Hogg was leading them toward a squat cylindrical building some distance behind the Hall. Uniquely, this structure was of stone rather than wood. Differences in masonry techniques and the aging of the material used indicated that there were weapons which could blast through thick rock walls—and that they’d done so here in the past.
“The several slave revolts of past centuries,” Adele said, “have all been put down with great cruelty.”
She gave Daniel a tight smile. As the Three Circles Conspiracy was. “There’s never been a unified rising on all three worlds of the cluster, but Hogg is correct that the siblings on the affected planet have generally reacted promptly enough to handle matters by themselves.”
They skirted a youth cradling the head of a bearded Dalbriggan in his lap, offering sips from a chased metal tankard. The youth’s large, liquid eyes followed the Cinnabars warily.
“Another aspect of the situation,” Adele continued drily, “is that captives can become citizens of the cluster easily enough if they desire to. As a result, slaves with the sort of drive and ruthlessness required for successful rebellion are coopted into the ruling elite.”
She smiled at Daniel again, with as little humor as before. “One could describe the result,” she said, “as a democracy not so very different from our own.”
Daniel looked over his shoulder. The youth was still staring after the Cinnabars. There was hunger in his expression, but Daniel wouldn’t have cared to guess what the hunger was for.
“Yes, I see that now,” he said aloud. “And this is our destination, Hogg?”
“Yeah, but we want to knock careful,” Hogg said. “Though it wasn’t the party here like what it was everywhere else around, you know?”
Daniel stepped into the recessed entrance of the Astrogator’s dwelling. Beyond question there were sophisticated sensors and weapons pointed at him, but stains indicated the slit in the roof arch had been used to pour blazing fluids.
Electronics were well and good in their place, but an enemy of Adele’s skill could turn them against the original user. A gallon of pitch or napalm, lighted and tipped into the opening, had its uses in the most modern setting.
The door chime was a section of osmium tubing from the barrel of a projectile weapon. Centuries of use had given it a surface like hammered glass. Daniel struck it with the piston rod hanging alongside for the purpose.
“Astrogator Kelburney!” he called. “The RCN has a proposal for you!”
The door opened in two halves before he’d finished speaking; Daniel had to step back quickly. Not surprisingly, the Dalbriggan leader used the hatch from a starship’s airlock for his portal.
Kelburney was dressed in a spacer’s jumpsuit; he wore only a single holstered pistol instead of being a walking arms locker as he had during the assembly the day before. Informal garb for a private gathering, Daniel thought with a smile.
A dozen members of the Council got to their feet in the room beyond. Several held drinks, and the girl who went scampering out of the field of view wasn’t dressed for a policy discussion. Nonetheless, the Astrogator and his paramount chiefs hadn’t been involved in anything that would’ve gotten one thrown out of a society party in Xenos.
“You took your time, Captain!” Kelburney said. “You’d have to calculate courses faster than that to make the grade with our squadrons.”
“If your squadrons were capable of doing the job you require, Astrogator,” Daniel said with a pleasant smile, “I don’t suppose we’d be having this conversation. In the RCN we prefer to do a job right; as I believe we’re prepared to do.”
Kelburney looked at him sharply. “You’re ready to take out the Hammer?” he demanded. Those members of the Council who were present watched the principals narrow-eyed, even when they drank their liquor.
“Yes, indeed,” Daniel said. He felt a tingling all over his body. This is happening, it’s really going to happen! “In fact I’d bet my life on it.”
The burly captain who’d been spitting for emphasis during the Council meeting made a gagging sound. Daniel blanked his face for an instant, uncertain of what was going on. Beer sprayed out of the Dalbriggan’s nostrils and he slapped his thigh with his free hand.