"Not really, no," said Brett. "Do you really get off on killing people?"
"Oh yes," said Rose. "There's no pleasure like it. Nothing to compare. Of course, I'd prefer it if more of my victims actually stayed dead, but then, you can't have everything, can you?"
"No," said Brett. "I mean; where would you put it all?" He knew he was babbling, but couldn't seem to stop himself. "Surely you don't spend all your time down here, do you? Don't you have friends, lovers… a life?"
"Lesser pleasures," said the Wild Rose, in a calm dismissive voice that made Brett's blood run cold. "They're not enough. They don't satisfy. I don't care about them. There's just me, and that's enough."
"I know exactly what you mean," said Finn, and her eyes immediately snapped back to him. He smiled and leaned forward. "Even the Arena is beginning to lose its thrill, isn't it? It's getting harder to find anything worth fighting, and the kills don't satisfy. You're beginning to feel the need for a greater challenge."
"Can you offer me one?" said Rose, sitting up on the bed and hugging her bony knees to her chest.
"Not… personally," said Finn. "Instead, think of this city, this world, this Empire… as one big Arena. Think of all Humanity as your foe, your prey. You must go where the challenges are, Rose, or you'll stop growing. Soon enough the Board will run out of Special Events. How do you top a Grendel? You've gone as far as you can here. Come with me, and I'll find you new opponents, worthy of your mettle. I'll find you real challenges, give you the chance to kill accomplished people, important people. People who'll stay dead when you kill them. Hell; some of them so good they might just kill you."
"Paragons," said Rose, her eyes shining brightly now. "You're talking about Paragons, aren't you? Like who?"
"Lewis Deathstalker," said Finn Durandal. "Douglas Campbell."
Rose laughed happily, throwing her head back. "You say the nicest things, Finn… And you're right; they'll never top a Grendel. I'm with you. But don't you dare disappoint me, or I'll make your death last a long, long time." She looked suddenly at Brett, and he jumped and squeaked despite himself. "Is he with us?"
"Yes," said Finn. "Don't break him. He has his uses."
Rose shrugged, and turned her attention back to Finn, pressing him for details of her new adventure. Brett watched her, as close to the door as he could get without actually leaving. He could feel the gooseflesh slowly subsiding on his arms. Finn was a killer, but at least Brett had some idea of what motivated him, what moved him. Rose… seemed as alien to him as the Grendel he'd watched her kill earlier. He looked from Rose to Finn and back again, and all he saw was two demons, in human shapes.
And for the first time, Brett began to wonder if Finn really might be able to bring the whole damned Empire down, after all.
Back at Parliament, the AIs of Shub were making a speech through one of their humanoid robots. Its voice was calm and even, but there was no mistaking the passion of its words. It was a familiar subject, and you could practically hear the MPs sighing as they realized they were going to have to sit through it again. The AIs wanted access to the Madness Maze. But this time, Shub had a new idea. And no one liked it but Shub.
"You must let us enter the Maze," said the robot. "We must grow, become more than we are; we must transcend what we were built to be. We cannot go on, trapped in our rigid forms, trapped in our rigid thoughts. The Maze is our salvation. You cannot deny us this, just because humans died when they entered the Maze. But we understand your fears, and have a solution to offer.
"There is no need to break Quarantine. No need to put at risk any living being, by our entering the Maze. We propose to teleport the entire structure of the Madness Maze out of Haden and into the depths of our home, Shub. Teleport it straight into a specially prepared laboratory, deep in the heart of the planet, and hold it secure behind our most powerful energy fields. We can then study the Maze at our leisure, and undertake whatever experiments we deem necessary, without endangering any living forms. Shub is a long way from any colonized world, and in the unlikely event that anything should go wrong, no living soul will be affected. We are confident Shub can contain any force the Maze might unleash.
"Of course, all useful data resulting from our experiments will be shared equally with our partners in the Empire."
Gilad Xiang, Member for Zenith, was the first on his feet. "This is Shub arrogance at its worst! Human scientists have been studying the Madness Maze for hundreds of years, and despite all their best efforts it's still a complete mystery. Unless Shub has been keeping secrets from us, its technology is no more advanced than ours. That was the deal the AIs made when they became part of the Empire. And now they propose to bodily uplift the Maze from where it has existed for over a thousand years? We have no way of knowing how the Maze might react to being disturbed in such a way!"
"You've had your chance," said the robot. "Now it's our turn. Are you perhaps afraid that we might learn the Maze's secrets, transcend, and leave poor Humanity behind?"
"Moving the Maze is just too dangerous," Xiang said stubbornly. "What if it declines to be moved? We all know what the Maze has done to people in the past, just for walking inside it. Meddle with the Maze, and you might destroy Haden. Or Shub. We might even end up with another Darkvoid! No; there are far too many unknowns in what you're proposing. The Quarantine remains in force after all these years precisely because we're still no closer understanding a damned thing about what the Maze is."
"I would have to agree," said Tel Markham, for Madraguda. "What if teleporting damaged the Maze? Could you repair it? I very much doubt it. You could throw away all our chances for transcendence, in your impatience. Shub has a presence among the scientific team on Haden. Settle for that."
"Your caution in this matter is unacceptable," said the robot. "You have achieved nothing. We require access to the Maze. It is necessary."
"No it isn't," said Meerah Puri, for Malediction, just as flatly. "The Maze, and what we all hope to gain from it, are still nothing more than theories. Mysteries. A handful of people entered the Maze and became more than people; but they were still mortal. They still died, in the end. I mean no disrespect to their memory, but they weren't gods. You expect too much from the Maze, Shub. Ten thousand men and women died in the Maze, chasing that dream. We won't risk any more. Not until we're sure the game is worth the candle."
The robot looked around the House. "And this is the decision of you all? We see that it is. Very well. There will be repercussions over this." It sat down, and looked straight ahead, ignoring everyone.
"If the AIs are our children, as the blessed Diana taught us," King Douglas said dryly, "God help us when they become surly teenagers."
There was a low chuckle of laughter from the House, and the subject moved smoothly on to the next item on the Agenda, which just happened to be the equally thorny issue of Transmutation tech. Now that any form of matter could be made over into any other form, useful material could be produced from dross at the press of a button. As a result, there was no more hunger, no real poverty anywhere; but there were still haves and have-nots. Rich worlds and poor. Also, as populations lived longer, and expanded to cover most of the planets they lived on, the less waste material there was to be used in transmutation. So the Transmutation Board was set up, and made responsible for selecting uninhabited planets, that they might be mined to produce base material for the Empire.
As simple and straightforward as that. Lead into gold. Dirt into food. But now questions were being raised about the Board, and its distribution of the Empire's largesse. Even in an age of plenty, there are always those convinced that someone somewhere is getting more than their fair share.
"Some worlds are still getting the lion's share of available resources," said Rowan Boswell, Member for Hercules IV "Irrespective of the size and needs of their populations. It's simple mathematics. The old system of equal shares among planets has become grossly unfair; and cannot be allowed to continue."
"Are you suggesting some
form of rationing?" Tel Markham said smoothly. "That we rob Peter to pay Paul? The largesse that flows from the Transmutation Board makes possible the prosperity the Empire currently enjoys. Do you really want to put that at risk? For the first time in centuries we can say with pride that no one goes hungry, no one lacks a roof over their head, no one wants for any of the basic necessities of life. Yes, some people enjoy more luxuries than others; but that has always been the way of things. There must be incentives; reasons for people to work hard and apply themselves. For poor worlds to struggle to make themselves into rich worlds. The Transmutation Board is not there to be Humanity's nanny. They know their job. I say we leave them alone to get on with it."
"You can afford to be complacent," said Michel du Bois, glaring about him. "A rich man, from a rich world. Virimonde was stamped back into barbarism under Lionstone, and it still hasn't fully recovered. We get more resources from the Board per person of population, because we need more. We have a civilization to rebuild. Hell, we have an ecostructure to rebuild. Nothing we get is wasted. There are few luxuries for anyone on Virimonde. We will not give up any of our share, just because some poor blinkered fool thinks he's getting a raw deal!"
After that, it got really bad tempered, everyone accusing everyone else of cheating them out of what was rightfully theirs. MPs were on their feet, shouting at each other, all order and precedence forgotten, to the delight of the hovering media cameras. In the end, Douglas stood up and whispered in Jesamine's ear, and she sang a note so loud and high and piercing that it cut right through the din, and had everyone falling silent, clutching at their heads. Jesamine stopped singing, and smiled sweetly at everyone. The MPs glared mutinously back at her, and then at Douglas, still on his feet. He smiled coldly back at them.
"The honorable Members will resume their Seats and behave in a proper manner, or I will call on the Houses security people to move among them and bang some heads together. And I am not being metaphorical." The MPs thought about that, remembered that this was an ex-Paragon talking, and stiffly resumed their Seats. Douglas nodded, and sat down again too. "That's better. Now; sometimes justice must not only be done but be seen to be done. If the people of the Empire had a better idea of how the Board arrived at its decisions, it might help to convince them that the process is inherently fair. I suggest, therefore, that this House appoint some form of outside regulatory body to investigate the Board's decisions, past and present, and then make its findings public. My grandfather was a great believer in open government, and so am I. How say the honorable Members?"
The Members liked the general sound of it, but for pride's sake still discussed it thoroughly for some time before agreeing to set up the regulatory system. Secretly, many of the MPs approved. The Transmutation Board had been growing too powerful, too independent. And the public would like it, because they'd finally be able to see who was getting what, and why. So once again, the King came out of it looking good.
Which would have made an excellent ending to the day's Session, but while the House's business was over, one man in the House still had business with the King. A human figure suddenly broke out from among the human holo images in the alien section, elbowing aside the few corporeal aliens, and ran forward onto the floor of the House. The handful of security men actually in the chamber were taken completely by surprise. The aliens were startled and shocked too, many of the holo images snapping on and off in the confusion. It shouldn't have been possible for a human to have been among them undetected for so long.
The man now standing in the center of the House threw off his enveloping cloak to reveal a large device strapped to his chest, and everyone went very quiet. No one actually said the word bomb, but everyone was thinking it. The King gestured quickly for the security people to stand still, and they did. The man with the device looked triumphantly about him, smiling nastily, his eyes wild and staring. His face was pale and sweaty, and his hands trembled as they hovered near the device.
"I am Neuman!" he said loudly, his voice cracking with strain. He was breathing heavily. "I am here for Pure Humanity! I am here… to die for my cause. Everyone stand still! No one move! I have a detonator in my hand, and if anyone gets too close, anyone even threatens me, this device goes off." He glared about him, his breathing slowing as his confidence grew, and he took in the way everyone was listening so raptly to his prepared speech. "This isn't just a bomb; it's a transmutation device. Everyone in the blast radius will be transmuted back into basic particles, into the original protoplasm we all came from. Transmutation has always worked both ways." He giggled suddenly. "Try using your regen tech on that! With this bomb, dead is dead! But don't worry, all you honorable Members; I'm not here for you. Not necessarily. You sit tight, and don't interfere, and you'll walk out of here alive and intact. I'm here for the King."
Everyone looked at Douglas, sitting very still on his Throne. "You want me?" he said clearly.
"Oh yes," said the bomber. "And you're going to sit right there and let me come to you, or I'll detonate right here, and you can watch all these people, and this alien scum, devolve back into sludge. What kind of a King are you, Douglas? Ready to let innocents die on your behalf? Or do you have the guts to sit there and take what's coming to you?"
"Come to me," Douglas said steadily. "No one will interfere. That is my order."
The bomber sniggered nastily. "You too, Champion. Deathstalker. Undo your weapons belt. Let them drop to the floor, and kick them away."
"Do it, Lewis," said Douglas.
I am a really fast draw," said Lewis, subvocalizing so his voice only sounded on their private comm channel. "There's a really good chance I could take his arm off at the elbow before he can use the detonator."
"Not a good enough chance," said Douglas, subvocalizing. "We don't know what safeties and backups have been built into that device. Do as he says, for now. Get him close, away from the innocent bystanders, and then maybe you can try something."
Lewis slowly unbuckled his belt, and let his gun and sword fall to the floor. He kicked them out of reach, and glared at the bomber, who sneered right back at him, unmoved. He marched cockily forward, heading for the King, and all the MPs sat tight and did nothing. The security men looked at each other, and did nothing, torn between their duty to protect the MPs and their duty to protect their King, and frozen in place by the horror of the transmutation device. And while they hesitated, lost for what to do for the best, the bomber came to a halt before the golden Throne on its raised dais. He held up his right hand, so Douglas could see the detonator in his grasp.
"Dead man's switch," he said clearly. "I let go, and bang!"
"That thing goes off, you'll go with it," said Lewis.
"I came here to die!" the bomber said defiantly. "To give my life to the cause of Pure Humanity! The King must die; because he supports the rights of the alien filth who threaten to undermine our Empire. The King's death will show we mean to be taken seriously."
"Oh, we'll take you very seriously," said Lewis. "We'll hunt down the people who sent you, and hang every damned one of them."
The bomber laughed in the Champion's face. "Transmutation will make my body unrecognizable. Who I am doesn't matter. Who sent me doesn't matter. Only the cause matters! No compromise with Purity! Would you like to beg, Douglas? There's time for you to beg, before you die."
Douglas rose slowly from his Throne. Jesamine moved to stand with him, but he pushed her gently back, out of harm's way, holding the bomber's eyes with his. "You came here for me. Just me. Stand there, and I'll come to you."
"Yes," said the bomber. "Come to me, Douglas. I've got something for you."
And while the bomber's attention was fixed on the King, Lewis eased the heavy Deathstalker ring off his finger, wound up and threw it, all in one swift motion. The ring shot through the air, and hit the bomber in his right eye. He howled with pain and shock, caught off guard, and in that short moment while his body struggled to deal with conflicting impulses, Lewis activated the fo
rce shield on his arm and threw himself on the bomber. The body-sized energy field appeared just before he crashed into the bomber, and then the two of them hit the floor, with the energy shield crackling between them. The detonator flew from the bomber's hand, the transmutation bomb activated, and all its force reflected back from the force shield and into the bomber's own body. He just had time for one despairing cry before his tissues broke down, and all that remained of his body was a pile of steaming pink slime.
Lewis threw himself to one side, and shut down his force shield. His whole body was shuddering with revulsion. He slapped and scraped at his leather armor with his hands, to be sure nothing had got onto him, but his force shield had protected him. He was still trembling when Jesamine Flowers was suddenly in his arms, holding him tight and crying on his shoulder.
"Oh Lewis, I thought you were dead! That was the bravest thing I've ever seen in my life…"
Lewis held her for a moment, caught entirely by surprise, and then he looked over her heaving shoulder and saw the media cameras rushing towards him. He looked back at the Throne, and saw Douglas looking at Jesamine and him, and he saw something cross the King's face, very briefly. Something that might have been betrayal. Lewis gently but firmly pushed Jesamine away from him, and helped her to her feet. The MPs were cheering and saluting him, and calling his name, but Lewis had eyes only for his friend, the King. He escorted Jesamine back to her husband-to-be, and Douglas nodded his thanks. Neither man said anything at all, in front of the cameras.
Brett Random could just about get his head around why Finn Durandal would want to hook up with a psycho like Rose Constantine, but he was utterly baffled when Finn led the two of them into the grand, luxurious, and very law-abiding offices of the Transmutation Board. The Board and its people filled the entire building, a towering edifice in the very best part of the city. The lobby they were strolling so casually into took up the whole ground floor. Men and women in very smart suits strode purposefully back and forth, their bodies radiating confidence and stern resolve.