something positively glandular.
'A plan!' said Senk.
Pushing.
Demanding.
'I don't have a plan,' admitted Hatch.
'Of course you do!' said Senk. 'I know it for a fact.'
'How do you know that?' said Hatch.
'Because you're a genius,' said Senk. 'You murdered Hiji Hanojo and got away with it. It was years before I worked out that it was you! And you – you outfought Lon Oliver when everything said it was impossible. I know you've got a plan, Hatch. And I want it. Now!'
Hatch, knowing himself to be no murderer – an executioner on occasion, yes, but he had never stooped to murder, and certainly had never laid a finger on Hiji Hanojo – took no comfort in this vote of confidence in his genius.
'Have you considered the possibility that you might be going senile?' said Hatch.
'I am flawless,' said Senk. 'Perfect in an imperfect world.'
'Then tell me, oh perfect master,' said Hatch, so weary that he was reckless enough to taunt the lord of the Combat College with sarcasm, 'what vision of perfection do we wish to impose upon this imperfect world? Tell me what you want and I will deliver it.'
'You promised me the service of Nu-chala-nuth,' said Senk.
'You promised. You promised to make the Combat College a temple, a holy place, with the whole of the city sworn in subservience to that temple. It's breaking down, Hatch! The things are breaking down! The doors, the cleaners, we can't keep them up forever. We need power, machines, a mending, a cleansing. But with Plandruk Qinplaqus, that's impossible, any bright person – he kills them.'
'I understand,' said Hatch.
He did understand.
Hatch was right in his earlier assumptions. The Combat College was disintegrating, and Paraban Senk knew as much – even though it was hard to admit.
Hatch had tempted Senk with the prospect of a continent united by a fanatical religion – a continent dedicated to the service of the Combat College. Hatch had been thinking in terms of the mission to which the Combat College was dedicated: the training of startroopers. But Senk was concerned with something more compelling: personal survival.
From the few words which Senk had spoken, Hatch saw that Paraban Senk envisioned a technical renaissance centered on Dalar ken Halvar, a technical renaissance which would in time allow the Combat College to be repaired, strengthened and made mighty.
In the past, Plandruk Qinplaqus, the Silver Emperor who had long ruled Dalar ken Halvar, had organized the covert execution of any mad scientist fool enough to attempt to organize any such thing.
But in the future – Hatch shook off thoughts of the future. He had to deal with Lon Oliver first. But how?
What did the beggar say?
A wasp, that was it. Beggar Grim had compared Lupus Lon Oliver to a wasp. And had suggested… trapping him in a bottle then drowning him.
'I can give you the city,' said the Hatch slowly. 'But you must do as I say.'
'Speak,' said Senk.
And Asodo Hatch took a deep breath, paused, hesitated, realized he had to breathe again, did so, then said:
'You must tell the world that the Chasm Gates have been reopened.'
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hatch's problem: to seize control of Dalar ken Halvar, a city where rightful authority has been overthrown in a coup led by the Free Corps in combination with officers of the Imperial Guard.
Hatch can count on no support from his own people, for his blasphemous embracement of Nu-chala-nuth will surely have alienated most of the inhabitants of the Frangoni rock.
His sole ally in this enterprise is Paraban Senk, the Teacher of Control, the asma which rules the Combat College. This intelligent artefact of Nexus make is locked into the heartrock of Cap Foz Para Lash, with no means of projecting authority into the outside world save through the Eye of Delusions, the entertainment screen set above the lockway in the natural amphitheater at the southern end of Scuffling Road.
Wavered then, and then -
Unwavering, fell.
His blade to greet the body, and his cry Wrenched not from his flesh but from his son's.
'I must what!?' said Paraban Senk.
'You must tell the world that the Chasm Gates have been reopened,' said Hatch. 'You must tell them that we are reunited with the Nexus.'
'How does this help us?' said Senk.
'Isn't it simple?' said Hatch. 'The Chasm Gates open, thus restoring communications with the Nexus. You announce that all Startroopers are required for immediate service. All of them.
Those trained, those in training. Even old reservists like Manfred Gan Oliver. They – '
'What makes you think they'll believe this?'
'Senk, they'll love it! They live for this! It's the stuff of dreams! When Lupus has wetdreams, he's in bed with the Nexus. His father's no better. Their lives, the Free Corps – the whole thing is nine-tenths fantasy. They're detached from reality. All we have to do is give them a fantasy, give them the Chasm Gates. We say the Gates are open, okay, they'll believe it. You call, they come.
It's that simple. When they venture inside, you lock them up.'
'What!' said Senk. 'Lock them up!?'
'Yes, yes,' said Hatch, getting enthusiastic. 'Lock them up.
Easy. That's it. All over. All of them are prisoners. So no more Free Corps.'
'Hatch,' said Senk, 'the people you're talking about are people I've trained for the Nexus. We're talking about Startroopers. We can't keep them, can't hold them, can't – '
'You don't have to hold them forever,' said Hatch impatiently. 'Just give me a couple of days and I'll seize control of Dalar ken Halvar. After that, well, I'll make my peace with Manfred Gan Oliver. Once I've got control, control of the city, the Free Corps will come to order very fast.'
'Take me through it slowly,' said Paraban Senk. 'Take me through it a step at a time.'
The mind-boggling deceit which Hatch was planing would never have occurred to Senk, because Senk was quite lacking in that inspirational audacity which allows a politician to scheme up a Big Lie. Hatch, on the other hand – Hatch was surprising himself.
'We begin,' said Hatch, speaking slowly as his mind raced, working out the logical detail of his inspiration, 'we begin by announcing the opening of the Chasm Gates. We say that the Nexus demands peace, and that, ah, that in view of the disorder in Dalar ken Halvar, it is sending, ah, a senior, the most senior available officer. To rule. To rule in Dalar ken Halvar. A military governor, I mean. And, ah, I'm that most senior officer. So I'm appointed to rule Dalar ken Halvar as – well, emperor.'
'The Nexus does not use any such title,' said Senk. 'You could be military governor, but that's it.'
'No,' said Hatch. 'I have to be emperor, because I need the prestige of the title.'
'We will argue about the title later,' said Senk. 'Let us say, for our present purposes, that you venture forth as military governor. But why? Why is the Nexus sending you? If the Chasm Gates have opened, surely our skies should be swarming with Nexus warcraft.'
'Ah,' said Hatch, 'but you're forgetting about the quarantine. The Nexus quarantine protocols.'
'I'm not forgetting anything,' said Senk stuffily. 'There's no such thing as Nexus quarantine protocols.'
'There is now,' said Hatch. 'We just invented them. The Chasm Gates have been closed for twenty thousand
