Mayer Alan Brenner - Spell of Intrigue

And he was calling me a racist , Karlini thought. “I assume you’re building up to some point,” he said.

“Through underbrush,” said Haddo, “what saying Favored is, when want done job gods, call gods human not. Call gods Favored.”

“The best Fabricator in the business,” said Favored, “that’s me, and I don’t mind being the one to tell you.”

“Okay,” Karlini said, “now you’ve told me. Why?”

“Don’t put a cramp,” Favored said. “I’m getting there, I’m getting there. Like I was saying, along with the jobs I’ve done I’ve been able to spring myself some slack to do stuff on my own.”

“Such as your vehicle there?”

“Yeah, old Flotarobolis. What do you think of it?”

“Looks a little small for me,” Karlini said cautiously. “There’s no denying it’s got character, though, and you had to have put an awful lot of work into it. The fact that for most anybody on the planet, building that elaborate a mechanism would draw you an immediate sentence of eradication from the nearest god adds a certain something, too.”

Favored frowned. “You may be a human, but what you say is true enough. I’m in kind of a tricky situation. They may like me, but that doesn’t mean I can just do whatever I want. It’s hard to know where their limits are. I mean, I’ve got a lot more room to maneuver than most, but like I said …” He shrugged his shoulders .

“But your - whatever you called it, Floater-mobile? - your god friends think that’s okay, right?”

Favored glanced around him, then leaned over to peer down into his craft, apparently examining some indicator device. He straightened up and checked over his shoulder again before saying, “Actually, they haven’t seen it yet.”

“Oh?” said Karlini. “On the face of it, since you’re under the thumb of the gods, so to speak, doesn’t that mean they’d also have you under their increased scrutiny? After all, they wouldn’t want to risk you spilling all their secrets, would they? Wouldn’t they be unhappy with you for sitting around discussing this stuff so freely in public?” Why were they discussing this stuff, anyway, other than out of general comradeship and tale-spinning curiosity?

“This of the matter crux is,” Haddo said. He took a last sizzle out of his tumbler and slurped at the rim, then peered longingly down into its depths. “Vintage of excellence, was. Try you sometime should.”

“Not for me,” said Favored. “I don’t have natural grounding like you do; it’d fry my innards to a crisp. But anyhow, Haddo’s right. I’ve come up with this, ah, misdirection technique that defeats the probe of the gods; seems to work pretty well as long as you don’t use it too much. I’m running it now, in fact.” A soft beep-beep, beep-beep from the depths of his vehicle interrupted. Favored leaned over and fiddled with some controls out of sight, and the beeping died away.

“Technology that can outwit the sight of the gods,” Karlini said. “That’s exactly the kind of thing they’re always worried about.”

“You’re right again,” stated Favored, making one last adjustment. He settled himself back against the flipped-up hatch. “I haven’t been doing this stuff just for the heck of it. It’s not worth the risk of getting pulped over some no-account puttering, even I’ll say that. I’m doing it ‘cause the time is right. You know about this business the gods have going on with their politics? This Conservationist and Abdicationist thing?”

“Some,” Karlini said slowly. Haddo looked at him, his hood tilted at an incredulous angle. “You’re not the only one’s got your own little secrets,” Karlini said to him.

“Job description change have must,” announced Haddo, “trusted confidant from, menial laborer to.”

“Don’t start that again, will you please, Haddo?” said Karlini. “Why don’t we just say we’re even for the moment, okay?”

“See will we,” muttered Haddo.

“If you two are quite finished?” Favored said. “The Abdicationists and Conservationists, right? From what I’ve been able to find out, it sounds like they’re not just debating any more, their squabble’s starting to spill over into outright action, like with this Pod Dall thing. There’s still talk, but things’re getting too intense for talk by itself. Like Karlini here put it, I don’t like being a bug under the thumb of the gods for the rest of my life, and I think that by playing things right I might be able to help the Abdicationists come out on top; and if that means the gods decide to abdicate their control, well, I wouldn’t be a bug anymore, would I?”

“We,” said Haddo.

“What?” Favored said.

“I not. Said you ‘I’-’I like don’t.’ ‘I Abdication help.’ I and ‘I.’ Not should say ‘I.’ should say ‘we.’ Are here we not for ‘I,’ are here we for ‘we.’”

Even Favored looked a bit flustered after that one. Karlini was getting the idea, though, finally, of why Favored had wanted to meet, or at least he thought he was. “As you probably realize,” he told Favored, “the crew I’m involved with, and especially Max, whom you obviously know, or know of anyway, also have the same long-term goal of breaking up the gods’ hegemony over everybody else. I think we definitely may have something to talk about here, but before we get into that, I’ve got a major question I need an answer for.” Karlini swung around. “Haddo, where do you fit into all this? Have I been paying good money to a spy, somebody who’s plotting to stab all of us in our backs? Don’t tell me you’re just a loyal servitor, either -you’ve plainly got more going on than you’ve been willing to share. Well?”

“How say that can you?” said Haddo in his most aggrieved tone. “Have not been I in faithful extreme?”

“I don’t know. Have you?”

“Disappointment have I with you,” Haddo grumbled. “Think you –”

Favored had been watching the two of them with his sculpted eyebrows raised and the corner of his mouth curled. “You know, Haddo, I think your pal had a point.”

“Enemies from all corners have I! Mournful is world! To corner will slink I, to there pine and die. Okay! Okay. Generous will be I. Can understand I why might think old comrade Karlini this. Okay. Reasonable is question. From mind furthest was thing to in back stab friends. Okay?”

“That’s not a bad start,” Karlini said, “as long as it goes on to something more substantive.”

“Box nit sassafras,” muttered Haddo under his breath, or words to that effect. “Well very. In conscience good cannot say I that false completely is, charge that own plans have I, but did ever ask you me? Never ask did you.”

“I did ask if you were loyal.”

“Loyal am I!” Haddo said, throwing his arms in the air over his head. “In contract nothing is, prohibit that would own interests to pursue at same time as performing of job for you responsibilities of. Since are aimed us both at goal same, especially not prohibit contract would. Than this have done I nothing more, than to work on own time for same ends. Did not think you that gang of your only one was, to dethrone gods trying were?”

“It’s technically true that your contract gives you a large amount of personal freedom,” Karlini said, “I’ll admit that much. When the two of us executed it, though, I thought we had a clear understanding about conflict of interest.”

“Is in conflict interest not!”

“All right,” said Karlini, “all right. I’m willing to let that pass.” He had to acknowledge, to himself at least, that he was more intrigued than upset, anyway, and he didn’t really want to choke off the conversation either. “I just want you to know that Roni and I would have appreciated the extra help it looks like you were in a position to give us, if what I’ve been hearing here is any indication.”