Denner_s Wreck

How, Geste asked himself, had he ever justified not turning Thaddeus in?

He had gone along with the rest. Basking in the subtle glory of keeping company with the oldest human alive, none of them had wanted to risk offending Shadowdark. And Thaddeus himself was the third-oldest human alive, millenia older than the rest of them. No one had wanted to antagonize him.

Thaddeus had claimed that he was not a murderer, as the Alpha Imperials called him, but only a political outlaw. He had been an absolute monarch at the time of his alleged crimes, granted the power of life and death by the laws of Alpha Imperium; his actions were not illegal, not murder, until retroactively declared to be by the governments that had replaced him.

Besides, his companions had told themselves, even if he had committed mass murder, he was the product of ancient times, when humankind was violent and wild. His father, Shadowdark, had once admitted to having committed a string of murders during his worst period, several thousand years ago, yet no one had ever considered turning him in. Murder was said to have no statute of limitations, but after five thousand years it became hard to take it very seriously. No government existed that would try Shadowdark for those crimes.

Excuses, Geste thought in disgust, simply excuses. They had not turned in Thaddeus or Shadowdark because they all found a rare and subtle thrill in the presence of these strange and ancient men. Such thrills were not lightly discarded by bored immortals.

And none of them, save he and Imp and the Skyler-three of the youngest in the group-were willing to admit their mistake and take action against Thaddeus now. Immortals, Geste reminded himself bitterly, tended to become very set in their ways.

The platform passed over the last of the bare stone of the Skyland's outermost rim and skimmed across a close-trimmed lawn. A few of the Skyler's creatures scampered past. Ahead of him Geste saw the main house, its roofline like broken and tumbling rocks, windows peeking out from beneath every angle.

The Skyler and Imp were seated on a verandah, waiting for him, as the platform settled smoothly down onto the grass a few meters from the house. He stepped off and walked slowly up the gentle slope to join them.

“We heard it all,” Imp said, pointing toward the ground to indicate what lay below. “Now what?"

“Can just the three of us do anything?” the Skyler asked nervously, brushing at her bottle-green gown. A floater hovered near her hand, holding a drink that Geste guessed to be mildly sedative-or would she just have her symbiotes adjust her mood? No, he thought, she was the sort of person who preferred not to rely overmuch on her internal devices, organic or otherwise. The drink was probably drugged.

“I don't know if we can do anything or not,” he said, “but we can try. Imp, back at the Falls, do you have anything that we could use as a weapon?"

“I don't think so,” she said slowly, “but I don't really know. After all, Geste, the Falls is Aulden's hold, not mine. I just live there, off and on, when I get tired of wandering. I didn't help design it. I don't know what he might have tucked away. But I do know that he never mentioned any weapons, and I've never seen any."

“Would any of your intelligences know?"

“I don't know."

“Ask them."

Imp nodded, and held up a hand; a small, amorphous floater, her primary long-range communications system, wrapped itself invisibly around her upraised fingers and tapped into her nervous system. Although he could not see the floater itself, Geste recognized the gesture and the subsequent light trance. Imp had never liked carrying her equipment internally, and kept a small flock of floaters instead.

While she was communing with the device, Geste asked the Skyler, “What about you? Do you have any weapons aboard?"

The Skyler shook her head. “Weapons scare me. I stay up here so I won't need any; there's nothing the short-lifers here can possibly do that would reach the Skyland. And until Imp called me about Thaddeus and Aulden, I didn't think I needed to worry about the rest of you.” She glared at him accusingly.

Geste nodded. He had expected as much.

Imp finished her silent contact and reported, visibly upset, “Aulden did have weapons, lots of them, but he took them with him! Thaddeus didn't even need to build most of his arsenal; he just stole Aulden's! Domo says there isn't anything left that could be of any use."

That was bad news indeed.

“We may not have much time left to prepare, if Thaddeus already has Aulden's entire arsenal,” Geste said. “I told my housekeeper to see what weapons it could come up with; I think it's time we went and picked those up and then headed for the High Castle, to help those people while we still can. If Aulden's provided the weapons, Thaddeus can probably break in there any time he wants to make the effort. He hasn't yet-I've got the place under surveillance-but I don't know why not."

Imp nodded. “Hurry! Once he's sure he has all the weapons he needs, he may kill Aulden!"

The Skyler hesitated, and Imp turned on her. “Go! Go! Go, you silly woman! What are you standing there for? Get this rock moving!"

The Skyler waved a command, and the Skyland began moving southward, steadily picking up speed.

Chapter Fourteen

“…she turned the next corner certain that it had to be the last, that she would see the great wooden door leading out onto the rocks above the sea, but instead she found herself back in the little stone room once again, where Lady Haze still sat before the fire, rocking and knitting, the strange music box tinkling beside her."

"'Hello, my dear,’ said Lady Haze. ‘Have you given up yet?'

"'No!’ the girl said. ‘I know I can find my way out!'

"Lady Haze sighed and put down her knitting and got up from her chair. ‘No, my dear,’ she said, ‘you can't find your way out unless I permit it. I told you, I am the mistress of this castle, and of the rocks on which it stands, and the fog that surrounds it, and the sea below. Nothing happens here that escapes me, and no one who comes here escapes me until I let her go. Within these walls I am the absolute ruler of all. Now, if you will give me back my jewel and swear that you will never enter my castle again, I shall let you out, and you will be free to return to your home. If you persist in this foolish attempt to leave, and still deny that you stole it when I can see it in your pocket right now, then you may well spend the rest of your life wandering about these passages.'

"And the girl broke down, defeated, and pulled the glowing gem from her pocket and gave it to the woman, weeping as she did so.

"Lady Haze accepted the jewel, and then turned and pointed. ‘There is your way out,’ she said.

"And the thief turned, and to her astonishment the great wooden door was right there, in the same room, where she knew only a blank stone wall had been just a moment before. She ran to the door and flung it open and stepped out, and found herself on the wet black rocks outside, the sea roaring behind her and gulls screaming overhead. She turned to look, and the door she had just come through was gone; the castle wall behind her was bare stone. The sky was grey and dim, the sun low in the west, and wisps of fog were rolling in, so she knew that soon it would be full dark, and foggy as well, making the rocks a very dangerous place to be; she despaired of her task and fled for the village, leaving the castle behind her, to vanish in the fog.

"And I might end her tale there, save for one curious detail. She was in Castle Haze for a wake or so, she believed-a light and a dark and a light-having entered at first dawn and left, she thought, at second sunset. But when she returned to her village, she learned that she had been gone for almost a season, more than eight tensleeps, and long since given up for dead!"