No, sending a spy did not seem like junior's style. A battalion of Earth Guards maybe. But not a spy.
This really left only the Empress, who was just as nutty as her son and well-known for her love of intrigue. Calandrx felt a chill go through him. What would the Empress want with him? He had nothing to hide. Or did he?
True, he was a man of honor and scruples, but that did not mean he hadn't slipped on occasion. Everyone had a bit of the rascal in him, especially these days. He began worrying that perhaps one of his latest adventures might be coming back to haunt him.
Suddenly there was a flash, and just like that, there were two more people in the room with him.
They almost looked like twins. Both were stout but powerful men of middle age, with shiny bald heads and huge, drooping mustaches. Battle scars were prominent on their hands and faces. Their uniforms were black with gold collar badges. The double crosses of the X-Forces were emblazoned on their chests.
The strange thing was, Calandrx knew them both. In fact, he was good friends with them. Their names were Erx and Berx. They were senior officers of the X-Forces and well-known in many parts of the Galaxy.
And they were as surprised to see him as he was to see them.
"Calandrx, our brother!" Erx cried. "They scooped you up, too?"
"Yes — in my nightclothes yet…"
"By a spy?" Berx asked. "With no explanation?"
"The same," Calandrx replied. "That only deepens the mystery as to why we have been called here."
Erx and Berx shook off the last of the green luminescence surrounding them, then began examining the room. They quickly took note of the woodwork, the shadows.
"Is this really a Holy House that we've been delivered to?" Erx asked, going over a wood carving like a detective.
"It is indeed," Calandrx said.
"Whose is it, brother?" Berx asked him. "Have you noodled that out yet?"
"My guess is the Empress," Calandrx whispered. "And to no good end, I fear."
"You see nothing positive in this, brother?" Berx asked him worriedly.
Calandrx shook his head. "I am no longer an expert in palace machinations. I just know they don't send out spies to summon people like us for any small reason."
The three men looked at each other. There had been one episode of mischief among them lately. Could that be why they were here?
"Where did you pop in from?" Calandrx asked them worriedly.
"We've been in the secret court of inquiry for the past six weeks!" Berx exclaimed; he was usually the more excitable of the two.
"Still?" Calandrx asked them. "That's way too long."
Erx and Berx nodded glumly. The secret inquiry was looking into what happened during the battle of Zazu-Zazu. The tiny moon at the end of the Five-Arm had come very close to being destroyed by a very mysterious military force using weapons never seen in the Galaxy before. The battle was finally won by the moon's inhabitants after, ironically enough, the Solar Guards came to their rescue. But the mysterious enemy departed in a very strange spaceship, again, not of a type ever seen in the Galaxy.
These were very disturbing events for the people at the top of the Empire. A number of bizarre episodes had been reported in various places around the Galaxy in the months leading up to Zazu-Zazu, but none so strange as the tiny war on the tiny moon so far out on the Fringe, you would fall off the edge if you went any farther.
But the rub was this: The central character in all this had not been Calandrx or Erx or Berx, but Hawk Hunter. In fact, it was Erx and Berx who first found Hunter on the desolate planet of Fools 6, not quite a year before. That Erx and Berx were the last ones to see him before he went AWOL made them very suspicious in the eyes of the Empire's top inquisitors. That's why the investigation into Vaffaire Zazu-Zazu had been ongoing for so long.
And Calandrx's involvement? He'd been instrumental earlier, by getting Hunter a spot in the most recent Earth Race, which the pilot won superbly, making Calandrx a pile of money. But the triumph also led to Hunter being commissioned by the X-Forces and sent into deep space, where he disappeared.
"They keep asking us the same questions over and over," Erx was telling Calandrx now. "First, the interrogators from the Space Forces, then the Solar Guards, then the X-Forces. Once they seemed finished with us, they just start it all over again. We told them everything we know—"
"But at some point it must end," Calandrx said. "Right?"
Both men shrugged on cue. "Surely. But when it does, so what?" Erx said. "What will we have to do then?"
Calandrx played upbeat. "You will go back to your duties, of course."
But both men were immediately crestfallen.
"That will be impossible, brother," Erx said. "Obviously you have not heard the latest news on our predicament?"
Calandrx shook his head no.
"They have barred us from flying in space," Berx replied, barely able to say the words. "No matter what happens in the inquiry, we've been grounded… permanently."
Calandrx felt his heart sink. This was a blow he'd experienced himself some years ago. Grounded: It was a fate worse than death for most.
"But that's ridiculous!" Calandrx roared. "With all your years of service? With all your battle decorations? With all you've given for the Emperor?" His voice was very loud — not a good thing, considering his current location. But he didn't care.
"For what reason are you banished?" he asked them.
Both men just shrugged.
"We've seen too much? We know too much?" Erx replied. "Take your pick."
On those words, the door suddenly opened, and two enormous Earth Guards walked in. They didn't speak; they rarely did. Instead, they simply indicated it was time to go. The three men gloomily trooped out.
They were led down a long corridor, dark and brooding, with many locked, unmarked, ornately carved wooden doors on either side. There was no doubt about it now; they were in a building very close to the Imperial Palace. Calandrx took a sniff. He detected the unmistakable scent of Venusian perfume in the air. Not a good sign… O'Nay, the Empress and their son were all known to use the fragrance.
They finally reached a huge black door located at the far end of the hallway. The air was especially thick with perfume here. One guard opened the door to reveal a room vast even by imperial standards. An entire forest of precious maple must have gone into the woodwork; the floor was dull with ancient metallic rugs. A huge fireplace dominated one side of the room. Several giant logs, precious oak, were roaring within.
The guards nudged them inside and quickly shut the door-behind them. The first thing that went through Calandrx's mind was: This doesn't look like a torture chamber.
But when the Empress was involved, who knew?
That's when they looked to their right and saw, by the light of the fire, a diminutive figure dressed in white, sitting on a couch.
All three men sighed with relief. This was not O'Nay, nor the Empress, nor the mindless Prince. It was, in fact, the fourth member of the Imperial Family, the sweet and beautiful Xara, Princess of the Galaxy.