[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Using clear, concise language, without trying to ov-erdramatize or soft-pedal
the future, Kane began relating everything that had happened in the world and
to him since the middle months of 2200. He briefly recapped how Sam had
appeared virtually out of nowhere to assume leadership of the nine barons.
Sam factionalized the nine barons and in the process brought a new order to
the face of the world. The ancient Roman Empire was governed by a senate, but
ruled by an emperor, sometimes known as an im-perator. This person served as
the final arbiter in matters pertaining to government. The baronies acted
Page 52
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
de-pendently, unified in name only. The arrival of the imperator changed all
that.
During a council of the barons in Front Royal, Baron Cobalt put forth the
proposal to establish a central ruling consortium with himself as its leader.
But Sam hijacked not only Cobalt's plan but also the title of imperator. A
series of battles began, known as the Imperator Wars. The conflict was
short-lived and ended with the siege of Cobaltville and the ousting of its
baron. Yet peace didn't come with the imposi-
Sea of Plague
99
tion of imperial rule. Instead, it sparked dozens of smaller wars and a
succession of plots and counterplots.
Sam the imperator was fixated on unification, as the barons were, but with a
different objective. His stated intent was to end the tyranny of the barons
and unify both hybrid and human and build a new
Earth. In the months following his appearance, the entire structure of the
baronies changed. He made considerable inroads into toppling the old order and
enfranchising his forces, although not all the barons supported him.
The general consensus among the Cerberus personnel was that even the barons
who withheld their overt support wouldn't undertake organized resistance
against him. Even if every one of the baronies united against the imperator,
it would require months to prepare any kind of military campaign and they had
to do so in secret, or else they would not have access to the medical
treatments. And Baron Cobalt, the only hybrid lord who bore Cerberus and the
imperator personal malice, was missing, presumed dead.
For a short time, an uneasy peace prevailed.
However, Cobalt wasn't dead. No one really knew where he had been, or why he
hadn't died when his metabolic treatments were denied. He had been setting the
stage for a major, winner-take-all confrontation between the imperator and his
allies and the disenfranchised barons.
Major uprisings in several baronies marked the first anniversary of the
imperator-inspired rule. Later, out-
100 JAMES AXLER
law armies of Roamers began moving against baronial operations in the
Outlands.
These events proved to be mere diversions. Baron Cobalt, who had been covertly
plotting for months, infiltrated Area 51 with the forces of several other
barons who didn't care to answer to an imperator.
Cobalt viewed Cerberus as a dangerously unbalanced X factor, a wild card that
needed to be dealt out of the equation before Sam could be challenged. The
vengeful baron and his anti-imperial forces did just that, by essentially
neutralizing the redoubt, destroying the majority of its personnel and the
advanced tech available to them.
Kane not only told the assembly about what befell Cerberus and most of its
personnel on the day the combined forces of Barons Cobalt, Samarium, Thulia
Page 53
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
and Mande had all converged on the mountain plateau, but the screen also
showed them the aftermath.
The scene shifted to an exterior view of the plateau that sheltered the
redoubt. Craters a yard in circumference and nearly twice that deep pocked the
surface of the tarmac. Scattered chunks of asphalt, metal and other less
identifiable objects lay in haphazard patterns.
The gutted shell of a Manta transatmospheric ship was piled up against the
rocky abutment at the base of the peak. Although the hull was overgrown with
tangled vines, the burned-out wreckage of a
Deathbird could be identified enfolded within the Manta's extended alloyed
wings. The rust-edged rotor vanes thrust up at thirty-degree angles, giving
the entire mass the look of a black windmill sinking into a
quag-
Sea of Plague
101
mire. An unfamiliar broad-axled assault vehicle Kane referred to as a SPIDE
lay on its left side a few yards away.
Along the slope rose triple rows of headstones and grave markers projecting up
from the grassy covering. The markers bore only last names, only a few of
which could be made out Domi, Farrell, Falk, Weg-mann, DeFore, Quavell. The
others were obscured by high grasses and discoloration.
Matter-of-factly, Kane talked about how the battle raged for less than an
hour. He described how the plateau had become literally sodden with blood,
spilled by defender and attacker alike. He told how for one magnificent moment
after Brewster Philboyd crashed the Manta TAV into the Deathbird, the
Cerberus warriors swept the plateau clear of black-armored Magistrates. But
the Mags regrouped and swarmed into the redoubt.
Kane's voice acquired a tone of pride when he related how the people fought
back with anything they could get their hands on. They shot, hacked and
stabbed until they themselves were shot, hacked and stabbed. No one gave up,
nobody surrendered or begged for mercy, not even the few personnel Kane had
once contemptuously dismissed as cowardly "teeks," technical geeks.
On the screen, Kane paused long enough to say, "For all of you out there who I
labeled as such, I
apologize. You made me proud that day and ashamed of myself."
The scene shifted to the dark interior showing the main corridor beneath great
curving ribs of metal that
102 JAMES AXLER
supported the high rock roof. The twenty-foot-wide passageway was clogged by
the tons of stone and twisted metal that had fallen from the ceiling.
The next view showed the operations center, or what was left of it. Naked
lightbulbs dangled from a network of wires and cords crudely affixed to the
high ceiling. The vanadium alloy walls were smeared with scorch marks and
perforated with bullet holes. No circuits clicked, no drive units hummed, nor
did any indicator lights flash.
Page 54
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
All the consoles had been blasted into twisted masses of metal, plastic and
broken glass. Every piece of equipment had been shot, smashed and torn. There
didn't appear to be a single intact microprocessor within any of the computer
casings or chassis.
"I know it looks like shit," Kane commented from the screen, "but it wouldn't
look even this good if it weren't for this man."
A figure appeared on the screen, that of a frail old man. His emaciated body
was hunched over in a wheelchair. The stamp of years and suffering accentuated
the skull-like contours of the old man's face. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]