The Emperor was proud of his son and regretted the way the boy’s smile disappeared when the subject inevitably turned to yesterday’s events in the backwoods.
Eric tossed fitfully, trying unsuccessfully to get to sleep. No wonder I thought I’d seen him before, Eric thought. My brother.
He lay on his bed, gazing out at the Moon, huge and bright orange, now appearing over the horizon. The color faded and the Moon seemed to shrink in size as it rose. It was quite high in the night sky before Eric finally gave up on sleep, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and went to the computer terminal in the study area occupying the entire far wall of his room.
He rarely used vocal commands, preferring the feeling of intimacy the keyboard gave him. Eric knew of his father’s integrator and how it gave him instant access to any Imperial data. Maybe someday he, too, would be so linked; but for now, he felt as one with the computer as his fingers flew over the keys.
Getting out of the educational and informational modes and past the low-level security into the House files was easy; he’d long ago installed enough back doors that the Imperial techs never found them all whenever they upgraded the system. Even when they did find them, he easily installed more. McLaren had spoken to him several times about accessing House systems and playing pranks with some of the routine functions like the sprinklers and clocks, and each time he would promise—with the utmost sincerity, naturally—that he wouldn’t access them that way again. With the myriad ways he knew to gain access, it was always an easy promise to keep.
There was no way to access Imperial files from this terminal, of course, but there were personal files in the House system: McLaren’s, House staff members, his father’s; even files belonging to his grandfather. These last, as well as numerous others belonging to deceased family members, had been closed and sealed, and were impossible to open from a terminal. The others, like those belonging to his father and the Master, were “merely” blocked with security codes and passwords. Eric had accessed those files only once, a few years earlier, more as a challenge to see if it was possible than out of curiosity as to their contents, but had reclosed them immediately in respect for his father’s privacy. He never attempted to access them again, until now.
It took most of the night to break the security, and once inside Eric hesitated, fingers frozen over the keys. What he was doing was wrong, he knew, but wasn’t it just as wrong for his father to have kept secret the facts about his family? Wasn’t it wrong to wait for an incident like yesterday’s to occur before telling your own son the truth? He stared at the screen for several long minutes, and resolved to stay as much out of his father’s private thoughts as possible, but he was determined to learn more about his brother.
He installed a carefully worded worm sequence that would correlate and find only those files containing information about him and his brother, and would then display only those portions of the individual entries that cross-referenced what he wanted to know.
joawe89045—I personally ordered the fertilized ova kept out of her reach, but was unaware that she had duplicated and kept others. She has already hired a surrogate, but Glenney has not yet been able to learn if the woman has been implanted. However, the fact that she has elected to retain the services of a surrogate instead of using an artificial womb tells me much about what she has in mind for the child…
joaqp90007—Glenney reports that a healthy baby has been born. I have a son …
joacc98172—The boy, Reid, is being reared on Earth. Rihana has purchased a great deal of land adjacent to Somerville, near Woodsgate itself. Damn her! What is she up to …
joakll01955—She has engaged Brendan as the boy’s Master, but I don’t understand why. Bomeer, naturally, expects the worst. Well, at least it will help to consolidate our surveillance efforts…
joawe122743—He seems to be very bright and is responding well to his teaching. However, even at five years of age he is already showing signs of being a bully. Glenney reports that many of the townspeople have filed complaints with House Valtane…
joawel22745—I have made a decision on the matter…
joayyl22998—I am informed that the fertilization of the frozen ovum was successful and that the implanted embryo is healthy. I have already given orders that the surrogate will stay at Woodsgate and that the baby will be born there…
joabhl28732—“Adela, my love, we have a son. His name is Eric, after your father. I regret that I was not able to discuss this with you and hope you will understand my reasons. If not, then perhaps it is your forgiveness that I should hope for…”
The sky over the eastern hills was graying when Eric reached the final entry his search program had called up. He rubbed at burning eyes with his cramped fingers and squinted at the last entry.
joatr212665—My sons have met, with undesirable, although predictable, results. I’ve kept this matter from him for too long and will talk to him later this morning…
Eric rubbed his eyes again and slowly backed his way out of his father’s files, trying to leave as few footprints as possible. There would be telltales, he knew, and sooner or later his father would discover that he’d accessed the private entries. When it happened, he’d ask for his father’s understanding.
Or his forgiveness.
Chapter Twelve
“It’s beautiful!” Eric stared, wide-eyed and mouth agape, out the plastiglass window running up the entire wall of his suite. “I don’t remember any of this being so fantastic.”
“There are other views available, Young Prince,” Academician Bomeer said. “Computer! Activate room screen; alternate views, please.” The window immediately converted to a holoscreen mat showed other vistas of the lunar landscape surrounding the Imperial section of Armelin City. The display cycled through several options: an external view of the enormous Imperial landing bay now receiving incoming traffic; a magnified window-perspective of the new Science and Engineering facility under construction three kilometers to the west; the plastiglass dome of one of the recreational complexes, the lunar-normal gravity inside allowing citizens and vacationers alike to frolic in low-g sports. “Simply tell the room system which you prefer.”
The original window-aspect reappeared, fascinating Eric more than the others, and he wasted no time in ordering the room system to leave the screen off. He grinned boyishly at how much more sophisticated the room systems were here than at Woodsgate. In fact, although he had been on Luna for several hours, the Prince still had a hard time containing his excitement at virtually everything he saw, heard or experienced. It was obvious to Bomeer that the privilege of coming to the Moon on the occasion of his sixteenth birthday was a welcome present indeed.
Eric turned from the window, tempering his enthusiasm at last, and sat on a long sofa placed in such a manner as to still allow him to glance periodically at the surrounding vista. “Academician Bomeer, will my father be able to break away and spend some time with me?” He pulled his boots off as he spoke, and absently dug his toes into the thick carpeting at his feet. “I was hoping that maybe we could have dinner together tonight, just the two of us.”