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took shelter behind the ship's solid wooden walls. They had even tried the small, magical light weapons of
the skypeople only to discover that at least two of those on board had similar devices of their own, in
whose employment they were far more skilled than his own troops.
As if that were not galling enough, the unspeakable Tran crewing the icerigger possessed strange
horizontal bows which fired short, heavy bolts with enough force to penetrate the thickest hide armor.
Now he could only watch in frustration as still another assault was beaten off and his rapidly demoralized
troops retreated back across the ice. He turned furiously on the two skypeople who had promised him
so much and thus far had delivered so little. Corfu ren-Arhaveg stood silently nearby.
Despite the fact that the taller of the two skypeople was the one who did most of the talking whenever
they met, Massul knew who was really in command. He directed his fury at the smaller, darker-skinned
human whose face was clearly visible behind the visor of his survival suit.
"Where is the great victory you promised me? Whence comes my dominion over the world? I cannot
even control the harbor of my capital city."
"What are you worried about?" said Bamaputra via his translator. "They're trapped here. OfUhose who
escaped all appear to have been forced to return. If any did not, we have arranged for them to be taken
care of as soon as they return to the other skypeople place. It's more likely they drowned." The dumping
of the lifeboat in open water had been reported by those on board the skimmer before its communicator
had mysteriously gone silent. Bamaputra regretted the apparent loss of the skimmer as well as the large
energy weapon it carried, but such losses had to be expected when dealing with combative primitives like
the Tran. The important thing was that most, if not all of the would-be escapees had been forced to
return to Yingyapin harbor.
When equipping the installation it had been decided that there was hardly any need for more than one
large energy weapon. That decision was beginning to look shortsighted, though not insurmountable.
The endless ranting and raving of their emperor was becoming wearying.
"If I am to command my own subjects, let alone those yet to come, I must at least be able to
demonstrate hegemony over my own state." He gestured violently toward where theSlanderscree
squatted just inside the harbor barrier. "Why have we not been able to defeat those who mock me?"
"Because they are well-organized, well-led, determined, because they have a couple of stolen hand
beamers of their own now, and because their people are better fighters than yours."
Massul turned away angrily to stare out over the parapet. "You said that you would train my soldiers,
that you would make them into an unbeatable fighting force."
"Such things take time, and more than just better weapons." Antal nodded toward the icerigger.
"Whoever's guiding the defense of that ship knows what they're doing. I suspect the giant has something
to do with that. I didn't like his looks from the moment we set on eyes on him. Should've had him shot
right off. The scientists are no problem. Then there's that other one, doesn't look like much of anything.
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The one who said he was a salesman. Funny sort. Tricky. I don't like him either. What was his name?"
"Fortune," Bamaputra murmured. "Ethan Fortune, I believe."
"Yeah, him. I can't figure him at all. Just when you think you had him pegged he'd say something
unexpected. Should've shot him, too."
"Why can you not fly over and shoot down at them from your sky boats?"
"First because we've only got one skimmer left," Antal told him. "Second because their hand beamers
have the same range as all our others. I'm not risking the skimmer unless I'm sure it's worth the risk."
"This is an affront to my royal person," said the outraged Massul. "What more reason do you require?"
Antal turned to the administrator and switched to Ter-ranglo. "Ninety percent of what this stooge says is
gibberish and the other ten percent is vanity."
"What concerns me," Bamaputra said, "is that one or more of those who went out on the smaller boat
may have made it back to Brass Monkey. I wish we had some way of knowing for certain."
"Doesn't matter. Anyone gets through, Marquel and Ni-lachek will take care of things."
"I do not share your confidence in last-minute remedies."
"So what do you want to do?"
"I was wondering if we could increase output at the installation to the point where the warming of the
atmosphere and the melting of the sea ice would increase ten or twelve fold. Even if the alarm has been
raised, we could still hold out here for a while. If we could melt enough of the ice sheet, the process
would become self-sustaining, with the sun heating the open water sufficiently to continue melting the ice."
Antal licked his lips. "I wouldn't want to try it. You run those reactors at that kind of rate and you're
liable to have a containment field collapse. We didn't plan for that kind of output."
Bamaputra gestured toward theSlanderscree . "We didn't plan for that, either. We must proceed as if
the worst has occurred, until we hear otherwise."
"You'll never get the technical people to agree to it."
"They have no choice. There is nowhere for them to go and they are involved as deeply as you or I.
Even if someone from that lifeboat reached Brass Monkey, and even if they somehow avoided the
attentions of our people there, it will take the authorities time to react. They will first seek confirmation of
a civilian's story, then meetings will have to be held, group decisions made. Votes will have to be taken.
Authorizations will have to be approved.
"While they dawdle we can strengthen our defenses here, dig ourselves in better, and acquire proper
defensive armament."
The foreman didn't quite laugh at him. "This isn't a military installation, Shiva, and our personnel here
aren't soldiers. A peaceforcer could blow us right out of that mountain without our even seeing it."
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"I am aware of that. But they will talk first, try to avoid bloodshed. By the time they finally arrive and we
finally agree to surrender we may have progressed to the point where it will be simpler for the authorities
to adapt to the altered climate than to try and reverse it. We must try, anyway." He turned to Massul and
explained what they were going to do.
The emperor did not react as expected. "No, you are wrong about one thing. We do have a choice.
You may not, but we Tran do. I will do battle with my kin, but I cannot fight sky boats and light swords.
You ask too much."
"Do you want to be emperor or not?" Bamaputra asked irritably.
"Better a live Landgrave than a dead emperor. I will fight Tran, but I will not fight skypeople with energy
weapons. We will surrender."
"I beg your pardon?" Bamaputra said politely. "Surrender?"
"Do you take me for a fool? If those skypeople" and he nodded toward the icerigger "are more
powerful than you, why should I not ally myself with them? Do you not think they will accept me? I think
they will. Yingyapin is small today, but great cities often arise from villages. We can still serve as a haven
for the disenchanted and disenfranchised." He waved a paw. "I disown you. Do what you will inside your
mountain, but henceforth you may do it without my aid."
Antal confronted him. "Listen, you furry cretin, you don't have the skills or the knowledge or the ability
to command anything without our help! Have you forgotten, 'your majesty,' who put you on your crummy
throne here?"
"You are not the only skypeople who are willing to help the Tran. I see that now. Perhaps you are not
even the best. I no longer believe your stories." Again he indicated the icerigger. "Those who fight
alongside the other skypeople do not act like the exploited and deceived. I begin to wonder on what they [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]