Deathstalker (46 page)

“We have a plan,” said Stevie One. “We elves have placed one of our own in the water purification department. Through him we have unlimited access to the water supply network for the whole of Golgotha. We propose to introduce the esper drug into the water system. I’m told a really small amount, as little as one part per million, would be enough to have an effect on anyone who drank it or even had contact with the affected water. No one would notice its presence until it was far too late. No one knows it exists but us, and unless you knew exactly what you were looking for, the esper drug would just blend in with all the other drugs in the water. It’s pumped full of happy drugs and tranquilizers, as it is, to keep the common herd quiet. With millions of espers suddenly appearing overnight, the Empress would have no choice but to recognize espers as full citizens, with full privileges. After all, most of her subjects would be espers, along with most of her own people. Who knows, maybe we’ll get really lucky, and she’ll get a surprise in her drink, too. …”

There was a long pause as everyone took it in turn to look at each other. The Stevie Blues smiled at each other smugly.

“You have got to be joking!” said Evangeline. “You’re crazy!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Valentine. “I rather like the sound of it myself.”

“You would,” snapped David. “Anyone who is anyone drinks offworld bottled water. Only the lower classes drink tap water. And the Empress would rather wipe out every single one of them on this planet than be dictated to.”

“Nicely put,” said Evangeline. “Didn’t think you had it in you, David.”

“Dah-veed.”

“Don’t push it, Deathstalker.”

“Look,” said Stevie One. “The esper and clone undergrounds have been fighting for self-determination for almost three centuries, and what have we to show for it? Nothing but increased security on all levels and greater controls over the clone and esper populations. The elves emerged out of a need to strike back, to take the attack to the enemy. This would be a blow against the Empress’ authority that couldn’t be hidden or hushed up. A whole planetful of espers couldn’t be ignored. They’d be too valuable just to be wiped out.”

“Right,” said Stevie Three.

There was a flood of approval from the cyberats on the surrounding viewscreens. They were always up for a little orchestrated chaos and mayhem, and they admired audacity. They’d always been troublemakers first and rebels second. The various faces on the screens began shouting advice and support, and then started shouting at each other to shut up, until finally one of the esper representatives had the sense to turn the volume right down. The cyberats raved silently on, oblivious to the fact that no one was listening to them anymore. They were used to that.

“You’re still carefully overlooking the main objection,” said Evangeline to the Stevie Blues. “According to the figures I’ve seen, the esper drug kills twenty to forty percent of those who take it. If we gave it to the entire population of Golgotha, how many innocents would die for our revenge?”

“None of them are innocent,” said Stevie Two defiantly. “They’re all part of the system that brutalizes us. They’re happy enough to profit from our pain.”

“Right,” said Stevie Three. “When have they ever cared for us?”

“What do you think we should do?” said Stevie One, glaring at Evangeline. “Commit suicide in public as a protest, like that poor fool you smuggled into the wedding? What difference did it make? No one gave a damn. They don’t care if an esper or a clone dies; we’re just property. They can just replace us. It’s not like we were people. Do I need to stand here and tell you horror stories of the way we’ve been treated to justify our plan? We’ve all lost someone dear. It’s barely a year since Dram and his butchers attacked our base in New Hope. That was supposed to be our first step forward, out of the darkness and into the light. Espers and clones and normals living together in harmony. A living example of the way things could be.

“And then the attack sleds came falling out of the sky, opening fire without warning. Hundreds of thousands died as the city burned. Men, women and children; espers, clones and normals. There was nothing we could do but run for our lives. It took us a year to rebuild the underground, and now all the normals are too scared even to be seen with us. Every chance we had for peaceful coexistence died with New Hope. All that’s left is the elves and the armed struggle. Did our friends die for nothing? Have you forgotten the screams
bursting through our minds, blinking out one by one, like candles caught in a storm?”

“Revenge,” said one of the male clones, and everyone turned to look. The four men had been quiet so long everyone had forgotten they were there. “Revenge is all elves ever want. We want peace. Freedom. We have to learn to live with the normals because it’s their universe. Their Empire. One day it might be ours, but none of us will live to see it. Pardon our paranoia, but we can’t see how a planetful of traumatized espers, mourning their dead, would do anything to further the clone cause. The Empire would waste no time in blaming the undergrounds. We’d be branded mass-murderers, and they’d be right. Everyone would turn against us, even the new espers.”

“He’s got a point,” said David. “I really don’t think I can go along with this.”

“No one asked you, Dah-veed,” said Stevie One. “You don’t understand what we’re talking about.”

“Presumably you have some interest in our opinions,” said Valentine. “Or else why were we called here?”

“We value your input,” said the shimmering mandala. “We are … unable to decide. It occurred to us that perhaps we are too close to the question. Hopefully you will help us see the wider issues. The esper drug could be the means to our finally winning the war, or it could damn us all forever. Talk to us. All of you. We must decide.”

“What’s the hurry?” said Evangeline. “We don’t have to go ahead with the drug immediately, even if we do decide to go for it. The secret of the drug is safe with us, and the water systems aren’t going anywhere. As long as your man keeps his head down and doesn’t draw attention to himself, we can take our time over this, make sure we end up with the right decision.”

“And how many espers and clones would die while we were talking?” said Stevie Two.

“A lot less than twenty to forty percent,” said Hood.

“There’s still a lot we don’t understand about the drug,” said Mr. Perfect. “We were understandably intrigued with the thought of what the drug would do to someone who was already an esper. We hoped it might produce the super-esper we’ve been searching for, someone strong enough to overcome the effects of the esp-blocker and free us from its control. We had many volunteers.”

“So what happened?” said Valentine.

“They all died,” said the dragon. “Some were killed outright, some went insane and then died. Some tore out their own eyes because of what they were seeing. It would seem we’re not ready as a species to become super-espers. We must continue to rely on our cyberat friends to come up with a technological answer.”

“They’ve been promising a breakthrough on that for years!” snapped Stevie One. “We’re tired of waiting. This drug is our chance to strike back at those who’ve hurt us! We can’t wait. How long can it be before some traitor in our organizations gets hold of the formula and hands it over to security? Just because we’re espers, it doesn’t mean we can’t be fooled. We must use the drug now, while we still have the advantage of surprise.”

“Right,” said Stevie Three. “Who cares about a few dead normals?”

“We care,” said one of the male clones. “Our argument has always been that we are not just property: we are humans, too. We will not risk that humanity by becoming responsible for mass slaughter.”

“You’ve always been dreamers,” said Stevie Two. “We can’t live with normals. They’re too different.”

“They seem to have managed quite successfully on Mistworld.”

“Yeah, well,” said Stevie One. “From what I’ve heard, it’s a right hellhole. I wouldn’t live there if you paid me.”

“We’re drifting away from the subject again,” said Evangeline. “It seems to me there are still too many unanswered questions about the esper drug. Firstly, we can’t be sure of a mortality rate of just twenty to forty percent when dealing with such a large dose. It could turn out to be much higher. Word would get out eventually as to who was responsible; that’s inevitable. And then the normals would hate us as never before.

“Secondly, I think getting the drug past all the checks and filters would prove to be a great deal harder than you’ve been assuming. One man on his own couldn’t hope to oversee everything. I think we should ask the cyberats to run some computer simulations first. In the meantime, I think we’d do better to concentrate our efforts on bringing influential people to see the justice of our cause. The real war will be fought and won in the hearts and minds of people everywhere.
After all, the Empress can’t live forever. Perhaps a coalition of the right people could even replace her in the future.”

“Right,” said Stevie Three. “A coalition. You’d love that. With you at its head, no doubt?”

“They could do worse,” said Hood.

“We have heard enough,” said the dragon. It stretched slowly, light rippling across its golden scales. “Evangeline Shreck has provided the voice of reason, as always. We do not reject the idea outright, but it is clear that much more research must be undertaken before we can committ ourselves. The matter is now closed.” He looked hard at the Stevie Blues, who glared back, but had nothing further to say. For the moment. The dragon nodded its head slowly. “We will now move on to the next order of business: the fate of the traitor Edwyn Burgess. Bring him forward.”

Everyone looked round sharply as a man stepped slowly out of a low entrance. He stumbled forward into the middle of the chamber, his movements awkward and deliberate, clearly controlled from without. He was a small, insignificant man with a vague, empty face and frightened eyes. Sweat poured down his face and soaked his clothing. As he drew nearer, they could hear he was whimpering softly. He finally came to a halt in the exact center of the floor and stood still. Unnaturally still.

“Edwyn Burgess,” said a cold disembodied voice that could have come from any of the esper representatives, or all of them. “You stand accused of treason against your brothers, condemned by information discovered within your mind. You were preparing to betray the location of this meeting to Security forces, and were only discovered thanks to information supplied by our good friend Hood. Tell us why. Was it the money?”

“Partly,” said Burgess, desperation flooding his face as control over him was briefly relaxed. “Mostly I was just so tired of being scared all the time. Jumping at every knock on the door, convinced it was Security come at last to drag me away. In the end I went to them. I couldn’t stand the strain anymore. Only after that, I was just as scared of what you’d do when you found out. Security said they’d protect me, but I knew better. When your people finally came to get me, it was almost a relief.”

“We understand,” said the voice. “But with so many lives
put at risk by your weakness, we cannot be merciful. We are all scared, Edwyn, but we have not broken. How many thousands would have been betrayed if we had been taken by Security? The whole underground could have been shattered beyond repair.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Burgess’ voice was flat and heavy, beyond hope or fear. “I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t be weak again. I wouldn’t dare.”

“We’re sorry,” said the voice. “We must make an example.”

“Then make it quick,” said Burgess.

“Yes,” said the voice. “We can do that.”

Burgess exploded, flying apart in a cloud of blood and gut and broken bone. Everyone stepped back instinctively, but the debris didn’t travel far, contained by the same force that had produced it. The offal fell to the floor in a series of soft, flat sounds, and as quickly as that it was all over. It was very quiet in the chamber. One of the cyberats on the screens whistled respectfully. Valentine stepped forward and nudged at a lump of bloody muscle with the tip of his boot.

“How about that,” he said, smiling. “He did have a heart, after all.”

And that was when everything went to hell in a hurry. An alarm sounded, loud and strident, and over it came the sound of energy guns firing. All around the walls of the chamber, the cyberats vanished from the viewscreens as they dropped out of the system. For a moment there was only the hissing of blank screens, and then they cleared one by one to show rapidly changing views of armed guards running through the approach tunnels. They were everywhere, filling the tunnels, firing their disrupters at unseen esper resistance. Whatever the esper sentries were doing, it didn’t seem to be slowing the guards down any.

“Why aren’t they using illusions to stop the guards?” said Evangeline. “I thought that was what they were there for!”

“Look at the screens,” Valentine said quietly. “They’ve got esp-blockers. Our friend Burgess must have got his message out before he was caught. Look at the uniforms: those are Imperial guards. The Empress’ own. She knew there’d be important people here.”

And then everyone was shouting at once and trying to outshout everyone else. David Deathstalker and Kit SummerIsle had their guns and swords in their hands, but
only Kid Death looked ready to use them. Hood was looking from one screen to another, as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Evangeline had gone very pale, but her hands had clenched into fists. She looked at Valentine, who smiled and made helpless motions with his hands. Behind his flustered facade, Valentine was thinking fast. He had any number of battle drugs ready to drop into his system at a moment’s notice, but he was reluctant to throw away his carefully established persona until he absolutely had to. It wouldn’t do for word to get out that he wasn’t the useless type he’d always pretended to be. People might start wondering what else he’d been hiding. On the other hand, he couldn’t afford to be taken prisoner by the guards, for much the same reason. He decided to wait and see how much danger he was really in. And then the esper representatives vanished between one moment and the next, and the air rushed in to fill the space where they’d been.