‘As you wish, gospodin. I’ve come to you to report firsthand on the moves SOTE is making against you.’
‘The very fact that you are here at all – firsthand or otherwise – is indication that you have failed me. I paid you to be inside SOTE.’
‘That couldn’t be helped. Your other agents botched the job. I provided them with enough information to lay a perfect ambush. They failed. The fact that two of them were captured compromised my position. They didn’t know me by f ace or name, but there would be no doubt about where their information had come from. I knew I would be of no use to you dead or, worse, subjected to nitrobarb, so I escaped. The Head currently has no idea of where I am – or, in fact, any more than the merest suspicion that I’m still alive.’
‘What have you learned about his immediate plans? In particular, who is this secret agent he’s called in?’
‘I can’t say, but it does seem to be a team. Sarbatte, the agent who was to rendezvous with them at the Dunedin Arms, was told distinctly that there would be two of them. As I was escaping from the building I saw two figures following me. I shot at them, but apparently missed; I was in a hurry, you understand. It was dark up there, and I couldn’t make out more than two shapes, so I can’t tell you any more than that.’
‘You have failed me, Gospodin Jones,’ the voice reiterated. ‘These supposed superagents are still alive, and their identity is still unknown.’
‘But I can make it up to you,’ Grandon said desperately
‘I know the workings of SOTE inside and out; that knowledge is invaluable.’
‘Yes, I’ve read your reports; they were quite thorough. SOTE trains its people well. I wish my own people could report as concisely and accurately as you.’
Grandon smiled.
‘In fact,’ the voice continued, ‘your reports were so thorough that I no longer need you around. I’ve gotten all I can from you.’
The colonel paled. ‘But …’
‘Left alive, there is always the chance you would be spotted and traced to me. That is a risk I cannot take, not at this late stage of the game. I do what I must do. You will realize I have no other choice.’
Grandon turned to flee, but a blaster beam lashed out and turned him to ashes in a split second. From the next room, a tall, thin, well-dressed man emerged and stroked his goatee. Two agents, he thought. Oh well, how much can two people do?
CHAPTER SIX – BANION THE BASTARD
The economic philosophy of Communism could gain no foothold on the new, raw planets, for the simple reason that its methods were all geared toward promoting class antagonism. On the new worlds everyone started out as equals and life, at first, was a constant struggle just to stay alive. There were no downtrodden peasants to lead into revolt against oppressive rulers. Confined, as it was, to a single planet, Communism thrashed about frantically in its efforts to survive. But without competition, without the constant specter of Capitalism as its adversary, this struggle was doomed to failure. After seven years of internal squabbling – during which time, it is estimated that close to half a billion people were executed in various purges – the world state was saved by Premier Boris Antonovich Koslov, a strong and able executive who, in 2020, proclaimed himself King Boris 1 of Earth. After one last purge that rid him of his political rivals, he formed a harsh but just absolute monarchy based upon the profit motive, thus laying the foundation for our present system.
(Stanhope, Elements of Empire, Reel r, slot 376.)
Even had they known of Colonel Crandon’s eventual fate, Yvette and Jules would still have felt very depressed as they made their way back to headquarters in Miami. This was their first meeting with the Head, their first major assignment from the organization for which they had been trained, and they had failed to apprehend their quarry alive. Never mind the fact that it would have been impossible for anyone to have caught Crandon, given that head start; they still felt guilty about his escape. They had let the Head down.
Their boss could read the dejection in their eyes as they reentered his office via the elevator tube. He had already received verbal reports from the fleet commander about Crandon’s fate, and had set in motion the necessary search machinery just in case the colonel had not died in that crash. There was nothing more to be done about that situation, and he resolved not to dwell on it.
‘I was aware that we had some problem with a leak,’ he said slowly, ‘but I hadn’t realized it was that high up. Now I’ll have to stop almost all work while we regroup and recheck for loyalties. But in the meantime, we’ll have to continue on with the business I had in mind for you. The fact that there was so high a leak indicates how important it was that we send for the Circus – and particularly for you two.’
‘Yes, you might as well tell us,’ Yvette sighed, trying to overcome her depression. ‘We’ve been ambushed and shot at, and chased a traitor all the way across this peninsula. It would help to know what it’s all about.’
As his sister spoke, Jules could feel a pair of eyes watching him. Looking over to the corner of the room, he saw Helena gazing his way with a dreamy sort of look on her face. As their eyes met, she smiled warmly at him. Jules hastily turned his attention back to his boss.
The Head nodded at what Yvette had said. ‘As you can see, there’s trouble. It’s centered, we think, on the planet Durward. There are forty-odd reels of records concerning our investigation, which I’ll give you before you leave; but there are also a number of things that aren’t on the record and never will be. That’s why I wanted to discuss this with you in person. The investigation will be entirely in your hands, and you’ll be free to conduct it in any way you wish. You may want to question some outsiders to get the full picture, and you may want to conduct a preliminary examination on Earth or elsewhere before you go any where near Durward.’
The Head stood up and, out of habit, walked over to the window where the drapes were drawn. His back was to his daughter and the d’Alemberts. These two DesPlainians were potentially his most valuable agents, and the fact that he had brought them here was a measure of the importance he attached to the situation. He had fully expected some sort of trouble waiting for them between the Circus and his office … and he’d been equally confident that the d’Alemberts could handle it.
But, he had to force himself to admit, they were still unproven. True, they came from the most able of bloodlines, and were members of a family that had served the Empire well almost since the inception of
SOTE itself. True, they had trained for their job practically since birth and, as tests showed, they could do their work more capably than anyone else in all of human-occupied space.
The question still remained: had he waited too long to summon them? Had he let his own pride in his ability to handle the situation delay matters too long? Could even the d’Alemberts deal with the menace that threatened the Empire now?
He turned back abruptly to face the other three people in the office. ‘Let’s fill in some background. For example, consider the question of loyalty. The Service is totally loyal to the Crown as the symbol of the
Empire. The wearer of the Crown, whoever he or she may be, is the very focal point of the Empire. You agree?’
‘Of course, sir,’ Jules said. The two girls just nodded. ‘Very well. In early 2378, when Crown Prince Ansel was planning the murder of the entire rest of the Royal Family, if we had caught him at it in time we of the Service – I speak in the first person, even though it was long before any of us was born – we would have burned him down, Crown Prince though he was, because he threatened the Crown itself.’
Why, I … suppose that … yes, sir,’ Jules said.
‘I never thought of it before in just that way, sir,’ Yvette added. ‘But that’s the way it would have to be.’
‘Of course. Ansel himself recognized that principle when, after accomplishing his coup, he executed the Head of the Service for incompetence in letting it happen. Nevertheless, those eleven murders did take place, and Ansel, as the sole surviving member of the House of Stanley, became Emperor Stanley Nine.