Timeweb Trilogy Omnibus (20 page)

Francella had only to shift the destination codes to her own warehouses on Timian Four, and the treasure-trove would be hers. In anticipation of this (and a lot more), she’d hired private construction crews to work on her property for some time now, putting up more buildings and beefing up the security systems. According to an encrypted nehrcom message she had just received, the job was almost complete.

She kept her plans completely secret, because as far as she was concerned, no one could be trusted. Relationships always had a nasty habit of changing, and if that happened here, if the wrong people learned too much about her operations, she would have to take drastic action. So, by keeping her activities secret and working anonymously through intermediaries, she was actually committing a kindness, making it unnecessary for her to commit violence.

It all made perfect sense to her.

Not that it was unkind to kill. In fact, she would soon do her father a favor by putting him to rest. At his age, it was too difficult for him to control such a huge empire anyway. One or more of his employees—or a corporate competitor—would take advantage of him sooner or later, and that would only upset him. She was avoiding the inevitable unhappiness for him, doing a very nice thing for her aged father.

Without question, it all made perfect sense.

Casually, she nudged the long neck of the computer terminal, and heard the internal whir of the machine. In a moment the eyelike monitor would flash on and project a telebeam, allowing her to review the data as it danced in front of her vision.

At this terminal, however, the tiny screen was illuminated red instead of the normal amber, and did not project at all. Francella caught her breath. None of the other data processors had done this. She took a step back just as the eye changed to bright green and began to project something.

A serpent with glistening fangs lunged at her, coming out of the screen.

Since this had to be an electronic image, Francella felt intuitively that it could not possibly harm her. But she tumbled backward anyway, and scrambled for safety.

The green snake grew longer and chased her, hissing through the air.

She rolled under a table with the mechanical creature right behind her. On the other side she leaped to her feet, changed direction, and tumbled over the top of a desk, scattering a dictocam machine and shiny silver tubes of cartridges that had been stacked there.

The fangs were only centimeters from her. The jaws snapped, but missed.

Desperately, she grabbed one of the tubes, which was heavy from all of the cartridges it contained. Whirling, she slammed it down as hard as she could on the snake-head, expecting her blow to pass through the air without hitting anything. But to her surprise the tube struck something and the creature recoiled, as if in pain.

The serpent turned sickly yellow and crashed noisily onto the tile floor. Tiny metal parts sprayed through the air, and one glanced off Francella’s browless forehead, drawing blood. Finally the reptile went silent on the floor. Its shattered carcass did not move.

Confused, Francella went to one of the other computer terminals, and took the tube, now dented, along with her for protection. Carefully, she nudged the neck to turn on the machine. The computer spun through its cycles normally. This time she went through a deep search mechanism, using her passwords to look for all security systems in the room. She should have done so before, but had assumed that her identity would allow her to do anything.

Finally, she set the makeshift weapon aside.

In a few minutes, she found what she was looking for in the database. The snake had been one of several deadly traps in the room, activated under certain circumstances. She shuddered as she looked down at her feet. One of the large tiles to her right was a trap door that would cast her into a drowning pool beneath the villa if she stepped on it. She had narrowly missed it several times.

The tricky old man was even dangerous on his death bed.

Death bed.

She had not used this term previously because of the way her father kept hanging on, but now she did, and liked the sound of it. One way or another, even if it involved additional risk to her, she would finish him off.

With her adrenaline surging from the close escape, Francella spent the rest of the day and night in the study, without eating or drinking anything. After disabling the traps, she used her access codes to divert the Veldic saphonium and rifled his corporate bank accounts, even pilfering tax account funds that had been earmarked for the Doge. She proceeded to steal more assets than the value of an industrialized planet, and covered her trail expertly, so that it looked as if the holdings were still there.

When it was finished, she sat at her father’s desk and grinned. He had always encouraged her to excel at data processing.

Her gaze lifted to one of the camviewer screens on the wall. Prince Saito lay alone in the room, sleeping with an almost serene expression on his face. Obviously the old tycoon thought he had taken care of every necessary detail, but he was wrong.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Indecision has killed more people than all the battles of history.

—Supreme General Mah Sajak, Merchant Prince of Armed Forces

The noble-born princes had been seething for years over their loss of prestige, a trend that began when Lorenzo’s father, the Doge Paolantonio IV, began appointing successful businessmen and inventors to princely positions. This policy was amplified under the regime of Lorenzo, causing widespread resentment among the royals.

In the past decade, the disaffected noblemen Prince Giancarlo Paggatini began organizing regular social events for the noble-born princes. These were held at a prestigious resort on Parma, one of the moons of Timian One. In actuality, the gatherings were fronts for meetings, which were attended by a group of malcontents, including General Mah Sajak.

On Parma the most popular attraction was Vius, an immense active volcano with a three hundred kilometer-wide crater. Through a unique network of lava tubes and subterranean currents, Vius circulated the lava so that the caldera was always molten, like a thick, red-hot lake on top of the mountain.

Though nervous about it, General Sajak had been looking forward to this meeting for weeks. He had an agenda in mind, one that he had kept under close wraps. As he passed through airlocks to enter a small terminal building at the edge of the fiery lava cone, he considered what he would say to his comrades, and how he might convince them to take a dangerous step, one that could put all of their lives at risk. He wore his usual baggy red-and-gold uniform and oversized cap, with metallic dress trim on the trousers and on the arms of the jacket.

Behind him, the black, patched-together robot Jimu clanked along … the same one that had been in charge of sentient machines in the Grand Fleet, and which was dispatched with evidence of the terrible defeat to the merchant princes. The General, while irritated about the noise Jimu made, had not bothered to have him repaired, since he didn’t plan to keep him around for much longer.

Supposedly the terminal building was hermetically sealed in order to keep out toxic gases exuded by the lava, and likewise the gangway that led to a ceramic-hulled luxury yacht that floated in the lake. Still, Sajak smelled fumes as he boarded the craft … evidence that there must be a leak somewhere. His nose twitched. Gradually, after walking down a short flight of steps to the spacious dining salon, he no longer noticed the odors, perhaps because they were overridden by mouth-watering cooking aromas from the adjacent galley … meat sauces, garlic, exotic spices from all over the galaxy. Through thick-plated windows around the dimly-lit room he saw the red, menacing glow of lava outside, against the starry blackness of night.

The owner of the volcano resort, Prince Giancarlo, rose from the head of a long table as the General strolled in, followed by the clattering robot. Almost all of the seats were filled with noblemen dressed in their silkine and lace finery. They sipped aperitifs from tall, thin goblets, but none of their ladies were present, since the subjects discussed at these meetings were considered private. To the men’s way of thinking, women—even those of noble birth—could never occupy the lofty social positions of men.

“Welcome, welcome,” Giancarlo Paggatini said, motioning toward a reserved high-back chair on his right. A chubby, rosy-cheeked man, he wore an exquisite platinum-tint shirt with wide, flared sleeves. The consummate host, he always served the finest foods and wines. He grasped the General’s hand and shook it energetically.

Trying to conceal his own shaking knees and hands, Sajak instructed the robot to remain off to one side. The officer removed his hat and placed it on a rack under the proffered chair, then sat down quickly. Three little glasses of aperitif were arrayed on the table in front of him, one pink, one green, and one blue.

“You have some catching up to do,” the rotund host said.

“With respect, I must decline,” the small, bony-featured man said, trying to make his voice sound firm even though his insides churned. “I have important matters to discuss this evening, and do not wish to be impaired.”

“You’re not going to get serious on us, are you?” protested a prince on the other side of the table. A tall, loose-jowled man with a monocle dangling from his neck, Santino Aggi was already showing the signs of alcohol. He motioned for a waiter to bring him another drink.

“I’m afraid so, my friends,” Sajak said. He took a long breath, and waited.

The rest of the noblemen arrived, and finally the boat pulled slowly away from the terminal, out into the cauldron of liquid fire. Within moments the ceramic craft was planing over hot lava and the captain activated its skimmers—temperature-resistant extrusions on the underside of the hull—that caused a kaleidoscope of colors to flash around the boat.

Some of the men on the other end of the table gasped at the spectacular beauty, but those seated nearest to the General remained quiet, as they wondered what he was about to say to them. It disgusted him that some of them didn’t want to consider serious political matters, and preferred to just collect earnings that they had inherited. To his credit, Prince Giancarlo was not like that. With a gesture of dismissal and a barked command, the host stopped the waiters from bringing any more drinks and ordered them out of the salon. As they left, they closed all doors.

Conversation ceased around the table as the air of anticipation intensified.

“I’m sorry to dampen the tone of our meeting so early,” Sajak said, rising to his feet. “As you know, we normally do little more than commiserate when we get together, sharing tales of woe and our desire for political change.”

Two of the princes on the General’s side of the table took offense at this remark, and muttered between themselves.

Nervously, the officer fingered a cluster of war medals on his chest, and began. “I presume that all of you have heard of our military defeat at the hands of the Mutati. Our plan of attack should have succeeded, so the failure had to be due to sabotage, a traitorous act. We are investigating the matter and will take all necessary action.”

“One moment, please,” Prince Giancarlo said, rising from his chair, his beefy arms extended to reveal shiny rings on his hands.

As he spoke, slots along the center of the long table opened, and dishes of hot, steaming food rotated to the top. Little mechanical robots, dressed like waiters, stood beside each serving dish.

Wielding large utensils, the metal men loaded food onto the diner’s plates. However—pursuant to instructions they had received from the host—they did not pour any additional drinks, and only filled water glasses. Some of the princes muttered their displeasure. When their serving tasks were complete, the diminutive robots dropped into the open slots, and the compartments closed behind them.

To the clinking of forksticks—combination eating and cutting implements used by the diners—Sajak continued. “I won’t deny it was a personal setback for me … I had hoped to gain prestige with a great victory. Nonetheless, I will probably remain Supreme General of the Armed Forces. The Doge has stated openly that he wants me to step down, but I won’t do it. I have enough political clout to resist. For awhile, anyway.”

“Bravo,” Giancarlo Paggatini said, as he stuffed a dripping chunk of Huluvian pheasant into his mouth.

“Times have been changing,” the General agreed, ignoring his own food. “Noble birth means much less than ever before. We lost good men and women at Paradij, and a lot of expensive military hardware.”

The princes murmured in concurrence.

With a nervous motion, Sajak signaled for the dented, scratched robot to step forward, which it did.

“This is Jimu,” the General announced. “I told you about him, but I want you to hear firsthand what he has to say, and what he has to show you.”

Dutifully, the robot reported in a hesitating, mechanical voice what he had already told the General, how the Mutatis seemed to be waiting for them and had defeated the attacking fleet at every turn. As he spoke, his artificial eyes glowed yellow, alternately dimming and brightening. Then, opening a compartment in his chest, Jimu projected blue light into the air, the holo evidence that the Mutatis had sent back with him. The images were similar to telebeams, but of an inferior, grainy quality.

When the robot finished and put away the projection mechanism, General Sajak rose and went to him. Jimu, around the height of the small officer, blinked his eyes as he awaited further instructions. Without saying anything, Sajak drew a pearl-handled puissant pistol from a holster at his waist and fired it into the control panel in the center of Jimu’s chest.

The robot sputtered a garbled sentence, sparked, and fell with a thud on the deck. He went silent and motionless.

“As you have just seen and heard,” Sajak said, holstering his weapon, “the Mutatis have provided information that they could only know if they had actually won the battle. It’s obvious how far our Doge has gone to undermine my authority … and yours, by association. The Mutatis couldn’t have defeated such a force without inside help. I’m sorry to say this, but Lorenzo sacrificed thousands of my people and caused our defeat … just to keep me from gaining political influence that might threaten his soft, pampered position.”