The economic philosophy of Communism could gain no foothold on the new, raw planets, for the simple reason that its methods were all geared toward promoting class antagonism. On the new worlds everyone started out as equals and life, at first, was a constant struggle just to stay alive. There were no downtrodden peasants to lead into revolt against oppressive rulers. Confined, as it was, to a single planet, Communism thrashed about frantically in its efforts to survive. But without competition, without the constant specter of Capitalism as its adversary, this struggle was doomed to failure. After seven years of internal squabbling - during which time, it is estimated that close to half a billion people were executed in various purges - the world state was saved by Premier Boris Antonovich Koslov, a strong and able executive who, in 2020, proclaimed himself King Boris 1 of Earth. After one last purge that rid him of his political rivals, he formed a harsh but just absolute monarchy based upon the profit motive, thus laying the foundation for our present system.
(Stanhope, Elements of Empire, Reel r, slot 376.)
Even had they known of Colonel Crandon’s eventual fate, Yvette and Jules would still have felt very depressed as they made their way back to headquarters in Miami. This was their first meeting with the Head, their first major assignment from the organization for which they had been trained, and they had failed to apprehend their quarry alive. Never mind the fact that it would have been impossible for anyone to have caught Crandon, given that head start; they still felt guilty about his escape. They had let the Head down.
Their boss could read the dejection in their eyes as they reentered his office via the elevator tube. He had already received verbal reports from the fleet commander about Crandon’s fate, and had set in motion the necessary search machinery just in case the colonel had not died in that crash. There was nothing more to be done about that situation, and he resolved not to dwell on it.
‘I was aware that we had some problem with a leak,’ he said slowly, ‘but I hadn’t realized it was that high up. Now I’ll have to stop almost all work while we regroup and recheck for loyalties. But in the meantime, we’ll have to continue on with the business I had in mind for you. The fact that there was so high a leak indicates how important it was that we send for the Circus - and particularly for you two.’
‘Yes, you might as well tell us,’ Yvette sighed, trying to overcome her depression. ‘We’ve been ambushed and shot at, and chased a traitor all the way across this peninsula. It would help to know what it’s all about.’
As his sister spoke, Jules could feel a pair of eyes watching him. Looking over to the corner of the room, he saw Helena gazing his way with a dreamy sort of look on her face. As their eyes met, she smiled warmly at him. Jules hastily turned his attention back to his boss.
The Head nodded at what Yvette had said. ‘As you can see, there’s trouble. It’s centered, we think, on the planet Durward. There are forty-odd reels of records concerning our investigation, which I’ll give you before you leave; but there are also a number of things that aren’t on the record and never will be. That’s why I wanted to discuss this with you in person. The investigation will be entirely in your hands, and you’ll be free to conduct it in any way you wish. You may want to question some outsiders to get the full picture, and you may want to conduct a preliminary examination on Earth or elsewhere before you go any where near Durward.’
The Head stood up and, out of habit, walked over to the window where the drapes were drawn. His back was to his daughter and the d’Alemberts. These two DesPlainians were potentially his most valuable agents, and the fact that he had brought them here was a measure of the importance he attached to the situation. He had fully expected some sort of trouble waiting for them between the Circus and his office ... and he’d been equally confident that the d’Alemberts could handle it.
But, he had to force himself to admit, they were still unproven. True, they came from the most able of bloodlines, and were members of a family that had served the Empire well almost since the inception of
SOTE itself. True, they had trained for their job practically since birth and, as tests showed, they could do their work more capably than anyone else in all of human-occupied space.
The question still remained: had he waited too long to summon them? Had he let his own pride in his ability to handle the situation delay matters too long? Could even the d’Alemberts deal with the menace that threatened the Empire now?
He turned back abruptly to face the other three people in the office. ‘Let’s fill in some background. For example, consider the question of loyalty. The Service is totally loyal to the Crown as the symbol of the
Empire. The wearer of the Crown, whoever he or she may be, is the very focal point of the Empire. You agree?’
‘Of course, sir,’ Jules said. The two girls just nodded. ‘Very well. In early 2378, when Crown Prince Ansel was planning the murder of the entire rest of the Royal Family, if we had caught him at it in time we of the Service - I speak in the first person, even though it was long before any of us was born - we would have burned him down, Crown Prince though he was, because he threatened the Crown itself.’
Why, I ... suppose that ... yes, sir,’ Jules said.
‘I never thought of it before in just that way, sir,’ Yvette added. ‘But that’s the way it would have to be.’
‘Of course. Ansel himself recognized that principle when, after accomplishing his coup, he executed the Head of the Service for incompetence in letting it happen. Nevertheless, those eleven murders did take place, and Ansel, as the sole surviving member of the House of Stanley, became Emperor Stanley Nine.
Was there then any question of punishment for his deed, any thought of gunning him down? No. We instantly became as loyal to him as we had been to his father, Stanley Eight, and now are to his son, Stanley Ten. We are the Service of the Empire, not of any one particular emperor. Whoever sits on that throne is the Empire.’
‘Of course, sir. But what ... ?’
‘Now comes some off the record material. Have you ever heard of Banion the Bastard?’
Jules thought for a moment. ‘I don’t think so, sir,’ he said. Yvette also shook her head.
But this time Helena began to nod ever so slightly, and said, ‘Oh oh - a light beginneth to dawn.’
Ignoring his daughter, the Head went on, ‘I didn’t think you two had. The whole affair took place a good many years ago, and has been hushed up quite well since then. Not too many people now alive would remember the name. But, in point of fact, that name is the crux of our problem today.’
He went back to his desk, sat down and took a sip of his drink, collecting his thoughts and wondering how best to phrase the history lesson. ‘Stanley Nine’s weakness was women, particularly young ones. Even before he ascended the Throne so abruptly, his love life had been speculated upon in the scandal sheets and had he not been next in line of succession there were even juicier stories that could not have been squelched. By the end of 2378, just a few months after assuming the Crown, he had gotten married - and to a very beautiful, intelligent girl, I might add. No matter; her hold on him was never any more permanent than that of innumerable others, both before and after. By the middle of 2379, Empress Odina was of as little importance to Stanley Nine’s life as the drapes in the Imperial Ballroom. He visited her occasionally to try to produce a legitimate heir, but otherwise she was almost a ghost in the Imperial Palace.’
‘Poor woman,’ Yvette sighed softly.
‘Yes, quite so. Meanwhile, with the Emperor on the loose again, as it were, others saw their chance to profit from his weakness. In particular there was one Henry Blount, Duke of Durward. He was thirty years old at the time - just four years senior to the Emperor - and a bachelor, and eager for power. He saw in Stanley Nine’s womanizing a chance to influence the Throne itself. If he could just place the right woman in the Emperor’s bed, he would have Stanley Nine’s ear and shape his policy. But not just any girl would do; the woman who would be the Imperial courtesan must have very special talents.
‘Duke Henry scoured his entire planet, and of course found the perfect woman for his plans. Her name was Aimee Amorat...’
‘The Beast of Durward,’ Helena interrupted, looking over at the d’Alemberts with a special eye toward Jules. ‘Surely you’ve heard of her.’
Neither Jules nor Yvette had.
‘You must remember, my dear,’ her father said gently, ‘that court scandals are kept alive on Earth a great deal longer than they are on the farther planets, merely because this is where they occur. As the size of the Empire increases, our internal communication becomes fuzzy, and ... but this isn’t meant to be a lecture on imperial logistics, so let me continue with my story.
‘Gospozha Amorat was precisely the woman Duke Henry was looking for. She was young- twenty-two, I believe - and had beauty enough for three women, according to the legends. She was extremely intelligent. She was an aspiring actress so that, while being sexually experienced enough to cater to the Emperor’s tastes, she could act coyly enough to cater to his fantasies. And, one of the primary points in her favor, she had not a scruple to her name. She was as cold-blooded, vicious and hard as Duke Henry himself. She well earned her nickname.
‘She and Henry quickly came to terms and set their plots in motion. He brought her here to Earth and financed a tremendous social debut at the next Grand Imperial Court. Of course she was unknown, which in itself made her intriguing to the young Emperor. Once she turned her charms on him, he never had a chance - and when she sank her claws in, they were there to stay.
‘With Duke Henry’sfull backing and her own considerable guile, she managed to keep Stanley Nine on the hook longer than any other woman was ever able to. Their romance was the talk of the court for five months before an even more important topic supplanted it - the Beast was pregnant with the Emperor’s child.
‘Stanley Nine had had illegitimate children before; you could populate a planet with his less than-legal offspring. Normally, the mothers were just given a stipend and sent along their merry way - but Aimee Amorat was not one to be dismissed so lightly. She had turned the Emperor’s head so far that rumors of divorce were actually flying through the Court. Fortunately, as I mentioned, the Empress Odina was a pretty smart woman herself. The vast majority of the Court was on her side - they all hated the usurper from Durward -- and she rallied her support and persuaded Stanley Nine to keep her. But even with this play foiled, Duke Henry and the Beast were not entirely out of the picture.
‘When Aimee was about seven months pregnant, the Duke married her - with Nine’s full approval. Thus her son, Banion, was born in wedlock as the first child of - and the direct heir of - the Duke and Duchess of Durward. That wasn’t enough for the schemers, however. Stanley Nine was still blindly infatuated with the extremely talented Beast and, at her insistence, issued a Patent of Royalty, admitting his paternity and bestowing upon the infant the unique title of “The Prince of Durward”. This Patent also authorized a coat of arms as follows
‘ “Purpure, quarterly three dragons rampant or, in chief sinister a bend sinister or, in dexter...” ‘
‘Wait up, Father!’ Helena broke in. ‘You’re not getting through to me at all, and I don’t believe that’s our guests’ language, either.’
The Head laughed. ‘Excuse me- I sometimes forget that heraldry isn’t for everybody. Basically, it’s gold dragons rearing on purple enamel. The bar sinister, which need not be a mark of illegitimacy, in this case definitely was. It goes on that way for a couple of hundred words, only a few of which are pertinent. “Bordure gules, charged thirteen bezants sable.” Poor heraldry, really - color on color and an unlucky number of spots on a background of blood - but that and the fact that the Patent was dated Friday the thirteenth of June, 2380, are perfectly in keeping with the Duke’s vicious sense of humor.
‘Things went on this way for three more months, until suddenly the Duke’s plots came crashing unexpectedly down around his head. Empress Odina was pregnant, and there would be a legitimate heir to the throne.
‘All at once, Stanley Nine came to his senses. Here was a man who had wiped out the rest of his Royal Family just to attain the Throne, and yet he himself had been foolish enough to establish a pretender to the Crown with a perfectly valid claim. The taste of that must have been pretty bitter. He could not, of course, allow that Patent to stand. He ordered the Service to kill the Duke and Banion, and to destroy the Patent; but he was far too late. One of Duke Henry’s spies at court had already informed him of the Empress’s pregnancy, and the Duke and Duchess realized immediately what he meant. By the time the
Service could act, they had disappeared completely - with the Patent.
‘The Patent, of course, was the most important thing. It was handwritten and signed by Emperor Stanley
Nine himself, on Imperial parchment, with the signature driven into the parchment by the Great Seal of the Empire of Earth. The Patent was revoked and erased from all record; the people involved were proscribed: but that wasn’t enough. The actual physical document had to be found and destroyed but it wasn’t. Banion the Bastard had to be found and killed but he wasn’t.
‘Those are the crucial facts, though there were a few developments since then. With their success gone, the Duke and the Beast quarreled. Apparently she tried to lead a rebellion against him; her hope was to kill him, renounce the Patent and try to get back into the Emperor’s good graces. But her coup failed, and she barely escaped with three vital things: her life, her son and the Patent. There has been no official trace of any of them since.
‘Duke Henry, on the other hand, was captured in 2383. lie was questioned quite severely about the location of the Patent and the child. He genuinely didn’t know their whereabouts, and so Stanley Nine had to settle for executing the Duke for treason.’
The Head paused and let out a deep breath. ‘In the meantime, the search that started sixty-seven years ago is continuing. It began in 2380, twenty years before I was born. As I said, the record of it covers more than forty reels. Results have been nearly nil, except for three very good forgeries, yet somehow this lack of results has cost the Service eighty-nine lives.’ He paused again, t let that sink in. ‘Eighty nine. A hideous waste - and the number has been accelerating of late. Two years ago, several leads came to light, pointing back to Durward. We sent in some good agents to investigate. Three months ago, all those agents stopped reporting. Then I sent in three more, of a much higher caliber, and gave them orders to avoid all previous contacts. They disappeared without a trace. I sent in one more just three weeks ago, one of my absolute best. Vanished; he was gone as though he never existed.’
He pounded a fist down on his desk in frustration. ‘Damn it, there is something out there that is eating my agents, and I don’t like it. We must find out what it is and stop it, before it grows completely out of bounds. That’s why I brought in the Circus, and particularly you two; you’re the heaviest artillery the Service has.
The threat to Stanley Ten and the Royal Family is grave indeed; just how grave even I didn’t comprehend until the events of tonight, with the attack on you in the bar and the discovery of Colonel Grandon’s treachery.’
The Head stood up, walked over to where Jules and Yvette were seated and stood in front of them. ‘Most of the principals in that story are dead. Stanley Nine and Duke Henry most assuredly are - we have adequate proof of that. Aimee Amorat would have to be ninety years old if she is still alive, so we can tentatively rule her out as a viable force. The Bastard, though, at sixty-seven could still be kicking up a lot of traces - and I won’t even begin to speculate about his possible children and grandchildren, of whom we would know nothing.’
He placed a hand on the shoulder of each d’Alembert. ‘I may be overstating the obvious, but I can’t stress enough the importance of this mission to the succession. Stanley Te n was the only legitimate heir to Stanley Nine, and he in turn has only one heir, his daughter. If anything should happen to them, the Galaxy could be plunged into chaos. The Bastard or his heir would undoubtedly come forward with the Patent to make his claim - and it would be the best one, under the circumstances. That Patent would - and probably does, to judge from Grandon’s case- play havoc with the Service’s loyalties by confusing people about whom to support. Not to mention a lot of hitherto loyal dukes and grand dukes who might decide to dispute that claim in their own favor if given half a chance. The result would be civil war, one which could last for centuries and cost untold billions of lives. Our entire civilization could collapse under that heavy burden. It’s a thought I hate to contemplate, yet I must- because I, and you also, have the responsibility of preventing it.’
The Head straightened up again, placing his hands at his sides. ‘The Service’s prime duty, of course, is to protect the Emperor and, after him, his successor. Until tonight I’d thought we could accomplish at least that safely enough; now I can’t be certain just how riddled our organization is with traitors. Whoever has the Patent has been patient, so far, building his opposition to us with meticulous care until he’s wormed his way right into our vital organs. We can’t expect him to wait much longer before he makes his final bid for power.’
‘Our mission then,’ said Yvette, ‘is to destroy the Patent and whoever is holding it.’
‘Not exactly,’ the Head said. ‘It’s a little more ticklish than that. You must find the genuine Patent, to be sure, but we also must have it brought intact, so that Stanley Ten can destroy it with his own hands. Only then will the Throne be safe. Also, you must find Banion the Bastard and capture him alive, if possible; he’s built an organization that is threatening the Empire and, if we’re to destroy it, we’ll need his intimate knowledge of how it works.’
Helena was still looking at Jules with that warmly disconcerting gaze. He ignored it, stood up and looked directly into the Head’s face. ‘You’ll have our best effort, sir, I assure you.
The older man smiled. ‘Then I’m satisfied. I have the utmost confidence in you two.’ He handed them a box containing the records they would need to check, then led them back to the elevator tube. Helena came over and unexpectedly kissed Jules goodbye. The DesPlainian blushed as he and his sister stepped into the tube.
‘Goodbye and good luck,’ the Head called after them adding, under his breath, ‘We’ll all need it.’