be furthered by such an instrumentality. They’d bend it wholly to their
ends, bring their engineers in by the horde, ransack, peer, gut, build
over, leave nothing unwrecked except a few museum scraps. He couldn’t
bear the thought of that.
“He stopped them by conjuring up phantoms. He made them think a few
million of his race were still alive, able to give the Roidhunate
valuable help in the form of staff work, while he himself would be a
unique field agent–if they were otherwise left alone. We may never know
how he impressed and tricked those tough-minded fighter lords; he did,
that’s all. They believe they have a worldful of enormous intellects for
allies, whom they’d better treat with respect. He draws on a micro part
of the computers, data banks, stored knowledge beyond our imagining, to
generate advice for them … excellent advice, but they don’t suspect
how much more they might be able to get, or by what means.
“Maybe he’s had some wish to influence them, as if they learned from
Chereion. Or maybe he’s simply been biding his time till they too erode
from his planet.”
Flandry was quiet for a few heartbeats before he finished: “Need we care
which, when real people are in danger?”
The Gospodar straightened, walked to an intercom, spoke his orders.
There followed a span while ships chose targets. He and Flandry moved
aside, to stand before a screen showing stars that lay beyond every
known empire. “I own to a desire for vengeance,” he confessed. “My
judgment might have been different otherwise.”
Flandry nodded. “Me too. That’s how we are. If only–No, never mind.”
“Do you think we can demolish everything?”
“I don’t know. I’m assuming the things we want to kill are under the
cities–some of the cities–and plenty of megatonnage will if nothing
else crumble their caverns around them.” Flandry smote a fist hurtfully
against a bulkhead. “I told Qow, we don’t ever have more to go on than
guesswork!”
“Still, the best guess is, we’ll smash enough of the system–whether or
not we reach Aycharaych himself–”
“For his sake, let’s hope we do.”
“Are you that forgiving, Dominic? Well, regardless, Intelligence is the
balance wheel of military operations. Merseian Intelligence should be
… not broken, but badly knocked askew … Will Emperor Hans feel
grateful?”
“Yes, I expect he’ll defend us to the limit against the nobles who’ll
want our scalps.” Flandry wolf-grinned. “In fact, he should welcome such
an issue. The quarrel can force influential appeasers out of his regime.
“And … he’s bound to agree you’ve proved your case for keeping your
own armed forces.”
“So Dennitza stays in the Empire–” Miyatovich laid a hand on his
companion’s shoulder. “Between us, my friend, I dare hope myself that
what I care about will still be there when the Empire is gone. However,
that scarcely touches our lifetimes. What do you plan to do with the
rest of yours?”
“Carry on as before,” Flandry said.
“Go back to Terra?” The eyes which were like Kossara’s searched him. “In
God’s name, why?”
Flandry made no response. Shortly sirens whooped and voices crackled.
The bombardment was beginning.
A missile sprang from a ship. Among the stars it flew arrow slim; but
when it pierced air, hurricane furies trailed its mass. That drum-roar
rolled from horizon to horizon beneath the moon, shook apart wind-carven
crags, sent landslides grumbling to the bottoms of canyons. When it
caught the first high dawnlight, the missile turned into a silver comet.
Minutes later it spied the towers and treasures it was to destroy, and
plunged. It had weapons ready against ground defenses; but only the
spires reached gleaming for heaven.
The fireball outshone whole suns. It bloomed so tall and wide that the
top of the atmosphere, too thin to carry it further, became a roof;
therefore it sat for minutes on the curve of the planet, ablaze, before
it faded. Dust then made a thick and deadly night above a crater full of
molten stone. Wrath tolled around the world.
And more strikes came, and more.
Flandry watched. When the hour was ended, he answered Miyatovich: “I
have my own people.”
In glory did Gospodar Bodin ride home.