“What are you talking about, Thaddeus?” Geste asked.
“Bluntly, Geste, I'm talking about blackmail. I have seven of your friends here, all alive, at least for the moment, but all very much in my hands. If any of you interfere with my plans-for that matter, if any of you fail to give me your fullest cooperation-I'll start killing my prisoners."
He smiled malignly down at the party aboard the Skyland, and for a long moment no one spoke.
“Just what are these plans that we aren't to interfere with?” Geste asked at last.
“I would suppose that you've already guessed. You all know who I am. I intend to rebuild my empire, and this time I won't be stopped."
“No? You've lost two empires already, haven't you? Why should the third be any different?” Geste said sweetly.
Thaddeus’ expression turned dark, and he hissed, “Watch your mouth, Trickster, or I might just stuff Sheila's guts in it."
Geste's smile vanished, and Thaddeus calmed slightly.
“I should have expected that from you, Geste,” he said. “Yes, I lost two empires. The first one was poisoned against me by my father and my brother, so that I couldn't hold it. The second was built on a bunch of stupid primitives who betrayed me because they didn't have the brains or the guts to understand anything. This time that won't happen. I'll build my own empire, one that Peter and Shadowdark didn't meddle in, and I won't trust anything important to savages-I'll use artificial intelligences or my own tailored creatures instead, or just pre-conscious machines."
“And you expect us to just stand by and watch?"
“Oh, no, more than that; I expect you to help me. I've got your woman, Geste, and your man, Imp, and the others as well, and I expect you all to turn over all your equipment to me, so that I can use it to build my fleet. And in exchange, when I've built my empire, you can each have a planet to rule as my viceroy."
The three immortals on the Skyland exchanged glances with one another; Bredon looked from one to the next, but they ignored him.
Thaddeus did not, however. He said, “Oh, yes, and if you care about the primitives like your friend here, if you cooperate I won't kill any more of them, either, unless I have to."
“Any more?” Geste asked, startled.
“Well, certainly; I had to kill off all the tribes that lived right around the Fortress. I couldn't trust them, not after what happened back on Alpha Imperium. That was how I got Khalid here, as a matter of fact; he came to protest about one bunch that were his special pets."
The four stared at him, speechless.
Thaddeus smiled back. “Oh, I see you want time to think about it-or rather, to talk it over before yielding, in order to save a little face. That's fine; I won't rush you. I understand how it is. I've studied psychology for thousands of years, and I know that you need to salve your pride by holding out for awhile. You go right ahead; make a foolish gesture if you have to, but just remember, I have your friends here, and I have enough automated weapons to kill you all and build my empire without your help, if I have to.” He raised a hand in sardonic salutation. “Until the next sunset, as measured at the Fortress. I want your capitulation no later than that, or the first captive dies."
The image vanished.
Bredon stared at the empty air, trying to decide whether or not to believe the casual confession of mass murder. Had Thaddeus really butchered hundreds of innocent people?
Yes, he probably had, if Gamesmaster had told the truth about what happened on Alpha Imperium.
Bredon's own tribe was safe; they dwelt far to the east of the mountains, while Fortress Holding was far to the west. Still, a shudder ran through him at the thought of what a Power could do to them on a mere whim.
The others were also staring at the air, but their thoughts were clearly different.
“It's a bluff,” Geste announced.
“I don't know,” the Skyler said.
Imp glanced at the others, then turned back to the empty air without commenting, obviously involved in her own considerations.
“Of course it's a bluff!” Geste insisted. “He wouldn't dare kill helpless prisoners like that. Someone would find out. If any of us die, Mother will know, and she'll report it back to Terra, and they'll send someone out to investigate. Thaddeus won't risk that."
“Of course he would!” the Skyler said. “We don't know what's happened on Terra in the last four centuries; someone might have blown the whole planet apart by now. And Mother would send the news at light-speed, and we're hundreds of light-years from Terra. We've been through this before, Geste."
“But he couldn't,” Geste insisted. “Even without bringing Terra into it, if he kills one of us, a cold-blooded murder like that, the others won't permit it. They'll all join forces against him. He won't risk that!"
The Skyler frowned. “Geste, you're being stupid; of course he will. First off, he's crazy. Second, the others are all apathetic and lazy, and they won't try to stop him and he knows it. Third, they can all be blackmailed by threats to the other six, if he kills one-seven is a lot of hostages to risk. And fourth, even if they did all gang up on him, he'd probably still win, because he's ready for it and he's got Aulden."
Geste hesitated, then said, “All right, you're right. I suppose I knew it, but I didn't want to admit it. He will kill them, all seven of them. He says he already killed all those other people, and I don't think he'd lie about that-we could check it too easily. Seven more won't mean that much more to him. But damn it, Skyler, we have to stop him, even if he does kill them! This may be the last chance anyone has. He expects us to give in, so if we attack we can catch him off-guard. And if we don't stop him, he's going to start an interstellar war, and probably kill millions of people. We have to stop him!"
It was the Skyler's turn to hesitate. She pursed her lips and glanced about uncertainly.
“You're right,” she said at last. “I hate it, but you're right. And if you can let him kill Sheila, I won't argue any more. I don't even like most of the people he has there."
“Good! Imp?"
“What?” The redhead started at the sound of her name.
“Do you agree?” Geste asked. “We attack?"
Imp stared at Geste as if not really seeing him. “I don't think so,” she said, oddly detached. She pulled a gleaming object from the air and spoke into it, slowly and clearly.
“Do it, code green, I tell you three times, code green, code green."
Geste lunged forward, grabbing for the device she held, but was not in time to prevent her completion of the command. Imp fell back under his onslaught, landing roughly on the stone terrace with Geste on top of her. A sudden whirring and hissing came from all sides.
Bredon was at first baffled by this entire incident, but then dredged up a bit of information from his imprinted knowledge. The gleaming object was a master-link communicator.
A master-link communicator went straight to the central controls of a system, bypassing all artificial intelligences and working directly on the basic computer functions the intelligences operated unconsciously, much as a human's internal organs functioned without any conscious control. Such communicators existed as a safety measure, to make certain that humans could always override their creations. Only a very limited number of commands could be made over a master link, all intended for emergency situations.