Myra sat behind a small, raised desk thinking about her predicament, and, at the same time, she half listened to a discussion between the Galaef and Thorne. Since it was a topic of lesser importance, and since she had no conscious intent on the words, she didn't know what direction their chatter had taken them. In front of her was a computer input keyboard, and to the left, a horizontal readout screen.
As the conversation in the background became nothing more than a mumble of incoherent words, she thought back to the beginning, just after her childhood had ended, and remembered how it was that eight of the nine of the Inner Circle of the Twelfth Padigm had chosen her for this mission. She was told how they had searched Zorzorsta in every way possible looking for the right person. They even used such primitive methods as word of mouth, hand written tests, and personal interviews, but in the end it was the intuition of the Seek which had found Myra for them. Later, Joslin, one of the Zorstas, told how she had brought forth three names from the golden crystal orb, and then from these three they had chosen the fifteen year old Myra, from Calistay in the Black Forest, to perform their mission.
Myra stood before them, a frightened young girl watching and listening as they debated her fate. One of the nine, Cassandra, was vehemently opposed to choosing Myra. She said her intuition told her that Myra would not only fail, but would bring shame and dishonor which would eventually result in the destruction and downfall of the twelfth Padigm on Zorzorsta. "She is not the one," she said distorting the circle as she stood up. But the other eight disagreed, and three times they chanted, "Enter the Gate. Enter the Corridor." And then Myra was taken to a secret room where a door was opened, and she was pushed forcefully into a hallway. She was instructed that she must go on alone.
The corridor had a musty smell and was dark with only dim illumination coming from the walls. She stepped slowly forward, a frightened girl, wanting nothing more than to go home. Suddenly she saw a figure coming toward her—and then nothing.
The next thing she remembered she was back in the chamber of the Zorstas and the Seek. What happened in that corridor she could not remember. All she knew was she had a painful little bump on the back of her head, but it was gone after a few days.
And that was it.
From that day on, Myra was taken under the confidence of the circle and instructed in physical combat, which included situ and phasor training, and mental combat, which included intense conditioning and the learning of every facet of the
class=Section2>
Seek. For five years she trained with them, and trained hard, and at the end of the five years she was no longer a frightened girl, but rather, a confident woman, a Zorsta. Finally, they said she was ready. She had achieved the highest level of the inner circle in the shortest amount of time ever, that is, with the exception of Cassandra who had achieved the same level in just over four years. But along with Myra's natural ability at high level intuition she also had the beauty and personality to go with it. They had no doubt she would succeed, and with that they gave her the honor of becoming the tenth member of the inner circle of the twelfth padigm, the most powerful of all the padigm.
One final time, they put her into the hall of knowledge, and once again she had no recollection of what happened.
When the time came to initiate the mission they not only gave her false documents of birth and residence on another planet, known as Rignon of the solar system Jag, but they also sent her there and set her up as a citizen. Then they made it known to the computer that she was a prime candidate for the position of the Galaef's personal secretary—one of the highest positions in the Galaxy. And they knew she would be chosen, for they had trained her well—extremely well.
For nine years, after arriving on the Computer Planet, she had interwoven her scheme through the fine network of Thorne's plans. But now to no avail. From the first moment she had met Thorne she knew that not only did he have aspirations of becoming the next Galaef, but actually had plans which he felt would succeed. She knew she had stepped into a favorable situation. If she could thwart Thorne's plans for usurpation, then from her glean she knew the Galaef would chose her to take Thorne's position as second in command of the Galactic Empire. From there it would be easy to plan her own usurpation, and even easier to pull it off.
The scheme presented a scenario with little chance of failure. And it certainly would have worked, except the Galaef had unwittingly sabotaged it by becoming involved in this absurd archeological expedition during the week of the Federation reports. It was an action which she could have never predicted—an action which was foreign to his norm. It was simply a stroke of bad luck.
In the back of her mind the Galaef's conversation suddenly came to her consciousness alerting her that the Galaef would be needing some inconsequential information. She kept her eyes on the screen as her fingers raced nimbly across the keys. And then she waited as the computer memory-banks brought up the requested information, as the logic circuits correlated the information, and as the answer was printed out on the screen.
Thorne's plan had evolved around the computer planet. He knew something about Galactus VII, which would allow him to depose the Galaef and take over his command as the Ruler of the Galactic Empire. But what was it? Myra had no way of knowing and in spite of her tireless efforts to find out, she had come away empty. All she knew was the computer in the Computer Planet was almighty. It ruled, completely, the Galactic Federation in an Omnipotent God-like capacity. It only had one flaw: it was subservient to the Galaef.
Myra looked at the number on the computer screen, and then leaned back and turned toward the Galaef.
The Galaef weaved his thoughts through the happenings of the last couple of days in an attempt to turn theories into fact. "Em must have some kind of supernatural power," he said. "He managed to get through three doors which had palm locks." The Galaef was sitting in his high chair in the middle of the room, which was the control center of the spacecraft. He looked down at Thorne. "No one can get through palm locks without first being coded," he paused, then added, "He must have powers beyond the realm of science. You know like those . . . like those. You know, those so called witches on Janus V."
Myra flinched inwardly at the Galaef's last statement.
"I think not," said Thorne. "Palm locks are fallible."
The Galaef's response was immediate. "The calculated odds against three newly installed palm locks failing at the same time, especially in this situation, would be phenomenal. It involved three doors and no power failure." He pivoted in his chair. "Myra, find out what the odds are in this situation."
"I already have, sir," she said.
The Galaef raised an eyebrow, and then wondered why he was surprised. She does it all the time, he thought, and then asked. "What is it?"
"The odds are more than twelve septillion to one. Would you like the exact figure?"
"You see," said the Galaef as he turned back to Thorne. He ignored Myra's last question and continued. "The odds are so great that they are for all scientific purposes, nil."
"There is another possibility," said Thorne calmly.
"What?"
Thorne shifted in his form-fitting chair. "With his unusual strength he was able to force one of the guards to open the door."
"But you're forgetting the first door. There were no guards."
"He grabbed someone," said Thorne. "Someone who didn't report it."
"Not likely," replied the Galaef. He thought for a moment. "In addition to all the other unusual circumstances, such as all those years he spent in suspended animation, he was able to find his way out of the complex, get by the scents, which is a supernatural feat in itself, cross the desert of the Toral, and make it into the Borgus Mountain Range. All in all, and at the very least, I would say there is something very unusual about this man."
"Everything can be explained," said Thorne. "Since he had to come into the complex, it would only be natural to assume he would remember the way out. And the
n once he got out, he got that girl to help him. . . . Simple."
The Galaef looked at Myra, but she didn't say anything. So, he continued, "Simple is right. Once we get him back to the laboratories we will conduct a whole battery of tests which should give us our answers."
Myra once again lost interest in their conversation and drifted into thinking about ways to stop Thorne's takeover, but she already knew that since it was happening on Ar there was no possible way for her to stop it. Thorne had too many players on his side, and the Galaef, without knowing it, had undone himself, and in the process was taking her down with him.
No sense in trying to stop Thorne now, she thought.
Her fingers once again raced across the keyboard. But this time she was telling the computer to formulate a flight plan to Janus V and to relay the information to the onboard computer of her personal ten man destroyer. Was there any alternative? She thought not, but she would once again consider all possibilities before she made her way home to Janus V and the wrath of the Inner Circle.
Her glean suddenly brought her back to the Galaef's conversation. "Em has been located," he said. "An old miner radioed in his location this morning."
Why has my glean brought me back to this seemingly unimportant information, she wondered.
The Galaef stepped down from the dais. "I want you to organize his capture and safe return. Once we have him aboard the ship, we'll return to the home planet."
Thorne looked up quickly. "But we have an interview today with the head of the town council," he exclaimed almost too vehemently.
Myra recognized the give-away tones in Thorne's voice. She realized today was the take over, the usurpation. How had she failed? For the past four years she had perceived Thorne's scheme to become Galaef. That should have been enough time.
But in just one day Thorne had changed his plans. Why? And why on an alien planet so far from the home planet? Why didn't he just put it off another week and continue with his plans on the Computer Planet? It was a sorry reality that the why's added up to nothing. The fact was he had changed his plans, and now all her preparations were for naught.
"We will keep the appointment," said the Galaef in a chafed voice. "It's important to keep the planetary politicians happy; especially one who controls such a large interest in Z crystals."
Myra looked at Thorne as he nodded his approval at the Galaef's last statement. She knew that some little piece of information, which he had acquired on one of his archaeological expeditions to the ancient computer worlds had changed him from being a loyal servant during his first few years as second-in-command to a scheming usurper of present. For four years and possibly longer he had built his plans around this piece of information, this small bit of knowledge. If only she could have found out what it was, but now it was too late. And once she returned to Janus V the least she could expect from the Inner Circle was banishment to the outlands, a fate worse than purgatory. Myra came out of her reverie as she heard the Galaef say, "Today we might learn part of the truth." And then he said to Myra, "Alert the medical staff and Professor Hillar to meet us at the launch bay in one hour."
She acknowledged his order with a nod. "Taul," she called out as he and Thorne started to leave. "I'm going to stay aboard and finish some work on the Federation reports."
"Fine," said the Galaef. He could think of no reason why she should accompany them to Newusa, in fact, he had discovered that she had little interest in their new archaeological discovery.
He and Thorne left the room.
*
The Aeolian Master Book One Revival Page 36
