JULIEN

II

Chapter 29

Honourable correspondent

A few days later, as Julien was getting reading to leave his beloved lakeside villa to return to the Burrow, Dennkar came to visit him.

“Good news, My Lord,” he said. “We've got hold of one of the enemy's agents.”

He looked satisfied but somehow surprised at the same time, as if he hadn't believed the operation could have had such a successful result.

“He gave himself up to Aldegard's people,” he went on. “He says that if we keep our promise of an amnesty others will come forward and surrender, too. Apparently there are several hundred of them, split between Dvârinn and Nüngen.”

“When you say 'An enemy agent', do you mean a traitor from within the Nine Worlds or someone who actually comes from their world?” asked Julien.

“Sorry, I didn't make it clear. It's someone from their world, which they call Sar Talak. And his story is most interesting, too.”

“I can imagine. So what does he look like?”

“He looks just like everyone else, which is what makes it worrying. He scarcely has an accent at all and could easily have come from any of our human worlds.”

“Then how can you be sure that he really is an outsider?”

“Because he had this.”

Dennkar produced a small black object about the size of a cigarette lighter which, once Dennkar had pressed a small carved symbol, started to produce a flow of words in an unknown language. After a few seconds Dennkar switched it off again.

“It's a communication device,” he explained. It's connected to a similar device on their world and is used to exchange information. The agent isn't a scientist and so has only a limited understanding of how it works, but the principle seems to be that each device carries a huge number of particles of energy. These particles are generated in pairs and then separated into two twin communicators, one of each pair of particles in each of the twins. It's nothing like the guidance systems we found in the Der Mang depot, the ones you call 'radio'. The agent says that with the twin system there are no limits of distance, and they would work even if they were at opposite ends of the universe.

“As far as I can make out, it works because when you change the state of one of the particles, the same change happens instantly to its twin particle in the other device. The device then interprets that change and transforms it into sound, after which that particle is destroyed. The only limit on its use is the number of particles available. It has a vast number, but once they've all been used the device becomes useless.

“Anyway, he translated some of the messages coming out of the device for me. Basically they're asking for news and telling him to stand by and await further orders. They haven't sent him a single word about their base being destroyed.”

“I suppose we might have expected that,” said Julien. “But it shows how little they trust their agents, doesn't it?”

“Exactly. Once he'd read our communiqué he asked his home base for information, but the man at the other end acted as if he had no idea what the agent was talking about. After a day or so the agent realised that we were telling the truth, accepted that he was basically stranded on Nüngen and decided to try his luck with us instead.”

“Does he know where the other agents are?”

“No. He says he's only a low-level agent, and he never met anyone except his own immediate supervisor. They had regular meetings, but the supervisor failed to turn up for the last appointment, and the only thing his home base would tell him was to keep attending the rendezvous and to wait for further instructions.”

“So what do you intend to do now?”

“Obviously I'd like to have him probed. If he volunteers it shouldn't be too hard on him. But I wanted to ask your permission first, because now we've closed the base and ended the state of emergency we can't probe anyone without a court order or permission from the Emperor.”

“Couldn't you apply for a court order? I'm sure Aldegard could arrange that easily.”

“Yes, I'm sure he could, but I want to keep it quiet. After all, there might be more people like Ajmer around, people who wouldn't want their own involvement in the affair to come to light. Maybe this agent doesn't know anything about that, but it would be better to involve as few people as possible to avoid scaring people who might react dangerously.”

“All right, I can see what you mean, but I'm not sure that I can agree.”

“I'm sorry?”

“Basically you're using me to get around the law. I understand why, and if I was in your place I'd probably do the same thing, but... well, I've been thinking for a while now about why I'm here, and I've decided that until I know everything I need to know I'm only going to do whatever I think is right.”

“But I'm not asking you to do anything wrong!”

“It might not be wrong, but it still seems to be an attempt to bypass the Laws of the R'hinz. I don't want to be a dictator. Where I come from there are still a lot of them around, and I know where that sort of thing leads.”

“But you're the Emperor!”

“If Yulmir went around doing whatever he wanted without listening to anyone else he probably wasn't a very nice man. But there is an alternative: bring the man to me and I'll ask if he's prepared to be probed. If he agrees it's problem solved.”

“And if he refuses?”

“Then it'll be up to you. You can either apply to the courts, or you can manage without the probe.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

“Don't look at me like that, Dennkar. I like you a lot and I think you're doing an excellent job. You could easily have failed to mention that the State of Emergency had ended, and in that case I'd probably have given you the go-ahead. I'm glad you took the right line, and I hope you always will.”

“Thank you, My Lord. And... the Emperor didn't do whatever he wanted without listening to people. Actually he'd have reacted exactly as you did. The only difference is that I would have known better than to ask him for permission in the first place. Please forgive an old man for treating you as something you are not.”

“I don't know what you mean. And you're still in good shape – you're nothing like senile just yet! Anyway, please have the man brought here.”

While he waited for Dennkar to come back Julien thought about what had just happened. He didn't entirely understand why he had chosen to resist a man whose natural authority was clear, but he had done so almost without thinking. Suddenly he had recognised that he couldn't bend the law to suit his own convenience and that it would be extremely dangerous to do so, and not just from the standpoint of abstract ethics, either. Not so very long ago he'd simply have gone along with what Dennkar wanted without arguing, but now he felt that to have done so would have been wrong on every level. And he'd felt that straight away: the various arguments he had deployed to support his decision had only come to him afterwards.

oo0oo

The man really was completely anonymous. He was in his thirties and wearing a nondescript blue-grey abba. He walked beside Dennkar, shooting the odd surprised glance at his surroundings. As he stopped in front of Julien he did his best not to stare too openly at this unusually attractive young boy who was sitting on a plain rattan chair and wearing the white Marks of the Imperial House.

“This is the man I told you about, Your Lordship,” said Dennkar, breaking the silence.

“I imagine you have a name?” said Julien to the man.

“I'm Yakder... Your Lordship.”

“Honourable Yakder, please sit down – and please stop looking at your feet, too! I can't kill with a glare, and I like to be able to talk face to face with people. You gave yourself up to Aldegard's forces of your own free will and you're ready to cooperate with us. Is that right?”

“Yes, Your Lordship.”

“How long have you been living on Nüngen?”

“Eight cycles, Your Lordship.”

“And I imagine that you were studying Tünnkeh and our customs for a lot longer than that.”

“Indeed, Your Lordship. I was chosen for this mission when I was ten.”

“Are you aware that the moon which served as a base for your operations and where your travel machines were located has now disappeared from the universe?”

“So they tell me, Your Lordship.”

“Believe it. I was actually a part of that operation, so I know it to be true.”

The man looked surprised.

“I'm not boasting here,” Julien said. “I'm just telling you so that you know I'm not going to be trying to trick you or tell you lies. I'm going to tell you the truth, and I'd like you to do the same. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Your Lordship.”

“Have you ever heard of a mental probe?”

The man went pale.

“Yes, Your Lordship,” he said.

“It's a highly efficient process, although it can be unpleasant – certainly it has a bad reputation. But if it's done properly it doesn't always kill you, and if you offer genuine cooperation it won't even leave you brain-damaged. And again you can trust me on this, because I've been probed myself.”

“You?! Why?!?”

“That's none of your business, but I swear it's true.”

“Forgive me, Your Lordship.”

“Now – tell me if you know about the methods used by your own intelligence service to obtain information from prisoners.”

“I've never had anything to do with that sort of atrocity!”

“But clearly you do understand what I'm talking about. There's a man in this house, a good friend of mine, who survived a number of those disgusting sessions, and he only survived because we reached him just in time. One of his colleagues went on being tortured even though the interrogators knew he'd already told them everything he knew. And two others died under torture. So don't you think I have the right to send you to be probed? I can assure you, probing is a great deal less barbarous!”

The man said nothing.

“Answer me, please,” insisted Julien. “Do I have the right to have you probed? Does it seem fair to you?”

“Your Lordship...”

“Yakder, I'm simply asking you a straightforward question. Please give me an answer.”

“Then... yes, you have the right.”

“Does it seem fair, though?”

“I don't know. I've never tortured anyone.”

“I hope not. But there are others in your organisation who do so with no apparent problem.”

“Then I suppose it's fair.”

“Then you're wrong. Obviously those who trained you didn't tell you everything. We are in what we call the R'hinz ka aun li Nügen, the Domain of Perfect Equity. There are laws that govern the Nine Worlds, and I am the Keeper of those laws. Of course, if I ordered you to be probed nobody would raise any objections: nobody would dare to argue with the Emperor. But I know the law, and it forbids me from inflicting that sort of treatment on anyone who has not been tried and convicted by a court of law. That is why nobody has probed you so far.

“Now let me explain the situation as I see it. You've decided to cooperate with us, and I think you're sincere about that. I'm sure you've told us plenty of useful things already, but the fact is that you are also in possession of a vast amount of other vital information of which you're probably not even aware. That sort of information can only be obtained by a mental probe. Yes, it's absolutely true that the people of your world no longer have any way to reach us, at least not in the near future. Nor are we likely to need to fight them. But it's still essential for us to find out what happened and what your people were preparing to do. Furthermore, we know that a number of people here were ready to cooperate with your forces, and you can be certain that those traitors don't want us to know who they are. And they will definitely be prepared to kill in order to cover their tracks.”

“But I don't know who they are, or anything about it!”

“You might be sure of that, but I doubt very much if our traitors will be prepared to risk leaving you alive if they think there's the remotest chance that you could betray them. Anyway, here's where we stand: we really need the information in your head, and I think a court would probably allow Master Dennkar here to go ahead and have you probed. However, that wouldn't do you any favours. First, a forced probe is far more likely to cause mental damage to the subject, and second, if a trial were to be held, no matter how discreet we try to be about it, it would alert the people we're after. They would probably try to kill you and then either disappear from view or maybe try something reckless and dangerous to everyone.

“So it seems to me that the best solution for both you and us would be this: you volunteer to be probed, and I put you under the protection of the Imperial House. It's obvious why this is your best course of action: instead of drawing attention to yourself in court and then undergoing a hostile probing you'll be safely out of the public eye and under my personal protection, which will make it impossible for anyone to kill you before you're probed. And obviously there'd be no point in killing you afterwards.

“As for me, I gain because I make sure you're kept safe, and I also get the information we need without having to bend or break the law which I'm supposed to defend. I also prefer this solution because I think you're basically a good man, and everyone will tell you that I don't like harming people who haven't harmed me. And finally, I hope it will demonstrate that this can be a good place for you to live, because it's a place where even the most powerful abide by the law and try to do the right thing.

“Now I have other matters to attend to, so I'll leave you with Master Dennkar. Have a think about my offer, and take as long as you need. If you decide you'd prefer to try your luck with the courts he won't try to stop you. And if you decide that you'll volunteer to be probed, I guarantee that it'll be done by the best experts we have, and also that they will be instructed to go gently and carefully, even if the process takes a bit longer that way. Dennkar, I know I can count on you to make sure that this man is treated well, whatever happens.”

“Of course, Your Lordship. I'll keep you informed.”

“Please tell Tannder what's happening, too. If he's not happy, tell him to come and talk to me. I'll be at the Burrow. See you later.”

oo0oo

Chapter 30

Two!

As he now did every time he travelled with Aïn Julien tried to reach the Orientation Table, but once again he was unsuccessful. He had stuck to his promise not to try unless the Master Guide was with him: he had no wish to find himself marooned in the Outside, even if Xarax was with him. He wasn't too worried about it: everyone he had spoken to about it so far agreed that he'd be able to travel on his own again before too much longer.

When they reached the Burrow Dillik greeted him with a big smile and handed him a document bearing a magnificent and very official-looking seal.

“It's from the Noble Lord Tahlil,” he said.

Julien broke the seal and read the message, which was indeed a formal invitation from the Emperor's Mirror to attend the maiden voyage of the new First Trankenn of the Rent'haliks. Unable to contain his excitement Dillik started speaking again the moment Julien lifted his eyes from the invitation.

“You are going, aren't you?” he demanded. “My father will be in command! We went to look at the ship this afternoon with Niil, and she's a beauty! My father said that Lord Tahlil would really like you to be there, and he said he won't mind at all if I go with you, if you don't mind, of course. You will let me come with you, won't you? And obviously Niil and Ambar will want to come too...”

“Hello, Dillik! I'll need to talk to Niil about it, but I expect he'll make time for such an important occasion...”

“I already asked him, and he said...”

“Calm down, Dillik! This invitation is for ten days' time, and if you're going to go on and on about it like that for the next ten days I don't think I can take it. Xarax, can you do something?”

The haptir leapt on his young friend and soon Dillik was rolling about on the ground, his laï rucked up to his waist, trying unsuccessfully to ward off a bout of extreme tickling which was at least causing his excess of energy to be dissipated. That left Julien free to join Subadar, Niil, Ambar and Sandeark to tell them about his meeting with Yakder.

oo0oo

Once everyone had heard Julien's report, Subadar said, “Julien, I'm worried. I don't believe the danger is over. Maybe the off-worlders are stymied for now, but something tells me they are only part of the problem. I think we might have given up our new weapons a bit too soon.”

“I know what you mean,”' said Julien. “On Earth we had to learn a Latin saying: Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war. That works perfectly well in theory. But in practice my world is up to its ears in those bloody weapons. And I'm not talking about bows and arrows, either. We kill each other at the drop of a hat and the strongest countries threaten to blow the planet apart. I have no wish to replay the Emm Talak story here! I've closed Pandora's box and I won't open it again unless there really is no alternative. They're probing that agent as we speak, and I promise that if there is the remotest possibility of them attacking us again I won't hesitate – in fact I'm ready to go and attack their world if we have to. But in the meantime our proud Warriors are going to have to manage with the same weapons they've been authorised to use for the past few thousand cycles.”

“I wasn't just thinking about the off-worlders,” said Subadar. "I'm becoming more and more certain that there's another enemy. Ghorrs don't grow on trees: they have to be produced and controlled by someone. That calls for a knowledge of the Dark Arts, and I don't think the off-worlders knew anything about that.”

“Now there I agree with you,” said Julien. “But it doesn't change anything as far as the weapons are concerned. If we're dealing with that kind of enemy they have to be allied with entities like the Neh-kyongs, don't they?”

“They do. With Drheh of some sort, anyway.”

“And I don't suppose our forbidden weapons would be a lot of use against these Dhreh?”

“Well, probably not against Drheh. But against the humans using them... probably.”

“We haven't reached that stage yet. Anyway, I've just received an invitation from Lord Tahlil to the maiden voyage of his trankenn. I imagine that Niil and Ambar will want to come with me, and you'd be very welcome too. And Master Sandeark – although I'm not going to twist anyone's arm to force them to come on a dream cruise around some beautiful islands...”

“I do have a lot of important matters to attend to,” said Subadar, “but my sense of duty forbids me from leaving His Lordship to face the dangers of such a diplomatic journey without the support of my advice.”

“As for me,” said Sandeark, “I really can't allow my students to laze around for that long without being on hand to offer them something to keep their minds occupied.”

“I'm sure your sacrifice will fill them with inspiration and happiness...”

oo0oo

Since Julien had started to produce his nectar he'd made a point of sharing it around fairly, and that made the usual fun and games a bit complicated as each of the three boys who shared the bed with him tried to grab as much of it as they could. It was getting a little more plentiful, and a bit thicker, too, but even so... Of course there are worse problems in life than having to learn how to control one's orgasms or finding ways to deal with one's friends' ever more cunning attempts to take advantage of one. At first he was minded to exclude Dillik from the game, on the specious and actually rather insulting pretext that he was too young, but nobody could have withstood the combination of Dillik's own tears and the clear indignation of a haptir who clearly believed that Dillik's cause was just.

Julien still flatly refused to plunge his Adamantine Sceptre into Dillik's Secret Entrance no matter how enthusiastically Dillik begged him to, but he did now allow the young sprite to satisfy his apparently unending thirst for the miraculous Elixir. Of course Ambar shared this thirst, and so, to a slightly lesser extent, did Niil, although given a choice between the available pleasures Niil would probably have chosen, after much indecision, a vigorous penetration of his Well of Delights.

He had by now declared himself entirely happy with Julien's dimensions and stamina, and Julien was secretly flattered by this, since it suggested that he was a more than adequate substitute for Karik, who only made occasional appearances with the boys, spending most of his time at his master's bedside and, as Niil sometimes hinted, in the bed as well. Nobody begrudged him that: it was a privilege that had been thoroughly well-earned, and it was felt that Tannder would have had to have a heart of stone to turn him away after such a demonstration of devotion and, indeed, love.

Anyway, this evening started out much the same as any other, with the four boys amusing themselves and each other in a series of sexual gymnastics designed to teach each of them how to postpone their final loss of control for as long as possible. In due course Julien found himself head to tail with Niil, while Ambar was using plenty of lubrication but little subtlety in his attempts to penetrate his secret entrance and Dillik was trying to do the same thing to Niil. They had all just about reached the moment of no return, and Julien, in whose mouth the still partly-grown but nonetheless respectable organ of his best friend was starting to quiver, suddenly got his first ever taste of the product of the two small eggs he was caressing. There wasn't very much, but it was nonetheless a pure distillation of Niil-ness.

He had to wait long enough to recover from his own orgasm, and of course he wanted to savour the taste of what was in his mouth for as long as possible. But once he'd finally got his breath back, and once Ambar had withdrawn his still thoroughly hard member from his nether entrance, Julien was able to announce his discovery to his friends.

“Guess what, everyone?” he said. “Now we can throw a party for Niil too!”

oo0oo