up.
Chapter 14
Conversation with a Ghost
Etienne d’Alembert returned to Earth with Helena and Captain Fortier. While the captain
traveled on to Luna Base to make his personal report to Naval Intelligence, Helena
requested and was granted a personal audience with Empress Stanley Eleven. She
admitted being very nervous at the prospect of facing Edna under these circumstances,
so Duke Etienne agreed to serve as her escort.
The meeting took place in the same private conference chamber at the Moscow Imperial
Palace where Duke Mosi Burr’uk had informed the Empress of the evidence against
Zander von Wilmenhorst. Helena sat nervously, fixing her hair, checking her makeup,
making sure her clothes were straight-and at the same time wondering what she could
possibly say to the woman who’d had her father executed.
Edna Stanley entered the room without ceremony and sat down at the head of the large
oval table facing her two visitors. A long, awkward pause followed. Both women were
about the same age, and had been raised together almost as sisters. Now the actions
and suspicions of the past few weeks had turned them into strangers.
Not knowing what to say immediately to Helena, Edna turned to Duke Etienne. “I
suppose I should have you reprimanded for failing to turn Helena in when she first came
to you.” Her slight smile and warm tone of voice took the sting out of her words.
“I obeyed Your Majesty precisely,” Etienne replied good-naturedly. “I took her
immediately into my custody and I refused to take orders from her to go on a mission to
clear her father’s name. There were, however, no orders to return her to Earth
immediately, and I have a standing assignment to investigate anything I view as
suspicious. I merely used my instincts and discretion, as a good agent should.
“I hope I can always trust to your instincts and discretion,” Edna nodded. That done, she
turned to the heavy task of facing Helena. “I suppose you feel I owe you an apology for
everything that’s happened.”
“The Empress need apologize for nothing,” Helena said by rote, dry tears burning the
corners of her eyes. “I just wish you’d had a little more faith in us.”
“When you’re personally responsible for hundreds of planets and trillions of lives, faith
becomes a very expensive commodity,” Edna sighed. “I had no choice but to do
everything exactly as I did it.
“You could have called us, talked to us, let us explain,” Helena said bitterly, looking away
from her ruler’s face. “You could have granted us that courtesy, at least.”
“After your escape, I took a tremendous risk,” Edna said slowly. “I had your father
brought back to Earth and I had a private conversation with him. It was he who told me
what I had to do.”
Helena caught her breath, then let it out slowly. “Yes, that sounds like him. He would
recommend his own execution if he thought it was the only way to restore your faith in
the Service as a whole. He was completely dedicated to you-and you had to kill him to
find that out!” She could restrain herself no further, and burst into tears right in front of
the Empress of the Empire of Earth.
Edna rose and walked slowly around the table to her friend’s side. She placed her hands
gently on Helena’s shoulders and hugged her friend to her. “Helena, dear, I’m sorry I
forced you to undergo this torment. Knowing what this would do to you tore my heart in
two. I know there’s not a single thing I can do to make up for the pain, the sorrow, the
agony I’ve caused you-but I hope I can at least do something that allows you to forgive
me. Look.”
Helena lifted her head and gazed in the direction Edna indicated. Standing in the doorway
was Zander von Wilmenhorst, smiling-the warm, knowing expression Helena had always
loved.
The shock of seeing her father again was almost greater than the shock of learning he
was dead. Helena sat stupefied for a moment, then sprang to her feet as though
propelled by a rocket. She raced to her father and threw her arms around his tall body.
She wept once more, but this time the tears were of pure joy.
Von Wilmenhorst held his daughter lovingly, stroking her hair and allowing the emotional
release to flow out of her system. When her body was no longer racked with sobbing, he
pulled away slightly and gazed into her eyes. “Well, how do I look? Not bad for an old
ghost, eh?”
From across the room, Etienne d’Alembert was flashing a smile that could have lit up a
city. “You’re the most welcome specter I’ve ever seen, mon amt.”
“Oh, Father,” Helena gasped between her tears. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
The Head sighed and nodded. “I know, that was the most regrettable part of this
charade. That’s why I sent you off to the Circus when-I realized what I might need to do.
‘
“Sent me?” Helena pulled back, startled. “You did no such thing. You didn’t want me to
go anywhere.” “Saying ‘no’ is still the best way to manipulate children.” Von Wilmenhorst
smiled kindly. “And I made sure to mention the Circus prominently so they’d be in the
front of your mind. I knew Etienne would take good care of you.”
But what was the point of all this?” Helena asked. “Why couldn’t you have told us about
it?”
Von Wilmenhorst cleared his throat. “It became clear to me as I listened to Fortier’s
story that the conspiracy had embarked on a massive and subtle campaign to destroy
the Service’s effectiveness, first with the attempt to lure Jules and Yvette into the open,
then with the attack on my credibility. I received confirmation of this yesterday, by the
way, when Jules and Yvette called in their report. The conspiracy had indeed declared
war on SOTE according to Tanya Boros, now deceased. They also reported that, again
according to Boros, there is no person named C, that the entire conspiracy is
masterminded by our Lady A. I’m not sure whether to believe that or not; I’ll tuck the
datum away for further speculation.
“At any rate, I knew something had to be done to counter their attack. We’d already sent
the d’Alembert Bavol teams against the doubles, but we had to clear my name quickly or
the entire Service would be suspect.
“I suggested to Edna that she announce I’d been executed for treason because I wanted
to throw the conspiracy off balance. That would have been the one thing they wanted
most, although they probably weren’t expecting it. By giving them their fondest wish, I
was hoping to draw them out and make them do something foolish to tip their hand. But it
had to be done in absolute secrecy; I couldn’t even let you two know the truth.”
“Why not?” Helena said. “You can certainly trust Etienne, and you’d have spared me a lot
of grief.”
“But that, unfortunately, was part of the plan,” Edna spoke from her end of the table.
“You see, although I did have faith in you, I still didn’t have proof. I had to see how you’d
react. If you really were part of the conspiracy, knowing of your father’s death would
have spurred you to retaliate because you’d think the game was up. Instead, you kept
working to clear him and passed the test with flying colors.”
“Unfortunately, you were the only one to take the bait,” the Head smiled ruefully. “Even
after hearing I was dead, the conspiracy made no further threatening moves. That
disappointed me in one respect, because I hoped they’d over commit themselves in
some way; but in another respect it’s a hopeful sign. It shows they’re afraid of acting too
quickly on something that hasn’t been a hundred percent confirmed. We must have hurt
them more severely than we thought on Coronation Day, and they’re being very
conservative about what they do. For this reason, I don’t intend to keep up the pretense
of being dead any longer. We’ve already proved we won’t be fooled by their discrediting
tactics, and it would be too difficult to maintain the facade of my death, especially with as
sophisticated a network as they have.”
He escorted his daughter to a chair and sat down beside her, facing Etienne and Edna.
“Well, that’s my story. I understand you’ve had a few adventures of your own.”
Etienne and Helena between them filled him in on their own findings. Grand Duke Zander
went pale as he heard of his daughter’s harrowing escape from the asteroid, but that
expression was replaced by a cold smile as they told him what they’d learned from Dr.
Loxner. “At last we’re beginning to make some progress,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Edna asked him.
“Twenty years ago, Etienne saw Dr. Loxner on Durward in company with an old woman