he had served under her father until her accession to the Imperial Throne six months ago.
Although the Empress held full authority, it was the P.C.’s job to screen those items that
required her immediate attention and to handle those matters that could be dealt with on
a lower level.
The Duke was a small black man in his late fifties. He listened to Benevenuto’s report
with the same sense of impending fear that the two admirals had felt before him. As
Head of SOTE, Zander von Wilmenhorst was also a member of the Imperial Council; he
and Duke Mosi had often disagreed on matters of policy, sometimes violently. It galled
Burr’uk that Stanley Ten, and now his daughter Edna, seemed to side with von
Wilmenhorst more often than with him. Even so, this news hurt him. If it were true that
von Wilmenhorst was the mysterious C, it meant there were no Imperial secrets or
matters of policy that the conspiracy had not known or shaped. It made him shiver at the
thought of how utterly the Empire might have been betrayed.
With no little trepidation, then, Duke Mosi called for an urgent personal meeting with Her
Imperial Majesty. Because of the importance of the subject, she agreed to cancel other
appointments and see him in half an hour.
The meeting took place in the private conference chamber of the Imperial Palace in
Moscow. It was a room designed for work, devoid of the splendor of the more public
rooms. Heavy gold and brown velvet tapestries with designs of unicorns and griffins
covered the soundproofed walls, dampening noise in here still further. Gilded wooden
chairs circled a leather-topped oval conference table that dominated the chamber. It was
a coldly majestic place, reflecting the mood of its owner. The Prime Councilor, true to his
nature, had arrived early and was waiting respectfully as Edna Stanley, ruler of the
Empire of Earth, entered the room.
The Empress, supreme ruler of an empire more vast than any other in human history,
was barely twenty-six years old. She was not beautiful, but there was a charm about her
appearance that caused most of her subjects to love her on sight. She wore a
cream-colored suede jumpsuit and carried herself with royal confidence and pride. If her
face was set in severe lines, it was because she bore the heaviest burden mankind had
ever devised-total and absolute control over an entire Galaxy.
Edna Stanley took her accustomed seat at the head of the oval table. “Well, my lord,”
she said to her Prime Councilor, “what have you to say that’s so important?”
Duke Mosi made his presentation as simple and understated as he could. The facts were
horrifying enough; they needed no elaboration. The Empress listened without once
interrupting-a trait she’d picked up from her fatheralthough her face became increasingly
drawn and grave as the story unfolded.
She was silent for more than a minute after the Duke had finished his report. The calm
expression on her face gave no indication of the war raging within her soul. At last she
looked squarely at Burr’uk and said, “You realize, I presume, the seriousness of your
accusations.”
“No one more so than I, Your Majesty. But I am only repeating what others have
reported.”
“You’ve frequently disagreed with Zander at Council meetings. I’m sure you’d appreciate
the removal of his opposition.”
The Duke’s reaction was instantaneous. He approached the Empress’ chair and knelt
before, it with his head bowed. “Your Majesty, our disagreements, while often loud and
volatile, have always been honest ones over the best ways to preserve the peace and
safety of the Empire. If you think I take any joy in this news, I assure you you are
mistaken. Quite the contrary-I’d hate to think our worst enemy has been privy to so many
of our secrets. If you think I had some hand in fabricating evidence against Grand Duke
Zander, then I hope you’ll accept my resignation right now, for a Prime Councilor cannot
function without the trust of his sovereign.”
“Get up, Mosi,” the Empress said. “My father wouldn’t have chosen you as Prime
Councilor if he wasn’t convinced of your integrity, and I wouldn’t have reaffirmed you in
the position if I had any doubts. I know you’d never stoop to tactics like these just to get
rid of someone you disagree with.”
She shook her head. “It’s just that . . . Zander! He’s been like a dear uncle to me all my
life. It’s hard to believe he could be plotting against me.”
The Duke rose and straightened his gold-rimmed glasses. “The source is Captain Fortier,
whom I believe you personally decorated for saving the Empire at your coronation. He
emphasized to his superiors that he believes the evidence is unassailable, obtained from
the Grand Duke’s own files.”
The Empress nodded. “Perhaps I’m having trouble believing it because I don’t want to
believe it. If Zander is C, that means he knows everything about us, all our weak points,
all our problems. It also means he has the power to mislead and misdirect us. The
Service of the Empire is one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal. It’s our eyes and
ears. Without it, we’d drift helplessly and the Empire would probably crumble in a matter
of months. SOTE is what makes an empire this large possible. . . .”
She shivered and looked directly at the man before her. “Well, that’s peripheral to our
problem at the moment. We have a situation that must be dealt with. As my Prime
Councilor, what do you recommend we do’?”
“I think prudence dictates we operate on the worst possible assumption for the
moment-that is, we must assume the information is true and Grand Duke Zander is your
archenemy. If so, steps must be taken to neutralize him immediately.”
“I will not condemn him without seeing the evidence firsthand,” the Empress insisted.
“Of course not, Your Majesty,” Duke Mosi hastily assured her. “I wouldn’t do that, either.
Arrangements will be made to obtain copies of the incriminating files for our examination
as soon as possible. But in the meantime, Grand Duke Zander has intelligence sources
of his own, and he is bound to hear what has happened at his own estate. If he is the
man behind the conspiracy, he may have some contingency plans that he can set into
effect. Since he knows all our weak points, he would know precisely where to act to
cripple us most severely. We must put him under arrest immediately and hope to isolate
him from his organization. If the evidence later turns out to be false-and I wish it no less
than you do-we can release him with our apologies, and no permanent harm is done. If
the information is correct, we’ll have done what we could to keep him from causing
further damage to the Empire. ”
“No permanent harm,”‘ the Empress mused, echoing Duke Mosi’s phrase. “I wonder
about that. Zander is someone whose trust and friendship I value; there aren’t many
people I can say that about. How can I accuse him of the highest crimes in the Galaxy,
then release him later and expect to keep his loyalty and trust?”
“The Zander von Wilmenhorst I know would understand your position perfectly,” the
Prime Councilor said. “Were he in my position, he’d be the first to say that Imperial
security must rank ahead of friendship.”
“You’re right about that. But if he is guilty . . .” She paused to consider the ramifications.
“If he is guilty, how much of SOTE is in this with him? Helena is his chief assistant; she
may be part of the same conspiracy. But the rest of the Service-has he been selecting
people who are loyal to him, or to me? If they turn against me, the stability of the
Imperial Throne is in serious jeopardy. The matter must be handled with the utmost
delicacy.” “There is another question, Your Majesty,” Duke Mosi said. “We could not
allow the Grand Duke the luxury of a trial, not in a matter this sensitive. If you preside
over a High Court of Justice with the other Grand Dukes rendering a verdict, von
Wilmenhorst’s role as Head of SOTS will have to be revealed. If he is condemned-even if
he’s the only member of SOTE involved-the organization will have to be completely
overhauled. If nothing else, its headquarters will have to be moved out of the Hall of
State for Sector Four, where it is now. There will be a period of inevitable turmoil, and
there are entirely too many people who’d be willing to take advantage of that. A trial,
even in camera, would bring out too many things we’d want to keep hidden. You and you
alone must decide the case and pronounce sentence.”
The Empress accepted her adviser’s opinion thoughtfully, making no immediate
comment. Her face was a mask of regal solemnity that gave no indication of the thoughts