Jack Chalker - Cerberus - A Wolf in the Fold

“You’re sure he can do it, then? Did you ever think that maybe these aliens are advanced enough so that the tools simply aren’t available here to get around their creations?”

I thought it over. “The Four Lords’ reach goes far beyond the Warden Diamond. Although trapped here themselves, they have powerful people all over the Confederacy in their pockets.”

“But would they dare it? I mean, they know the Confederacy knows about their robots, right? And Laroo can’t risk tipping the aliens off, either, to what he’s doing. Doesn’t the fact that he’s doing the research here rather than having it carried on outside show that he doesn’t want to risk getting anybody outside involved?”

“I think you may be right,” I told her. “Okay, let’s make a few assumptions based on what we know. First, the work’s being done here. Second, despite unlimited Cerberan—and maybe Diamond—resources, and the best scientific minds around, he hasn’t been able to crack it yet. The Four Lords are also in a bind: they risk the intervention of the Confederacy, and they also are risking relations with their allies.” I leaned over and kissed her. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe they can’t solve their problem without outside help, and they can’t get that help.”

We sat there silent for a while as I considered all my options and all my possibilities. What did I know, and what didn’t I know?

I wanted to get on the island and into the project. If in fact it was a project of the Four Lords rather than just Laroo’s, as seemed likely, knocking off Laroo wouldn’t matter a bit in the long run. Bogen or somebody else in this highly organized society would simply slip in and keep things going.

So what, then, did I really want to accomplish? I wanted the project abandoned, at least for now. I wanted to be in a position to change this rotten world a little, make it more human, while at the same time protecting what was important to me. Most important, I wanted to wind up a good guy to the Cerberans, to the Four Lords, and to the Confederacy all at the same time.

The idea floated in and I grabbed it, turned it first this way, then that, then decided it was so crazy it couldn’t possibly work—just like the first one. I would have to be right on a lot of close, perhaps uncallable calls, 100 percent of the way. If I was wrong just once in this whole thing I was a dead duck.

“Dylan?”

“Yes, Qwin?”

“Suppose—now just suppose—that there was a way to put a stop to this, at least for now. Put a stop to it, cause a minor revolution that would change Cerberus to a more open and humane society, and put us on top of it?”

“You’re getting crazy again. I can see it”

I nodded. “But suppose all that was possible—and if everything worked, we would kill no one, not even Wagant Laroo?”

She laughed. “Are the odds as bad as the Tooker operation?”

“Worse. I would estimate that right up to the end, to the very last second, the odds would be five to one for discovery, double-cross, or even death. The odds of the whole thing coming off might be a hundred to one, or a thousand to one, or even worse. Depending on where and when things go wrong, it could mean anything from packing up and forgetting all about it through a really nasty judgment to death or Momrath, which is much the same thing. The risks start the moment I put the plan into operation, and after that it might not be stoppable.”

She looked at me with that puzzled fascination she’d shown in the past, a flash of the old Dylan indeed. “I know you want to do it anyway. What’s stopping you?”

I drew her to me. “You don’t know?”

She sighed. “The alternatives, I guess, should be considered. If you don’t do it, you’ll wonder about it for all time, and if anything really terrible like what you were saying qomes to pass, you’ll never forgive yourself. I’m not sure I could, either. I don’t know much about your Confederacy or what it’s like outside or even on other Warden worlds, but sometimes I think we’re the last two really true human beings around.”

“But what about you?” I responded gently. “It might be the end of all this.”

“Then it’s the end. If we continue the way we are, our relationship will be hollow anyway. I’ll have kids and they’ll be taken away, as always. And they aren’t very likely to lift my judgment, so in twenty years or so I’ll be ready for Momrath or whatever it is they do to the expendables. What kind of life is that?” She stared seriously into my eyes. “You go ahead—and if my psych blocks won’t interfere, include me in. You understand? If anything goes wrong, and it probably will, I don’t want to keep going. One big gamble for the two of us. Everything we want—or we go out together.”

I grabbed her and pulled her to me and kissed her long and hard, and we made love as if it might be the last time we would ever have the chance.

The final, the ultimate scam was about to begin.

I walked into the dockside security office with a sense of doom, yet also with a feeling of intense excitement, as if my whole life had prepared me for this moment. Enough of the idea was necessarily left to improvisation, and knowing I was going up against the best the planet had to offer added to the challenge of it all.

The security officer was surprised to see me, since we had no shipments today, but he just nodded and looked curiously at me.

“I want you to get in touch with Security Coordinator Bogen,” I told him. “I want to see him as soon as possible.”

“Bogen’s on the island,” the man responded. “Besides, anything about security concerning you is more my problem than his.”

“No offense, but you’re too small. Besides, it’s not a breach. You’re a good cop, Hanak, but this is out of your league.”

That nettled him. “What the hell are you spouting off about, Zhang?”

“Radio Bogen and tell him I want to talk to him right away. Just do it, Hanak, will you? It won’t cost you anything.”

“He won’t see you,” he sneered back at me. “He has more important things to do.”

“If you send this message just the way I dictate it, I guarantee you I’ll not only see him, but he’ll break the galactic record to get to me.”

“So what’s this big, important message?”

“Tell him…” Here goes. “Tell him that he’ll never solve the deprogramming problem no matter how much time, money, and effort he puts in Project Phoenix. Tell him I can do it.”

Hanak stared at me. “You ain’t supposed to know about that.”

“Just send it. And let me know when he wants the meeting. I have work to do back in my office.” And with that I turned and walked out the door and back to the administrative complex. I had no doubt that Bogen would take the bait. None at all. I figured I’d hear the explosion from the office, and I wasn’t far wrong.

Just a few minutes after I’d settled back down to try and get some work done, Hanak rushed in to see me.

“Well, big shot,” he said, “I sent it out to the island and they threw a half-dozen shit fits. Bogen’s up on the satellite but he’s coming back down, personal, just like you wanted. You’re to meet him in ninety minutes.”

I nodded and grinned at him. “Where?”

“In his office in the Castle.”

“On the island?”

“What other castle is there?” He paused a moment, looking at me strangely. “You know, Zhang, you’re either the dumbest guy I ever met or the nerviest. Which are you?”

I gave him a wide, toothy grin. “Guess!”

It was harder to get up a crew on this day-off than I’d figured, but with backup and emergency services I was able to muster a gunboat crew in about half an hour, leave a note for Dylan reading simply, “It’s started,” and head for the island.