— 21 —
Turtle felt the sound shield go down. He glanced at Amber Soul. How long could she continue the total commitment needed to hide from VII Gemina? Not long enough, he feared. Even he could feel the probing edges of the great slow booming pulse of the somnolent thing that was the Gemina within and beneath the VII Gemina of ceramics, plastics, and metal.
It was the thing that was the sum of all that the Starbase builders had wrought, all the Guardship had learned, and all that had been input by Deification. It was the thing that made the Guardship so fearsome. It was the thing that, vaguely sensed, made all Canon shiver in dread and overrate a Guardship's terrible might.
Turtle knew the Guardships were not invincible. Not yet.
He noted movement among the silent, seated hundreds staring down at them, forgot Amber Soul.
So.
He did not recognize individuals, only uniform styles.
That was enough.
Here came people who knew that he knew about Guardships being vulnerable.
They surrounded him. And for a long time they just stood there, staring.
And for a long time he just stared back. Were these living creatures as old as he? Or were they VII Gemina's dead somehow recalled to life? "They are great necromancers, humans," old Kote had warned him before he had donned the K'tiba and had taken up the sword of honor. "They master sorceries beyond our ken."
"The mightiest wizard falls at one blow of the sword."
Kote had clicked his tongue in amusement. "Become a wizard, warrior child. Become the greatest wizard of the Ku. For it is their wizards who wield the mightiest swords."
In short, learn to think like the enemy, then outthink the enemy—instead of going on trying to outgut him and outfight him.
And so he had done.
"Kez Maefele. Greetings."
He turned to the woman. Now he knew her. She had been WarAvocat VII Gemina when the Surrender was signed. When he and the Dire Radiant had defied lawful orders to yield their arms and had, instead, fled into the waste reaches of the Web to continue the struggle.
It had been she, and perhaps these others, who had stalked the killers of the Dire Radiant till no ship but his Delicate Harmony, tired and torn and limping on wounded legs, remained. Till he had given the order that he had despised.
He clicked his heels and bowed slightly, after the fashion of the conquerers. "Greetings, WarAvocat. It has taken you three thousand years."
"Close enough as makes no difference. What are a few centuries from this perspective?"
Turtle now knew the thing he faced was nothing of flesh. They are great necromancers....
"What mischief have you been up to, Kez Maefele?"
"Staying alive in a hostile universe."
"You've had more than your share of luck."
"Perhaps luck had nothing to do with it, WarAvocat. Till now."
"Luck has run out. The Ku Question has run its course. The symbol is about to receive its final blow."
"You do nurture a grudge beyond any rational limit, WarAvocat. I, who suffered the loss, do not recall your name, but you have fed a hatred so old and so strong you want to do murder after thirty centuries."
"Not murder. An overdue..."
A voice cut across the woman's. ‘There'll be no killing, whatever you call it."
The woman turned furious but betrayed herself as a being not of flesh. She did not look at her contradictor.
Turtle did, plundered ancient memories to get an estimate of the man. A Dictat. But he wore the insignia of a WarAvocat and was among the living still. The combination would make him the most powerful being aboard. And more dangerous than the ghost, whose motives were not shrouded.
The woman and her companions went transparent as their attention turned inward. The woman appeared determined to argue.
"This is a valuable resource," the living WarAvocat said. He descended from his throne. "I won't waste it to satisfy an ancient grudge."
A stir rippled those figures seated at either hand. Turtle realized they were all Deified. The man approaching was the only living being of stature present. Had it come to that here, too? That the dead ruled VII Gemina and the living obeyed in hopes of being elected to the company of immortals?
The woman spat at the living WarAvocat. Her spittle vanished instantly.
There were limits to their sorcery.
They are ghosts, he told himself. But ghosts with a will to kill. Ghosts whose will could shape the universe.
Amber Soul screamed.
The psychic wave staggered Turtle. WarAvocat halted. His mouth dropped open. His skin became more pallid. His eyes bugged and his hands fluttered. But he did not remain rattled. He came on.
Turtle glanced behind him. Midnight crouched over Amber Soul, wings spread. Good. Her mind was not empty all the time. The others followed her lead, masking Amber Soul.
WarAvocat paused beyond jumping distance. "You are the Kez Maefele of Dire Radiant legend?"
"I was a long time ago, WarAvocat. These days I'm Turtle, a nonhuman spacer stranded by the strictures of Canon law."
"The Ku are long-lived."
"Wizards and warriors, WarAvocat. Other ghifus have shorter lifespans."
"That's right. Your geneticists wanted those castes to live till somebody killed them."
Caste was no synonym for ghifu. But why correct the man? It was not worth the trouble. "It was a hope."
"And you came from a breed designed to combine both castes."
"An idea that bloomed too late."
"I'm a student of your tactics in the waste spaces. The Dire Radiant was effective far beyond its strength."
Turtle shrugged. "In the end it did no good."
"It never does. But they never stop trying."
"What do you want? None of us have done VII Gemina or Canon any violence."
"The Deified were interested. You made fools of them once. Now I'm interested. You refused to take part in the rebellion. You tried to warn the authorities. Why?"
"To prevent pointless slaughter. The Concord were idiots. They could not hear the cries of four millennia of idiots who preceded them and dragged countless innocents down with them. But the High City people were as stupid as all their predecessors. So they died. The Concord fools died. And the innocent are dying still. For nothing."
WarAvocat responded only by looking thoughtful.
Turtle wanted to check Amber Soul again. She continued to radiate something that frayed his nerves. WarAvocat was not affected.
"What's wrong with her? Does she need medical attention?"
"She needs to be removed from VII Gemina. She is psionically sensitive. The gut of a Guardship festers with souls, all electromagnetically active, some marginally psionically active. She's straining to maintain her identity."
Turtle had no idea of the truth. That sounded good. "She'll lose unless she's moved out."
WarAvocat did not appear concerned. He started to ask a question.
"I've said enough. I owe you nothing. You've dragged these people here without right, unjustly, and illegally. I won't abet your crimes."
WarAvocat laughed. "You amuse me. I am the law. Justice and right are whatever I say they are." He started to ask a question.
Turtle turned away.
"Way of kokadu? That's a certain path to death, Kez Maefele."
"Death comes."
"Access." Turtle glanced back as a greenish shimmer slid over WarAvocat's shoulder. "WarAvocat for Peacekeeper One." The shimmer buzzed like insect wings. "Peacekeeper One, suspend all medical services and disaster relief till further notice." The insect buzzed. "It's being considered."