Ammonite Planets (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #1-3 (76 page)

“I know. You will not, however, be there for more than a few days. As soon as you have transferred the orange compound to the space trader in orbit, your job will be done. We will only need to find out your sister’s whereabouts for my plan to be put into action.”

“And when we have dealt with her?” Xenon found himself licking his lips. He was anxious to proceed with his own small agenda.

Atheron smiled – a smile which ran coldly around his facial muscles but never progressed as far as his eyes. “Then, my dear Xenon, we will be able to do as we see fit with the other … shall we say, renegades?”

Xenon took him by the arm, a gesture which displeased the head of the education house. Atheron made a small moue of distaste and shook his arm to detach his acolyte. Xenon held on.

“But you will let me deal with them?” he said plaintively. “You won’t do it on your own, will you? I want to be there when you … I must be there!”

Atheron finally succeeded in removing the man’s hand. “Where I go, you shall,” he promised.

Xenon bristled up. “I am not stupid, you know. There is no need to talk to me with that condescending tone!”

“I assure you I have no thought of being condescending. How would that be possible? I would hardly have agreed to your being the next head of all Sell if I thought you lacking in intelligence, now would I?”

Xenon let himself be pacified. “I suppose not. I’m sorry.”

“You are tired, that is all. Just think what a magnificent leader you will be! How proud your … dear wife will be of you! Her children will inherit this whole planet, and the Sell Empire. Your stature will be immense. I do hope you will not forget your old friend once you have all this,” he waved his arm to encompass all Valhai, “in your grasp.”

“Of course I won’t forget you!” Xenon assumed a shocked expression. “As if I could! You will be my trusty advisor on all matters. You will be my second-in-command!” He broke off there, envisaging the scene with great pleasure. He could see himself seated in the Valhai Voting Dome, all eyes on him as he led a votation. Atheron was there too, seated slightly to the back, and to one side of him. He saw his future self leaning over to converse with the head of the education house, saw them agreeing most somberly to some important measures, and could hear in his ears the applause of the rest of Sell as they realized the brilliance of his plans. They clapped for so long that their hands were hurting. Then the few people who were physically present clustered around him, asking for his advice, his autograph, his—

He came out of his reverie abruptly. “—I’m sorry?” Atheron had obviously asked him a question, which Xenon had missed altogether.

Atheron’s face tightened unusually, his perpetual smile slipping somewhat. “I asked you if you could be ready tomorrow.”

“Of course. Why? Have you access to a transport then?”

Atheron nodded. “One of my ex-pupils owes me an extremely large favour. He is docked at the space station now, and can let me have the use of his trader, with the two shuttles for a month. I have been able to make him … see the sense of accommodating my wishes.”

“It must be some favour if you can persuade him to change course and take six people and a shipload of cargo to Xiantha!”

Atheron looked sideways at him. “It was merely – how shall I put it? – yes, it was merely a question of cleansing. He had one or two … err … problems that needed cleaning up.”

It was Xenon’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “There seems to be a lot about you that I don’t know, Atheron!”

The all-pervasive smile was back. “You know I would never keep anything from my partner. It was merely a question of logistics. He had something he needed to dispose of, and I … I had the means of disposal.”

“I hope you didn’t have to dispose of any bodies!” Xenon laughed so heartily at his own little joke that he missed the sharp look Atheron gave him. The head of the education skyrise paused for a moment, before joining in the laughter with a small sound which more nearly resembled two coughs.
 

“Let us return to the subject on hand,” said Atheron, judging that enough time had passed dedicated to frivolous enjoyment. “You can use the men we left to fulfill the order on Xiantha – they can help you to load the shuttles. Take into account that there must be a hard area of smooth rock where a shuttle can land, and go down at night, when any local residents are unlikely to see you. And keep the perimeters safe; the last thing we want at this stage is for some bumbling busybody to start rooting around.”

“That will not be a problem. The Xianthans are a pretty naïve people. They won’t be on the lookout for anything like this!”

“No. It is an excellent plan. Once you have loaded the orange compound take it up to the trader and make sure you store it safely. You can spend some of the days at the spaceport on Xiantha, so that the panchromes don’t suspect any ulterior motives for you visit. And Xenon—?”

The head of the donor apprentice house raised his eyebrows. “Yes?”

“—it would be most unfortunate if any of the locals did find out about the facility. You would have to deal with them.”

“Don’t worry. I will leave instructions with my men to take care of any intruders.”

“Good,” said Atheron absently. “I will leave it to you then.”

“How will you administer the compound? What is your plan?”

“The new compound passes through the quantum barrier once the orthogel entity has come in contact, infecting the rest of the orthogel, wherever it is. All I … we … have to do is confront the alien in a place of my … our … own choosing, and make sure that the creature is exposed to the full dose. I do not envisage that presenting too many difficulties. Once we have the compound here on Valhai, we need only add the bait, and the alien will walk straight into our trap. We will simply locate the bait, and spring the trap. My experiments indicate that the effects will be instantaneous; the alien will be immediately affected.”

“And that,” said Xenon smugly, “will be the end of that!”

“Exactly.” Atheron smiled again. “Valhai will revert to the Sellites, and the old ways will be reinstated.”

“What about Mandalon 50? He will have to go! I will have none of this nonsense about the Second Valhai Votation!”

“Mandalon will be taken care of before all this happens. It will be better if you are off the planet – we wouldn’t want anybody to connect you to any unfortunate accidents. You know, that family has been most unlucky, they seem to have a propensity for accidents.”

“Of course – his father was killed in that terrible accident when they were testing the new space trader, wasn’t he?”

“A terrible thing.” Atheron shook his head. “Something nobody could have imagined, isn’t it? Really, Mandalon 50 is going to have to be very careful. The least little mistake and his young life could be cut short at its prime. And at only 10! Why, he will hardly have had a chance to reign over the rest of the Sellites, will he?”

“I can leave it all up to you then, Atheron?”

“Oh yes. You can leave it all in my hands. I know exactly what must be done. Now, I thought you were going to invite me for a drink in your skyrise?”
 

THE LAST THING Grace had wanted to do was go up to the 49th floor. She had no wish to see either Amanita or her brother, although she would have liked to say hello to her niece and nephew. She hadn’t seen them for years. But she knew that Amanita would not allow them any contact with their aunt – and suspected that her sister-in-law would long ago have poisoned their minds against her.

But Arcan had asked her to come, and come she had. It was part of her new job as head of the Valhai Foundation, she supposed. She sighed. She hadn’t wanted this post, but Arcan had insisted.
 

The lift was arriving at the 49th floor main entrance, and she stepped warily into the receiving chamber. She was not looking forward to the forthcoming meeting at all. In fact, she gave a gulp.

Amanita came towards her with a sour expression on her thin face.

“Grace,” she acknowledged in an icy tone. “To what do we owe this … honour?” She slipped so much sarcastic nuance into the last word that it sounded like a curse. Grace put her chin up.

“I am here on behalf of the orthogel entity,” she began.

“Yes. You wouldn’t dare come on your own. I suppose he is hanging around spying on us from somewhere.” Amanita looked around, clearly expecting to see signs of the orthogel entity.

Grace thought it prudent not to tell her that she had come completely alone. She wouldn’t put it past her sister-in-law to finish the job Xenon had started. She took a tiny automatic step back, let her hand slip down to the scabbard of her catana, and then began again. “I … I have been asked to tell you that you will be granted full and private use of the main orthogel lift, but that the kitchen lift must be shared with the other inhabitants of the building.”

“Oh. We have been granted, have we?” Amanita’s voice dripped venom. “How nice of the orthogel entity. Does he rule Valhai now? And just when did that happen? Oh yes, that’s right – it didn’t!”

“But he was granted the right to the first 48 floors of this skyrise,” said Grace reasonably, “and it seems logical to mark out just who has what, and where. I would have thought it would be to your advantage to have sole use of the front ortholift.”

Amanita looked momentarily taken aback. “That’s as may be! It doesn’t give that … that … alien thing the right to lord it over everybody, does it?”

“He is the rightful owner of Valhai,” said Grace quietly.

“We were sold out by Mandalon 50! That boy should never have been allowed to take over as he did. Atheron is the rightful leader while Mandalon 50 is still a minor! It was all a plot to oust Atheron from power! You think we don’t know that! That boy ruling all Sell!” She gave a sharp hiss of disgust through her teeth.

“Yes. Well. I was also asked to tell you that your entry into any of the lower floors is not allowed.”

At that, Amanita’s eyes blazed. “I shall go where I want in this skyrise!”

“Atheron tells me that you have been doing just that. He would like you to stop.”

“I bet he would! I will never give up my rights! I do not accept that ruling made by Mandalon 50.”

“It was voted on by all of Sell, and the vote was carried. You must abide by it.”

“I will not!”

Grace blew a sigh. She had known this would not go well. “Look, Amanita, this is Sell legislation. You can contest it through the Voting Dome, but until it is revoked, you must uphold the law. You really have no choice in the matter.” Grace tried to make her words less harsh by forcing a smile, but her sister-in-law looked back in stony hatred.

“You should have died back there on the Kwaide Orbital Station,” she looked Grace full in the face, and her lip curled. “I wish you had!”

Grace tried very hard not to show how much – even though she knew exactly what plans her family had for her – that comment still hurt, and lowered her head. “Arcan wishes to come to an amicable agreement with you, but if that is not possible …”

“What? What will the great Arcan do? Turn us into puffer eels?” The woman gave a harsh bark of what passed for laughter.
 

“He simply said to tell you that the ortholifts will no longer stop anywhere between the ground orthotubes and your own floor.”

Amanita hesitated. “Then we will go down the emergency ladders!” she said, without conviction.
 

“You would find the outer doors firmly biolocked against you,” Grace told her. “I am afraid that you really have very little choice in the matter. I am sorry.”

“Oh, I
bet
you are! Sorry. I suppose you think you will be the golden girl of the new regime, don’t you? Well, just don’t get
too
pleased with yourself, you might not last long enough to enjoy all that importance.”

Grace bit her lip, and took a few steps towards the ortholift.

“I thought you said we would have exclusive use of the main ortholift?” demanded Amanita.

“I did.”

“Then where exactly do you think you are going?”

“I thought … that is …”

“Well, think again. None of your little band is going to set foot in that lift again. Or is your great Arcan going to break his word before it even starts?”

“No. I …”

“You may leave through the back lift. And don’t ever come back. The orthogel entity might have hoodwinked the rest of Sell into accepting his devious plans, but he can’t rule in my house. I believe I still have the right to say who comes and goes in my own home, or do you and your friends want to take that away from me too?”

Grace looked around, with a hunted expression. She wished she had thought to bring Arcan with her. He would have evaporated her from this current predicament with no trouble. As it was, she foresaw an awkward few minutes.