Crown of Slaves

Underwood's well-coiffed head swiveled toward the Unknown Panelist, like a suave cannon might bring itself to bear on its target. Or, rather, its ammunition.

'You haven't spoken up yet, Mr. Wright. If I'm not mistaken, though, I think you have some relevant expertise on the subject.'

The Unknown Panelist cleared his throat.

'Who's 'Mr. Wright'?' demanded Berry. 'Have you ever heard of him, Daddy?'

'No,' growled Anton. 'And if 'Mr. Wright' is his real name, I'll eat the sofa we're sitting on.' He took a deep breath and let it out in something of a sigh. 'But I'm pretty sure that what he is…' He paused briefly, eyeing the sallow-faced man on the screen. 'He's some kind of former intelligence analyst, dollars for donuts, now in private practice. Probably from the SIS. The Office of Naval Intelligence types tend to make a fetish out of physical fitness, whereas this guy has the struggle-to-lift-a-martini air about him that the civilian spooks seem to think is especially suave.'

He fell silent. 'Mr. Wright' was finally speaking.

* * *

What followed was a nightmare, and before it was over Anton had condemned Yael Underwood to a thousand horrible deaths. This was worse-far worse-than Anton had imagined. He'd been expecting, at the most, that 'Mr. Wright' would trot out some hitherto-unknown facts about Anton's involvement with the now-famous Manpower Incident on Terra some years back. Instead, it soon became obvious that Wright was part of a thorough and well- planned news scoop that Underwood must have been working on for months. The recent flap involving Princess Ruth had just given him the handle to tie it on.

What the audience got, in essence, was The Life of the Mysterious Captain Zilwicki.

All of it. From his boyhood in Gryphon's highlands on up. His early career in the Navy. His athletic prowess as a wrestler, culminating in multiple championships. His marriage to Helen…

That part brought a lump to his throat. Underwood was making no effort to smear Zilwicki. If anything, the biography leaned toward excessive praise. And Underwood, ever the master showman behind the sophisticated veneer, knew a good show when he saw one. So the audience got a full dose of Helen Zilwicki herself, all the way to an extensive analysis of the battle in which she lost her life defending the convoy carrying her husband Anton and their daughter Helen from an overwhelming force of Peep raiders.

That part of the show ended with a drawn-out shot of the Parliamentary Medal of Valor, which Helen had been given posthumously, fading away into darkness. The lump in Anton's throat seemed the size of a fist.

Dimly, he sensed Berry's hand sliding into his. When the viewscreen reemerged, a man was sitting there being interviewed by Underwood. The footage had evidently been taken some time before.

Anton recognized the man, vaguely, though he could no longer remember his name. He'd been one of the bridge officers on Carnarvon, the ship carrying Zilwicki and his daughter when his wife Helen was killed.

'Oh, yeah, I'll never forget it. The kid was sobbing her heart out, sitting on his lap. Zilwicki himself…' The officer shook his head. 'When the screen showed that his wife's ship had been destroyed-no chance of any survivors-I saw the look on his face. If ever a man turned to stone, it happened to Anton Zilwicki that moment.'

'Oh, bullshit!' snapped Berry. Her small hand gave Anton's very powerful one a firm squeeze. 'Daddy, these people are stupid.'

Oddly enough, Berry's words snapped Anton out of his black mood. Far enough, at least, that he was able to watch the rest of the show with his usual analytical and objective detachment.

Most of it, of course, was devoted to the Manpower Incident. By the time it was halfway through, Anton was able to relax a bit.

'How true is all this?' asked the Princess, half-whispering, her eyes glued to the holodisplay. 'We got some of it in the Palace, sure, but only the sketchiest summaries.'

Anton waggled his head. 'Some of it's pretty close. Quite a bit, actually. But it's got all the usual weaknesses of an analysis done by a tech weenie. To really understand something, there's no substitute for HUMINT.'

What the hell, he thought whimsically. Since my career as a spy is pretty well on the rocks after this, I may as well start on my new one as Royal Spy Trainer.

'Don't ever forget that, Ruth. The Queen tells me you're a whiz with computers, and that's good. I'm no slouch myself. But spying is like whoring. They're the two oldest professions, and both of them are ultimately fleshy in nature. You can't have sex without a partner, and you can't spy worth talking about without real live spies.'

Web Du Havel chuckled. The princess, sitting next to him, did likewise. 'I'll remember that.'

Anton gave his attention back to the show. Mr. Wright was finally wrapping it up.

'-never know, I imagine, exactly how Zilwicki put it together. The murkiest part of it remains the involvement of the Peeps. That they were involved, somehow, is beyond question. But exactly how-'

Underwood interrupted. 'You don't think, then, that the rumors the Peeps were behind the kidnapping of Zilwicki's daughter are accurate.'

Wright shook his head firmly. 'Not a chance. Oh, don't get me wrong. Some other time, some other place, I wouldn't have put it past the old Peep regime to pull a stunt like that. But on Terra? That year? Not a chance. The key thing, you see, is that-'

One of the other panelists, evidently frustrated by long silence, was bold enough to interrupt.

'Parnell, of course. With him arriving to testify to the Solarian League about Peep atrocities…'

Her voice fell off, the slightly pained look on her face indicating a sudden realization that she'd committed a Major Talking Head Goof. The smug expression on the faces of both Wright and Underwood were enough to indicate that her Learned Insight was about to be trumped.

'Parnell was a factor, of course. But, as I was saying, the key factor is the identity of the man who, at the time, was the commander in charge of the Peep embassy's Marine detachment. The same man, I might add, who was clearly just as responsible for the havoc wreaked on Manpower as the Ballroom trigger-pullers.'

He paused for dramatic effect. 'The Peeps-the new Republic of Haven, I should say-have done a good job of covering it up. But with a lot of digging, it's now clear that the obscure Peep colonel involved was none other than Kevin Usher. Today, as I needn't remind this panel of guests, the head of the Republic of Haven's highest police body. A former Aprilist himself, and possibly the closest personal friend of President Eloise Pritchart.'

This was news, and the oh-so-sophisticated panel of Talking Heads wasn't dumb enough to pretend it wasn't. After a moment's silence, Harriet Jilla tossed her head as if to clear it and barked: 'No way! Give the devil his due. No way Kevin Usher-any real Aprilist-would have been involved with that.'

'Except as the wrecking crew,' said one of the other panelists grimly. A former Marine general, that one. He gave 'Mr. Wright' a level stare. 'What you're saying, in short, is that two corrupt Manticoran officials in cahoots with Manpower-'

For a moment, the screen flashed images of former Ambassador Hendricks and Admiral Young, at one time Anton's superiors on Terra. He was pleased to see that they were wearing their new prison uniforms.

'-to use Zilwicki's daughter in some scheme of their own-God knows what insanity that was, I don't think we'll ever know-and Zilwicki tore out their lungs. Cut out on his own, put together an informal alliance of Peep Aprilists and Ballroom gunmen, wrecked Manpower on Terra, and put the two bastards behind bars. And, of course, got his daughter out safe and sound. All of his kids, actually, since he wound up adopting the boy and girl his daughter Helen rescued in the course of the whole thing.'

Mr. Wright nodded sagely. 'That about sums it up.' With a thin smile: 'And I guess we can all figure out more or less how Catherine Montaigne got those famous and mysterious files of hers that have since then put dozens of other people behind bars for trafficking in slavery.'

Anton glanced at his watch. The Star Kingdom Today had only a short while to run.