Denner's Wreck

Chapter Twenty

“…he turned, and found himself face to face with a great winged lizard, as tall as a man and a dozen meters long, with wings that could serve as a roof for the biggest house in the village.

"He sat down and began composing his death-speech, wishing that someone was around to hear it besides this great green lizard-beast.

"But then, to his astonishment, the beast spoke, saying, ‘Greetings to you, sir. Why are you here, in the land of my mistress?'

"And then Helleber knew that he was facing a dragon, and that he was in the domain of the Dragon Lady, and hope blossomed in his heart, for all the tales he had heard of her were happy ones.

"'Why, I am lost,’ he said, ‘and have no food, no water, and no way to get home.'

"'Then climb up on my back,’ the dragon said, ‘and I will take you to my mistress who made me, and I am sure she will be glad to help you.'

"So he approached, full of fear at the sight of the monster, but forcing himself to walk up to it calmly…"

– from the tales of Atheron the Storyteller

The humans aboard the Skyland spent the rest of the secondlight in dismal, nervous anticipation, and when the sleeping dark approached no one slept, or suggested sleep. The sun was sinking in the west, and they were nearing Fortress Holding.

By unspoken agreement, they gathered on the terrace where they had eaten lunch.

“He hasn't done anything,” the Skyler said.

“Are you sure?” Imp asked.

“Of course I'm sure! I've got my machines watching Fortress Holding, just as you do!"

“He hasn't done anything that I've seen,” Geste agreed. “Oh, a few of his machines fought off some of my saboteurs, but that's nothing."

“He must know we're coming,” the Skyler said nervously. “Why doesn't he do something?"

“I don't know,” Geste answered.

They were silent for a moment, and it was not a human who broke the silence.

“Excuse me,” the Skyland said, “but Thaddeus the Black is calling and wishes to speak to, quote, ‘whoever is in charge up there,’ end quote."

“There you go,” Geste said with a wave. “He's doing something. Talk to him."

“Oh, no,” the Skyler said. “You talk to him."

“It's your hold,” Imp protested.

“But it was Geste's idea to come here,” the Skyler insisted.

Geste shrugged. “All right. Put him on, Skyland."

A face appeared in the air, and Bredon studied it curiously.

So this was the infamous Thaddeus the Black! He had seen old pictures back in Arcade, pictures that Gamesmaster had shown him while explaining who Shadowdark and Thaddeus were, but this was the first live transmission Bredon had seen.

The first thing Bredon noticed was that, as the pictures back at Arcade had shown, he was not black, his name notwithstanding. His complexion was slightly darker than most of the other Powers Bredon had seen, but Leila and Hsin were both a good bit darker, and there were people in Bredon's home village who were darker, and the southern traders who came by twice a year selling metal pots and pans and tools were darker still.

His hair was black and curly, but that scarcely seemed enough to justify the name. His eyes were brown, and he was heavily bearded. The face behind the beard was lined and scarred, unusual for a Power, but no more so than many a villager's face was by his fortieth turn of the seasons, and by no means even close to the grotesquerie of Shadowdark's visage.

Thaddeus did bear some resemblance to his father; their eyes were similar, and both had prominent noses, though Shadowdark's was straight while Thaddeus had a definite hook to his.

And his face was oddly proportioned, like Shadowdark's. Bredon remembered that Thaddeus was said to be almost three meters tall. The image was only slightly larger than a normal head; either Thaddeus's height was entirely in his body, or he was using a reduced-size transmission.

It was a strong face, neither a particularly attractive one, nor one ugly or frightening enough to fit the stories told about its owner.

“Hello there,” Thaddeus said conversationally. “Only three of you? Are the rest somewhere else? I'll wait while you call them, if you like."

“There are only the four of us,” Geste replied, gesturing so as to include Bredon with the two women.

“Four?” Bredon was unsure whether Thaddeus's surprise was feigned or genuine. “Who is that, then? Has someone taken a new body, or been rebuilt? I thought that was an android or a primitive."

Geste turned expectantly, to let Bredon speak for himself.

“I am Bredon the Hunter, son of Aredon the Hunter,” Bredon announced, aware how foolish that once-proud declaration of his identity must sound to this unspeakably powerful and ancient being.

“A primitive-so there are just three of you. You will have your little joke, Geste, won't you?” He eyed Bredon warily, however.

“What do you want, Thaddeus?” Geste inquired wearily.

“I just want to come to an understanding."

“What sort of an understanding?” the Skyler asked.

“And where's Aulden?” Imp demanded.

“Aulden is right here, Imp; he's alive and well. As for what sort of an understanding, that's why Aulden is here.” The image of a handsome, rather distracted-looking, outwardly youthful man appeared briefly beside Thaddeus’ image, then vanished again before Bredon could even be sure of the color of his hair. “And Sheila, and Sunlight, and Rawl, and O, and Khalid, and even Brenner.” More faces flashed briefly, then faded. Bredon felt his throat tighten at the glimpse of Lady Sunlight's radiant features.

“What are you talking about, Thaddeus?” Geste asked.

“Bluntly, Geste, I'm talking about blackmail. I have seven of your friends here, all alive, at least for the moment, but all very much in my hands. If any of you interfere with my plans-for that matter, if any of you fail to give me your fullest cooperation-I'll start killing my prisoners."

He smiled malignly down at the party aboard the Skyland, and for a long moment no one spoke.

“Just what are these plans that we aren't to interfere with?” Geste asked at last.

“I would suppose that you've already guessed. You all know who I am. I intend to rebuild my empire, and this time I won't be stopped."

“No? You've lost two empires already, haven't you? Why should the third be any different?” Geste said sweetly.

Thaddeus’ expression turned dark, and he hissed, “Watch your mouth, Trickster, or I might just stuff Sheila's guts in it."

Geste's smile vanished, and Thaddeus calmed slightly.

“I should have expected that from you, Geste,” he said. “Yes, I lost two empires. The first one was poisoned against me by my father and my brother, so that I couldn't hold it. The second was built on a bunch of stupid primitives who betrayed me because they didn't have the brains or the guts to understand anything. This time that won't happen. I'll build my own empire, one that Peter and Shadowdark didn't meddle in, and I won't trust anything important to savages-I'll use artificial intelligences or my own tailored creatures instead, or just pre-conscious machines."

“And you expect us to just stand by and watch?"

“Oh, no, more than that; I expect you to help me. I've got your woman, Geste, and your man, Imp, and the others as well, and I expect you all to turn over all your equipment to me, so that I can use it to build my fleet. And in exchange, when I've built my empire, you can each have a planet to rule as my viceroy."

The three immortals on the Skyland exchanged glances with one another; Bredon looked from one to the next, but they ignored him.

Thaddeus did not, however. He said, “Oh, yes, and if you care about the primitives like your friend here, if you cooperate I won't kill any more of them, either, unless I have to."

“Any more?” Geste asked, startled.

“Well, certainly; I had to kill off all the tribes that lived right around the Fortress. I couldn't trust them, not after what happened back on Alpha Imperium. That was how I got Khalid here, as a matter of fact; he came to protest about one bunch that were his special pets."

The four stared at him, speechless.

Thaddeus smiled back. “Oh, I see you want time to think about it-or rather, to talk it over before yielding, in order to save a little face. That's fine; I won't rush you. I understand how it is. I've studied psychology for thousands of years, and I know that you need to salve your pride by holding out for awhile. You go right ahead; make a foolish gesture if you have to, but just remember, I have your friends here, and I have enough automated weapons to kill you all and build my empire without your help, if I have to.” He raised a hand in sardonic salutation. “Until the next sunset, as measured at the Fortress. I want your capitulation no later than that, or the first captive dies."

The image vanished.

Bredon stared at the empty air, trying to decide whether or not to believe the casual confession of mass murder. Had Thaddeus really butchered hundreds of innocent people?

Yes, he probably had, if Gamesmaster had told the truth about what happened on Alpha Imperium.

Bredon's own tribe was safe; they dwelt far to the east of the mountains, while Fortress Holding was far to the west. Still, a shudder ran through him at the thought of what a Power could do to them on a mere whim.

The others were also staring at the air, but their thoughts were clearly different.

“It's a bluff,” Geste announced.

“I don't know,” the Skyler said.

Imp glanced at the others, then turned back to the empty air without commenting, obviously involved in her own considerations.

“Of course it's a bluff!” Geste insisted. “He wouldn't dare kill helpless prisoners like that. Someone would find out. If any of us die, Mother will know, and she'll report it back to Terra, and they'll send someone out to investigate. Thaddeus won't risk that."

“Of course he would!” the Skyler said. “We don't know what's happened on Terra in the last four centuries; someone might have blown the whole planet apart by now. And Mother would send the news at light-speed, and we're hundreds of light-years from Terra. We've been through this before, Geste."

“But he couldn't,” Geste insisted. “Even without bringing Terra into it, if he kills one of us, a cold-blooded murder like that, the others won't permit it. They'll all join forces against him. He won't risk that!"

The Skyler frowned. “Geste, you're being stupid; of course he will. First off, he's crazy. Second, the others are all apathetic and lazy, and they won't try to stop him and he knows it. Third, they can all be blackmailed by threats to the other six, if he kills one-seven is a lot of hostages to risk. And fourth, even if they did all gang up on him, he'd probably still win, because he's ready for it and he's got Aulden."

Geste hesitated, then said, “All right, you're right. I suppose I knew it, but I didn't want to admit it. He will kill them, all seven of them. He says he already killed all those other people, and I don't think he'd lie about that-we could check it too easily. Seven more won't mean that much more to him. But damn it, Skyler, we have to stop him, even if he does kill them! This may be the last chance anyone has. He expects us to give in, so if we attack we can catch him off-guard. And if we don't stop him, he's going to start an interstellar war, and probably kill millions of people. We have to stop him!"

It was the Skyler's turn to hesitate. She pursed her lips and glanced about uncertainly.

“You're right,” she said at last. “I hate it, but you're right. And if you can let him kill Sheila, I won't argue any more. I don't even like most of the people he has there."

“Good! Imp?"

“What?” The redhead started at the sound of her name.

“Do you agree?” Geste asked. “We attack?"

Imp stared at Geste as if not really seeing him. “I don't think so,” she said, oddly detached. She pulled a gleaming object from the air and spoke into it, slowly and clearly.

“Do it, code green, I tell you three times, code green, code green."

Geste lunged forward, grabbing for the device she held, but was not in time to prevent her completion of the command. Imp fell back under his onslaught, landing roughly on the stone terrace with Geste on top of her. A sudden whirring and hissing came from all sides.

Bredon was at first baffled by this entire incident, but then dredged up a bit of information from his imprinted knowledge. The gleaming object was a master-link communicator.

A master-link communicator went straight to the central controls of a system, bypassing all artificial intelligences and working directly on the basic computer functions the intelligences operated unconsciously, much as a human's internal organs functioned without any conscious control. Such communicators existed as a safety measure, to make certain that humans could always override their creations. Only a very limited number of commands could be made over a master link, all intended for emergency situations.

Imp had apparently set up a command of some sort under the name “Code green,” but Bredon could only guess what it was, or even what system her link was connected to.

Geste, sprawled across a motionless Imp, was in a light trance, communicating with his machines.

The Skyler demanded, “What's going on?” Bredon looked at her, and realized she was on the verge of hysteria.

“Damn!” Geste spat, coming out of his trance. “She's aborted every major weapon system we had! I let her take care of coordinating everything, so our weapons wouldn't get in each other's way, and she had saboteur systems built into everything she could get at, all set to shut down on that command!"

“I didn't trust you,” Imp whispered. “I had to be ready."

“Now what do we do?” the Skyler wailed.

Geste sat up and looked at her with disgust. She paid no attention, and his expression altered to a more contemplative one. “We still have the Skyland,” he said. “We can drop it on Fortress Holding if we have to. We'll need to sabotage his protective fields, though."

“Drop the Skyland? Oh, no, Geste. No, you don't.” The Skyler was suddenly calm, shocked back from the edge of hysteria by the threat to her hold. “Not my home you don't. Drop Arcade on him if you like!"

“Arcade doesn't fly, Skyler, and by the time I could make it fly-without Aulden's help-it would be too late to do any good. The Skyland is the only one of its kind, the only real weapon we have left, because Thaddeus would never think we would use it as a weapon."

“And he's right, damn him, and damn you, too, Geste! Nobody is going to do anything with the Skyland!"

“That's right,” Imp said from where she lay. “If you smash the Fortress you'll kill Aulden and the others."

“But…"

“No buts, Geste!” The Skyler's tone had softened somewhat.

Imp said, “I know you mean well, Geste, and maybe you're right, in the abstract, but we can't do it. We can't kill our friends and smash the Skyler's home. We can't."

Geste looked up at the Skyler, and then down at Imp, who still lay sprawled before him.

“You want to surrender?” he asked.

“We don't want to,” Imp replied, lifting herself up on one elbow. “We have to. If Thaddeus has those seven people, we can't let him kill them."

“Would you say that if Aulden weren't one of them?"

“I don't know,” Imp admitted, “I really don't. But it doesn't matter, because he is one of them."

“If he is,” Bredon said, breaking into the conversation for the first time. He had been very carefully thinking over what he had seen, in the light of his new understanding of Terran technology. “Why did Thaddeus only show those images for quick flashes like that? Maybe he faked them, or used old recordings."

Startled, the other three all looked at him. “But Mother said…” Imp began.

“If he faked the pictures, couldn't he have faked that transmission, too?” the Skyler asked her.

Geste stared at Bredon, but said nothing. The corners of his mouth twitched, however, and Bredon knew he was thinking hard, and was pleased with the results.

The two women, after staring at each other speechlessly for a few seconds, turned to stare at Geste, waiting for his response.

“Could he be faking it?” Imp demanded.

“I think,” the Trickster said at last, “that we had better check for ourselves that Thaddeus does have captives, that he hasn't killed them already, before we agree to anything."

“How can we do that, if Thaddeus is faking all the transmissions out of Fortress Holding?"

“We'll demand to see the captives in person, in the flesh."

“He won't allow that,” the Skyler said derisively.

“Why not?” Geste asked. “If he doesn't, what is he afraid of?"

The Skyler hesitated, then answered, “He won't trust us inside his fortress. We might sabotage the place, somehow."

“He can take precautions. Or he can bring the prisoners out."

“He won't bring them out; we might rescue them."

“Then he'll have to let us in. If he doesn't, then we'll fight him. All we want is proof that they're still alive."

The Skyler studied the Trickster's face. “You're up to something, Geste,” she said. “I know you are, and Thaddeus will know it, too."

“My reputation,” he said with a mock sigh, addressing himself to Bredon. “No one ever trusts me!"

“That's right, and Thaddeus won't, either,” the Skyler said.

“But he'll let us in anyway,” Geste said with a smile, “because he's absolutely certain that he's smarter than I am, and able to counter whatever scheme I might have."

“Then you do have a scheme!” Imp exclaimed.

Geste smiled again, wryly. “Not really,” he said.

After a pause he added, “At least, not yet."