A pause. In speaking, he had turned to face the big man, presuming that, since the two of them were on the podium, any question and answer cycle would be between himself and Voice Four.
There was a pause. A pair of orange-yellowish eyes stared into his—color unknown; unless all the Gosseyn eyes were the same, in which case steely-gray was what Voice Four was seeing.
It was the orange-yellow gaze that narrowed abruptly. Whereupon, the hard, accustomed-to-command voice said, “We’ll do the questioning. What is your name?”
Gosseyn did not argue. It seemed to him that only the truth would evoke from these people the information that he wanted.
“My name is Gilbert Gosseyn,” he said.
“Where are you from?”
Essentially, said Gosseyn, “I am a human being from a sun called Sol, and from a planet, Earth, in that sun’s system.”
There seemed no point in volunteering that Gosseyn One and Gosseyn Two believed that Mankind of Earth apparently had come long ago from another galaxy.
“What were you doing in a state of suspended animation in a space capsule?”
Gosseyn took time for a deep breath. Undoubtedly, this was the big question. But since they already had significant data, Gosseyn said in the same even voice,
“I am a duplicate body scheduled to awaken if my Alter Ego is killed.”
“Has he been killed?”
Gosseyn did not hesitate. “As you should know only too well, I was awakened by the equipment of your ship. So now there are two of us; but we are far apart.”
“Is this a common technique for personality survival among the human beings who live on the planet Earth?”
“No, it is unique to myself and my predecessors.”
“Do you have any explanation for your special situation?”
“Not really. A few speculations on the part of my predecessor that would take a while to tell.”
“Very well.” The face staring at him was suddenly grim. “How would you explain the coincidence of a hundred and seventy-eight thousand warships of the Dzan empire suddenly, without warning, finding themselves in an unknown part of space, and in that space is a capsule with you in it in this unawakened state?” After a period of blankness, Gosseyn made the cortical-thalamic pause. He was thinking: I asked for it. It was information I wanted… And the trouble was that he had got more than he bargained for. He was aware of a vague analytical function in his mind adding up figures, among other items, including the possibility that on each of those warships were thousands of fighting men.
It was an event in space-time so colossal that, finally, it seemed to him only General Semantics could offer a conditional answer. With that thought, he said, carefully, “There is a possibility that at base the universe is a seeming, not a being; and that if, by any means, that seemingness is triggered, the nothingness momentarily asserts. During such a split-instant, distance has no meaning.”
It did not seem advisable to reveal that this was the frame within which—it was believed—the extra-brain of the Gilbert Gosseyns operated during 20-decimal similarity travel.
Even as Gosseyn had the cautionary thought, his eyes were watching the face of Four, as that face reflected the big man’s reaction. In that face Gosseyn could almost see the man evaluate the fantastic meaning. Consider each datum. Arrive, finally, at the enigma.
“Yes—” the tone was argumentative though not angry—“but what would be the connecting factor between that point in space where we were engaged in a major battle with the fleet of our mortal enemy, and this area in space where you were in that capsule?”
No question—thought Gosseyn after a pause… I’m getting more information than I bargained for. Because, battle. 178,000 Dzan battleships against a “mortal” enemy. The meaning was “major” on a level beyond the grasp of the human mind. It was an event in spacetime overshadowing even the great battle of the Sixth Decant between the colossal forces of Enro the Red and the League; which Gosseyn Two had managed to bring to a halt in his defeat of the Follower.
The implications brought a thought of equal vast meaning; and the words came almost automatically: “What do you think happened to your enemy at that moment? Is it possible that you were lucky enough to leave him and his fleet… back there?”
“Your concept of what is lucky,” came the immediate cold reply, “is not ours. Our disappearance from that battle means that our vast civilization… back there… now lies at the mercy of a hostile non-human culture. And it is our belief that you are in some way responsible for this disaster. So—”
As Voice Four paused, threateningly, there was an interruption. A young boy’s high, treble voice yelled from a source in the ceiling:
“Bring him up here! I want to see him! I’ll find out what happened! I’ll handle him!”
Complete surprise. And amazing what happened then. Out on the floor everybody stood up, and saluted. And remained standing. From beside Gosseyn, a suddenly breathless Voice Four said urgently, “Yes, your majesty! At once, your majesty!”
Unexpected development!… A boy king, with total power—
But Gosseyn did have a thought: What kind of power?
CHAPTER 4
It was a golden room. That was Gosseyn’s first impression: decoration emphasizing the color of golden yellow. Plush gold floors, and gold-colored hangings on the walls. The walls themselves, where they showed through here and there, seemed to be silver gray.
He had a vague awareness of other colors, used as contrast. But there was no time to notice such additional details. Because, also, at the moment he was led into the room, he saw that at one end of the room was a small dais, and on it was a large gold-colored chair.
In that chair sat the boy-emperor.
Several dozen men in gleaming clothes were standing off to one side. And what made things difficult for Gosseyn as he entered was that the door he came through was directly across from this group of… courtiers?
So that he actually noticed them first. Whereupon, he had to turn his head to his right to see the small boy in the silver shining suit who sat on the golden throne chair.
It was obvious that the boy had already seen him and his escort. Because by the time Gosseyn became aware of him, the boy’s hand and arm were already raised. Instants later, he spoke in the same boyish voice that Gosseyn had heard, and with the same anger in it.
“We’ve been waiting!” the high-pitched treble voice said. “What kept you? Where have you been?”
Four had stopped respectfully. His face, seen from the side was tense with awareness of the unreasonable impatience in the question, and of the impossibility of explaining to a boy that it required time to cover distances. “We ran all the way, your majesty,” said Four.
Four added quickly, “After we got the prisoner started, that is. He resisted.”
It took several moments for Gosseyn to comprehend the perfection of that accusation. By speaking those final words, Four had skilfully absolved himself of blame. And had simultaneously placed the onus upon the one person who could probably not defend himself from the lie. And what was even more important, it was equally probable that, being already a prisoner, he was in no more danger than he had been, anyway.
The truth was that, back in the lecture room, as Four grabbed at his arm, Gosseyn had got the idea at once that there must be no delay. So, as he was shoved through the door at the rear of the podium, he willingly broke into a loping run.
The brief memory of those events was interrupted. “Bring him over here in front of me!” the yelling voice commanded. “I’ll show him!”