He said, 'If we hadn't discovered the breakdown for, say, a couple more days where would we have had to land?'
'Aschem.' She didn't hesitate. 'It's on our line of flight.'
And, on Aschem, the Cyclan would be waiting.
Dumarest was certain of it. The stale air would have left them no choice as to destination and, but for his instinct, the breakdown wouldn't have been discovered. The headaches would have been put down to excessive fatigue; the lassitude the same; the sweating an added inconvenience. The build-up of carbon dioxide would have been an insidious poison dulling the very intelligence needed to discover it.
Sabotage-the incident reeked of it, but he said nothing.
'Earl?' Ysanne stared at him, frowning. 'We have to pick one or the other,' she reminded. 'Do I change course for Trabe?'
'No.'
'But-'
'We maintain our present course.' He wanted to do the unexpected. To avoid the waiting trap. He said, 'Jed was too pessimistic, we can make the air last longer than a week. And we can do without replacement parts for a while. All we need is a world with breathable air. It's up to you to find us one.'
'I'm a navigator,' she said tightly. 'Not a miracle worker. And, in case you've forgotten, we're heading into the Chandorah.'
The region was rife with danger for any vessel venturing too close. The very radiance which gave the stars their splendor rilled space with roiling forces; surging waves of radiation when caught and guided by etheric currents cojoined to form nodes of gravitational flux and areas of violent destruction. These vortexes could take a ship and twist it into a parody of its original shape. The energies would turn metal into incandescent vapor, flesh and bone into a fuming gas.
She said, when he made no comment, 'Do we have any choice?'
'No.'
'I'm remembering it's your neck too,' she said. 'And I can guess why you don't want to land on Aschem. The Cyclan. I know they're after you and, one day, I might be told why.' She looked at her hand, clenched to form a fist as it rested on a chart. 'One day-when you trust me enough.'
That knowledge she was better without. Dumarest said, quietly, 'Can you do it? Find us a world with air we can tank?'
'In the Chandorah? In a week?' Her shrug was expressive. 'I hope to God it's enough!'
There had been no obsequies. The incident had been handled by the Cyclan with the cold efficiency which was its pride and power. Elge was dead, his body and brain reduced to a pinch of ash, and the only regret possible was that the once-keen intelligence which had lifted him so high was irrevocably lost. Now he was nothing but a notation in the data banks and a new Cyber prime would take his place.
Himself? Avro considered it as he left the chamber where he had supervised the disposal. He was suited for the position; a judgment based on intellectual assessment and not on pride. He had all the needed attributes and his record was free of taint. From a young child, as a new inductee, later as an acolyte then as a cyber, he had worked hard and well and achieved maximum rating. Now he calculated his chances, using his trained skill to evaluate the facts and to extrapolate the most probable sequence of events.
He would be among those selected for consideration by the Council to fill the vacant office-the probability was as close to certainty as anything could be. He would be chosen above all others aside from one-and Marie would be the other prospect. The probability of his being chosen over the other was in the order of…
'Master!' The figure in the scarlet robe broke into his introspection as the cyber claimed his attention. 'The Council summons you to appear before them. You will follow me into their presence.'
The ritual was loaded with ancient associations. It was born of the need of the Council to remind any future cyber prime that it and not he was the true power of the Cyclan. This check would hold wild ambition in rein or prevent deviation from the master plan, a proven necessity, as so recently demonstrated. If Elge had not been eliminated, if the madness which had afflicted his mind had been allowed to flower unchecked, the result would have been chaos.
But, while remaining sane and efficient, the cyber prime was the most powerful man the galaxy had ever known.
And the Cyclan was the most powerful organization.
'Report!' Dekel headed the Council, sitting at the head of the long table, his thin face shrouded by the cowl of his scarlet robe. He was an old man, as they all were old, for it took time to gain high position and the experience needed to temper judgment. More time to set the need of efficiency above all else. This trait was now demonstrated by Dekel-there was no reason why Avro should waste time when he could give his report while waiting for the final decision of the Council.
He said, 'Elge has been disposed of. The erasure is complete and the ash disseminated.'
A life ending in failure was the most heinous crime of all as far as the Cyclan was concerned. To be punished with total erasure. Not for the late cyber prime the reward of having his brain incorporated with others, forming the massive complex of Central Intelligence. There, sealed, fed with nutrients, tended and protected he would have resided, alive and aware, a mind released from the hampering confines of the body. The goal for which every cyber strove. One Elge had lost.
'He was mad,' said Thern from where he sat close to Dekel. 'Insane. We can but hope his investigations did nothing to aggravate the deterioration of the units under study.'
Boule said, 'Should we countermand the order not to destroy them?'
Avro realized the question was aimed at himself. Without hesitation, for to hesitate was to admit indecision, he said, 'No. Elge's reasoning at the time the decision was made remains sound. Isolated as they are, the units are as safe as they can be made. Much can be learned from them. Destroyed, they are valueless.'
'Yet the problem remains.'
And would always remain until the cause of the affliction which turned some of the massed brains insane had been discovered and eliminated.
Icelus, recently elevated to the Council, said, 'Your conclusions?'
Was that a test? Every move he had made, every word he had spoken since Elge had been deposed had been a test. Now, to repeat the obvious would be to prove himself inefficient. To ensure that not now or later would he ever gain higher authority than he held at this moment.
Had Marie been examined?
How to best demonstrate his better suitability?
After a moment personal ambition was lost in the greater need. A cyber served the Cyclan not self. Pride, greed, anger, hate, love-all were emotions which had been eradicated by training and surgery to leave a living robot of flesh and blood. Efficiency, reason, logic-the base of every cyber's thinking and the root of his being. To be otherwise was to be insane.
Avro said, 'The continued efficiency of Central Intelligence is of paramount importance. To maintain that efficiency is of prime concern.'
'We know this.' A reproof? Icelus's voice was its usual even monotone but the words themselves carried a warning. 'Is your conclusion merely to state the obvious?'
'To recapitulate the position.'
'Of which we are all aware.' Dekel shifted a little in his chair. Without the facility provided by the massed brains the Cyclan would be crippled. The cybernetic complex was the heart and brain of the organization. 'You have more?'
'A proposal.' Avro looked from one to the other anticipating their reaction. Boule and Alder would be slow to respond; both were old, both hovered on the edge of diminished intellectual ability. If they were wise, neither would be at the next meeting of the Council. They would yield their position and accept their reward. Glot could vote either way. Icelus? He, like the others, would surely recognize the merit of the plan. He continued, 'As the continued function of Central Intelligence is of prime importance, I suggest that all efforts be directed toward that end.'
'All?' Boule voiced the objection. 'The entire resources of the Cyclan? And what of the master plan?'
