John Wright - The Golden Age

"It would be wonderful...." Phaethon's voice was soft, his eyes distant.

"All you need do is publicly denounce your selfish dream. Why need we colonize the stars when we can bring the stars to us?"

Phaethon stiffened.

Ao Aoen said, "Listen carefully! This may be your last chance at happiness. Denounce your project, and I will use my influence with the Hortators to mitigate your sentence. Three hundred years of exile, perhaps, or one hundred? Seventy? Sixty? You could stand on your head for a longer period than that! At the end of that time, join Helion in business, embrace poor broken-hearted Daphne Tercius as your wife, and live happily ever after. Not just happily. Live in unimaginable wealth and splendor ever after! What do you say, my lad? Everyone benefits, all rejoice."

Phaethon stepped away from him and sat in one of the several chairs. "Forgive my suspicions, but why is this matter of such interest to you?"

Ao Aoen stood with a subtle smile playing over his features. "My reasons are many; they are a matter of instinct and intuition. Here is my reason! In diatonic music, even in the greatest symphonies, the chord must be resolved to the center. Choirs must follow strophe and antistrophe and end the play in catastrophe. Does that explain me? No, I thought not. I will explain it in your terms, if you agree that this is no more than a myth, a metaphor, a falsehood! If I were to think like you, I would identify my motives as threefold, philosophical, social, and selfish. My selfish motive is clear. I am one of the seven paramounts of this society. In the future I describe, as individuals are subsumed into larger and more immobile housings, the need for entertainment will increase, and all men will enter my dream web. My effort will flourish. My second reason is social; this society has greatly benefited me and all the folk I love. Therefore this society deserves my protection from villains who think they are heroes."

"With all due respect," said Phaethon, "what I desire is the best and highest example of the individualism and liberty on which the Golden Oecumene is based."

"Ah! That you must be sacrificed to placate an utterly non-sacrificial society merely adds ironic zest to my belief." "That is not a reasonable response. Your third motive?" "The basic neuroform is a compromise between the Warlock and the Invariant. Your brain shape is useful for matters

of engineering and ratiocination. The massive and immobile society I foresee will require greater uniformity as time goes on; there will be less scope for individual scientific and engineering efforts. Human energies will turn to artistic, mystical, and abstract pursuits; the Warlocks will flourish and the Invariants eventually disappear. This will satisfy certain philosophic needs I have. So! There you have it! Some of my motives are noble, and others are selfish. Are your suspicions satisfied? Perhaps in the future—if you have a future—you should pay heed to what is being offered you instead of fretting about the motives of the offerer. In logic, an argument is sound or unsound based only on itself, not upon the character of whomever utters it!"

"I was curious about your—"

Ao Aoen raised his voice in anger, "You were attempting to delay the momentous decision I now force upon you!"

Phaethon was silent, taken aback. He wondered if the Warlock were right; his neuroform often had acute insights. Was Phaethon trying to avoid the decision ... ?

Ao Aoen continued in a quieter voice: "How precious is your silly ship to you, boy? You will never fly it in any case! But if you denounce it, let Gannis dismantle it, and forget all about it, then you can live forever in happiness, wealth, good fortune and honor! Give me your answer! What is your choice?!"

Phaethon closed his eyes. With all his heart he wanted to agree with the Warlock, to return to his normal life, his happiness, his house. He wanted to see his father again.

He wanted to go home with his wife. He missed her.

But the word which came out of his mouth.was: " 'She.' "

"I beg your pardon?" asked the Warlock.

Phaethon's eyes snapped open, as if in surprise at himself. "She. You heard me. She! The Phoenix Exultant is a ship. Ships are called 'she.' You said 'it.' You said 'dismantle it.' You cannot 'dismantle' the Phoenix Exultant. The word you are looking for is 'murder.' "

Ao Aoen looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You cannot hope to rebuild your ship."

"I shall." Phaethon stood. "With hope or without it, but I shall."

"You will be exiled and alone." "Then I will rebuild her alone."

"You have lost legal claim! Your creditors will take possession!"

"With Helion's wealth I will pay off the debt." "You have agreed just one moment ago to forswear your wretched law case!"

Phaethon nodded. "And so I would, if I could. But if He-lion's Relic is found to be Helion Secondus, the money comes to me automatically, whether I want it or not, and some part of it, whether I want it or not, will be seized at once, before I touch it, to pay off my creditors. At that point, whether they want it or not, the Phoenix Exultant will be mine once again. The metal and the fuel supplies held in the warehouses orbiting at Mercury Equilateral will also become my property again, whether anyone wants it or not. You see, unlike Orpheus, I did not put in the contracts I made any nullification clause should I fall under the Hortators' ban! Yes, you can spurn me, and refuse to deal or to speak with me again; but the Phoenix Exultant shall live and shall fly and mankind shall possess the stars! Rest assured, that shall certainly happen, whether anyone likes it or not."

Ao Aoen stood for a moment amazed. And then, oddly enough, looked gleeful and rubbed his hands. "You unleash forces beyond any human command; destiny's tidal wave sweeps us all. In blind faith you sail the maelstrom, certain of victory even at the moment of your fall. I attempt basic human logic on you; you spurn safety and escape. Instead, you embrace the irrational!" He chuckled, "And so, of course, I approve. What Warlock would not?! Eyeh! You should have been one of us, Ao Phaethon!"

And the Warlock concluded by making a graceful bow, and saying, "Now comes a time of tragedy and wonder."

With no further word of farewell, still laughing softly and rubbing his hands, the figure of Ao Aoen glided away on soft steps. The noise of voices and motion in the Inquest Chamber

briefly grew louder as the tall doors opened and closed. Phaethon had a glimpse of a long chamber, lit by massive windows of stained glass, of tiers of benches rising to either side, of a central dais hung with flags and bunting of blue and silver. Then the door closed again, and Ao Aoen was gone.

Helion stepped up behind Phaethon. "I heard what you said, my son. It is not true."

Phaethon turned. Helion was now dressed in a sober black costume, a long-tailed coat, a stiff collar, a black silk top hat.

"What is not true?"

"That you cannot drop the law case. The Curia would certainly prefer for us to reach an out-of-court settlement, should we fashion one, than to make a ruling. It is also not true that you shall possess once again and rebuild your starship or your dream, or that you will conquer the stars. Pandora kept hope at the bottom of her box because it was the most dreadful of the plagues the gods visited on suffering mankind. A moment ago, neither you nor I had any hope; we both thought we were doomed; and our best instincts came to the forefront. If we must be parted, my son, let us be parted on those terms of camaraderie and familial love. Instead, this hope of yours will set us at each other's throats again."

Phaethon was not daunted. "Relic of Helion, I know from Daphne's diary what you have been doing in the locked chambers of the Rhadamanthus mind. You've been living Helion Prime's death over and over again, trying to recapture the epiphany he had. The Curia has not released all the records to you, has it? They know what changed his heart, and would have changed his life forever, had he lived."