Jack Chalker - Lilith - A Snake in the Grass

“Why not talk to the attacking stuff, then?” she wanted to know. “Why not talk them out of it?”

I was about to respond that that was a ridiculous idea when I suddenly realized it wasn’t crazy at all. Not in the way she meant, of course, but suddenly I saw the key; it was so ridiculously simple I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before.

Talk to the attacking cells… Sure. But since the attack was continuous and from all quarters, just protecting something the size of a nail would be a full-time job. But if the metal was coated in some Lilith substance and the Warden cells in that coating were told not to attack… Accomplishing that would not be all that easy. In fact, the process was hideously complex, but it was the right answer. When you extended the concept to a really complex piece of machinery, it became a nightmare, clearly, a lot of practice and hard thought was needed.

The Institute people were pleased, and so was I, though. Few were ever able to master the stabilization of metals on any scale, and I felt as if the Confederacy had certainly made its point about me. I knew now that what they’d done was feed Marek Kreegan’s entire file into their computers, and that alone was why I had been selected. My life, profession, outlook, you name it, had most paralleled his —therefore I was most likely to attain the potential of Lord.

I had learned, though, that I was not the only one with that power and potential besides Kreegan. A number of people, as many as forty or fifty, would qualify. Kreegan simply embodied not only the greatest single power on the planet but also the greatest single power who had the will and capacity to rule and the skills to pull it off. And that, of course, was what it all boiled down to—not power, but skill. The question was brought home to me by one of my most advanced instructors when she asked, “Well, now that you have joined the circle of the elect, what will you do with your powers?”

It was a good question. I now had the power, all right, all of it. I didn’t have to fear this planet and its petty leadership any longer, and I had a good deal to live for, embodied in Ti and my hopes for a comfortable future.

But just what were our skills? Ti was trained mostly to run a nursery, to look after small children, and I certainly intended her to exercise that skill with our own children. But what could I do? What was I trained to do? Kill people efficiently. Solve sophisticated technological crimes—here on a planet where the technology was not at issue. In point of fact, the only jobs on a world like this I was in any way qualified for were ones like Artur’s, but the challenge of fighting for the sport of my employers didn’t appeal to me. In defense of employers or for a cause, yes, but not just to let out aggressions and give the violent folks something to do.

It was the same problem that had faced Marek Kreegan at this stage in his own life, I reflected, and his own conclusion was the only one that I, too, could reach. We were more alike -than even I had realized, and our fates somehow seemed bound up together. What in fact did he have that I did not? Experience, of course. He’d worked his way up. I was already a Master, although a Master of nothing in particular. The next step, administratively speaking, was Knight. From Knight to Duke. And finally, with all that experience behind me, from Duke to Lord.

For the first tune I understood a bit of Marek Kreegan. He hadn’t necessarily come to Lilith to take over and run it. He had become the Lord of Lilith, one of the Four Lords of the Diamond, simply because he wasn’t qualified to do anything else. It was absurd, but there it was. Kronlon’s own words came echoing back once more. None of us has any choice.

It had been twelve weeks since we’d come to Moab Keep, and I was beginning to realize there was nothing more they could teach me here. The next step was up to me, and my own destiny lay elsewhere. So far I’d learned a great deal about myself but almost nothing that I’d been sent here for. I knew nothing at all about the aliens, nor did I even know what Marek Kreegan looked like these days. To go further I would have to take a knighthood, and to do that I’d need an army and some advisors closer to the scene of things.

Once again I sought out Father Bronz.

The priest looked fit and well-rested and seemed happy to see me. We shook hands and then embraced warmly. I realized that, although he’d kept his distance from me, he nonetheless had kept careful track of my progress.

“So—a Master now, with the potential of a Lord!” he laughed. “I told you I wanted to be remembered when you took over!”

I returned the laughter. “But that’s a long way off,” I responded. “Marek Kreegan must be getting old now, so he might not even be around by the time I feel confident enough to take him on. Still, I have to take the first step, and for that I’ll need help.”

“You’re going to try for a knighthood, then,” he said matter-of-factly. “I could have guessed as much. But your normal channel is denied you. You can’t’ apprentice yourself to some Knight as a Master and bide your time. Nobody’s going to take you on.”

“I thought of that,” I told him. “No, I’ll have to go for it in one stroke. I’ll have to take on a force, defeat it, and then face down the Knight.”

“A good trick,” Bronz admitted. “And where are you going to get the fighting force to get in the front door?”

“I’ve thought about that. It seems to me that I’ve, only got one avenue to take there, and I’ll need your help. You and I watched, many long weeks ago, a relatively small and unarmed force take on and defeat an elite corps. I think the whole bunch of them could take an army.”

“Perhaps,” he replied thoughtfully, “but she’d never go for it. Her whole force to take a Keep so a man could rule? You saw Sumiko.”

“I saw her. Saw her and studied her. I think she’s itching for a fight. I think that’s why she came here, to perfect her methods. I think she’d welcome such a test.”

“At random, yes,” he said. “Just for the hell of it, or to prove her theories. But not for you, Cal me boy. Not for you.”

“H her test is Zeis Keep?”

He stood there, dumbstruck at the idea. Finally he said, “You don’t want to take the easy way out, do you? Zeis isn’t a small, weak nothing of a Keep—it’s one of the big ones. Important enough to be designated a shuttle landing point, which is why all the bigwigs pass through there. And you’ve got Artur fighting defense on his home ground. Remember the geography of that place?”

“I remember,” I told him. “Still, it has to be Zeis. I think Dr. Pohn is the one individual object of her hatred that would tempt her, don’t you? And from the point of view of location, it’s close enough for her without a lot of logistical problems.”

He considered the proposal. “She might buy it,” he admitted, “but are you sure you can take her? Once she fights for Zeis and wins, if she can take it, do you think she’s going to hand the place over to you?”

“I don’t know,” I responded honestly. “I don’t even know if I can take Boss Tiel. I’ve never even met him. But I think I have to try.”

“I think you do,” Bronz concluded, more to himself than to me. “I don’t know. I’ll send out some feelers to Sumiko and see if shell buy it, or at least agree to talk about it. And I think I can reach Duke Klisorn, at least. Talk him into letting you try.”

“But what about Marek Kreegan? Will he stay out of it? After all, he’s the man who put the price on my head to begin with.”

“Oh, I’m sure Kreegan will keep hands off,” Father Bronz told me confidently. “He’ll want to see just what you can do at this stage, in order to evaluate the true threat to himself and his own power. But if we talk Sumiko into this, and if you or she beats Tiel, and if you can beat her, then you will have to worry about Kreegan. You sure you want to start this? That’s a lot of ifs, and once you start, you aren’t going to be able to stop. You’ll be the initiator, and responsible.”