King's Test (67 page)

"What? The
bomb, kid, the bomb! Jeez, where you been all night? It was a trick,
to fool that mind-seizer character—"

"—and
me," Dion said softly, bitterly. "So that, too, was nothing
but illusion."

"We put on
quite a show," the computer was saying proudly. "My
performance was stunning. 'I have been programmed not to respond to
any questions or commands,'" XJ repeated in a flat, mechanical
mimic of itself. "We fooled the Warlord completely. And as for
Abdiel, you should have seen that old man's face when he heard her
give the code and the command. I added a few special effects. Those
beams of light were my own touch. He was furious. If looks could
kill— But then he thought my lady was already dead.

"You and
Tusk better watch how you treat me from now on," XJ continued
smugly. "I hear my true vocation calling me. The smell of the
greasepaint, the roar of the crowd. Cybernetics Theater ..."

"All
illusion," Dion murmured. Reaching out, his hands closed over
the cold crystal of the bomb, this ultimate weapon. He might hurt
someone with it . . . if he threw it at them hard enough.

Congratulations,
my liege. You passed.

He smiled. Not
entirely illusion.

I am king.

Once again,
thanks to Gary Pack, weapons genius, who designed the space-rotation
bomb and the Judas gun. (Due to recent unfortunate developments
involving his employer, Snaga Ohme, Mr. Pack is currently seeking
gainful employment and would be glad to hear from anyone interested
in blowing up neighboring planets.)

Thanks again to
John Hefter, brother in the outlawed Order of Adamant, for assistance
on the Latin translations.

My love to Roger
Moore, Georgia Moore, Michael Williams, Mark and Jamie Acres, and my
son David Baldwin and daughter Elizabeth who together created Raoul
and the Little One and nearly got me tossed out of a PTA meeting!

The Guardians'
March is better known in this century as To the Unknown Man,"
written and performed by Vangelis on his album
Spiral
, 1977,
RCA.

Born in
Independence, Missouri, Margaret Weis graduated from the University
of Missouri and worked as a book editor before teaming up with Tracy
Hickman to develop the
Dragonlance
novels. Margaret lives in a
renovated barn in Wisconsin with her teen-aged daughter, Elizabeth
Baldwin, and two dogs and one cat. She enjoys reading (especially
Charles Dickens), opera, and aqua-aerobics.