RAINBOW RUN (17 page)

Clandine replied that most of the VIS personnel were reliable, that she and her colleague Arvon had administered stress measuring tests to VIS officers who were all working extra shifts to cope with berserkers and Crusaders. The stress measuring tests also included, unbeknown to those taking the tests, questions that would reveal any allegiance to Wanklurm that overshadowed the VIS code of conduct. A concealed vericator had validated the results.

She said that so far it looked as if the only VIS personnel willing to follow Wanklurm blindly were the members of the elite guard.

Incate said, "All right. We need Clandine. Why do we need Rathe?"

Clandine answered, "Rathe is the only one of us who can identify Errox by sight. He found Errox when no one else could. He is an eyewitness that Errox is a murderer and a wristlock thief. He heard Boget admit to being a key player in the conspiracy. He knows where Dreena lives. He has done marvelous undercover work for me. We need him."

Incate opened his mouth as if to refute Clandine, but no words came out.

Nordel said, "The first thing we should do is arrest Dreena. We're probably too late to prevent her from putting a rainbow wristlock on Errox. If he's already got it, he has access to the current Cainenol supply. We may be able to get Dreena to tell us where he is and what he plans to do. Clandine, can you find someone to locate Dreena and arrest her?"

Nordel was taking charge. Incate looked frustrated. Prevance kept a neutral look on his face.

Clandine answered, "I'll get the directions from Rathe. I'll have Arvon send a squad over to arrest her and anyone else in her dwell."

Nordel said, "After second meal, I want all of us to meet back here. Yondoka and I will bring the rest of the rainbows that we are certain are trustworthy. Clandine, I'd like for you to invite all the loyal VIS personnel that can attend a meeting here without arousing Wanklurm's suspicions."

"Wanklurm is trying to hold down the civil unrest using mostly his elite guards. I shouldn't have trouble getting the rest of the VIS to come."

"Will this be a strategy meeting?" Prevance asked.

Nordel answered, "It's going to be more than that. When I sent in the report that brought you and Incate to help investigate, I didn't know as much about the misinformation we've all been exposed to. I intend to share this knowledge with all who attend the meeting. This conspiracy involves the very foundations of the culture we're living in. We've got to form the broadest alliance possible to combat the conspirators."

"You don't have the permission of the Council to reveal the secrets of the rainbows," Incate said.

 "I don't need anyone's permission to tell the truth, not now, and not at any time in the future," was Nordel’s reply.

I looked forward to the meeting. There was a lot I wanted to know and I believed that Nordel would tell me.

The meeting began after several more rainbows and a number of select VIS personnel had gathered in the overseers' urbode. Yondoka and Nordel took charge.

Yondoka spoke first. "As some of you know, Nordel and I started a group called the Alliance for Cultural Transformation. The purpose was to eliminate the deception and disinformation that is present in our daily lives. One of our techniques was to spread folk tales that contained elements of truth that were not common knowledge.

"We also shared information that conflicted with what we were conditioned to believe because our best predictive efforts indicated that our culture was decaying. Recent developments—the Cainenol problem, the appearance of blancs, the Freedom Crusaders, the practices of Wanklurm's elite guards, the disappearance or death of new rainbows who were disillusioned when they learned that they were not immortal—everything clearly shows that the entire system is corrupt, based on keeping the majority deceived."

Several people gasped. Evidently they were hearing for the first time that rainbows were subject to death. I understood the shock they felt since I'd been jolted by that information earlier.

"The rumor that we are in touch with other worlds is true. When the members of the Alliance for Cultural Transformation were unable to stop the Cainenol traffic, we asked for help from the Universalist Council, the governing body for the twenty-three known human worlds."

An ebony skinned VIS officer asked, "Are you telling us that there are twenty-two other worlds like this one?"

Nordel answered the question, "Yes. We don't have much information about them but we have determined that their cultures differ from ours."

There was a minute of silence as people absorbed that information.

"The Universalist Council assigned the problem to two rainbow investigators," Yondoka said. "They have stopped the traffic. No more Cainenol will reach our world, but the last shipment hasn't been distributed yet. We have a crew searching for it in the Simulike Palace where it has been stored. The two investigators are here to help us end the Cainenol problem. Incate and Prevance please stand so everyone here will know who you are and aid you as best they can."

Incate and Prevance stood up and received applause. Both seemed pleased by the recognition, but I suspected that inside they were unhappy not to be in charge. I was glad that Yondoka and Nordel were running this operation. They radiated competence and caring. I had reservations about Incate, who seemed hostile and impulsive, and Prevance, whose surface affability might be no more than a clever facade capable of disarming those who accepted him at face value.

"Part of the credit for uncovering the Cainenol conspiracy goes to VIS officer Clandine and her associate Rathe. Would the two of you stand up please?"

We stood up and received applause. I had never been applauded before. A warm glow seemed to fill my being, the best feeling I'd experienced since my most recent time with Lyonella.

"Boget, the overseer of the Simulike Palace," Yondoka continued, "was evidently the power behind the introduction of Cainenol. He is dead, killed by a man named Errox who wants to take over Boget's role. We have VIS personnel looking for Errox and the rainbows involved in this conspiracy."

A woman with an oval face and red hair asked, "Who are the other rainbow conspirators?"

"Ozerta, overseer of the House of Rebirth; Flantel, overseer of the Clerics Guild; and Wanklurm, chief of the VIS."

I heard sounds of surprise.

The red-haired woman asked, "What's being done about them?"

Yondoka answered, "We're not ready to do anything about Wanklurm, yet. He and his elite guards are occupied with the problem of the Freedom Crusaders. We intend to depose Wanklurm but a formal plan hasn't been developed yet. Flantel is a minor figure; we have him under surveillance. We don't know where Ozerta is but she doesn't represent a threat now thatwe’ve stopped Cainenol shipments to the House of Rebirth. She just completed rejuvenation treatments at the Fane of Change and left to visit friends. We have people looking for her."

A tall, handsome rainbow said, "When Ozerta comes out of the Fane of Change, she usually goes to see old lovers so they can appreciate her renewal." He sounded like the voice of experience.

"I think now is the time for Nordel to tell you what the Game really is," Yondoka said.

I remembered Lyonella telling me that the Game was not what it seemed. Getting confirmation of what she had told me gave me a feeling of greater warmth for her as well as a corresponding increase of trust in what she said and did. I listened intently as Nordel began to speak.

"The Game is a very sophisticated way of forecasting future probabilities. The mathematical foundation is a series of evolutionary techniques known as Delphi methods. These methods structure a group communication process that allows a group of individuals, as a whole, to deal effectively with one or more complex problems or situations."

That information seemed almost familiar to me, like something in a corner of my mind that I hadn't examined for a while.

Nordel continued. "The data generated by the Delphi method is fed into computers that have Bayesian networks. These networks are self-updating complex diagrams that organize data pertaining to a particular area by mapping out cause-and-effect relationships among important variables and encoding the variables with numbers that represent the probabilities of any one variable affecting any other variable. Such networks provide useful forecasting even when key bits of data are unavailable. The Universalist Council uses this information to guide the future of all Universalist worlds."

"Why hasn't this system of forecasting provided answers to the problems we're facing here?" I asked.

A sad look darkened Nordel's bright good looks.

"The Council doesn't consider this planet to be one of their worlds. Evidently they set up this culture and society to be a self-sustaining service organization for them. The Council doesn't give this world the same status they give the twenty two Universalist worlds. I'll have more information on the relationship between our world and the Universalist Council in the near future. I've got our best Game players working on it."

After a few more questions and answers, the meeting wound down. Many of the attendees seemed to be in a state of shock, with minds numbed by what they'd learned. I was familiar with the feeling, even getting accustomed to it. But that didn't mean I liked it. The situation was somewhat parallel to the Rainbow Room. That which appeared to be solid could collapse at any time. I wanted a mental map of factual information about the culture to replace the misinformation that was being peeled away, layer by layer.

A short time later I was talking with Clandine and Arvon, when they were notified by a VIS officer that Dreena had been arrested and was being brought to the overseers' urbode for vericator questioning.

Arvon asked, "Any sign of Errox?"

"No. But we found a green wristlock in Dreena's dwell. It looks like Errox is running free with a rainbow wristlock."

I went with Clandine and Arvon to the vericator room. Nordel, Yondoka, Incate, and Prevance were waiting there. Dreena lay on a cot with the vericator skull cap and sensors attached to her. The scene reminded me of being in the VIS station when the dying Freedom Crusader was being questioned. The difference was that Dreena was not dying, but she knew that unless she cooperated her individuality—her personality and character—would be dissolved by a brainwiping machine.

"Did you put a rainbow wristlock on Errox?" Clandine asked.

"Yes, I did."

"Do you know where he is now?"

"No, I don't."

"When did he leave your dwell?"

"Early. He came back not long after he and Rathe had left. He had a rainbow wristlock that he wanted put on him right away. I put it on and he left."

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know."

"Are you his lover?"

"Yes, I am."

Arvon touched Clandine on the shoulder to indicate that he wanted to ask a question. Clandine yielded.

"Are you a Freedom Crusader?" Arvon asked.

Dreena paused for a long time before answering with "Not exactly. That's Errox's scam."

"What do you mean by a scam?"

"Errox obtained the names of people who had a potential for explosive violence and convinced them to become Freedom Crusaders. Errox doesn't believe in the nonsense he tells them. It's a scam. One of Errox's projects designed to give him more power."

"Where does Errox get the names?"

"From Simulike data that records who welcomes violence and from Flantel, who gives him the names of people who have confessed violent urges to the clergy. Flantel was supposed to turn the names over to Wanklurm so the violent ones could be re-educated or brainwiped. Errox learned that Wanklurm was turning some of these people into members of his elite guard—those troops that wear the white caps—so he decided to form his own group of true believers with a taste for violence or martyrdom."

Yondoka asked, "Are the elite guards used for assassination?"

"Errox says they are. That's all I know about them."

When Yondoka turned away, Arvon asked, "Did you and Errox make any plans to meet anywhere other than your dwell?"

"No, he just comes by whenever he wants to see me."

"Where is his dwell?"

"I don't know where he stays when he isn't with me."

The believability line on the vericator never dipped. Dreena was telling the truth as she knew it.

Prevance asked, "Did he say anything to you about Cainenol?"

"Only that it would help get the Freedom Crusaders ready."

"Ready for what?"

"To go to war with Wanklurm and the elite guards. Errox wants to kill them all and then put himself, or someone who is loyal to him, into Wanklurm's spot as VIS chief."

"Do you think he can do that?" Prevance asked.

"I don't know," she answered. "He thinks he can. So far, he's done things that others thought were impossible. Just before Transit Day he was a gray. Now he's a rainbow."

I recalled what Boget had said about Errox, that he was a person of limitless ambition. Incate and Prevance took their turns questioning Dreena. They established that Dreena didn't know where the Cainenol was stored in the Simulike Palace. She didn't know anything about where Errox kept it, had never taken Cainenol, and knew nothing about it that wasn't common knowledge in the urbodes.

Clandine asked me if I had any questions to ask of Dreena. I stepped forward and asked, "Dreena, had you ever seen me before Boget brought me to your dwell?"

"No, I hadn't."

"Had you heard of me from Errox?" I asked.

 "Yes. He told me about you."

"What did he tell you?"

"That you'd been brainwiped and dumped in the Rainbow Room to die."

"Did he know why I'd been brainwiped?"

"If he did, he didn't tell me."

"Did he say anything at all about me being brainwiped and dumped?"

"He said that he thought Wanklurm had done it. Probably he didn't want your body showing up in the Medical Complex where someone might recognize you or connect you to him."

"What made you summon Errox after Boget brought me to you for a white wristlock? Had Errox told you to be on the lookout for me?"