The test was run. They looked at the results. All three of them walked
over to the corner of the room behind him. With his head strapped he
could not see them. He heard their conversation in undertones. He
broke in. "There's your choice, Candar. Kill me or turn me over to the
church. And if you're afraid to know what's coming, if you're afraid
to know how you're going to die, you'd better kill me now."
There was a long silence. Then Candar: "Unstrap him." Candar walked up
and stood before him as the straps were taken off. "You'll curse
yourself for postponing the end, if this is a trick. The transfer
papers will be prepared now." He gestured to the commander. "Bring him
back to my chambers, and call the emissary of the church." The door
slammed jarringly behind him as he strode out.
When the conditions were made out, signed and countersigned and
sealed, and a copy transmitted to the Cathedral of Keltar, and when
the young emissary in cloth-of-gold had signed the receipt for him,
Thane began. "At this moment," he started, "the Darzent Empire is
preparing an attack. They have a space-drive, stolen from the Allied
Systems, which allows almost instantaneous travel through the Galaxy.
You will learn of this drive, and you will learn something that
Darzent does not know. You will learn how to locate any ship using
this drive at any time the drive is in operation."
That was enough to stimulate Candar's driving, paranoid megalomania to
the full. Thane had already threatened him with destruction. Now he
held out to him the opportunity to be master of the Galaxy. Thane felt
it would be simple now to obtain the transfer of Astrid to the custody
of the church. He thought so, but there was another hour of argument
before he had overcome Candar's suspicions and convinced him of the
absolute necessity of having Astrid to supervise the building of the
Tracer and the Drive.
At last it was settled. Then Thane committed his treason. He told all
he knew, about the second-stage drive and the tracer, and when Astrid
came in, she finished the job. Between them they gave away the most
important secrets of the Galaxy to an enemy, a man of endless,
pathologic ambition.
* * * * *
Candar, of course, wanted confirmation. It was fast in coming. With
all the technical resources of Onzar at her disposal, Astrid had a
prototype of the tracer in operation the following day. An hour later
the existence of a ship using the catalyst drive was reported by the
tracer. Its position could not be determined until a base line had
been established. The following day, three more tracers were set up at
widely separated points across the planet. More movement of ships was
reported--and they were definitely placed within the Darzent Empire.
One more day passed, and more tracers had been set up on Onzar III,
across the sun from the capitol planet.
At the same time, Candar pushed work on the second-stage drive with
all possible speed. As Thane had guessed, the use of gold in the
catalyst principle gave Candar pause, but only momentarily. It was
true that such a use of gold violated one of the oldest and strongest
taboos in the religion but Candar's hunger for power was stronger than
his fear of revolt. As Thane had supposed, Candar went ahead with the
development of the drive, thinking that when he had it his power would
enable him to ignore the church. The church was powerful on just this
system. With the drive, Candar would rule the Galaxy.
Candar had taken certain precautions. Almost complete radio silence
had been clamped down, partially to prevent any information getting
out, and partially to provide enough power for the tracer. No ships of
any registry could enter or leave the system. Only his personal
adherents of unquestioned loyalty were allowed to work on the assembly
of the drive. But there were leaks. And there was Thane....
With one legal pretext after another, Candar had succeeded in keeping
Thane in isolation within the palace for three days. Finally, he gave
in to the demand of the church that Thane be turned over to the
Cathedral. He did not want Thane loose but still he could not afford a
break with the church just a few days before his great victory.
So Thane at last managed to see Selan in her personal chambers in the
Keltar Cathedral. It was a small, comfortable room that did not seem
to share the bleakness of most of Onzar. Perhaps, as much as anything,
that was due to the personality of the Priestess Selan. She was very
old. She had remained slim, and her lined face retained much of its
original golden color. Her yellow eyes were alert. The only term Thane
could think of for their expression was cynical compassion. She sat by
a small writing table in one of the traditional, intricately carved
chairs of Onzar.
"The developments of the past few days, Priestess Selan, are of
extreme importance to Onzar and the church. The tracer device has
already confirmed our belief that Darzent is preparing to attack.
Already their trial maneuvers with the second-stage drive have ceased,
and they have begun the marshalling of their fleet. When they come,
they must come through the Onzar Confluence, not more than a parsec
from this system. This attack must be stopped, and we hope that time
enough is left."
"I am aware of these developments, Roger Thane," she said with a
slight smile. "We still have our sources of information."
"Perhaps," Thane said, "you are also aware of the industrial use of
gold in the second-stage drive?"
"We have heard rumors," she said wearily, "but perhaps my position on
such matters is not clear to you. I have never been a religious
doctrinaire. I have lived through tremendous changes on this planet,
and I know that the church must conform to survive. You certainly must
know that from the history of religions in your own system. The church
is conservative, yes. It can never move with the skeptical flexibility
of the politician or the scientist. But it must change with them,
sometimes leading, sometimes following. Otherwise it becomes a thing
of quaintness, a building without an institution, a place for
tourists."
Thane regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. Even this brilliant,
experienced woman would be ensnared by her own long-range theories
into a disastrous inaction in the short-run crisis. And there would be
no long-range for her or her church unless there were victory in the
present crisis. He said, "I agree with you completely. Like any
organism, social or biological, the church must adapt to continue. It
must survive. And the present situation is not merely one in which an
ancient taboo is violated. It is a crisis of survival for you."
"I know," she said thoughtfully, "that Candar has never been friendly
to the church. But I do not believe that he has the power to destroy
it."
"Up to now," Thane answered, "Candar has been limited. Now, with the
drive, he feels that unlimited power is his. His dream is to crush the
power of Darzent in this attack, and then to turn upon the Allied
Systems. I do not know if his dream of complete domination of the
Galaxy can be realized. I do not think so. But it is something he will
not put away. And when he makes the attempt, it will mean the
destruction of millions, the killing of whole planets, the ending of
all life of whole systems.
"There is no need to keep the useless old taboos that no longer fit
into the present world. But they should be ended by the church itself,
in its own time and its own way, not abrogated by a contemptuous
politician."
She looked half-convinced, and he pressed his point at once. "The
power of the whole planetary communications system is now being used
by Astrid Reine for the tracer system now being built. With a word
from you the whole radio system will be at your disposal for as long
as we can keep it open. You can at last tell the people of Onzar the
truth, which they have not heard for so long."
Selan stared at the floor for a long time. Finally she looked up. "I
don't know. I just don't know." She paused again, and it was a long,
agonizing pause for Thane. "The decision is too large for me now. It
is a seizure of authority that goes against my whole nature." She
looked directly at Thane. "But, be assured, you will have my word in
time. You and I will witness this battle of the confluence, and then
you will know my decision."
Thane's mind was full of reasons why the old priestess should not
travel out into space, with all the stresses of that travel, to a
position of great danger. But he met her determined eyes and saw at
once that all arguments would be futile.
He got up to leave, and with the sincerest of respect, lied to her.
"Your decision will be mine, Priestess Selan."