The Cause of Death (48 page)

"Because, sooner or later, conspiracies fall apart," said Hannah, "even small ones. If you had been involved, sooner or later it would have been discovered. Some forgotten clue, some slip of the tongue, something told in confidence to someone who turned out to be less than reliable. Maybe, even, somehow, down the road, your wife simply spilling the beans. And then your whole reign would be called into question. The High Thelek would have made a career out of looking for holes in the story and circulating them. He wouldn't need to prove anything. Brox was right about the Thelek's rumor mill."

"But now," said Jamie, "with the recordings we have, and the witnesses, you have cast-iron proof that you
weren't
involved, that you believed your wife had done it, and that you were bravely trying to shield her by allowing false dishonor--the breaking of your Pax Humana oath--to fall on your own head. Just the sort of grand romantic noble gesture the Reqwar Pavlat love."

"And I have sent the Thelek a copy of that recording," said Brox, "so that he knows that
you
have it. He won't ever dare try to put it about that you were in on the killing, for fear that some loyal flunky of yours will accidentally-on-purpose get that recording to the public, and make the Thelek look very bad, and have the whole planet fall in love with you."

Thelm Georg shook his head. "I'm going to need some practice getting used to how they--we, I suppose--play at politics on this planet. But one other question. Was it really necessary to expose, well, everyone in that room to the danger of using a live round? Wouldn't you have achieved pretty much the same effect with a dummy round, a dud? I pull the trigger, Marta leaps to knock the gun out of my hand, and nothing happens at all?"

"The round in the gun was a training round with a minimal propellant load and a small delayed-burst flash charge that wouldn't go off until people had a few seconds to take cover," said Hannah. "With that kind of round in the gun, yes, there was some slight risk of someone getting hurt, but mostly it was just flash and noise. Besides, we figured that it was unlikely that it would get as far as your actually pulling the trigger. The most likely scenario was that she would snap before then, make some slip, break into the reenactment to keep you from incriminating yourself, take the crime back on herself."
And we won't talk about how she didn't do any of that
. "When she jumped for the gun, she was in a panic, or near to it. She had seen you digging either your grave or hers, getting detail after detail totally wrong, watching us lead you down the garden path."

Or maybe
, Hannah said to herself,
she realized that if the suicide round was still in there, when you died it would just about prove, by process of elimination, if nothing else, that it had to be she who had killed the Thelm. You would be dead, the High Thelek would become Thelm--and she would be in very, very, very big trouble. She didn't dive for the gun to save you--but to save herself
.

But Hannah didn't offer up those theories out loud. Georg Hertzmann would have enough shock and sorrow and hurt to deal with, even if such ideas never crossed his mind. "But she
did
let it get as far as the gunshot," Hannah went on. "Then she dove for the gun and it went off with a lot of noise and smoke. What she did in the midst of the shock and the smoke and the noise was dive further into panic, run without thinking toward the door, and that was as good as a written confession to us.

"We were worried that if we used a dummy round and she jumped for the gun, then there was just the anticlimactic click of a trigger, she might have been able to pull herself together, maybe claim she had done it because she couldn't bear to watch even simulated violence. After all, she was Pax Humana."

"That's the real irony," said Thelm Georg. "I'm not, not anymore. Last night, I didn't just check the reference net information about the succession. I also looked up a few things in the Pax Humana regulations. The moment I became Thelm, I was automatically expelled from Pax Humana and released from my oath."

"Sir?" Jamie asked. "What--what do you mean?"

Georg spread his arms wide, taking in the whole planet. "I wouldn't last five minutes running this place if I was sworn to renounce all violence at all times. That would just bring on a civil war and get everyone killed. But the Pax Humana bylaws recognize that there can be circumstances when renouncing violence would simply invite chaos. If a Pax Humana member was on the Podunk town council and the mayor and police chief were convicted of fraud and forced to resign, all of a sudden you'd have a sworn pacifist as acting police chief. In such cases, it is mandatory that the PH member be automatically released from his oath in order to be able to enforce the law and keep the peace. That rule applies here--just on a slightly larger scale."

* * *

It took a few days to sort things out. It always did. And a few nights of uninterrupted sleep on more or less human-style beds, and days of eating human-style food that came from the same kitchen that was feeding the ruler of the planet, were just what the doctor ordered. And so was a walk about the grounds of the Keep. The Keep itself was already undergoing repairs, and the purposeful bustle of the work crews seemed to add energy and enthusiasm to everyone around them.

Jamie and Hannah were strolling with Zahida. Moira was up ahead, taking the Stannlar Consortia out for a little run. At least, that was how
Moira
saw it. The sight of the two huge, immortal, translucent slug shapes cavorting with a human child was not one seen every day, and Jamie was very glad they were there to see it.

On the night of the killing, the two Stannlar had been nearly ready to summon their spacecraft from orbit and use it to flee Reqwar. The destruction of their antijamming coins, which, they assured everyone, acted as tracking devices, but
not
as listening devices, had been enough to make the Stannlar think they were already under attack--for the coins were integrated subcomponents of the Stannlar. Given all the other events of the night, the Stannlar had, perhaps understandably, regarded the wrecking of the coins as something very close to a preliminary assault on themselves.

Thelm Georg was strolling as well, in between the two groups, keeping just a bit to himself--except for the discreet presence of his security detail.

"I don't know if you've heard the latest," Zahida was saying. "That wise-guy suggestion you made about a plea of premeditated self-defense? It's just possible the Court of High Crime is going to buy it."

"What?" Hannah cried out. "Marta Hertzmann murders the head of state, and my sarcastic comment gets her off on a technicality? It's not safe making suggestions around you people."

Zahida laughed. "No, no, no," she said. "You people still don't understand how this places works." Zahida held up the fingers of one hand and starting ticking off offenses. "Tampering with a Dueling Weapon with Malicious Intent. Unlicensed Modification of Certified Ammunitions. Arson. Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm. Contemplating the Death of a Sovereign. Unauthorized Manufacture of False Evidence."

"
Un
authorized manufacture? You mean you can get a
permit
for producing false evidence?"

"Yes, but the paperwork is a monster to get through," Zahida said, in a perfectly serious tone of voice.

Jamie couldn't tell if she was kidding or not, and decided it didn't matter. "So she's being charged with all that?"

"Oh, no. She's already been declared
guilty
of all that--and probably a few other crimes, in a courtroom that doesn't go out of its way to attract publicity. Enough to disqualify her from the inheritance, which was the main thing, and also to put her away pretty much wherever and for however long the government wants. They can do all that a lot more quietly than executing the Thelm's wife for high treason. So they let her off on the main charge on a technicality to avoid a death penalty, and throw the book at her otherwise. Don't forget, she
is
the Thelm's wife. Georg can't divorce her for four years after the death of the old Thelm. Besides, it's considered bad policy to announce that the sovereign has been murdered. It gives malcontents ideas. Lantrall, Thelm of all Reqwar, died in a tragic and accidental fire."

Jamie had to wonder if that was good justice, or wise policy--and then decided he was glad it wasn't his problem. "So what will happen to her?"

"Weirdly enough, it was Allabex who came up with the idea--from ancient Earthside history. Some group called the Romans, ruled by people called Caesars. Ever heard of them?"

Jamie smiled. "A little something." It was a startling glimpse behind that California-accented English, that easy assumption that she "knew" Earth. Zahida obviously had never heard of the Romans. And he had known even less of her culture when he had been mad enough to make suggestions about how the Thelm should conduct his affairs and run his family. He hoped fervently that he had learned his lesson. "The Romans are named after the city of Rome," he said. "It's still around."

Zahida nodded eagerly. "Oh! Right! I didn't make that connection. Anyway, when one of the Caesars had a daughter or a wife or whatever who caused too much trouble, but was too prominent to execute--or maybe the Caesar just could not bring himself to sign the death warrant--they picked out an island far enough from everywhere else that you couldn't swim back from it, and put the offending family member on it, and dropped off supplies once in a while. They're going to update the plan a little bit--arranging for Moira to visit, for example--but they're shopping for an island now." Zahida nodded at Thelm Georg and his daughter, up ahead. "It's the two of them I worry about," she said. "Aside from Marta, the only two humans on- planet, wrapped in a security service blanket at all times. They're going to be two very lonely people."

"No they won't," said Jamie. "The decrypting operation is about to kick into high gear. They'll need contractors, technicians, specialists. And you can bet UniGov will want to plant an embassy full of advisors here. There was a deal to allow human settlers on at least one continent under the old Thelm, and I'd be very surprised if that wasn't expanded. There will be lots of techs coming in with their families. Lots of children for Moira to play with, sooner than you might think."

"What about someone for Thelm Georg to play with?" Zahida said, and the expression on her face made it clear how she meant that.

It was Hannah's turn to laugh. "Your people still don't understand how
our
people work. '
Young, handsome, likable male, separated from spouse and awaiting divorce decree, runs own planet, in search of female companionship. Respondent must be willing to become incredibly wealthy
.' A lot of those technicians and specialists are going to be female, you know.
He
won't be lonely one day longer than he wants to be. I'd be willing to lay odds Georg marries his new consort four years and one day after the death of Thelm Lantrall."

"Good," said Zahida. "He and Moira both deserve to be much happier than they are."

"I agree, all around," said Hannah. "But my information is that there's another deal brewing--one that concerns you. But for some reason no one will tell me anything."

"Well, yes," Zahida said. "It's all in the early stages, but we're putting something together to, ah, regularize the succession. I know, I know, a week into Georg's reign, and we're sweating the succession. But we all just got a lesson in why it's important to keep these things tidy."

"So what's the plan?" Jamie asked. There was a certain hesitancy in the way Zahida was talking about it that gave him the sense that she needed a little push to say more.

"Georg will decree that a Pavlat must succeed him, and that henceforth all Thelms must be born Reqwar Pavlat. It was always assumed they
would
be--but the law says nothing, and we've seen what happens to assumptions. Georg will go further and specifically disbar his own children and their descendants from the succession.
He
doesn't want Moira turned into somebody's chess piece or hostage thirty years from now. He will pick out one or two of the High Thelek's illegal activities and discover to his regret and surprise that they disbar the Thelek from the succession. He will therefore declare the High Thelek ineligible for the Thelmship,
but
he will designate the Thelek's male descendants as heirs to the Thelmship."

"Except the Thelek doesn't have any descendants," Jamie objected. "His wife and daughter died years ago, and all his sons have gotten themselves killed one damn fool way or another."

"That's, ah, where I come in," Zahida said primly, but blushing bright green. "The Thelmship will descend through the Thelek's male line--on condition that the Thelek will, well--provided that he marries
me
, thus closing out a blood feud that has caused so much trouble for so many years. The High Thelek will not take the Thelmship--but he could live to see his son do so, and possibly serve as his own son's regent. And, ah, of course, with the line of property inheritance broken by Marta's criminal convictions,
she
can't inherit. Georg would therefore make me his heir of property--provided I marry the Thelek."

The two humans said nothing, but walked along, staring at Zahida in stunned silence. Jamie could think of a thousand things he
could
say--but none of them would be very diplomatic.

Zahida walked along, staring straight ahead. "Don't go all horrified on me," she said. "One, don't forget, we Reqwar Pavlat do things differently from humans. Two, this was my own idea. I sold it to Thelm Georg as the plan with the best odds of getting the Thelek to stop plotting ways to get the Thelmship, by giving him a stake in the present arrangement. It might even work. Three, don't forget, my family ordered me home for the express purpose of being bargained about in the marriage market, and I obeyed the summons, even if I wasn't that enthusiastic about it. I've just come up with a far more profitable arrangement than anyone expected--and one that ought to lift the exile off Bindulan, and the unfair stain of dishonor from the clan. Four--there are plenty of human women who might trade life with a wearisome husband in exchange for stewardship over the wealth of a whole world."