The dark planet - (v1.0), page 7
With the warning, he left the meeting, tired to the bone. Even Abby’s presence didn’t offer comfort.
Morning had barely scaled the height of the trees when a runner dashed into camp, calling for Nathan Cory.
“He’s here!” he panted. “Janotek’s here. He was seen in Corbella City, and going into Kash’s headquarters.”
“I expected that,” Harris sneered. “Our hero, Janotek. He’s probably gotten a better offer from the Cobs.”
“No.” Nathan waved him down. “There’s another reason.”
“You’re gullible, I know that, but don’t go soft on me,” Harris insisted. “What I said still stands. He doesn’t get inside the Lab. Don’t try to bring him in. We’ll shoot.”
“Then get back there and protect your sacred property,” Nathan ordered. “I don’t want him inside the Lab, either, and I have sensible reasons.”
Harris started to reply, then thought better of it, heading off through the trees.
“Don’t antagonize him too much,” Paul Houseman chided. “He’s walking a narrow edge, and you don’t want to push him over.”
“I know. But I think a firm hand is what will ultimately hold him up.”
The whine of an air car cut in on their conversation, and Nathan stared skyward, straining to see it. It broke into view over the trees, circled once, and settled to the ground on its hovering-powered motor.
“He’s here.” Nathan sighed, anxiously. “Be careful how you react, Paul. This man is going to offend every decent bone in you. Try to be patient.”
Abby came up beside him, flushed with anticipation. The others had expressions to match. “I’m scared,” Abby whispered, as the ship landed in the clearing. “What shall I say to him?”
Nathan eyed her, oddly tense. She was small and gently rounded beside him, and her eyes held a frank innocence. “I’d rather you stayed away from him completely.”
She laughed. “I dare him to devour me.”
As the ship’s motor died and the door opened, Nathan walked to meet the Marikan, feeling strangely that this was the moment of no return. Yet the moment when he had first mentioned the virus was actually the last chance he’d had to turn back.
He took Janotek’s hand again and it felt more familiar now. He was glad to discover the same haughty carriage which had impressed him on Marik. If nothing else, this man would look the part of hero and savior. “Welcome, Councilor,” he said.
“Indeed?” Janotek smiled. “From the strain on your face, I feel somehow quite insecure. Didn’t it go so well?”
“Of course, it went well.”
“Just try not to let the worry show,” Janotek cautioned. “You can’t win the kind of battle we’re going to fight by appearing anything but completely confident. Now, let me meet your friends.”
Nathan obliged, starting with Houseman.
“I’ve heard of you before, Mr. Houseman,” Janotek said. “I understand that my fellow Councilors have played foul with you in the past. Maybe we can expose a few of them and make them regret it.”
Nathan observed Paul Houseman closely, but Houseman was the perfect diplomat as he answered, “I hope so. And, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that your reputation has reached us—even here, in this wilderness.”
Janotek chuckled. “I’ll give that remark the benefit of the doubt, Mr. Houseman, since you rather frighten me and I don’t want you for an enemy.”
“Frighten you?”
“You’re a completely honest man,” Janotek said, “and they always frighten me. Your kind is too unpredictable.” He passed on to Jenson, and Nathan couldn’t suppress the smile. Janotek had disarmed Paul Houseman in the first two minutes of their acquaintance, and his cunning was worth every credit it could be given.
Then Abby was next in line, and when Janotek’s attention fell her way, Nathan stiffened. There was too much interest in the Marikan, and Abby was responding to it.
“Councilor,” Nathan continued being formal in the introductions, “I’d like to present Abigail Rand. We’ve been together here for fifteen years, Abby and I.”
Janotek asked, with an upward tilt of eyebrow, “Together?”
Abby flushed a deep pink, stammering in her search for words. “Nathan was my first friend—after I’d lost my family. He took me under his wing, so to speak.”
“I see,” Janotek answered. “Rather like a protector. I imagine it was quite nice for Nathan.”
Nathan hurried him on around the circle, forcing him to shake hands with every member of the camp. It ate up the better part of an hour, and by the time they were finished, the first excitement had worn off and resentment was returning to the faces around them. Janotek’s often sly remarks didn’t help; but Nathan hadn’t expected anything else.
When the last hand was clasped, Janotek ventured into the forest, examining wildflowers blooming sparsely under the trees. “You have a beautiful world here, Cory. Rough and primitive, perhaps, but beautiful.”
“I’m afraid you won’t be too comfortable. We have no luxuries. The beds are hard and the food is almost too plain.”
“I didn’t come for luxuries,” Janotek answered sharply. “I think you underestimate me. That apartment and Tass aren’t all there is to me; it’s all there is to Tass, yes, but not to me.”
“Tass?” Abby asked from her place beside Nathan.
“Didn’t he tell you about her?” Janotek smiled. “I’m surprised at that, Cory. You seemed quite taken with her at the time. Or was that just courtesy to my taste?”
Nathan let the remark pass, shifting the subject. He was satisfied that he had felt the slightest recoiling movement in Abby as the Councilor’s dark eyes had settled on her.
“Where would you like to start your inspection?” Nathan asked.
“Anywhere you say. I’ve seen Corbella City and its people already. Show me your Lab and your set-up. We can plan from there.”
Nathan called Houseman, and together, they led the way to the Lab. Nathan explained that this spot was a complete secret from the Cobs, and that Janotek was the first outsider to get close.
The arrival at the underground door was awkward. Janotek wanted to go inside and wouldn’t be held back. Nathan argued, but only Karl Harris’ appearance with a Cob sprayer changed his mind.
Janotek retreated from the muzzle of the sprayer angrily. “If this is the way you’ve worked together,” he told Harris, “it’s no wonder it took you fifteen years to accomplish so little.”
“We don’t have the diabolical minds of the civilized people,” Harris retaliated. “It takes us longer to do the same evil things.”
“That’s enough,” Nathan ordered. “We won’t violate your property.” Janotek cast him a puzzled glance, but Nathan remained adamant. He had to back Harris.
“Just ask him what he was doing with the Cobs,” Harris spat. “That’s all I want to know.”
“Oh, you heard about that, did you? I paid Commander Kash a visit. And why not? We civilized people must stick together.” He abruptly started back on the path to camp.
Nathan wanted to say more to Harris, but let it go, hurrying to catch up to his charge. “Why did you go to see Kash?”
“How would it have looked if I hadn’t?” was Janotek's answer. “When one official enters another official’s world, it’s only proper conduct to ask permission. Besides, I wanted to start him worrying a little. He’ll wonder why I’m here. It’s against all precedent.
and since he doesn’t trust me anyway, he’ll come up with all sorts of ideas. They will spread, and we’ll have rumor on our side before we even go to the Council. The members will start bunching up—some with the Cobs and some against—and then we’ll have some cracks to turn into chasms when we are ready to attack.”
“I should have known you would have good reasons.”
“But you don’t quite trust me, do you? Well, I don’t blame you. Trust is one quality I’ve never possessed, and believe me, I haven’t felt its lack.”
The rest of the day passed with Janotek poking into everything: their food stores, their weapons, and their personalities. His questions were direct and sharp, such as asking a Rebel point-blank why he preferred to hide in the forest, no better than a hunted animal, when he could live a dignified life in the cities. But Nathan could see the motives behind the questions. Janotek intended to discover just how much of what he had been told about Earth’s spirit and craving for freedom was true.
Maps were brought out, and the other Rebel strongholds pinpointed for him. Their entire force was small; Nathan Cory had always thought it was pitiably small. But, oddly, Janotek responded in the opposite way. Even the loose organization of the various Rebel groups didn’t disturb him. He was surprised that there would be so much resistance.
Dinner was tense. Nathan gave up trying to defend Janotek from the glances, curious and suspicious, and the biting remarks that were sent his way. With coffee hot in the tin cups in their hands, Nathan attempted an apology, but Janotek brushed it aside with a shrug. “You’re too sensitive, Cory. Anger and suspicion don’t bother me in the least. I’m used to them. Besides, you know my motives for taking on this fight. I’ve made no pretense about it. It’s not from sympathy or nobility—I’m in it for exactly what I can get out of it. The glory, and anything else that might come along.”
Nathan shook his head. “You amaze me. We think in completely different terms.”
“Not completely.” Janotek surveyed him sideways. “There is one particular member of your group who has cast no stones.”
His gaze reached out to engulf Abby where she stood by the fire, serving coffee. Nathan’s back stiffened. “Abby is mine!”
“Is she? Or do you just like to think so?” Janotek asked slyly. “Have you taken her in ceremony as your mate?”
“That is none of your business.”
“It might be, in the end. A girl like that doesn’t belong in this setting, Cory. Think what she could do for a place like mine.”
“She’s not Tass. You couldn’t ever have known a girl like Abby.”
“And perhaps that is what makes her interesting. Maybe we’ll arrange a fair trade one day, you and I. You liked Tass, after all.”
Nathan couldn’t be sure if the Marikan was serious, or only needling him for the pleasure of seeing him squirm. “We’d better end this conversation right now, Councilor. We’re here to discuss plans. Let’s stick to that.”
Nathan called Paul Houseman to join the talk, and then forced Janotek into the open with whatever plans he had formed.
“From what I saw in Corbella City,” Janotek said, “your people are not at all united in this cause. They hate you, and they accept the Cobellans as an evil to be endured.”
“That’s the pity of it,” Houseman said. “They’ve been fed too many lies.”
“But, they must be united if our claims are going to stand investigation,” Janotek insisted. “If observers are sent from the Council, and they see the fraternizing and open dislike for your cause, they will brush Earth’s threat aside without a qualm.”
“We know all that,” Nathan said, “and there’s nothing we can do about it. Since my election as a Rebel delegate, I’m probably the most hated man on this planet. There’s no way to counteract the Cob propaganda.”
“There is always a way, when people are involved,” Janotek insisted, rising to pace up and down, using the action as a stimulant. “This can’t be classed as a minor rebellion! It has to be a planetwide affair.” He stopped suddenly, pointing a slender finger at Nathan. “What we need is a martyr! There is nothing like a martyr to rally people and create a united group.”
“That would be a perfect solution,” Nathan agreed. “The only problem is, there is no martyr, and there’s not liable to be one.”
“Then make one!” Janotek said.
Nathan looked to Houseman, but the older man’s face was only shocked. There was no advice there. “Do you mean to deliberately kill a man?”
“First, you have to set up the proper situation,” Janotek answered, “and make him valuable to both sides—known to both sides. When that is done— then you kill him.”
“No! That sort of action is exactly what we’re sworn to fight against—not to suborn. It’s simply murder, no matter what you prefer to call it.”
Janotek towered over him. “And what is wrong with that, Delegate Cory? Can you only stomach murders when they are done en masse? Four days ago, you outlined to me a horrible plan to kill entire worlds full of people—to murder them for no cause and with no warning. Now, when I mention the killing of one man, you have no right to condemn me for it.”
“He’s right, Nathan,” Paul Houseman said. “You chose this man because you believed in his ability. Let him use it.”
Nathan couldn’t believe that it was Paul Houseman speaking those words. But they were true words, he realized.
“All right.” Nathan surrendered. “But let this be your plan, Councilor, and your action. I’ll back it, but I won’t play any active part in it.”
“If you keep on backing away,” Janotek warned, “one day you’re going to discover that you’ve backed yourself into a comer. I’ll do it your way. Luckily, I don’t have your sense of conscience; and I’m relieved to see that the rest of your people don’t have it, either.” He strode three steps away and came back. “Tass was right when she sized you up. You’re able, but immature. This fight is a personal thing to you— so personal, that at every move you have to worry about dirtying yourself, about reflecting on your own character and ethics. You’re fighting for a world, Cory! And you’re just one small part of that world. Dirt won’t hurt the people you’re trying to save; and you might be surprised to find that it will rub off of you.”
“And what are you fighting for? You’ve made that rather clear.”
“There’s no point in arguing,” Houseman cut in. “You two will never see eye to eye. Your essential characters and values are too different for any agreement.”
“You’re a perceptive man, Mr. Houseman,” Janotek admitted. “If you can hold Cory up, and keep him from being shocked at everything I do, it will be a help.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m up to anything you can devise. It simply occurs to me that before we talk about killing for the cause, we should have some working plan for the cause.”
“One step at a time, and the next step is simple.” Janotek sat down again, next to Abby, who had joined them. “I will return to Marik and announce my part in presenting your petition. Once that is official, things will follow in a natural course, and we can deal with them as they arise.”
He insisted on staying the night in camp, despite the rude accommodations, and then took Abby off to the edge of the forest, complaining that he knew little of Earth and its flora and wanted some things explained.
Nathan remained with Paul Houseman, silently smoking a cigarette, following the outline of the two figures against the trees. As Abby’s laugh sounded from the distance, he got up, muttered some excuse that didn’t fool Houseman, and went inside the cabin.
Chapter eight
It was two weeks before the awaited word from Janotek came, instructions for Nathan to meet him on the small planet which housed the Federation offices and Council Hall. The session was called, and Earth’s petition scheduled.
He left for checkpoint with the good wishes of everyone, and pointers on behavior from Paul Houseman. “Be yourself, Nathan,” Houseman advised. “Speak out if you have a chance, and be as honest as you can. Don’t feel inferior to the others, even if they are giants, as they consider themselves to be. They are also all decadent and corrupt to a certain extent.”
There were no good wishes from the city people. Commander Kash had laid down some new rules, blaming the Rebels for the necessity. Delegate Nathan Cory’s car was stoned on the way to the spaceport; Kash had arranged an official parade, which Nathan cut short.
The Council planet was small and mountainous, jagged peaks and clouded sky a backdrop to the one great city that sat on the plain. It was a city of no commerce save importation of food and luxury items, no business save Federation business, and no people except Councilmen and their staff, delegates, record-keepers, and clerks. But it was vast and mighty.
Nathan saw architecture that was a composite conglomeration of fifty-three worlds, a fantastic dream city. Nothing looked like what it was, and if he had thought Marik alien, this city overwhelmed him. His stomach crawled in a violent form of homesickness as his car snaked its way through traffic.
By the time the car stopped at his hotel, he ached for the sight of Janotek’s straight figure and familiar lines. His driver, one of the same pale men he had seen on Marik, if not the same one, ushered him under columns and across pink quartz floors, into the lobby.
Inside, the atmosphere was better. The furniture had sensible shapes and the appointments were nearly normal. He registered under the close eye of a seven-foot giant with little flesh drawn over his bones, and followed the pale man up a moving ramp and into a comforting room. This was more like home. It was comparatively small, and there was a bed, a chair, and a dresser that could have been Earth-made.
The little man unpacked his few belongings quickly and retreated to a side door. “The Councilor’s suite is in here, sir. He wants to see you right away. If there is anything that you need, please call me. I am to serve you, too, while we are here. My name is Gort.”
The idea of having another man wait on him was new to Nathan, but he shrugged, and went through the door himself, eager to see Janotek.
The suite was large and a good deal fancier than his, as he had expected. But he found one thing that he didn’t expect as the slim form of Tass rose to meet him. “Hello, Delegate.” She smiled. “I’m surprised to see you.”
“You knew I was coming.” Nathan Cory was determined to hold his ground with her this time.
“That was when the surprise began. How did you ever manage to get around Jan with your little petition?”
