27
HER BODY was like a doll tumbling into the darkness. She must have passed out quickly, because I met no resistance when I grabbed her, when I hauled her with me toward the Hera.
Precious seconds dragged by as I neared the awaiting air lock and thrust her inside. I caught her before she could bounce back out, and sealed the door shut behind me. The repressurization sequence kicked in.
I knew when oxygen returned, because Neveni drew a huge gasp of air. I sagged back against the wall, my heart drumming in my chest. It wasn’t until the door opened between the air lock and the rest of the Hera that I ripped off my helmet. A nearby med bot, responding to her vital signs, soared into the chamber with us.
“Neveni,” I called to her as it hummed about her. “Neveni, can you hear me?”
She made a sound.
“Are you brain-dead?” I asked her.
She obviously couldn’t answer this if she were, but I could tell she wasn’t because her face grimaced with distinct vexation. I assumed that a brain-dead Neveni couldn’t manage that.
Sure enough, she spoke as soon as she could manage: “Why didn’t you just let me die?”
Her voice was a dry rasp. I thought I’d misunderstood her.
Then, “I wouldn’t let you die. I’m not holding a grudge over the transmission you sent me. I know Pasus forced you, and he would have trapped us without it. So . . . so if you think I was angry, I wasn’t. That didn’t merit letting you be killed.”
“This isn’t about you, Nemesis. Why didn’t you let me die for my sake?” she cried raggedly. “I wanted to be dead. I was glad it was over. I should be with my family. I want to be with them.”
“Space is still out there,” I told her. “It’s not going anywhere. One touch of a button and I could vent you back out into the vacuum if you prefer.”
Neveni gave a sob. “Do it, then.”
“No,” I said, indignant. “I just went to a great deal of trouble saving you. Vent yourself to space if you want.”
I turned around to leave her, then thought better of it. She might take me up on that suggestion.
“I’d rather you didn’t do that,” I told her quickly. “I prefer you weren’t dead. You surely realize that even if you’ve just lost everyone you know and love, everything will be better soon.”
She made a choked sound and covered her face with her hands. Even the brief vacuum exposure had blistered her skin with the cosmic rays of the stars, so the med bot turned its attention to that next.
I didn’t know what else to say, so I left her. The noises she made, which followed me down the corridor, could have been sobs or laughter. I made sure to dispatch a service bot her way with recreational narcotics. Venalox was a dreadful narcotic, but I still had faith in other sorts. Drugs were a most excellent means of coping with grief.
• • •
For the first time, Pasus summoned me to his vessel, the Colossus. Once I boarded the ship, I found Tyrus seated across from Senator von Pasus at a long table amid a garden. Servitors placed an array of freshly sliced breakfast fruits before them. In the great light of three suns beaming through the sky dome, Tyrus’s skin looked wan, sallow. He’d lost a great deal of weight.
“Ah, Nemesis,” said Senator von Pasus. “Sit. Eat breakfast.”
I would sooner drink poison. I eyed Pasus, wondering what his game was. He sat with Tyrus’s scepter positioned on the table in a short stand . . . closer to him than to its true owner.
“Your Supreme Reverence, look who has joined us!” Pasus said loudly.
Tyrus stirred, met my eyes just for a moment.
“He is not eating,” Pasus told me. “Withdrawal will do that.”
Withdrawal!
My gaze flitted hopefully to Tyrus. He clearly knew what uses he’d been put to while under, because there was a bitter cynicism on his face.
“Are you all right?” I asked him quietly, knowing there was no way to speak without Pasus hearing us.
“Just queasy,” Tyrus said hoarsely.
“Do you . . .” I looked at Pasus, watching us with a smug satisfaction that made me want to break his skull open. “Tyrus, do you remember everything?”
“I remember signing away every possession I have,” he said, his voice a rasp. “And then accepting responsibility for a mass murder I didn’t commit. I remember enough to deem that the worst drug trip of my life. Now my mind is clear. Why?” He looked up at Pasus. “Do you have all the plunder you meant to take?”
“I’m satisfied we’re off to the right start. We no longer need the injections. From now on, you will simply need to ask me for doses when you feel you need them, and I’ll give them to you so you may inhale them at leisure.”
Tyrus closed his eyes. “I have no ships, no colonies, no resources . . . just my vaunted bloodline. Tell me, how am I to pay my oxygen allowance? Food. Water. Now that you have the deed to the Valor Novus, shall I go elsewhere, or do I rent from you? And that brings me back to money. I would vacate the premises, but I suspect you would not allow that. You see my difficulty.”
“You’re right. You won’t be able to shoulder those expenses. Especially when Your Supremacy has ruled out the prospect of marrying for wealth,” Pasus agreed. “Fortunately, I’m willing to lend you what you need.”
“Which again brings us back to the issue of money. One can’t simply borrow without end.”
“Your ancestors certainly had no issues with running a deficit. I will take care of all the arrangements for you to make payments toward your debts to me through taxes. Tariffs. Fines. You have the mechanisms of the state at your command. Your uncle was liberal with his use of them.”
“I am not,” snapped Tyrus.
“Not yet.” Pasus’s eyes gleamed.
Tyrus had no choice here. They both knew it.
Tyrus leaned back, gazed up at the ceiling, and gave a fatalistic laugh. “Between genocide and extorting the Excess, you mean me to be a very popular Emperor. Why even bother with Venalox? A borrower is already slave to a lender.”
“You wish to stop using the Venalox, then?” Pasus said.
Tyrus didn’t answer. He knew there was a catch.
I cut in, “Why even ask that?”
“He can stop now if he wishes. He can stop today,” Pasus said.
Did the man truly imagine Tyrus so addicted already, he’d make another choice?
“Withdrawal is most unpleasant,” said Pasus. “But if you want to stop using the Venalox, you can endure it. It will torment you for about two days, gauging from the Excess who tested it.”
“I don’t believe you for a second,” Tyrus said. “You wouldn’t allow me to stop.”
“I would. Of course . . .” He picked up his glass, weighed it in his hand. “I cannot guarantee I won’t wait out the two days, then force another injection upon you again so you may get addicted once more. We’ll repeat again and again until you understand the utter futility of your predicament.”
“Fine.” Tyrus raised a palm, his eyes hard. “Consider it understood. Will you give me the other form of the drug now?”
“That question was not posed in the manner I’d like.” Pasus considered it carefully. “What I want is for you to use my title, a respectful tone, and the word please. I want you on your knees. We’ll do this in the presence chamber.”
“Are you utterly mad?” Tyrus said.
“Why subject him to that?” I demanded. “Does it please you to humiliate him?”
“This has nothing to do with his feelings,” Pasus said. “It’s about how we will be perceived. I need the Grandiloquy to see me in a position of mastery over the Emperor so they will understand how it is to be. And it will also be for your sake, Tyrus.”
“My sake?” Tyrus said with a nasty smile. “This will be an interesting explanation.”
“You will remember this. Always,” Pasus said. “Shall we go to the presence chamber now?”
Tyrus threaded his fingers together, just considering them, as though he wished to inspect his nails. They were dirty. I noticed that abruptly. Tyrus, so meticulous, and there was dirt under his nails. I couldn’t seem to look away from them.
“This is entirely too gratifying for you,” Tyrus said.
Pasus considered the words a moment, then smiled. “But of course it is, Tyrus. Why wouldn’t it be? I’ll admit it. I enjoy this. The Senate was in my grasp while you were still wearing diapers, and but for a stroke of luck, you might have cut my legs out from under me at the height of my power. This—after scorning my daughter for the creature who murdered her. I have been insulted by you in myriad ways, so I will not pretend there is nothing . . . pleasurable about this.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed you were so sensitive, Senator,” I told him. “Have you been tallying up his slights all this time?”
“It’s human nature, which I wouldn’t expect a Diabolic to understand,” Pasus said, his eyes on Tyrus. “It may be inevitable: the youth are the downfall of the aged, but it will not be you, and it will not be today. A hundred years from now, when you are a much older Emperor and some insolent chit of a boy marches in and sets himself to destroying everything you have fought so hard to build . . . Perhaps then you’ll understand the need to crush that young person in your fist. For now, I am content for all to see you kneel before me.”