Deathstalker

fall. If it wasn't us, it would be someone else. Maybe even someone like you, Silence.'

'Never,' said Silence.

'Everybody stand exactly where you are!' said a loud shrill voice in all their ears. 'This is Security Officer Stelmach, on the bridge of the Dauntless' main pinnace. I have the forward disrupter cannon aimed right at you! All rebels will give up their weapons immediately, or I'll open fire!'

'I wondered what had happened to him,' said Frost.

'Can I just point out,' Silence said reasonably, 'that if you open fire on them, you will also kill me and the Investigator?'

'You're expendable,' said Stelmach.

'Somehow I just knew he was going to say that,' said Frost.

'You see?' said Hazel. 'This is the kind of thing we've been talking about.'

'Hold on just a minute,' said Owen. 'Who's this Stelmach? Did we miss one?'

'Apparently,' said Hazel. 'And as a result, we are now staring down the barrels of a whole bunch of disrupter cannon. Any ideas?'

'Don't hurry me,' said Owen. 'I'm thinking.'

'I didn't come this far just to die now,' said Hazel. 'What say we rush him?'

'After you,' said Owen.

'There's got to be something we can do!'

'I'm open to suggestions,' said Owen. 'We can't get at him, and he's got the big guns.'

'Looks like your rebellion just came to a sudden halt, traitor,' said Frost. 'Hand over your weapons, and I promise you'll live long enough to face trial and execution on Golgotha.'

'I'd rather rush him,' said Owen.

'Relax, everybody,' said a different voice in all their ears. 'This is Wulf, on the pinnace. I've just taken control of the weapons systems away from the somewhat excitable gentleman who was in charge. He's currently having a little lie down.'

'Who the hell's Wulf? said Frost. 'Did we miss one?'

'Apparently,' said Silence.

'All right, Wulf,' said Owen. 'What happened to you? Why weren't you killed when the Maze was destroyed?'

'I had my own way out of the Maze,' said the Wolfling calmly. 'I've been through it before. By the time I realized you were in trouble, it was all over bur the shouting. Luckily, I decided to see if there was anything useful on the pinnace.'

'Well, now that our hearts have all started beating again,' said Owen, 'hand your prisoner over to the Hadenmen. I think you'd better stay aboard the pinnace until it's ready to leave, and make sure the fire controls are taken off-line before we let the Captain or the Investigator anywhere near it. I don't think I could stand another surprise at the moment.'

'Understandable,' said the Wolfling.

Owen sighed heavily and looked round to see Giles beckoning to him. He moved over, with Hazel at his side. Giles looked at him sternly.

'You still have a decision to make, kinsman. What are you going to do about the Darkvoid Device? Will you use it against the Empire? Will billions die again?'

'You created it,' said Owen. 'And you used it. What do you think we should do?'

'No,' said Giles. 'I won't make that kind of decision ever again. I can't.'

'Then I say no,' said Owen. 'You can't fight evil by becoming evil. Too many have died already. If I've become a rebel and a traitor against the Empire, it's to save and protect lives, not to take them. But we won't destroy the baby, either. Let it sleep. And who knows, perhaps in years to come it will grow into something wonderful.'

'Well done, aristo,' said Hazel. 'You finally got it right.'

They smiled at each other, and then Owen looked away at the perfect Hadenmen emerging from their devastated city: last survivors of a previous rebellion. Things would be different this time. He was the Deathstalker, and he had finally found his true destiny. More or less.

EPILOGUE

Prelude to Rebellion

Captain Silence and Investigator Frost returned to the Dauntless on the pinnace, along with an unconscious Valiant Stelmach. They didn't speak to each other on the way up, but once back on the bridge, Silence immediately began preparations for an attack on the Wolfling World, only to find that none of his weapons systems were functioning. Something on the planet below had rendered them useless. Silence and Frost exchanged a long look, and then Silence gave the order to return to Golgotha. They would spend much of the trip home trying to put together some kind of report that wouldn't get them both executed on the spot.

Deep within the frozen Wolfling World, the ruined city of Haden slowly came to life again. The Hadenmen were everywhere, beautiful and perfect, working and repairing and making all things new again. Ruby Journey and Jack Random slowly recovered from their injuries, and spent the time plotting strategies and revenges against the Empire. Owen Deathstalker mourned the death of his friend Ozymandius, but found the time to deepen his friendship with Hazel d'Ark. They still argued a lot, though. Mostly over politics.

Giles, the original Deathstalker, mourned the death of his son, in his own way, and brooded over the corrupt state of the Empire. He had learned much of present affairs from his new companions, but nothing that pleased him. The Empire hadn't always been as it was. Once, when he was a young man, it had been the greatest challenge of Humanity: a dream of Human destiny. But even in his own lifetime he had watched the dream become a nightmare, and he had slept through centuries only to find that things had grown even worse in his absence. The Wolfling remained undecided as to whether he would join the rebellion. He had seen enough death and destruction in his time and had no appetite for anymore.

Back on Golgotha, the Empress Lionstone XIV silently studied the instruments that had told her of the Lord High Dram's death. He hadn't known about the implants she had placed in him. She hadn't wanted to worry him with details. But she liked to know where those close to her were at any given time. She had loved him, in her way, but she didn't mourn. Instead, she began the process of reviving a clone of Dram she'd prepared earlier. Just in case.

In the subsystems, Finlay Campbell and Evangeline Shreck made plans with the esper and clone undergrounds, and the uber-esper Mater Mundi, to revenge those who died storming Wormboy Hell and see the Empress and her Empire brought down. Whatever it took.

Valentine Wolfe extended his control over his Family, experimented with a few new drugs, and opened negotiations with the rogue AIs on Shub. Lord Kit Summerlsle, also known as Kid Death, became a close friend of Lord David Deathstalker. In the Matrix, things came and went, and only some of them were observed.

The tides of power and influence shifted this way and that. The stage was set, the players in place.

The rebellion could begin.