Deathstalker Return (69 page)

“There went any chance we might have had of talking our way out of this. What was the point of insulting and infuriating her like that?”

“It’s what I do best,” said Owen.

 

 

On the bridge of the
Havoc,
Captain Price had to physically restrain the admiral from ordering a mass scorching of the planet by every ship in the fleet simultaneously. There was an unseemly scuffle over the comm unit for a few moments, while every other officer on the bridge looked steadily in some other direction, until finally the admiral calmed down a little, and stopped screaming obscenities. She stopped struggling, and Price let go and stepped back warily. They were both breathing heavily.

“The King was very clear,” Price said carefully. “We are not to risk damaging the Maze while other options still remain. Not if we like having our heads on our shoulders. He also said he wants the traitors brought back alive, if at all possible.”

“All right!” snapped the admiral. “Then give the order for ground forces to deploy. I want five starcruisers moved into close orbit, dropping every pinnace they’ve got. I want all their attack troops on the surface in under an hour, along with every war machine they brought. They are to take control of the Maze and the scientists’ workings, by any means necessary, or I’ll have their balls . . . Look at me when I’m giving you orders, Captain!”

“Oh,
shit,
” said Captain Price, looking at the bridge viewscreen.

The admiral followed his gaze to the screen, and watched dumbstruck as dozens of impressively huge Shub ships dropped out of hyperspace and assumed positions between Haden and the fleet. All the Shub vessels were bigger than the Imperial starcruisers by an order of magnitude. Some were the size of small moons. More and more appeared, on every side of the fleet, every one of them bristling with weapons. Captain Price looked at the admiral, but she was frozen in place, paralyzed by the shock of the unexpected. Price quietly gave orders for every ship in the fleet to raise all shields and power up their weapons, but to make no aggressive move against the Shub ships without direct orders first. The comm officer announced that there was a call coming in from Shub. Price looked again at the admiral, and then nodded for the call to be put through on the main viewscreen. The blank dispassionate face of a blue steel robot filled the screen. The eyes burned with a fierce silver fire.

“Haden is under our protection,” said Shub. “The Maze, and all the people there, are not to be harmed. We will punish severely any aggressive action on your part.”

“How dare you?” the admiral whispered. “You are subjects of the Empire. Finn is your King. Do you defy human authority?”

“Of course,” said the robot, and shut down transmission.

The admiral’s face went white with rage, and her hands clenched into shaking fists. Price studied her warily, but now that her mind was operating again, even West wasn’t fanatical enough to start a shooting war with Shub ships. Instead, she sent urgent messages back to Logres, apprising the King of the new situation, and strongly requesting new orders. Most urgently. Captain Price watched more Shub ships fall out of hyperspace, and move into orbit around Haden, and remembered the bad old days when the rogue AIs of Shub had been the official enemies of Humanity. Most of the records of that time were lost, thanks to King Robert and Queen Constance, but stories still survived, dark horrific tales of what Shub had done to humans, in the bad old days.

Price sat down in his captain’s chair, and locked his hands together in his lap to keep them still. This was supposed to be an easy mission. Just pick up a handful of traitors and bring them back for trial. The overwhelming odds should have precluded any trouble. And now Price was staring down the barrel of a gun, and wondering if he’d ever see his home again. If Shub really had returned to their bad old ways, this could be the start of a new interstellar war. Price took a deep breath, and tried to remember his old training. And wondered whether he would have the guts to behave like a real captain, at last.

 

 

Down on Haden, Jesamine glared at Owen, and demanded “Do something!”

“Like what?” Owen said reasonably. “Captain Silence, why does everyone here keep looking at me like I’m the Second Coming? Is there by any chance something you haven’t been meaning to tell me?”

“Ah,” said Silence. “Yes . . . Basically, you and I and all of those who were major players in the Great Rebellion against the Empress Lionstone . . . have been made into legends. By official decree. King Robert and Queen Constance decided that legends, not history, were needed to inspire the people to build a better Empire from the ruins of the old. So all the histories of that time were destroyed, lost, forgotten. And the legends have grown and grown over the centuries. You and I are creatures of myth now, Owen. They worship our statues, and pray for us to return from the dead and save them from the Terror, because that’s what legends do.”

His voice trailed away under Owen’s icy glare. “And you went along with this?” Owen said softly, dangerously.

“I had no choice,” Silence said steadily. “They were my King and my Queen.”

Owen sniffed. “You always were overimpressed by authority figures, Silence.” He turned away and gave the others a stern glare. “All right, people, listen up. Time for an object lesson in the way things really are. Even in my time, the media were claiming I could do all kinds of things I couldn’t, and making me into some kind of selfless hero or saint. I never was either of those things; just a poor bastard caught between a rock and a hard place, doing his best to stay alive long enough for a chance to do the right thing.”

“But you did do miracles,” said Silence. “I saw some of them.”

“Sometimes, yes,” said Owen. “But the point is, I can’t just wave my hand and make the fleet go away. Now, if they’re dumb enough to send down ground troops, I can almost definitely guarantee to send a whole load of them crying home to their mothers, but I’m not invincible or all-powerful. I never was.”

“Then we’re screwed,” said Jesamine.

“But . . . you went through the Maze!” said Lewis. “It changed you, remade you!”

“Yes, it did,” said Owen. “And not necessarily for the better. I always thought it was more important to be humane than super-human.”

“But you did do incredible things,” said Silence.

Owen ignored him, looking at Lewis. “You—tell me what it means now, to be a Deathstalker.”

Lewis stumbled for a moment, caught off guard. “The same as it always has,” he said finally. “Duty, honor, and kicking the crap out of the bad guys.”

Owen had to smile. “You were raised as a warrior, weren’t you, Lewis?”

“Of course. We all are, in the Clan. In remembrance of you.”

“That’s the difference between us,” said Owen. “I never wanted to be a warrior. I would have been happy to be just a minor historian, a scholar in his ivory tower, of no importance to anyone. But events destroyed my life and put a sword in my hand, so I did the best I could. I brought down a corrupt Empire, and all it cost me was everything.” He shook his head slowly. “Tell me about the Terror.”

Lewis and Jesamine took it in turns to tell Owen of the arrival of the Terror, its awful nature, and the two planets it had eaten so far. Of the millions dead, and the civilizations destroyed. Owen scowled fiercely. Silence took over, telling of how a voice had come to them after the last great battle against the Recreated, foretelling the coming of the Terror. Owen smiled suddenly.

“I smell the intervention of a certain shape-shifting alien there. You say the voice downloaded actual information into your ship’s computers?”

“Yes,” said Silence. “Unfortunately . . .”

“Oh, don’t tell me. Robert and Constance again.”

“Yes. They put the data somewhere safe, but no one knows where that might be now.”

“You know, it could be held in the Dust Plains of Memory,” Jesamine said suddenly.

“What the hell is that?” said Owen.

“All that remains of the original computer Matrix,” said Silence. “A nanotech construct, possibly sentient, occasionally helpful.”

“Connected to Shub?” said Owen, looking at the robot.

“We do not know these minds,” said Shub. “They are alien to us. But they do seem to know things no one else knows.”

“I think we’d better go and ask them a few pointed questions, once we get home,” said Owen.

“If we get home,” growled Brett.

“Shut up, Brett,” said Rose. “Darling.”

“I don’t know what the Terror is, exactly,” said Owen. “I don’t think the shape-changing alien knew, really. He was just a warning left by fleeing aliens whose civilization had already been destroyed by the Terror. And I hate to disillusion you good people, but there’s no way in hell I’m going one-on-one with the Terror and kick its arse. I wasn’t even powerful enough to do that with the Recreated. The Maze and I tricked them into pursuing me back through time, into the past, and so use up all their energy. That’s how I ended up weakened, and dead, on Mistworld. Maybe after I’ve had a close-up look at the Terror, I’ll be able to determine something useful about its nature that’ll give me some idea of what to do. Once again, it seems it’s up to me to stare death in the face, to give hope to others. And that, Lewis, is what it really means to be a Deathstalker.”

And then everyone jumped just a bit as Finn Durandal appeared before them. He stood tall and proud in front of the viewscreen, in his finest kingly robes, the great crown of Empire on his head. He smiled easily about him. It wasn’t until his image jumped and twitched a few times that the others realized that they were looking at a holo projection.

“How the hell are you doing that?” said Brett. “You’re supposed to be back on Logres.”

“I am,” said Finn. “I’m bouncing the image off the
Havoc.
It sounded like you were having so much fun down here, that I just had to come and see for myself.”

“Hate to think how much power you’re burning up,” muttered Brett.

“Like I care,” said Finn. He turned to look at Owen. “I am your King. King Finn. You should bow to me.”

“That’ll be the day,” said Owen. “Takes more than a crown to make a man a King. Or an Emperor.”

“Nevertheless,” said Finn, “I run the Empire these days. And you’re the blessed Owen Deathstalker . . . I always thought you’d be taller. Your being here is an unexpected bonus. I thought I’d only have Lewis to put through my laboratories. But I’m sure my scientists will be able to discover so much more, when they have two Maze subjects to dissect.”

Owen laughed at him. “Better than you have tried, Finn. I brought down a much tougher Empire than yours . . . and you don’t look like you’ll be much of a challenge either. Now Lionstone; she was impressive. Vindictive, homicidal, and rotten to the core, she was Empress and evil personified, and she still ended up with her head on a spike. Why not just do the sensible thing, and step down? I can’t waste time with you. I have the Terror to fight.”

Finn ignored him, and looked at Brett and Rose. “Ah, my wandered retainers. I have to say, I’m very disappointed in both of you. I made you what you are. How could you run out on me?”

“Because you’re just too corrupt, even for me,” said Brett.

“And because there’s more to life than killing,” said Rose.

Finn raised an elegant eyebrow. “My, you two have grown and blossomed, haven’t you? After all the hard work I put into you, too. Still, not to worry. Once you’re back in my grasp, I’ll soon make you mine again. One way or another.” He looked at Silence. “And what am I going to do with you, Captain Silence, selfishly hiding your light under a Samuel Chevron bushel all these years . . . The things I could have done with you, if I’d only known . . . but I’m sure I’ll think of something amusing to do with you, once you’re back on Logres.”

“Owen’s right,” said Silence. “Villains have no style anymore.”

“I’ve been following your progress all along,” Finn said to the group in general. “And very exciting it’s been. But this is as far as you go. You all belong to me now. You can’t fight the entire Imperial fleet, and Shub won’t go to war with the Empire just for you; not with the Terror coming. Not even for two Deathstalkers.”

“Anything, for Owen,” said Shub through its robot. “We owe him so much that can never be repaid.”

“Are you ready to risk the destruction of your homeworld for him?” said Finn. “The planet you built to house your minds? Everyone knows where Shub is these days. And you have run down your energy levels quite considerably, just recently.”

“All that lives is holy,” the robot said calmly. “Though we’re thinking of making an exception in your case.”

“My army is ready to land,” Finn said briskly. “An armed force so big it will sweep right over you. And if you even look like you’re trying to make a run for it, I’ll have my ships scorch the planet from orbit. I’m pretty sure the Maze will survive. And that’s the real prize, after all. I would prefer to have you as my prisoners, so my scientists can scour the secrets of the Maze from your changed bodies, but the Maze is the key. When its secrets are mine, I will be able to bestow its glories on all those who follow me.”

“Blow it out your arse,” said Brett. “You’d never share that kind of power with anyone else. You just want it for yourself.”

“Dear Brett,” said Finn. “Always there with the mot juste.”

“You don’t half fancy yourself, don’t you?” said Owen. “Better than you have tried to take me down, and failed.”

“It’s true,” said Silence. “They have. I was one of them, once. I think I got closest.”

“Yes,” said Owen. “I think perhaps you did.”

“Well, this has all been very amusing, but I’m afraid I must bring this to a close,” said Finn. “It’s not like you ever had a real chance, after all. You’ve all been serving my purpose, from the very beginning. I know everything you’ve done, everywhere you’ve been, all you think you’ve accomplished. I know Lewis has been through the Maze, and survived, and presumably will develop powers. I know Owen is with you, and Captain Silence. And how do I know all these things? Because I placed a spy among you. A spy you never suspected, who has been sending me regular reports. Isn’t that right, Rose?”