Among the Powers (21 page)

“I want to go home!” Lady Sunlight wailed, turning
about as if looking for an exit from the great stone chamber that
served as Brenner’s central guesthall.

The others ignored her. “You’re sure that
he’ll do it?” Sheila asked, shifting uncomfortably in her red
pseudo-leather chair. She was not accustomed to chairs that refused
to reshape themselves to accommodate her.

“Of course I’m sure!” Brenner snapped, as he
continued his slow pacing, each step timed to the ancient music
that played softly as a constant background. “If I weren’t sure I
wouldn’t have said anything. Barring a miracle, Thaddeus will be
through the wall in the south tower within half an hour.”

“We’re doomed,” Lady Sunlight moaned. “All
doomed!” Her pet clung to her neck and chittered in sympathetic
distress.

“Will you shut up?” Brenner snarled at her,
still pacing.

“No, I won’t shut up!” she shouted back.
“That madman is probably going to kill us all!”

“No, he isn’t,” Brenner replied, in a more
moderate shout than her own. “And if you’ll shut up I’ll explain
why not.”

“Thaddeus is certainly capable of murder,”
Rawl pointed out quietly. “We all know what he did on Alpha
Imperium.”

“Yes, we do know,” Sheila said, annoyed.
“And we don’t need you to remind us of it just now.”

“I never forgot it,” Brenner said, forcing
himself to stop pacing and to maintain an even, conversational
tone. “That’s why I’ve always kept a closer eye on him than the
rest of you, and I suppose that’s why he attacked me first.”

“I had always supposed that you simply
didn’t like him,” Rawl remarked, settling back in his black
pseudo-leather chair.

“Why? Did you think none of us had any
appreciation for justice but you?” Brenner’s tone was harsher
again, but he kept his voice down to a normal volume.

Rawl shrugged.

“And for all of that, if you’re so concerned
with justice and punishing those who have done evil, why didn’t you
ever do anything about him? You knew who he was.”

“Yes, I knew,” Rawl admitted. “And I knew I
should have turned him in before we ever left Terra. I was weak. I
chose not to get involved. I bowed to the obvious will of the
majority.” The sound of an explosion penetrated the surrounding
stone and forcefields. “Had I done what I knew was right, we would
not be here now. I would apologize, but it seems a little late for
that, and in any case you’re all as guilty as myself.”

“He must be crazy!” Sunlight shouted, waving
her arms and sending her floating polychrome dress into wild,
billowing contortions that sent floral perfume out in thick
waves.

“Oh, yes,” Rawl replied. “He’s obviously
been quite mad for centuries.”

“On that we agree,” Brenner said.

“Oh, we’re all going to die!” Lady Sunlight
said again.

“No, we are
not
,” Brenner replied,
rocking on his heels. “And if you’d all ever shut up for a minute
and stop distracting me I’d explain why not.”

“Speak, then,” Rawl said. ‘“If thou hast any
tongue, or use of voice, by Heaven, I charge thee, speak!’”

“Really, Rawl, if you’re going to start
quoting Shakespeare...” Sheila began.

“Hush, and let the man speak,” Rawl
replied.

“I will,” Sheila retorted. She turned, and
said, “Go on, Brenner.” She and Lady Sunlight looked at him
expectantly.

“Right,” he said. “Yes. Well. We aren’t
going to die, because if that was all Thaddeus wanted I think he
could have gotten in here a lot more quickly than he has. He hasn’t
tried anything really ruthless; he hasn’t nuked us, for example. My
castle could hold off a few small nukes, but if he laid into us
with a series of serious high-yield thermonuclear warheads I think
we’d all fry in pretty short order. There’s something in here he
wants intact, and I think it’s probably us, or at least one of
us.”

“That’s not very much more appealing than
dying,” Sheila remarked.

“Speak for yourself!” Lady Sunlight
snapped.

“I did,” Sheila replied calmly.

“It doesn’t matter which is worse, because
neither one is going to happen,” Brenner said. “I told you, I’ve
been watching Thaddeus. I thought he might try something, and I’m
ready. There’s a way out of the High Castle that he doesn’t know
about. There are
several
secret ways out of here, actually,
but I think he may have found some of them. There’s one, though,
that I
know
no one has been poking around, and that’s the
way we’re going out. Rawl, you keep all your equipment with you,
don’t you?”

“Generally speaking, yes,” the Adjuster
agreed cautiously.

“So if we get out of the castle, you can
contact the others?”

“Easily,” Rawl said.

“Even if there’s interference, and Mother
isn’t on line?”

Rawl paused, considering, then said, “Not as
easily, but still yes.”

“Can you transport us?”

“For short distances, or if I leave two of
you behind to anywhere on the continent.”

“Well, that’s fine, then. We’ll get out of
here, and put through some calls, and get everyone together to take
care of Thaddeus before he gets out of hand.”

“He may already be out of hand,” Rawl
suggested.

“Well, I mean before he becomes
unmanageable.”

“He may already be unmanageable. We don’t
know what’s been happening out there for the last hundred hours or
more; he’s got us completely cut off. He could easily have done a
lot of damage already. Most of the others wouldn’t be prepared to
resist as you have.”

Brenner looked at him, disconcerted. “That’s
true,” he said thoughtfully.

“What do you think he’s trying to do,
anyway?” Sheila asked.

Rawl shrugged. “He probably wants to rebuild
his empire.”

“Here? On Denner’s Wreck?” Sheila waved an
arm to take in the entire planet.

“Why not? It’s a start.”

“Can we stop arguing about all this and get
out of here?” Lady Sunlight demanded.

Something crackled loudly, and a
nearly-subliminal flicker ran through the chamber’s lights.

“Yes,” Rawl said, “I think that would be a
very good idea.”

“Right. This way.” Brenner turned and
marched out, leading the way from the guesthall. Lady Sunlight ran
after him, so close on his heels she nearly collided with him, her
pet clinging for its life.

Sheila rose and followed more calmly, and
Rawl brought up the rear, glancing about with interest as they
passed through passageways he had never seen before.

At the end of a winding corridor a dropshaft
took them down into the depths of the mountain, where they followed
a twisting and circuitous route through the surrounding bedrock,
Brenner pausing every so often to point with pride to some security
device or other, only to be hurried along by Lady Sunlight before
he could explain it adequately.

The lights flickered and died while they
were still deep inside the mountain, and Rawl provided illumination
for the rest of their journey in the form of a free-floating energy
field radiating a warm yellow.

“How much further?” Lady Sunlight asked as
they rounded yet another curve.

“Not far,” Brenner replied. “Look ahead
there—you can see daylight.”

Rawl stopped dead in his tracks, and his
light vanished, plunging them into darkness.

“Rawl, what the hell...?” Sheila began, as
she, too, stopped.

“Shh!” he hissed.

“What’s the matter?” Lady Sunlight
demanded.

Brenner seemed determined to ignore the
Adjuster’s action. “Come on,” he said. “I see light ahead!”

“That’s why I stopped,” Rawl said. “Have you
all forgotten? It was dark out when we came down here. According to
my internal clock, the sun won’t be up for almost half an
hour.”

“Then what...” Sheila began.

“Your clock is wrong,” Lady Sunlight said.
“Come on.”

“It’s not,” Rawl insisted.

“That’s right,” a new voice said, as light
again filled the passageway, a harsh blue-white glare. Brenner
began cursing.

“The sun isn’t up,” Thaddeus said, “but your
time is. Now, come on out, and I won’t have to hurt you.”

Lady Sunlight began sobbing; Brenner
continued to curse, switching from one language to another every
few phrases.

“And if we don’t?” Rawl asked.

“Believe me,” Thaddeus said, “you don’t want
to know. Now, step on out and let my machines collect you. I have a
fine welcome for you all here in Fortress Holding.”

In the new light they could all see the
little silver darts of heavily-armed floaters cruising slowly in
toward them, weapons trained forward, ready to fire.

Still cursing into his beard, Brenner
reluctantly raised his hands. Lady Sunlight continued weeping.
Sheila spat, and Rawl shrugged, but none of them put up any further
resistance as the floaters surrounded them.

“
The Lady of the Island, it is said, watches over
all the islands of the coast, as well as her own, and whenever a
boat founders, she is there, looking over its crew. She inspects
them closely, and chooses the best, the strongest, the smartest,
the most handsome, to come to her own island to be her lovers.
Those who are almost good enough she takes as her servants. The
rest she leaves to the mercies of the rocks and the sea.

“
But be not too joyful, if you go to sea and find
yourself wrecked upon the rocks, only to be carried away to her
island, for when she tires of a lover she relegates him to the
servants’ hall, and whenever any servant displeases her, or grows
old and slow so that he can no longer fulfill her every whim as
quickly as she demands, she transforms him into a beast. And if one
of these beasts should trouble her, then it is killed and fed to
the others—or perhaps not killed first.

“
This, then, is the tale that is told, but the
truth of it is doubtful. No one who has been shipwrecked will admit
to having seen her, and those who have visited her island and then
escaped alive have seen no men there at all—only beasts, many
strange and varied beasts, some of which can speak as men do.
Perhaps the tale is just a lie, concocted by someone who wished to
explain the beasts—or perhaps a lie told by the beasts themselves,
who would prefer to be thought ensorcelled humans, rather than the
mere beasts they seem.”

—
from the tales of Kithen the
Storyteller

A fine luncheon was served on a brightly-lit
stone-paved terrace at the Skyler’s main house, where balls of
glowing colored fog drifted in slow patterns overhead, and where
several varieties of polychrome mutant peacocks, made
supernaturally splendid by their customized genes, stalked in
silent beauty on the rippling lawn nearby. Soft sourceless music
played unobtrusively.

The meal was not a pleasant one. Despite the
Skyler’s earlier declaration that she would not eat with a savage,
she and Bredon were both present, and both ate. No one made any
mention of this inconsistency; after all, the others all seemed to
silently agree, it was the Skyler’s home and she could do as she
pleased.

Bredon could not bring himself to contribute
much to the conversation. He was worried, about himself and about
Lady Sunlight and about what Thaddeus would do. Furthermore,
despite his new insights into the workings of Terran technology, he
was still somewhat awed by the realization that he was dining with
three of the Powers—
the
Powers, about whom he had heard
since infancy, beings just a step below gods.

He knew now that they were only human, but
the aura the stories bestowed still lingered, reinforced by the
otherworldly beauty of the Skyler’s domain, and he felt it would
not be respectful to speak openly in such company, as if he were
their equal.

He was hardly in the mood for light chatter,
in any case. As if his other worries weren’t enough, his high-speed
education had not covered details such as Terran table manners, so
that he was in a perpetual state of uncertainty, constantly
watching the others to be sure he was using the unfamiliar utensils
correctly.

The Skyler met one of his surreptitious
glances in her direction and glared back with such ferocity that
Bredon thereafter studiously avoided looking at her, instead
watching Geste and Imp.

Even before he caught her eye, the Skyler
was moody and belligerent, and Bredon guessed that she resented the
presence of so many people—one of them a stranger—aboard her
private retreat. She devoted most of her energy to devouring her
food, rather than to conversation. She chewed away defiantly.

Imp, clad in a red-orange bodysuit, seemed
far more radiantly beautiful in person than she had in holographic
transmission. Still distraught over Aulden’s disappearance, she
said nothing, except to reply as briefly as possible to Geste’s
occasional questions. She ate little, picking at her food. When he
looked at her, Bredon found himself thinking of Lady Sunlight; not
only did he sympathize with Imp’s situation, her concern about a
loved one held captive, but her beauty reminded him of Lady
Sunlight. She was short and red-headed, with a heart-shaped face
and worried expression, where Lady Sunlight was tall, thin, blonde,
and aloof, but both were extremely attractive women, and Bredon
took an instinctive interest in Imp that had him involuntarily
comparing the two in the back of his mind. Even when he had to
resort to sheer imagination—he had never spoken to Lady Sunlight,
had seen her only briefly in real life, and then again briefly in
recordings at Arcade—Lady Sunlight won out in these comparisons,
and that brought home to him again just how much he wanted her.

Imp knew nothing of this, did not notice
Bredon’s attention. She stared unseeing at her plate and
occasionally put something in her mouth, where she would gnaw on it
interminably before finally swallowing and picking something
else.