I looked at Tully in genuine surprise. “First I’ve heard of it.”
“I’ve had rumblings,” the sore responded. “But nothing in this area.”
“That is exactly why I am here,” Morah told us. “Sixty coastal settlements along the south and east have been hit, either directly or indirectly, in the last three weeks. There have also been more than two dozen incidents in the interior. Practically every community within two thousand square kilometers has been touched—except Bourget. Messages, records, you name it have been destroyed or disrupted all over—except material to or from fat, rich Bourget. Interesting coincidence, is it not?”
“I’ll agree it sounds anything but a coincidence,” I replied, “but I haven’t a clue as to who or where. I’ve been here now the better part of—what?—five months and I’ve never seen a straighter, more basic and open culture than this.”
“A culture that refuses to recognize the Queen and festers the largest cult of the Destroyer on the planet,” Morah snapped back. “A culture with the resources and means to mount a widespread rebellion.”
“Except that all the Unitites want is to be left alone,” Kokul noted. “As far as they’re concerned, they’re on another planet and they’d just as soon keep it that way.”
“That’s about it,” I agreed.
“You have made no attempts to break the Destroyer cult,” the Chief of Security noted.
Kokul shrugged. “What can I do? It’s a safety valve for this kind of culture, and the ones I’ve caught have been genuine fanatics. They have someone of great power at their heart though—they know and completely change and move as soon as I get a clue. It’s as if they had somebody right in my labs.”
“Perhaps they do,” Morah replied. “Perhaps you have been here too long, Kokul.”
The wizard’s face turned red, and he stood up. I had never seen him angry before, and he was a fearsome sight. “Are you questioning my loyalty? Even you have no right to do that, Morah!”
The big, weird man was unmoved. “I have every right to do whatever is necessary,” he replied. However, he seemed to realize he had overstepped his diplomatic bounds if he hoped to get cooperation with a minimum of trouble, and added, “However, I am not questioning your loyalty. Were I, you would be brought up before the Synod, as you know. No, I merely reflect that you have been here a very long time. You like Bourget and its isolation, and as you are intimate with the people, they are also intimate with you. You may or may not have the power necessary to do what needs to be done, but you lack the will in any case. I have no such problems.”
Kokul was only partially mollified, but he sat down.
“You will call a series of assemblies of all townsmen,” Morah told him. “Groups of 500, in one-hour intervals—and I don’t care if it does disrupt things for a day or two. I will make similar arrangements with the Companies. If I read these Unitites correctly, they would be more intolerant than even we of anyone discovered to be in the cult of the Destroyer. We will bring them into the open. We will let your precious villagers discover just who is who. And then we will stamp out this cult in Bourget.”
“Just what are you going to do?” I asked him, still trying, and failing, to look directly into those weird eyes.
“My best troops are even now in the process of sealing off the town by both land and sea,” he told us. “There will be no escape for this band of traitors. Be there for the first assembly tomorrow morning. It will probably be the only one required. I think both of you will find the exercise an educational experience.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
All Hell Breaks Loose
“Who’s this Yatek Morah, anyway, that he can come in and order us around like this?” Zala wanted to know.
“Chief of Security, he says, and I know little more except that Tully is scared stiff of him and he comes directly from Aeolia Matuze.”
“Well, I don’t think he’s got any right doing this. I’ve got half a mind not to show up.”
I stared at her, wondering a bit at her sudden show of spunk and bravado—or was it? She wasn’t very good at hiding things, and in her eyes I saw a tinge of fear and uncertainty. For a brief moment I wondered if maybe there was more going on here than I realized.
“You have to go,” I told her. “We all do. Anybody on the list who doesn’t show up when ordered will automatically be branded an enemy of the people, and they can take whatever action they want. Besides, you saw the ships out there?”
She nodded nervously.
“I don’t know how many troops he’s got with him, but they’re a nasty bunch and very well trained and efficient—and according to Tully they’re all at least apts.” I paused a moment to let that sink in. “Besides—aren’t you just the least bit curious to see what they’re going to do?”
“I—I suppose. Well, let’s do it.”
We left the house together and walked up the road toward the square. Everything was closed today, even the bank, and there was the general feeling of a community under sudden siege. I didn’t like it—the eerie stillness, the tension so thick you could feel it, like cobwebs or dense fog oozing around, despite the fact that this was one of our few bright, rainless days.
Most of the first group had already gathered in and around the square, which nonetheless looked oddly barren without the vendors and cafe tables. A small stage had been erected in the center of the square, on the grassy plot where Zala and I had been ceremoniously married only five months before. The four streets leading into the square were all filled with men in the black and gold imperial uniforms of Charon. I was struck by their tough, nasty appearance and by the fact that they were all armed with very ugly-looking rifles of unfamiliar design. I looked around on top of the market buildings and the town hall and saw indications of movement, reflections in the light, everywhere. Morah was taking no chances. I had no idea what those rifles shot or their rate of fire, but I was pretty sure that, in a pinch, this force could probably mow down everyone in the square. Not a comforting thought.
Zala looked nervously at the troops and gulped, grabbing and squeezing my hand for reassurance. “Park?” “Yeah?”
“Let’s stay close to Tully in this. At least we’ll have some measure of protection.”
“Good idea—if we can find him in this mob.” I looked around but the wizard was nowhere to be seen. “Let’s try the town hall. That’ll be where Morah will come from.”
She nodded, and we made our way through a sea of worried faces; the people were milling around, looking at the troops, but not talking very much. We had almost reached the front door when it opened and Morah and Kokul emerged, flanked by four more troopers. Zala stopped at the sight of the security chief and gave a slight gasp as, for an instant, she saw those strange, terrible eyes. But Morah paid us no notice and, using his troopers.—all four female, I noted, deliberately chosen to thumb his nose at the Unitites—to clear a path, he made his way to the stage. He really didn’t need the troopers—nobody was going to stand in that man’s way.
Tully followed him to the foot of the stage, but did not climb up on it. I started to go to him, but Zala pulled me back. “No. Let’s stay against the building, near the doorway,” she suggested hopefully. I looked around and could see her point. If any shooting started it was the best exit available and one I knew well.