A Call to Darkness - Michael Jan Friedman [35]
Finally, he sat back.
They weren’t out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.
But they were making progress.
The day after his interrogation by the Council, Conscription Master Boron’bak was transferred to Civil Service. Worse, he was demoted. He would be in charge of the police post at Tengla’var, one of the factory towns upriver from the capital.
To Dan’nor, it was neither a good sign nor a bad one. The Council might have been satisfied with a taste of Boron’bak’s blood. Or it might simply have whet their appetites.
The following day, another high-ranking officer was toppled-the Central Defense liaison assigned to Fulfillment. Apparently, he’d been held accountable after all. And like Boron’bak, he was relegated to an obscure position with Civil Service.
Finally, Dan’nor’s counterpart on the day shift was replaced. One night when he reported for duty, he found a new man finishing up. He said he didn’t know what had happened to his predecessor.
After all that, Dan’nor thought that he would certainly be next. Strictly speaking, it was his mistake that caused all the trouble. The others had only laid the groundwork for it.
Nor did the passage of time do much to ease his insecurity. After a full five days had gone by, and nothing had happened to him, someone else might have believed the danger past. But not Dan’nor. He felt as if there were an ax dangling over his head, and the rope that held it there was slowly unraveling.
Then it came-the audience with his new superior. Normally, a simple computer memo would have been sufficient to announce a change in command. A personal audience could mean only one thing-the ax was about to fall.
In a way, it was a relief. The sooner he was transferred, the sooner he could work on getting his career back on track. With any luck, he’d get himself out of Civil Service after only a few years-maybe less.
But Dan’nor’s expectations didn’t take into account the identity of the new Conscription Master.
“You look surprised,” said the man who had been the Fulfillment Facilitator on the day shift. “You expected, perhaps, that I’d been transferred out of Conscription? Rather than made Master of it?”
Dan’nor murmured a denial. But it didn’t sound very convincing-not even to him.
“Come now,” said the man. “I left early every evening and shirked my duty-ultimately contributing to your unfortunate error. And yet here I’ve been promoted, while everyone else associated with this fiasco has been banished to the factory towns. You’re baffled-admit it.”
Dan’nor frowned. “All right. I admit it.”
The man smiled. He had coarse features for an officer-even coarser than Dan’nor’s. But the compromising of his bloodline probably dated so far back that no one paid attention to it anymore. Recent impurities were considered much more despicable.
“It’s really very simple, Tir’dainia. One of my relatives is… shall we say intimate with one of the councillors?”
Dan’nor grunted. “Very interesting.” It also explained the man’s ability to flaunt regulations with impunity. Why had he not suspected something like this before? “But,” he added, “it is hardly any of my business.”
The new Conscription Master learned forward. “Actually, it’s very much your business. Without it, you wouldn’t understand what I am about to tell you. You see, Tir’dainia, the Council was inclined to be lenient with you-at least by their standards. However, my relative’s paramour swayed them toward a more severe punishment.”
Dan’nor felt a sudden surge of anger-but he suppressed it. A confrontation with this man would only make things worse for him.
The Conscription Master leaned back again into his chair. “The reason? Because you reported me, Tir’dainia. Everyone else was willing to overlook my transgressions-but not you.” He paused. “Perhaps I was foolish to take such chances. I can see that now. Without my ally on the Council, I would have been severely disciplined-which is what you must have expected when you made that report. Or didn’t you give much