Mayer Alan Brenner - Spell of Intrigue

Jill had taken a seat on the chair by the hearth, in all probability concluding that we might be there for a while. “Are you saying that the power boost the ring’s wearer receives is beside the point? You are saying that, of course.”

“Of course he is,” said Zhardann. “There’s no need to play games with him. He knows we know the importance of Pod Dall.”

“Nobody ever turns down a little extra power,” I said, “especially when it’s really somebody else’s, but if it was just that, we wouldn’t have gone after as dangerous a target as Dall.”

“And you wouldn’t be who you are,” added Soaf Pasook. “Capturing Pod Dall was a clear move of ‘check’ on the big board, not that the game is nearly that simple, you appreciate.”

Zhardann grunted and squirmed around in his chair, searching for a new posture of maximal comfort. “The game has as many sides as players,” he grumbled. “Still, the move was elegant. Dall was as well-placed as anyone. From that strategic position of his, he could maintain a virtual lock-down hold on the Abdicationist and Conservationist factions, both. By snatching him and penning him up, the whole power structure is thrown into disarray. All that from the loss of a swing vote.”

“Scarcely,” said Pasook, a bit superciliously. “The strength of Dall was partly political, as a matter of the swing of the coalition vote, as you say, but it was also partly positional in a much more physical manner, and a question of raw might.”

“Of course, of course,” said Zhardann, being conciliatory again. “It is amazing, though, is it not, to contemplate the possibilities that Pod Dall as a commodity presents that Pod Dall incarnate did not?”

“Hmm, yes,” said Pasook, as if the matter was of academic interest to him. “Some would like to see Dall freed and restored to action, or ransomed into their own custody or control, while some would just as soon see him disappear forever, never to be seen again.”

“And you?” said Jill. “What did you want?”

Pasook made a guileless expression coalesce from the combination of his dramatically opened eyes and the gently opened “O” of his mouth. Then he closed his mouth and merely looked thoughtful. “Perspective,” he said slowly. “Many of us have lost that, you know. A restoration of perspective, a forced reexamination of tenets and positions-is that not to the general good?”

“My husband never did anything for the general good,” said Jill.

“He is a complex fellow,” said Pasook. “What is this political struggle that has us all so polarized based on in the first place, though? At its root there lies the philosophical question of Abdication: the Abdicationists want to relinquish power and let the world get on with its own affairs, while the Conservationists, on the other hand, say, ‘What are you, idiots?,’ to put it kindly, and to paraphrase the coarser element among us, the Conservationists like things the way they have been and think it would be the height of bad management to throw themselves out of office and privilege, but still they exhibit a spectrum of thought. There are shades of opinion within the Abdicationist community, too, ranging from a radical extreme of those who would hie us back to the Age of Stone, in fact who would return us all to a mere mortal state, and from that nihilistic fringe all the way to those centralists who would make changes only in slight degree, merely loosening the yoke of dominion by a notch, or perhaps two.

“Then there is the religious aspect. I shy away from religion, myself, and especially questions of theology,” said Soaf Pasook, “since lack of certitude on the part of someone in our position is to my mind irritatingly paradoxical, and I dislike dwelling on either irritations or paradox, let alone both together. Instead -”

“Certitude?” I said. What the hell, I was interested.

“What does godhood mean ?” Pasook said, with some heat. Then he looked a bit abashed at his own outburst. “If we have no firm answers, who does? Some have gotten uncomfortable with living the self-made life when there may be those who ... outrank us actually around somewhere. This faction thinks that any deitical beings who exceed us would probably be quite annoyed with our carryings on. Another subgroup thinks, in line with certain ancient and presently suppressed scriptures, that regardless of hierarchy or deitogenesis those who wish to be more than human should aspire to higher standards as well, rather than just behaving like more powerful humans, and gangster humans at that. Harsh words, indeed, but of course I merely quote, in an attempt to fairly represent a position.”

“There are those,” Zhardann said carefully, “who would call this kind of talk heretical, and would call for punishment.”

“What is the point of being what we are if one has to toe an ideological line? Practicalities, yes, there are certainly reasons for those, but restraint of discourse among ourselves? No, I think not. Who can afford to abandon the search for wisdom?”

“This is just a lot of talk,” said Jill disgustedly. “What does another search for wisdom have to do with Pod Dall? The only wisdom he understood is the wisdom of power. Look at him now, without it - that pretty much proves his position, doesn’t it? You were talking about perspective. What’s Dall’s perspective?”

“You can ask him, if you want,” Pasook said, “when we recover the ring.”

“Let me get this straight,” said Jill, pointing a finger at him. “You wanted to make people take a new look at their politics by turning Dall into a trade good. That’s it? What then? No,” she shook her head, “it doesn’t wash. This wasn’t some high and mighty act of philosophical nobility, you’re not going to get me to believe that. You’d be the kingpin, you’d be the one in charge. You’d be the one who’d profit.”

“Yes, of course,” said Pasook, as though amazed that the issue should be any less than obvious.

“Harshness doesn’t suit you, my dear,” Zhardann said to Jill. “Philosophy is interesting, of course, we all have our hobbies, but there’s nothing inappropriate about combining axiology with business; quite the contrary. Especially with the stakes so high. There’s nothing that says that even a search for wisdom has to be free, that no one should benefit.”

“Just so,” Pasook agreed.

“So as you say,” Zhardann continued, “the two of you -” he nodded coolly in my direction “- had intended to play the role of pivotal middlemen and dealmakers between the Abdicationist and Conservationist factions without actually declaring for one or the other, on the grounds that those who hold the balance - the kingmakers, if you will - will wind up with the most important role in continuing affairs whichever side wins out in the end. If neither side has an out-and-out triumph, of course, your value would be even greater. Accordingly, your real interest would seem to have been concentrated in seeing the struggle continue. All this is moot now, of course, but it is always helpful to understand where one’s associates have come from.”

“As you say,” said Soaf Pasook.

“So, to be blunt about it,” Zhardann said, “why is all this moot now? Why are you before us now, rather than wielding the ring, with or without your former partner?”

“I would think it would be obvious.”

Zhardann tightened up his tone, letting a bit of his usual peevishness loose into the room. “I have had quite enough of things that should be obvious. For once, I would like to see something laid out on the floor in front of me in unambiguous detail. Shall I restate the question?”

“No,” said Pasook, sounded a bit wounded himself, “no. That won’t be necessary, I’m sure. A break with normal etiquette, but these are not normal times, are they, if indeed they ever were. Yes, well. As you know, the two of us broke our collaboration –” I raised an eyebrow at Pasook, which clearly caught his gaze since he had been looking with a contemplative manner directly into my face “- when I determined I could make better use of the ring alone than the two of us could together. His own power and, one must say, his vigilance, were drained - from managing the operational aspect of emplacing and retrieving the ring, as well as the ring engineering task, of course - and so he had left himself in a state of vulnerability.”