Impatient, he opened a broad channel. “Directeur Josef Venport, if you surrender yourself and deliver my sister unharmed, we can end this without further loss of life.” He realized this situation was a complete turnabout from when VenHold ships had placed Salusa Secundus under siege. “If you wish to prove your mettle by fighting us, it will be a bloody battle, but most of the blood will be yours. Make no mistake about it, we will prevail. As a logical businessman, you should know when to cut your losses.”
Venport finally appeared on the screen, speaking to them from a sealed chamber in the laboratory domes below. He was dressed impeccably, his reddish hair perfect, but Roderick noticed his face looked somewhat haggard. The Directeur narrowed his blue-eyed gaze, showed a flash of anger. “Manford Torondo was willing to speak any lie, provided it met his needs — I expected that of him. But you broke your word as well, Roderick Corrino. We had a deal. I used my company military force to crush the Butlerians, and then your fleet attacked us when we were weakened. Why should I trust anything you say after that betrayal?”
Roderick pressed his lips into a firm line. “Admiral Harte was out of contact and operating under previous standing orders. When his fleet arrived at Lampadas, he was unaware of our bargain. His attack on you was truly the result of an unfortunate misunderstanding. I did not intend it to happen, and I might even have been willing to apologize.” He hardened his voice. “Until you revealed that you have been holding my sister hostage, that you knew where she was all along. You should not be so ready to point your finger at me, Directeur.” He raised his voice, speaking with the authority of an Emperor. “Let me speak to Anna. Now.”
Venport appeared unimpressed. “Your sister recorded a message for you. Listen to her own words.” Without further preamble, he transmitted a recording.
On the screen, Anna smiled at the imager. Yes, it was her, and she appeared to be inside one of the Denali domes, with a cymek work area behind her. She looked healthy, well cared for, even content. Her brow furrowed in a frown as she leaned closer. “This is a message to my brother. Dear Roderick, I am here and I am safe. Directeur Venport keeps me safe, keeps close watch on me.” She smiled pleasantly. “More important, I’m happy. My lover is here on Denali! Everything is wonderful, and Directeur Venport says I can remain for as long as I want. In fact, he insists.” Her eyes flicked back and forth. “Though I do miss you. Please come and visit.”
The recording ended and was replaced by Venport’s face. In a sharp voice, he added, “As you can see, your dear Anna is safe for now. You should thank me — one of my operatives rescued her when the barbarians took over the Mentat School. They would surely have killed her, while I have only held her here for her own protection, showing her every courtesy. I planned to deliver her to you as a goodwill gesture, but then you set out to destroy me. If I am as desperate as you believe I am, then don’t force me to harm her. Discontinue your aggressive posture, withdraw your ships, and come down with an unarmed party to negotiate an end to this crisis.”
He cut off the transmission abruptly.
Roderick stewed, said off-line, “Maybe we should pull back and give him a moment to breathe. He must come to realize that his best option is surrender.”
Reverend Mother Fielle stood beside them, having carefully watched Josef Venport. “He does have Anna Corrino hostage, and I believe she is unharmed thus far. In that, I detect no deception. She is his only bargaining chip, so he will not hurt her, Sire. You can push him harder.”
Admiral Harte agreed. “It is dangerous for you to show weakness now. This should be our final battle against the most dangerous man in the Imperium, now that Manford is dead. Venport will not harm your sister. He knows that if he did there would be nothing to stop us from wiping out everything he has.” Harte wore a determined expression on his flushed face, and he held up a clenched fist. “We can defeat Venport Holdings, seize the Directeur, and end his threat to the Imperium.” He forcibly straightened his fingers. “I apologize for being so outspoken, Sire. The decision is yours, of course. The Directeur held me and my troops prisoner, so this is also personal for me. Too personal, it seems.”
Roderick nodded. “It’s all personal, Admiral. And that man has escaped too many times for me to underestimate him again.” He remembered how Venport had strolled into the Imperial Audience Chamber to congratulate him after the coronation — knowing all the while that he had assassinated Salvador. Norma Cenva had whisked him away the moment his crime was exposed, and Venport could escape just as easily now. Like a greased worm.
But Roderick wouldn’t let him.
From the Admiral’s flagship, which had once been Emperor Jules’s grand flagship, Roderick gazed out at his large Imperial fleet. “After all that man has done, I will not give him a way to save face, and I will not withdraw and send in an unarmed team as if we are merely negotiating a trade deal! The time to be reasonable is past, and I will not show weakness. Venport has made himself as much an enemy of the Imperium as Manford Torondo ever was. We have the upper hand. Let’s finish this.”
Admiral Harte straightened, looking pleased. “He’s right below us — we can easily destroy the laboratory domes from orbit.”
“My sister is down there, Admiral. She’s an innocent and always has been. We can’t just carpet bomb the domes. Under the circumstances, I want a surgical strike.”
Harte nodded. “You make it more difficult, Sire, but it can be done. First, though, we need to neutralize his warships in orbit.”
“In that, Admiral, you may proceed with all the resources at your disposal.”
77
The Sisterhood school teaches that love is dangerous, which I have always found puzzling. Obviously, there is a great deal about this emotion that I do not understand.
Invasion alarms rang throughout the laboratory domes, but Anna was already running away. She did not care about political problems or space fleets. Her world had fallen apart. Sirens summoned everyone to their posts, and military transmissions from the VenHold fleet in orbit warned of an imminent attack. Denali personnel raced through the corridors in a panic.
But Anna was too absorbed in her own misery. She pressed her hands to her ears, ducked her head, and continued to run, uninterested in the crisis. In her state of mind all the noise sounded like mocking laughter, faceless shouts that seemed to taunt her with a merciless twisting of the knife.
Her heart was not just broken; it was shattered. Her mind was already a fragile construct held together by cobwebs and memories, and now it had curled up to hide from the reality she could not bear to face. She had surrendered her heart, her soul, her deepest self to Erasmus. She had unleashed her passion, shared every feeling with him. And she had been fooled, betrayed.
It was entirely her fault. She was aware that Erasmus was cold and unfeeling, an evil thinking machine, but Anna had cheated herself into believing he had changed. She had saved him from certain destruction during the fall of the Mentat School, and thought he felt something special for her in return. She thought she had repaired the robot’s dark spirit and healed him with love, helping him understand what it meant to be a human being.
But he viewed everything she had done for him and given him as nothing more than an experiment. An experiment! She felt so violated. He said he was finished with her, had no time for her. Other concerns were more important.