Skolian Empire: The Radiant Seas Part 39

Unlike Tikal, Soz had no concerns in regards to Taquinil's sanity. She was far more worried about what he and Dehya might come up with when the two of them combined their phenomenal intellects.

24.

Empress Viquara sipped from her goblet of wine. The only light in her bedroom came from a lamp by her armchair, just enough to read the Hawkracer reports she held. The guards in her female contingent of Razers were stationed around the walls, along with four women in Calope Muze's secret police. In a room so large, they almost disappeared into the deepening shadows of night. Viquara often forgot they were there.

On the bed, Judge Calope sat dozing against the headboard, her long legs stretched out, her body covered in a gray tunic that extended to her thighs. s.h.i.+mmering white hair curled in disarray around her face. Viquara wondered if the judge had aged past the stage where biotech would keep her hair black or if she simply didn't care that it had turned white. Given that the centenarian otherwise kept herself bodysculpted to look at least a half-century younger than her true age, Viquara suspected Calope had no choice about her hair.

Cayson lay on his side next to the judge, his eyes closed and his arms stretched over his head. The bedcovers were bunched up around his calves after his exertions with the elderly Calope. Viquara didn't think he was asleep, though. She saw too much tension in his beautiful body.

She set down the reports and her wine and went to lie on the bed, fully dressed, on the other side of Cayson. He turned onto his back to look at her, his arms still stretched over his head. They had to stay that way, after all, given that Calope had locked his wrist cuffs into a ring in the headboard.

Viquara pushed up onto her elbow and kissed him, tickling his lips open with her tongue. He responded well. But when she pulled back, he jerked his head, trying to move a curl of hair that had fallen into his face. She watched him struggle with it, oddly aroused by his attempts. Then she rolled over and took a bowl of fruit off the nightstand. When she turned back, Cayson was staring at the fruit.

She spoke in a low voice, so she didn't wake Calope. "When did you last eat?"

"This morning," he said. "Before the Razers brought me here."

No wonder. She had been called away and had forgotten she sent an escort for him. He must have been lying in bed all day with nothing to eat.

"Here." She held a cl.u.s.ter of fat berries over his mouth. He grabbed one with his teeth and ate it in seconds. But when he went for another, she pulled away the cl.u.s.ter. "Not so fast. You'll make yourself sick."

Calope opened her eyes and smiled lazily. "Let him eat, Viquara." She brushed the curl out of Cayson's eyes, her hand lingering on his forehead.

Viquara gave him a berry. To Calope she said, "What do you think of the Hawkracer reports?"

The judge stretched her arms. "The experiment was more successful than I expected. But I still think it's inhumane, putting providers in combat." She bent over and kissed Cayson. "Better to stay in bed, hmmmm?"

Cayson stared up at her. "Yes, Your Honor."

Viquara smiled. Then she slid off the bed and stood next to it. "I will see you two later."

The judge gave a satisfied stretch of her arms. "Your hospitality is unequaled, Viquara."

She wondered if Calope would feel so pleased if she knew how proficient the beautiful Cayson had proved at spy work. Viquara knew a great deal now, including the fact that Calope considered her cousin Corbal Xir better suited to the Carnelian Throne than Jaibriol.

Viquara paced through the palace, brooding, her bodyguards accompanying her like shadows. She climbed up s.h.i.+mmering white stairs to the emperor's suite. Keeping Jaibriol imprisoned had proved easier than she expected. The Aristos found his seclusion logical. For years his father had hidden him against ISC. And indeed, only months after his first public appearance, ISC captured him. For fifteen years he had evaded a death chase, until finally he returned to Glory in triumph. It surprised no one that he reigned as a recluse, surrounded by security.

Viquara left her guards outside the emperor's suite. Inside, she found Kryx Quaelen in the office connected to the rooms where they kept Jaibriol. Her new husband was reading a copy of the Hawkracer reports. It disturbed her to see him sitting behind the desk where once Ur Qox had sat.

She paused in the doorway. "What do you think?"

He looked up. "Six of the eight telops went into shock."

"That wasn't in the report for the War Cabinet."

"I deleted it." Quaelen set down the holograph. "The two Skolian telops were all right, but the six providers we trained almost went catatonic. Apparently they can't handle experiencing death in combat."

Viquara frowned. "Putting telops on wars.h.i.+ps does no good if they can't function after even the simplest engagement."

"The stability of the Skolian telops gives us something to work with," Quaelen pointed out. "It suggests their minds can be protected."

Like my son, Viquara thought. "Have you spoken to Jaibriol yet?"

"Not yet." He stood up. "Shall we?"

She walked into the room, still stiff in Quaelen's presence. He came around the desk and stopped in front of her, studying her face. Then he touched her nose. "It goes up too much."

Viquara pulled her head away, watching him with a cool gaze. She had spent a great deal of thought on the specifications she gave the bodysculptors for fine-tuning her face. One reason Ur had never appointed Admiral Kaliga to a Ministry position, despite the old warrior's venerable bloodline, was because Kaliga refused to have his ugly face molded into heroic proportions. Appropriate decorum included a favorable appearance.

"I find myself pleased with the work," she said.

"Perhaps you should find your husband pleased." Quaelen turned away and left the office. With a frown, Viquara followed.

They found Jaibriol reading in the library. When they came in, he looked up and tensed, like a beautiful trapped animal.

Quaelen and Viquara took up chairs opposite the emperor, facing him like a bulwark. With his chair almost flush against the bookshelf behind him, he had nowhere to go.

Viquara read the t.i.tle of his book. "The Ascendance of Eube. A good choice."

He spoke in a cool voice. "That depends on how you define 'good.' I'll grant this much: as a treatise on how to subjugate populations using indoctrination, drugs, genetic manipulation, the granting or denial of affection, s.e.xual abuse, and erratic positive reinforcement, it has no equal."

Quaelen considered him. "According to the palace records, you received a prodigious education, Your Highness."

Jaibriol closed the book. "Kryx, make your point. I've no interest in verbal dances."

The minister regarded him with shadowed eyes. "One wonders, though, if perhaps certain aspects of your admirable education were neglected. Such as the means of civilized discourse."

Jaibriol got up and went to the bookcase. As he slid his book into its slot, Quaelen asked, "Have you ever thought, Jaibriol, that it is to your advantage to be more cooperative?"

The emperor just stared at his books, ancient texts, written in calligraphy. "What do you want?"

Viquara spoke softly. "Sauscony Valdoria."

He turned to them. "Why come to me?"

"It occurs to me," Quaelen said, "that you have a remarkable talent for evasion."

"It occurs to me," Jaibriol said, "that you have a remarkable talent for sounding articulate without saying a single flaming thing."

Quaelen stiffened and Viquara saw his arm tense, as it did when he meant to strike a slave. "Fifteen years' worth of evasion," he said.

Jaibriol looked from him to Viquara. "A world is a large place. She and I weren't even on the same continents at first."

"At first." Quaelen watched him. "I imagine you were at the end, though, hmmm? She must have been close, to have found your communications equipment so soon."

"Apparently," Jaibriol said.

Viquara was certain he knew more than he admitted. After decades among Hightons, she had become an expert at reading the nuances of body language, and Jaibriol had never learned to disguise his. She touched the pager on her bracelet.

Jaibriol tensed. "What are you doing?"

"It would be unfortunate to miss your medication," she said.

"I'm not sick."

A rustle came from the doorway. Two medics stood there, humanoid robots, one platinum and the other gold, their polished surfaces agleam in the light.

Her son swallowed. "I don't need anything."

"Have you ever heard Kri's work?" Viquara asked.

He was still watching the robots. "Who?"

"Carzalan Kri," she said. "I find his epic Beneath the Lowering Night haunting."

Jaibriol turned to stare at her. "It made me ill."

"It is beautifully written," Quaelen said.

"A poem about the torment and death of a people who resisted enslavement?" Jaibriol said. "The beauty of the language doesn't make the subject matter any less horrific."

"More so, if anything," Viquara said. "It is a chilling work." She paused. "A lesson, one might say."

Jaibriol glanced at the medics, then back at her. "I don't have anything to tell you."

She touched her bracelet and the robots entered the library, moving with smooth mechanical steps. They had human shape but only horizontal slits for eyes and no mouth or nose.

Jaibriol backed up as the robots walked forward. They trapped him in a corner where two shelves met. Flattening himself against the books, he gave Viquara a look she recognized. Cayson watched her that way sometimes, as if making a mute appeal for her to change her nature, to become weak and empathic like a provider.

When the gold medic reached for Jaibriol, he tried to lunge between the robots. They caught him easily and pinned him against the shelves. A gleaming metal needle snicked out from the fingertip of the platinum medic. Viquara supposed she could have had an air syringe installed instead. Metal seemed more aesthetic to their design, though.

Jaibriol stared at the needle, then at Viquara. "Mother," he said.

She spoke gently. "Don't be afraid. The medicine will make it easier for you to cooperate with us."

"No!" He jerked as the robot inserted the needle. Viquara clamped down her mental defenses, blocking out his psion's mind to ensure she had no inappropriate responses to his pain.

So they waited, Jaibriol staring at them while the medics held him against the wall. Gradually he sagged in their grip, as the drug took effect. The robots helped him to his arm-chair and took up posts on either side after he was seated.

"How do you feel?" Viquara asked him.

"Tired," he said.

"What is your name?" Quaelen asked.

"Jaibriol Qox the Second."

"Where are you?"

"In the emperor's palace on Glory."

"How old are you?" Viquara asked.

"Thirty-eight."

"How many children do you have?" Quaelen asked.

No answer.

"What was the name of your mistress on Prism?" Viquara asked, using his name for the planet.

"I had no mistress," Jaibriol said.

"You didn't live with anyone?" Quaelen asked.

He just looked at them.

"What are the names of your children?" Viquara asked.

His mouth worked as if he were trying to form words. But nothing came out.

Viquara motioned at the medics. A needle snicked out from a gold finger and the robot injected Jaibriol. Again Viquara strove to shut out the transcendent flare of his pain.

Quaelen leaned forward, his lips parted. "How many children do you have?"

"None." Jaibriol's voice sounded strained.

"How long was Sauscony Valdoria your mistress?" Viquara asked.

His shoulders relaxed. "She was never my mistress. What an absurd idea."

The confident response gave Viquara pause. Were they worried over nothing? She glanced at Quaelen and he gave an almost imperceptible shrug. Then he turned to Jaibriol. "Who is the mother of your child?"

Jaibriol's mouth worked, but no sound came out.

Quaelen glanced at the platinum medic. "If we give the emperor more serum will it damage him?"

The robot extruded a thin rod from its finger, clicked it into Jaibriol's wrist cuff, then extracted it. "It could cause a loss of consciousness or convulsions."

"It's too risky," Viquara said.