by Hogan, James
"Well, that's just great, Caspar!" Seltzman said enthusiastically. "So you
really did have it all figured, huh."
"Congratulations." Giraud sounded pleased. "Zambendorf bought the story, then."
"Looks like it," Lang agreed, lowering himself ponderously back onto the seat he
had been occupying earlier. "So let's give Henry and the others the news. It
should make things a lot easier all round."
"Ready to go again, Sharon?" Giraud asked, looking at her through his faceplate.
"Ready." She nodded and cleared the screen of the transmogrifier. Lang's news
had obviously signified something to the others that was lost on her. Perhaps
that was why she had been assigned this duty stint. If so, big deal.
"Can we resume, please?" Giraud said, switching his speech channel into the
transmogrifier's input channel. Sharon verified the interpretation on her
screen, and the machine produced its Taloid equivalent at the correct pitch and
speed. The Taloids took up their previous positions opposite, with Henry in the
middle; Giraud nodded at Lang to commence.
"My apologies for having to leave," Lang said. "I was called because we have
received important news." He paused while Sharon monitored the conversion of his
phrases into Taloid substitutions. Machiavelli, who seemed to be Henry's
principal adviser at all the talks, indicated with a gesture that the Taloids
had understood. Lang continued, "The pretender whom you seek has been found. We
have delivered him to your city and placed him in the hands of your authorities
to be dealt with by Taloid law." He paused again while Sharon restructured his
words into shorter sentences. "Our criminals have not yet been located. When
they are found, they will be taken to our city above the sky and dealt with by
Terran law. So Taloid justice will have taken its course, and Terran justice
will have taken its course. We trust that this action will be accepted as proof
of our good faith."
"They have found him!" Streyfoch exclaimed as he listened to the Lumian plant's
strangled utterances. "They have found the Enlightener, who tricked our
soldiers."
"We shall see a public execution before this bright is through," Eskenderom
promised grimly.
"He was handed over fairly and without protest to our own authorities," Mormorel
observed. He looked at Eskenderom. "Perchance we have judged these aliens
hastily, for deeds such as they have described would constitute a most unusual
form of treachery."
A new light of hope had come into Eskenderom's eyes suddenly. If the Lumian king
had handed the imposter over in Pergassos, then perhaps the rout of the Kroaxian
army had been the work of Lumian criminals after all. If so, had they been
working in league with Frennclech or with Kleippur?
"What manner of reception was this imposter accorded at the city?" Eskenderom
asked. In his absence, the policy would have been decided by Frennelech.
Mormorel pressed the button to activate the Lumian plant, and repeated the
question. After a brief exchange of queries and answers, the plant responded
that as far as the Lumian eyes in the sky bad been able to ascertain, the
imposter had been arrested. "Then does this not tell us that our culprit cannot
be Prennelech?" Eskenderom said to Mormorel. "He would hardly welcome his own
agent thus."
Mormorel considered the proposition dubiously for a few seconds. "An agent who
has passed forever beyond the point of further usefulness," he pointed out.
"Readily expendable, perhaps, if such a sacrifice would establish Frennelech's
blamelessness in Kroaxia's eyes?"
"Hmm." Eskenderom sounded disappointed. "Observation of this impostor's
treatment will therefore tell us nothing of Frennelech's complicity or
otherwise," he concluded.
"Not necessarily," Mormorel agreed.
Eskenderom scowled to himself, and then slammed his open hand down on the table
angrily. "Then by the Lifemaker I will have this Enlightener's head boiled in
acid! Let both Frennelech and Kleippur read the warning, whichever of them was
behind him . . . and anyone else who might be contemplating a compact with
Lumian criminals to overthrow the Kroaxian Crown."
"Attention please. Colonel Wallis here for Ambassador Giraud," a voice said
inside the Terrans' helmets.
"Yes, Colonel?" Giraud acknowledged.
"Number three perimeter guardpost has intercepted a mounted Taloid who indicates
that he is known to the visitors. Our records show him listed as James Bond.
Request identity confirmation and your further instructions, sir."
"One second, Colonel," Giraud said. Then, "Konrad, did you get that? Pass the
message to Machiavelli, would you?"
Seltzman talked to the transmogrifier, and the transmogrifier talked to the
Taloids. Colonel Wallis sent a view of the new arrival through to a
communications screen on one of the portable compacks beside the transmogrifier,
and Henry verified that the Taloid was known and friendly. Giraud authorized
Wallis to let Bond pass.
A few minutes later, Skerilliane was escorted into the cavern by two Lumian
soldiers. He looked as if he had ridden hard all the way from Pergassos, where,
he informed Eskenderom and the others, the Enlightener had shown himself and
been arrested by Frennelech's Palace Guards.
"We know as much already from the Lumians," Eskenderom said. "But who is he? Can
you tell us that?"
"Indeed, Majesty, for he is no stranger to the city," Skerilhane replied. "None
other than thy chosen one Groork, the brother of Thirg, who departed Kroaxia to
serve the Dark Master's worldly lieutenant, thine enemy Kleippur."
"Him?" Eskenderom roared, leaping to his feet. "The hearer that I offered to
install in Frennelech's palace? ... He has come back from Carthogia as
Kleippur's henchman? He is the one who directed Lumian sorcery down upon my
army?"
"The same, Majesty," Skerilliane replied.
Eskenderom kicked aside the chair upon which he had been sitting and strode to
the far wall and back again, all the time pounding his fist into his palm with
rage and shouting. "The traitor! The deceiver! Is this the gratitude I am shown?
Is this how I am rewarded for my generosity? Arghhh! The swamp-guzzler!
Corruption and corrosion upon him! May the Reduction Furnace take him! I'll
slow-melt his casing and leach his eyes! I'll hang him from high-voltage trees
in the forest! I'll boil him in acid! Mormorel, find the servants and have them
bring our horses at once. Indeed there will be a spectacle for the citizens of
Pergassos to enjoy before this bright is through!"
"Frennelech has already proclaimed a public execution to take place one-twelfth
of a bright from now," Skerilliane said.
"Then for once he and I have no quarrel," Eskenderom declared. "Let us repair at
once, full haste to Pergassos, for this shall be entertainment that I would not
wish to miss."
Giraud stared in astonishment at Henry's reaction to whatever Bond had said.
Machiavelli and Caesar stood up, and Machiavelli went over to the doors and
began waving toward where the rest of Henry's party were waiting with the mounts
&
nbsp; in one of the nearby ground-vehicle sheds. "What in hell's going on?" Lang
demanded.
"It looks to me as if they're taking off," Seltzman said bemusedly. "I guess the
meeting just adjourned."
"Sharon, find out what's happening," Giraud instructed.
Somehow Sharon managed to sustain a dialogue of sorts while the Taloids paced
back and forth gesticulating wildly at one another, while mechanical steeds and
more Taloids appeared outside the loading doors and Henry continued to show all
the signs of throwing a fit. "They're going back to Padua," she said at last,
shaking her head dazedly. "Something about a public execution that Henry doesn't
want to miss."
"Execution of whom?" Seltzman asked.
"I'm not sure, but I think it's the messiah."
"Can we let that happen?" Giraud said, looking uneasily at Lang.
Lang's expression was stony behind his faceplate. "It's their business and their
customs. Who are we to interfere?"
There was a short pause. "Are you sure you're not really aiming at Zambendorf?"
Giraud asked uneasily.
"I've given you my decision," Lang said,
Konrad Seltzman met Giraud's eye for a split second, then shifted his gaze to
Sharon. "Did they say exactly when?" he asked her.
Sharon glanced at the computer's conversion of the Taloid time measurement that
had been mentioned. "About twenty hours from now."
35
THE OUTER DOOR OF THE MIDSHIPS AIRLOCK OPENED ON THE HIJACKED surface lander
hidden in the valley two hundred miles north of Padua city, and the suited
figures of Zambendorf and Andy Schwartz, the lander's captain, came out onto the
extended stair-head platform and descended to join Drew West and Clarissa, who
were already waiting on the ground. Then, walking two abreast and guided by
hand-held flashlamps in the darkness, the melancholy little procession made its
way through the labyrinth of steel and concrete shapes to the crude shanty-camp
that the Taloids had made for themselves. Abaquaan, Fellburg, and Price, who had
gone on ahead a while earlier, were waiting at the camp with Lord Nelson and
Abraham, the leader of the Druids, and the rest of the Taloids gathered around
on all sides. The time had come for Zambendorf to tell the cast officially that
the show was wound up and they were being paid off, to wish them good luck, and
send them back home.
"We've told them they won't be going to Padua," Abaquaan said. The team had
agreed on the storyline that Moses, his main task of preventing the invasion of
Genoa now successfully accomplished, had been called elsewhere to attend to
other things. It was hardly a satisfying end to their venture, but nobody had
been able to suggest anything better.
Zambendorf nodded inside his helmet. "How are they taking it?" he asked.
"Not as badly as we thought they might," Abaquaan replied. "They're disappointed
all right, but not disillusioned. They seem to have rationalized some way of
coming to terms with the situation in their own minds."
"I don't know ... A true believer is a true believer anywhere, it seems,"
Zambendorf sighed. "Oh well, bring the transmogrifier here, would you, Otto. I'd
like to say a few words to them before they go." The plan was that the surface
lander crew, having ostensibly been released from forcible detainment, would fly
to the Terran base at Genoa to return themselves and the vehicle to the
authorities, and take the Taloid contingent home at the same time. As to what
should happen after that, opinions were divided; Abaquaan, Fellburg, and
Clarissa felt that the team had no alternative but to follow in the flyer and
turn itself in, whereas Zambendorf and Drew West wondered if there might be some
way of extricating Moses from his predicament first.
Indeed this was modesty and graciousness of spirit that was truly worthy of
noble beings, the Renamer—formerly Captain Horazzorgio —thought to himself as he
listened to the enchanted plant speaking the Archangel's thoughts. So much had
been accomplished in so little time —a new faith founded; a village saved; the
whole sect of Waskorians at peace now with Carthogia; the Kroaxian tyrant
checked and his army scattered—and yet here the Archangel was, expressing regret
that the chosen ones who had descended over the desert on billowy wings would
not be present to witness the Coming at Pergassos. For it was clear that the
Enlightener had asked their assistance in the Meracasine merely as a precaution
while he tested the powers that the Lifemaker had bestowed upon him. The powers
had proved so awesome that he had elected to go on alone and complete the
conversion of Pergassos single-handed, leaving his followers free to attend to
other matters back in Carthogia.
"Wish them good luck, and tell them I'm sure we'll meet again sometime, I hope
in happier circumstances," Zambendorf said to Abaquaan.
"Hear how the Archangel promiseth that he will return!" Ezimbial, the Druid
prophet, told the assembled followers. As a prophet Ezimbial had always been
holy and therefore hadn't needed renaming. "And let it be written that the time
will be one of great rejoicing. Thus hath it been prophesied."
"It has been a privilege to work with them. Their help will never be forgotten,"
Zambendorf said.
"This collaboration with angels hath brought great blessings. Our place in
eternity is assured," Ezimbial interpreted.
"They must return to Genoa now, and help Arthur to found institutions of true
learning. That is the way to acquire the knowledge that will allow them to fly
beyond the sky. Then—who knows?—perhaps one day we'll be able to welcome them at
our world."
"It is revealed that Carthogia is the Land promised in the Scribings. There
shall the Enlightener's followers erect a Great Temple, and Kleippur shall
direct them. And they who heed no false teachings before those that shall be
preached in the Temple will be redeemed, and then will they arise and rejoin the
angels in the shining land that floats beyond the sky."
"I guess that's it, Otto."
"And here endeth the lesson."
"Andy, you'd better stay here and work out a schedule with them for getting
packed up and loaded aboard," Zambendorf said to Schwartz. "Otto will stay with
you to handle the translating. We'll see you both back in the ship when you're
through."
"Sure," Schwartz answered.
Vernon watched Zambendorf and the others turn to leave, and then wheeled himself
around in his suit to look at Nelson and Abraham. "I'd like to stay back too,"
he said, ". . . for the last few minutes." He couldn't help feeling guilty about
what had happened to Moses—he had started the whole thing with the ice slab he'd
given Moses on the mountain. Now he instinctively put off what he felt
subconsciously would amount to desertion of the remaining Taloids as well.
"As you wish," Zambendorf said. "We'll see you later, Vernon." His party began
to walk back to the ship, the probing, flitting beams of their flashlamps
growing fainter and more distant in the darkness.
Schwartz turned back toward Abaquaan. "Tell them I'd like to be ready for
&nb
sp; takeoif not later than three hours from now, but it'd help a lot if they could
get all their personal stuff loaded right away. We can take all the animals they
brought with them, but they'll have to let go the ones they've been collecting
since . . . the big rock-crushers with the caterpillar tracks, anyhow."
Abaquaan conveyed the message, and Abraham responded with a question that
appeared on the screen as DESTINATION IN GENOA?
"The Terran base just outside the city," Abaquaan replied.
DRUIDS' ASSIGNMENT AFTER THAT? the screen asked.
And Abaquaan answered, "We have no specific instructions to give. You'll be on
your own then. Talk to Arthur's scientists at Camelot. That's where the most
useful work is being done."
Ezimbial puzzled over the plant's reply for a moment. "Kleippur's inquirers?" he
said to the Renamer. "The Lifemaker will make known His wishes through them? But
knowest thou which among them? Whom are we to approach?"
The Renamer stared thoughtfully at the trees in the background. "Perhaps," he
answered slowly. "There is a one called Thirg, whose steps the Lifemaker
directed out of Kroaxia to enter the service of Kleippur. The workings of the
Lifemaker's plan are clearer to me now. It was I who in blindness would have
frustrated the Maker's design, and for that it has been my penance to bear the
afflictions that you see."
"How knowest thou it is this Thirg whom we should seek?" Ezimbial asked. "Does
he carry some special qualification of eminence among Kleippur's inquirers that
sets him apart as the object of our quest?"
"None less than that of being the Enlightener's brother," the Renamer replied.
"The Enlightener has a brother in Carthogia!" Ezimbial's eyes widened. "Indeed
Kleippur's realm is the Promised Land of the Scribings, and artisans have been
congregating thither from the corners of the world to build the Temple that was
prophesied."
Just to be sure, the Renamer activated the enchanted plant and said into it, "Is
it our quest to seek Thirg, Asker-of-Questions, who was born brother to the holy
Enlightener?"
The plant replied, "Unclear hiss-buzz what-mean 'brother.' Want-say alternative
hoo-whoo-bonk-bonk. Else obtain new word."
The Renamer couldn't bring an alternative to mind immediately, and instructed,
"Obtain new word."
"EQUIVALENT ENGLISH WORD-FORM BEING REQUESTED," the screen advised Abaquaan.
