phenomenon.”
“Well, there’s no question of that, but—”
“Then how much longer do I have to wait before I see something happening?” Lang
asked. “You’re supposed to be responsible for organizing the experimental
program, okay? Well, it’s about time you started organizing something. You don’t
expect me to do it for you, do you?”
“No, of course not, but I … I, that is … He’s down at Genoa Base One.”
“Well, get him back up from Genoa Base One!” Lang yelled. “I agreed to his going
down on one trip to see the surface. Okay—he’s seen it. Now get him back up here
and make a start on the job you were brought here to do. And nobody—repeat,
nobody—from that outfit goes down there again until we start seeing some
results. Understood?”
Periera gulped and nodded rapidly. “Yes, yes, of course.”
“Good.” Lang reached over to call his secretary on his terminal screen. “Get
this update on personnel authorizations into the system right away, Kathy. Karl
Zambendorf is recalled to the ship forthwith, and approval for surface descent
is denied him and his party until further notice.”
22
ESKENDEROM, KING OF KROAXIA AND DIVINELY ORDAINED PROTECTOR of the Lifemaker’s
True Faith, rested an elbow on an arm of his throne and glowered down over his
hand while he listened. Bowed over one knee at the foot of the steps before him,
Skerilliane, the spy, made a flourish in the air with his arm. “In tame dragons
as long as the palace is wide, they fly—many twelves of them at a time. In
strange, wheeled beasts the size of houses, through the streets of Menassim,
they ride. They conspire in secret league with Kleippur, and outside the city
they conduct rituals among the machines of the forest with the tame creatures
and magic vegetables. They are formed from burning fluids contained in soft
casings, and they share thoughts without impediment of distance, though they
utter no sound.”
Eskenderom brooded while he absorbed the information, then lifted his head and
turned to look questioningly at Horazzorgio, who was standing to one side of the
steps. One of Horazzorgio’s imaging matrixes was covered by a plastic cap, and a
welded plate blanked off the hole left by his missing arm. “The beings and the
creatures that serve them, I have seen not,” Horazzorgio said. “But the dragons
are the same as those of the Meracasine, and the smaller spy-dragons are the
ones that swooped upon us, spitting lightning bolts and hurling fire. The violet
radiance too is the same.”
“What is the substance of the discourse that beings such as these would enter
into with Kleippur?” Frennelech inquired from the High Priest’s seat, a level
below the throne and to the right.
“My informants have overheard much talk among Carthogia’s counselors and
officers of forbidden arts and the unholy powers that are sought by heretics and
accursed ones,” Skerilliane replied. “Carthogia places itself at the Dark
Master’s disposal as a sanctuary for his servants and the base from which he
would enslave the world. Many worshipers of evil who have forsaken enlightenment
to serve him through his worldly lieutenant, Kleippur, are being conscripted to
the task— Maker-of-Maps Lofbayel and Asker-of-Forbidden-Questions Thirg being
among just the most recent additions.” Horazzorgio’s remaining imager glowed
angrily at the mention of the names. “And now, it seems, the Dark Master has
provided Kleippur with further aid as compensation for Carthogia’s limited size
and means,” Skerilliane concluded.
The King looked at Frennelech. “So—Kleippur’s Dark Master sends dragons from the
sky to aid him. I see much energy expended on pomp and pageantry by the priests
of Kroaxia, Serethgin, and the other nations of the Sacred Alliance; I hear
endless praying, chanting, and supplication. Where, then, are your Lifemaker’s
dragons?”
“In the face of adversity, faith shall overcome,” Frennelech quoted in reply.
“It is a test sent to try us. We must not waver.”
“Does the faith of the Waskorians help them to overcome in their struggle to
throw off Kleippur’s yoke? I equipped them generously and sent our best combat
officers to instruct them, but in their last encounter with Kleippur’s soldiers
they were decimated. The new Carthogian weapon that can hurl a pellet of steel