannot kill him. I won’t allow it.”
“You won’t allow it?” The Dragons laughed. “By what authority?” Several other Dragons pushed through the crowd now. Sawyer and Finn exchanged worried glances.
“Don’t you listen?” said Kask to his brothers. “This vendetta has brought dishonor to the Dragons. Further killing will only increase the size of the stain. It has to stop somewhere. Let it stop here.”
One of the Dragons grunted disdainfully. “The expert on dishonor speaks. You’ve stained yourself a hundred times over.”
“I know the meaning of honor,” said Kask. “The death of this man will not honor the Moktar. You’ll have to kill me before I’ll let you kill him.”
“No,” said the biggest of the Dragons. “We don’t waste our time on the stained and the nameless.
”
Abruptly, three of the Dragons tackled Kask—the four struggling Dragons careened sideways, tails lashing, biting and snapping, roaring ferociously. The biggest Dragon, the one in the black and silver armor, charged Lee-1169, grabbed him in his claws, held him high over his head, screamed triumphantly, and then flung the hapless clone-brother as hard as he could out off the edge of the disk of the Forum!
The others released Kask and the Black Dragon snorted at him. “You see? We don’t have to kill when we can just throw the trash away.”
“Let’s get the others—” another Dragon started to say and lowered his head preparatory to charging the other Lee clones; but Kask broke free and came barrelling headlong into the Black Dragon, knocking him tail over windpipe, snarling and slashing at his throat. The two lizards tumbled and writhed for a moment, snapping and biting at each other, grunting and roaring. For a moment, it looked as if Kask had no advantage, but the bigger Dragon couldn’t maneuver as easily—and suddenly, Kask ducked under the Black Dragon, lifted, and toppled the bigger beast onto its back. The Black Dragon came crashing down with a ground-shaking thud. Kask had his mouth around the other’s throat so fast, that for a moment, none of the onlookers realized that the fight had ended.
“Kill me swiftly,” said the Black Dragon.
“No,” said Kask. “Killing solves nothing. I will let you live with the disgrace that even a dishonored Dragon can beat you. Or, you can learn the lesson that something other than killing defines true honor.”
“I’d rather die!” the Black Dragon rasped.
“You don’t have that choice,” Kask growled. “By my victory, I order you and your team to leave the disk of the Forum never to return—until you can return as a force for peace.” He released the other’s throat. “Now, go! Before I inflict a bigger disgrace.”
The Black Dragon levered himself ruefully to his feet. Without a word, he stamped away. The other Dragons stared after him in confusion, then followed unhappily.
Much of the crowd had already had rushed to the edge of the disk, where Lee still struggled in the air. Even as they watched, he tumbled away toward the edge of the atmosphere. The Lee brothers screamed in rage and horror.
“We’ve gotta do something,” Sawyer shouted.
“What—?” Finn asked. “Throw him a rope? What rope? Go after him? How?”
Lee-1714 swore and cried and shrieked until both of the Markham brothers had to grab him to keep him from jumping after Lee-1169. Robin grabbed the boy from behind in a hug and pulled him close to her, holding him tightly, and turning him away from the edge so he couldn’t see what happened next.
Lee had already stopped struggling. He had fallen into the thin outer reaches of the envelope of air and passed into unconsciousness. Moments later, even as he shrank away into the distance, they could see his blood boiling out of his mouth and ears and eyes—
“Hmpf. He deserved it,” observed Juda-Linda. “For preaching treason.”
Gito looked at her, shocked at her disregard of life. He found himself wondering—Do I look like that? He turned away, troubled.
Critical Mass
The three TimeBinders looked stricken. The crowd swirled around them. Angry voices called for action, demanding that the TimeBinders respond.
Abruptly, Calvin of Canby spoke to the throng. He removed a ceremonial rod from his harness and held it out before him. “I have seen enough. I have heard enough. I stand ready for the Gathering now.” He started toward the center of the Forum, then stopped and look back to the other two ‘Binders. “Do you intend to stand there waiting for a silver invitation? We’ve seen a crime committed on this Forum. Do you need any more evidence that the Gathering must proceed?”
Fariah nodded solemnly and joined Calvin. Lord K’aenar bristled; he put his hand on his sword, then nodded curtly. He stamped proudly over to stand with Calvin and Fariah. As they marched toward the center of the disk, the crowd swarmed around them, surrounding them, shouting defiance at the warship above and screaming for justice.
They flooded into the central amphitheater in a torrent of bodies. Calvin strode directly to the slender central pedestal and laid his ceremonial rod of authority on top of it. “I, Calvin of Canby, stand ready for Unification.” Then he stepped back out of the way. A great bell-like tone sounded across the entire disk of the Forum. The first TimeBinder had laid down his authority. All over the disk, people looked up from their conversations, startled, delighted, worried, thrilled, alarmed, excited—
The slender red woman laid her ceremonial rod next to his and announced, “I, Fariah of B’rik’yno, stand ready also.” The solemn note rang again. Deep and resonant, it rolled out across the tiny world.
And finally, Lord K’aenar produced his glowing rod of authority and laid it with theirs. “Let the Gathering begin.” He waited until the last echo of the third chime faded away into silence. He grunted once in satisfaction, then stepped into position. The three of them stood there waiting. They had issued the call. They knew it would not take long for the word to spread.
“We’ve got a problem—” said Finn.
“We can’t stop them,” Sawyer said.
“If we intend to act, we’ll have to do it now—”
The two brothers started to turn away, nearly tripping over Gito. The dwarf grabbed Sawyer by the leg and pulled him down to the ground with a sudden strong jerk, then pulled him halfway back up again to growl into his face. “You don’t need a warhead, you idiot. Use a singularity in a vacuum bottle. They’ll never detect it.”
It took a moment for Sawyer to realize what Gito meant. “Do you know how long it would take to shove a warship that size into a pinhole?”
“Put it at the bottom of a gravitic lens. If it takes longer than fifteen minutes to go down, I’ll eat my own underwear.”
Robin looked at the dwarf oddly, “Gito, you don’t wear underwear.”
Gito shrugged and let go of Sawyer’s shirt. Sawyer climbed back to his feet.
“Y’know,” said Finn. “I think he might have something there—”
Gito snarled. “Shut your feeding hole and listen. Plant it in the keel of the ship, expand the event-horizon with a hyperspace injector-valve—three meters oughta do it, but you can make it as big as you need—then get out of the way. Fwooop! The singularity will eat the hyperspace valve for dessert and the whole thing will collapse back to a pinhole.”
Robin, Sawyer, Finn, looked at each other and grinned. “Y’know. It just might work.”
“Of course, it’ll work,” snarled Gito. “Clean. Fast. Nasty. If you have luck on your side, you’ll have maybe ten minutes to get out. If you have no luck, well at least, death will come quickly and painlessly.”
“Let’s do it,” said Sawyer.
“Wait a minute,” said Robin. “Where do you plan on getting the singularity from—?”
Sawyer and Finn exchanged a glance, then looked back to Robin expectantly.
“Oh, no, you don’t. You can’t! That would leave The Lady MacBeth without a heart for its engines.”
“Uh-huh. And the last I heard, Regency marshals had other plans for The Lady MacBeth. Let’s ask Captain Campbell how she wants to decommission her command.”
Gito said, “Hey, if you do it right, you can retrieve the singularity afterward and reinstall it. Hell, with the extra mass, it’ll probably gain between three and five percent efficiency.”
“Hell, let’s do it,” said Robin, ready to move.
“We still have the problem of getting the damn thing aboard The Black Destructor,” said Sawyer.
“I’ll do that,” said Gito. “I’ll accept the posting Juda-Linda offered me.”
Robin looked at him, surprised. “You would do that—?”
Gito shrugged. “I like her, but not enough to work for her. She has a nasty mean streak.”
“Too mean for you—?”
“Let’s go,” said Sawyer. “We’ll talk about Gito’s love life later.” The four of them
headed out toward the edge of the disk and the docking spoke of The Lady MacBeth at a run.
As Sawyer and Finn, Robin and Gito, hurried off in one direction, Harry Mertz and William Three-Dollar arrived at the central amphitheater from the opposite side.
“Oh, shit,” said Harry, looking at the waiting TimeBinders—five of them stood there now; their rods of authority lay on the central pedestal. “I feared that something like this would happen.”
“d’Vashti got tired of waiting. He triggered an incident.”
“It works that way sometimes when you try and plan a revolution. The plot comes to a boil before you want it to.”
Three-Dollar put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, “We need you more than ever now. You know that.”
Harry shook off Three-Dollar’s hand. “I’ve heard that before. I don’t believe it. You know why? Because when I do help, I never see that I make a difference. When I don’t help, everybody still survives. They solve their problems without me and keep on going.”
“Harry—” Three-Dollar grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him directly in the eye. “We need you to stand as the Nexus. You will give us the credential, because you have the moral authority of history ingrained in every fiber of your soul.”
Harry glanced away, uncomfortable. “Please, not me. Find someone else.”
“Listen to me, you cranky old son-of-a-bitch,” Three-Dollar said. “You have to do this. If you don’t, then every TimeBinder in the Cluster will know you for a hypocrite. Starting with me.”
“Do you know what happens to the person who stands as Nexus?” Harry asked uncomfortably.
“Yes. It changes you. It leaves you with a head full of memories and a vision big enough for the Cluster. I would think that a man like you would deeply desire such an opportunity.”
“Not a second time!” said Harry to Three-Dollar’s astonished stare. “Yes, it changes you. But not always for the better. Do you know how much pain comes with it? All the pain in the Cluster. Everything that every TimeBinder knows. Please don’t ask me to do this again.”
A Covenant of Justice Page 33
