“Carthogian agent! Spy!”
“Why do thy angels not rescue thee?”
“He has seen no angels!”
“I’ll believe it when I see our soldiers at the city gates.”
“Yes—and proclaiming that the Carthogians are their brothers!”
“Blasphemer! Profaner! Execute him!”
The sound of heavy footsteps crashing in unison came from the rear, and the
crowd parted to make way for a detachment of the Palace Guard, led by a major
wearing the red sash of Frennelech’s handpicked household elite. The outer files
fanned out to form a cordon in front of the crowd, and the remainder followed
the major through to where the Enlightener was standing, stained and disheveled
with a stunned expression on his face. “You are under arrest on charges of
blasphemy, heresy, incitement to riot, sedition, and high treason,” the major
announced. He turned his head to address the captain at the head of the squad
behind. “Seize him!”
Angry murmurs broke out and rose to a roar as the Enlightener was hustled away,
too bewildered to hear any of the words. At the end of the street that led into
the square from the direction of the Holy Palace, he found himself looking
suddenly into the face of Frennelech, who had been watching from the window of
his carriage. The High Priest shook his head reproachfully. “Tch! Tch! You
really should have given yourself more time to get the hang of it,” he said.
“And now we’ll have to drop you into an acid vat to prove to everyone that my
Lifemaker is more powerful than your Lifemaker. In some ways it’s such a shame
because I do believe you really were sincere. It just goes to show, my
friend—you can’t trust every angel that you meet.” He nodded to the guard
commander, and the Enlightener was led away.
“I’ve been thinking,” Jaskillion said from the seat next to Frennelech.
The High Priest turned his head away from the window curiously. “Oh, really?
What?”
“Perhaps we’re being unduly pessimistic about this whole matter of the Lumians’
disposition. That mystic has clearly been deceived and betrayed. Could not the
Lumians’ act of delivering Eskenderom’s intended replacement for thee into our
hands in this fashion be meant as a signal to convey their decision? Our
previous conclusion could well have been mistaken.”
“What an attractive notion,” Frennelech agreed. “We will investigate it further
. . . But first, let us avail ourselves of the opportunity that Eskenderom’s
absence presents to ensure a permanent end to all further problems from this
scheme of his. Summon Rekashoba, the Prosecutor, as soon as we get back to the
palace, and let us get rid of this ‘Enlightener’ now, once and for all, while we
still have the chance to do so without interference.”
In the lander parked in the steep-sided valley to the north of Padua city, the
indicator lamp on the Communications Officer’s console had stopped signaling.
First it had blinked once; then, after a pause of several seconds, it had
flashed on and off in a frantic burst which had seemed to shriek the desperation
of the robot pressing the transmit button just over two hundred miles away.
After that there had been another pause, then two or three shorter sequences of
flashes. Since then, nothing.
Hank Frazer reached out a hand and flipped a switch to turn off the panel. “I
guess that’s about it,” he said in a dull voice.
Nobody else said a word. After a long stillness, Zambendorf got up from his seat
and walked slowly into the main cabin.
34
DANIEL LEAHERNEY SPOKE FROM A SCREEN IN THE AFT COMMUNICATIONS cabin of the
surface lander parked at Padua Base, which was located in a bare, ice-covered
valley among the hills east of the city. “I hope I didn’t interrupt at an
inconvenient time, Caspar, but we have some good news that I wanted to give you
personally.”
“That’s okay,” Lang said, standing before the console in a helmetless EV suit.
“I was due for a coffee break anyway. What’s the news?”
“Latest from the reconnaissance drones over Padua city: Zambendorf’s messiah
showed up in the middle of town about two hours ago.”
“Two hours ago!”
“Yes—we had a slight communications hitch up here. The message fell down a crack