Thaddeus enjoyed power very much. Unfortunately, he was far worse than his father or half-brother at using it. His brutal abuse of his subjects and utter ineptitude in running the economy and foreign policy resulted in a messy revolution. He was overthrown, driven from his palace, and he seemed to vanish. No one knew what had become of him.
Sure enough, as Shadowdark had feared, the Imperium immediately collapsed, and Alpha Imperium sank into barbarism. Stupid little wars between different factions destroyed almost its entire civilization.
Centuries later Thaddeus reappeared, still on Alpha Imperium, at the heart of the fallen empire. He tried to conquer the planet and to restore the Imperium to its former power and glory.
He failed miserably, and was overthrown once again. He did manage to build a single starship on a planet that had a technology little better than Bredon's people had on Denner's Wreck, which was quite an impressive accomplishment in itself, but he was unable to put together any sort of empire. This time, when he was defeated, he fled from Alpha Imperium to Terra, where he located his father.
What his purpose might have been in rejoining Shadowdark Gamesmaster did not know and did not care to guess. Whatever the reason, he stayed with Shadowdark and his current group of companions-playmates, really-for a couple of years, and accompanied them on their jaunt in search of Denner's Wreck. The other members of the party had optimistically assumed that Thaddeus had returned to his senses and given up his dreams of absolute power. After all, being free to use Terran technology on a primitive planet should be power enough for any sane person.
Now, though, four hundred and sixty-two years later, Geste suspected that Thaddeus might be returning to his vicious and warlike ways, and feared that he planned to conquer Denner's Wreck and use it as a base to build a new empire. Gamesmaster thought Geste was right.
Thaddeus had a good chance, too, because the other immortals on the planet were disorganized and generally harmless.
“Harmless?” Bredon yelped. “The Powers are harmless?"
“To each other, yes,” Gamesmaster replied. “Not to you mortals, no, but to each other."
Of them all, it explained, only Aulden the Technician really understood all the technology they used, only Aulden had the capacity to create entirely new technology, and Aulden had disappeared while visiting Thaddeus. Only Brenner of the Mountains had ever maintained much of an arsenal, and Thaddeus was in the process of wearing that down. Most of the rest would surrender quickly, rather than bother to fight; their lives were very precious to them, and they would assume that they could simply outlive whatever scheme Thaddeus might have in mind.
One of the usual traits of an immortal is the conviction that anything can be lived through, and that nothing is worse than death. When one has infinite time in which to find a way out of an unpleasant situation, one has little need to hurry or do anything rash, and the idea of risking eternity is not at all appealing.
And the mortals of Denner's Wreck simply did not have the technology to oppose Thaddeus. He would probably either ignore them completely, or recruit a few as servants and soldiers.
Geste was not willing to surrender, however. He did not care to see Thaddeus at the head of an army again. Too many people were likely to die. Even short-lifers’ lives were precious, after all.
And Geste knew enough of Thaddeus’ history to suspect that even if the other immortals surrendered, Thaddeus might still kill them all, just to be on the safe side.
“Even Shadowdark?” Bredon asked.
“I guess so, kid."
“His own father?"
“We don't think that would stop him."
Bredon mulled that over for a moment.
He had not followed all the details of the story-much of it, such as all the stuff about empires, was simply too alien-but he had caught the gist of it. Thaddeus wanted to bully everybody. He had tried running things twice before, and botched it both times. He was on this world, Bredon's world, because he had gone running to his father after the second disaster, and had tagged along when Shadowdark came here.
Shadowdark puzzled Bredon. How could he be so disinterested?
And why was he so hideous?
“Why does Shadowdark look like that?” he asked.
“Just lazy, I guess. He's got all the technology he needs to keep him alive, but he doesn't bother with anything to keep him looking good. And he's looked a little strange for a long time; after all, he's thousands of years old, and he never stopped growing."
“He still hasn't stopped?"
“He still hasn't stopped. He stands almost three meters tall now, but he needs machines to help him stand at all. Most of his body has broken down and been rebuilt or replaced. He's a mess."
“Is it worth living forever, like that?"
“I wouldn't know, kid, I'm just a glorified household gadget. All I know is silicon life; you're the carbon-based life, you tell me whether it's worth it. Shadowdark seems to think it is."
Bredon shuddered slightly.
He decided that he didn't want to think about Shadowdark or Thaddeus or any of the other Powers for awhile. The reference to itself as a household gadget, although incomprehensible to him in itself-as were the references to carbon and silicon-suggested another, more appealing topic. “Tell me about technology,” he said.
“Good grief, kid, that's a hell of a tall order. Where do you want me to start?"
“I don't know. I want to know all about the magic that Geste and the other Powers use, how they do all those things-floating in the air and turning things invisible and all the rest. And I want to know about the spirits they talk to, like you and that thing on the platform and the one Geste called a housekeeper at that place in the mountains."
“I guess I could teach you how to work the gadgets Geste has around the place. Do you care why they work, or do you just want to know how to use them?"
“I just want to know how to use them-at least for now."
“Good enough. I can do that with imprinting, I won't need to spend hours showing you pictures. Okay, kid, you're on. I'll teach you the whole routine, from tailored microbes to pocket universes, whatever we've got on hand. Step right this way."
The surrounding darkness vanished, and Bredon found himself once more in the vast white-ribbed chamber he had seen upon first arriving. The enchanted grove still stood nearby, and the vines still clung to the walls. He realized that he had never left the room, despite the changes in color and light, that most of the chamber had simply been hidden. All the spirits and miracles that had attended him had been right there-he had been bathed and fed and instructed all in this same spot.
Now everything except the walls, the vines, and the forest had vanished.
The room was totally silent when neither he nor Gamesmaster was speaking. Noticing the grove, Bredon wondered why the leaves on the trees did not rustle, then saw that it was because there was no wind to move them. That the little animals that lived in them made no noise at all was rather more surprising.
That was not particularly important, however. The forest was just a distraction from what Gamesmaster wanted to show him.
An oval door had appeared, two meters tall and a meter wide, in the nearest white wall. The nearby vines pulled aside and it irised open. Strange soft music spilled out.
Bredon was obviously expected to go through it, but he hesitated. Could he trust this familiar spirit?
“Come on, kid, it won't bite you,” Gamesmaster said. “Right this way, and I'll teach you the basics of running a modern household."
Bredon gathered his courage, stood, and strode across the room and through the door.
Chapter Thirteen
"…rowed to the place where he had first seen the lights in the water below, and there he waited, patiently, just as he had before.
"Darkness fell, and he looked down through the water, but as always he saw nothing until the time was right.