Crisis Of Empire - Crown Of Empire Part 23

"Get the hatch," Chaney told Tira, "And get in.

Fast." He scanned the bay.

The door they'd just come through opened again, and a tall, old man flanked by two enor- mous Logistics guards stepped forward. He was resplendent in his full dress Admiral s uniform and he was smiling. "So you've come to see my triumphant departure." The smile widened.

"Oh, yes, departure. You thought it was my arri- val, didn't you?"

"Admiral Sclerida!" said Tira.

He bowed once. "It's been a long time, Demoiselle." He spoke languidly.

Chaney spun around, his weapon aimed direcdy at Admiral Sderida, and knew he could not fire.

"Oh, come now. Don't spoil it, son." He came three steps nearer. "You've brought her to me, Yon."

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Tira had opened the hatch, but hesitated, lis- tening to the exchange.

"Get going," Chaney said over his shoulder.

"Now."

She stepped into the aircar, but could not take her attention away from the guards.

"You can abandon these false heroics, Yon.

You don't need to convince me, and it hardly matters what Demoiselle Bouriere thinks now.

You've performed admirably." Admiral Sclerida beamed. "I knew you would show yourself my son, after all."

"Go!" bellowed Chaney, whirling to shove Tira into the aircar. "CO!" Tira did as he ordered, her mind still reeling with shock. Chaney turned back to his father, gun wavering.

Tira felt the aircar lift at a sharp angle, then had to wrestle with the controls to keep it stable as it rose into the morning. Someone's shot out the buffers, she thought. One of the Logistics guards must have fired on her. That had to be it.

What else would cause the aircar to yaw the way it did?

Clinging to the skid beneath the aircar, Chaney watched the figure of his father shrink to a spot as the Sprinter climbed out of the defenses.

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Chapter 8.

Ereley knew the way to Horizon Park and he gave the driver concise instructions on the quick- est way to reach the huge reserve. Uke the others with him, he had donned a short vest with the spectrum painted on it, and wore an arm- band that said Rainbow Dawn.

Jessine sat very still, waiting to see what would

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happen. She was still numbed by Kitchley's death, and at the hands of a felIow-Daphnean.

More than anything she felt terribly tired.

As the aircar finally pulled away from the city, the Daphneans grew more relaxed, a few were almost jubilant. Sanldey, who seemed to be sec- ond in command, began one of the traditional chants of the Daphneans, a steady, repet.i.tious drone that the others joined, occasionally break- ing out in high cawing sounds.

"You will admit it was a bold ploy, Madame,"

said Ereley as he took the empty place beside Jessine.

"What? Killing Kitchley?" She turned to him without fear. "He was helping you."

"Not he," said Ereley, contemptuous. "He was helping you. That was his only intent, to save you, human; he wouldn't have cared if all of us died in the process."

"He was my friend," said Jessine with feeling.

"He was your toady, you mean." said Ereley.

"You liked him because he served you. If he had not done that, you wouldn't have paid any atten- tion to him at all. You would have treated him like just another alien functionary."

Jessine did not answer at first, for she had to admit there was some truth in the accusation. "I knew him because he was the Appointments

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Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Clerk," she said at last, very carefully- "I didn't have to like him for doing his job well. I liked him because he was a likeable man."

"Daphnean," corrected Ereley sharply. "He wasn't a human, he was Daphnean. We are all Daphnean here. Except you. You are the alien now." He could not conceal his satisfaction.

When he smiled he gloated- "You will do what suits us best, for a change.**

"What is it that suits you best?" she echoed, mistrusting even the sound of it.

The chanting was quite loud now, and it was difficult for Ereley to be heard over the sound- "We took a chance, capturing you, a very big chance. And it will be worth it, or you will be tossed aside as you have tossed so many of us aside."

"Are you going to overthrow the Pact?" She spoke more in disbelief than accusation. "Why should you? Daphne is part of the Pact."

"Is it? Is it really?" Ereley scoffed. "A strange way you have of showing our members.h.i.+p,, Madame. You permit the Haiken Maru and other conglomerates to s.h.i.+p us off to planets where it doesn't suit you to work. You pay us wages that would be laughable if they were not tragic, and you say that because you permit a few of us to serve your purposes at higher ranks that

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you have included us in the Pact We aren't even allowed to live on Earth without permits - given or sold by a human's whim!" He slammed down his hands on the back of the seat in front of him. The occupant swung around but never stopped chanting.

"But you are," said Jessine, belatedly begin- ning to fear the Daphnean. "You are all welcome in -" She stopped and went on more carefully.

"My husband said that there were officials who took bribes to ignore the kinds of abuses you describe. But that isn't the way the Pact is sup- posed to work."

"Does that change anything, saying that we aren't supposed to be a source of cheap labor for humans?" Ereley gestured angrily. "You send us your advisors, with their guns and their soldiers, and you tell me that this is not the work of delib- erate oppression?"

'That doesn't happen very often," said Jessine.

"What do you call often, Madame?" He indi- cated the other Daphneans in the aircar. "Ask them about relatives taken away at the whim of an advisor, about land seized and children pressed into service. Each one has endured something of the sort." He patted his armband.

'This will make a change. The Rainbow will set us all to rights."

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Chelsea Quinn farbro

"And you are its leader?" she asked.

"I am the leader on this planet, but there are others, many others. We have already made pro- gress in the Harmony Cl.u.s.ter. Governor Windsor supported equality. Governor Merikur supported Windsor - and now continues his campaign for equality. The Rainbow Dawn can - and will, if necessary - provide him with an army to enforce that equality." His eyes were bright, glazed with zeal.