Heller picked up the signed treaty and made a small gesture to the man on the balcony. Four trumpets and a crash of cymbals blasted through the vast hall. Heller ranged his gaze across the throng. "Gentlemen," he said, "I wish to thank you for these concurring signatures on this treaty. I take it as a vote of confidence in the Emperor Mortiiy and regard it as an auspicious beginning to what even the most pessimistic must now begin to regard as a happy, prosperous and powerful reign auguring peace, tranquility and triumph for all the Voltar Confederation. All hail Mortiiy the Brilliant!" The trumpets blared and the cymbals clashed in a Royal salute. Everyone in the room stood and shouted, "Long Live His Majesty!" The crowds in the streets, despite the hour, went mad with cheering. Heller wished Vantagio, the political science major from the Gracious Palms, were there to give him some tips. This was all new to him. Poor Vantagio. He handed the treaty to the clerk to record. He signalled for another cymbal clash. "And now, as I am charged by His Majesty to do so faithfully, I here take up the second of the six actions to end past turmoils of this realm. To truly begin a new era, one must truly end the old." He had thought to cheer the hall and crowds a bit and get them out of their thirst for blood. He had no liking for Lombar Hisst but neither did he want to see a man ripped to pieces physically by the two thousand or more people in this room. There had, in his opinion, been quite enough blood. "We will now take up the case of one of the principal instigators of Royal murder and governmental decay." The crowds on the monitors were suddenly silent. The room was still. Heller was about to bring in the product of his horse trade. "CAPTAIN! PRODUCE THE PRISONER LOMBAR HISST!" Heller had ordered that Hisst be cleaned up and that he be ushered in without too much degradation. But common caution had modified his orders a bit. A side door opened. Lombar Hisst was yanked forward. He was in a red general's uniform of the Apparatus. The only one they had evidently been able to find, since his own was scorched, had been taken off a corpse. The red was blackened by the darker, unmistakable stains of blood. They had gotten somewhere, probably from Teenie's palace, an electric collar. It was around his neck. At the end of the chain was a burly Fleet marine. He gave a yank and Hisst stumbled forward into the glaring lights of Homeview. He looked for all the world like some ape being led on a leash. Heller's hopes of calming the crowd down were all vanished in a puff. The room screamed with sudden, savage hate! The backfeed on the monitors sizzled with ferocity. Then Heller saw that something was definitely wrong. Hisst was being tugged forward to be made to stand by the conference table, but there was something wrong with his eyes. They were always an animal yellow and a bit spooky but now they were flaring and strange. Hisst came to a stop. He did not seem to be the least bit aware of the din that was damning him. He seemed to be speaking. Heller called for silence and the cymbals had to sound five times before the shouts in the room ceased. "Lombar Hisst," said Heller, "you have been brought before this Officers' Conference that you may be charged and may plead any justification for your acts. I have here a Royal proclamation on which we may write your fate which, I must advise you, is being left in the hands of this conference. I can, however, relegate you to a full trial if you have any statement which might persuade us to do so. Some mitigating circumstance…" Heller paused, for during the whole time he had been speaking, Hisst had been mouthing words. He was not talking very loudly. Heller made a gesture to the captain of marines and the man produced a small electronic speaker and held it close to Hisst's mouth. Hisst's voice was very strange. He was saying, "The angels are calling. Please give me a fix. Oh, hear what the angels say. Give me a fix. The angels are calling. Please give me a fix. Oh, hear what the angels say. Give me a fix…"
LOMBAR HISST WAS INSANE!
The Grand Council hall was quiet with a strange hush. Here and in the streets, over Homeview, people heard that eerie, babbling voice. But there was no definable response. Heller breathed a sigh of relief, thinking this would come off all right after all. The people seemed distracted from the subject of Earth. Maybe, as they did not seem to be displaying ferocity toward Hisst, they had exhausted much of their frenzy. Now, if he could just keep them calm… "Gentlemen," he said to the vast table, "I do not think the prisoner is in any condition to answer charges and, as we all know the record, there is no point in another public trial. We know he sought to ascend the throne illegally and donned the robes of a monarch, so let us dispense with further formalities and find him guilty of that. Are you agreed?" Heads nodded at the table. No voice was lifted in dissent. Heller took heart. "I propose," and he turned to a clerk who was now on duty, signalling him to be very careful to inscribe what he was going to say, "that the proclamation cancels all his posts-assigned, assumed or otherwise. We shall cancel, as well, all orders, appointments, assumptions, manifestoes, proclamations, ordinances, instructions or regulations of whatever kind issued by him in writing, verbally or by others for him in their own names. We hereby cancel as well any and all pay, pay arrangements made by, for or on behalf of said subject, including all pledges and debts and any claim that could be made by him or on him. Agreed so far?" The heads at the table nodded. Heller was simply amplifying a form common in courts-martial where an officer, found guilty of a felony of magnitude, was being dismissed from service. Then, to this, Heller added the civil declaration used when a person was reprieved from execution without being found innocent. It was a nice touch, for Hisst had used this countless times on people for his own ends and, in fact, had used it on the Countess Krak. "He is hereby declared a nonperson. Anything he does may be declared or deemed illegal. Anything done to him is not actionable under law." The clerk was writing busily. Heller thought with some elation that he was going to get away with this without another riot: the wrath against Earth seemed to have cooled off. He said, "He would seem to be incapable of responding to routine communication. It seems obvious that he is not sane. Do you gentlemen agree?" The officials at the board looked at Hisst. The marine captain had stepped away with the small voice amplifier: Hisst was just mouthing the same words as before. His eyes were weird, a sort of overbright yellow. The officials looked back at Heller and nodded. "Therefore," said Heller, "the prisoner is relegated to the Confederacy Insane Asylum and is to remain there in custody for the remainder of his li–" Suddenly Hisst whipped around. He roared in a deafening voice, "DOWN ON YOUR KNEES! DOWN ON YOUR KNEES, YOU RIFFRAFF! I AM THE GOD OF ALL THE HEAVENS!" He had yanked the chain out of the hands of the marine! He held it in the air before him. "I WILL STRIKE YOU ALL DOWN! WORSHIP ME! WORSHIP ME!" Any hope Heller might have had that the population would be less emotional about Earth suddenly went up in smoke. The first whisper ran through the hall, "The man is mad!" Then a louder voice: "Use of Earth material has driven him insane!" Then, "Look what Earth can do!" Then a screaming shout, "We've been in the hands of a man driven crazy by Earth!" It all came in a building rush of sound. And it was capped by the howling shout from a thousand throats, "KILL HIM!" The captain thought he had been ready. He was not. He had had five marines surrounding Hisst. The crowd hit them! Daggers out, they stumbled back, trying to bar the surge. Twenty more marines charged in a phalanx, plowing people away. They got to the crumbling circle. Screaming people fought to get at Hisst to tear him to bits. The marines, blades held horizontally, fought to establish a ring. People were going down, people were being trampled, people howling with ferocity and rage still tried to fight inward. The trumpets and cymbals were blaring and clashing for order. A whistle in the mouth of the marine captain was shrieking for reinforcements. Fifty Domestic Police who had been stationed outside blasted through the door, stingers flashing. Sparklewater bottles were being thrown. Three hundred Fleet spacers armed with coils of safety line rushed through the door swinging!