Divine Deception: The Will Traveller Chronicals (28 page)

“You mean feint
with the right, then hit ‘em with the left?” Zoran smiled up
questioning.

“Exactly” Knight
exclaimed smiling “Know a bit about the ring old man? Er sorry
Zoran” He apologized.

“Well, I’ve
watched a few bouts in my time” The old man chuckled, obviously not
offended by Knight’s familiarity.

“We set up the
logistics for a major direct offensive and well, you know” Knight
took on conspiratorial look “When you got a whole mob of angry
people out front, you often leave the back door open, in case you
need to make a run for it” He looked triumphant.

“They cannot
retreat” Zoran said simply, adding “They have absolutely nowhere to
go”.

“Bill is onto
something though” Captain Millwell said to Zoran excitedly “What
d’ya think Lord Robert?” He asked me. Then he waited for my
reaction, along with the others.

“The only problem
I can see is that they know that they are invulnerable to any kind
of conventional or unconventional attack” I told the Arc Island
Governor “So they are not going to feel threatened inside their
compound” I answered “Yet you’re right Governor Millwell,
Administrator Knight’s plan does have merit” I answered and Zoran
agreed enthusiastically.

“Although they can
get some of their infrastructure into the Supreme House’s safety
zone” Zoran told us “Most of it they can’t” Zoran went on “A
plentiful enough conventional attack could destroy everything but
the Supreme House” He suggested, adding “They would not be able to
sustain themselves for long”.

“That’s it then,
that’s it”, Ken Blarty jumped to his feet “We storm their base with
artillery and starve ‘em out of that damn house of theirs” He
exulted.

“Hold it, just
hold it Supervisor Blarty” I waved him back to his seat “I do not
want mass destruction of that place” I told him firmly “It holds
information and technology that belongs to the whole planet” I
cautioned him.

“This is true Lord
Robert” Zoran said quietly “But the three of them don’t’ care about
that, and” He paused “More importantly, they don’t know that you
do” He was a very wise old man. We didn’t have long to wait for the
New World’s reaction to my speech earlier. Within two hours, the
newly set up system took its first call. Sharon, as our ‘operator’,
had a few guidelines to save confusion. If I had actually met them,
they could speak with Zoran or myself, depending on their rank.

Otherwise
Governors spoke to Captain Millwell, and all administrators who
called would be put through to Susan in Carabindy. Most thought
Susan was the New World’s largest city’s administrator. Admiral
Davis was that first caller.

“Lord Robert, I
wanted you to know that Richards and I were totally against giving
Lord Elton your tracking information” He was scared, not sorry.

“It’s of no
concern to me Admiral” I replied breezily “Remember you are, in my
eyes, free to do as you see fit” I reminded him “Just avoid Lady
Ursula from finding out”.

“She already
knows” The deputy leader blurted out.

“She has sacked
the three of us and is sending out new administrators for Sentoria”
Admiral Davis told me.

“Well, now you
have a choice” I said dryly “My way or hers”.

“Lord Robert we
have declared our loyalty to you” He sounded pained by my cynicism
“Tell us you instructions and you may be sure we will do your will
my Lord” He added. I began the plan “Assemble a hundred fully armed
men Admiral, put them aboard a fast warship and send them to
Centropolis” I ordered him bluntly.

“You are going to
attack the Divine House?” He gasped.

“Yes of course” I
snapped “With all the T.T.Vs now under my command, taking it will
be the easy part” I told him, adding “I need troops on the ground
to maintain order and capture any who may try to escape” I
explained to the Sentorian leader.

“It shall be as
you have ordered, Lord Robert” Admiral Davis replied “The ship will
leave at dawn tomorrow, it’s a week barring bad weather” He told
me.

“There will be
none” I assured him confidently.

“Of course my
Lord. I shall personally lead this mission” He said.

“Very good
Admiral, I’ll see you in a week then” I hung up.

I almost had
Sharon pass the Governor of Alpine Grand to Miss Proust when he
rang, till Sharon whispered to me.

“They provide the
communications hub for this half of the planet, they’ve got the
best technocrats too” She added, so I took the call.

“Hello Governor,
good to hear from you” I lied and listened to his nauseating
adulation.

“You no doubt know
of Sharon Black” I checked with him.

“Oh yes Lord
Robert, we offered her a job recently” He replied.

“Well, that’s who
just answered the phone when you rang. She is my communication
chief now” I told him. Sharon reached over and gave my upper thigh
a gentle squeeze then left her hand there “I’ll put her back on
Governor” I told him “And I would be glad if you could make your
superb facilities available to her, so we can cut off the Supreme
house entirely” I asked authoritatively.

“Of course Lord
Robert, please put her on” He responded. I did and they spoke about
technical and logistics matters for some time, while Sharon kept me
glued to the chair with her deliciously curious hand.

Governor Barry
came on the line, all praise and pledging oaths of loyalty, so I
gave him the same instructions as those to Sentoria’s second most
senior man. Now I had five of the twelve New World Nations with us,
and Susan was sure she could get her old bosses.

“Especially, if I
could take you there in person” I’m glad Sharon didn’t hear the way
Susan said that, I wanted my two best girls to be friends.

“It’s probably a
good idea for all of us to meet in Centropolis” I told Susan “Just
to co-ordinate the plan”.

“Oh really?” Susan
sounded very disappointed. Governor Millwell, talking with the
heads of the six New World Nations that I had not yet visited,
managed to organise a conference in Port Rualé, Arc Island didn’t
have the facilities.

Governor Barry was
over the moon at hosting an event that allowed him to strut the New
World’s stage. What surprised us all was that there were no calls
or transmissions from anyone in the Supreme Family. In their case,
silence was not golden, it was a worrying concern. That night,
after a simple but delicious meal, the people of Stonebridge and
the few small villages scattered around the island, put on a show
in my honour. While it certainly featured lots of beautiful young
women and several extremely well built young men, it was not the
least bit like Sentoria’s hedonistic romp. This was fully dressed,
flashing eyes, with flying skirts revealing a pair of lovely legs
for just a second. Their pirate heritage was a feature of the show,
right down to accordions and fiddles. This was a truly wholesome
society, with values that traced back for hundreds of years.

Sharon and I spent
our second night together in my small but super comfortable cabin,
on board my T.T.V. That woman knew so many ways to play that, by
the time we reached the big finale, I was as satiated as a man
could be. She was certainly making sure I slept well. The next
morning we were up early. There was so much that needed to be
organised for this multi national conference in a few days. I
dispatched one of the T.T.V’s, with Zoran on board, armed with his
little black tube, to go and collect the three leaders who were
furthest from us. Captain Millwell, to whom I’d given Elton’s
weapon, would leave tomorrow, to collect the closer three.

Bill Knight turned
out to be a truly a brilliant organizer, I doubt whether things
would have run anywhere near as smoothly without his help. Once we
had all the logistical details taken care of, I started work on an
agenda. I didn’t bother with writing an opening speech, they seemed
to be built into me somewhere, but, with so many aspects to this
multi-faceted and oh-so-vital conference, I felt the need to lay it
out in some kind of order, to avoid chaos. Like the six I had
already visited, the other six New World Nations were each unique.
Their sizes were roughly the same as those I’d seen, some big, some
small. Also, each of them had a core function in the New World’s
scheme of things. No doubt, each had its share of inequality and
injustice too. I had hoped to get to all of them, before moving on
the Supreme House.

It had all looked
so simple and straight forward then, deal with each of them then
unite them. But events were dictating a course of action and it was
time to prepare for it. By now I knew that I could just fly in
there on my own and, if they shot at me, which I knew they would,
it would simply deflect back at them and their own laws would be
fulfilled. Automatic death penalty for trying to harm a member of
the Supreme Family. As mine was a code of good for one, good for
all, that would certainly have settled the justice issue. However,
there was so much more to this mission than simply disempowering a
demented old man and his two power crazy children. The world’s
leaders had to learn independence, diplomacy and eventually
interdependence. At least I now had an outline of a plan and plenty
of assistance to help me accomplish it.

If Zoran were
right, and, after a lifetime as an insider with my power mad, super
secretive family, he would know, then mounting a large enough force
to destroy virtually everything but their central H.Q. could make
those in the Supreme House ready to invite me to talk, rather than
lose so much in a fight no-one could really win. Of course, the
human losses, on both sides, would exceed a thousand souls, but
that would not even come into their thinking. It did in mine. I
firmly believed this mission could be achieved without a drop of
blood being spilled, at least not by me. I needed at least two
more, one hundred man plus divisions, from two of the other New
World nations, to make this truly a force that represents the will
of this planet’s people.

Alpine Grand,
Carabindy and Arc Island could not send troops, because they didn’t
have any, nor did they have the means to transport them. But those
three Nations were extremely active in the embargo on fuel and the
electronic isolation, that was already falling into in place. Three
of the others Nations had their own somewhat smaller port cities
and could supply only a small armed detachment each at best. Susan
had absolutely no doubt that the leaders of Centropolis would join
us, and be able to mount and move a sizeable force, perhaps as many
as two hundred. She spoke to her old boss, now clearly in awe of
his one-time Administration chief, and was surprised to hear that
he, now free to speak his mind, had long resented the Supreme
Family’s absolute control. Given that they ran the planet’s largest
and most populated state and the planet’s largest city, he and his
executive staff were understandably resentful of being controlled
by a senile meglo-maniac and his totally debauched children. If all
went well, we would be there in a week, then we could bring an end
to all that.

“I’ll keep an eye
on things” Susan had told me “But they’ll have all the facilities
we need ready for us, it’s a very well organised city” There was no
mistaking the pride in her voice. Perhaps my biggest advantage and
their greatest danger was that they didn’t know their little black
laser weapons just bounced off me. The end was becoming clearer,
but getting there still needed some work. Our Captain and crew had
met with the crews of the other three T.T.V.s. They had decided to
offer a non combat agreement to the four crews still in the service
of the Supreme House.

Essentially,
neither side would fire on each other or on the troops of the other
side. The eight, still combat ready T.T.V.s would play no part in
the struggle for control of the Supreme House and its priceless
environs. Having put forward the proposition, our men waited for
the decision of the other four crews. When their plan was agreed
to, our T.T.V. Captain came over and reported to me.

“It shall be as
you said Lord Robert” He told me, he was clearly delighted and now
very much a committed ally “If men die, it will be of their own
decision, neither ordered by the Supreme One, or you Sire” He told
me, respectful and warm.

“And that’s a
decision that should be left to those whose lives are on the line”
Sharon contributed silkily “Maybe it would be even better if their
Mothers and wives made that decision” This was one smart woman.
There had been a lot of socialising between the local girls and the
handsome, uniformed crews and guards from the T.T.V.s. That was
quite understandable when the facts were considered. To the Arc
Island girls, these young men were worldly wise, highly intelligent
warriors. To the crews, well, these girls were genuinely fresh and
wholesome young women. A couple of the more enterprising among them
came to ask if they could set up a sort of marriage agency, because
so many of the girls had proposed! Especially to Peta Millwell.

There was even a
most attractive widow, in her early thirties, who had expressed an
interest in our Captain.

“None of the
Supreme House combat staff are allowed marriage, I’m afraid Miss”
Our T.T.V. Captain told the two enthusiastic young women, when they
came to ask permission. His response had clearly disappointed many
of the young men and women.

“Well they are now
Captain” I advised him smiling “So perhaps you should take the
young ladies’ advice and go meet this charming woman” I suggested,
putting a smile back on everyone’s face. Even our usually stern
faced Captain clearly enjoyed that thought. As there was some forty
eight hours before the big conference would take place, I knew it
would be hard for me to do anything around here and I didn’t fancy
sitting around in the town hall’s rooms or on our T.T.V.