XX
Marduk had three moons; a big one, fifteen hundred miles indiameter, and two insignificant twenty-mile chunks of rock. The bigone was fortified, and a couple of ships were in orbit around it.The _Nemesis_ was challenged as she emerged from her last hyperjump;both ships broke orbit and came out to meet her, and several morewere detected lifting away from the planet.
Prince Bentrik took the communication screen, and immediatelyencountered difficulties. The commandant, even after the situationhad been explained twice to him, couldn't understand. A Royal Navyfleet unit knocked out in a battle with Space Vikings was badenough, but being rescued and brought to Marduk by another SpaceViking simply didn't make sense. He then screened the Royal Palaceat Malverton, on the planet; first he was icily polite to somebodyseveral echelons below him in the peerage, and then respectfullypolite to somebody he addressed as Prince Vandarvant. Finally, aftersome minutes' wait, a frail, white-haired man in a little blackcap-of-maintenance appeared in the screen. Prince Bentrik instantlysprang to his feet. So did all the other Mardukans in the commandroom.
"Your Majesty! I am most deeply honored!"
"Are you all right, Simon?" the old gentleman asked solicitously."They haven't done anything to you, have they?"
"Saved my life, and my men's, and treated me like a friend anda comrade, Your Majesty. Have I your permission to present,informally, their commander, Prince Trask of Tanith?"
"Indeed you may, Simon. I owe the gentleman my deepest thanks."
"His Majesty, Mikhyl the Eighth, Planetary King of Marduk," PrinceBentrik said. "His Highness, Lucas, Prince Trask, Planetary Viceroyof Tanith for his Majesty Angus the First of Gram."
The elderly monarch bowed his head slightly; Trask bowed a littlemore deeply, from the waist.
"I am very happy, Prince Trask, first, I confess, at the safe returnof my kinsman Prince Bentrik, and then at the honor of meeting onein the confidence of my fellow sovereign King Angus of Gram. I willnever be ungrateful for what you did for my cousin and for hisofficers and men. You must stay at the Palace while you are on thisplanet; I am giving orders for your reception, and I wish you to beformally presented to me this evening." He hesitated briefly. "Gram;that is one of the Sword-Worlds, is it not?" Another briefhesitation. "Are you really a Space Viking, Prince Trask?"
Maybe he'd expected Space Vikings to have three horns and a spikedtail and stand twelve feet tall, himself.
It took several hours for the _Nemesis_ to get into orbit. Bentrikspent most of them in a screen-booth, and emerged visibly relieved.
"Nobody's going to be sticky about what happened on Audhumla," hetold Trask. "There will be a Board of Inquiry. I'm afraid I had tomix you up in that. It's not only about the action on Audhumla;everybody from the Space Minister down wants to hear what you knowabout this fellow Dunnan. Like yourself, we all hope he went toEm-See-Square along with his flagship, but we can't take it forgranted. We have over a dozen trade-planets to protect, and he'shit more than half of them already."
The process of getting into orbit took them around the planetseveral times, and it was a more impressive spectacle at eachcircuit. Of course, Marduk had a population of almost two billion,and had been civilized, with no hiatus of Neobarbarism, since ithad first been colonized in the Fourth Century. Even so, the SpaceVikings were amazed--and stubbornly refusing to show it--at whatthey saw in the telescopic screens.
"Look at that city!" Paytrik Morland whispered. "We talk about thecivilized planets, but I never realized they were anything likethis. Why, this makes Excalibur look like Tanith!"
* * * * *
The city was Malverton, the capital; like any city of acontragravity-using people, it lay in a rough circle of buildingstowering out of green interspaces, surrounded by the smaller circlesof spaceports and industrial suburbs. The difference was that any ofthese were as large as Camelot on Excalibur or four Wardshavens onGram, and Malverton itself was almost half the size of the wholebarony of Traskon.
"They aren't any more civilized that we are, Paytrik. There are justmore of them. If there were two billion people on Gram--which I hopethere never will be--Gram would have cities like this, too."
One thing; the government of a planet like Marduk would have tobe something more elaborate than the loose feudalism of theSword-Worlds. Maybe this Goldberg-ocracy of theirs had been forcedupon them by the sheer complexity of the population and itsproblems.
Alvyn Karffard took a quick look around him to make sure noneof the Mardukans were in earshot.
"I don't care how many people they have," he said. "Marduk can behad. A wolf never cares how many sheep there are in a flock. Withtwenty ships, we could take this planet like we took Eglonsby.There'd be losses coming in, sure, but after we were in and down,we'd have it."
"Where would we get twenty ships?"
Tanith, at a pinch, could muster five or six, counting the freeSpace Vikings who used the base facilities; they would have to leavea couple to hold the planet. Beowulf had one, and another almostcompleted, and now there was an Amaterasu ship. But to assemble aSpace Viking armada of twenty.... He shook his head. The real reasonwhy Space Vikings had never raided a civilized planet successfullyhad always been their inability to combine under one command insufficient strength.
Besides, he didn't want to raid Marduk. A raid, if successful, wouldyield immense treasures, but cause a hundred, even a thousand, timesas much destruction, and he didn't want to destroy anythingcivilized.
The landing stages of the palace were crowded when he and PrinceBentrik landed, and, at a discreet distance, swarms of air-vehiclescircled, creating a control problem for the police. Parting fromBentrik, he was escorted to the suite prepared for him; it wasluxurious in the extreme but scarcely above Sword-World standards.There were a surprising number of human servants, groveling andfawning and getting underfoot and doing work robots could have beendoing better. What robots there were were inefficient, and much workand ingenuity had been lavished on efforts to copy human form to thedetriment of function.
After getting rid of most of the superfluous servants, he put on ascreen and began sampling the newscasts. There were telescopic viewsof the _Nemesis_ from some craft on orbit nearby, and he watched theofficers and men of the _Victrix_ being disembarked; there wereother views of their landing at some naval installation on theground, and he could see reporters being chevied away by Navyground-police. And there was a wide range of commentary opinion.
The Government had already denied that, (1) Prince Bentrik hadcaptured the _Nemesis_ and brought her in as a prize, and, (2) theSpace Vikings had captured Prince Bentrik and were holding him forransom. Beyond that, the Government was trying to sit on the wholestory, and the Opposition was hinting darkly at corrupt deals andsinister plots. Prince Bentrik arrived in the midst of animpassioned tirade against pusillanimous traitors surrounding hisMajesty who were betraying Marduk to the Space Vikings.
"Why doesn't your Government publish the facts and put a stop tothat nonsense?" Trask asked.
"Oh, let them rave," Bentrik replied. "The longer the Governmentwaits, the more they'll be ridiculed when the facts are published."
Or, the more people will be convinced that the Government hadsomething to hush up, and had to take time to construct a plausiblestory. He kept the thought to himself. It was their government; howthey mismanaged it was their own business. He found that there wasno bartending robot; he had to have a human servant bring drinks. Hemade up his mind to have a few of the _Nemesis_ robots sent down to him.
* * * * *
The formal presentation would be in the evening; there would be adinner first, and because Trask had not yet been formally presented,he couldn't dine with the King, but because he was, or claimed tobe, Viceroy of Tanith, he ranked as a chief of state and would dinewith the Crown Prince, to whom there would be an informalintroduction first.
This took place in a small ante-chamber off the banquet hall; theCrown P
rince and Crown Princess and Princess Bentrik were there whenthey arrived. The Crown Prince was a man of middle age, graying atthe temples, with the glassy stare that betrayed contact lenses. Theresemblance between him and his father was apparent; both had thesame studious and impractical expression, and might have beenprofessors on the same university faculty. He shook hands withTrask, assuring him of the gratitude of the Court and Royal Family.
"You know, Simon is next in succession, after myself and my littledaughter," he said. "That's too close to take chances with him." Heturned to Bentrik. "I'm afraid this is your last space adventure,Simon. You'll have to be a spaceport spaceman from now on."
"I shan't be sorry," Princess Bentrik said. "And if anybody owesPrince Trask gratitude, I do." She pressed his hands warmly. "PrinceTrask, my son wants to meet you, very badly. He's ten years old, andhe thinks Space Vikings are romantic heroes."
"He should be one, for a while."
He should just see a planet Space Vikings had raided.
Most of the people at the upper end of the table werediplomats--ambassadors from Odin and Baldur and Isis and Ishtar andAton and the other civilized worlds. No doubt they hadn't actuallyexpected horns and a spiked tail, or even tattooing and a nose ring,but after all, Space Vikings were just some sort of Neobarbarians,weren't they? On the other hand, they had all seen views and gottendescriptions of the _Nemesis_, and had heard about the ship-actionon Audhumla, and this Prince Trask--a Space Viking prince; thatsounded civilized enough--had saved a life with only three otherlives, one almost at an end, between it and the throne. And they hadheard about the screen conversation with King Mikhyl. So they werecourteous through the meal, and tried to get as close as possible tohim in the procession to the throne room.
King Mikhyl wore a golden crown topped by the planetary emblem,which must have weighed twice as much as a combat helmet, andfur-edged robes that would weigh more than a suit of space armor.They weren't nearly as ornate, though, as the regalia of King AngusI of Gram. He rose to clasp Prince Bentrik's hand, calling him "dearcousin," and congratulating him on his gallant fight and fortunateescape. That knocks any court-martial talk on the head, Traskthought. He remained standing to shake hands with Trask, calling him"valued friend to me and my house." First person singular; that mustbe causing some lifted eyebrows.
Then the King sat down, and the rest of the roomful filed up ontothe dais to be received, and finally it was over and the king roseand proceeded, followed by his immediate suite between the bowingand curtsying court and out the wide doors. After a decent interval,Crown Prince Edvard escorted him and Prince Bentrik down the sameroute, the others falling in behind, and across the hall to theballroom, where there was soft music and refreshments. It wasn't toounlike a court reception on Excalibur, except that the drinks andcanapes were being dispensed by human servants.
He was wondering what sort of court functions Angus the First ofGram was holding by now.
After half an hour, a posse of court functionaries approached andinformed him that it had pleased his Majesty to command Prince Traskto attend him in his private chambers. There was an audible gasp atthis; both Prince Bentrik and the Crown Prince were trying not togrin too broadly. Evidently this didn't happen too often. He followedthe functionaries from the ballroom, and the eyes of everybody elsefollowed him.
* * * * *
Old King Mikhyl received him alone, in a small, comfortably shabbyroom behind vast ones of incredible splendor. He wore fur-linedslippers and a loose robe with a fur collar, and his little blackcap-of-maintenance. He was standing when Trask entered; when theguards closed the door and left them alone, he beckoned Trask toa couple of chairs, with a low table, on which were decanters andglasses and cigars, between.
"It's a presumption on royal authority to summon you from theballroom," he began, after they had seated themselves and filledglasses. "You are quite the cynosure, you know."
"I'm grateful to Your Majesty. It's both comfortable and quiet here,and I can sit down. Your Majesty was the center of attention in thethrone room, yet I seemed to detect a look of relief as you left it."
"I try to hide it, as much as possible." The old King took off thelittle gold-circled cap and hung it on the back of his chair."Majesty can be rather wearying, you know."
So he could come here and put it off. Trask felt that some gestureshould be made on his own part. He unfastened the dress-dagger fromhis belt and laid it on the table. The King nodded.
"Now, we can be a couple of honest tradesmen, our shops closed forthe evening, relaxing over our wine and tobacco," he said. "Eh,Goodman Lucas?"
It seemed like an initiation into a secret society whose ritual hemust guess at step by step.
"Right, Goodman Mikhyl."
They lifted their glasses to each other and drank; Goodman Mikhyloffered cigars, and Goodman Lucas held a light for him.
"I hear a few hard things about your trade, Goodman Lucas."
"All true, and mostly understated. We're professional murderers androbbers, as one of my fellow tradesmen says. The worst of it is thatrobbery and murder become just that: a trade, like servicing robotsor selling groceries."
"Yet you fought two other Space Vikings to cover my cousin'scrippled _Victrix_. Why?"
So he must tell his tale, so worn and smooth, again. King Mikhyl'scigar went out while he listened.
"And you have been hunting him ever since? And now, you can't besure whether you killed him or not?"
"I'm afraid I didn't. The man in the screen is the only man Dunnancan really trust. One or the other would stay wherever he has hisbase all the time."
"And when you do kill him; what then?"
"I'll go on trying to make a civilized planet of Tanith. Sooner orlater, I'll have one quarrel too many with King Angus, and then wewill be our Majesty Lucas the First of Tanith, and we will sit on athrone and receive our subjects. And I'll be glad when I can get mycrown off and talk to a few men who call me 'shipmate,' instead of'Your Majesty.'"
* * * * *
"Well, it would violate professional ethics for me to advise asubject to renounce his sovereign, of course, but that might be anexcellent thing. You met the ambassador from Ithavoll at dinner, didyou not? Three centuries ago, Ithavoll was a colony of Marduk--itseems we can't afford colonies, any more--and it seceded from us.Ithavoll was then a planet like your Tanith seems to be. Today, itis a civilized world, and one of Marduk's best friends. You know,sometimes I think a few lights are coming on again, here and therein the Old Federation. If so, you Space Vikings are helping to lightthem."
"You mean the planets we use as bases, and the things we teach thelocals?"
"That, too, of course. Civilization needs civilized technologies.But they have to be used for civilized ends. Do you know anythingabout a Space Viking raid on Aton, over a century ago?"
"Six ships from Haulteclere; four destroyed, the other two returneddamaged and without booty."
The King of Marduk nodded.
"That raid saved civilization on Aton. There were four greatnations; the two greatest were at the brink of war, and the otherswere waiting to pounce on the exhausted victor and then fight eachother for the spoils. The Space Vikings forced them to unite. Out ofthat temporary alliance came the League for Common Defense, and fromthat the Planetary Republic. The Republic's a dictatorship, now, andjust between Goodman Mikhyl and Goodman Lucas it's a nasty one andour Majesty's Government doesn't like it at all. It will be smashedsooner or later, but they'll never go back to divided sovereigntyand nationalism again. The Space Vikings frightened them out of thatwhen the dangers inherent in it couldn't. Maybe this man Dunnan willdo the same for us on Marduk."
"You have troubles?"
"You've seen decivilized planets. How does it happen?"
"I know how it's happened on a good many: War. Destruction of citiesand industries. Survivors among ruins, too busy keeping their ownbodies alive to try to keep civilization alive. Then t
hey lose allknowledge of how to be civilized."
"That's catastrophic decivilization. There is also decivilization byerosion, and while it's going on, nobody notices it. Everybody isproud of their civilization, their wealth and culture. But trade isfalling off; fewer ships come in each year. So there is boastfultalk about planetary self-sufficiency; who needs off-planet tradeanyhow? Everybody seems to have money, but the government is alwaysbroke. Deficit spending--and always the vital social services forwhich the government has to spend money. The most vital one, ofcourse, is buying votes to keep the government in power. And it getsharder for the government to get anything done.
"The soldiers are sloppier at drill, and their uniforms and weaponsaren't taken care of. The noncoms are insolent. And more and moreparts of the city are dangerous at night, and then even in thedaytime. And it's been years since a new building went up, and theold ones aren't being repaired any more."
Trask closed his eyes. Again, he could feel the mellow sun of Gramon his back, and hear the laughing voices on the lower terrace, andhe was talking to Lothar Ffayle and Rovard Grauffis and Alex Gorramand Cousin Nikkolay and Otto Harkaman. He said:
"And finally, nobody bothers fixing anything up. And thepower-reactors stop, and nobody seems to be able to get them startedagain. It hasn't quite gotten that far on the Sword-Worlds yet."
"It hasn't here, either. Yet." Goodman Mikhyl slipped away; KingMikhyl VIII looked across the low table at his guest. "Prince Trask,have you heard of a man named Zaspar Makann?"
"Occasionally. Nothing good about him."
"He is the most dangerous man on this planet," the King said. "And Ican make nobody believe it. Not even my son."