Downtime Read Online Free PDF Page B

studied every word of Calla’s
reports. He knew she had to have had access to them, and with a three-month
trip from Mercury Novus in the Hub to Mutare, she had to have had plenty of
time. He tried to remember which report described the danae’s behavior before
rainstorms, then said, “Maybe it’s only mentioned in the last report, and that
one’s enroute to the Hub.”
    Calla
shook her head. “That’s the only one I did read. We intercepted the drone
messenger three weeks back.”
    “You
intercepted it? What does that mean?”
    “It
means that Mutare is very special to the Decemvirate, and that news and reports
will go off planet only by special messenger.”
    “Does
it also mean that we’re under martial law?” he asked, suddenly feeling tired
and wary of the power represented by the gold worlds on her collar.
    “Not
yet, Governor.” Calla put her elbows on the chair arms and shifted her hips. “Have
anything to drink?”
    “Of
course,” he said. The old awe was back; Calla knew something he did not, but
this time he couldn’t expect to hear the answers to his questions whispered
over the pillow. He went to his liquor cabinet and selected a bottle at random.
Only after he had decanted it did he realize it was his last flask from the
Hub, and not the stuff the kitchen had brewed from local fruits. Resigned, he
took out the two quartzware goblets he had bought from a freetrader the year
before. He filled the rose-colored goblets with deeper colored wine and handed
one to Calla. He was sure she had noticed the fine acid etching under her
fingers, for Calla noticed everything, but she did not comment. She sipped
thoughtfully, silently.
    “It’s
war, Jason,” she said finally, then shook her head. “It’s a revolution.”
    “There
are no rebels in the Mercurian Sway, not since Dovia. The Decemvirate is too
accurate in their predictions and very swift to intervene when the Sway is
threatened.” Jason sat down again. “Which world would risk Decemvirate
sanctions?”
    “Not
one world. The entire Council of Worlds,” she said, finally looking up.
    Her
answer made no sense to him. The Council of Worlds was the Mercurian Sway, its
governing and judicial body. The Decemvirate regulated trade, distributed
elixir, and deployed legions in council’s name, but it did not act without
orders, nor could it without council’s funds. Council depended on the
Decemvirate to provide alternative solutions to problems, complete with
predictions on the benefits and consequences of each alternative. Being
comprised of genetically special men and women who had nearly prescient ability
to anticipate and understand trends, they were masters of probability. But it
was the Council of Worlds that decided which probability to pursue.
    Jason
drank half the goblet’s contents. The wine was dry, but not much to his liking
tonight. “I think you’d better explain,” he said. “I can’t pretend to have kept
up with thirty years of events in the Hub while having acquired only ten years
of age. I don’t understand how the Council of Worlds can rebel against the
Decemvirate, let alone why.”
    “Why
is easy. Every world in the Arm wants a larger supply of Decemviral elixir.”
    Jason
nodded sourly. “Now tell me something new. Elixir demand has exceeded the
supply since before we were born. Has some special interest group been
qualified as indispensable to the Mercurian Sway, like the decemviri?”
    The
decemviri were guaranteed supplies, even after retirement. But it was a
decemvir who had developed the elixir and subjected it and the entire
Decemvirate to the Council of Worlds’ rule. That the decemviri personally
benefited was a tiny price to pay for having all the rest of the elixir
available to the known worlds, even though there wasn’t enough for everyone.
But one group or another was always trying to justify themselves to the Council
of Worlds as being essential to the Mercurian Sway. Some petitions