by Chris Bunch
Whether Sten was in fact human or a Bhor reincarnated under a curse in that puny body.
Whether Alex Kilgour was actually a Bhor (passed by acclamation).
The most successful way of thawing frozen buttocks.
Whether, if the motion to go to war against the Empire failed, the Bhor ought to declare war on someone, since the new warriors were little other than mewling milksops.
Whether the W'lew Peninsula still contained any wild stregg.
Whether the W'lew Peninsula offered better fishing than C'lone Bay, assuming you could not find any stregg.
Whether the problem with the Eternal Emperor could be settled by a chosen Bhor warrior challenging him to a winner-take-all duel to the death.
Six tables had been broken, two over Bhor heads. Twelve warriors were on their way to hospital. Cind was nursing a black eye and bruised heel of palm from a badly conceived but extemporaneous rebuttal. Five very promising duel challenges had been issued. Seven warriors had been tossed through a window into a snowbank to sober up.
The Bhor were merely getting started—this was the first big issue to come up in several years, and it might be a week before it was settled, assuming the stregg held out and there were Bhor still left unhospitalized to argue.
Otho had enough.
The elders had already attempted to manipulate the "dialogue" toward Otho, with small success. Otho waited until Iv'r was in midperoration, surprisingly close enough to the subject at hand, being a diatribe that even the best of the Imperial Guard would not be a worthy adversary to the Bhor, no matter how greatly they outnumbered the race.
Iv'r, a longtime friend of Otho—Otho'd once bested him in a trial of endurance over the stewardship of a disputed arctic oasis—saw him fondle his beard, knew what Otho would do as a last resort, and yielded the floor to a "point of order."
This meant he knocked another Bhor unconscious, who'd been shouting claims about the shortness of Iv'r's mother's beard, and sat down.
Abrupt silence.
Otho began. These were parlous times, he said. The Empire had turned murderous, and its leader no more than a beardless dacoit. The Bhor must respond to this threat in a new fashion, or face obliteration. Otho reminded them of how they had been following their ancient enemies, the stregg, to extinction, courtesy of the prophets of Talamein and their swordsmen the Jann, before Sten came to the Wolf Worlds.
Now it was time to choose—and there could be but one choice.
"The choice is yours," Otho bellowed, roar booming back from the ceiling high above, "and it is clear. Or have we become a race who flees across the ice from a stregg?"
That put the matter in quite a clear light. The Bhor would declare for Sten.
Iv'r's shout rose above the clamor: "Then let us chose a leader. The greatest warrior of all, to lead us in this battle."
Pandemonium. There were those who agreed, those who disagreed, fearing tyranny—although choosing a single warchief in an emergency was a respected Bhor tradition—and most loudly those who knew they were the only possible candidate for the post.
Iv'r began chanting: "Otho! Otho! Otho!"
Eventually others started chanting as well.
Otho's bellow went to sonic boom—and he got the silence he wanted, or at least the noise reduced to mere agony level. "No!"
That got real silence.
"I am old," he began.
Shouts agreeing or disagreeing. Otho paid no mind. "I will assist, I will aid. But I am in the nightwinter of my life, and this struggle might go on for years. I wish to serve in the coming conflict as but a simple soldier. Or, perhaps, battleforce leader.
"I said we must respond to this threat of the evil Emperor in a new fashion, and that I meant. Which means someone who can look beyond our cluster, and see what is best, and convey that vision to our elders."
Otho should have built his "nominating" speech to some kind of "Happy Warrior" peak. Instead, he stepped off the table, filled his stregghorn, poured it down, stregg spilling across his chest, gasped for breath, and jerked his thumb across the table.
"Her."
Her, of course, was Cind.
A very long silence, followed by an even greater bedlam.
Cind, after she recovered, attempted to argue. She was but a human. She was still young, and not fitted for this honor. She was—
Whatever else she had tried to stammer went unheard. And the bleat went on.
Near dawn, the controversy was settled. Those still conscious who knew and respected Cind's battle and leadership abilities, plus those who were intrigued by the novelty of a human speaking for the Bhor, "won," although the field looked less like a political debating chamber than Hattin from an infidel's perspective.
Cind would speak for the Bhor.
She went to wake Sten, wondering how he would take the news.
Sten, of course, was delighted. First that the Bhor had declared, and second that they had picked such a talented and capable leader. He also found it funnier than hell that he and a Bhor were bedpartners. Although he did suggest she must immediately concentrate on beard-growing.
Alex Kilgour had not slept that night either. Near dawn, he found himself outside, on one of the fortresses' high battlements. A sentry saw him, started to challenge, then recognized him and left him to his thoughts.
The storm had broken, and the stars gleamed cold overhead.
Kilgour stared up, his eyes going past the strange constellations of the Wolf Worlds, far into interstellar space, toward the unseen galaxy that held his home star and system.
Edinburgh, where he was Laird Kilgour of Kilgour, with castles, estates, and factories. A hard three-g world, that bred hard men and women.
A world that Alex suddenly felt he would never see again.
An' whae ae thae, he reminded himself. When y' took th' Emp's shilling, wae it noo wi' th' knowledge th' service would likely put y' in y'r grave, as it did y'r brother Kenneth? Or, ae best, leave y' crippl't, like Malcolm?
Aye. Aye. But th' gutcrawl thae y'll noo live f bear th' corpse ae th' Emperor't' his final rest i' a hard one.
But would y' rather die abed, years hence, wi' y'r mind a snarl ae th' past, y'r body withered an a', snivelin't graybeard?
Alex shivered, as his mind laid out all the paths before him, and all of them led only to his death.
He shivered, and it was not the cold.
Then he turned and went inside, to his chambers.
F death comit, was his final thought, ae th' wee Jann put it, S'be't.
W hae a war't' fight i' the meantime.
Chapter Eleven
DUSABLE WAS ONE E-year away from its quadrennial elections. At stake: the office of Tyrenne and two-thirds of the seats on the Council of Solons.
All across the big, densely populated port planet—the industrial and political linchpin of the Cairene System—the upcoming elections were heatedly debated. Even the big news of the Imperial hunt for that traitor, Sten, was buried in an avalanche of pontificating and speculation on the livie newscasts.
Everyone from sewer worker to industrial baron was testing the political winds. Parents discussed the chances of Tyrenne Walsh and Solon Kenna at the dinner table. Joygirls and joyboys spread the mordida thicker among the local cops. Ward bosses counted and recounted the promised votes. Dirty tricksters pored over graveyard registries. Even children were recruited from the creche play yards to snoop about the wards for scandal.
Politics, the Eternal Emperor was fond of saying, is big business. On Dusable, it was the only business.
Patronage was the axis upon which the world spun. It was unlikely there was a being on Dusable whose existence didn't depend upon it. Cops were tithed by their precinct captains for prized mordida-collecting beats. Business owners bribed inspectors for their licenses. Unions traded influence for featherbedding jobs. Even dishwashers sold their votes to become pot wallopers. And pot washers paid mordida just to keep on scrubbing.
In short, Dusable was
the most corrupt planet in the Empire. But in its fashion, the system worked. A citizen careful to always back the right horse was assured a chance of a happy life. Only the losers plotted and schemed to "throw the rascals out".
When the Eternal Emperor had made his long and twisted return from the grave, it was a Dusable election that had given him his first large step up to the throne. Since then, he'd repaid that debt many times over.
To begin with, Walsh and Kenna owed their current exalted status to the Emperor's not-inconsiderable political savvy. He'd stolen the election from Tyrenne Yelad—a boss with three decades of experience in ballot-box larceny.
But the Emperor was a fervent believer in that ancient law of politics, "He who was with me before Chicago…" and had ladled favor with a heavy hand.
Against this backdrop Solon Kenna hit the stump. Electioneering as if the big date were a week away, instead of a year, even though all his advisers said the election was in the bag. They pointed out that Dusable had never been so prosperous. The landing orbits of its big shipping ports were jammed. Factories were working twenty-four-hour shifts. The GNBI (Gross National Bribery Index) at record levels.
AM2 was not only plentiful and cheap, but the Eternal Emperor had gifted the system with a brand-new AM2 depot—servicing two vast sectors in this area of the Empire.
Kenna refused to be soothed. As the president of the Council of Solons and the power behind Tyrenne Walsh, he had a great deal to lose if there were any miscalculations. Which was everything. Kenna had no intention of repeating Tyrenne Yelad's most crucial error: overconfidence.
He approached his first major speech of the campaign season with special care.
To begin with, he chose a friendly audience—the Cairenes division of the giant shipping union, the SDT. The union had been one of Kenna's power bases since his days as a rookie member of the Council of Solons. The brawny shipyard workers could always be counted on to deliver, whether it was votes, hefty campaign-chest contributions, on-demand wildcat strikes, or strong-arm good squads to raid rival wards.
Next, he dipped deep into his private war chest to provide the entertainment. There would be three hundred refreshment tables, creaking under the weight of tons of food. A hundred more would serve as open bars. A central stage was erected, and scores of musicians, comedians, and scantily clad dancers were pressed into service for dawn-to-dusk entertainment. Fifty tents were thrown up at the edges of the big main shipyard and staffed with teams of patriotic joygirls and joyboys, who were called on routinely during the quadrennials to give their all for Dusable.
Finally, he put gentle pressure on the Emperor to provide him with suitable ammunition for his speech. And the Eternal Emperor, Kenna was pleased to tell his aides as he mounted the platform to address the assembled SDT members, had come through with more than he could have hoped for.
The roars of greetings that met Kenna were loud enough to drown the sounds of an inbound liner. He stood for long minutes under the rolling thunder of applause and huzzahs. He affected an attempt at interruption—-a weakly raised hand for silence. Then the hand fell… Helpless before the enthusiasm of his admirers. As a newscaster's camera pushed in for a close-up, Kenna flashed that humble grin he had perfected over decades of working the hustings.
Three times, Kenna attempted to halt the applause. And three times, he had to bow to the will of the masses and accept their praise. On the fourth attempt, Kenna made a small hand signal, which was instantly picked up by the shill captains, who passed the word to their minions peppered heavily in the crowd to cool down. This time, the applause and glad shouts slowly diminished to a hush.
"I have one question before we get started," Kenna intoned, his voice blasting over the portaboomers. "Are you all better off today than you were four years ago?"
The crowd noise was even louder than before. A news tech watched the needle of his popularity meter bang against the max peg and hold for a full minute. He nudged his anchor, whose eyes saucered. It was a near record.
Then the claque brought the crowd to a hush again, and Kenna continued.
"It is with great pleasure and humility that I stand before you once again to ask for your support," he said. "Now, my worthy opponents think I'm a fool for rubbing elbows with good, honest, working beings such as yourselves…"
He allowed a space here for a growl of anger at his snobby "worthy opponents." The growl came on schedule.
"But I say to them, without the working class, where would Dusable be?"
A shill shouted a carefully crafted impromptu from midcrowd: "In the drakhouse, that's where!" The crowd hooted laughter.
Kenna made with the swamp-beast-eating grin again. "Thank you, sister!" More laughter from the crowd.
The smile was replaced with Kenna's patented frown, in which his two gloriously thick eyebrows met in a dramatic, inverted V. "There's change in the wind, my friends, and no one, but no one, knows it better than the working being. And of all the hard-laboring folks of Dusable, it is the SDT Union which has led the vanguard in promoting these changes."
It took no prompting by shills to get a deafening shout of approval here. Kenna waited until it died of its own accord.
"Now you all know I'm not one for false humility," Kenna said. There was laughter. "But, I'm going to have to be honest with you good people here.
"These winds of changes I'm speaking of have graced Dusable with the greatest prosperity in its history. Full employment. Record wages. Prices at near-record lows.
"All these things we've enjoyed partly because of the enlightened leadership of Tyrenne Walsh… and my humble self… but, there is really one being all of us have to thank for our good fortune. And that is… the Eternal Emperor himself."
The crowd went wild at this. Shouting. Pounding on one another. On and on it went, the shills working the lines with fervor. This time the news tech's needle pegged out for one and a half minutes.
Kenna stepped in again. "My opponents say all the benefits we have received since that historic day when the Emperor revealed himself among us, is charity, pure and simple."
There were loud boos at this. Kenna smiled in acknowledgment, but pushed on. "They say Dusable is at the beck and call of its master, the Eternal Emperor. That since we've become a dominion of the Emperor, we've abandoned our traditional independence."
The crowd hooted.
"You've heard all these lies, and more," Kenna continued. "But, the truth is, Dusable is being listened to for the first time in its history. And I mean really listened to. We can hold up our heads in all the great capitals of the Empire now. And who does the Emperor turn to for advice in these trying times? Why, our own Tyrenne Walsh, who labors as we speak in the great hall of Parliament on Prime World."
Kenna sipped at a special throat-soothing drink as the crowd applauded.
"Yes… Dusable owes a great deal to the Eternal Emperor. There's no doubt about it. But, the Emperor owes us as well. And in these trying times, he needs us more than ever. I spoke to him personally, just the other day, and he told me to thank the people of Dusable for their undying efforts for freedom.
"And he said he especially wanted to thank the workers of SDT. He said he wanted you all to know that without the great shipping unions of our Empire, all his struggles would be for naught."
The crowd took forty-five seconds to thank the Emperor back.
"But as you all know," Kenna said when the applause waned, "the Eternal Emperor is not just a being of words. And I'm here to tell you this day, that once again he's putting his thanks into action."
Kenna lofted a large, old-fashioned piece of parchment. The news cameras pushed in to show the Imperial seal at the bottom. Then panned up to Kenna.
"First off, our brand-spanking-new AM2 depot—orbiting now high above our blessed world—has just been raised to a Triple A rating!"
The crowd really took off on this. A triple A rating would bring even more business and work to the port.
"But, that'
s not all," Kenna said. "Along with our new rating, comes an even greater responsibility.
"My friends, I'm pleased to announce the Emperor has diverted an enormous AM2 shipment from a less deserving system. The amount is enough to supply all the needs of this entire sector for two E-years.
"As we speak, this AM2 shipment is approaching Dusable. And when this shipment is safely stowed away in our state-of-the-art depot—constructed, I might add, by our own talented people—Dusable will be able to rightly boast of the Emperor's respect and faith in us.
"For, from this glorious day forward, Dusable will be the only supplier for AM2 in this sector. And that, my friends, is anyone's definition of loyalty repaid."
The applause, cheers, and general pandemonium greeting this statement rolled across Dusable's capitol. Beings in distant wards looked up and wondered at thunder on such a cloudless day.
Aboard the Pai Kow—sixty-seven million miles away—the cheers became a sudden blast that nearly cracked the com unit's speaker cells.
Captain Hotsco chopped the volume, chortling to herself over Solon Kenna's lavish promises of AM2 aplenty. She hit a monitor touchpad and Kenna's face—silently mouthing the words of his speech—became a small window in the right-hand corner of the screen. Space filled the remainder.
Hotsco scanned the monitor, singing, "Mushi, mushi ano nay, ano nay… mushi, mushi ano nay…"
Then she saw it. Lights winked at three o'clock.
"Ah so desca." Hotsco laughed. "Come to Momma, bright eyes." She glanced at Kenna's round face, still flapping its jaws to the union masses. The captain gave Kenna a mock salute. "Solidarity, brother!"
Fingers brushed touchpads and Kenna's face vanished. The winking lights shifted to dead center. And the monitor snap-zoomed in.
Hotsco sucked in her breath as the robo "train" came into view. The lead element looked like an Imperial battleship chopped in half. In a way, it was. The ship had been turned out decades ago in one of the late, not so great, Tanz Sullamora's yards. The command and weapons part of the ship had been buzzsawed, a new nosecone installed, and now it consisted almost entirely of engine. Tractor beams ringed the center. Starboard was a hump that was the brains of the ship.
