The Ruby Dice (27 page)

Jaibriol's great-grandfather had been Aristo.

His grandfather had been half Aristo, half Ruby.

His father had been a Ruby psion.

Jaibriol was a Ruby psion.

The Qox Dynasty had created its own Key.

Corbal hadn't just wanted to rule from behind the throne; he wanted Jaibriol to join the powerlink, make the Dyad a Triad, build a Kyle web, and conquer the stars. Corbal had sought to rule the sum total of humanity, all of it, Skolia and the Allieds included, through a puppet emperor. Except Jaibriol had proved far less malleable than he expected. Jaibriol couldn't deny the lure of the power, but he could no more inflict Aristo rule on all humanity than he could transcend. He had also realized his cousin didn't transcend, for Corbal didn't have that immense cavity in his mind. So the two of them had reached an impasse; they each kept the other's secrets.

Jaibriol could never trust his cousin. And yet . . . over the years, something had happened. Corbal's attitude toward him had changed. If Jaibriol hadn't known better, he might have called it familial love. He did know better, of course; he wasn't that naïve.

A chime sounded. Disoriented, Jaibriol opened his eyes and blinked at Robert. "What is that?"

Robert frowned at his mesh film. "Colonel Muze wishes an audience with you."

Jaibriol swore under his breath. "Tell him I'm asleep."

"If that is what you wish,' Robert said formally, "I will take care of it."

Jaibriol wanted to groan. He hated it when Robert talked that way. "In other words, you think I should see him."

"You need his good will," Robert said. "Or at least the best relation you can establish with him. It isn't unreasonable for the station commander to pay his courtesies during a visit such as this. Refusing his request would be an insult."

Jaibriol didn't feel up to dealing with Muze, but what he avoided today could escalate tomorrow. "Very well," he said tiredly. "Bring him in."

As Robert set up the audience, Jaibriol sat up and rested one elbow on the arm of his chair, a posture he had learned by studying portraits of his ancestors, who were often shown seated this way in some imperially elegant place. He had noticed the posture had a subtle effect on people; they viewed him as more regal. It disquieted him that it felt so natural.

His bodyguards ushered Colonel Muze into the room. Hidaka walked at Muze's side, looming over him, his boots clanking. All of Jaibriol's guards were present, six counting Hidaka, one at each wall of the hexagonal chamber. They had that preternatural stillness of Razers, like waiting machines.

Muze bowed to Jaibriol. "My honor at your revered company, Glorious Highness."

Jaibriol nodded stiffly, an acceptance of the greeting with no indication the honor was either returned or refused. He didn't want to alienate Muze any more than he did just by being himself, but neither did he want to encourage the colonel. He lifted his hand, indicating a brocaded armchair identical to his. Both had extensive mech-tech that read body language and adjusted for comfort. On this utilitarian habitat, though, the brocade was more of a rarity than the smart tech.

After Muze was seated, Jaibriol waited. The colonel had requested the audience and he was lower in status than the emperor, so protocol required he broach the discussion first.

"Your visit brings fortune to our station," Muze opened.

"It would appear the vagaries of space-time also bring theirs," Jaibriol said, referring to the implosions. His nanomeds had eased his headache, but it was growing worse again.

"It is great bravery to set oneself in a path of the inexplicable." Muze tilted his head slightly to the left, a hint of contradiction.

Jaibriol knew what he implied; only a fool traveled into the path of an unexplained violent phenomenon. He gritted his teeth, but he could live with the barb. As long as Muze viewed him as callow and ill-advised, he wouldn't suspect Jaibriol's real reason for coming here. Muze didn't seem surprised by his interest; the Lock was, after all, their most valuable acquisition from the Skolians. No one knew if it could revive, and securing a Ruby psion had proved inordinately difficult, but as long as they had the Lock, the chance of creating their own Kyle web remained.

Jaibriol said nothing and let Muze stew. Eventually the colonel would get around to his reason for inflicting this audience. Jaibriol just hoped his head hadn't split open by then.

"It is rare that we have the pleasure of such a magnificent visit," Muze said.

"Indeed," Jaibriol said, and hoped his agreement stuck in Muze's craw. It probably wouldn't; Aristos expected their emperor to think of himself in grandiose terms.

"Would that we could offer your Glorious Highness a better environment," Muze added, his expression cagey.

Jaibriol didn't mind about the small quarters; he would be just as miserable in a bigger room. He said only, "It would be auspicious." He was running out of inflated adjectives.

Muze's eyes glinted. "Perhaps we could provide Your Magnificence a small token of our esteem."

With his headache, it took Jaibriol a moment to absorb what Muze meant. Then he felt sick. The colonel had just offered him a provider so Jaibriol could torture some psion even more unfortunate than himself. He wished he could toss the colonel out, but he didn't dare stir suspicion, especially during this visit. Jaibriol usually avoided "gifts" of providers using his fidelity to his wife as the reason, which was considered bizarre but not abhorrent. But at times, he couldn't avoid it without crossing what Aristos considered an unacceptable line, which meant he had to be present when they transcended. Sometimes it made him so deeply ill, he thought he would lose his mind, and right now he felt close to the edge.

Somehow he managed to say, "Your magnanimous character is noted." He almost gagged on the words.

Muze should have been pleased with the response. But he only seemed warier. Wary . . . and something else. What?

Then it hit Jaibriol. The colonel was
transcending.
With growing horror, Jaibriol realized Muze suspected his good mood was linked to the emperor. Jaibriol shored up his barriers, but it didn't help; his defenses were too strained.

"I shall arrange matters to your taste," Muze was saying.

Alarm flared in Jaibriol. He had to stop Muze from bringing a provider. He would experience the psion's agony as if it was his own, and if that happened in his current weakened state, he would crack open. But he couldn't form the words to extricate himself for the situation; his thoughts fled the intricacies of the Highton language like a cornered animal in pain.

"Your Highness?" Muze asked, his gaze hard.

A chime sounded.

Jaibriol blinked. As he turned toward the sound, Robert looked up from the desk where he had been occupying himself. Until now, he had apparently been too inconsequential for Muze to bother noticing.

"Your Glorious H-highness." Robert sounded terrified. "Please excuse my deplorable interruption. I beg you to forgive me. It is an urgent message from his eminence, Lord Corbal Xir. He requests you attend it soon. Sire!" He slipped out of the chair and knelt with his head down. "I beg you, forgive me."

Jaibriol would have gaped in utter astonishment at his aide's peculiar behavior, except the agony in his head overcame every other reaction, even his falling over in shock. Whatever had afflicted Robert?

It took him a moment to realize Robert was giving him an out. Corbal ranked well above Vatrix Muze in Highton levels of power and influence, enough so the colonel would have to accept a dismissal. At the same time, Robert implied the emperor would see that his aide paid for such an unwelcome interruption from an evening of pleasure. With his mind so raw, Jaibriol knew Robert
was
terrified, not of him, but
for
him. Robert feared that if this audience continued, the emperor would reveal himself in ways better left unknown.

Jaibriol lifted his hand to Muze, palm upward, the gesture meant to indicate apology and displeasure with the source of the infraction, Robert in this case. "It appears my cousin is more eminent than usual," he said wryly.

Muze gave a startled laugh. Apparently Jaibriol's attempt at a Highton joke hadn't fallen flat. He didn't know whether to be relieved he could pull it off or dismayed he was becoming that much of an Aristo.

He initiated the process of dismissing Muze without insult. The entire time, Robert stayed on his knees, shaking. When Hidaka escorted the colonel from the room, Jaibriol had an odd sense, as if Hidaka stayed too close to Muze. It wasn't enough to be an overt threat, but he wondered if the Razer was subconsciously trying to intimidate the colonel. It couldn't be conscious; Razers were designed to consider Aristos supreme beings. It was imprinted in their biomech webs and neural nets. Unless Muze endangered or attacked the emperor, Hidaka could no more threaten him than he could turn inside out. Given that Muze had done nothing more than offer Jaibriol a pleasure girl, the Razer could hardly consider him a danger.

After Muze was gone, Jaibriol said, "Thank you, Hidaka. You all may go as well."

"If it pleases Your Highness that we leave," Hidaka said in his deep voice, "we will esteem and honor your wishes." Then he added, "But I beg you to ask us to commit suicide instead, for we would rather take our own lives than leave yours undefended."

Hell and damnation. The last thing he needed was his Razers arguing with him under the guise of spurious threats to commit suicide. "Hidaka," he said softly. "Go. My head hurts."

The captain stared at him. Hightons never admitted weakness. The shock of it had the desired effect; Hidaka offered no more objections, just motioned for the other guards to leave with him.

As soon as he and Robert were alone, Jaibriol slid down to the floor next to his aide and slumped against the desk. Robert had scanned the room earlier for monitoring devices, but Jaibriol didn't want to take chances. Audio bugs were harder to find than optical, so instead of speaking, he tapped a message on his wrist comm and held it so Robert could see it even with his head bowed.

=Why are you on the floor?= Jaibriol asked.

Robert raised his head. Then he tapped out a message on his comm. =You must not let them harm you.=

=I am the emperor. They cannot.= That wasn't true, but he had endured too much truth for the night. He just wanted to go to bed and give his meds a chance to treat his aching head.

=They can,= Robert wrote. =And they will.=

Robert never openly contradicted him. It scared Jaibriol. =I'll be all right,= he answered.

=We must leave this place,= Robert answered. =It is worse for you here.=

A chill went through Jaibriol. Just how much did Robert suspect? =I can't go yet.=

=Cancel the meeting tomorrow. A crisis has arisen. Lord Xir bids you to attend it.=

Jaibriol thought he must be even more dazed than he had realized, to have forgotten what elicited Robert's reaction in the first place. Reorienting, he wrote, =If Corbal sent a message by starship and it's already arrived, he must have sent it just after I left Glory.=

Robert met his gaze squarely. =Forgive me. I lied.=

Jaibriol gaped at him. Robert was supposed to be incapable of misleading a Highton. That he admitted it without a flinch also put the lie to his performance of terror in front of Muze. When Jaibriol didn't immediately respond, Robert paled. But he never averted his gaze.

Jaibriol took a deep breath. =Very well. I will leave for this "emergency."= As relief suffused his aide's face, he added, =But first I must visit the Lock.=

Robert's brow furrowed. =You are already in the Lock.=

=Not the station. The singularity.=

=But it is dead, Sire.= Robert grimaced. =Unless evil spirits haunt its grave. This station is a grim place.=

=It has no spirits. Just technology.=

Robert didn't answer, and Jaibriol doubted his aide believed him. Jaibriol rubbed his head with his fingertips. Regardless of his condition, he couldn't leave before he did what he had come here to do. He feared that what had begun as a small anomaly could become an interstellar catastrophe by the time it reached the SSRB. The implosions had started where he lived. Maybe it was coincidence. But he didn't believe that. The Lock was seeking him. Maybe it wanted any Ruby psion, and he happened to be closest.

He had to find out what it needed before it was too late.

Radiance filled Kelric Skolia.

Light flowed, liquid and brilliant.

A thought formed in his mind, with the sense of an alien intelligence. KEY.

Yes, Kelric thought. I am your Key. His body no longer existed. He had become thought. Light. Radiance.

NOT KEY, the Lock answered.

I am your Key. He could never stop being one. His brain was so thoroughly intertwined with the Dyad, it would cause fatal brain damage if he tried to withdraw.

DEATH. The luminosity dimmed around Kelric.

Whose death? Kelric asked.

ALL.

Kelric didn't like the sound of it. If the Lock ceased with him in it, he would stop existing as well. His gauntlets had thought of "home," which suggested the SSRB where he had found them. Could that Lock be dying because he had deactivated it?

How can I help? Kelric asked. What do you need?

STRENGTH.

That I can do. He gathered his power into a great wave and flooded the Kyle. The fading of the light slowed, but it didn't stop.

ENDING, the Lock thought.

Then I must go, Kelric thought. If he didn't return to his own universe, he could vanish here. The first time he had entered a Lock, he had no trouble leaving. He had thought of doing it and found himself stepping out of the singularity. But now, when he tried, it didn't work—and without a body, he had no other way to go back.

The universe darkened. END.

NO!

The Kyle vanished.

Jaibriol Qox, Emperor of Eube, stood at the threshold of the corridor that led to the SSRB Lock and stared down the dead, dark pathway. Columns rose on either side, shadowed and filled with motionless gears. Nothing glowed here except a small Eubian safety light on the dais behind him.