“Don’t stand there, put him through!”
The servant touched an ornamented dial next to the doorway. Part of the wall seemed to dissolve into a very grainy, shadowy image of Kor. He appeared to be sitting on a hard bench in a dimly lit, stone-watled cell.
“What’s going on?” Kanus demanded. “Why have you awakened me?”
“It has happened, my Leader,” Kor said quietly, unemotionally. “The traitors are making their move. I’ve been locked in one of my own cells…,”
“What?” Kanus sat rigidly upright in the bed.
Kor smiled. “The fools think they can win by capturing me and holding the Intelligence Ministry. They overlooked a few details. For one, I have my pocket communicator. I’ve monitored their calls. Romis is no doubt on his way to your palace right now, intent on lolling you.”
“Romis! And you’re locked up!”
Raising his hands in a gesture of calm, Kor went on, “No need to be overly alarmed, my Leader. They are merely exposing themselves, at last. We can crush them.”
“I’ll call out the army,” Kanus said, his voice rising.
“Some parts of the army may rum out to be disloyal to you,” Kor answered. “Your personal guards should be sufficient, however, to stop these traitors. If you could detach a division or so to recapture the Ministry building. and have your own dueling machine there guarded, that should take care of most of it. Romis is Hying into your hands, so it should be a simple matter to deal with him when he arrives.”
“My dueling machine? They’re coming through my dueling machine?”
“Only two of them: the traitor Odal, and the Watchman.”