The Godspeakers were so called because they could summon the Presence to grisly rites carried out by their human cohorts. They could communicate over any distance through the medium of the Web.
"Uhm!"
Though the Godspeakers set down colonies wherever they found suitable worlds, they were not empire builders. Nor were they true proselytizers. Those sprang from their human companions.
WarAvocat paced, bewildered. His experience with superstition was limited to an uncertain belief in Tawn, VII Gemina's tutelary. He was repelled and revolted by those creatures. He felt no impulse toward mercy.
He was tired and slow. Maybe he was too old. He considered potential successors. None could cope any better.
"Access, the Deified Aleas Notable, if she's willing." They had become friends during their year as Dictats. He had not stood for reelection. She had been reelected the twice she had stood.
"Hanaver? Are you brooding again?"
"Me?"
"You."
He asked if she had reviewed the data just received.
"I have now."
Disconcerting. "And the commentaries filed in response?"
"Ah. I see what you mean. This struggle will have no end short of extermination of the methane breathers and their creed. It's the most evil thing we've ever encountered."
"Have you reviewed Starbase's recommendations?"
"No subject has ever exercised the Deified as much. But I doubt any have reviewed the Outsider info—and I suspect its implications are the predicates upon which Starbase's recommendations are based. You wanted me to see that? I've passed it on."
"I want an opinion. Should I retire?"
The face on the screen went vacant. Then, "You want a vote of confidence? You got it. Nine to one against your retirement."
"My confidence doesn't need buoying. I'm burned out, Aleas."
"And thinking about the artifact still?"
He had told her. "Yes. Damn it. I'm lonely."
"Gemina has her specs. We could run a copy."
"Politically unacceptable."
"We'll think of something."
"I'm sorry for disturbing you."
"Hanaver Strate! You ... Forget it. I have things to do."
WarAvocat grunted. If he got to work, he would not have these lapses. He would not have the time.
He put the Tregesser report aside, reviewed what other Guardships had learned about the enemy empire. The information would not take shape as a whole. Maybe if he went to Hall of the Stars....
Something had begun to nag. Something to do with star charts. Spots of blue.
"Access, Gemina. I need the visual data gathered by the soldiers who stormed the orbital fortress used to neutralize Objective Thirty-Eight." He had reviewed the material once and found it uninteresting. "Specifically, what was taped at the fortress's heart."
One company had gone all the way. The heart had proved to be a hollow sphere containing several thousand points of blue light. Twenty-some methane breathers had lain heaped in bowls on the surface of that hollow.
Could those blue points be some kind of chart?
He ordered them examined on that assumption. Gemina justified everything into the human sensory range, presented it three-dimensionally.
"It is a chart, then?"
affirmative
"Of what?"
insufficient data
"Find correspondences with our own charts."
Blink-blink-blink, a wave of about eighty flashes. systems suspected to be occupied by methane breathers. there are no representations for systems neutralized. A lot of blinks. systems inhabited by subject species.
"What's our viewpoint? Show me the Rim."
A red gauze curtain sliced off part of the egg. Blue points floated on the Canon side. "Damn. Match those with known systems. Then eliminate everything associated with a known system."
As blue sparks vanished, he noted the presence of a brown sparkle similar to those representing subject systems not associated with blue sparks. "Knock out the brown spots not associated with a known system."
All those went. Several hundred blue sparks remained. He toyed with them, concluded they represented methane breathers on the Web.
They could track one another on the Web!
action incumbent?
"Advise Starbase. Suggest directives to all systems noted our side of the Rim. Also suggest penetration of additional orbital fortresses to obtain longer tape exposures."
He sat down, leaned back, closed his eyes, pleased with himself.
"That quick interplay of analysis and intuition is why the Deified won't accept your retirement."
"Aleas?"
"In the flesh."
He opened his eyes. "What the hell?"
"I had myself reanimated. Gemina approved. That's some response, Hanaver. When I was this age, I was considered reasonably attractive. By the standards of the time."
"Or any other." This was an act of friendship that prostrated him. And one he did not know how to accept.
"It'll take me a while to learn how to handle a body again. I'd forgotten so much. Especially how limited you are."
"Aleas..."
"Never mind, Hanaver. I know you better than you think. It's worth a try."
— 106 —
Again there were three men in the embassy. These three were accustomed to Canon ways. Their spokesman was a florid, heavy man who smiled a lot even when he was alone with his own kind.
"Their top gun," Two told Provik.
"Yes. Anything more from station?"
"It's done."
"Set the stage, then."
Two brought in a Valerena Other, Blessed, the Ku, and Cable Shike. Lupo said, "Sorry we ruined your holiday, Kez Maefele. You deserved it. Have you heard the word from J. Belaria?"
"Yes. I expect it explains why they are conciliatory."
"I didn't think it would work. Nobody ought to be so dumb they run from decoys into an ambush."
"You knew they were decoys. They could not tell what was real and what wasn't. They should now think House Tregesser much stronger than it is."
"Let's find out. Let them in, Two."
Blessed asked, "Why the hell do you call her Two?"
"It's her name."
"It's weird."
Even the Valerena smiled at that from someone named Blessed.
Blessed blustered. "Can't she talk? She never says anything."
"Of course she can. When she has something to say."
Two winked at Blessed before she opened the door.
Lupo got up from behind his desk, met the florid man. "Welcome to Tregesser Horata, Mr. Korint. It's been a while."
Startled reaction. "You know me?"
"You were often there when Simon was arms shopping. You preferred the name Rejins." Lupo resumed his seat. "We appreciate your coming in civilized instead of like pirates. Though the presence of that Godspeaker thing was a provocation. We disposed of it. Let's get down to business."
"You messed with the Godspeaker?"
"No. We killed it. Those things aren't welcome in Tregesser space."
Korint was aghast. Likewise, his companions.
"I want you to understand that I find your religion loathsome. It deserves everything the Guardships are doing. But I don't let prejudice get in the way of business. What do you have to offer?"
The encounter had Korint turned around. "A chance to survive, Provik."
"Are we in some danger? We've had nuisance level problems with pirates but haven't had any trouble handling it. Heard about J. Belaria? Twenty-four pirate ships destroyed?"
"I've heard."
"Good. You're against the wall. You want help. We might be willing. If there's something in it for us."
Korint opened his mouth.
"Don't tell me you'll betray us to the Guardships. We rewrote that chapter starting when the shooting stopped in that end space. You've helped our image, trying to leverage us."