Citadel: First Colony (27 page)

“We obtained all of our worlds through our own independent expansion,” Somar said.

“And through
bargaining
with humanity,” Taggart replied. There was a slight note of bitterness in his voice, the first real emotion that Thomas felt he’d heard from the man.

“Yes,” Somar said simply.

“We will have them back,” Taggart said, matching Somar’s tone.

“How?” Thomas asked.

Taggart shrugged. “Before boarding Citadel, I made numerous arrangements. I have Earth First followers on every colony world. And Taggart Industries manufactures all of the hubs that are used for faster-than-light travel.”

“You ... ” Thomas started, unable to believe what he was hearing. “You would shut down the lightrail network? Just to further your insane cause?”

“No, no. That would be treason, Thomas. Of course, I wouldn’t shut it down. But I will exercise an option in my contract with the Earth Colony Fleet. Only vessels that Taggart Industries approves may travel the network. And it’s enforceable by code. Every vessel built by Taggart Industries has a ‘safety,’ as it were. A code that tells the hubs to let the ship pass. It’s built into the hardware of each vessel, and any attempt to replicate it or reverse engineer it will cause it to self-destruct.

“Right now, all of the hubs are set to allow passing traffic, without hindrance. But at my word, the safety is triggered and only TI-approved vessels will be able to make faster-than-light journeys on the Earth hub network. I will have complete say over who moves among the stars.”

“You’re killing the colonies!” Billy shouted.

“Nothing of the kind. I’m freeing them.”

“How?” Thomas asked.

It was Somar who spoke. “By refusing to allow the Esool to travel on them.” Again they turned and stared at him. “Since the end of the conflict between the Esool and the humans, we have become dependent upon the human lightrail network. We have abandoned our old network and allowed it to be replaced by the human system. For that, we are now at the mercy of humanity.”

Taggart’s smile was so smug, Thomas wanted to rip it off of his face. “You bastard,” Thomas snarled. He moved forward, ready to physically attack the man. Somar put out a hand and stopped him.

“Your plan for the human colonies is ambitious and quite brilliant,” Somar said. Everyone, including Taggart, seemed surprised. “But that does not explain why you purposefully sabotaged Citadel.”

Taggart suddenly broke into laughter. He laughed so hard that he had to stumble back slightly, leaning on one of the tables. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and looked up at the men gathered around him, each of whom wore an expression that was not amused.

“I had nothing to do with the sabotage, Captain Somar. But I’m afraid Earth First did.”

“What?” Thomas asked. “What do you mean by that?”

“I have rivals, son. People within my organization who believe I’ve drifted from the one, true way. They still hold to the old-fashioned idea that humanity should stick to Earth. But they forget that we’ve grown since those days. We couldn’t possibly reel ourselves back in now. Earth is smaller than it used to be. Humanity is much bigger. We are no longer one world with a division of nations—we are
hundreds
of worlds with a division of
societies
. The rich, the White Collars, the Blue Collars—we had to have our prejudices, didn’t we? That’s who we are now. Earth First has to adapt or die.”

“So someone decided you weren’t fit to lead, and they tried to wipe out an entire colony?”

Taggart shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time. There’s historical precedence. Oh, but you know that!” he laughed again.

Thomas didn’t find it funny. “So, what now? What about your grand scheme now?”

Taggart shrugged. “It goes on. My people are already in place all over the colonies. The moon I bought is already set up to be the nerve center to coordinate everything. What? You thought I’d buy a whole moon just for mining purposes? I’ve connected every lightrail hub in the galaxy to a system on Taggart Prime. Do you like the name? A bit self aggrandizing, I know, but it rings so well. Oh, and I’ve even had my scientists fix a little problem we had. Communication.”

“What? You’ve overcome the light speed barrier?” Thomas asked.

“What is a barrier, anyway?” Taggart replied. “It’s just something that’s in the way, between you and your goal. No barrier is impenetrable. Oh, don’t ask for details. I’ve read the reports, but I’m no physicist. Something to do with twined quantum particles or some such. Fascinating stuff. I’m sure you’d appreciate it, Thomas.”

Somar spoke, “You are able to communicate across the gulf of space? With any world?”

Taggart shrugged, “With any hub, anyway. I was planning on expanding the system, to put it on every colony world. It’s quite a leap in technology, and it will change everything. And it will have the Taggart name stamped on it.”

“Interesting,” Somar replied.

Thomas marveled at the alien’s mastery of understatement. Then something occurred to him. “How did you know about me?”

Again Taggart laughed. “Son, you really are dense. Did you really think the government could keep a secret? When they changed your face and put you in stasis, my grandfather used his position and influence to make the Taggart family your guardians. He always felt that someday you’d come in handy. Granted, he had no way to know of the infamy that your name would achieve. But infamy and fame have just a narrow line between them in the view of the public. So, if I suddenly announce that you are alive and well, here on a colony world with me, it would shock the colonies. They would hear me say that this was your second chance, an opportunity for redemption. And they would be so in love with this romantic notion that they would listen to anything I had to say. I would be, after all, the man who raised the dead and in infinite generosity helped to redeem the greatest murderer of all time.”

Thomas dropped to one of the stools surrounding the table. He was stunned. Was it possible, that he was here not by accident or fortune but by the grand design of a man he’d never met, over a century ago?

Captain Somar put a hand on his shoulder. “You do not need redemption, Thomas. Nor do you have to allow yourself to be used in this way.”

“I don’t see how he has a choice,” Taggart smiled.

Somar turned to him. “He does indeed. Your plan seems to rely on your network of communication and the worlds that you’ve infiltrated. No doubt you planted one of your devices on the colony world in advance. Unfortunately, you failed to account for all variables. You are trapped here with us, on a world that was not our destination.”

Taggart’s smile stayed, but his eyes revealed a glimmer of irritation. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Somar turned back to the computer and brought up the survey maps, letting them slide side-by-side with the satellite images. “We are not on the world we were destined to land upon.”

Taggart studied the maps for a moment, then slammed his palm on the table. He turned, glared first at Somar and then at Thomas, and without another word, left the command center.

Thomas blinked. “He didn’t know.”

“I suspected he did not,” Somar replied. “Mr. Taggart’s plan was meticulous and detailed, but I do not believe it included Citadel crashing, and it certainly did not include being on a different world entirely.”

Thomas rubbed his eyes. “Well, not that it isn’t fun to thwart a madman’s plans for galactic conquest, but I’m still facing a very angry mob of people when they find out who I am.”

“They’ll rip you to shreds,” Billy Sans marveled. “There’s no way you could convince them that you didn’t have anything to do with us being stuck here.”

Thomas looked at the young man. “What do
you
believe?” he asked.

“Are you really John Thomas Paris?”

Thomas hesitated, “That man died over a hundred years ago. I’m Thomas. New face, new name ... ” he waved a hand to indicate the images of the planet on the computer screen, “ ... and what was supposed to be a new start. Of course, if Taggart spills about who I was, then I’m not only back to square one, I’m buried under it.”

Billy thought about this. “You’re as much a victim here as anyone,” Billy said plainly.

Thomas looked up at Somar who, strangely, was smiling. “Something funny?” Thomas asked.

“Mr. Sans has gained great wisdom since coming to this world. It is my hope that others will as well.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Thomas said. “Individuals can be wise, but people ... people usually make horrible mistakes and reason that they did it in the name of society. If they find out about me, there will be plenty of voices to convince the crowd that I’m a threat. I’ll be lying in ribbons by the morning.”

“As will I,” Somar said. “After all, I am the alien who tolerated your presence. We will both be suspect. But you need not worry. Taggart will say nothing.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because this information is the only true leverage he has at the moment.”

Thomas thought about this and realized Somar was right. It was cold comfort, though. And deep down, he just couldn’t bring himself to rely on it as protection.

––––––––

T
aggart
was unaccustomed to his plans being so openly thwarted.
He was a man of patience and planning as well as action. He never committed himself unless he knew two things for certain: His plan would succeed, and he had a way out if it didn’t.

Here, he couldn’t be certain of either. It had not occurred to him that this wasn’t the world that he’d thought it was. It hadn’t occurred to him that the one element of his plan he’d taken for granted might not be a given. Who could have planned on something like this? A different world! How would he manage to pull the pieces together when there were light years separating them?

But he would. He would because that’s what he always did. He’d done it his whole life, just as his father had. Just as his grandfather had. Just as every man in the Taggart line had done since history had begun recording the name. He wouldn’t fail—he would just change the objective.

This was the wrong world. That meant all of his preparations were useless. For close to two years, he’d been secretly placing his communications arrays on various worlds, including that first one—the planet that had been their original destination.

Taggart had orchestrated this without the knowledge of the Earth Colony Fleet, sending out unmanned, robotic spacecraft that had no need of returning. If the planet had been uninhabitable, he’d have lost a paltry billion dollars worth of materials, nothing more. But the world hadn’t been uninhabitable, and within days of the craft’s arrival, he’d begun receiving telemetry, faster than light, from the world that would become the symbol of a new empire. The Taggart Empire. The empire of Earth First, if they could get their heads out of their isolationist asses.

But this wasn’t the right world, and his array wasn’t here. Everything, absolutely
everything
, had depended on one element—
that he land on the right world
. It hadn’t even been in his consideration that he’d land on the wrong one. It was inconceivable. Utterly ... completely ... totally
inconceivable
.

Yet, here he was. Damn him for being complacent.

He’d pull it together. It would be more difficult than before, that was all. Despite not having
all
of the resources he’d planned on, he still had a few. The people, for one, were a resource. Most of the colonists were part of his chosen group—wealthy elitists who cowed to his whims in every way—and they would follow his lead in anything he declared. The rest, the crew of Citadel who had been stranded among them, they might prove more problematic.

The Blue Collars were a breed he understood. In his childhood, his father had made him work in all of the businesses owned by Taggart Industries. It was his father’s way of encouraging character, principle, and a work ethic. And it had worked. Taggart loved working in the factories and fields, putting his hands on equipment, figuring out solutions to basic mechanical problems. He became a quick study of engineering in all of its forms. He could design a circuit, build equipment, and draft union agreements. He learned the principles of accounting and of marketing as well as the principles of physics and thermodynamics. He studied under masters in every discipline and came away with a much greater whole of knowledge than any one man he’d ever met.

His education was thorough and all-inclusive, but it wasn’t complete until his father had shown him the pod.

“This will be your ultimate weapon, son,” Taggart Sr. said.

“Who is he?” Taggart had asked. He was in his early twenties and had already risen in the ranks by his own strengths. His father had done nothing to help him, other than give him opportunities to learn and work.

“He is the man who killed a world.”

John Thomas Paris—the man that history recorded as the mastermind behind the destruction of the first colony ship. Here he was, a new face and a new name, but otherwise preserved in a way that vids and history books could never approach. He slept, now for a century, in a pod protected by Taggart Industries. Through subsidiary holdings, of course.

Taggart, Sr. explained how this ultimate weapon would work. “When you are the head of Earth First, you will raise the martyr. You will show the world his face. You will remind them of this war with the Esool and of the way in which humanity has spread itself out in the galaxy, destroying our unity, our sense of self. Right now humanity hates that it is so far spread. By the time you are the head of Taggart Industries and that more secret and sacred trust, Earth First, humans will be seeking a new way. They will hunger for leadership, for symbols. And at that time you will awaken the World Destroyer and show humanity that there is nothing you cannot tame, and that if John Thomas Paris can get a second chance, so can humanity. You will pull them all back to Earth, son. It is your destiny.”

Taggart knew nothing of destiny. He knew only of the plans of a brilliant mind, of the schematics of a revolutionary design, of the map of a new and powerful empire. As his training had continued and he left the Blue Collar world behind, he began to learn the art of business. He learned how to build and maintain a financial empire. He learned how to bend the will of a man using nothing but what the man wanted most.