“You’re like a miracle,” he told his old friend Etienne. “Just when the situation is blackest and I’m running out of hope, somehow a d’Alembert is always there to save the day.”
“That’s our job,” Etienne said with uncharacteristic modesty.
The Circus’s big ships landed and Duke Etienne conferred with the Head. Grand Duke Zander gave his friend a thorough briefing on the crisis, and the two men were closeted for a full day planning their strategy for fighting back against the forces of the rebellion.
Even with a thousand members of the d’Alembert clan traveling in the Circus, there still weren’t enough to cope with the whole situation. A single d’Alembert, though formidable, was still not enough to reconquer an entire planet from the enemy camp. A plan had to be devised to best use this most vital of SOTE’s resources.
Two hundred and fifty planets were designated as key worlds. These were places that were central to other nearby planets, lay along important trade routes, or contained vital resources or population skills. If these planets had been taken over by the forces of the rebellion, it was a wedge deep into the organization of the Empire. If the Empire could recapture them, it would be a significant step toward recovering the ground it had lost in the opening salvo of the revolution. But before any action could be taken, the Empire’s strategists had to know what the situation was on these worlds. No plans could be made without up-to-date information.
This was where the Circus came in. For the first time in its long, proud history, the Circus of the Galaxy would be completely broken up – for a very short while, it was hoped. Teams of two, three, or four d’Alemberts would be dispatched to these key planets, armed with as much sophisticated equipment as they could carry and with a portable subcom unit for reporting back to Earth.
The mission of these teams was purely reconnaissance. They were to land and find out how thoroughly each world was controlled by the conspiracy. They were to learn who the key figures were in the revolt, and they were to evaluate the strong and weak points of each planetary defense network. They were to make recommendations for how to recapture the world, and they were to call Earth regularly and report their findings – but, short of an emergency, they were to take no overt actions that would tip the Empire’s hand prematurely. Once all the reports were coordinated, some uniform policy would be set and more detailed plans for reoccupation would begin. Until then, the d’Alembert teams would provide on-the-spot coverage of what was going on behind enemy lines.
Jules d’Alembert arrived back on Earth about thirty-six hours after the rest of his family. He was appalled at the state of affairs he found – but his relief at knowing that Vonnie and the rest of his relatives were safe was almost great enough to cover his anger against the conspiracy. Yvette, Pias, and Vonnie took him aside and explained the situation, which horrified him tremendously. He immediately went to the Head and asked for his assignment on one of the key worlds.
Grand Duke Zander shook his head. “I want the four of you staying right here with me and the Empress.”
“But there’s work to be done out there!” Jules protested.
“There certainly is – and thanks to your family, I’ve got about enough people to do it. All those assignments are hard, but there’s no one that’s harder than any of the others. You’re still the top people I have, and my resources are desperately low. I have to maintain some flexibility. For all I know, a new hot spot could flare up at any moment, and I’d like to keep the option of sending you to put it out. I think you’ll see your share of action; let your family have some of the fun for now.”
Jules grumbled, but accepted his orders. In the mean time he began recording his adventures for the new SOTE files, as Vonnie, Pias, and Yvette had already been doing. As someone involved in the Service’s greatest cases, his recollections would be indispensable in piecing together a record of SOTE’s recent history.
After working for hours at a stretch and scraping for every detail in the back walls of their memories, the group rested for a few minutes. They were joined by Helena von Wilmenhorst, who’d been doing twelve things simultaneously until her father ordered her to take a break. The young, black-haired duchess was pale and gaunt, on the verge of physical breakdown due to overwork. Jules began rubbing her back and the young woman purred with satisfaction.
“I would never have believed I could remember so much,” Pias said. “It’s amazing how many details you cram into your mind all the time without noticing.”
“That’s what Sherlock Holmes believed,” his wife nodded. “There were little details all over the place pointing to the computer, but we never noticed them.”
“I’m just sorry there’s so much we have to remember,” Vonnie added. “Lady A and her crew kept us busy all the time. So much misery caused by just one person’s greed and ambition.”
“I wish I could forget her,” Helena said. “Much as I hate to admit it, she was dead right in her final words. We tried to save the Empire, and now it’s in pieces all around us.”
“At least you didn’t have to work with her,” Yvette said. “She was a hard-nosed bitch of the highest caliber. Cold, arrogant, so sure she was better than anyone else….”
“Even so, I almost wish she were still alive,” Pias said. “For all the evil she did, she still did less harm than the PCC. At least she had been human at one time. She was more predictable. Whatever she did, it was for her own benefit – not like the computer, randomly tearing down our whole civilization just to get revenge on humanity.”
Jules d’Alembert, who’d been listening quietly to the conversation, straightened up so suddenly that Helena, who’d been leaning back against him, almost fell over. “Hey!” she cried out as she tried to regain her balance.
Jules caught her easily before she could fall. “Helena,” he said, with an undertone of urgency in his voice. “where’s Paul these days?”
“He’s up on Luna Base, straightening the mess there. The life support systems went out and close to two thousand people died before they could get things working again. He’s….”
But Jules wasn’t listening. After making sure she was balanced on her feet he started running off.
“Where are you going?” Vonnie called after him.
“Tell the Head that the more important assignment he promised me just came up,” Jules called back over his shoulder. Then he was out the door and gone, leaving four very puzzled people behind him.
CHAPTER 12 Conversation with a Ghost
“But Lady A’s dead,” Captain Paul Fortier protested at first.
“That’s what she’d like us to believe,” Jules countered. “But I’m not so sure.”
“I watched her ship get blasted apart with my own eyes.”
“Her ship, yes. Do you remember the ship she used to get us to Omicron?”
Fortier paused. He’d been along with Lady A and the two SOTE agents on the mission to investigate the “alien invasion” of Omicron. They’d traveled to Omicron in one of the conspiracy’s well-armed spacecraft, packed with more firepower than a naval vessel many times its size.
The naval officer suddenly gasped. “The escape pod!”
“Exactly,” Jules nodded.
The ship they’d taken had a small emergency escape pod that allowed them to get away when enemy ships were pursuing them. The pod was made of plastics, wood, glass, and other materials that were non-metallic and virtually invisible to modern sensors – and it was so small that it was unlikely to be detected visually unless a searcher knew precisely where to look.
“She told us quite clearly that she always leaves herself a back door, a way out,” Jules continued. “I suspect that when her ship tried to break away from the battle, she’d already jettisoned her escape pod and was relaying her radio messages to you through the ship. She’s probably got a radio, maybe even a subcom, inside her. When you took off chasing her ship, she was probably sitting back at a point in empty space, watching the whole thing.”
“But the pod doesn’t have a motor,” Fortier argued, “and it doesn’t have any life support system. On Omicron we were in atmosphere and we could use it as a glider – but in open space, she’ll just drift forever. What good is that?”
“She doesn’t need a life support system,” Jules replied. “She can afford to wait there until someone picks her up. I suspect she had some arrangement with the PCC that as soon as the area was clear, it would send in a ship to rescue her.” He set his jaw grimly. “I just hope we find her before that damned computer does, or the conspiracy will be back in business all over again.”