Bayley, Barrington J - Novel 10 (25 page)

 
          
"The
charge inversion lasts only seconds: the imbalance in the constituted universe
cannot be maintained for longer than that. Anti-protons become protons again.
But it is too
late,
the separation between charges has
been accomplished. Some of the expanding electron cloud is attracted back to
the main mass, but not enough to cancel the net positive charge on the more
slowly exploding mass of atomic nuclei. In hours the positive cloud, the whole
remaining mass of the star, has engulfed and disintegrated every planet of the
system. It is millions of years before it attracts enough negative charge to
become electrically neutral again. By that time it is too dispersed to
coalesce. It never again becomes a star.

 
          
"So
if you see that happening to a star within your territory, pig, you will know
that you have received a warning and that the next sun to go will be the one
illuminating your seat of government. The explosion is easily distinguishable
from a nova or supernova. First there is a brilliant flash as the trapped
photons ricocheting within the star are released. After that the star goes out,
because as its stripped atomic nuclei recede from one another nuclear fusion
ceases."

 
          
Gruwert
had been listening to the
kosho's
story
with intent concentration. Now he snorted, his little eyes glittering.
"This is not new. There already are ways to destroy stars."
"With a
handgun?
No, only by moving titanic pieces of
apparatus and colossal power sources close to -the star—what enemy stands by
and allows you to do that? Until now it has never been possible to destroy suns
as an act of war. What makes the
zen
gun invincible is
that it is small. One man can carry it
unseen,
it
cannot be kept track of or detected. It is the equaliser between the individual
and all the rest of the civilised universe. With just a sidearm, one man can
now defeat an empire."

 
          
The
pig trembled slightly. Head lowered, he glared directly at Ikematsu. He looked
as if he were about to charge at him. He had done a wise thing, Gruwert told
himself, in bringing his bodyguard along. The stoat was stationed within call
just up the corridor.

 
          
"Kosho,
you speak treason, and
shortly I shall have you arrested. Are you telling me
you
have this gun?"

           
"No, I do not have it. I had
it, but I lost it." Gruwert snorted disdainfully. "This tale is
preposterous. I do not believe a word of it. The man-ape's toy is only a piece
of wood."

 
          
"Your
disbelief will hasten the triumph of right," Ikematsu responded blandly.
"Before the chimera arrives, let me tell you something of the gun's recent
history. It may convince you.

 
          
"One
gun is all that was ever made. Shortly after its manufacture my order was
destroyed, in its original form, by political events. The weapon was lost,
irrevocably, it was thought.

 
          
"Then,
a few years ago, a
kosho
by the name
of Orohisho Smith succeeded in finding it. Smith was not advanced enough
spiritually to decode the gun fully, however. I do not think he was even
interested in its ultimate use, only to exploit some of the secondary
capabilities its mode of operation entails. Specifically, he wished to explore
other facets of the Simplex. As a result of his meddling, the gun opened up the
rent in space.

 
          
"Smith
was never to know what he had done in his ignorance. He was tricked and made
prisoner by one Torth Nascimento, who wished to keep him as a human specimen in
a museum. To rob this man of his satisfaction, Smith took the course of
self-destruction. Meantime his weapons, including the
zen
gun, had been placed in the museum's weapons section, from where it was stolen
by your friend Pout the chimera.

 
          
"It
was then that I attached myself to Pout. My interest has been to see the gun
fall into worthy hands, but I was honour-bound not to take it from him by
force. Surprisingly, the gun responded to
Pout
a
little. He was able to employ it as an anti-personnel weapon, and to give him
personal power over others. He never guessed at its real secrets, of course.
But he used to play with its settings. By doing this he unknowingly broke the
gravitational bond between the planet Earth and its large satellite.

 
          
Hesper,
who with Archier had been listening in silence, gasped. "Is
that
what happened?"

 
          
"I
don't understand this," Archier said. "There
is
no actual bond between gravitating bodies."

 
          
"Strictly
speaking you are right: gravitation is a screening effect. So I speak loosely.
What the gun really did was to render Earth and the moon gravitationally
transparent to one another."

 
          
The
kosho
resumed his story. "You
will recall that after the fleet entered the region affected by the rent a
number of persons vanished. Among them were myself, Pout and these two boys. We
were instantaneously transported to the surface of a planet, the same, I think,
that the fleet was headed for. I will not dwell on what took place there.
Suffice to say that at last I procured the
zen
gun
from Pout, and I was able to remedy the damage done by my fellow
kosho.
I used the gun to close up the
rent."

 
          
"So
if you're telling the truth we don't have that to worry about anymore,"
Gruwert growled. "Good."

 
          
"You
never did. The rent would have closed up by itself, after a while. Another
problem was inadvertently solved, however. As the rent closed, the entities
that had come through it withdrew. But first they restored everything to the
condition in which they found it. Everything they had dismembered they put
together, everything they had moved they put back, in the twinkling of an eye.
Those of us from this ship were put back on this ship, mended in body if not in
mind."

 
          
"The
fleet has moved light years since you were taken," Hesper said in
puzzlement. "If you were put back where you were before, it would be into
the void."

 
          
Ikematsu
gave his faint smile. "Evidently you have scant knowledge of physics
. '
Place' as a physical reality applies only to material
objects, not to empty space. This flagship is the 'place' from which we were
taken, and it does not matter how it has altered its relationship with other
places in the interim. Star Force's intermat system," he added casually,
"works on the same principle."

 
          
"Then
where is the
zen
gun now?" Archier asked.

 
          
Ikematsu's
head turned. He was looking to the door. Pout had suddenly appeared there. He
walked with a tired slouch, head down,
arms
hanging,
as the ape in him had taken over completely. Blinking, he stumbled into the
room, swayed, then leaned against a wall.

 
          
With
him was a boy of about eight who seemed to have been pushing Pout ahead of him.
On seeing Gruwert, the boy saluted self-consciously. "The chimera you
ordered brought here, Admiral. We found him trying to hide in a clothes store.
I, er, don't think he's very well."

 
 
          
Feeling
uneasy, Archier said, "That's all. Go now.
At
once."

 
          
As
the boy left, Ikematsu answered Archier's question. "The gun was not on me
when I reappeared aboard the flagship. I reason that it, too, must have
returned to its point of departure. I surmise that Pout has it."

 
          
"SMO Archier!"
Gruwert roared. "Get that
gun!"

 
          
As
if in a trance, Archier found himself moving towards the chimera, who suddenly
flung up his arms to ward him off.

 
          
"No
gun, no gun! Pout has no gun!"

 
          
"Look
to see what you have in your bib, Pout," Ikematsu said gently.

 
          
Blankly
Pout stared at him. Then, trembling, he dipped his hand in his garment. It came
out holding the
zen
gun.

 
          
"No
gun!" he screamed. "No gun!" In terror he flung it from him. It
clattered to the floor.

 
          
Archier
picked it up as it fell at his feet. He turned it over in his hand. It looked
so ordinary, so unfinished. How much was he to believe of the
kosho's
tale? It was extraordinary, but
well within the bounds of possibility. What else could explain the behaviour of
Earth's moon, for instance?

 
          
If
the
kosho
really had woven this and
other happenings into a concocted story, then he really was uncommonly
inventive. Gruwert, at any rate, gave the tale credence. After only a brief
glance at the weapon Archier was examining, he was calling for his bodyguard.

 
          
Ikematsu
shook his head wamingly. "Your stoat is asleep. I dealt with him earlier.
You face me alone."

 
          
Gruwert
shook with agitation. He knew how dangerous an adversary the
kosho
could be, even unarmed. He moved
so as to put himself between Ikematsu and the door. "SMO," he ordered
quickly, "get out of here fast and take that gun to safety. I'll hold this
kosho
back."

 
          
"No!"
Hesper shrieked. "Don't let the pigs have it, or
it's
slavery forever!"

 
          
Archier
froze, only vaguely aware that Hesper was moving towards him. His mind was
filling with images.
A vision of Axaline, the place where
they were going.
He knew full well what Gruwert intended. Nuke a city
here, beam a continent there. And
then
demand
tribute. The slightest resistance and . . .

 
          
Then,
too, there was Escoria, Hesper's home sector. She claimed the fleet had nuked
the moving teaching cities on Earth. Archier no longer disbelieved it. It would
be just like Gruwert to arrange it behind his back.

 
          
And
what a score he would settle with the sector as a whole, when they next went
there!

 
          
"Give
me
that gun!" It was Gruwert's
voice, and it was distorted with passion, with rage at Archier's lack of
response. Even as he spoke, the pig charged. He bowled Archier over, reaching
for the gun with his snout. Automatically Archier tried to keep the gun from
the animal's reach. The smell of the pig was all over him. He felt bristly hide
against his skin, frantic trotters scrambling and trampling on his limbs and body.

 
          
Then
Hesper was with him, helping him struggle against the bulging, vigorous mass of
lard. Somehow she hauled him from underneath Gruwert, who lost his balance and
went sprawling on his side.

 
          
Archier
staggered to Ikematsu. He pressed the gun into his hand.
"You
take it," he gasped. "Do whatever you
can!"

 
          
Gruwert,
snorting and squealing, trotters sliding on the floor, raised himself.
Furiously he turned to face the
kosho,
backing
off to charge him as he had Archier.

 
          
Before
he could launch himself Ikematsu's hand swept up. He spread two fingers,
pointing them directly at the pig's two eyes.

 
          
"Sleep."

 
          
And
Gruwert stood there, as motionless as a statue, his eyes open but unseeing.

 
          
As
she joined Archier Hesper was breathing.heavily. She stared down at the pig.
"What's wrong with him?" she whispered.

 
          
"I
have hypnotised him," Ikematsu said simply.

 
          
With
a look of intent concentration on his face, he was pressing the setting studs
in a complicated sequence. "The die is cast," he said to Archier. "You
have made your decision; you have committed treason against the pigs' Empire.
Now we must all leave."