"All right. You abased Shavash. You filmed him being a thief. You filmed me being a thief. You buried our military in unforgettable shit though, for my death's sake, I can't figure out how you got these damned missiles. What do you want?"
"What do I want? I want this spaceport to be nationalized. I want all this crap that the foreigners have built here to be nationalized. I want to change the government that steals just like our little brother Shavash. The foreigners station armaments, which are forbidden across the whole Galaxy, on our land and without our knowledge. Do you think that it's enough of a reason to expropriate the goods that the rich had stolen from us and return them to the people?"
Bemish jerked.
"Idiot! You will fail completely!"
"Why?"
"Why?! Are you asking me, why? Just look at the people you allied yourself with! You will ruin your country and lose your head! Can you name a single official allied with you, can you name just one man who knows what a budget is and what a balance is?! Your allies are idiots who think that Earthmen are demons! Look, Ashinik can only discourse on the eradication of protectionism and setting the same rules for everybody till the moment when he gets to power. When he gets to power, however, either he will do what his party wants or they will devour him whole. Do you think that with such allies you will be able to produce anything but a circuit performance? Do you think that anybody will talk to you? What about the hostages and the victims?"
"I will release the hostages," Kissur said.
"You mean the passengers. What about the personnel? Damn it, if you let the personnel go, the whole place will collapse. Are you going to stick a Weian zealot behind a VIS operating terminal?"
"I will release all the Earthmen hostages," Kissur repeated, "The personnel staying here are citizens of the Empire. I assure you that all Earth journalists will say that I released the hostages since they consider only Earthmen to be the hostages. The Empire's officials don't care — hostages or no hostages — we have never considered it to be a crime to begin with."
Bemish shut his eyes and groaned. It was correct. If Kissur was saying the truth, it was the end of it. The party of people's freedom had in its power five thousand foreigners and it immediately released them. The whole thing would look pretty good compared to the thievery and missiles that had been discovered after the party's desperate actions. And it was not just that; all the rumors that the government had been spreading about the party such as the zealots considering Earthmen to be demons… The party's honorable actions would prove the rumors to be a bunch of lies. It was smart. It was smart and… unlike Kissur.
At that point, another man showed up at the office's entrance.
"So, we've met again, master."
Bemish turned his head.
"Should I thank you, Ashinik," he asked, "for PR strategy and tactics?"
The young man smiled. His hands nursed an assault rifle nervously.
"You are probably cursing the day when you didn't allow Kissur to kill me, aren't you, master?"
Bemish ground his teeth.
"Just a bit," he muttered, "At least, Inis would have been alive."
"Don't touch her name, murderer!" Ashinik leaped.
"What's this crap?"
"You would've killed me too if I hadn't escaped!"
"That's bullshit. She was killed on Yadan's command in order to cause a quarrel between us! Yadan acted exactly the same way as he had done earlier with his predecessor! Why would I've killed her?"
"You did it out of jealousy."
"What jealousy are you talking about, idiot? I had given her away to you. And she asked me that day to take her back!"
"Gave her away, take her back," Ashinik paled and whispered, "Are Weian women property to take and give away?"
"How long are you going to carp for?" Kissur inquired.
Ashinik regained his senses.
"Ashinik hasn't told us the most important thing yet," Bemish noted sarcastically. "What tree is he going to use to hang the murderer of an unfaithful concubine? This is not, by the way, a crime accordingly to the ancient laws that he holds so dear."
"Mr. Bemish," Ashinik said, "the new Weian revolutionary government is not going to detain you. We would like you to convey our demands, the demands of the people. They are very simple and they are in the best interest of both the Emperor and the people. Only corrupted officials and gluttonous foreigners would resist them. We demand that the current government resign and that the corrupted officials are persecuted by the court. We demand that Kissur the White Falcon leads the Empire as he did ten years ago. We demand that the foreign concept of elections is crossed out from the government's edicts — this concept is not fitting for the Weian people's spirit. Since our party won your stupid elections, we are clearly acting in the majority's interests. We demand all the companies that belong to the foreigners to be unconditionally nationalized. We demand all the other private property holders submit themselves to an investigation. We are not against businessmen, we are against the bad and the gluttonous businessmen that suck on the people's marrow and don't think about the people's interests! We will eradicate the bad businessmen and we will support the good ones!"
"In your opinion, the bad businessmen," Bemish couldn't hold it back, "are the ones that don't bribe you and the good businessmen are the ones that do!"
"Shut up!" Ashinik screamed. "It's not for you to talk about bribery, Mr. Bemish! Not after they took a walk down your storage areas with cameras!"
THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER
Or the first minister as an international terrorist
At 19.54 they crammed Bemish into his own Mercedes and an unsmiling Khanadar drove him to the last post located in front of the old village. The village seemed to be dead. Dust hovered above the field — a flock of military skyers had just passed by.
About two hundred meters away from the post, a roadblock gate had been installed in a hurry. Antennas, resembling overgrown burdocks, stuck out behind the gate and a herd of military Jeeps hang out nearby. Another kilometer further, Bemish's own villa stood out, a gift from the terrorists' chief and the Empire's ex-first minister…
It was two hundred meters. Two hundred meters separated an ex-spaceport taken over by the terrorists from the normal world populated with corrupted officials and stupid Earthmen. It was two hundred meters for the ex-director of Assalah Company, Mr. Bemish. On his neck, he carried a suitcase containing the terrorists' demands to nationalize his company and a key from the handcuffs — his hands were still locked behind his back. For two hundred meters sun rays and the red lights of laser sights danced on his face.
Bemish stepped behind the gate. The red lights went out and people in military uniforms rushed towards him. There were some civilians present; Bemish recognized Michael Severin, the Federation envoy. There were absolutely no journalists present.
They crammed Bemish into a car and the car rushed towards the villa.
"How did the missiles got there?" a man in a colonel's uniform screamed at Bemish.
"You should ask Shavash about it," Bemish bit back, "He asked me to take care of this cargo."
"We will ask him," the colonel uttered.
"We know how the missiles got there," the second guy said. "They got there from NordWest base. It's a base located on Agaia's moon. An old acquaintance of Kissur's — an anarchist — used to work in one of Agaia's spaceports. He visited Weia six months ago and Kissur went Agaia last month. A week after his arrival, an accident occurred. This anarchist Lore and his five friends missed a sharp turn on a road and fell into a chasm. It was just an accident. The same day, another accident occured a light year and a half away from Agaia; a mechanic at the base, Denny Hill, simply drowned next to a crowded beach — he was on a vacation. It's quite clear where Kissur got the missiles. On the other hand, how did you get them, Mr. Bemish?"