Ashes Of Victory

Memory stones were lumps of unrefined asteroid iron or rock, carried constantly on their persons for six days by those who wished to honor the memory of the dead in space. On each of those days, the bearer of a stone prayed briefly and meditated on the debt the living owed to all those who had been lost in space. On the seventh day, the day upon which the Tester had rested, the stones were laid to rest, as well, by being released in space on a trajectory which would drop them into the system primary. They would never actually reach Yeltsin's star, of course, for the furious energy radiating outward from the star would consume them and blow their particles outward, as the souls of the Tester's children were forever borne upward and illuminated throughout eternity by the living presence of God. It was a religious custom which every element of Grayson, from the most conservative to the most liberal, honored and treasured, and it had become even more meaningful to them since the current war's casualties had begun to roll in.

But what, exactly, memory stones had to do with the Sword's inner councils was more than Samuel Mueller could—

His thoughts broke off, and his eyes widened. No! They couldn't possibly mean that!

'I trust,' he said very carefully, 'that you aren't proposing what I think you are. I have no doubt that you could produce a remote listening device sufficiently small to fit into a memory stone, but Planetary Security or the Manticorans would spot a transmission from something like that in an instant.'

'There will be no transmission, My Lord. The memory stones will contain bugs — you're quite correct about that — but only simple recording devices. The public gift of memory stones to Elizabeth and Cromarty will leave them no choice but to honor our customs. That means they will accept the stones and keep them on their persons, as tradition requires, and the newsies would never allow the moment in which the stones were released to escape unreported. You know as well as I how long it will take them to travel all the way from Grayson orbit to the sun, which will be plenty of time for us to intercept them when no one is looking.'

'Intercept them?' Mueller's incredulity showed, and Baird shrugged.

'If we know when and where they were released, generating an intercept solution won't be difficult. And while they won't transmit while they're actually recording data, each of them will be fitted with a location beacon which we can activate from a range of a few thousand kilometers, so collecting them should present no great difficulty.'

'You're far more optimistic in that regard than I am.' Mueller snorted, once again wishing Hughes were present. The sergeant's technical expertise would have stood him in good stead when it came to heading off this insane plan.

'Our people assure me it can be done,' Baird said. 'I don't say it will be easy, but it will be straightforward. Yet to make it work, the stones must be presented as publicly as possible... and by someone of sufficient stature to make it impossible for the newsies to ignore the occasion. As the acknowledged leader of the Opposition, you have that stature, and the Manticorans' visit to the Keys will give you the opportunity.'

'I won't do it,' Mueller told him. 'I don't share your confidence in your ability to recover the recorders, in the first place. And in the second, I can't risk being caught up in such a scheme. As you say, I am the leader of the Opposition. Can't you see how disastrous it would be — not simply for me, but for all of us who oppose the systematic destruction of our way of life — if Planetary Security were to find listening devices hidden in `gifts' which I, personally, had given to the Queen of Manticore and her Prime Minister? Tester, man! It would destroy my credibility, and that of the entire Opposition with it!' He shook his head firmly. 'No. Not for something as speculative as rumors about possible plans being suggested by the Chancellor to the Protector.'

'The chance of detection is minute, My Lord,' Baird replied, apparently unmoved by his vehemence. 'The recording devices have been constructed using the best molecular circuitry, and since they'll be completely passive, aside from the location beacons, which must be activated by an encrypted external signal, there will be no emissions to draw attention to them. Besides, memory stones are religious objects. Even infidels like the Manticorans will be forced to treat them with due respect lest they anger the very people they want to seduce into joining their Star Kingdom. And they'll be gifts from one of the most prominent and respected steadholders on Grayson. Why in the world would they be suspicious of such a gift in the first place?'

'No, I tell you! The potential return doesn't even come close to justifying the risk you're asking me to run!'

'I'm sorry you feel that way, My Lord. I'm afraid, however, that I must insist.'

'Insist?' Mueller half-rose, and Higgins stepped forward behind him, but neither Baird nor Kennedy as much as turned a hair.

'Insist,' Baird repeated, his tone cool but inflexible.

'This conversation is over,' Mueller grated. 'And if you insist on issuing such absurd demands, then so is our entire relationship! I am not accustomed to being dictated to, and I will not risk all I've striven for years to accomplish on your... your whim!'

'It is not a whim. And you have no choice, My Lord,' Baird told him.

'Get out!' Mueller snapped, and gestured to Higgins. The corporal started forward, then stopped, more in shock than in fear, as Kennedy produced a small pulser and aimed it at his chest.

'Are you mad?' Mueller demanded, as shocked as his armsman and far too furious to feel frightened. 'Don't you know the penalty for bringing a weapon into a steadholder's presence?!'

'Of course we do,' Baird replied. 'We refuse, however, to allow ourselves to be murdered as Steve Hughes was.'

'What?' Mueller blinked at the complete non sequitur.

'Nicely done, My Lord, but your apparent surprise can't deceive us. We know you had Hughes murdered, just as we know why. I'll admit we were surprised you should do so in such a clumsy manner. Surely you knew that `failed robbery' wouldn't fool us! But it wasn't totally unexpected.'

'What are you talking about?' Mueller demanded. 'He was my own armsman! Why in the Tester's name would I want him killed?'

'It would be much simpler if you'd stop pretending so we could get back to the business at hand, My Lord,' Baird said wearily. 'We were under no illusions about your trustworthiness before, or we would never have placed Hughes in your service. And while some of our people were outraged by his murder, the rest of us had anticipated the possibility all along. As he did, when he volunteered. But that doesn't mean we can no longer work together... as long as you remember that we know exactly the sort of man with whom we're actually dealing.'

'You placed Hughes in my service?' Mueller stared at Baird for a moment, then shook his head. 'That's a lie! Some sort of clumsy trick! And even if it weren't, I never ordered anyone to kill him, you lunatic!'

'My Lord, you're the only one who could possibly have had a motive,' Baird said with an air of weary patience.

'What motive?' Mueller half-roared, and Baird sighed.

'When you discovered he was secretly recording every one of my conversations with you, you must have realized who he was working for.' He shook his head. 'Whatever else you may be, you're an intelligent man, My Lord. Must I really draw you a detailed picture of our logic?'

'Recording?' Mueller parroted. The other man's calm assurance gnawed away at the armor of the steadholder's rage, and he sagged back into his chair, staring at the men he'd been so confident he could effortlessly dominate.

'Of course.' Baird allowed a hint of asperity to creep into his own voice for the first time. 'Really, My Lord! Why do you insist on pretending this way?' He shook his head again, then shrugged. 'But if you insist, we'll give you proof. Brian?'

Kennedy reached into his tunic once more, without ever letting his pulser's muzzle waver from Higgins, and tossed Baird a tiny holo projector. The older man held it on his palm and punched the play command, and Mueller swallowed as he saw the interior of his study, right here in Mueller House, while he and Baird discussed illegal contributions and the names of those through whom they could be routed.