The Emperor’s first impulse was disapproval, but then he wondered where Rihana was sleeping.
“I am sorry to intrude on you so abruptly,” he said to all three of the men, while they were still staring at the slight young woman sitting on the bed with their Emperor. “I have made my decision on the question of trying to save the Earth’s Sun.”
Bomeer folded his hands on the desktop. Fain, on his feet, shifted uneasily. Javas arched an eyebrow and looked more curious than anything else.
“I have listened to all your arguments and find that there is much merit in them. I have also listened carefully to Dr. Montgarde’s arguments, and find much merit in them, as well.”
Adela sat rigidly beside him. The expression on her face was frozen: She feared nothing and expected nothing. She neither hoped nor despaired. She waited.
“We will move the Imperial throne and all the Court to Earth’s only moon,” said the Emperor.
They gasped. All of them.
“Since this project to save the Sun will take many human generations, we will want the seat of the Empire close enough to the project so that the Emperor may take a direct view of the progress.”
“But you can’t move the entire capital!” Fain protested. “And to Earth! It’s a backwater—”
“Supreme Commander Fain,” the Emperor said sternly. “Yesterday you were prepared to move Earth’s millions. I ask now that the fleet move the Court’s thousands. And Earth will no longer be a backwater when the Empire is centered once again at the original home of the human race.”
Bomeer sputtered, “But… but what if her plan fails? The sun will explode… and…”
“That is a decision to be made in the future.”
He glanced at Adela. Her expression had not changed, but she was breathing rapidly now. The excitement had hit her body, it hadn’t yet penetrated her emotional defenses.
“Father,” Javas said, “may I point out that it takes fifteen years in realtime to reach the Earth from here? The Empire cannot be governed without an Emperor for that long.”
“Quite true, my son. You will go to Earth before me. Once there, you will become acting Emperor while I make the trip.”
Javas’ mouth dropped open. “The acting Emperor? For fifteen years?”
“With luck,” the Emperor said, grinning slightly, “old age will catch up with me before I reach Earth, and you will be the full-fledged Emperor for the rest of your life.”
“But I don’t want…”
“I know, Javas. But you will be Emperor someday. It is a responsibility you cannot avoid. Fifteen years of training will stand you in good stead.”
The Prince sat up straighter in his bed, his face serious, his eyes meeting his father’s steadily.
“And son,” the Emperor went on, “to be an Emperor—even for fifteen years—you must be master of your own house.”
Javas nodded. “I know, Father. I understand. And I will be.”
“Good.”
Then the Prince’s impish smile flitted across his face once again. “But tell me… suppose, while you are in transit toward Earth, I decide to move the Imperial capital elsewhere? What then?”
His father smiled back at him. “I believe I will just have to trust you not to do that.”
“You would trust me?” Javas asked.
“I always have.”
Javas’ smile took on a new pleasure. “Thank you, Father. I will be waiting for you on Earth’s Moon. And for the lovely Dr. Montgarde as well.”
Bomeer was still livid. “All this uprooting of everything… the costs… the manpower… over an unproven theory!”
“Why is the theory unproven, my friend?” the Emperor asked.
Bomeer’s mouth opened and closed like a fish’s, but no words came out.
“It is unproven,” said the Emperor, “because our scientists have never gone so far before. In fact, the sciences of the Hundred Worlds have not made much progress at all in several generations. Isn’t that true, Bomeer?”
“We… Sire, we have reached a natural plateau in our understanding of the physical universe. It has happened before. Our era is one of consolidation and practical application of already-acquired knowledge, not new basic breakthroughs.”
“Well, this project will force some new thinking and new breakthroughs, I warrant. Certainly we will be forced to recruit new scientists and engineers by the shipload. Perhaps that will be impetus enough to start the climb upward again, eh, Bomeer? I never did like plateaus.”
The academician lapsed into silence.
“And I see you, Fain,” the Emperor said, “trying to calculate in your head how much of your fleet’s strength is going to be wasted on this old man’s dream.”
“Sire, I had no—”
The Emperor waved him into silence. “No matter. Moving the capital won’t put much of a strain on the fleet, will it?”
“No, Sire. But this project to save Earth—”
“We will have to construct new ships for that, Fain. And we will have to turn to the frontier worlds for them.” He glanced at Adela. “I believe that the frontier worlds will gladly join the effort to save Earth’s Sun. And their treasuries will be enriched by our purchase of thousands of new ships.”
“While the Imperial treasury is depleted.”
“It’s a rich Empire, Fain. It’s time we shared some of our wealth with the frontier worlds. A large shipbuilding program will do more to reconcile them with the Empire than anything else we can imagine.”
“Sire,” said Fain bluntly, “I still think it’s madness.”
“Yes, I know. Perhaps it is. I only hope that I live long enough to find out, one way or the other.”
“Sire,” Adela said breathlessly, “you will be reuniting all the worlds of the Empire into a closely knit human community such as we haven’t seen in centuries!”
“Perhaps. It would be pleasant to believe so. But for the moment, all I have done is to implement a decision to try to save Earth’s Sun. It may succeed; it may fail. But we are sons and daughters of planet Earth, and we will not allow our original homeworld to be destroyed without struggling to our uttermost to save it.”
He looked at their faces again. They were all waiting for him to continue. You grow pompous, old man.
“Very well. You each have several lifetimes of work to accomplish. Get busy, all of you.”
Bomeer’s and Fain’s images winked off immediately. Javas’ remained.
“Yes, my son? What is it?”
Javas’ ever-present smile was gone. He looked serious, even troubled. “Father… I am not going to bring Rihana with me to Earth. She wouldn’t want to come, I know—at least, not until all the comforts of the Court were established there for her.”
The Emperor nodded.
“If I’m to be master of my own house,” Javas went on, “it’s time we ended this farce of a marriage.”
“Very well, son. That is your decision to make. But, for what it’s worth, I agree with you.”
“Thank you, Father.” Javas’ image disappeared.
For a long moment the Emperor sat gazing thoughtfully at the wall where the holographic images had appeared.
“I believe that I will send you to Earth on Javas’ ship. I think he likes you, and it is important that the two of you get along well together.”
Adela looked almost shocked. “What do you mean by ‘get along well together’?”
The Emperor grinned at her. “That’s for the two of you to decide.”
“You’re scandalous!” she said, but she was smiling, too.
He shrugged. “Call it part of the price of victory. You’ll like Javas; he’s a good man. And I doubt that he’s ever met a woman quite like you.”