Deathstalker

a war coming, we can't afford to throw away good resources. But for the same reason, they're too important and too dangerous to be left running around loose any longer. I wouldn't put it past them to stab me in the back while I was distracted. It's what I do. Yes, setting you up as Hood was one of my better ideas.'

She doesn't know about the drug. Dram thought doggedly. She doesn't know everything.

'Plus,' said the Empress, 'an attempted coup will be all the justification I need to take draconion measures against all the Families who haven't been as supportive of me as they should have been. I'll bring the Houses to heel, if I have to wade in blood to do it. Or espers' blood, come to that. Don't think I've forgotten about the elves' intrusion into my court. I'm still angry with you for not warning me about that. Luckily for you, I'm going to take out my anger on the elves. Now where was I? Don't tell me. Ah, yes, I want you to be publicly seen leading the forces that destroy the underground rebellion. This will prove your worth in everyone's eyes, and I will be able to take you as my official consort. I couldn't do that before; you weren't important enough. Yes, I know you're Warrior Prime, but that's never cut any ice with the Company of Lords. Putting down a coup is something they can understand and appreciate. The commoners will love it: the Empress marrying the Warrior Prime. And I'll finally be free of the threat of forced marriage to some lord for political reasons. Aren't you pleased, Dram?'

'Delighted,' he said quickly. 'It's what we've always wanted. But do you really think you can get the lords to go along with it? One, they don't like me and never have, and two, as long as you remain unmarried you can keep them in line by holding out the hope that one of them might yet marry you. That hope is all that's keeping some of them on your side.'

Lionstone smiled. 'The coming aliens and the defeated coup will give me all the power I need to do whatever I feel is necessary. I won't need their support anymore.'

They looked at each other for a long moment, Lionstone smiling, Dram doing his best to look pleased and respectful. Well,' he said finally, 'if that's business out of the way…'

'Control your hormones,' said Lionstone. 'We're not finished yet. We still have to discuss that most despicable traitor, Owen Deathstalker. I had him outlawed specifically so he could lead us to the lost Darkvoid Device, but things seem to be getting out of hand. Not only has he discovered the whereabouts of lost Haden, with its army of augmented men, he's also joined up with the legendary Jack Random. I would have sworn he was dead, but the man is harder to kill than a cockroach. Still, all is not lost. The Deathstalker is on his way to Shandrakor, along with our carefully planted traitor, where all being well he should find the final information on the device's location. If we're going to take on two new alien species with superior technology, I want that Device. And I wouldn't say no to the Hadenman army, either, if we could be sure of controlling them. Certainly I can't afford to have that army and the Device in someone else's hands. Your traitor had better come through, Dram.'

'Don't worry,' said Dram. 'They'll never suspect my agent. Once Owen has located the Device, I'll know, and my men will close in and get there first. The Deathstalker's been very lucky so far, but the Dauntless blew the hell out of his ship as he was taking off from Mistworld. It'll get him to Shandrakor, but no further. And then Owen and his people will be ours for the taking, along with everything they know.'

'Mistworld,' said Lionstone, and her lip curled. 'That hellhole has been a thorn in my side for far too long. I want those espers. I want them tamed and humbled and under my control, along with all the other rebels who thought they could defy me. And if that's not possible, I want them all destroyed, so that they can't be used against me.'

'They'll come to heel fast enough, once we've got the Darkvoid Device,' said Dram.

The Empress looked at him. 'Once we've got the Device? Don't start getting cocky, Dram. You might be my consort, but you'll never be Emperor. The device will be mine, to do with as I please, and on that day no one will ever dare stand against me again.'

She sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought, her eyes gleaming. Dram didn't ask. He didn't think he really wanted to know. His own thoughts were still whirling with the Empress' plans, and their implications for the future. The problem, as always, was how much the Empress really knew about him. Away from esp-blockers, his esp was strong enough to keep his thoughts secure, and his agents were loyal to him rather than the Empress, but he still was never sure how much she knew or how much more she suspected. She knew about Hood, because she'd helped invent him, but she didn't know how deeply involved with the underground he'd become. There was no way she could have known, for example, that he'd been present at the underground meeting earlier, when her people raided it. Unless she had agents among his people. It wasn't totally impossible. After all, he had agents among her people. Just in case.

'I hear you raided the underground earlier today,' he said casually. 'Catch anyone interesting?'

'It was a debacle,' said the Empress. 'And don't tell me you haven't already heard all the details. I know, I should have discussed it with you first, but I only heard about the meeting at the last moment, and it seemed too good a chance to miss. I should have known better. Someone talked. They were waiting for us. Most of my men are dead, and we don't have a single prisoner to show for it. Some days, things wouldn't go right if you paid them.' She rose to her feet suddenly. 'Enough of that. There'll be other times. Right now, I have something more important that we need to discuss. Come with me.'

And she walked over to the far wall, tripped a hidden sensor with a wave of her hand, and then stood tapping a foot impatiently as a concealed door opened slowly in the wall. She stepped through into the gloom beyond, gesturing for Dram to follow her. He did so, frowning thoughtfully at her back. In all the time he'd known her, Lionstone had only ever used this door twice in his presence. It was her private access to the Imperial Matrix: the collective cyberspace of all the Empire's computers and AIs. The Empress didn't normally access it herself. She had people to do that for her and run the risks on her behalf. If she didn't trust anyone to do whatever this was for her, it would have to be very important. Which was interesting, because Dram didn't have a clue as to what it might be. And he should have.

He followed Lionstone down a bare featureless steel corridor in a narrow pool of light that moved with them, until they came at last to a burnished steel chamber packed with computer systems. There was a rising hum as the computers came online, woken by the Empress' presence. In the middle of the room lay two life-support capsules, their lids slowly rising to reveal the padded interiors. Dram's mouth quirked. Even in this, the Empress liked her little comforts. He studied the capsules dubiously. He'd never liked using them; they reminded him too much of coffins. But if you were going to send your mind into the Matrix, it was important that your body be maintained and protected while you were gone. Especially if you were the Empress and her chief advisor.

Lionstone had already climbed into her capsule and was settling herself comfortably. It hummed into life around her, sparkling with lights. Dram lowered himself more slowly into the other capsule. It had been a long time since he'd personally entered the Matrix, and he was beginning to remember why.

'Tell me there's a good reason why I'm doing this,' he said to the ceiling above him. 'I'd hate to think I was putting myself at risk just for a shopping trip.'

'Strange things have been happening just recently in the Matrix,' said Lionstone, and there wasn't even a hint of a smile in her voice. 'People have been going in and not coming nut, with no trace of their minds left anywhere in their bodies or in the Matrix. Which is supposed to be impossible. Things are there in the Matrix one day and not the next, and no one knows why. There are voices speaking in strange tongues, and bright lights of no known color. And on top of all that, there are persistent rumors that AIs in the Matrix have been possessing human bodies, after destroying the original minds, and using these flesh envelopes to move unsuspected in the human world.'

'Why should they want to?' said Dram. 'They'd find the human experience very limiting after what they were used to.'

'Freedom, perhaps. Or perversion. Sensation-seekers drowning themselves in the joys of the flesh. Who knows? All that matters is that people whose opinion I trust have been coming to me and saying we have a problem with the Matrix. And if that's true, we are in real trouble. The Matrix is what makes communication possible within the Empire. And without communication, the Empire would fall apart.'

'Go back to that bit about the AIs,' said Dram. 'Are we talking about any specific AIs?'

'My first thought was that the rogue AIs on Shub had somehow gained access to the Matrix, despite all our safeguards, and were using the stolen bodies to walk undetected among us as spies. After all, our own AIs are supposed to be programmed only to work within specific limits.'

'Shub agents on the loose?' Dram scowled, his mind racing. 'We might be able to detect them with espers, but they could be using esp-blockers. Or some high-tech equivalent. Shub's always been half a century ahead of us. If you're right, we are in real trouble.'