"Very well. But Kassar… don't ever try to pressure me again. I have a very short and unpleasant way with people who annoy me. You'll find the map on my writing table, along with instructions on where to find the explosives. They're to be timed to go off during the Wolfes' ceremony to celebrate stardrive production finally going on-line. Shreck and his fellow news reptiles will be there to capture it all for posterity."
"Good," said Kassar. "I've got a little surprise of my own planned for Toby Shreck. He won't just be recording the news; he's going to be part of it."
Daniel and Stephanie Wolfe were arguing again, though at least they had the sense to do it somewhere private for once. Stephanie paced back and forth in the private Family reception hall, throwing words like knives at her brother, who stood sulking by the built-in bar, glaring down into his drink. Michel and Lily stood together a respectful distance away, large drinks in their hands, being ignored by their spouses, as usual. The hall had belonged to the Campbells first, and their crest still showed faintly on one wall where it had been imperfectly removed before the Wolfe crest had been superimposed over it. Despite the hostile takeover by the Wolfes, the factory complex still had a strong Campbell presence. Wolfe security men were still turning up hidden booby traps in the function rooms and logic bombs in the computers. All food and drink had to be shipped in from offworld. All of which helped to explain why Stephanie was in a particularly foul mood before things started going wrong.
She stopped for breath for a moment, and there was an ominous silence in the hall. Daniel had a lot of things he felt like saying, but knew better than to try and interrupt his sister while she was in full rant. Besides, what he felt like saying really needed to be shouted for full effect, and he didn't trust the room's soundproofing. There were bound to be a few Campbell loyalists still hidden in the complex personnel, not to mention spies from the Church. And it wouldn't do for he and his sister to be overheard plotting treason against their own Family. Not even by the handpicked men they had standing guard outside the only door. Guards were necessary, even inside the complex, to protect against rebel sympathizers and infiltrators. And to make sure the Cardinal and his people kept their distance. Kassar's hatred for Wolfes in general and Valentine in particular was well-known, and there was no sense in putting temptation in his hands. It was open knowledge that the Church of Christ the Warrior felt it ought to be in charge of stardrive production.
As usual, the Empress was sitting back and letting things sort themselves out.
"I still think we shouldn't be discussing this in front of them." Daniel said finally, gesturing with his drink at Michel and Lily.
"They won't talk," said Stephanie dismissively. "What's good for us is good for them, and they know it. And it's important they know what we're planning, so they won't say or do the wrong thing through ignorance. Besides, they know what would happen to them if they talked, don't you, darlings? Of course you do. Now, pay attention, Daniel. We have to go through with this. That rebel attack during a live holotransmission made us look very bad. Us, as well as Valentine. It's a dangerous setback to our plans, and we're running out of time. We have to come up with something that will make us look good and Valentine appear utterly incompetent, before stardrive production actually starts. Once it's up and running, Valentine will be the Empress's favorite blue-eyed boy, and it will take a miracle to dislodge him."
"Agreed," said Daniel. "But I still don't want us discussing this in front of witnesses. I can trust you not to speak whatever the pressures, but I can't say the same about our dear spouses. We might be married to them, but that doesn't make them Family."
"Oh, all right. We'll discuss this further in my private quarters. Michel, Lily, stay here till we send for you. You don't need to know the details anyway. Just do as you're told. And try not to drain the bar dry, for a change."
She swept out the hall majestically, with Daniel following, as always. Michel and Lily waited until the door had closed firmly behind their respective spouses, and then they threw themselves into each other's arms. Their mouths met hungrily, bodies pressing together, clutching at each other like someone drowning and going under for the third time. The occasions when they could be together had been few and far between on Technos III, but that only fanned the flames of their passion. Perhaps because it underlined that the only people they could depend on were each other. They finally broke apart a little, still in each other's arms, breathing heavily into each other's mouths, eyes locked on eyes.
"We have to do it," said Lily, her voice harsh with need and urgency. "It's our only chance to be free of them and have our own life, together. I've got a guard eating out of my hand. He can get us explosives from the armory. Afterward, we can kill him in a way that will point at rebel infiltrators. Then all we have to do is plant the bomb in just the right place, to go off at just the right time, and that will be the end of dear Daniel and dear Stephanie. May they rot and burn in hell.
"No one will suspect us; there are far too many other more obvious enemies, from the rebels to the dear Cardinal himself. We'll be ever so regretful, of course, but we'll be the only ones in a position to take over here. Valentine won't want to come all the way out here, away from those noxious substances he thrives on, just to run a factory, and we're the only Family he can trust. Once we've shown him we can handle things, he'll leave us alone and turn his attentions elsewhere. We'll be able to marry at last. He won't object, not once we point out it's the only way of keeping the factory wholly in the Family."
"Don't you feel any guilt?" said Michel. He suddenly pushed her away from him, and she stumbled back a step, caught off balance. She looked very slight and vulnerable on her own, with her huge dark eyes, dark as the night. Michel made himself concentrate on what he was saying. "We are married to them, after all. They made us Wolfes. Aristocrats. I was an accountant, and you were a librarian and minor authority on tarot readings. If I hadn't met you, I would have been more than happy to be a Wolfe's husband and live an aristocrat's luxurious life."
"But we did meet," said Lily, moving in close again so that her breath was sweet in his mouth. "And you loved me as I loved you, more than being an aristo, more than life itself. If we can't be together, I don't care about anything else. Guilt? What has that got to do with us? Daniel never tried to be a husband to me. Never loved me, never liked me, never spent a moment in my company that he didn't have to. Was Stephanie ever any different? Did she ever give a damn about you, except as a fashionable accessory, something big and muscular to be flashed at Court? Jacob Wolfe only arranged our marriages because we brought necessary small businesses into the Family that he didn't want going to anyone else. Our families sold him the businesses along with us because of the dowries he offered. No one asked us. No one ever asks us."
Michel nodded slowly and took her in his arms again. She nestled contentedly against him, and they stood together for a while.
"Well?" said Lily finally. "Will you do it? Will you help me set the bomb?"
"Of course I will. I never could say no to you. But Lily… let's not have any false illusions between us. Even if we do kill Daniel and Stephanie and get away with it, our love isn't going anywhere. People like us don't have happy endings. Valentine and Constance will wage open war to see which of them will take control of the factory, and we'll just be in the way. They won't let us marry. Rather than let us emerge as a joined power base, they'll most likely separate us and send us to different ends of the Empire. They'll destroy our love casually, offhandedly, just because they can."
"It doesn't have to be that way," said Lily without raising her head. "We're small fry, Michel. Constance and Valentine will be so busy fighting each other they won't even notice us until it's too late. Even the smallest of snakes that crawls unnoticed through the grass can have a deadly poison in its fangs. We'll bring them down, my love. Destroy them all for not loving us."
"Dream on, dream child," said Michel. "Maybe it'll work out that way, maybe it won't. It doesn't matt
er. I'd rather be damned with you than live without you."
At about the same time as various Wolfes were plotting various treasons, a regular propaganda broadcast from Technos III being reluctantly hosted by Toby the Troubador was suddenly interrupted by a burst of static. Viewers caught a brief glimpse of Toby looking off camera and saying What the bloody hell… and then he disappeared into static, which in turn was replaced by a new face that filled the screen. He looked to be in his early forties, darkly handsome, hard-used but still charismatic. His eyes were steady and his smile was compassionate. When he spoke, people listened.
"Good evening, my friends. My name is Jack Random. Some of you may have heard of me. It's all true. I am presently assisting rebel forces on the Wolfe-owned world of Technos III to win their freedom and their dignity. It was their world once, but long ago it was taken from them by those with more power and influence at Court. An old story, nothing to write home about. But Technos III is the present home of the factory producing Lionstone's new stardrive. You've heard a lot about this new drive and the many benefits it will bring you. What they haven't told you is that the new drive is being produced by slave labor in life-destroying conditions."
The scene changed to show long lines of people working in a vast low-ceilinged chamber. The illumination was painfully bright, and strange colors tinted the air from no obvious source. The air rippled sometimes, and things that had seemed near were suddenly far away, and vice versa. The scene was unsteady, suggesting it had been recorded on a hidden, smuggled-in camera. Men, women, and children worked together, crawling in and around great metal and crystal structures. They were slowly, laboriously building something piece by piece with handheld tools and instruments. Many of those working had warped bones and bodies. Some were missing fingers. Some had no jaws or eyes, as though something had eaten them away. The scene continued in silence for a while, to let it sink in, and then Jack Random's voice began again.
"Whole Families work here, building the stardrives, doing work too delicate and too important to be trusted to machines. Automated machinery can't handle the necessary working conditions. They go crazy and malfunction. Same with computers. Only people are adaptable enough. The poorly understood forces that move inside even partially completed drives are horribly destructive to human tissues. The Families you see work in these conditions fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. When they're too weak or too disfigured to work, they're taken away and disposed of. There are always replacements. Because the people you're looking at are clones. And no one gives a damn what happens to clones. But I give a damn. And so do the rebels of Technos III."
The scene changed again, to a long panning shot of rebels lining a trench in the rain. There were men, women, and children, all of them armed and ready to fight. Their faces looked tired but determined. Random's voice-over continued. "There are no noncombatants in the rebellion, because the Empire would kill them all anyway for daring to have opinions of their own. For daring to protest over the theft and devastation of their world. They're fighting for their lives and their future, and their work shifts never end. I'm fighting beside them now. Just as someday I may fight beside you, for your life and your future. Because the Empire doesn't care who it destroys in its endless search for wealth and power and self-gratification."
Jack Random's face filled the holoscreen again. Ill used, but still compassionate. Strong, dependable, determined. The man with scars in his eyes. "Tonight, my friends, we bring you the truth for once in your lives. What is happening here on Technos III could happen to any one of you. If some aristo wants your planet he can take it, and no one will stop him. If he then decides to work you all to death, no one will raise a voice in protest, as long as the profits remain steady. The Empress is gathering more and more power to herself, demanding more and more from her subjects, all in the name of an alien invasion that may never come. Parliament can't stop her. It's grown lazy and corrupt, like the aristocracy. Whatever you own, they can take from you. Whatever you believe in, they can destroy. And they will if they're not stopped.
"I'm not asking you to run out and join the rebellion. Not yet. Just remember what you've seen and heard here today, and think about it. Disregard the lies the Empire tells you about the kind of people who join the rebellion. We're just like you, except that we've dedicated ourselves to a simple truth. That all men, human or clone or esper, are created equal and should have an equal say in their destiny. You can help us. If you wish to…"
And that was when holoscreens all across the Empire suddenly went blank. Static buzzed importantly to itself for a while, and then local channels rushed to take over, hurriedly filling the air with comforting Muzak and game shows. Later, the broadcast interruption would be explained away as just another cyberat prank. None of it was real. There was nothing for anyone to be concerned about. Viewers would be able to see the real conditions on Technos III when the Wolfe Family graciously allowed cameras to observe the first completed stardrives coming off the production line, at a special ceremony in two days' time.
Back on the surface of Technos III, outside the factory complex, Cardinal Kassar lowered his gun with a satisfied smile. One shot from his disrupter had blown the complex's main transmission aerial into pieces, cutting off all broadcasts from the planet. He looked around as Daniel and Stephanie came hurrying up the slope to join him, with Toby and Flynn in close pursuit. Kassar smiled at them and waved imperiously at the wrecked aerial.
"I fancy that will stop the rebels pumping out their poisonous lies through your equipment. Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't have safeguards against this kind of thing happening."
"As it happens, we do," said Stephanie in tones so cold a snowman would have shivered to hear them. "If the rebels had just stayed on-line a little longer, my security people would have been able to track down the source of their signal, and we could have sent men in to destroy their equipment. As it is, not only do we have no idea where the rebels were transmitting from, but you have just shot out our only link with the outside universe. All our other aerials were slaved to this one. Without it, we are completely out of contact with the Empire. Which means that the ceremony that was to be transmitted live in two days' time, as ordered by the Empress herself, will no longer be possible. Unless your people can put the bloody aerial back together again!"
"Ah," said Kassar. "Yes…"
"May I also point out," said Toby, perhaps enjoying the moment just a little too much, "that if you hadn't shot the aerial down, I would have been able to put a rebuttal piece on the air in a few hours, thus undoing whatever damage the broadcast might have done. An awful lot of people are going to be really unhappy with you, Cardinal, if your people can't get the aerial up and working again soon."
Kassar looked at the shattered pieces of aerial lying across the metal slope. "Oh, shit."
"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Stephanie. "I shall expect hourly reports from your people until the aerial is functional again. And if it isn't ready in time for the ceremony, I will personally have your balls. Assuming the Empress doesn't get to them first."
She nodded briskly to Daniel, and the two of them turned and strode back down the slope and into the factory complex. Kassar glared at their backs and hurried after them. Toby and Flynn looked at the wrecked aerial. They seemed fairly cheerful, all things considered.
"Was that really Jack Random, do you think?" said Flynn.
"Oh, yes. I cross-checked our earlier sighting against Imperial News' files. It's him, all right. Looking a bit battered by life, but in damn good shape considering his age and history. And if I did have any doubts, that broadcast just put them to rest. That was classic Jack Random. Exactly the kind of thing he was famous for."
"Then, those shots of the clones building the drive were the real thing?"
Toby looked at Flynn firmly. "I don't know. If, just for the sake of argument, they were true, then you can be bloody sure the Wolfes would have us killed out of hand if we were found sneaking aroun
d there in search of an exclusive. There are limits to how you can treat people, even if they are only clones. Lionstone must want those drives really badly."
"So we just ignore the story?"
"Since when were you so idealistic? People are dying all across the Empire every day. There's nothing we can do about it. Every now and again we get a chance to put some small thing right, like Beatrice's hospital, but don't let it go to your head. Even if we did manage to get footage of the clones working on the drives, the odds are we couldn't get it on the air. Not now. And you can bet Imperial News would disown us on the spot. Learn to content yourself with little victories, Flynn. If you like having your head attached to your shoulders."
They stood in silence for a while, thinking their separate thoughts. Flynn stirred finally. "If Jack Random could win a victory here, it could be the start of the great rebellion itself."
"God, I hope so," said Toby. "Lots of good material to be found in a war. Reporters' reputations can be made on the battlefield."
"You speak for yourself," said Flynn. "The moment the shooting starts, I shall be diving for cover and keeping my head well down, and you can do your own camera work."
"The trouble with you, Flynn," said Toby as they started back down the slope toward the complex, "is you have no ambition."
"My ambition is to live to a hundred and three," said Flynn firmly. "At which point I hope to be shot by an outraged wife."
"Sometimes I wonder about you, Flynn," said Toby. "And sometimes I'm sure."
* * *
In the early hours of the morning, when things were traditionally the quietest, Jack Random, the professional rebel, and Ruby Journey, the foremost bounty hunter of her day, according to her, emerged from the farthest trench the rebels controlled and sat on the edge of the jagged metal field, looking across at the huge factory complex, silhouetted against the rising sun. The Wolfe forces had recently been driven back and were too busy establishing their new front to be any threat. They also hadn't got around to setting up snipers yet. Random and Ruby would have known they were there, even if they couldn't see them. So they sat casually together, enjoying the strange and vivid hues of the sunrise.