And how could he find that for himself? For the wheel of his own life was broken, the axle shattered.
He followed her out down the narrow twist of steps, then stood staring out through the shadows of the hallway at the garden—at a brilliant square of color framed by the dark oak of the doorway.
He shivered, astonished by the sight; by the almost hallucinatory clarity of what could be seen within that frame. It was as if, in stepping through, one might enter another world. Whether it was simply a function of the low ceiling and the absence of windows inside and the contrasting openness of the garden beyond he could not say, but the effect took away his breath. It was like nothing he had ever seen. The light seemed embedded in the darkness, like a lens. So vivid it was. As if washed clean. He went toward it, his lips parted in wonder, then stopped, laughing, putting his hand against the warm wood of the upright.
"Ben?"
The young man was to the right, in the kitchen garden, close by the hinged door. He looked up from where he was kneeling at the edge of the path, almost as if he had expected Li Yuan to appear at that moment.
"Li Yuan . . ."
Li Yuan went across and stood there over him, the late morning sunlight warming his neck and shoulders. "What are you doing?"
Ben patted the grass beside him. "I'm playing. Won't you join me?"
Li Yuan hesitated, then, sweeping his robes beneath him, knelt at Ben's side.
Ben had removed a number of the rocks from the border of the flower beds, exposing the dark earth beneath. Its flattened surface was crisscrossed with tiny tunnels. On the grass beside him lay a long silver box with rounded edges, like an overlong cigar case.
"What's that?" Li Yuan asked, curious.
Ben laughed. "That's my little army. I'll show you in a while. But look. It's quite extensive, isn't it?"
The maze of tiny tunnels spread out several ch'i in each direction.
"It's part of an ants' nest," Ben explained. "Most of it's down below, under the surface. A complex labyrinth of tunnels and levels. If you could dig it out in one big chunk it would be huge. Like a tiny city."
"I see," said Li Yuan, surprised by Ben's interest. "But what are you doing with it?"
Ben leaned forward slightly, studying the movement in one of the tracks. "They've been pestering us for some while. Getting in the sugar jar and scuttling along the back of the sink. So Mother asked me to deal with them."
"Deal with them?"
Ben looked up. "Yes. They can be a real nuisance if you don't deal with them. So I'm taking steps to destroy their nest."
Li Yuan frowned, then laughed. "I don't understand, Ben. What do you do—use acid or something?"
Ben shook his head. "No. I use these." He picked up the silver case and handed it across to the young T'ang.
Li Yuan opened the case and immediately dropped it, moving back from it sharply.
"It's all right," Ben said, retrieving the case. "They can't escape unless I let them out."
Li Yuan shivered. The box was full of ants—big, red, brutal-looking things; hundreds of them, milling about menacingly.
"You use them?"
Ben nodded. "Amos made them. He based them on polyergus—Amazon ants. They're a soldier caste, you see. They go into other ants' hives and enslave them. These are similar, only they don't enslave, they simply destroy."
Li Yuan shook his head slowly, horrified by the notion.
"They're a useful tool," Ben continued. "I've used them a lot out here. We get new nests every year. It's a good thing Amos made a lot of these. I'm forever losing half a dozen or so. They get clogged up with earth and stop functioning or occasionally the real ants fight back and take them apart. Usually, however, they encounter very little resistance. They're utterly ruthless, you see. Machines, that's all they are. Tiny, super-efficient little machines. The perfect gardening tool."
Ben laughed, but the joke was lost on Li Yuan.
"Your father tells me I must be ruthless."
Ben looked up from the ants and smiled. "It was nothing you didn't know."
Li Yuan looked back at Ben. As on the first occasion they had met—the day of his engagement to Fei Yen—he had the feeling of being with his equal, of being with a man who understood him perfectly.
"Ben? Would you be my Counselor? My Chief Advisor? Would you be to me what your father was to my father?"
Ben turned, looking out across the bay, as if to take in his surroundings, then he looked back at Li Yuan.
"I am not my father, Li Yuan."
"Nor I mine."
"No." Ben sighed and looked down, tilting the case, making the ants run this way and that. There was a strange smile on his lips. "You know, I didn't think it would tempt me, but it does. To try it for a while. To see what it would be like." He looked up again. "But no, Li Yuan. It would simply be a game. My heart wouldn't be in it. And that would be dangerous, don't you think?"
Li Yuan shook his head. "You're wrong. Besides, I need you, Ben. You were bred to be my helper, my advisor . . ."
He stopped, seeing how Ben was looking at him.
"I can't be, Li Yuan. I'm sorry, but there's something else I have to do. Something more important."
Li Yuan stared at him, astonished. Something more important? How could anything be more important than the business of government?
"You don't understand," Ben said. "I knew you wouldn't. But you will. It may take twenty years, but one day you'll understand why I said no today."
"Then I can't persuade you?"
Ben smiled. "To be your Chief Advisor—to be what my father was to Li Shai Tung—that I can't be. But I'll be your sounding board if you ever need me, Li Yuan. You need only come here. And we can sit in the garden and play at killing ants, neh?"
Li Yuan stared back at him, not certain whether he was being gently mocked, then let himself relax, returning Ben's smile.
"All right. I'll hold you to that promise."
Ben nodded. "Good. Now watch. The best bit is always at the start. When they scuttle for the holes. They're like hounds scenting blood. There's something pure— something utterly pure—about them."
Li Yuan moved back, watching as Ben flipped back the transparent cover to the case, releasing a bright red spill. They fell like sand onto the jet-black earth, scattering at once into the tiny tracks, the speed at which they moved astonishing. And then they were gone, like blood-soaked water drained into the thirsty earth, seeking out their victims far below.
It was as Ben had said; there was something pure—something quite fascinating—about them. Yet at the same time they were quite horrifying. Tiny machines, they were. Not ants at all. He shuddered. What in the gods' names had Amos Shepherd been thinking when he made such things? He looked at Ben again.
"And when they've finished . . . what happens then?"
Ben looked up at him, meeting his eyes. "They come back. They're programmed to come back. Like the Hei you use beneath the Net. It's all the same, after all. All very muchvthe same."
hans EBERT sat back in his chair, his face dark with anger.
"Karr did what!"
Scott bowed his head. "It's all here, Hans. In the report."
"Report?" Ebert stood and came around the desk, snatching the file from the Captain. He opened it, scanning it a moment, then looked back at Scott.
"But this is to Tolonen."
Scott nodded, "I took the liberty of making a copy. I knew you'd be interested." "You did, eh?" Ebert took a breath, then nodded. "And DeVore?" "He got away. Karr almost had him, but he slipped through the net." Ebert swallowed, not knowing what was worse, DeVore in Karr's hands or DeVore loose and blaming him for the raid.
He had barely had time to consider the matter when his equerry appeared in the doorway.
"There's a call for you, sir. A Shih Beattie. A business matter, I understand." He felt his stomach tighten. Beattie was DeVore.