"Smith, E E Doc - D'alembert 09 - Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

"Must we play twenty questions? You know who I am."
Indeed she did. Helena had heard that voice from only one previous source, a videotape recovered from the planet Sanctuary, but she had replayed that tape many times. The brittle coldness, the crystalline enunciation, could belong to only one person-Lady A, leader of the mightiest conspiracy ever to threaten the Empire of Earth.
With that realization came the knowledge that the ministunner she held would do her no good. Aimйe Amorat had long ago transferred her mind into this perfect robot body. A stun weapon would be useless against it because she had no biological nervous system to be affected. Still, Helena kept her stunner at the ready in case Lady A had any friends with her.
Trying to remain calm, Helena said, "Khorosho, Aimйe, I know who you are. What do you want?"
"To begin with, some common civility. If you won't yet recognize me as Empress, a simple 'Your Grace' would suffice. I was Duchess of Durward, child, and, as such, your peer."
"I'm not your child," Helena said, "and you're not my peer. And you still haven't answered my question."
"You can put away your toy; it doesn't frighten me. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. I could have killed you on Sanctuary, had it suited my purposes. Killing you would serve no point; you're far too replaceable."
Helena fumed inwardly at the insult, but remained outwardly level. Moving closer to the couch, she said, Then why are you here?"
"I've come to make an offer."
"The only thing I'd accept from you is your unconditional surrender."
"Your naivete is beginning to wear thin, as is your presumption. The offer is for your father, not you. I trust you enough to relay it to him without getting it garbled in transmission. You should consider that a compliment."
"I don't want compliments from you."
"Don't worry, you won't get too many. Sit down, make yourself at home."
Helena's eyes were gradually becoming adjusted to the darkened room, enough to make out the dim outline of Lady A's shape at one end of the brass and leather couch. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the room. Helena thought about the blaster she had stashed in her bedroom, and wondered what the chances were of reaching it before her enemy could stop her.
"In case you're wondering about doing anything stupid," Lady A continued casually, "I've already disposed of the weapon you so carelessly left lying around. Now, it makes no difference to me whether you stand or sit. Your personal comfort is your own business."
Helena twitched slightly, wondering how the woman could have read her mind, then realized that she must have glanced briefly in the direction of the bedroom. With her robot body, Lady A was much better equipped to see in the dark than Helena was; to her, the room was probably as bright as day.
"Khorosho," Helena said, sitting at the other end of the couch as far from Lady A as she could. "What's the offer?"
"Quite simply, I'm offering my help in saving the Empire."
Helena blinked, startled. "Are you going to betray your organization?"
"Nothing of the sort. What I'm offering is a truce and an alliance against a third party."
Surprise upon surprise. "Who?"
"I won't trade details with underlings," Lady A replied. "On your kitchen table you'll find a list of instructions on how to contact me, should your father be interested. If I don't hear from him I'll assume he's not interested in such an alliance and make my own contingency plans accordingly. Being hidden, my own organization should survive somewhat better than yours if tragedy strikes."
Lady A stood up and started for the door.
"Wait a minute," Helena called after her. "Is that all?"
"Isn't it enough? I didn't want to burden you with an overly complex task."
"Do you have any proof of what you're saying? How can we be sure this isn't just another one of your tricks?"
The other woman paused. "Ask your father what he's heard from Omicron lately," she said. Then the door slid open and Lady A stepped out of the room.
Helena gave brief thought to chasing after her, knocking her down, and capturing her for further questioning-but it was very brief thought. She was quite familiar with the capabilities of those robot bodies built by the conspiracy. They were equipped with reflexes and strength far superior to any flesh-and-blood mortal, even a DesPlainian. Were Helena to try something so foolish, she'd probably end up bruised and battered at the very least, possibly with a few broken bones as well, and Lady A would continue along as though nothing significant had happened. Cursing her own impotence, Helena watched the door slide silently shut behind the departing woman.
Helena sat in the darkness for five minutes, trying to put her thoughts in order. So much had happened tonight, from two separate directions, and she wanted to make sure she had everything absolutely straight before speaking to her father. He'd want to know every detail of the encounter with Lady A so he could know what decision to make. Helena decided to put off for a couple of days telling him about Fortier's proposal. Her happiness would be important to him, she knew, but right now he'd need to concentrate on the astonishing offer from Lady A. The safety and security of the Empire took precedence over everything else.
CHAPTER 3
Summit Conferences
As Head of the Service of the Empire, Grand Duke Zander von Wilmenhorst had almost instant access to Empress Stanley Eleven any time of the day or night. It was a privilege he tried to use as seldom as possible; knowing how precious her time was, he wanted to be sure a problem was worthy of her attention before bothering her with it.
The current situation had reached that stage of imperial notice. Anything regarding the activities of Lady A was important in and of itself-and the possibility of some other threat to the Empire as well made it doubly so. After checking all his facts, von Wilmenhorst called the Imperial Palace.
It was late afternoon, Moscow time, when the call came in. The Empress had been in the midst of a reception honoring sponsors of several major charities when a page came and told her the Grand Duke wished to speak with her on a matter of great urgency. The Empress excused herself graciously and went immediately to the nearest room with a secure communications channel.
Edna Stanley was not a glamorous woman, but she knew how to dress for stunning effect. She wore a suit of double-faced ivory silk with trapunto trim densely stitched in real gold thread. The ten centimeter cuffs were canted back to form points almost at the elbows, the gold thread holding them stiffly against her forearms. Her jacket's shawl collar was also held up by the gold stitching, framing her head and her magnificent six-strand diamond and pearl collar. She looked so impressive that even an old friend like von Wilmenhorst could not help but be impressed. They greeted each other warmly and then the Empress, seeking the heart of the matter quickly, said, "What's the problem, Zander?"
The Head relayed the story of his daughter's encounter with Lady A in the darkened apartment. The Empress listened soberly and, when he was done, asked, "Is there some other threat to the Empire? What does she mean about Omicron?"
"That was the first thing I checked. Sometime in the last fifty hours, all communications with Omicron ceased. Routine traffic has stopped, there have been no outgoing calls, and incoming calls are not acknowledged. I've checked with the Navy, and they tell me they've heard nothing from the base there in a couple of days. As far as anyone can tell, it's as though Omicron suddenly ceased to exist."
"Is the conspiracy responsible?"
"It's a possibility, of course, but I'm not sure. Lady A was talking about an outside threat to the Empire from some mysterious third party. She seems to be pointing this out as an example."
"How did she know about Omicron before we did?"
"A very good question. We know she has an intelligence network of her own, a damned good one. Perhaps this is one occasion where her people happened to be in the right spot at just the right time to learn something we didn't. I still don't like it, though, any more than you do. I take pride in the Service's reputation. We're supposed to know about trouble before it happens, not after we're told about it by our arch-enemies. I intend to conduct a probe into why this information came to us so late."
The Empress nodded. Knowing von Wilmenhorst as she did, she was confident he'd find the reason behind the delay and correct it so it would not be a problem in the future. But there were other problems to deal with in the meantime.
"What could have happened on Omicron?" she asked.
The Head sighed. "At the moment, your guess is as good as mine. It seems a good bet that Lady A knows more than we do right now, and she doesn't like what she knows. She's a woman who doesn't scare easily . . ."
"You think she's scared now?"
"It looks that way to me," von Wilmenhorst nodded. "Despite her bravado with Helena, her actions strike me as being inspired by worry. We know how much she hates SOTE; we've hounded her for seventy years, ever since her nasty liaison with your grandfather. Oh, she's not quaking in unreasoning terror, I grant you-but it would take a serious threat to her own security to offer us an alliance."
The Empress paused to reflect on the matter. "What if this is just another one of her tricks, Zander?"
Von Wilmenhorst nodded again. "We know she's a crafty woman. She outmaneuvered us badly at your coronation and nearly managed another double-blind when she made me look like a traitor. It's been a quiet year and a half since then, entirely too quiet. I'm sure she has some tricks prepared for us, but whether this is one of them or not I can't say just yet. As always, she's given us just the most tantalizing little snip of information and left us panting for more. I'll need further input before I know how to react."
"What do you propose to do?" Edna Stanley asked.
"With your permission, I'd like to follow her instructions and meet with her. That's the only way, apparently, to find out what she knows about Omicron. I'll listen to what she says and try to decide how smooth she's being with us. If she convinces me of a threat, I'd like your permission to agree to her proposed alliance."