Zach Hughes - Closed System

"No," Pat said. Do you say "sir" to a dictatorwho has ambitions to rule the galaxy?

"Too bad," Brenden said, "but we'll find a place for you. You can fly, I saw that." He grinned. "AndI reckon you've already scanned the target ship?"

"She's dead in space," Pat said.

"Yep. Let's suit up and go take a look," Brendensaid, turning with an agility surprising in one solarge.

In the corridors of the cruiser there was an odd smell, a rank, hot smell. "Pat," Brenden said over his

shoulder, as he led the way, "winning the bat­tle is just the beginning. I don't think we'll have tokill all of them. I think they'll see the light afterthe first two or three engagements, and then there'llbe just a few of us to run one helluva big empire.I'm gonna need good men. I trust Cory's judgment,because when I first started to claw my way upfrom that hard-scrabble mining claim in the boon­ieson Taratwo she was right there beside me,clawing and scratching right along with me. Onlyperson in the world who can hold her own withme in a fair fight, boy. Don't ever get her riled.She'll use all them ancient trick things on you and kick you in the balls, too."

"I haven't seen that side of her," Pat said, grin­ning at Corinne.

"See that you don't," Brenden said. "Yep, she'sa fighter. No fear at all, and willing to do what ittakes. Made no fuss at all when I said she'd be ofthe most service to us under a name other thanBrenden out there on that Zede planet snowingthe big dogs. Way I got it figured, Pat, Cory's mypartner, and half of everything I have is hers, andthat's a chunk, or will be very soon. You're herman—" He halted, turned. "Cory, why in hell didn'tyou marry him down there on Dorchlunt? Godknows you had enough priests and a few hundredgods to swear to." He roared with laughter.

Brenden was still chuckling when they reacheda squadroom. In cages lay dead animals, pigs, goats,a dog.

The other man in uniform, who had not spokena word, pulled testing instruments from his bagand opened the cage of the dog, did some check­ing, and then looked up. "Dead," he said.

"Not a mark on 'em," Brenden said. "The UPeggheads will have fun trying to figure out whathit 'em."

There was a feeling of lifelessness about thecruiser. The air was beginning to stale, with thecirculators off, and that rank, heavy smell was everywhere. On the bridge all the little clicking,moving, purring things had been stilled.

Brenden ripped a panel off with his hands, jerk­ing screws loose, to expose a fused tangle of wir­ing. That seemed to be the source of the heavy smell. "You'll find every piece of active wiringlooks the same as this, Pat," Brenden said. "Andthere'd be something almost as messy inside thenerve sheaths of the animals."

"Heat?" Pat asked, very much impressed, im­pressed to the point of being sick to his stomach tothink of that weapon being aimed at a ship with afull crew of men.

"Naw," Brenden said, "fancier than that. I callit the disrupter. Dunno why. Ain't very scientific,that name."

"Brenden, why must you try to sound like aboonie rat?" Corinne asked.

Brenden grinned. "See what I mean by sharpedges on her tongue?" He made a mock bow to hissister. "The name "disrupter" isn't scientific, butit is descriptive. When the beam hits it stops theflow of electrons instantly in any electronic equip­ment. Then it sort of beats them together, and this is what happens. Since there's a minute electricalcurrent flowing in the human body, zap. The heart,the brain, all of it stops at once."

Pat was silent. Corinne was looking at him mus­ingly. Brenden saw the look and misinterpreted it. "By God," he yelled, "let's go down to the templeand have us a wedding."

"The wedding will be on Taratwo," Corinne said,with a soft smile, her eyes locked on Pat's "and itwill be

after it's all over."

"Well, it's your wedding," Brenden said. He puthis hand on Corinne's shoulder. "We're ready, lit­tle sister. It's time to get your blond supermen allpainted up in their warpaint and hold us one bigpractice drill and then go off to kick us a littlesand."

TEN

Since the Brenden preferred the comfort of hisflagship, Pat and Corinne took Skimmer back to Dorchlunt. Corinne was beaming. The test had gone beautifully. The man she'd chosen to love was with her. She was full of dreams, and she expounded on them during the short trip. They would choose oneof the more beautiful UP planets for their ownprivate kingdom. Pat would be her coregent.

"Our people will adore us," she said. "People dolove pomp and splendor."

"I thought the idea was to bring freedom andequality to all," Pat said, with a little smile.

"Oh, of course," she said, "but there must be anauthority figure. The masses must have a leader,or anarchy is the result."

Beautiful as she was, she could not have heldher own in a freshman political discussion at the university. She paid lip service to the rights of the masses, and could weep tears for the hungry anddowntrodden that she imagined to be everywhere in the UP system, basing her opinion, obviously, on conditions under the Man's dictatorship onTaratwo, but underneath it was simple ambition.

Like most revolutionaries recorded by history, shehad great plans for tearing down a working sys­tem, almost none for improving it, assuming that once she and her brother were in power all thingswould automatically be better.

He was pleased to see that he had, apparently,gained her full trust. He landed Skimmer in theback garden and went with her to her apartment.The ship was still there as he looked over hisshoulder upon entering the temple. He began tothink of ways he could get aboard and blink to hellout of there to warn the UP to keep all ships faraway from the Brenden's fleet until someone couldcome up with a countermeasure for the disrupter.With all of the Taratwo fleet close in to the planet,he didn't think much of his chances of doing that,but he had to try something.

At the door of her apartment, she kissed him."Darling, I have so much to do. We'll be togetherforever soon, but now you'll have to excuse me."

"I'd like to use Skimmer's library," he said. "OK?"

She looked at him piercingly. "I don't want tolose you."

He laughed. "I won't try to run through thewhole fleet. Two cruisers, maybe, but not the en­tire fleet."

"I know I can trust you," she said.

"There's one other thing. There's a golden door.A priest told me that it was for adepts only, that Iwas barred."

"Not worth consideration," she said. "It's justthe shrine to the admiral who was in command of the colonization ship. There's a statue of him. The priests worship him, keep his uniform clean andreplace it as it decays, because he was the one who began the priesthood. He figured out the theocracywhich has kept these poor creatures docile for so long." She laughed. "It's one of those arcane littlesecrets that religious people love. Since all of theoriginal priests were sworn to secrecy as to the purpose of the theocracy, they've extended thatsecrecy to silly length." She leaned close, whis­pering. "The name of the fleet admiral is so sa­cred, so secret, that only the priesthood knows it, and it can only be pronounced within the confinesof the shrine."

"Well, I guess I can live without seeing theshrine," he said. "When will you be finished withyour work?"

"Give me at least three hours, darling. Thencome to me and we'll dine together." She stood ontiptoe to kiss him again. "Are you going to try topuzzle out all the secrets of the weapon by con­sulting your library?"

"Well, I'm curious, of course."

"When I have the time I'll tell you all about it,"she said. "Those old Zedeians were ingenious men.Isn't it delightful that we're going to beat themwith their own weapon?" Her face went grim. "And,oh, how I do yearn to see the faces of those menwho treated me as if I were a child, ordering meabout, forcing me to act in vehicles which I hated."