Empire's End

by Chris Bunch

  Now Mahoney was dead and Sten was on the run.

  Just ahead could be the instrument of Ecu's own dissolution into the nonmaterial racial presence. He wondered just who the Emperor's inquisitor would be.

  Ecu's long black body, red-tinted at the wingtips, three-meter-long tail ruddering skillfully, floated toward the Center. Ecu found his senses at peak. Perhaps, he thought, because this could be the last time he experienced the quiet joy of his home world. At times he wondered why he'd ever chosen his career, a career that took him away, off Seilichi and its lake-dotted single supercontinent and occasional jagged mountain ranges.

  Perhaps he should have stayed, and been no more than just another philosopher, drifting in his world's gentle winds, thinking, teaching. His early sketches at forming a personal dialectic were stored on a fiche somewhere underground, where the Manabi kept whatever machines and construction necessary.

  The only artificial constructs to show above Seilichi's surface were the three Guesting Centers, and they existed only as a courtesy to whatever non-aerial beings chose to visit the planet. And they were intended to appear, as much as possible, like huge natural extinct volcanic necks, with the landing fields hidden in the "crater."

  The Center sensed Ecu's approach, and a portal yawned. Ecu flew inside, tendrils flickering. He found traces of the signature scent he used, and followed those traces to the assigned conference room.

  Inside, sitting very much at ease, was the Emperor's emissary.

  Solon Kenna was even fatter and more benevolent appearing, if in a bibulous fashion, than Ecu remembered. Those who had taken Kenna as an obese caricature of a stupid, crooked pol over the years had generally not survived in the political arena long enough to correct their thinking.

  Now Kenna was on Seilichi, as the Emperor's hatchet man.

  "It has been long."

  "Too long," Kenna said, coming quickly to his feet and smiling. "I have been sitting here, lost in thinking of the marvels of Seilichi." Of course Kenna pronounced the word correctly. He still showed the regrettable love for flowery speech the Emperor had noted years ago. "I should have found occasion to journey here many times, especially now that the Empire has returned."

  "But…" He shrugged. "Time creeps up and past all of us. And I have had my own concerns. You know that I am preparing my memoirs?"

  "Those will be most interesting."

  Ecu was being more than polite—he was constantly wondering why humans had such a love for the convolutions of dishonest politics when, from his race's point of view, a direct approach was far more likely to work. Not that the Manabi ever allowed this belief to hamper their appreciation for circumlocution, nor their abilities to practice it. So, indeed, if those memoirs were in fact produced, Ecu would be fascinated by how many ways Kenna could find to avoid the simple fact that he was, and had been since he was a baby ballot-box-stuffer, Crooked to the Gunwales.

  "But now I am here on business," Kenna said, mock-mournfully. "The business of the Eternal Emperor." He slid a card from his pocket, and the Imperial emblem glowed to life, keyed to Kenna's pore patterns.

  "Regarding Sten, I would imagine."

  "You imagine correctly."

  "Of course," Sr. Ecu said, "I will render what service I can. I see no problem in cooperating, since my race's neutrality has never extended to a confessional seal about criminals—which Sten is, correct?"

  "Of the worst order," Kenna agreed. "He betrayed the Empire—and for no reason that anyone can ascertain except personal ambition."

  Kenna tried to look pious, a laughable attempt. It was supposed, the Manabi knew, to look stupid, and the witness then encouraged to think Kenna the same, never noticing the razor gleam from his piggish eyes.

  "Ambition… something that makes mockery of us all, as the poet said."

  "Sten," Ecu mused, as if assembling his thoughts. "I frankly know very little, since the time I spent in his company was rather… frantic, might be the correct word.

  "The Tribunal and the privy council was far more on my mind than anything else. But, as I said, what help I may render, I shall. But I'm puzzled, frankly. Considering all the time Sten passed in Imperial Service, I would think your… I mean Imperial… records would be far more thorough, even considering that the greater percentage of his career was spent in… irregular pursuits."

  Kenna frowned—and it seemed this expression was honest. "I thought so, too. But evidently not. Or else the Emperor needs to cross-correlate what records he has. Or, and this is the most likely, he's dredging for any scrap that can bring this traitor to the bar."

  "Where would you like to begin, then?"

  "Would you consent to a brainscan? A machine and the finest technicians of Internal Security are aboard my ship."

  Ecu jolted, wingtips involuntarily twitching. A brainscan was not only the ultimate mental rape, but likely to produce long-term psychic damage or death, even when performed by the most highly skilled operator.

  "I will not," Ecu said firmly, after he recovered. "While I have served the Emperor, I must officially remind you that I was never in his service, nor were any others in my race. And we have our own secrets, of course, which are not of the Emperor's concern."

  Kenna nodded acceptance and reached to a side table. On it were the refreshments the Manabi had provided—Kenna's favorite brandy from Dusable, a glass, and a tray of snacks, supposedly intended to sop up the affects of alcohol, actually chemically synthesized to compound them.

  "The Emperor said you would decline, and told me I was not to press the point. He did, however, add—and this is off the record, so if you are recording this meeting you are requested to so cease—the following, and I am quoting directly:

  " 'When Sten is apprehended, tried, and brainscanned prior to execution, any being involved with him or his conspiracy, no matter if they're neutral, will be considered a personal enemy, and dealt with accordingly.' "

  "That," Ecu said, feeling proud that his wing tendrils did not even flicker slightly at the threat, "is not the most diplomatic statement I have ever heard the Eternal Emperor make."

  "These are not diplomatic times," Kenna said. "And he takes the threat of Sten and the others far too seriously to waste time with niceties. However, my personal apologies for the bluntness, even though I was merely the messenger. And I also wish to apologize for the amount of your time I am now going to consume, since the Emperor wants everything."

  "I must now advise you that this conversation is being recorded. You have a right to counsel, legal advice, and medico-watch to ensure you are not under any influence, physical or pharmacological."

  "I understand, and thank you for the dual apologies," Ecu said. "But for me, at present, there is nothing but time. Shall we begin?"

  He carefully began his story. He would tell it very slowly, with great exactness, and the tale would take several days.

  And at the end of each day he would carefully check his story, Kenna's reactions, and what should come next with his own mentor, hidden far below the conference room in one of the Manabi's laboratories.

  Rykor.

  Chief (Investigative Division) Lisa Haines came suddenly awake—but made no move whatsoever.

  First… ears.

  Nothing.

  Smell. Nothing.

  What, then?

  Motion. Her entire "houseboat" moved slightly.

  She opened her eyes a pinhole.

  Moonlight filled the large single room of her home—a McLean-powered barge moored several hundred meters above one of Prime World's forest refuges.

  The room was empty.

  Her husband, Sam'l, snored gently beside her.

  Haines's hand slid to the side of the bed. Down the side of the watertube mattress. Touched the butt of the miniwillygun. The always-loaded gun was in her hand and the safety slid off.

  Again, the houseboat swayed.

  Someone trying to climb up one of the mooring cables? Yes.

  Haines was in bed/Haines wa
s suddenly crouched, naked, combat stance, in the middle of the floor, gun ready. Confirmed. She was alone.

  She snaked to an armoire, took out and pulled on a one-piece phototrophic coverall. The coverall, like the pistol, was strictly Imperial-issue, and not even a police chief like Haines was entitled to own either one. But, as always, cops don't follow the laws they enforce.

  Haines had been expecting this.

  Now to confirm.

  She slid to the door leading out to the houseboat's deck, and opened it a notch. Then she took a pair of light-amplifying goggles from a hook beside the door and pulled them on.

  Daylight. A little green, but daylight.

  Out, onto the deck.

  The houseboat swayed again.

  Not yet. First worry about… she scanned the darkness of the hillside across from her. Nothing. She switched modes, into thermal imaging, and looked again. Ah. A tidy little glow over there. Several beings.

  The command post, she speculated. That's what it would be, if what she had been anticipating was in fact happening.

  Or else the kingpins, allowing for the other possibility—that some of the gangsters she had harassed and crucified regularly over the years were coming to wreak revenge. Unlikely. Crooks only looked for nonprofitable vengeance in the livies.

  Haines switched the goggles back to light amplification, went flat, and slid forward, peering over the edge.

  Quite correct.

  Someone… three someones… were coming up the mooring cable. Skilled climbers—but as they climbed, the cable unavoidably swayed, and the houseboat jerked minutely. All three someones wore identical phototropic coveralls, combat vests, and holstered pistols. Some kind of special-ops team.

  All right, Haines thought. What you were hoping wouldn't happen is happening. You've worried about it from the time you heard Sten was named traitor—she came close to goddamning her ex-lover—and there is no way you are going to stand still for a brainscan or any of the other lovely devices you have heard Internal Security is using for "deep interrogation." Not you. And by God, not Sam'l.

  A whole clotting lifetime being on the right side of the law, and just because of a minor love affair—all right, a major love affair—way back when and you're now a crook.

  A completely unknown fragment drifted through her mind, translated from some long-forgotten tongue: "… where every cop is a criminal/and all the sinners saints…"

  She shot the first climber in the face.

  The crash of the detonating round echoed into the stillness, and the man dropped soundlessly, straight down, cleaning off the second infiltrator as he fell.

  A scream, and Haines was rolling back to the doorway, flipping open the cover of what appeared to be an outdoor power socket but was a switch, switch closed, and… thank the Lord for the blessing of paranoia—the three saddle charges blew her mooring cables in half.

  The third climber shouted in surprise, then fell silently to his death as the houseboat, unanchored, lifted like a balloon under the power of its antigrav generator.

  Now, Haines thought, let us hope these 'nappers didn't want to disturb my neighbors' sleep with nasty old overhead aircraft, because we're screwed if there's top cover.

  Inside, she heard grunts as Sam'l woke, crashed to his feet, and evidently walked straight into a side table.

  "What the hell… ?"

  He was no Sten, no cop, no soldier, took half an hour to grunt awake enough to be able to hit the ground with his hat, and Haines loved him for all of those reasons… and a lot of others.

  The nightwind caught the houseboat and sent it spinning over the forest. Haines heard crashes from inside as paintings came off the wall and plates shattered. She went inside, one hand steadying against a wall as the boat started drunken sashays through the air.

  "A kidnap team," she announced, even though in his present stupor it would probably take Sam'l several minutes to define kidnap. "All of them in uniform. Imperial thugs."

  Sam'l, astonishingly, was suddenly quite alert.

  "Oh," he said. Then nodded.

  "Well, I suppose it had to happen," he said. "Although I wish we could think of something more… active to do than just running."

  "First we run," Haines reminded him. "Then we hide. We'll have all the time in the world to figure out paybacks."

  She crossed to a chest, opened it, and took out two personal "chutes"—steady-drain McLean packs with harness that would drop an average-weight human safely from any distance up to two kilometers before the batteries went dry.

  When the houseboat hit about four klicks altitude, they'd go out the door and free-fall half the distance to the ground, targets too tiny—she hoped—to be picked up by Imperial sensors. Sam'l was the one who'd taught her that sport.

  Time enough for paybacks. Yes. With luck there would be, she thought, but didn't say it aloud as she helped Sam'l into his rig.

  Even now, even in the darkest part of the night, the tower still was a muted rainbow at the end of the gorge.

  Inside, Marr and Senn slept uneasily, curled around each other. They looked almost the same age as they had been years earlier, when they were the Imperial caterers and Sten a young captain, in charge of the Emperor's Gurkha bodyguard. Perhaps their fur had darkened slightly, to a deeper gold. But nothing else had changed. The two Milchen, financially stable in their retirement, still loved beauty and love itself. The lovers were not only Sten's friends, although it had been years since they had seen him, but they had thrown the Grand Party after which Haines and Sten had become lovers.

  Marr suddenly woke. Sat up. Senn whistled questioningly, huge eyes blinking.

  "It was but a dream."

  "No. A gravcar. Coming up the valley."

  "I see nothing. You were just dreaming."

  "No. There. Look. It's coming without lights."

  "Oh dear. I feel those fingers touching my soul. Cold. Cold. At night, without lights. If it stops, we do not answer."

  Marr didn't respond.

  "I said, we do not answer. In these times, with the Emperor not as he was, only a fool goes to the door after midnight. Those who move by night are not friends."

  Silence. The gravcar had stopped outside.

  "The cold is stronger. Don't you feel it?"

  "I do."

  "The bell. Who is it?"

  "I don't know."

  "Don't turn on the lights. Maybe they will go away."

  Marr's slender hand moved through the air, and, outside, four single beams marked the parking area.

  "You fool," Senn snapped. "Now they know. Who are they?"

  Marr peered out. "Two. They are human. One is a man. The other a woman. I don't know the man… the woman looks familiar."

  "Yes. She does. Marr. She is carrying a gun. Turn out the light."

  "I know her," Marr announced. "She is that policeperson. She called me on some vague pretense just days ago. I wondered."

  "Which police… oh. Haines."

  "Yes. The one who loved Sten."

  "Then she is a fugitive. The Emperor must want to question anyone who knew him. And she must know something, or else she would not flee."

  "Senn. Think. Would you not run from that horrid Poyndex? The one who personally murdered Mahoney?"

  "Turn out the lights. Come back to bed. We do not play human politics.

  "See? Now they are turning away. Someone else will take them in."

  Marr did not answer. He thought he could hear the crunch of footsteps outside and below, in the parking area.

  "I once was told," he said slowly, "by a human, that if he was ever given the choice of betraying a friend or betraying his country, he hoped to be courageous enough to be a traitor."

  The two leaned close to each other, their antennae twining. Senn pulled back.

  "All right," he said. "But don't try to talk to me about loyalty and all those other complicated human emotions. You just want to have houseguests to cook for again."

  His hand moved in a s
emicircle.

  And suddenly the tower of light glowed in full life, welcoming Haines and Sam'l.

  Chapter Seven

  ONCE AGAIN THE Eternal Emperor's chambers were jammed, the air freshers working overtime as he barked orders to the flowing stream of staff members.

  "Avri."

  "Yes, Your Highness?"

  "What's the status on the K-B-N-S-O operation?"

  "Not good, sir. I've got our best spin doctors working on it. But nobody's buying our angle."

  "Which is?"

  "That it was a quote tragic accident end quote triggered by Sten's attack on the station. That we were merely trying to quote protect the innocent civilians end quote."

  "Change 'innocent civilians' to attempting to 'limit collateral damage.' "

  "Thank you, sir."

  "Then I want you to set a backfire."

  "Like what, sir?"

  "Easy. The airwaves belong to the Empire. Which means me. Inform them I'll yank their licenses to lie if they don't start telling more of mine."

  "Yessir…"

  "You sound doubtful. What else is bothering them?"

  "They're scared. Afraid Sten will raid them next."

  "No problem. Anders."

  "Yes, Your Majesty."

  "Hustle up some spare ships and troopies. I want all the major Imperial broadcasters ringed. I want a net a flea couldn't get through, okay?"

  "Yessir. But, we don't have that many to spare. What with the budget cutbacks. And the heavy commitments to help stabilize our weaker allies. Then there's the garrison forces. We've got them spread all over—"

  "Find them, Anders. Just find them."

  "Yessir."

  "One other thing."

  "Sir?"

  "I'm not forgetting your fine Italian hand in this station foul-up."

  "No sir. I take full responsibility, sir."

  "Shut up, Anders. And while you're doing my bidding, I want you to think about a nice post I can send you to after this whole thing is over. An island, someplace. A cold island. And make it small, while you're at it. No more than a kilometer in any direction. Now, get busy."