Deathstalker Return (66 page)

“Well, they’re all here,” said Finn. “Would you care to explain just why you kicked them off Haden?”

“It was necessary,” said Shub. “The evacuation of the scientists became imperative, as our experiments were moving into a new and very dangerous phase. It was no longer safe for the humans to remain. So we sent them away, temporarily. They can return later, once our experiments are safely concluded. The welfare of the human scientists had to be our first consideration.”

“May I enquire as to the nature of these new experiments?” said Finn.

“We are investigating the basic nature of the Maze. We hope to have some very interesting results to share with you soon.”

“I see,” said Finn. “You will of course keep me posted, and let me know when human scientists can safely return to Haden.”

“Of course,” said the robot.

“Lying bastards,” said Finn, once he’d shut down the comm unit. “This is all to do with Lewis and his people. They must be nearly at Haden by now. Well, Shub, you aren’t the only one who can spring surprises . . .”

 

 

Over the next few weeks, King Finn busied himself consolidating his hold on power. Suddenly his people were everywhere, and spies and fanatics and enforcers swarmed over every world in the Empire, hunting out the disloyal and the potentially dangerous. People were dragged out of their houses and disappeared on the strength of a rumor, and many were never seen again. No one was safe. Anyone who dared speak out against the new crackdown was denounced as an esper or alien sympathizer—perhaps even an ELF thrall. There were no official charges, or trials; just bodies hanging from lampposts in every city. There was food rationing and travel restrictions. Church Militant and Pure Humanity membership was made compulsory, for everyone. Harsh new rules over public gatherings and behavior were brought in, and strictly enforced. No dissenting voices were heard on any of the media. The usual faces read out prepared statements, and did it with a smile—or were replaced with people who would.

Some brave souls gathered together anyway, in secret locations, but none of them survived for long. ELF thralls were everywhere, searching out Finn’s enemies, sometimes even possessing members of the rebel groups. All too soon there was a night of the long knives, as Finn’s assassins wiped out every group that dared oppose him. On every world the bodies were piled up in public squares and burnt, blazing like great balefires in the night. The only safe place left in the Empire was, surprisingly enough, the Rookery on Logres. Finn left them alone. He knew better than to trust them, but he still might have need of their various specialized talents. Refugees from a hundred worlds somehow made their way to Logres, and the Rookery, and found safety there. For a price.

Finn arranged a meeting with the leaders of the Hellfire Club, ostensibly to discuss the new situation. The Club was not at all happy with recent events. At first they had approved of the chaos, but as the clampdown progressed, it made it almost impossible for the Club to operate. Without the usual restrictions of the law, Pure Humanity and Church Militant fanatics were wiping out Hellfire Club branches everywhere. The Club leaders turned up at the right place at the right time, by various secret routes, all of them heavily armed and armored, ready to argue their corner from a position of strength. Finn had his people blow up the whole city block, to be sure of getting all of them.

A few of the braver news media people went underground, broadcasting messages of defiance from private stations, always on the move and never able to transmit for long without being jammed. When caught, they were shot in the back of the head while trying to escape. All of the main media stations were brought under state control, in the name of the emergency, and Finn put his own people in charge. There was a warrant out for Nina Malapert’s arrest, mostly for being a friend of Emma Steel, but Nina had gone to ground, and was not to be found. The security guards trashed her place anyway, and used her stuffed toys for target practice.

The few members of Parliament who dared to speak out were targeted early on. Most were made into ELF thralls, so that they could publicly renounce their previous statements, before being executed for treason. Only one MP had the foresight to surround herself and her people with heavy duty esp-blockers. Meerah Puri of Malediction retreated to a secret bunker, along with a small army of friends and supporters, and set about constructing an underground resistance movement. But most of the people she’d thought she could count on were already dead or disappeared. Finn had planned his coup with great thoroughness.

It didn’t take Finn’s people all that long to track down Meerah Puri. Just the presence of so many esp-blockers in one place was a giveaway. An army of security guards stormed the building, using shaped charges to blast their way past locked doors and barricades. Meerah’s people yelled for her to get away, while they held back the guards. Her name could still be used as a rallying cry for the resistance. Meerah Puri was ready to go, but she made the mistake of looking back as the security guards swept in and opened fire. She saw her people mown down, and couldn’t leave them. She drew her gun, and shot the guard leader in the head. And then she drew her sword and cut her way into the heart of those who’d come to tear her down. She killed four more guards, before a dozen swords slammed into her at once. Afterwards, they shot her repeatedly, just to make sure, and then the guards took turns kicking the dead body around like a rag doll.

Finn’s actions were presented as a crusade. Only the guilty had anything to fear, was the party line. And all across the Empire, most of the people were glad to see the enemies of Humanity dying. It made them feel better to know that the Empire was capable of striking back at something, even if it wasn’t the Terror. When most of the killing was over, or at least slowing down, King Finn appeared on every channel to make a firm and soothing speech to the people.
Be calm
, he said.
These painful necessary measures will soon pass, and we shall all be the stronger for them. Soon,
he promised
, soon we shall have all the secrets of the Madness Maze at our disposal, and then everyone will be able to pass through safely. Humanity will become superhuman, and working together, the armies of man will utterly destroy the Terror.

It was all bullshit, of course, but it was what the people desperately wanted to hear.

King Finn stamped out long-cherished freedoms, adding dozens of new laws designed for brutal social control, all in the name of the emergency. And the people were so scared of enemies within, and the coming Terror, that they loved Finn for it, and praised his boldness and strength as their great protector. He’d never been more popular, more beloved. Finn laughed until he hurt himself. If he’d known it would be this easy, he would have done it long ago.

Only the ELFs remained untouched. Partly because Finn still needed their services, but mostly because he still had enough good sense to be extremely cautious where the uber-espers were concerned. The ELF rank and file watched Finn dispose of all his old allies, and muttered darkly among themselves. The uber-espers voiced their own concerns, but only with each other. Perhaps the time had come to break with Finn, and strike out on their own behalf. Take advantage of all the chaos and confusion . . . But secretly all the uber-espers hesitated to commit themselves, for fear one of the other uber-espers would seize the chance to stab them in the back.

Instead, they encouraged the ELF rank and file to make the first move. They attempted to possess some of Finn’s new high-ranking people, only to discover that they were all protected by esp-blockers. The ELFs retreated quickly, but even so, many of them were hunted down and killed for their presumption. The uber-espers observed from a distance, and grew restless. They had been unable to fight in the Great Rebellion against the Empress Lionstone, because they were forbidden by their creator, the Mater Mundi, and they were all helpless against her. She’d made them that way. But she was long gone now, and the oversoul had left Logres. For the first time, the uber-espers made slow, tentative moves towards a union of purpose. Because as much as they hated each other, they hated Finn Durandal more.

Finn kept himself busy. He made a call to the Sangreal bar, on his private channel, using the Paragons’ comm implants. His seventeen remaining possessed Paragons had been hiding out in the bar for some time now, and were seriously bored. They were running out of things to do to each other. They were finally ready to listen. Finn knew better than to talk to them in person, but he could still be very convincing. He reminded the possessing ELFs that it was still in their best interests to go along with him, for now, and offered them a chance to get out and play. A chance to kill a whole bunch of important people. They always liked that . . . He explained that he had set up extremely convincing proof that Parliament was riddled with traitors, seeking to undermine his best efforts to stop the Terror, for their own political advantage. (He’d already tested the waters of public opinion by killing the previously popular Meerah Puri, and now he thought the public were ready for the next logical step.)
Go to the House of Parliament,
said Finn.
My security people already have it surrounded and infiltrated. They’ll be waiting for you, and the way will be made clear. Go into the House, my Paragons, and kill everyone there.

The Sangreal bar filled with the laughter of possessed men and women.

 

 

The Paragons raced to the House of Parliament on their gravity sleds, keeping well above the streets. There was some name-calling, but the Paragons ignored it. They were after bigger game. Finn had promised them a free hand against their old persecutors, and they meant to enjoy themselves. Their minds full of blood and slaughter, the possessed Paragons came to Parliament and the ring of security guards—all Finn’s people, and prewarned—got out of their way in a hurry. The Paragons swooped down like birds of prey, arrogant and strutting in their debased purple cloaks as they left their gravity sleds and strode into the House, heading straight for the main chamber with guns and swords in their hands. They were already laughing softly. Nobody tried to stop them. Most just turned and ran. All the automatic defenses had been shut down. The Paragons came at last to the main chamber, kicked open the great doors and swaggered in. The MPs looked round, startled.

And the killing began.

Energy beams flared, criss-crossing the House, blowing men and women apart in their Seats. There was shouting and screaming, and the happy laughter of the ELFs. Some MPs tried to run, but the Paragons were between them and the doors. Some tried to hide, but energy guns blew apart what cover there was. And a few MPs tried to fight, even though they were forbidden by long tradition from carrying weapons in the House. So they rushed the Paragons, armed with nothing but courage and bare hands, and the ELFs drew their swords and went to meet them. Blood splashed the ancient furnishings, and flowed across the floor of the House. The Paragons took their time, hacking and cutting at their victims instead of just running them through. The ELFs had decades of grudges to pay off, and they meant to savor every moment of their vengeance.

Some MPs died bravely, some died begging and pleading, but in the end, they all died. The Paragons piled up the corpses on the floor of the House, and then spent a happy time doing nasty, distressing things to the bodies. Just to mark their territory. And then they marched out of the House, singing and laughing, smearing MPs’ blood on each other’s faces as victory symbols. There was no media outside to record their triumph. Finn had declared the whole area off-limits to the media, and when a few rogue cameras turned up anyway, Finn’s people shot them out of the air.

Finn was there, waiting to receive his Paragons. He’d watched the killings on the monitors in Anne’s office, but quickly grew bored. He smiled and nodded pleasantly to the Paragons, and told them to return to the Sangreal. They weren’t too keen on that, but Finn promised there would soon be more bloody work for them. The thralls looked at him with other people’s eyes, and told him not to take too long.

When the Paragons had all departed on their gravity sleds, Finn turned to his security guards and gestured at the House of Parliament.

“Burn it down,” he said. “Burn it all down. After all, we won’t be needing it anymore, will we?”

 

 

Anne Barclay watched the MPs die on the monitors screens in her office at the back of the House. She sat numbly, unable to take it in. Finn had given her no warning. Probably because he knew she would never have agreed. She might even have tried to warn the MPs. She wasn’t sure about that, but she liked to think she had that much honor left. Her security people had to have known in advance, but none of them had spoken to her either. She’d thought of them as her people, but in the end they answered to Finn, just like everyone else. Most of them had already left the House, leaving her behind, leaving her alone. Anne looked from one monitor screen to another, watching as the MPs died, and wondered whether eventually the Paragons would come for her too.

“Don’t worry,” said Finn, from the doorway. “I won’t let them hurt you.”

Anne turned and looked at him blankly. “How did you get in? I always keep that door locked.”

“I am the King,” said Finn. “And no doors are locked to me.” He walked into her office, pulled up the visitor’s chair and sat down beside her. He watched the killing on the monitors for a while, and then turned to smile at Anne.

“You really mustn’t worry, Anne. You’re quite safe. You’re with me.”

“Even though you don’t need me anymore?” said Anne, in a perfectly steady voice. She was proud of that, at least. “The House and the MPs, and the managing of their security; that was my job, my life. My reason for existence. You knew that. And now you’ve taken it all away from me. I had friends once, and now they’re gone too, thanks to you. Even poor Jamie’s gone. Can’t I have anything for myself, Finn?”