RAINBOW RUN (23 page)

One guard answered, "Do we bring the prisoner?"

"We don't need him anymore," was the reply from the red-faced white cap.

The guard who had asked the question pointed his bolt gun at Hushel and fired. Hushel dropped to the floor, the life gone from his body. The red-faced man, as if noticing us for the first time, pointed and said, "Kill them. We don't need witnesses."

Lyonella and I leaped into the elevator. The door closed before the guards fired. We got off on the bottom floor. There was no one in sight. We made a fast exit and ran to the nearest exit slidestrip and jumped on. When it joined the slideway, we began moving toward the fastest slidestrip, headed in the opposite direction from Wanklurm's headquarters. We were soon out of sight of the urbode where Hushel had died.

I turned to Lyonella, saying, "I want to go to the overseers' urbode and tell the Alliance that Errox and the Crusaders are attacking the home base of the elite guards."

She said, "Do you want me to go with you? You don't need me to locate Vargan—I guess I should call him Errox now—since you know where he is."

"It could be dangerous to go back to your dwell. The white caps who saw us might return to try to find us and kill us since we’re witnesses to murder. I think you should stay for a while in the overseers' urbode where I've got a dwell, stay at least until the danger is past."

Lyonella gave me a bold look and asked, "Are you saying that you want me with you?"

"Yes." I wanted to say more but my tongue seemed thick in my mouth. I remembered the night of drumming and sexual satisfaction. My knees seemed a little weak and I felt feverish. Lyonella was watching me intently.

"Are you remembering the night of the freedom of the masks?"

"It's the best memory of my life." With an enigmatic smile, Lyonella said, "Our lives aren't over yet." She touched me on the arm as she spoke and looked into my eyes. I smiled, not trusting myself to speak, enormously pleased that she had said our lives, as if we shared more than a one-night stand, perhaps a lot more, maybe a mutual destiny.

Her spontaneous touching of me had sent quivers of sensations throughout my body. I don't know how I knew it but I was certain that the touch was an indication of emotions shared, perhaps even an emotional bond. When we arrived at the overseers' urbodes, I immediately went to the room that was serving as the communications center. I reported to Nordel that I'd overheard an elite guard say that Errox and the Crusaders were attacking Wanklurm's headquarters.

Incate said, "Let's send out a runner to get confirmation."

"We've previously received a report of bolt blasts and explosions in that area,” Nordel said. “I've already sent armed VIS to investigate. Now we know the conflict has begun. Errox has used the last of the Cainenol to inflame his Crusaders. The battle has begun."

Incate cried, "It's a war! Let them fight it out. Then we can arrest the survivors."

Prevance looked at Incate as if he wanted to say something but his mouth remained closed.

I said, "I saw a white cap kill the smitty Hushel with a bolt gun because they didn't need him any more to try to locate Errox. It was murder."

Kahalyton said, "That's what war is, a series of murders."

Incate looked at me with daggers in his eyes, asking, "Who is the woman with you who's hearing all of our plans?"

I introduced Lyonella to the group. I explained that she was a Listener whom Errox tried unsuccessfully to corrupt with Cainenol when he was known as Vargan.

Yondoka asked Lyonella, "Do you have any information that will help us capture Errox?"

Lyonella answered, "The overdose of Cainenol gave me a psychic connection with him. If he survives the attack on Wanklurm, I should be able to help locate him. I have my own reasons to be eager to help take him out of the action."

There was a lot more conversation about the armed conflict between the Crusaders and the elite guards. Kahalyton mentioned that his Counter Color scouts had reported that all of the known Crusaders had left their urbodes and none had returned. He also reported that various knowledgeable Counter Colors were prepared to help in the coming transmogrification of the culture.

Quenlu added that all the storytellers had been told to cease outdoor operations until further notice but that their roles would be expanded once hostilities ended.

Arvon reported that the Color Wheel remained sealed but the Simulike Palace was open since the search for Cainenol there hadn't turned up anything. Obviously Errox had found the last of the Cainenol.

Further discussion was interrupted by the arrival of a VIS officer. She said, "I have a report on the conflict between the elite guards and the Freedom Crusaders."

That got everyone's attention. I stepped up closer, right behind Incate and Prevance, to hear better. Neither of the two off-worlders noticed me. I heard Incate whisper to Prevance, "Record this for the Council." I saw Prevance reach into his waist pouch and heard a tiny click.

The VIS officer reported, "There's intense fighting at Wanklurm's headquarters. The elite guards and the Freedom Crusaders are killing each other with bolt guns. The Crusaders outnumber the guards but the guards have more bolt guns. Some of the Crusaders have blown up portions of the headquarters building by exploding their wristlocks and losing their lives in the act. It's mass slaughter. Bolt gun victims' bodies have jammed part of the slideway.

“The area around the building is choked with corpses, many of them bloodied and maimed. Much of the outside of the building and some portions of the inside that were exposed by the explosion are covered with blood and gore. The sound of the bolt guns is like repeating thunder. A stench fills the air, strong enough that people in nearby urbodes are fleeing the area with their tunics covering their noses.

“Wanklurm is inside the building. Errox is commanding his troops from a protected rear position. He is evidently using Cainenol to turn some of his Crusaders into berserkers. It looks like the battle will continue for some time. The outcome is anybody's guess."

The VIS officer's report was concise and evidently quite complete. The answers she gave to questions didn't produce any significant new information. I hadn't thought about the carnage, how hearing about it would distress me. No one knew when the violence would end or who would win. I wanted both of them to lose: Wanklurm, who had arranged for me to be brainwiped and left to die in the Rainbow Room, and Errox, who had almost ruined Lyonella's life and set me up to be a suspect for Boget’s death.

I noticed Nordel was getting ready to leave the room. I followed him, caught up with him in the corridor and said, "I'd like to talk to you about suspicious activities on the part of Incate and Prevance."

"Tell me," he said, with both eyes meeting mine.

"When they were supposed to be looking for Errox, they followed me to my meeting with Kahalyton. They traced me with a device called a spike mike imbedded in my tunic. I'd never heard of such equipment, but Quenlu told me that such devices have been used by Wanklurm. I found that very suspicious."

"You said suspicious activities. What else, Rathe?"

"Just now in the communications room, when the VIS officer started her report, Incate whispered to Prevance instructions to record the report for the Council. Prevance evidently had some sort of recording device in his waist pouch. I heard it click on. That made me suspect that they are in frequent communication with the Council. If that's true, they haven't told us and it makes me wonder what else they haven't revealed."

Just then Incate and Prevance came out of the communications room. They both gave rather furtive looks when they saw us together. I spoke to Nordel, as if continuing a conversation about my Simulike experiences, saying: "The Simulike experience I had with the machine in Boget's dwell seemed to be a preview of some of the things I've experienced since. If we could translate Simulike experiences into information for the Game players, we might be able to chart a better course of the future for all of us, providing we had a large enough sample—say, for instance, everyone in the overseers' urbode."

Incate and Prevance nodded to us as they passed.

Nordel said to me, "That's interesting, Rathe. It's something we'll have to try when things settle down."

Incate and Prevance were now out of hearing range. Nordel said to me, "Thanks for telling me your suspicions. I have some also. I'm going to have those two followed."

After my conversation with Nordel, Lyonella and I had some food cubes. While we ate, I told her about the many things I'd learned since our last meeting.

Lyonella said, "I’ve heard many strange things from my clients, some of which fit well with what you've told me, but some of the truths that underlie this society are stranger than anything my clients discovered or imagined."

I told her of my suspicions regarding Incate and Prevance.

"I think you're right to suspect them of having some hidden agenda. Prevance seems to be the more reasonable of the two, but he acts like a man experiencing internal conflicts. Incate is filled with hostility and suspicions, eager to believe the worst that he can imagine. He lacks compassion and empathy. I suspect that he has never cared for anyone but himself."

When our food was finished, Lyonella and I went to my dwell. As soon as the door closed we were in each other's arms. Our tunics dropped to the floor. We didn't let go as we moved toward the sleep platform. I reached out and set the light level at twilight. I said to her, "I want enough light to see your face."

She stopped my words with her mouth. Our lovemaking made the previous sexual encounter seem like a prelude. I knew that outside this dwell, beyond the boundaries of this urbode, there was a war going on. But here in the embrace of my lover all the problems of the world seemed remote in time and space. Lyonella and I were experiencing a temporary, separate peace. I felt that the center of the universe was right where we were. Sexual satisfaction brought relief from the tension created by the events of the day.

Lyonella sighed and rested her head on my chest. My left arm was around her. The contentment I felt was so new and so complete that I had no words to express it. We slept.

We were awakened some time later by someone at the portal.

Lyonella got up and looked through the view plate and said, "It's Nordel at our door."

My heart fluttered with unexpected joy when she said,“our door.” We slipped into tunics and admitted Nordel.

"Rathe, you were right about Incate and Prevance,” Nordel said. “After leaving here, they went to the House of Rebirth. In a concealed room in the transporter section, they established audio contact with the Universalist Council and played the recording made of the report on the battle going on. As soon as they finished, I had them arrested by VIS officers and charged with the variation offense of creating unauthorized historical archives. They will be subjected to separate vericator sessions shortly. I knew you'd want to attend."

Lyonella and I joined the others for the vericator session. Arvon, who was running the session, said, "I'm going to interrogate Prevance first since I believe he will be the more cooperative subject."

After Prevance was connected to the vericator, Arvon began the session by saying, "We observed you and Incate in the act of transmitting a forbidden duplication of a VIS officer's field report. How seriously we take that offense depends on several factors; the most important one in your case is honesty about events and circumstances. You do understand that your status as a Universalist Council investigator does not give you the freedom to commit illegal acts?"

Prevance answered, "I understand."

"Who is the senior partner, you or Incate?"

"Incate," Prevance admitted.

"Did you receive your instructions jointly?"

"No. Incate was briefed on the situation and I received my instructions from him."

"What did he tell you?" Arvon asked.

"That we had to stop the Cainenol traffic with the first step being eliminate the source."

"How did you accomplish that?"

"We inspected everything coming in to the Outpost and discovered which planet it was coming from. We alerted the Council to the source and they sent in their troubleshooters who raided the manufacturers and distributors."

"What were your next instructions?" Arvon asked.

"To come here, find the Cainenol conspirators and neutralize them."

"Neutralize them how?"

"I wasn't told. I assumed they would be brainwiped and reconfigured. They would have to remain here because they have the possession genes."

"Did it occur to you that the conspirators might be killed?" Arvon asked.

"No. I was surprised when we found Boget dead."

"I didn't mean by other conspirators. I meant by you and Incate."

Prevance looked shocked, "I'm not an assassin."

The monitor showed that he was telling the truth.

Arvon asked, "What else did you bring in from the outpost in addition to tracking and recording devices?"

"Nothing that I'm aware of."

"You know nothing about a small respirator arrestor we found in your secret communications room?"

"No!" he cried, looking surprised. The monitor showed he was not lying.

"How long have you known Incate?"

"Not very long. I met him recently, for the first time, when I was assigned to be his partner in the Cainenol investigation."

"What were you told about him?"

"Just that he, like me, had the possession genes and had the new blocking apparatus implanted at the base of his skull so that normals would have nothing to fear. The blocking devices are still new and very expensive. I was told that he had extensive field experience and was known for getting the desired results."

"What were the desired results in this case?" Arvon asked.

"Halt the Cainenol traffic, identify the conspirators, neutralize them, disrupt the status quo as little as possible and keep the Delphic Game players at their tasks."