Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [205]
"The most massive geode we have ever uncovered, Liege," said the scaly representative. "Taller than the largest soldier kithman, a treasure beyond compare. We offer it to your glory."
The nobles, bureaucrats, and court functionaries gasped and twittered. Even the Mage-Imperator smiled. "I have never seen a natural object so wondrous."
He raised a plump hand, his face satisfied but humble. It was time now to show his generosity, his paternal benevolence. "I do my task only as well as you do yours, as do all of my Ildirans. A Mage-Imperator is no more responsible for the prosperity of the Empire than is the lowliest servant of any kith." He nodded to the scaly delegate. "Your offering is appreciated, but your loyalty is a far more valuable treasure to me."
All the scalies bowed to the throne room floor as if overwhelmed by this reaction. "But truly even I do not deserve such an incomparable gift," the Mage-Imperator continued. "It is my command that you display this wondrous object in your equatorial zones, for your kithmen, in commemoration of your own prowess. As it dazzles under our seven suns, let it remind all of us of your efforts on behalf of the Ildiran Empire."
Still kowtowing, the scalies backed up in unison. The Mage-Imperator could feel the warmth in their hearts, the worshipful devotion, and he knew he had made the right decision. Their loyalty was enhanced, and his control was strengthened.
Before he could say another word, though, a horrific tidal wave of pain and despair swept through him. He spasmed in his chrysalis chair. Jolts shot along his links with the thism. He cried out in pain, rocking backward, his enormous soft body twitching.
His personal bodyguard rushed forward, deadly crystal katanas drawn, ready to fight any foe. Bron'n glared at the scaly delegation, as if they had somehow poisoned the Mage-Imperator. The scalies wailed in sudden apprehension.
The Mage-Imperator writhed again. The chattering small-statured attenders fled, shrieking. The Ildirans close to their leader also flinched, thanks to the tenuous thism link, feeling a strong echo of his anguish. He became lost within himself, falling into the tapestry of other lives across his Empire, drawn like a moth to the hot flame of disaster blooming at Qronha 3.
Through the mental connection, he experienced the horror and pain, the astonishing and unwarranted destruction, the obliteration of the splinter colony. He felt the ekti-processing facility devastated by the hydrogues, and then the further massacre as Qul Aro'nh drove his fully crewed warliner on a suicide mission to destroy one of the alien warglobes. The Mage-Imperator endured the deaths of the soldiers and crew, and all of the slaughtered workers who had not been evacuated from the sky city.
He felt the defeat of the Ildiran Solar Navy.
And when he came back to himself, surrounded by stunned silence and confused fear in the throne room, the Mage-Imperator remained speechless. He was appalled by what the hydrogues had done. He wanted to howl his anguish, his anger and helplessness.
He had read the signs and known of the increasing threat from the legendary enemy, but he had looked upon the reappearance of the strange aliens as an opportunity. If managed correctly, the hydrogue aggression could have been used to rekindle the waning golden age of his Empire. But the Dobro experiments were not yet complete, and the Mage-Imperator doubted his plans could ever come to fruition now.
Ah, the agony in his soul!
With their attack on Qronha 3, the hydrogues had struck him to the heart. Now he feared that this war would bring about the destruction of not only the upstart Terrans...but the Ildiran Empire as well.
93 RAYMOND AGUERRA
OX had saturated Raymond's brain with so much information