The old neuter smiled. He cast a glance at the great sword hanging at Blade's side. 'I am glad to hear you say that, Blade. But let us suppose a bit, suppose that you did carry out Honcho's scheme. Who then would rule with you, or pretend to rule? You and Isma still? Or you and Zulekia? Is she the real temptation he offers, Blade?'
Blade scowled. The truth was that he did not know the truth. He slammed his fist on the ledge again. And again. 'I cannot answer that. But this I know: Zulekia shall not die as Honcho plans! She shall not! I, Blade, say it I do not know if I love her - a thing you would not understand, Sutha - but I will not see her tortured and killed in such a fashion.'
Sutha built a temple with his fingers, as was his way. He nodded. 'All right, Blade. I see that you are not going to listen to reason about Zulekia. Perhaps it does not matter much now. Just see that Isma does not hear of it before you make a final choice. Isma knows as much about the manipulation of the Power as I do, though she leaves it mostly to me. Her hatred, and her jealousy, is a terrible thing, Blade. She would destroy all of Tharn to take her revenge.'
'Leave Isma to me,' Blade said curtly. 'It is you who are the all important one, Sutha. You I must depend on. Listen carefully now.
'You will abort the Power as we have planned. Honcho and Org and the Pethcines will come into the trap. Again as planned. But I do not want the Power reactivated until I give the word! I alone! You will not understand, you will be puzzled, but you must wait, Sutha. Wait! I and I alone will decide when the Power is turned on again. You must promise me this.'
'And if I do not promise?'
Blade's hand had been resting on the jeweled hilt of the Pethdne sword. He half-drew it from the scabbard. 'Then I will kill you, Sutha. I will kill you now and take my chances. I swear it!'
Sutha did not show fear. He never did. Blade thought that his smile was a little sad.
'I promise this,' said Sutha. 'I think I see what you have in mind. But let me point out a few things. You are new here, Blade, and there is much you do not know.'
'I know what I must do.'
'Yet you must listen and be sure you understand. When the Power is aborted, completely aborted, everything in Tharn, and here in Urcit, comes to a halt. Everything, Blade! Without the Power Tharn is nothing. We are no better, much weaker in fact, than the Pethcines. They are only savages and barbarians, but without the Power we will be helpless before them.'
Blade touched the sword. 'Not quite helpless.'
Sutha nodded. 'I know. I said I understood. You want to fight the Pethcines, and Honcho, on their own terms?'
Blade grinned like a wolf. 'Wrong. On my terms.'
It was the kernel, the nut, of his planning. To hell with the Power, with magveils and simlu and teleportation and all the other Tharnian miracles. He, as mere man, was helpless against those things. And helpless against Honcho, how the knowledge rankled, as long as Honcho had those things at his command. But take them away...
Sutha was speaking again, in a low tone, as if to himself. 'Take away the Power and Tharn comes to a halt. There will be no light. The weather will slip beyond our control. The mani will die in the fields. The baby plants will not function and the neuter embryos will die in their decanters. All food processing will halt. There will be no waste disposal, no spiscreens, no way to police the ceboids. There is always the possibility that, under such conditions, they will revolt.'
'So be it,' said Blade. He slammed the sword back into the scabbard with a clang. 'So I wish it. In depriving Tharn, ourselves, of all these things we also deprive Honcho of them. That is my whole point, Sutha. Without the Power Honcho is nothing. I will kill him. I will kill Org and Totha also, if I must. I do not think the Pethcines will fight well without a leader.'
Sutha appeared to give in, but only half convinced. 'Just so you do not wait too long to give the word. I have told you my dream - to destroy the Pethcines forever, for all time, so they can never again threaten Tharn. I know that is impossible without the Power.'
Blade had other thoughts, but he kept them to himself. He needed Sutha for his plan. Needed him badly. And he had no desire to harm the old neuter.
'I will not wait too long. I promise it. I will send a runner when the time is right. On the other hand you promise that all Power, all of it, will stay aborted until I ask for it?'
Sutha laid a scrawny hand over his left chest. 'I promise it.'
'Then do it now,' commanded Blade. 'I would see it done with my own eyes.'
'Come, then.'
Blade followed him past the sarophagus of Astar I. The naked mummy still wore its smile of faint mockery.
They went back through the computer area and beyond it to a tiny cubicle of a room. It contained nothing but walls filled with buttons and switches. Sutha reached for a master switch, hesitated, then without looking at Blade he tugged the switch down.
There was silence. A new, strange silence the like of which Blade had not heard since his arrival in Tharn. The computers had stopped.
Blade touched Sutha's arm. 'I will speak with Isma. Tell her nothing of our plans if she asks. Say that I will not tell even you! That way she cannot hold you responsible. Goodbye, Sutha. I go now to make my preparations. What will you do?'
'I will remain here, in this place, until I hear from you. Do not be too long, Blade. In this microkrono Tharn has begun to die.'
Blade touched the sword hilt. 'Don't worry, Sutha. I - and this - will save Tharn. Perhaps a better Tharn than you know.'
Blade climbed endless stairs to the very top of the Palace. Here, from a large terrace, was a broad view of the surrounding country. Some of the women were lounging about, naked, being given teksin oil treatments by
