The Emperor of Everything

His face came back into focus; his eyes were luminous and Corean could almost see gears spinning in the facile mind behind those eyes. “Yes, of course. I have exactly the man you need. Leave your cyborg and your Moc; follow the mech I send. We’ll take a look at your slayer, and you can have him immediately, if you like.”

The mech took Corean to an elaborate security lock set into an ancient bulkhead. Once inside, she was searched, scanned, and deprived of all her external weapons. Finally the mech locked a neutralizer around her hand; if she tried to use the sonic knife built into her index finger, she would only succeed in blowing her hand off.

At the other end of the lock Alonzo Yubere waited for her, his unremarkable features composed, his hands folded across his stomach. “Come,” he said, and walked down the corridor.

She had never been in his stronghold before, and she looked about, frankly curious. The walls of the corridor were brushed stainless alloy, bright and clean and unadorned. The ceiling was a continuous glowpanel, the floor spongy gray tile. She fancied she could smell the decaying-earthworm stink of the Gencha who lived somewhere below, but if so, it was very faint.

They came to a series of observation rooms. Each had a one-way glass across the width of the room, and as they passed, she glanced in, taking note of the properties her fellow slavers and competitors were having processed. She saw several items which excited her avarice and her envy, but Yubere moved briskly along, so she didn’t have time for a more leisurely examination.

One of the properties in particular caught her eye. They went by that window so quickly that she couldn’t be absolutely sure of the prisoner’s identity, but she was almost certain she had seen Ivant Tildoreamors, one of the more powerful pirate lords, renowned for his ruthlessness and cruel sense of humor. She maintained the same look of innocent curiosity, but her thoughts were racing. Was Yubere Genching the pirate lords? Very dangerous, she thought, but audacious and ambitious.

At the end of the corridor was an elevator, into which Yubere led her. The door shut, and the cage dropped. For a moment Corean was touched by a cold finger of fear. She glanced at Yubere’s impassive face. Was he taking her to the Gench, had he decided at last to make her safe? No, no — the process required several days of preparation before it could be done, and her people would know that something was wrong if she did not return shortly. They could not rescue her from Yubere’s stronghold, of course, but they could spread the word of his betrayal to the other slavers in Yubere’s organization, who would surely destroy him before he could destroy their autonomy. Yubere would have considered all this… so she was safe.

But she wondered why none of this had occurred to her, before she’d allowed herself to be taken into his stronghold. Was her passion for revenge strong enough to overshadow her defensive instincts? Perhaps, but there were other reasons — good practical reasons — why Ruiz Aw needed to be dead.

The elevator jarred to a halt, and they stepped off into another and darker world. Here the walls were of some gray alloy, lumpy and showing slagged ripples, as if damaged by some ancient conflagration. Rivulets of dirty water ran down the metal; in places minerals had been deposited in masses of glittering white crystals. A single faded glowtube, fastened in uneven loops to one wall, cast a bluish light.

“Are we in the Gencha enclave?” asked Corean. The stink was stronger here.

Yubere shook his head. “No — that’s much farther down, Corean.”

“How far down does this stack go?”

“No one knows. Oh, maybe the Gencha know, but they won’t tell.”

His matter-of-fact words made her uneasy. Somehow, she had envisioned a different situation — she had assumed that Yubere kept his Gencha in tidy little cages, obedient to his whims. The realization that Yubere was not entirely in charge sent apprehensive shivers down her back. She wondered what else she didn’t know.

“How many of them are there?” she asked.

“I don’t know that either, Corean.”

“How can that be?”

He stopped abruptly. “You don’t understand my relationship with them, do you?”

She began to be angry. “Apparently not.”