Infinite Day (83 page)

Captain Khiroz was waiting for them. She was as neatly dressed as she had been on the image and taller than Merral had been expecting. Again he noted the little silver lapel badge and saw it was made of two interlinked letters,
p
and
d
.

“What?” she said with a look of displeasure. “Just the two of you?”

“We thought we'd come on board in phases,” Merral replied, trying to smile.

“I see,” she said between tight lips, and he heard the door close behind him. “Follow me.”

Merral exchanged glances with Vero.
No words of welcome?

They walked up the corridor into a larger compartment. Three men were waiting for them there.

The center figure was tall, had cropped blond hair, and was holding a gun. “Commander, really nice to see you. And you, Mr. Vero.”

“Well, well,” Merral heard himself say and pressed the button in his pocket.
I must play for time
. “Zachary Larraine! And what rank are you now, Zak?”

The man winced. “I'm a commander in the Guards of the Lord.”

“The Guards of the Lord? That's a fine title,” Merral said. “Sounds like a new organization to me.” He saw that all three men wore the lapel badges.

“It's proved to be really necessary. Please follow me. I've got someone waiting to see you.”

Vero and Merral were relieved of their cases, and they were led down a long corridor with portholes open to space. Halfway down, the captain stopped abruptly and, evidently listening to something in her earpiece, rounded on Merral. “Your ship is leaving!”

He shrugged. “Sorry. We suspected the hospitality might be inadequate.”

The captain snapped out commands. “Order it to stop! Track and prepare for disabling fire.” Then she moved toward the window and peered at the
Sacrifice
.

“I wouldn't look out,” Merral murmured as he turned away. “I really wouldn't.” He saw Vero close his eyes and did the same.

A second or so later, a series of flashes of light penetrated his closed eyelids. He heard gasps of pain.

Merral counted to five, then looked around. The captain, Zak, and the other men were moaning, staggering around, and rubbing their eyes.

“Sorry,” Merral said. “It should be temporary. But I think you'll find that all your ship's sensors have been stunned.”

He peered out of the window to see the bulk of the
Sacrifice
sliding away into the darkness like a whale into water.

“Good-bye,” he whispered.

Eventually three new soldiers arrived to lead them on and showed them into a bare room in the core of the ship. There was just a dark table with two chairs in front and a single high-backed chair behind it.

In the chair sat a lean, black-clad figure with a halo of white hair who looked up at them with sharp green eyes.

Delastro. How utterly unsurprising.

“Commander; Sentinel.” The voice was curt and conveyed displeasure. “I have come a
very
long way to find you. I am delighted that you are now in my presence, but I am very unenthusiastic that your ship has somehow eluded us. However, in the great scheme of things, it is of no matter. Please be seated.”

They sat down. The three soldiers bowed with a deference that Merral found alarming.

The prebendant stared at them, and Merral was struck by how fleshless his face had become.
Like skin draped over a skull
.

“I'm afraid I do not have a lot of time. The Dominion may be here soon, and I need to be back at Earth, where there are important decisions to be made if the Assembly is to survive. In these hours of crisis, the Assembly needs right guidance.”

Merral said nothing.
Better to let events transpire
.

“You had a data package with you, Commander. Do I gather it includes an account of your travels since we last met?”

“Yes,” Merral said. “It also includes a full account of what happened at Farholme. Would I be correct in thinking that the Assembly does not know of your real role there?”

The prebendant waved his hand dismissively. “Perhaps, but that is all past. Besides—” he gestured to the little silver badge on his lapel—“you may have noticed this:
p
and
d
: purity and dedication. The mark of all those who have become Guards of the Lord. To be perfectly honest, their devotion to me is now so great that I don't think they would believe an alternative view.”

Delastro got to his feet and began striding around the room with his strange, long-legged gait, his eyes never seeming to leave them. “I didn't just come out here for you. I came here to encourage all the frontline worlds with my presence. It's hard to find anyone here amongst the soldiers of the Assembly who does not wear this badge. The present hour has turned many into my supporters. Fear has brought them to faith.”

Merral merely shrugged, but Vero grimaced. “I'm sorry to hear it.”

“Thank you, Sentinel. But the fact is, the future looms, and it is a very ominous one.”

“Perhaps,” Merral said.

“You know we can't win, don't you? At least not this present, slack Assembly with its feeble leadership, and not with the weaponry we have. We learned that in ten minutes last week; that's all it took to destroy our ships at Bannermene. The armies of the lord-emperor are on their way to Earth, and there's very little we can do to stop him.” The abnormally green eyes seemed to glare at Merral. “Very little. There are, however, two weapons we may be able to deploy. One of those is an interesting little concept that Professor Habbentz has come up with. But given the frailty of the present administration, I cannot be sure that it will be given the support it needs.”

Then he stopped behind the chair, leaned on it with folded arms, and stared at them.

“Now, Commander,
you
know my second hope. It is the envoy. I saw the imagery from Ynysmant; I saw him disable a baziliarch and rout a Krallen army. I need to know how to wield this figure. I have researched the matter deeply, but frankly, so far success has eluded me.”

Merral gave a dismissive laugh. “You honestly think you can control the envoy? He is the servant of the Most High alone.”
How strange; faced with this dreadful man I use the words of faith.

“He is the servant of the Most High to
protect and save the Assembly
.” The emphasis rang out clearly. “I
need
that being. I need him—and his kind—to serve alongside us.” Delastro raised his bony hands heavenward and his voice acquired a splendid, resonant urgency. “I can see—as if it is happening before me—the very heavens split asunder and these powers descending and slaying all before them. The Krallen, the baziliarchs, these
filth
that call themselves men—all flung into the eternal fires of hell.”

Vero shook his head in evident disagreement, but Merral just shrugged again.

“I can have you killed, you know,” Delastro said, peering at Merral.

Merral returned the gaze. “Really? But, Prebendant, the envoy doesn't answer to me.”

The eyes were cold. “The evidence suggests otherwise.”

Merral hesitated for only a second. “The evidence suggests that you are a madman.”

That ended the first interview. Merral and Vero were hustled, none too gently, out of the room by the soldiers and separated. Merral was thrown into a small, windowless hold with a locked steel door and given a mattress, blankets, and food and drink regularly. There he spent much of the next several hours either sitting cross-legged on the floor or walking innumerable kilometers to and fro across the compartment.

In that time he also examined and reexamined himself.
Before the battle at Ynysmant, I was in rebellion against God. Is this similar?

He decided that it wasn't.
This is a deeper crisis. Then I knew who God was; the issue was that I was choosing not to do what he wanted. And now? My confidence in who God is has gone. I grew up believing he was both loving and lord. Both of those characteristics I now question. I have done everything I could; I have been prepared to throw my life away; yet I have since lost two close friends, one in a preventable accident and the other in an utterly futile incident. If God ordained—or even allowed—these things, how can he be a God I can trust?

After many hours, the door was opened and Zak entered.

“The lord-prebendant wishes to see you.”

Merral glimpsed two more armed men outside. “I don't recognize that title,” Merral said. “The man's insane, and you ought to know better.”

Zak raised his hand in protest. “D'Avanos, you really don't want to say that. Please!” Merral sensed a pleading element to the soldier's words. “If you're wise, you'll be polite to the lord-prebendant. Believe me, he is the only hope we have.” The blue eyes had acquired the glint of fervor. “He brings unity, encourages purity, and upholds dedication. Without him, we would not be able to stand united against evil. With him, we have hope!”

The phrases sounded so well worn Merral felt they had to be slogans. He stared hard at Zak. “Soldier, you've gone a long way since Fallambet Lake. But not in the right direction.”

Zak swallowed, glared at him, and pushed him on.

Delastro was sitting alone in the room, looking sideways at a wall. Zak and the two soldiers bowed. As the latter left the room, the prebendant swung on his chair to face Merral.

“Commander—Forester—you may style yourself with whatever name you wish; it is immaterial to me. I have studied your data package and have talked at some length with Sentinel Enand.”

Merral sensed a strange look on his face and in a moment had identified it.
Disappointment.

Delastro, evidently in no mood for a dialogue, continued. “Plainly, you had an eventful journey, and I applaud your courage. I have read, and reread, the sections on the appearances of this envoy. It is as you say: you have done nothing special to merit his intervention. He appears to be capricious and unpredictable, and to defy all attempts at management.” The tone of disapproval was evident.

The prebendant steepled his fingers and peered over them at Merral. The look on Delastro's face was that of a man who has been forced to come to terms with bad news.

“Would it be correct to say that you and this envoy probably aren't even on speaking terms at the moment?”

“I hate to agree with you, but there you are probably right.”

“I suspected as much. Now, I have been considering what to do with you. I cannot afford to have you heading to the Assembly. That would confuse matters. There are weaklings and babes in the faith there. I could, of course, order Colonel Larraine to kill you.” His gaze shifted to beyond Merral. “You'd do it quite happily, wouldn't you?”

“My lord, if you commanded it, I would,” Zak said, and Merral wondered if he had ever heard anything so chilling.