Mason looked puzzled behind his faceplate. “What does it have to do with them?”
he asked. “They’re all out—finished. General Vantz is in charge of the mission
now.”
“Out?” Zambendorf repeated incredulously. “Who? When? How?”
“Leaherney, Giraud, Lang,” Mason told them. “I guess a whole heap of crud
finally hit the fan somewhere back home. A directive came through to the Orion
about twelve, maybe fourteen hours ago, relieving them of command, effective
immediately, and putting the mission under full NASO control. They upset the
Taloids over at Padua somehow and got their asses kicked outta the base
there—musta had something to do with that. Anyhow, here’s Mackeson, the base
chief, now.”
The group from inside the base arrived and began to usher Zambendorf’s party
through the gate. “Harold Mackeson, NASO—Genoa Base Commander,” the most
prominent among them announced in an English accent. “Glad to see you’re all
safe. Welcome back again. When it started looking as if you might have had an
accident, O’Flynn finally owned up about the flyer. Do you know, he’d been
faking the log all the time and nobody missed it—extraordinary! We’ve been
calling you nonstop, but heard no reply. Is the flyer okay?”
“Yes, and not far from here,” Zambendorf said as they all began to walk toward
the administration building. “I gather there have been some changes.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t believe the ruckus: Giraud and Lang getting thrown out of
Padua; the base there being abandoned; Leaherney’s whole team out on their ear
… There’s been more going on than in all the time the Orion’s been in orbit.”
“What happened at Padua?” Zambendorf asked.
“Well, Henry’s gone, with his chief priest and just about all the others that
Giraud and Company were dealing with,” Mackeson replied. “It seems the Paduan
Taloids had some kind of revolution and got rid of the whole bunch. Vantz—he’s
in charge now—has sent down an exploratory team, who have managed to make
contact with the new leaders that seem to be emerging from it all.”
“What started this revolution, or whatever it was?” Abaquaan asked.
“I don’t know if you heard about it, but some kind of new, nonviolent religion
broke out suddenly among the Druids, then became all the rage in Henry’s army
and messed up his invasion plans . . . something to do with some Taloid messiah
who appeared out of nowhere. Well, apparently this messiah and his religion
finally found their way to Padua. Result—out with Henry, and out with our
arms-dealers. To be honest with you, old boy, I can’t say I’m all that sorry to
hear it either.”
Zambendorf stopped walking abruptly. Mackeson halted a split second later and
looked back with a puzzled expression. “What was that again?” Zambendorf said.
“What’s happened with the Paduans?”
“A new religion is sweeping the whole country,” Mackeson answered. “They say
everybody’s equal, they won’t kill, they won’t fight wars, and they’ve told us
where to shove our weapons.”
Zambendorf swallowed hard. The formula sounded very familiar. “If that’s true,
then the Paduans aren’t very likely to try attacking Genoa again,” he said.
Mackeson snorted. “Oh, from what I’ve heard, you can put any thoughts like that
completely out of your head, old chap. The Genoese are their brothers now.
Everyone’s their brother. They aren’t going to be attacking anybody.”
Gasps of surprise were audible from the rest of Zambendorf’s party. “My God! Do
you know what this means? …” Zambendorf looked back toward the gate, where the
Taloids were standing and watching, their hands lifted in a final salute. He
looked back at Mackeson, waved his arms excitedly, and pointed. “That’s Arthur
and his advisors. The messiah’s there too, with his brother. They don’t know
about any of this yet. We have to tell them!”
“What?” Mackeson sounded bemused. “That’ s absurd. How could a messiah cause all
that fuss and not know about it? Be sensible old boy, please.”
“It would take too long to explain now,” Zambendorf said. “But we have to tell
them. It’s important. Come on, Otto.” Without waiting for an answer, he turned
and marched back in the direction of the gate. Abaquaan started after him with
the transmogrifier.