Flinx Transcendent (19 page)

Eloquent as Lord Eiipul was, he could not find the words to describe what he had just experienced. It was likely he did not wish to. Describing would require remembering. “While it iss unlikely you will be given overt assisstance, it musst be made certain that you are permitted to proceed with the assurance that no facet of the Empire will in any way interfere with your effortss.”

This was getting out of hand, Flinx saw. All he wanted was help in getting off Blasusarr safely and unobtrusively. But Lord Eiipul would not be denied.

“I ssee only one way to achieve ssuch assurance, for good and for a certainty.” He was watching the softskin closely. “What I jusst ssurvived. What you jusst sshowed to me. Can you—can you sshare it with more than one individual at a time?”

“I don't know,” Flinx answered honestly. “I myself have previously shared the contact with multiple minds, but they accompanied me unbidden, and they weren't human.”

“All to the good.” Lord Eiipul sounded encouraged. “Neither am I. Neither are thosse with whom I wissh you to sshare sso that they too may be convinced, and sso that the Empire will do what it can to facilitate your effortss to ssave uss all.”

Unable to stand by in silence any longer, Eiipul IXc stepped forward. “Honored parent, are you ssuggessting that the horror you jusst ssurvived be sshared with other nye?”

“It iss the only way,” he told her with atypical gentleness. “I mysself would not accept the ssoftsskin'ss wordss by themsselvess. I had to be sshown. I had to
experience
. It would be the ssame with any otherss. They would not accept jusst an explanation any more than did I. Only by experiencing will they believe.” He turned back to the waiting Flinx.

“I will take the preparatory sstepss. At the appropriate moment, I will make the necessary introduction.” He gestured to where Flinx's
simsuit was neatly laid out on a polished section of floor. “I fear that for one more time, at leasst, you musst employ your ingeniouss dissguisse.”

Flinx took a deep breath. It was evident from his emotions as well as from his words that Lord Eiipul was not going to be dissuaded from the course of action he had chosen. On the positive side, Flinx had to admit that it would be very useful in the furtherance of his activities if the representatives of the AAnn Empire, wherever and whenever he might happen to encounter them, had been specifically instructed to give a certain tall young human freedom to proceed wherever and however he wished.

“All right,” he replied resignedly. “If you think it's that necessary. With whom do you want me to share? Mates of yours? Other family members?” He mulled other possibilities. “Representatives of the military?”

Lord Eiipul gestured first-degree inclusiveness underscored with pure unconditionality. “As the threat you sshowed to me iss the greatesst that can be imagined, sso therefore musst the greatesst be expossed to it. I sshall assume the necessary rissk.”

Flinx was instantly on guard. “What risk?”

The AAnn met his gaze unflinchingly. “I will make arrangementss sso that you can sshare your experience of thiss galaxy-wide threat with the Imperial Gathering and with the Emperor himsself.”

Startled hisses rose from his offspring. “Honored ssire, no!” Eiipul IXb rushed his parent, followed closely by his sister. Flinx noted that Kiijeem held back. This was a family matter. No matter what opinion he might hold, no matter what insight he felt he could bring to the discussion, the twins' friend would remain aloof from the debate. If the outcome went well, he stood to benefit. If it ended in disaster, he could claim noninvolvement. No wonder the strongest emotion Flinx read from his young friend was satisfaction. The feelings currently being broadcast by the two Eiipul progeny constituted another emotive state entirely.

They were frightened, as well as indignant.

“Conssider, my lord,” his daughter was pleading, “that if the unprecedented confrontation you proposse sshould fail, it could mean the end of your career.”

“Not only your career.” Her brother was politely irate. “The family
Eiipul itsself could be ruined. Everything that our ancesstorss have built, our illusstriouss family hisstory, our sstanding within the Empire—all could be ssacrificed on the altar of a hassty decission. We could losse everything—even our name.”

Their patriarch was silent. For a moment Flinx thought the fretful twins might have persuaded Lord Eiipul to change his mind. But as it turned out he was only gathering his thoughts.

“If you had come into contact with the ssame monsstroussness as did I, you would undersstand,” he informed his offspring gravely. “You would hassten to my ssupport and not think to challenge it. But you sstood outsside the dire. For thiss I am grateful. For thiss
you
sshould be grateful. Revel in your continued ignorance and be glad our vissitor hass chossen not to convey to you the full force of hiss knowledge.” Off to one side, Kiijeem eyed Flinx meaningfully as Lord Eiipul turned back to the softskin.

“You musst do as I ssuggesst.” The noble's tail flicked sharply to the right. “Otherwisse, I will not help you.”

There it was. Whatever happened from now on, Flinx could consider himself absolved. The decision had been forced on him. Decision, and opportunity. Still…

“I don't know if I can do what you request, Lord Eiipul. I've never tried, at least not intentionally, to share the experience with more than one other sentient at a time.”

“You sshared with me.” From the dispenser at his side the AAnn noble drew forth a fresh libation. “You will find the Emperor an admirable entity, and there are many in the Gathering who are wiser and more knowledgeable than mysself. None, I think, will be immune to the importance of what you musst reveal to them.”

“Speaking of immunity,” Flinx reminded his host, “there is danger involved. You now know that.”

“Better than I would wissh to,” Eiipul admitted. “Yet all knowledge concealss within it danger to a greater or lesser degree.” He gestured third-degree amusement. “If it did not, governmentss would not be sso anxiouss to regulate it.” Coming closer, he lowered his voice.

“I give you, Flinx of the Commonwealth, Flinx LLVVRXX of the Tier Ssaiinn, a chance to interact with the ssupreme leaderss of the
Empire. It iss an opportunity no human hass ever been offered before. Not the head of your government, not the Lasst Ressort of your United Church, not the mosst eminent among your sscientissts, not the resspected leaderss of your military. You musst sshow my own kind what iss at sstake.” He stepped back. “Only then will you be assured of a ssafe departure from thiss world, and the chance to carry on your essential work.”

Flinx found himself pondering what was at once an offer and a command. If he refused Eiipul's request, his options would be seriously limited. If he agreed, and could bring it off, there could be ancillary benefits. Thinking back to his time on Jast among the Tier of Ssaiinn inevitably led him to fond remembrances of one exceptional AAnn: the female, Chraluuc, who had looked after and taken a special interest in him. She had wanted him to be a bridge between humans and her kind. Here was an opportunity to do so on a scale neither of them could ever have foreseen.

Of course, if he failed in the effort not only would humans and AAnn not be drawn closer together, but he could quite easily end up dead.

He refocused his attention on the noble nye waiting in front of him. His emotions elevated but under control, Eiipul awaited his answer.

“If you can really get me that kind of audience,” Flinx sighed, “I'll try to do what you ask. I'll try as I've never tried before.”

“Excellent, my illicit friend! I will sstart work immediately.” Eiipul gestured to his left. “Meanwhile, you are my guesst. We will enssconce you in a part of the ressidence that iss clossed to vissitorss, even to family. There you can resst and recover your sstrength. You will need it all, I think,” he concluded solemnly.

“Honored ssire,” his daughter protested. “Thiss iss madness! If the ssoftsskin iss found out, if it becomess known we are harboring a human illegally arrived on Blasussarr, that will be the end of our family sstatuss as ssurely as if all of uss perisshed at the human'ss handss!”

“Then,” Lord Eiipul told his protesting offspring firmly, “it will behoove you and your brother and your friend to enssure that that eventuality doess not come to pass.
Azzissn?”

Taking a respectful step backward, she dropped her eyes and mumbled
reluctantly, “Azzissn.” In this unhappy acquiescence she was joined by her brother and also by the attentive Kiijeem.

“It iss decided.” Turning back to his unforeseen guest, Lord Eiipul started to extend a welcoming tail tip. Remembering that his visitor was conspicuously deficient in that department, the noble quickly substituted a proffered hand instead. Four scaly fingers gripped five decidedly softer ones.

“Now then, can you eat proper food?”

“I find most AAnn cuisine quite agreeable, as does my companion.” Flinx added a slight nod in the direction of the minidrag riding comfortably on his left shoulder. “Though after a while a steady regimen of meat and its synthetic derivatives does become tiresome.”

His host responded with a visible shudder. “I undersstand. I am familiar with the human diet. At leasst you are not thranx. We will try to sscrounge ssome ‘edible’ plant matter sso you can vary your intake. Meanwhile, I would have you tell me everything you can about thiss horror that sspeedss toward uss and threatenss all of exisstence.” He sucked in a deep, whistling breath. “Though I have but infinitessimally ssenssed it for mysself, I would sstill know more. If there iss more to know.” Taking Flinx's hand, he led the taller human toward a lift. His offspring and their friend trailed obediently behind.

“Well,” Flinx began, “it's manifestly the largest life-form that's ever been identified—if it can be called a life-form in the usual sense.”

Lord Eiipul gestured second-degree ignorance. “The universse iss far too vasst to be comprehended by beingss as inssignificant as oursselvess. We can look, we can sspeculate, we can even meassure, but we cannot comprehend. Who can ssay but that there may exisst larger entitiess sstill, perhapss even thosse capable of feeding on such an immenssity as threatenss uss now?”

Struggling to imagine something vast enough to threaten the Great Evil that was racing toward the outskirts of the Milky Way, Flinx found that he agreed unhesitatingly with his host. Nothing “living” could be as large as the Great Evil, yet it patently existed. Why could there not exist something greater still? The attempt to envision anything so immense simply overwhelmed the rudimentary network of neurons that comprised an ordinary mind. Even mathematics was overwhelmed. At such
times it helped enormously to have an anchor, a grounding. Something solid and real and true to hold on to.

It was at such times that he invariably thought of Clarity Held.

They settled Flinx in a small storage area, aboveground and safely away from passing eyes both AAnn and electronic. Unlike the large subterranean chamber where he had previously been hidden, this one had lights, a heated sand sleeping basin, access to AAnn entertainment, even a window. Lord Eiipul assured Flinx that the likelihood of him being discovered was virtually nil. In the absence of a direct reference or reason, Krrassin Security would never stoop to quizzing the members of an important family about a possible sighting of an offworlder wanted for something as insignificant as credit forgery.

Time proved that the noble Eiipul knew whereof he spoke. Visitors and members of the extended family came and went without coming anywhere near Flinx's isolated chamber. Safe and secure, he was able at last to rest and relax.

The only interruptions to his daily routine arrived in the form of the still wary Eiipul offspring. When not occupied with daily studies, tasks, or family business, they joined Kiijeem in frequenting the softskin's hideaway, peppering him with questions about everything from daily life in the reviled Commonwealth to the nature of the colorful scaled flying creature that was the human's constant companion. Flinx answered them all readily. Ignorance breeds hatred, while conversely, education slays ignorance. Knowledge, he knew from a lifetime of personal experience, is a more effective weapon than a gun. As Truzenzuzex had once pointed out, it's hard to convince an enemy of the rightness of your cause while you're blowing his head off.

He would have been happy to stay in the storeroom awaiting the return of the reconfigured
Teacher
. Such a simplistic solution to his situation was not to be, however. Converted to a greater reality by what Flinx had shared with him, Lord Eiipul was convinced the attempt had to be made to sway the entire Imperial Gathering. If it could be done, a reluctant Flinx knew, it would be a milestone not only in the history of the Empire but in AAnn-human relations as well.

And all he had wanted to do was spend a few days on Blasusarr to prove to himself that
that
could be done. Was he fated, he wondered, to never be allowed to do anything small and simple?

When the day arrived to escort Flinx into the very heart of Krrassin there was no need to hide him. Sealed securely in his simsuit he was such the figure of an ordinary AAnn that the twins found themselves once more taken aback by the perfection of the illusion. Once his guest had again donned the eye-averting ijkk, Lord Eiipul accompanied him out into the characteristically harsh Blasusarrian light of early morning. The integrated polarizing lenses that camouflaged Flinx's eyes immediately darkened to protect his more sensitive human retinas. He felt his eyes watering anyway. He had not stepped outside since entering the Eiipul compound.

He remembered to fold his tail as Eiipul preceded him into the private family vehicle. The interior was far more luxurious than that of the various public transports he had ridden in the course of his stay on Blasusarr. Rare woods and lustrous concaves of tactile glass lined the walls. Powerfully rhythmic AAnn music, all drums and bells and atonal electronics, emanated discreetly from an unseen source.

As the automated craft rose, rotated, and smoothly accelerated through a waiting gap in the residence's security barrier, Flinx stared out the tinted canopy at the surrounding synthetic desert. After a while, the expensive pseudo-canyons and faux buttes gave way to more utilitarian structures of poured and molded walls and domes. These prosaic edifices jumped through no aesthetic hoops in expensive attempts to disguise their function.