The Elder's age-yellowed gaze scanned the gathering's faces, the eye muscles twitching in their wrinkled sockets. At last, the Elder fastened upon Kuat of Kuat, standing several meters distant.
"Are you. . . surprised, Kuat?" The voice emerged from the amplified speaker at the front of the portable life-support system, a few gasping syllables at a time." That I've. . . lived so. . . long?"
Kuat walked forward and stood before the Knylenn Elder, gazing up at the face elevated by the machinery that had consumed the aged body." Nothing you do surprises me." He could hear the gurgle and hiss of the life-support system's various components, the fluids moving constantly between sterilized metal and flesh arrested in its slow decay." When I was but a child, and you already in the prime of your manhood, you swore before our biological mothers that you would outlive me." He smiled politely up at the Elder." You might make it yet."
The laugh that grated from the speaker sounded like sheets of corrugated durasteel grinding against each other." With your. . . help, Kuat. As you. . . shall see. . .
Spittle had flecked the side of the Knylenn Elder's face, and shone damply in the tangles of the beard draped across the metal collar encasing the wattles of his throat. The younger Khoss of Knylenn mounted a built-in step at the side of the life-support system and reached up with a silken cloth, dabbing away the wetness as tenderly as if the old kinsman were made of crumpled paper. From his perch on the gurgling machinery, Khoss looked down at Kuat of Kuat. A spark of simmering contempt showed in Khoss's eyes.
Kuat turned away from the Knylenns. A single nod was all the communication that he needed to exchange with Fenald.
"Nobles of this world! My fellow kinsmen!" Khoss had not dismounted from the side of the Knylenn Elder's life-support system, but instead had climbed onto the flat area just behind the upright cylinder. The slight effort had brought an excited flush to his face; he steadied himself by reaching down and placing both his hands upon the metal-sheathed shoulders of the Elder he stood behind. The Elder's white braids were draped at the level of Khoss's knees." I beg your indulgence-but urgent matters have brought us together at this time!" His voice rang against the glowing limits of the dome." The very future of the world that we share among us; that future lies in jeopardy!"
The overt theatricality in display offended Kuat of Kuat. He shook his head in distaste, a gesture that was noticed by Kodir standing next to him.
"You're right," she said." They've all rehearsed their parts. Just look at them."
In the gathering place's opalescent light, the Knylenns and their affiliates had taken up positions on either side of the Knylenn Elder. With their telbuns, they constituted an obvious majority of those present,
the weight of the ruling households' authority manifested by the confident, even smug expressions on their faces. They stood, male and female alike, with their arms folded across the embroidered fronts of their formal robes, their booted feet spread apart as though they had been transformed into warriors.
"That's handy," Kuat of Kuat remarked dryly to his head of security." Now at least we know exactly what we're up against."
Kodir of Kuhlvult laid a hand on his shoulder and spoke close to his ear, turning her own back on the massed figures." The Knylenns have been sending out their emissaries and negotiating teams to the other households for a while now. In fact, ever since Emperor Palpatine dismantled the old Republic. That was when Khoss of Knylenn decided the galaxy's politics had changed enough for him to make his move."
"I see." Her words didn't surprise Kuat; he'd already had his own Kuat Drive Yards intelligence teams report the Knylenns' maneuverings to him. The shift in the power structure among the inhabited worlds, the rise of the Empire and Palpatine's concentration of authority in his own hands, had had inevitable consequences in every council hall and parliament scattered among the stars. At the last gathering of the planet Kuat's ruling households, Khoss of Knylenn had tried to whip up a rebellion against the Kuat bloodline and their administration of the Kuat Drive Yards business. The accusation had been that Kuat of Kuat had shown a disastrous favoritism toward the Rebel Alliance by keeping Kuat Drive Yards out of any involvement with the construction of the Empire's new Death Star weapon.
There had been other military contracting firms, on other worlds, that had reaped both the Emperor's favor and the huge profits that had come with building the Death Star; Kuat of Kuat had been aware that Palpatine himself had commented-with malign suspicion-about the reasons for Kuat Drive Yards not even bidding on the smallest part of the project. Palpatine's misgivings had been soothed away by the simple expedient of Kuat Drive Yards absorbing an unplanned cost overrun, by Kuat of Kuat's personal orders, on the design change orders for an operational wing of a half-dozen new Imperial battle cruisers. That had cut deeply into the corporation's profits for the fiscal quarter, but it had also maintained Kuat Drive Yards' inside relationship with the Empire.
Only later, when the Death Star had turned out to be something less than invulnerable-after the Battle of Yavin, the Imperial admirals' ultimate weapon had been little more than smoldering scraps floating in the vacuum of space-had Kuat's enemies among the ruling households been forced to acknowledge his wisdom. Kuat Drive Yards' preeminent position among the Empire's military contractors was even more secure now, with Emperor Palpatine placing greater trust in Kuat of Kuat's engineering expertise. Whatever plans the Knylenns might have had for taking over the administration of Kuat Drive Yards were put on hold-until now.
Which raised a single question in Kuat of Kuat's mind. Why now? he wondered as he looked at Khoss of Knylenn, perched on top of the Knylenn Elder's portable life-support system. What had changed? Some element in the delicate balancing act of power and ambition, either here or somewhere offworld, must have altered slightly, enough for Khoss and the rest of the Knylenn household to believe that they had another chance for realizing their goals. But nothing that had come to Kuat of Kuat through his own intelligence sources had alerted him to any new development. Either the long years of frustrated waiting had driven Khoss of Knylenn insane, or the usurpers and their affiliates had developed contacts and espionage networks that exceeded Kuat's own. The latter possibility bordered on paranoia, but inevitably so for someone in a position such as that held by Kuat, where sheer information dictated one's survival. What do they know? His gaze narrowed as he watched Khoss and the rest of the Knylenns. Or worse-what do they know that I don't?
Those questions were soon to be answered. Khoss of Knylenn gestured with an outflung arm, silencing the murmuring hubbub from the crowd assembled around him. His hand lowered again toward the shoulder of the ancient, withered figure embraced by the life-support system's machinery." Let the Elder speak!" Khoss's shout rang against the glowing limits of the gathering space." Listen to what he has to say!"
On either side of the life-support system's segmented treads, the Knylenns and their affiliates turned their respectful faces up toward the Elder.
"This ought to be good," muttered Kodir of Kuhlvult, standing next to Kuat. The sour expression on her face made her distaste for the proceedings evident.
The eyes in the age-wrinkled face reminded Kuat of Emperor Palpatine's cold scrutiny. But the Emperor's eyes were at least animated by the deep, consuming appetite that existed behind them, the hunger for power over all the universe's sentient beings. By contrast, the Knylenn Elder's gaze was dulled beneath the accumulated layers of time, as though any remaining spark were clouded by dust and cobwebs.
"Would that I were at rest. . ." The rheumatic voice crackled from the amplified speaker at the front of the cylinder. One corner of the Knylenn Elder's mouth pulled downward with each spoken syllable, the palsy showing a few yellowed teeth." Would that I were at rest forever. . . in the tomb of those who preceded me, for these many years. . . than that I should live to see such treachery. . ."