Changer of Worlds

If none of those protectorate worlds was precisely a hell-hole, a modern equivalent of the King Leopold’s Congo of ancient legend, they did bear a close resemblance to what had once been called “banana republics” and “company towns.” Neocolonialism, many of the previous speakers had called it, and even Anton did not disagree with that characterization.

There was nothing of that nature within the Star Kingdom. Anton himself, as a Gryphon highlander, could attest to that. The conflict between Gryphon’s yeomanry and its aristocracy was the closest the Star Kingdom had ever come to that kind of open class war. And that conflict paled in comparison to anything which these immigrants had experienced.

But most of it, he realized as Cathy’s speech unfolded, was due to the woman herself. Anton had been expecting another histrionic speech, like the ones which had preceded Cathy’s, wherein the speakers bellowed hackneyed slogans and shrieked phrases which, for all their incendiary terminology, were as platitudinous and devoid of content as any politician’s. What he heard instead was a calm, thoughtful presentation of the logic of genetic slavery and the manner in which it undermined any and all possibility for human freedom. Speaking in her husky, penetrating contralto—without, he noted with some amusement, any of the profanity which peppered her casual conversations—Cathy took up the arguments advanced by the Mesans and their apologists and began carefully dissecting them.

For all that her own motivation was clearly one of simple morality, Cathy did not appeal to that. Rather, as cold-bloodedly as any Machiavellian politician devoted to Realpolitik, she examined the logic of slavery—especially slavery which was connected to genetic differentiation. Her speech was filled with a multitude of examples drawn from human history, many of them dating back to the ancient era when the planet on which she now stood was the sole habitat of the human species. Time and again, she cited the words of such fabled sages as Douglass and Lincoln, showing how the logic of genetic slavery was nothing new in the universe.

Two things, in particular, struck Anton most about her speech. The first was that the woman had obviously, like many exiles before her, taken full advantage of her long years of isolation to devote herself to serious and exhaustive study. Anton had been aware, vaguely, that even professional scholars considered the Countess of the Tor one of the galaxy’s authorities on the subject of “genetic indentured servitude.” Now he saw the proof of that before his own eyes, and reacted to it with the traditional respect which Gryphon highlanders gave to any genuine expert. The Liberal and Progressive Manticoran aristocrats whom Anton had encountered in the past had repelled him, as much as anything, by their light-minded and casual knowledge of the subjects they so freely pontificated about. Lazy dabblers, was his opinion of them. His former wife Helen’s opinion had been even harsher, for all that she considered herself a Progressive of sorts. There was nothing of that dilettantism in the woman standing at the podium.

The second thing was the target of her speech. Although Cathy was focusing on the plight of the Mesan slaves, her words were not addressed to them but to the big majority of the audience in the amphitheater—who were not Mesans. The point of her remarks—the pivot of them, in fact—was her attempt to demonstrate that any waffling on the issue of genetic slavery by any political movement which demanded justice for its own constituents would surely undermine its own cause.

Before she was more than ten minutes into the speech, Anton found himself leaning forward and listening attentively. A part of his mind, of course, paid no attention to her words. In one sense, the entire rally and Cathy’s speech itself was a gigantic diversion designed to cover the effort to rescue his daughter. But that part was quiescent, for the moment, simply waiting with the stoic patience of Gryphon’s great mountains. The rest of his mind, almost despite his own volition, found himself enjoying the quick humor and slowly unfolding logic of the woman he was listening to.

So it was almost—not quite—with regret, that he broke away when he felt the nudge on his elbow.

He turned his head. One of Jeremy’s comrades was leaning over his shoulder. He recognized the young woman, although he did not know her name.

“It’s time,” she said.

Anton and Robert Tye immediately rose and began following her out of the amphitheater. Dressed as they were in the typical clothing worn by many immigrants in the Old Quarter, nobody took note of their departure.

“How far?” asked Anton, the moment they had exited from the amphitheater itself and could no longer be overheard.

The woman smiled, almost ruefully. “Would you believe it? Not more than a mile. They’re somewhere in the Artinstute.”

Tye’s eyes widened. “I thought that was a fable,” he protested.

“Nope. It exists, sure enough. But talk about your buried—!” She broke off, shaking her head. “Never been there myself. Don’t know anyone who has, actually.”

Anton frowned. “But you’re sure Helen’s there?”

They were moving quickly now, almost running down a long and sloping ramp. Over her head, the woman said: “Guess so. Jeremy didn’t seem the least unsure about it.”

Anton was not entirely mollified. From what he had seen of Jeremy X, he suspected the man was never “unsure about it” with regard to anything. He could only hope the assurance was justified.

And now they were running, and Anton drove everything out of his mind except his own implacable purpose.

Helen

When Helen awoke, the first thing she saw was a blue glint. It came from somewhere high on the wall opposite the pallet where she was resting. The “wall” was more in the nature of collapsed rubble, which seemed to have forced its way into some kind of opening. As if one wall—she could still see remnants of what must be an ancient structure—had been filled by the centuries-long disintegration of walls which came after. The glint seemed to come from a piece of that most ancient wall, a jagged and broken shard.

Blue. As if it were shining by its own light. Helen stared at it, puzzled.

When she finally realized the truth, she sat upright, almost bolting. That was sunlight! Shining through something!

Next to her, Berry stirred. The girl had apparently already been awake. Seeing the direction of Helen’s stare, Berry followed her eyes. Then, smiled.

“It’s so special, this place,” she whispered. “There’s light down here—all the way down here!—coming from someplace above. Must be little crevices or something, all the way up to the surface.”

The two girls stared at the blue glint. “It’s the Windows,” Berry whispered. “I know it is. The Shkawl Windows everybody always talks about but nobody knows where they are. I found it—me and Lars.”

Helen had never heard of the “Shkawl Windows.” She was about to ask Berry what they were, when another thought occurred to her. She looked around. Then, seeing that the cavernous area she was in was too poorly lit by the feeble light to see more than a few feet, listened.

“How long have I been asleep?” she asked, her voice tinged by worry. “And where’s Lars?”

“You’ve been sleeping forever, seems like. You must have been real tired.”

Berry nestled closer. “Lars said he was going back to make sure we didn’t leave any tracks. He took a lantern with him.” She frowned and raised her head. “But he’s been gone a long time, now that I think about it. I wonder—”

Helen rummaged under the blanket, searching for the other lantern. When she found it, she rose and headed for the stairs. “Stay here,” she commanded. “I’ll find him.”

But Lars found her, instead. And brought the terror back.

“People are coming,” he hissed. “With guns.”