A Dark and Hungry God Arises (18 page)

Warden folded his arms across his chest. 'Of course. '

'Are the news broadcasts accurate?' Len pursued. 'Is it true, Director Lebwohl, that a convicted illegal held for questioning by your department has escaped?'

When Hashi nodded, his glasses slipped farther down his nose. He pushed them back up with a hand like a spider. 'In substance, yes. '

'This illegal was a man named Angus Thermopyle?'

'Unquestionably. '

'Has he escaped from you altogether?'

'Do you mean, has he escaped from UMCPHQ, as well as from Data Acquisition? Yes. '

'Do you know where Angus Thermopyle has gone?'

Hashi shrugged delicately. 'How could I? If we possessed such knowledge, we would already be in pursuit.

However, we have no data except the tach parameters of the ship Captain Thermopyle has stolen. Certainly we can do the calculations to predict the direction and distance of his first crossing. But why should we trouble ourselves? Nothing in all space can prevent him from changing course when he resumes tard and then reengag-ing his gap drive with altered parameters. Under these conditions, we lack the means to trace him. '

Would you consider it trouble to do those calculations anyway?' the UWB junior member demanded sarcasti-cally. 'Just on the off-chance that we might learn something useful?'

'Not at all. ' Hashi made a show of writing a note and handing it to an off-screen aide. For the sake of appearances, Min came forward to accept the piece of paper, then sat down again.

'Please, Junior Member Carsin, ' Len protested. 'I'm sure that Director Dios and Director Lebwohl are willing to answer any and all questions. But everything will be easier if you'll wait your turn. '

Frowning as if she'd received an official reprimand, Carsin turned her attention to her data terminal.

Len consulted his notes. 'Let us continue with the facts. Is it true, Director Lebwohl, that this Angus Thermopyle was assisted in his escape by a former deputy chief of Com-Mine Station Security, a man named Milos Taverner?'

That also appears unquestionable. Considering the conditions of his imprisonment, I sincerely doubt that Captain Thermopyle could have effected his own escape.

Indeed, in this context I would say that the term "escape"

is fundamentally imprecise. Captain Thermopyle did not escape. He could not have escaped. ' He was released by Deputy Chief Taverner. '

Perhaps to preserve an air of impartiality, Abrim Len chose not to ask the next obvious question himself.

Instead he nodded to the senior member for the Pacific Rim Conglomerate.

'Director Lebwohl, ' this man said immediately in a firm voice, 'we're in the dark here. We hardly know where to begin analyzing this mess. Instead of waiting for individual questions, why don't you simply tell us what we all want to know? How did this happen?'

Static split the screen momentarily. The sensation of migraine tightened in Warden's temples. He resisted an impulse to rub his eyes.

With his usual deftness, Hashi managed to convey both exaggerated patience and geniality as he replied, 'It is no mystery, ladies and gentlemen. As a deputy chief of Com-Mine Security, Milos Taverner had certain clearances and authorizations at UMCPHQ. He used them to secure Captain Thermopyle's release, as well as to obtain access to a ship. Because of the nature of those clearances and authorizations, only the most routine requests for confirmation were forwarded to me. By the time I received them, Captain Thermopyle and Deputy Chief Taverner were already beyond reach. '

That's not the question, and you know it, ' Junior Member Carsin sneered. We aren't interested in the mechanics. If your incompetence were that obvious, Dios would already have your head on the block. '

Then perhaps, ' Hashi wheezed as if his lungs pained him, 'you would be good enough to phrase your question more precisely. '

We want to know, ' Carsin retorted, 'how this whole situation became possible. According to the news broadcasts' - she pointed at her readout - 'you reqqed Taverner from Com-Mine because you thought he might be a traitor. So why in hell did you let him have all those

"clearances and authorizations"?'

Min's emanations were as sharp as a snarl. The PR

director radiated a stew of anxiety and concentration.

Hashi did a convincing imitation of a man who was gratified by Carsin's explanation. Thank you, Junior Member. ' He placed no discernible stress on the diminu-tive. 'Now I understand.

'You must understand, ladies and gentlemen, that our position in relation to Deputy Chief Taverner was not as simple as the news broadcasts may have made it appear.

None of you have forgotten, I think, the original case concerning Captain Thermopyle. He was convicted on Com-Mine Station of the burglary of Station supplies.

He was a notorious illegal, however, believed to be the perpetrator of many far more serious crimes - and yet insufficient evidence was found to convict him of anything worse than mere burglary. Later it became clear that even this crime could not have been committed without the assistance of someone favorably placed within Com-Mine Security itself. '

Around the hall, members keyed their readouts or turned to whisper questions to their advisers. However, the member for Com-Mine Station didn't need to refresh her memory. It was significant, Warden thought, that she kept her mouth grimly shut.

'Because of the palpable absence of damning evidence, '

Hashi continued, 'Com-Mine Security quite naturally declined to let the matter rest. Deputy Chief Taverner was the officer assigned to Captain Thermopyle's on-going interrogation. Unfortunately no results were forthcoming.

'It was at this point that we acted on our interest in the case. We were interested from the first, I must confess

- Enforcement Division no less than Data Acquisition. '

Carefully Hashi prepared the way for the issues on which Warden Dios hoped the Council would focus. 'As you may recall from the original case concerning Captain Thermopyle, we had reason to suspect that he was involved in the destruction of the UMCP destroyer Starmaster. This suspicion revolved around his arrival at Com-Mine Station with Starmaster's sole survivor, an ensign named Morn Hyland. What happened to Starmaster? How did Ensign Hyland survive? Why was she in Captain Thermopyle's company? More to the point, why did she remain with him? We were interested - I might well say passionately interested - in the answers to these questions.

'Unfortunately we had no jurisdiction. We were required to abide by the results of Com-Mine Security's investigation. '

By this time most of the members appeared to have obtained the records or reminders they needed from their data terminals or advisers.

Hashi adjusted his glasses again, then steepled his fingers like a lecturing professor.

'The Preempt Act altered the question of jurisdiction, however. And it raised an additional consideration. Its recent passage gave us a clear responsibility for the integrity of Com-Mine Station Security. Why were no results forthcoming from Captain Thermopyle's interrogation?

Why had he been convicted of only so minor an offense?

Had the records been expunged? If so, had they been expunged by Deputy Chief Taverner? Was his failure to obtain further information explained, perhaps, by complicity in Captain Thermopyle's crimes?

'Ladies and gentlemen, I found these questions too fascinating to ignore. On my authority as the director of Data Acquisition, I reqqed both Captain Thermopyle and Deputy Chief Taverner, so that I could learn the truth for myself. '

Warden had no criticism of Hashi's performance so far. Hashi kept his instinct for innuendo and misdirection in check: he sounded as plausible as Warden could wish.

Still the communications techs couldn't keep the screen from nickering as if it were distorted by Hashi's - and Warden's - duplicity.

'But how to go about learning the truth?' the DA director asked rhetorically. That was the complex question. If I made my suspicions obvious to Deputy Chief Taverner - for example, by revoking his clearances and authorizations - he would certainly do his utmost to protect himself. Then I might never gain the information I desired. Therefore my best hope was to preserve the illusion that I had reqqed him because of his special knowledge of Captain Thermopyle. There was, after all, no reason why this should not be the truth.

'Indeed, where Captain Thermopyle was concerned, I was daily given reason to believe in Deputy Chief Taverner's honesty. My own interrogations were as unsuccessful as it is possible to imagine. Despite my most advanced techniques - within the limits of the law, ' Hashi added piously, 'I gained nothing which Deputy Chief Taverner had not gained before me.

Therefore what grounds did I have to treat Deputy Chief Taverner as a suspected illegal? Among the UMCP, we hold the principle sacred that a man is innocent until proven guilty. ' Hashi was starting to play his part too thickly, but Warden didn't interfere. The more I interrogated Captain Thermopyle, the more my distrust of Deputy Chief Taverner evaporated.

'Ladies and gentlemen, I did not revoke his clearances and authorizations because I had no evidence against him. Until he released Captain Thermopyle and fled, I had no foundation for my suspicions. '

Now Warden cut in. Impelled by the pain in his optic nerves, he asked roughly, 'Does that help? You should be able to ask accurate questions now. '

Thank you, Director Lebwohl, ' said Len. 'An admirably lucid account. Do I understand you to mean, then, that the "error" you made reference to earlier was an error in judgment concerning Milos Taverner?'

'Just so, Mr President, ' Hashi agreed placidly, as if he were at peace with the universe.

'In that case, ' Len returned in the same vein, 'please accept my condolences. Everyone makes mistakes - but not everyone can afford them. Men who hold as much responsibility as we do, Director Lebwohl, must somehow transcend their fallibility. Otherwise their "errors"

affect all humankind.

'Members, Director Dios, I think we should consider the issues as they have been presented to us so far, before we go on to other matters. Junior Member Carsin, do you wish to question Director Lebwohl or Director Dios?'

A barrage ensued. Carsin did indeed want to question Hashi; she considered his explanation preposterous. And she was quick: by the time Abrim Len offered her the floor, she'd marshaled a long list of hostile inquiries. After her came the member for Valdor Industrial, the senior member for the PRC, the junior member for the Combined Asian Islands and Peninsulas, the member for New Outreach, and others: all deeply disturbed by the implications of Angus' escape; all critical of Data Acquisition and Hashi Lebwohl on either procedural or strategic grounds;

At one point Hashi interrupted the bombardment to feign receiving a note from his off-screen aide; reading it, he announced, 'Junior Member Carsin, I have the calculations you requested. It appears that Captain Thermopyle has left our solar system for forbidden space.

If he does not alter his course, he is headed toward a planetoid called Thanatos Minor, which we believe to be the location of a bootleg shipyard catering to the needs and transactions of pirates. ' With a shrug, he added, 'A natural destination for a man such as Captain Thermopyle, if I may say so. Our treaties with the Amnion preclude all possibility of pursuit. '

Then he resumed his answers as if he were fielding enemy fire.

He was calm the entire time; unruffled, almost happy.

Only the wheeze of his voice betrayed any strain. He was well prepared for the challenge. And he was temperamen-tally equal to it: he felt no tell-tale indignation at being pushed to defend lies with more lies. Because he made no necessary distinction between truth and falsehood, he was in his natural element.

Warden should have paid attention, but his mind wandered. The Council's questions, like Hashi's answers, were chaff; a way of filling the time until Abrim Len felt ready to broach 'other matters'. As a good politician, the president wanted his fellow GCES members to satisfy their appetite for trivialities before he raised more sensitive issues. The real questions - the real threats - hadn't begun yet.

As if he wanted reassurance, Warden looked away from the cameras toward Min Donner and Godsen Frik.

Min had no comfort in her. She was too sure. In a sense, she'd been purified by her commitment to her ideals. As her director, Warden could require her to do things she didn't like; but he had no power to make her question the nature of her beliefs. Despite his impersonal love, as well as his personal respect, he couldn't get what he wanted from her.

The PR director, on the other hand -

One curse - or blessing - of Warden's prosthetic eye was that it never closed. He was never blind to the aura and sweat, the respiration and pulse, of the people around him; could never turn off his awareness of Godsen's hypocrisy. For him, Godsen was the UMCP in miniature. Or rather, he was what the UMCP had become; what the UMCP had been turned into by Dios himself, under pressure from Holt Fasner. Warden couldn't lose sight of that fact.

Godsen's emanations consoled him by reminding him that every price he paid was justified; that everything he did to make restitution was worth the risk.

He faced the cameras and the migraine flicker of the screen again as Len began saying, Thank you, Director Lebwohl. You've been most forthcoming. I believe you've satisfied those of us who are capable of being satisfied in this difficult situation. And I'm sure the rest'

- he didn't so much as glance at Carsin - 'understand the need to contain their dissatisfaction until the Council can resume its emergency session in private.

'Director Dios, do you wish to add anything before we go on?'

Warden shook his head. Steadying himself on his core of anger, he said, 'Hashi Lebwohl has my complete confidence. He's already answered your questions more fully than I could myself. '

Len bowed slightly. 'Very well, Director Dios. We will proceed. '

The whole Council seemed to pause as if the broadcast image had frozen. Members held papers motionless in their hands; advisers leaning forward to speak remained still.