John Wright - The Phoenix Exultant

"Actually," said Atkins, "I was thinking we should get under cover. I don't think a purely passive spy satellite or remote sent out from the enemy starship could see us in the dark, not if it did not dare emit any sort of signal to bounce off of us. But once the sun is up, the enemy may have enough magnification and resolution to get a picture of us even from somewhere beyond Mars, if his collector is big enough and his resolution is fine enough."

Daphne glumly looked up at the night sky.

Atkins said, "As for our plan, I think Phaethon has to continue with the masquerade we started here. If he publicly approaches the Hortators and proves his innocence, that will warn the enemy. So, without any visible help from anyone, he has to make contact with the Neptunians, get them to hire him, and get back to his ship. Once Phaethon is aboard the ship, the enemy will have to come for him. Each time they have acted so far, they've tried to get the armor."

Phaethon said, "Without the armor to control the ship-mind hierarchies, near-light speed flight is dangerous or impossible. But why do they want my ship?"

"I'm not sure. But I intend to find out. We can then follow the two signal vectors we have to see where they intersect. If the enemy starship is just hanging there in space, only another starship is going to be fast enough to approach her, if she turns and runs. Warmind .. . ?"

A smaller menu appeared next to the image of the blood-red figure in armor, showing latitudes and right ascensions. "These are the two directions the two signals traveled."

"Calculate the intercept."

Phaethon's almanac was as quick and precise as money could buy, and the circuitry it used was not fundamentally different from that in which Sophotechs were embedded, not fundamentally slower. Therefore, it was Phaethon who answered first: "About sixty degrees trailing Jupiter, at about five AUs distance, since Jupiter is presently at apogee. That puts it right in the middle of the Jovian Trailing Trojan Point City-Swarm. So, unless they put an alien starship in the middle of a highly populated and well-traveled area, we've only caught a relay or a lieutenant."

"That's not good. It means we have to trace the line of command up to the next level, or take steps to ensure that the higher-ups come out of hiding," said Atkins. "The enemy is going to be suspicious when they do not hear back from their lieutenants. So we need some sort of lure or bait that we know for sure the enemy will not be able to resist."

Phaethon did not like the way Atkins was looking at him.

Phaethon said, "You have simply got to be kidding me."

"As soon as we can get you inducted, and download some Basic Training routines into you, we'll be ready to go."

"It will never happen," said Phaethon, drawing himself erect. "I may cooperate freely with you, as one free man with another, but I shall not place myself under the orders of any other man."

Harrier said, "Perhaps Marshal Atkins is too polite actually to remind you that he is blackmailing you. If you do not sign up, you get put on trial for treason. Jjf you do sign up, you have access to the Military Noumenal Immortality Circuit, which is not controlled by Orpheus or the Hortators."

Atkins looked askance at Harrier. "Actually, I was going to appeal to his sense of duty and patriotism, and point out what a bad idea a split command was."

Phaethon folded his arms over his chest, and sighed. All he was aware of was fatigue. He was tired in his body, tired in his mind, tired in his soul. He was tired of being manipulated, forced, or coerced. He thought there was some error, some obvious oversight in Atkins's blackmail scheme, but Phaethon 's tired brain could not bring it to the surface.

Phaethon turned a thoughtful glance upon Daphne, who was staring out at the horizon, smiling as if half in a dream.

His voice woke her. "Daphne!"

She stirred, and turned luminous eyes on him. "Mm? Yes? What do you need, lover?"

"I am really tired, and my brain is acting stupid, and I haven't got a microscopic fragment of an idea of what to do."

She looked mildly amused. "Was there something you wanted me to do about all that, lover?"

He spread his hands as if to show their emptiness. "You're here to rescue me. I've run out of ideas. So rescue me."

There was a note of irony in his voice, as if he were challenging her, testing her. Daphne smiled very broadly, as if she were very pleased.

To Phaethon she said, "Listen to your little wife now, darling, and take notes, because I may give you a quiz on this later. Ready? Atkins is trying to. drive his mule (that's you, darling) with a carrot and a lash. The lash is the charge of treason. The carrot is the noumenal immortality circuit. But his carrot is no good."

She leaned forward, eyes glittering with delight, and said, "If you had just listened to me before, you would have known that Aurelian Sophotech told me in the Taj Mahal that that noetic reader you are carrying can also be configured not just to read, but to record. It has nearly infinite storage capacity, remember? Noetic reading and noumenal storage are just two aspects of the same technology, remember? You would need a Sophotech actually to operate it during the storage-recording process, just like any other noumenal immortality circuit, and Aurelian says he can provide that service to you. All you have to do is log on to the mentality, call up the Aurelian Mansion as your sense-filter provider, and he can make you a back copy of yourself right now."

Phaethon said, "But Orpheus holds the patent on this technology! Aurelian cannot just steal it!"

"Orpheus did not design this machinery. It's not his design. It does the same thing, but so what? The guy with the patent on the steam engine for trains could not stop the guys who made the internal combustion engine for the motorcar."

"But Aurelian will be ostracized if he helps me!"

Daphne smiled even more broadly. "You know, I said the same thing to him at the Taj Mahal. You know what he said to me?"

"What?"

"He just smiled, and said, 'Let them try.' And you know what? He had that look you get on your face, that same look, when you say things like that."

He squinted at her sidelong, querulous. "What look do you mean?"

"You'll get it on your face in a moment. Because I've taken the carrot out of Atkins's hand, but you have to disarm him of his lash. Remember what you were told? You are supposed to remain true to your character at all times. And your character is a very, very pig-headed one. Do what you always do."

Phaethon looked blank.

Daphne rolled her eyes with impatience. "Oh, come on! Just tell the military to go jump on a pogo stick, just the same way you've told the Hortators, your father, Ao Aoen, Eleemosynary, the other Peers, Ironjoy, the Silent One monsters, and everyone else who has tried to impede you."

Then, with another smile, she added, "He cannot push you around, lover. Atkins may have more testosterone than you, but you've got more brains."

Phaethon nodded, looking thoughtful. "Or, at least, I have one skill he cannot do without. Nor can he arrest me in secret, because even he cannot break the laws; nor can he afford to have my arrest be made known."

With great dignity, Phaethon turned toward Atkins. "Marshal Atkins! In reference to your implication that the military powers, the Parliament, and the Courts of Oecumene law will punish me for treason and execute me should I not submit to your blackmail, I have but this to say: Let them try."

At that same moment, the quick equatorial dawn sent a ray of light from the east to touch upon Phaethon, glinting from his unbreakable armor, showing the unbreakable spirit in his expression.

Daphne nodded happily. "Yup. That look. Just like that." Daphne raised her hand quickly and recorded the image into her ring.