A Call to Darkness - Michael Jan Friedman [110]
The balance, always delicate, had been tipped. The atmosphere was ripe for rebellion.
Only a couple of days after Dan’nor’s return from the Conflict zone, entire sectors of each factory town along the river were claimed by the workers and barricaded. What was more, the Civil Service tired quickly of spilling their blood in attempts to break the rebel strongholds.
In the end, the truth was painfully obvious: the Military was nothing more than a huge bag of gas, and the rebels had put the first pinholes in it. It might take some time for the entire bag to collapse-but collapse it would.
In the dim light emanating from the tarnished overhead fixture, Fidel’lic did not seem so haughty and aloof as when Dan’nor had seen him last. The shadows took the edge off his lean countenance, making him appear childlike and even a little fragile-at least to Dan’nor.
The back room where Dan’nor had first stumbled upon Trien’nor and the other rebels was furnished now much as it had been then. It had a table and some chairs and some cobwebs in the corners where the walls met the ceiling.
Of course, the place was a little more crowded tonight, and not only with workers. Fidel’lic’s personal bodyguards had to stand behind him; there were only so many seats around the table, and they were all occupied by rebels. The one exception was the chair graced by the councillor.
Ralak’kai smiled at him. “It isn’t exactly the Council Chamber-is it?”
“No,” said Fidel’lic. “It is not the Council Chamber.”
“But then,” said Trien’nor, no worse for wear after his short existence as a wagoner, “what you have to say could not be said in that most awe-inspiring of places.”
Fidel’lic eyed him with apparent equanimity-though he knew who Tri’enor was, and he could not have felt anything but disgust for the fallen First Caster. “Quite correct,” he said. “Not everyone there is as forward-looking as one might hope.”
The councillor took a quick accounting of the other faces confronting him-those of Ma’alor, Zanc’cov, Nurel’lid, Rin’noc. And finally, that of Dan’nor himself.
If he remembered the younger Tir’dainia, he didn’t let on. There wasn’t even a flicker of recognition.
Just as well, Dan’nor thought. I’m a different person than I was then.
“Not everyone,” Fidel’lic went on, “takes your movement as seriously as I do.”
“That’s very interesting,” said Ma’alor. “But it doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
Ralak’kai held up a hand. “Let him finish, Brother. The councillor was good enough to come here-the least we can do is hear him out.”
Fidel’lic continued as if he had never been interrupted. “It is obvious,” he said, “that there will never be anything like the Conflicts again. And without question, that is for the better. The Conflicts were a relic of our former barbarism-a shameful thing that should have been abolished long ago.
“Our true fulfillment as a people-and as individuals-lies not in petty entertainments.” His voice took on a different quality-a sort of measured forcefulness. “Our destiny is something much greater-to regain the stars. First, Trilik’kon Mahk’ti; then those other systems that we once dominated. And when that is done, we can extend the empire beyond even the dreams of our fathers.”
He looked around, snaring his listeners now with his eyes as much as his voice.
“We can do that. We are Klah’kimmbri. But it will not be easy. To begin with, we must work together, forgetting our squabbles of the moment. We must redesign our factories to make not shoes, but the components of spacegoing vessels. We must redevelop the engines that propelled us from sun to sun, the armaments that made us masters of every race we encountered. And we must improve on these technologies-so when another Destroyer comes through our home system, we will be ready for him.
“The future is remarkably bright,” said Fidel’lic, “if we take hold of it together. You, representing the people. And I, representing the government. We can bring everything to a halt by fighting one another-or heap glory on ourselves by simply reaching out for it.”
He leaned forward. “A