Rhythm of the Imperium (44 page)

“I feel,” One Zang said, thoughtfully, “that we should reconsider our action. It is not necessary. If I recall the system, the planets lie in splendid balance. You and I, Charm Zang, did some very beautiful work upon it many hexaeons ago.”

“I remember it well,” Charm Zang said, fondly. “The system itself is a mere nucleus in the heart of its heliopause, less than .001, but with such a fine variety of spheres within it.”

“Has anything fundamental changed in it since then?” Zang Quark asked, as the human gyrated before them. He seemed to be caught in a maelstrom that caused the energy he was emitting to veer toward the ultraviolet, as if in distress.

“No,” One Zang said, feeling out with its senses. “It is as it has been.”

“Then we should reconsider whether to do anything at all. Art is not necessarily served by changing a piece again and again.”

“Sometimes it is,” Charm reminded it. “But in this case, perhaps not.”

“No!” Low Zang protested, feeling its influence being syphoned away. “The Kail wish that planet to be put out.”

“But why? If it is so precious, as this human is demonstrating to us, shouldn’t it be permitted to continue to exist?”

“It is no longer functional,” Low Zang said. “The Kail insist that is true.”

“Not so. We have protected it in our space for many hexaeons,” One Zang pointed out. “It is a beautiful thing. You yourself once criticized our action in extinguishing a sphere, thinking that it might have had a purpose in future. Would you not say the same about this one?”

The human executed a series of grand motions, as if reaching out to the extremes to which a Zang’s senses extended, but he drew the small planet that it created close to his body and sank to the floor over it, protecting it with his whole person. The music rose to a crescendo that vibrated the very air of the chamber, faded to a whisper, then died away.

“I am convinced,” Charm said. “I had never paid attention to these humans of yours before, Proton. I was 1.9% moved. This was … almost worth noticing.”

Low Zang did not want to admit it, but the human’s performance had caused it to waver. One Zang noticed its emissions.

“Come now, youngster. You have performed a most satisfactory work of art in this sector. Be satisfied with it. There is no shame in admitting you have been hasty in your choice of a second work.”

“But the Kail will not like it.”

“They are ephemeral,” Quark reminded Low. “In less than .007 hexaeons they will be gone, and you will continue. Do not base your actions on what they want. You must learn to think in the longer term. We continue through eternity.”

Low Zang considered its colleagues’ thoughts as the human rose to his feet and bowed to them. The passionate energy in its body was purer than that the Kail had evoked. It, too, had been moved by his plea. It glanced toward the three silicon beings with regret.

“I am sad to disappoint my pets.”

One Zang bathed Low Zang in light and warm energy. “You are not responsible for their happiness, only your own. Have we reached a consensus?”

Low Zang hesitated, then released the tension in its consciousness.

“Yes.”

“I think we all know,” Charm Zang said, adding her energy to One’s to warm Low Zang with their approval. “All of us are in harmony. Our sense of artistic rightness has been satisfied. No more action needs to be taken.”

“Agreed,” One Zang said. Even the young one added its harmony to the others. “We are in concord. That is satisfactory. The universe feels right.”

CHAPTER 43

As my music died away, I rose to my feet. I felt absolutely spent. The soles of my feet had endured the dance of their lives. Sweat poured in an undignified manner down my back. My knees trembled beneath me, but forced them to stay steady as I bowed to the Zang. Laine bounced up and down on her toes, clapping her hands. Madame Deirdre added her applause, as did the troop of Trade Union officials off to one side of the room. The Kail stood stony, as I would have expected. But what of the Zang, my target audience? Did they understand me? Would they take heed of me?

I peered at the silver pillars. None of them had their eyes on me, but I could feel a roiling of energy in the room, as though a massive thunderstorm was brewing. Sparks of light flew in between the five Zang. I leaped down from my stage and went to Laine’s side. She threw her arms around me in a crushing embrace. I abhorred exposing her to the results of my exertion, but I did enjoy the hug.

“What is going on?” I whispered. “What are they saying to one another?”

“I think,” Laine said, her eyes shining, “that they noticed you. All five of them! That’s never happened in all the times I’ve been with them. I expected Proton to react, a little, but the others usually pay no attention to me at all. What was that all about?”

“Our destination,” I admitted at last. “I needed to express my feelings about it.”

“Well, it was a hit,” Laine said. “Look, the sparks have stopped! They’re doing something. Can’t you feel the energy rising?”

I bowed my head. “Yes, I can,” I said, sadly. My heart sank past my feet and down into the depths of the platform. I had done all I could. I only hoped that my uncle had received my message and would escape in time. Poor, poor doomed Earth. The Zang were preparing for its execution.

But instead, the Zang bloomed in a blinding cloud of light. Zang Quark vanished.

“Oh!” Laine said. Disbelief dawned upon her face. “They’re leaving!”

My jaw fell open. “They are? Does that mean they will meet us at the … the coordinates?”

“No! It means they’re done. They don’t stay around for long after a removal. They usually just go. Like that!”

She pointed, just as Charm Zang dissolved into nothingness.

My heart swelled with hope. Could it be? Could I have saved Earth? I waited. Three of the Zang still remained. I stared at Low Zang, if not the architect, then the potential contractor of my homeworld’s demise. It wasn’t moving, but I felt the energy around it grow.

The Kail, too, saw the Zang begin to dislimn. They ran into the cloud of light, bellowing and hooting their anger. Their voices were translated by NR-111, who rolled gamely along at their heels.

“Why are they going? What happened? Low Zang, tell us!”

As we watched, One Zang rose like a tree growing in a time lapse video. It spread a benevolent veil over us all, then dissipated in the light before it reached the top of the dome.

The Kail surrounded their patron. Low Zang must have been ignoring them, because Phutes and his siblings danced around them frantically, hoping for a reaction.

“Answer us! You befriended us. You promised you would remove the humans’ world. Why have you stopped? Aren’t you going to destroy the planet?”

Instead of answering, Low Zang seemed to collapse in on itself, shrinking down until it was no larger than the candle it resembled. Then, like the candle, its light winked out. Only Proton Zang remained.

“Uh-oh,” Laine said, as a flicker of power brushed us both. “It wants to leave.” She looked up at me and touched my cheek. “I’ve really enjoyed being with you, Thomas. It’s been a lot of fun.”

“Don’t go,” I pleaded, holding her hand between both of mine. I kissed her fingers. “Stay with me.”

“I can’t,” she said, with a sad smile. “This is the way it always is. I’d better go get my backpack. I hope we meet again, although it could be a long time.” She stood on tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek.

“I hope so,” I said. She ran out of the room, taking my heart with her.

The Kail threw back their heads and bellowed in rage. I edged away from them. I hoped they could not connect me with their disappointment, but I was taking no unnecessary chances. As I moved toward the door, the Trade Union officials converged on me. Colonel Hoyne looked concerned.

“The Zang are leaving,” he said. “Does that mean that the second spectacle is canceled?”

“Exactly so,” I said, at last allowing myself to feel relief. “They have deemed the first one sufficient for our needs.”

Hoyne shook his head. “Well, I’m just as happy not to have to keep people here. We’re scheduled to host an arena tri-tennis tournament in about three weeks. This might have made us late. I’ll have to make an announcement. By the way, that was a terrific performance, my lord. Do you mind if we keep the recording? We’d like to add it to the rotation on our in-room entertainment system.”

“I would be honored,” I said.

Hoyne glanced over my shoulder. “The Kail look like they’re going crazy. You had better get out of here, sir. Dremel, escort him back.”

“Yes, sir,” said the female guard with whom I had spoken earlier. She took my arm. “This way, sir.”

As I left, Proton Zang disappeared. That meant that Laine was on her way as well. Silently, I wished her a safe journey.

“We are betrayed!” Phutes cried, as the Zang began to vanish. “Low Zang was ready to do our bidding! Our revenge was certain!”

“Could that human have made them leave?” Mrdus asked, glaring toward the tall one as he was pushed out the door. “Get them back here!”

“We can’t do that,” Sofus said. “But did the human know what we had planned? According to Fovrates, the planet was hidden even from other humans in their database. Only we knew of its location.”

“That means that what we know was revealed to them,” Phutes said, feeling the acid in his core boiling and seething. “We were overheard! The humans have listening devices all through this vessel.”

“No,” Mrdus said, turning his three eyes toward NR-111. “We have been carrying their listening device with us the whole time.” Phutes rounded upon the serverbot.

“Did you betray us?” Phutes demanded. “You swore that you would never reveal the secrets that we spoke to anyone we did not want you to!”

NR-111 moved a few paces away. Phutes pursued her and shook her until her casing rattled.

“I had to,” she said, her voice passionate. “What you wanted was wrong. I couldn’t let it go on! My duty is to protect humankind. Someone had to know.”

“
That
human,” Sofus growled.

Phutes closed his fist on the stalk. It crushed in his grasp. One more of the shining lenses went dark. “You were here to serve us!”

“I was loyal,” NR-111 said. She struggled to get free, but she did not speak again.

Phutes was so angry that he tore the serverbot’s housing open. He ripped the motherboard from her central processing unit and ground it into dust under his foot. The mechanical stopped moving. The stalk of lenses drooped over.

He glared at his two siblings. “We must get to Fovrates and set all Kail free! The offspring of the human motherworld must not escape unscathed!”

“All right, boys, come on,” said the first of the uniformed humans. They lowered the colorful guns that shot unpleasant organic matter. “Let’s move it. Your cousins are waiting.”

The lights in the huge chamber began to flash on and off. All of the doors opened at once.

“What the hell is that?” one of the guards asked. Phutes took advantage of his inattention to knock the gun upward and shove the human until he skidded across the room, knocking others over as he went. He galloped into the open hallway.

“Come, brothers! Fovrates has taken control of this vessel. We will have our revenge on some of the human motherworld’s children, in any case.”

I hurried through a crowd that was openly disappointed, and in some instances angry. The female voice speaking over the public address system was as gentle as always, but more insistent than usual. She repeated her information over and over again.

“Dear friends, the spectacle is over. Return to your ships at once. We are experiencing a technical fault. It is not serious, but it may result in loss of services. Please return to your ships at once. Your personal possessions will be returned to you shortly. This is not a drill. Make your way to your shuttles and return to your ships immediately. If you have any questions, please touch the interactive map on the walls or send a message to HraklionCares on the Infogrid. Thank you.”

Parsons had sent a similar message, but with additional information that would have caused the spectators to panic instead of being annoyed.

“Evacuate your relatives at once, my lord. Fovrates has taken control of the platform. If the Trade Union officers cannot overcome his counterprogramming, our escort ships have orders to destroy it. All non-Kail personnel are being removed from the vessel as soon as possible. It is no longer safe. Evacuate now. Inform me when you are aboard a shuttle.”

Nell stood on a table so she could wave to me over the heads of the crowd. As soon as she caught my eye, she disappeared into its midst. It meant that my relatives were safe, for the moment.

“What’s going on, Thomas?” Nell asked, as I rushed into their midst. Erita had her glass raised for a serverbot to pour a refill of champagne. I seized the bottle and pulled Erita to her feet.

“The second event’s been canceled,” I said. “We have to go.”

“We saw that,” Jil said, holding out her pocket secretary. “Parsons sent out this memo saying to leave. But why?” I scanned the message he had sent. It was much more innocent than mine, with no reference to the imminent destruction of the platform. I wondered how much time we had.

“Because the Kail are on the rampage,” I said, with a bored wave of my hand. Erita sought to retrieve her glass. “Come, now. You know what Parsons is like if he is thwarted. Back to the
Jaunter
! I challenge you all to a do-or-die game of Hide-and-Seek!”

“It’s too boring,” Nalney said. “All of my clothes are in my cabin! I’m not going to lose ten thousand credits worth of custom goods. I’ve hardly worn any of them yet.”

“Oh, Nalney, really,” Nell said. She had picked up my sense of urgency. She didn’t know why I was in such a froth to get everyone back aboard ship, but bless her, she was doing all she could to assist me. “Parsons told us everything will be brought to us. Let’s go. It’s too tedious!”

“Did
you
make the Kail angry?” Xan asked, raking me with a searching look.

“I think I did,” I said, attempting to appear suitably chastened. “It looks as though my dance did
something
to upset them.”

“Oh, Thomas,” Leonat said, throwing up her hands. I pulled her up out of her couch and urged her toward the elevator block. We joined the enormous crowd. Together Xan and I made way for our family to move up closer to the center and enter a car sooner than perhaps we were entitled. I was polite though ruthless. “Only you could cause an interstellar incident with something so meaningless!”

“I thought it was very good,” Nell said. “I cried a little. All of you did; admit it! But let’s not quibble. I have figured out the very best hiding place, and none of you will
ever
figure it out!”

I was the last one to crowd them into the lift. My viewpad buzzed against my hip. I slid it out of its pouch. Lieutenant Plet’s face looked up at me from the screen.

“The shuttles aren’t armed, my lord,” Plet said. “Get everyone down to bay 34M right away. My orders are to take you in the
Rodrigo
.”

“Right,” I said, clicking the correct floor on the control panel. “Good news, everyone! The shuttle is passé. We’re taking my warship!”

“Have you redecorated yet?” Sinim asked. Thankfully, none of my relatives or friends was actively panicking yet.

“I’m afraid not,” I said, with an apologetic shrug. “If I did, all the ships of the line would want to follow my lead, and the navy simply doesn’t have the budget to equip them all the way I’d do it. Come now, we have to hurry.”

I took my earpiece out of the rear of my viewpad and put it in my ear.

“Plet, can you hear me?”

“Yes, lieutenant,” she said, her voice brisk. “Are you on your way?”

“We are,” I said cheerfully, as though anticipating a party. “Are you ready for us all?”

A heavy sigh. “Yes. I’m getting word from
Hraklion
control. The Kail have all gotten loose. They’re doing their best to contain them, but they’ve infiltrated the onboard system. We’ve had to run virus programs over and over to keep from getting co-opted by the Kail program.” In the background, I heard Anstruther emit a word I didn’t know was in her vocabulary. “Just get down here. We need to lift ASAP.”

“Of course,” I said.

I knew what the Kail were capable of once they had made contact with a computer network. I feared for the safety of all the other small ships. Unless Parsons had so equipped them, they lacked the means of freeing their systems from the Kail. Who knew what havoc the silicon-based creatures would do with them? Ram them together?

Until the lift car stopped at the 34
^th
sub-level I was moving from foot to foot in impatience. As soon as the doors opened, I grabbed Nell’s hand and began to ran toward Bay M.

I spotted the coral-skinned face of Redius peering out of the blast door. He beckoned energetically to us to hurry. My relatives had long training in removing themselves from the site of a potential hazard to clear the way for security forces to move in. Without ceremony, they fled up the ramp into the ship. Friends, lovers and employees followed in their wake. I waited until every one of them was in place before I raced aboard. Redius came behind me, speaking into his viewpad.

“All in. Close!”

I lifted my viewpad. “We’re on board, Parsons,” I said. “Where are you?”

“Attempting to halt the Kail’s activity, my lord,” he said with an annoying air of calm. “Return to the
Jaunter
. I will see you later.”