Forbidden Knowledge (46 page)

Holt paused for effect, then said, “Ward has chosen Milos to go with Angus.”

Norna chewed her silence. Traces of saliva leaked past her lips instead of words. Her eyes flicked rapidly across all her screens, but never toward her son.

“Am I making this clear enough for you, Mother?” Holt asked in a tone of cheerful solicitude. “We know Milos has the soul of a traitor because he betrayed Com-Mine Security for
us.
Ward says he won’t turn against us because we’ve got him by the short hairs.” That was another phrase Holt Fasner especially enjoyed. “If he reveals anything we don’t want him to reveal—or does anything we don’t want him to do—he’s cooked. But Godsen has a different perspective. A more ‘public’ perspective. If these activities become known, what are ‘the people,’ ‘the great unwashed masses’”—such words rolled almost gleefully off Holt’s tongue—“going to think of sending out a known murderer and rapist under the control of a known traitor? What are the votes on the GCES going to think of Ward’s belief that Milos won’t turn against us? And what are the chances, really, that Milos
won’t
turn against us? He can probably make a stellar fortune by selling everything he knows about us—not to mention about Angus,” although Milos couldn’t literally sell Angus himself, since the programming that made Angus loyal to the UMCP was unalterable.

“Our Godsen knows his duties. It’s his
job
to become hysterical and froth at the mouth in situations like this.
And
it’s his job to come to me.

“I haven’t backed him up, however. I don’t want him to forget his place—I don’t want him to think he has the power to tell me what to do. And I don’t want to undermine Ward.” Not in a case like this, where the potential benefits were large—a dramatic victory against forbidden space and piracy, wonderful for the credibility and authority of the UMCP—and the likely risks were small. After all, if Milos misbehaved Ward could always order Nick Succorso to kill him. “He has a talent for this kind of delicate manipulation. He’s the best UMCP Director I could ask for. And he’s shown his loyalty any number of times.”

A small voice whispered out of Norna’s husk. “But you’re still worried.”

“How right you are, Mother,” Holt agreed. “I’m still worried. No matter how careful Ward is, he’s still taking a risk—and you know I don’t like risks. That’s the reason I suppressed the Intertech immunity drug.” Well, not the only reason, but the only reason he cared to admit at the moment. “It had at least the theoretical potential to shift the balance of power across human space. It might have undercut Ward and the whole UMCP by making them appear less vital, less
necessary.
That might have weakened my position with the votes.”

He shrugged judiciously. “Or not. Maybe none of those things would have happened. But I didn’t want to take the chance. So I made sure that only Ward and Hashi know the drug actually exists—and that only Hashi can use it. To protect Data Acquisition’s covert operations, don’t you see?

“Now Ward’s taking a risk of his own. Not without consulting me, of course. His reasons for doing it are pretty persuasive,” if only because Angus Thermopyle would have a chance to eliminate the problem of Morn Hyland. She was a UMCP ensign with an unauthorized zone implant and—presumably—knowledge of the immunity drug; and if she ever left forbidden space to tell what she knew, PR and the whole of the UMCP would have a disaster of megaproportions on their hands. “It’s what you might call a surgical strike.” Holt licked his lips. “Extirpate a melanoma before it spreads.

“So he’s taking this particular risk with my blessing. But I’m still worried about it. I think Ward is getting himself in trouble.”

Norna’s words were no more than a low growl against the blurred mutter of the screens, but for some reason Holt heard them as clearly as if her voice were the only sound in the room.

“I think he’s getting
you
in trouble.”

Holt chuckled automatically. “Come now, Mother. Don’t be an alarmist. You’ll get yourself all excited for nothing. This is Warden Dios we’re talking about. I
made
him—he’s my right hand. He can’t crack his own knuckles without doing it to benefit me.”

He might have gone on, but his blather trailed away as he saw Norna pointing a gnarled and tremulous finger at one of the screens.

At first he couldn’t tell which one. A
romance
? No, one of the news broadcasts. Somewhere in the midst of the intolerable babble male face with an authoritative voice and no mind was saying “—this special bulletin.”

Special bulletin? What special bulletin? Nothing happened—nothing was
allowed
to happen—in human space unless Holt Fasner knew about it first.

“A highly placed source in the office of the UMCP Director of Protocol on UMCPHQ Station has confirmed that Angus Thermopyle has escaped.”

Without warning, a tingle ran down Holt’s nearly strong spine and tightened around his scrotum.

“Captain Thermopyle,” said the male head as if he knew and understood each word, instead of simply mouthing it like a ventriloquist’s dummy, “is an illegal captured and convicted approximately six months ago on Com-Mine Station and later transferred to UMCPHQ by the orders of Hashi Lebwohl, Director of Data Acquisition. No explanation has ever been released for Data Acquisition’s interest in Captain Thermopyle. However, as this news team reported at the time, he is no ordinary illegal. The circumstances for his arrest and conviction are widely held to be the precipitating factor in the recent passage of the so-called Preempt Act by the Governing Council for Earth and Space. Apparently Captain Thermopyle was assisted in his piracies by a traitor within Com-Mine Station Security. Doubts about the integrity of station security across human space persuaded the members of the GCES of the necessity for the Preempt Act.

“That Captain Thermopyle was able to escape from UMCPHQ itself is sufficiently disturbing. However, our source in the office of the UMCP Director of Protocol has confirmed that the situation is worse than it appears.

“The difficulties revolve around a man who was at one time the Deputy Chief of Com-Mine Station Security, Milos Taverner.”

Oh, shit, thought Holt. Anxiety spread from his groin up into his chest. His lungs hurt as if they were getting old.

Like all dummies, the male head in the news broadcast was implacable. “Because he was responsible for the interrogation of Captain Thermopyle on Com-Mine Station, Deputy Chief Taverner was brought to UMCPHQ along with Captain Thermopyle, again on orders from the Director of Data Acquisition. Ostensibly Deputy Chief Taverner was reqqed by Data Acquisition to continue his interrogation of Captain Thermopyle. He was considered to have a unique and invaluable knowledge of the prisoner.

“Now, however, our source has confirmed that Deputy Chief Taverner was brought to UMCPHQ, not because of his specialized knowledge, but because he was thought to be the traitor who had betrayed Com-Mine Station Security. He was brought to UMCPHQ so that Data Acquisition might learn the truth about him—and so that the threat he represents would be neutralized.

“For reasons that are not clear at this time, Deputy Chief Taverner was not adequately guarded. Now, it appears, he has succeeded at breaking his former partner, Captain Thermopyle, out of confinement. Together they have stolen a ship and escaped UMCPHQ.

“The implications of this apparent incompetence on the part of the UMCP are vast and frightening for a species already threatened with extinction by the Amnion—a species protected only by the same men and women who have just allowed a convicted pirate and his most dangerous accomplice to slip through their fingers.”

There was more: a recap of Captain Thermopyle’s arrest and conviction, and a summary of Deputy Chief Taverner’s record, followed by an exhaustive analysis of events by a whole panel of self-appointed experts—genophobes, libertarians, free-market crazies, native Earthers; every political fringe group that wanted votes on the GCES and didn’t have them. Holt Fasner had stopped listening, however. He was already on the intercom, securing a channel between the home office and UMCPHQ—putting the fear of the Dragon into every technician and secretary between his mother’s sickchamber and Godsen Frik.

His hands shook the entire time.

FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE

A Bantam Spectra Book

PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam hardcover edition published July 1991
Bantam paperback edition / August 1992

SPECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1991 by Stephen R. Donaldson
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 91-10150.
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eISBN: 978-0-307-75565-0

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