The Iron Maiden (28 page)

Tyrancy

Hopie, enlisted to take care of baby Robertico, soon had larger missions. She was a fine spirited girl at age fifteen, and Spirit found it difficult to mask her pride in her unacknowledged daughter. When Hope told her she would need to be tutored to complete her education, she alertly set him back with examples of the uselessness of contemporary studies. She made her point, but he had the last laugh: he appointed her head of the Department of Education. When she protested that she lacked the knowledge to institute an effective reform of education, he sent her to see his leading critic: Thorley. Her unacknowledged father. Sometimes Hope lucked into decisions of genius.

Meanwhile Saturn, ever ready to seize an advantage, was working over the new ruler of Jupiter. It sent troops to take over the government of its nominal minion Ganymede, deposing the Premier, who was Hope's unacknowledged friend. So much of reality was unacknowledged! But appearance was at times more important than reality.

Shelia sent word out, and soon there was a literal council of war with Emerald, Mondy, Spirit and Hope.

Mondy was fading physically, but his mind remained sharp; he understood the issues perfectly, and had excellent advice. He also sought and got input from Reba Ward of QYV. All this was necessary because of the dire nature of the threat. If Saturn took over Ganymede, the balance of interplanetary power would shift significantly in its favor. But if Jupiter invaded Ganymede, it would be clearly in violation of interplanetary protocol, and the Tyrancy would lose what little credibility it had.

They were between Scylla and Charybdis again--or in the contemporary parlance, CT and BH. To be caught between contra-terrene matter, whose very touch would render a person into something like a miniature nova, and a black hole, that would suck them in and crush them to the size of the nucleus of an atom. Politically, they were between capitulation and potential holocaust.

QYV recommended the use of one of Jupiter's anonymous subs to take out the Saturn ship approaching Ganymede. It would seem that it had struck a mine by accident, and therefore would not be an open act of war. But this remained an exceedingly chancy ploy.

Meanwhile, Hope held a press conference, necessary to reassure the public that things were under control and that the press really was not being censored. Spirit decided to make the point in a mischievous way: she planted a question without telling Hope.

It was from a respected member of the Holo Guild: “Tyrant, suppose I were to call you a gnat-brained, pigheaded, philandering son of a spic?”

It took Hope only a moment to recover. He hauled his open mouth closed. “I really don't think of myself as gnat-brained,” he responded.

There was laughter, timorous at first, but soon swelling into heroic proportion. If the Tyrant could be openly insulted with impunity, there was no suppression.

Then the Ganymede crisis intensified: Saturn had anticipated Jupiter's ploy, and sent one of its own subs along with his ship. That sub took out the Jupiter sub. The Saturn ship was not stopped.

Spirit sighed. “Brother, we are in trouble.”

“Double trouble,” he agreed morosely.

“Maybe we can still pull it out,” she said. “We can take the offense. We can accuse Ganymede of blowing up one of our strayed vessels and demand reparation. We can get so outraged by the unprovoked attack that we invoke the Navy. We could pick that ship out of space long-distance if we used a saturation launch of homing missiles.”

“But that would be an overt act of war!”

“If that ship docks, we'll soon be at war regardless,” she pointed out.

He pondered, ill at ease. “It would also be a lie,” he said. “Covert activity is one thing; a lie is another.”

“The truth is that the Premier of Ganymede tipped us off,” Spirit reminded him.

“No. To preserve a confidence is not to lie. We must find a way to act without violating either the confidence or the truth.”

She shook her head as if in frustration. Then she took hold of him and kissed him. Sometimes she just couldn't help herself. “My brother, you are my conscience. Without you I would be lost.”

Coral exchanged a glance with Shelia and nodded.

Spirit regrouped. “Well, Saturn now knows that we had a sub in there. Would it be fair to say that we had a suspicion about their ship, that we now feel is confirmed?”

“Yes,” he agreed. “But we can't say what our suspicion is.”

“Suppose we accuse them of renewed arms smuggling? That's not exactly what they're doing, but it is something Jupiter has always been sensitive about. After that business with the impounded ship...”

So it went out to the media: the accusation that Ganymede was violating the covenant and shipping arms again. An alert went out to the Jupiter Navy, and the ships changed course and made for Ganymede. Of course, it would be days before the majority of them were in position, but the order was dramatic enough.

Saturn bluffed it out. Spirit exchanged a glance with Hope. “He thinks I am made of putty,” he said.

“Saturn does not respect putty.”

“What can we do to dispel the putty image?”

She was ready for that. “We can put the Navy on Full Alert.” That would signal the seriousness with which Jupiter viewed the present situation.

“Do it,” he said.

Shelia made the call. Within a minute Emerald's dark face was on the main screen. “You sure, Tyrant?”

she demanded.

“Full Alert,” he repeated. It was an indirect signal, but a potent one.

Saturn did not heed the signal. It refused to stop the ship. So Jupiter sent a stronger signal: it fired on the ship. That was an act of war, but could still be stopped short of war.

There followed an informally but carefully scripted shouting match with the Premier of Ganymede, its real purpose being to show that the Premiere had no complicity in what Jupiter was about to do, which was to invade Ganymede. At this point, Hope Hubris was a far better friend to the Premier than was Saturn, but neither party could say that.

They tracked Saturn's ships in the Jupiter sphere. They were now on alert. Jupiter's moved into position to oppose them, even as Saturn ships defending Saturn moved to counter Jupiter formations there. The invasion of Ganymede might be a rather serious joke, but the siege of Saturn was not. If any missile was fired at a Jupiter city--Spirit's stomach was knotted. They really were at the brink of System War Three. Any tiny miscalculation by either major party could set it off. She looked at Shelia, and saw her face composed, evincing no concern about anything other than her immediate business. What a woman she was, crippled in body but absolutely reliable in performance. Of whatever type. Hope trusted her absolutely, and so did Spirit. Spirit hoped her own mask was as good.

Now the White Bubble was deluged with calls from its own population. They had not censored the news; the people were catching on that real trouble was brewing.

“Sir, you may want to watch this,” Shelia said, glancing up, and put on a local interview.

It was Thorley, speaking editorially. The startling thing was who was in the background: Hopie. Evidently she had been consulting him about the prospects for education when caught by the Saturn crisis, and the news pickup caught them both.

“That will make tongues wag!” Spirit murmured appreciatively.

“...seems to be madness,” Thorley was saying. “There is no reputable evidence I know of that the Saturn ship carries contraband, and to launch an attack on the mere suspicion--”

“My father's not mad!” Hopie exclaimed. “He always has good reason for what he does!”

Spirit winced inwardly. The girl was loyal, but should have known when to keep her mouth shut.

Thorley gave a wry smile. “Such as appointing a child to be in charge of education?”

“He told me I could do the job if I got the best advice!” It was clear to Spirit that despite the extreme seriousness of the occasion, they both were enjoying this. Hopie because she loved argument, and Thorley because he loved to see her doing it. There was a certain similarity between them, by no coincidence. It seemed obvious to Spirit, but she was hardly objective; she loved them both.

Thorley shook his head. “Mayhap he is but mad north-northwest; when the wind is southerly, he knows a hawk from a handsaw.” He returned to the camera, smiling in the eloquently rueful way he had. “It seems the Tyrant sent his daughter to me for advice.”

Spirit heard someone laugh; it was Shelia, losing her composure for the moment. She knew their relationship, of course; she knew everything. There was no way Thorley would ever give Hopie bad advice, but the public would suspect it.

“...yet it remains difficult to see the logic in such brinksmanship,” Thorley was continuing. “In a matter of hours the Tyrant has brought us closer to the brink of holocaust than has been the case in twenty years. I am, candidly, appalled.”

He was hardly the only one. The rest of the System did not know that the invasion of Ganymede was a sham. Ganymede even carried it live, so that everyone could see. That was dangerous, because troops were not necessarily good actors.

There was a blazing battle at the perimeter as the Gany forces charged. They had to expose themselves in the straight access tunnels, and the Jupiter troops mowed them down.

It was beautiful. The Gany troops clutched themselves and collapsed. Had Spirit not known they were not hurt, she would have winced. They had been well coached. Spirit knew it would not deceive Admiral Khukov for an instant, but she also was pretty sure that he would not expose the ruse.

He would read it correctly, censor the Saturn records of anything that would undermine the effect, and send the tapes on to his superiors: the clear violation of Gany territory the Tyrant had initiated. Then he would wait for his orders.

The Saturn Premier Karzhinov temporized: he issued an ultimatum. “Withdraw your troops from Ganymede by 1200 hours, January 28, 2651, or the Union of Saturnian Republics will be forced to consider your action an act of war.”

“You're sure Karzhinov can be bluffed?” Spirit inquired.

Hope laughed. “Who's bluffing?”

Spirit smiled, but she was worried. She understood her brother well, but she got nervous when he got like this. His nervy diplomacy could so readily slide into madness.

The deadline was several days distant. The invasion continued, but Spirit and the others were able to catch up on some sleep. She hoped that would stabilize her brother.

Then Megan made a public call. Coral, Ebony, and of course Shelia were with Spirit as they watched Hope receive it. “Hope, for the love of God!”

Megan didn't know how much of the crisis was sham, and Hope couldn't tell her. If Saturn was not bluffed out, the crisis could become all too real. If he broke, and told her--The tableau held for a brief eternity. Then he turned away from her. Shelia cut off the connection. It was done.

“I remember when you raped Rue,” Spirit murmured.

He nodded. Rape was an abomination, but he had been forced by circumstance to do it, and Spirit had witnessed it. What he had just done to Megan was more subtle and more cruel but as necessary. It was surely one of the hardest things he had done, because he loved her and had never before deceived her.

They waited, and the System waited with them. The planet of Jupiter, and probably Saturn also, had paused with bated heartbeat, waiting for the ax to fall--or turn aside.

“Sir.”

Spirit saw her brother jump at Shelia's word; perhaps he had not been aware he was dozing. “Um.”

“Admiral Khukov.”

Now he was fully alert. “On.”

Khukov's familiar face appeared. “Will you meet with me, Tyrant Hubris?” he inquired formally in English.

It was evident by his bearing that victory was at hand. Khukov and Hope trusted each other, because of their similar talents, though their motives and loyalties were in many respects quite opposed. “I will, Admiral.”

“I will send a boat for you and your sister.”

The screen went blank. “Sleep,” Hope said. “The crisis has passed.”

“Should we make an announcement, sir?” Shelia asked.

He walked over, leaned down, and kissed her on the forehead. “That a meeting has been arranged. No more. Then rest until the ship comes.”

Spirit and Ebony departed, suddenly dead tired. It had been a brutal siege, a contest of wills, but victory was at hand. It was good to relax at last.

*

In due course Spirit and Hope, both cleaned and changed, boarded the Saturn shuttle ship. It might seem strange to have the leader of Jupiter so blithely step into the power of Saturn, without even his bodyguard, but, of course, Hope knew Khukov personally, and the whole of the Solar System was hostage to their understanding.

They relaxed and had an excellent meal served by a comely hostess who spoke English. The personnel were uniformly courteous, though they did not speak English. The two guests were permitted free run of the ship.

“Where would you put it?” Hope asked Spirit in Spanish.

“Officer's dayroom,” she replied.

He nodded. They rose from their completed meal, went to the region reserved for the ship's captain, and knocked on the bulkhead. In a moment it slid open, and they entered.

Inside stood a pool table, and beyond the table stood Admiral Khukov, cue in hand. Without a word Hope took another cue, oriented on the table, and took the first shot. Spirit took a seat in a comfortable chair and watched. No one seemed surprised; this was the only way a truly private meeting could be arranged. Perhaps even the crew of this shuttle ship had not been aware of Khukov's presence aboard it.

They played, and Khukov beat Hope handily. “Hope, you are out of shape!” he said in Spanish.

Hope replied in Russian. They continued playing. Now they spoke in English, so Spirit could understand.

“There will be the usual apparatus, every word and gesture recorded and analyzed from the moment you board the flagship. Speak no secrets there.”

“My brain is not out of shape, Admiral!”

“When your wife cried 'For the love of God!' and you turned away, Karzhinov knew that nothing would turn the madman aside. He faced the gulf of the holocaust, and his mind broke. We of Saturn know the nature of war on our soil; we fear it deeply. He will retire; his successor is not yet known.”