RR: Rialto #15 (3/3): the Hammer
cloudbusting
(continued from part two...)
>>>***-***<<<
Tami had absorbed the tale far better than could have been expected,
Leiphali thought. In the dead hours of night, seated facing one another on
the plush carpeting of the west-facing room of Tami's personal suite, he
recounted his journey with as much detail as he could summon. He began
with his kidnapping and the dream of the burning desert he had experienced
following his coupling with Elizabeth. Only twice had he been interrupted,
both times concerning the image of the closed yihhni plant of the dream,
encountered again in the pages of the Apocrypha and yet again in the deep
desert.
His reaction to the news that Rilia had betrayed him in an affair with
Rijaei did not provoke an angry reaction; it only made the flesh around his
eyes seem to hang heavier. The notion that Rilia had once tried to follow
the path he was on provoked open disbelief.
"I do not believe she sought deception," Leiphali said. "At least,
not of me."
"She didn't volunteer the information," Tami noted. "Had she wished
to cleanse herself fully...."
"Purging secrets is a painful process. You and I are discovering
that, are we not?"
Tami lowered his head, not the first time he had sought to hide his
expression. "What they've done to you...."
"What I have done to myself," Leiphali corrected. "They kidnapped me,
kept me in the same place as Elizabeth Stuart... but I took the first step
toward the abyss. Rijaei did not push me." He hesitated on the edge of
his next question; asking it earlier had provoked no response. "Can you
accept that?"
"No," Tami said. Sadness tinged his eyes as he looked up. "What has
happened to you... is something I could not wish on anyone."
"You do not know what has happened to me."
"You've told me."
"I have explained it as best I can," said Leiphali. "The words are
not enough. All of our words -- chi'pi, ko'pi, dominative, submissive...
even ohm -- are inadequate. They obscure my understanding as well. It is
frustrating."
"The writings of the Apocrypha... the Conjunctions, the Evolutions and
the rest... are philosophical exercises, nothing more. She kept them away
from her followers. They weren't found until her death -- a clear
indication she didn't intend them for mass publication. You cannot view
them literally."
"I do not. It is my experiences and dreams that I view as such. I
have only my speculation to guide me in this, but I believe she wanted
those writings kept secret to allow the ordered society she founded to
grow, that they were intended for generations to come. As the yihhni--"
"Not the plant *again!*"
"--closed over its sweet treasure when my shadow was upon it, so have
the structures of the velt'pa protected us. But we were not meant to stay
apart from the sun for so long. What once nurtured us is now killing us."
Tami drew in a sharp breath, let it out slowly. "Your heresies pain
me... but I cannot blame you for them."
"You blame Rijaei."
"In part."
"There is another?"
"There are many others... but one chief above them."
"Who?"
Another secret, this one enough to scrape Tami's throat raw as it
emerged. "Diana Dumont."
"She... is alive?"
More hours passed, while Tami recounted the events that had kept him
from the brink of insanity. He was only silent when ko'velts entered to
provide melan in the morning, almost spilling their trays when they saw
Leiphali. The assassination of Daxton Smythe, the meeting with Eduard
Tombolo, with Diana Dumont, the deal, the arrangement with Borsi and
Challisar... Leiphali realized he had no way of knowing if Tami elected to
keep some secret. Some he had already told to Borsi and Challisar, others,
despite his acknowledgement of the dangers of secrets, he had kept tight.
Leiphali asked no questions, only watched. Tami rarely met his eyes. When
his narrative reached the present again, he paused, then asked a question.
"The quote you showed me... 'the Ohm has no shadow.'"
"Yes?"
"Have... have you told me all your secrets?"
"All I know... all I have words for. You have helped me lose some,
but for the rest--"
"You need Elizabeth Stuart." There was no mistaking the tinge of
jealousy in his words.
"Yes," Leiphali replied. "I love her as I do you. Without you or
her, I am still flailing, still tainted with secrecy, despite my desire to
abandon every trace."
"I have told you all I hold secret."
"No." Tami's face scowled... for a moment, Leiphali thought he might
strike him. "You have not acknowledged your anger toward me, toward a bond
you have perceived as forever lost...."
"Is it not?"
"It has changed, and there is no word for what it is now. Perhaps we
will invent one; perhaps it never will be expressed. You feel it, though
you cannot accept it. Witness: we have not addressed one another as
chi'velt or ko'velt during these hours once, yet, we are as connected as
any of the velt'pa."
Now Leiphali was sure Tami would strike him. His former chi'velt's
right hand jerked from his knee once, his face betraying what Leiphali had
described for an instant. He held back.
"There may be something in what you say," Tami admitted, his voice
rough. "I... cannot accept it, however." He paused. "Have you talked to
others of this?"
"Only Mancoti. He thinks me a heretic and insane, as you do."
"He is logical."
"Perhaps. I would talk to others of this, however."
"Which others?" Tami asked.
"Any who wished to hear," Leiphali answered. "You have felt it, as
have I. The time for secrets is ending. As a people, we must seek our
path out of the tangle that domination and submission have become, the path
Rialto Sun-Tei calls the Ohm."
"No," Tami said, with finality. "I have permitted you much, out of my
love for you and my recognition of your troubled mental state... but I
cannot permit such a path be taken... by you, or the people I rule."
Leiphali bit back his answer. Tami had reached the point where he
would consider no further reply. He became acutely conscious that they had
both been up for nearly thirty-six hours, that it was now going into the
early evening hours. Perhaps, with sleep, he might think clearer, grasp
some of the words that eluded him, pull them out of his head so he could
see what they hid....
The enter signal chimed. Tami stood, as did Leiphali. Mancoti
stepped in, a look of urgency on his face.
"Chi'velt," he said, "we are receiving a holocast from Ciateli that...
is very important." He was looking at Leiphali, apparently not sure of
what more he should say in the presence of a heretic.
"Very well," Tami replied. "You may come see this with me, Leiphali,
stay here, or return to your rooms." He followed Mancoti into the hallway.
After a moment's consideration, so did Leiphali.
>>>***-***<<<
'You laugh. But, Dumont's flouting your authority. She's making you
look bad.'
Words from a crystal. Holographic images of two people, captured in
the blackdim past. Light captured as her flesh had been.
'Please. Dumont is playing at being Rialton. Nothing more. She's
pretty good at it, too. I'll give her a crash course in the rules later on
-- a good spanking will do her good.'
Rijaei, speaking his famous last words.
'I'm sure of it, the fat cow.'
You're no prize yourself, she thought.
'Please -- she's old, but hardly fat.'
'Oh, sure. You probably want her as badly as Tami does.'
'On the contrary, no one on Rialto could want her that badly. The
poor old fool's acting the wounded silver-dove over her. I wish the
Policad were tomorrow, so we could shove him aside.'
Speaking for the camera, perhaps. Diana wondered if Rijaei ever
stopped acting, even for her.
'I wish you would. I hate him.'
'Hush, Ko'velt. You're in my bed, not his. You'll keep your thoughts
*and* tongue on me.'
"That's enough," said Diana. "Shut it off."
'I submit,' the recording spoke, before Rijaei pushed the button set
into the player's side. The image disappeared, leaving empty air above an
imported oak table.
"Marriage seems out of place here," Diana commented. "You have
bondings, namings... a thousand shades of meaning derived from an invented
language."
"It began as a code to keep our secrets, in Khai'khkka's time," Rijaei
noted. "Rialto made it our official tongue when we settled on this world.
It wasn't until you came here that we found reason to relearn English. As
for marriage... it's generally accepted that the practice was instituted by
Rialto's successor as ruling chi'velt as a means of enforcing the longevity
of primary bonds...."
"Perhaps."
Rijaei nodded, acceding to her views. "Diana...."
"That is not your name anymore."
"It is until I leave this room."
"As you wish... Diana."
Diana sighed, regarded the holocrystal again. "No bond on this world
is easy or desirable to dissolve, but only the marital variation results in
the permanent loss of status. If this recording came to light, Tami would
be forced to resign."
"As would I, being the instigator of the dissolution of the bond,"
Rijaei reminded her. "Nevertheless, I would ask you reconsider your
decision. This resistance is about to become a war. I would gladly
sacrifice my position, my prestige... even my life to push Megacorp out of
our souls."
"You'd ham up every moment of the tragedy, too," Diana replied. "No,
this is not our secret to reveal." She looked at the chronometer on a
nearby desk. "It's time for you to speak to them."
He paused, momentarily. "Of course." At the doorway, he stopped and
turned back. His black-irised eyes seemed to be drinking in the contours
of the circular chamber, take in her image. "I'll send in Major Joeti," he
said, just before disappearing into the hall beyond.
Joeti entered not quite three minutes later. His uniform reminded him
of the day of her kidnapping, of the instrumental part he had played in
arranging that and the subsequent coverup. He stopped three feet before
her, folded his hands over his belt buckle and inclined his head in
respectful submission.
"Major Joeti," Diana said. "Repeat the orders Rijaei has given you
concerning this holocrystal." She kept harshness out of her voice; Joeti
was Rijaei's bond, not hers, and she could only be nu'velt, dominative
friend, to him."
"I am to take this holocrystal to the House of Merhacha and give it
personally to Tami su'Rialto," Joeti replied, his voice even, but by no
means monotonous. "I am to inform him that it is the only copy of the
events recorded within in existence, and that I do not know its contents.
I am also to turn myself in to his custody and to provide a full
explanation of my part in the resistance and your kidnapping."
"Good. You may go."
He started to turn, paused, and turned back.
"Chi'velt... may I speak?"
"Yes."
"Rijaei has explained to me... to all he has bonded with... what he is
about to do, what you are about to do. We have, as he bade, explained to
our bonded, secured their understanding and support. Every level of my
House, his House... your House... supports you."
"That's the easy part, I guess," Diana said.
"I have, in my experience, found it the most difficult," Joeti
replied. "Not all of us have come to terms with what has been done to
Leiphali, but we realize the importance of what must happen now."
"Sentiments I echo. Perhaps the holocrystal is right -- perhaps I'm
only playing at being Rialton."
Joeti, despite himself, arched an eyebrow and looked at the crystal
again. He shook his head and permitted himself a small smile. "Perhaps
you were, before now. Then again, weren't we all?"
Diana placed the crystal in Joeti's hand and closed his fingers around
it. She stood back and raised her chin slightly. "Go. Rialto be with
you, Joeti."
"With us all, Chi'velt," Joeti responded. When he was gone, Diana
permitted herself to relax. It would not be much time, now, before
Rijaei's signal would reach her and she would leave this room, and the name
of Diana Dumont, behind forever.
>>>***-***<<<
Elizabeth walked through the empty, darkened corridor, stabbing deep
into the House of Merhacha, following Mancoti. The ko'velt had greeted her
in the reception hall and told her to follow, without inquiring as to her
purpose. Which meant he already knew.
She had last seen Leiphali the day of their return to Merhacha,
following their release from resistance captivity. Her last contact had
come the day after, in the form of a note and his comclip. She had
destroyed the former, but kept the latter. Perhaps he would want it....
Don't get distracted, she told herself. You've got to tell him.
Maybe Tami already has. Tell him if you trust him, if you love him. If
you even know whether or not you do.
They were in a holocasting room, one of the few that existed on the
planet. The images it showed were tapped from the MegaNet's newsfeeds, the
same available to any Rialton with a good, working terminal. Unlike the
low-end models, with their small pictures and image-manipulating
subroutines to provide the illusion of depth, this was a top-of-the-line
unit, at least as advanced as the one in the Embassy. Around her, a
crowded public expanse teamed with Rialtons, ghost images from elsewhere.
She could not discern chi'velt from ko'velt, but she could pick out
mine-workers, shop keepers, members of the military, tech specialists,
factory workers... packing together as tightly as possible, jostling
without apology for station.
Twenty steps above them, twenty feet before the open, massive doors of
the House Ciateli, Rijaei stood, waiting patiently, hands clasped behind
his back. His countenance, which she had always considered boyish, was
decidedly grim. The rumble from his audience seemed confused, almost
shocked. When he spoke again, his words were amplified.
"This is the truth I speak. I was, until recently, the leader of the
resistance against the ruling Chi'velt council." Scattered shouts from the
listeners, whether they signified support or opposition, Elizabeth wasn't
sure. "I do not make this admission lightly; I am fully aware of the
consequences I face. My entire family, twenty-six levels deep, stands with
me, emerges into the light of truth with me. They know, as I do, that now
is the time to end the deception."
Leiphali and Tami were standing with their backs to her, facing
Rijaei. They practically cast the same shadow, they stood so close. She
thought about leaving.
"But it is not only our deception that must end!" Rijaei roared.
Elizabeth could feel the force of his words, rippling through the
light-beings that surrounded her. They were silent now, spellbound. "The
deceptions of Megacorp must end! The deceptions of the United Compact of
Planets must end!" Cheering shook through the audio feed; hardly
surprising, as sympathy for hard-line opposition to both was strong in
Ciateli. "But most of all, the deceptions of the ruling council must end!
Their endless accommodation, their deal-making, has only served to weaken
us, make the su'Rialto subservient to the su'Tombolo, as it was in the
beginning!" The reference puzzled Elizabeth, until she remembered Gerald
Tombolo and Rialto Sun-Tei were credited with the creation of the earliest
hyperspatial drive, and that Tombolo later took complete control of the
invention for his company's use. The su'Rialto was Tami, but the
su'Tombolo... that had to be Eduard Tombolo, now.
"I have an even greater secret to tell you now," Rijaei said, after
the crowd reaction died down. "One only known to those well inside my
House and my resistance. I... have submitted to another."
Dead silence from the square. They literally did not know how to
react. The muscles in Tami's shoulders abruptly tightened. His right fist
clenched.
"She will address you now," Rijaei said. His voice was firm, etched
with a determination that would brook no opposition, regardless of bond or
lack thereof. He stepped aside to reveal Diana Dumont.
"Holy shit," Elizabeth whispered.
For a dead woman, she looked remarkably healthy, even better than the
aging but fit former ambassador Elizabeth remembered. She strode to the
spot Rijaei occupied, almost as if she was stalking every pair of eyes that
watched her. The audience was still stunned, but a few ugly noises were
beginning to break through.
"You knew me as Diana Dumont," she said, "but that is no longer my
name. Diana Dumont is dead, not of the airship crash of months ago, but of
secrets, of lies, of crimes. You knew me as the voice of the U.C.P. Now
recognize me as the current, and final, leader of what has been misguidedly
termed 'the resistance.'"
Elizabeth noted that Leiphali seemed to have tensed as well. Had he
overheard her whisper? No... he had to be remembering the kidnapping, and
what had happened after.
"Following my 'death,' I was offered a place in this resistance, one
which I accepted. I secured Rijaei's submission soon after. Determined to
protect this world that I have come to love, I set the underground on a
course intended to increase public sentiment against Megacorp and the
U.C.P. Who better to outsmart the yhong than one who has lived in its den
for so long?"
This elicited some scattered yells. The mood of the crowd felt
turbulent, shifting this way and that with every word. Elizabeth felt they
wouldn't allow her to speak long.
"So my pride told me," 'Diana' said. "My arrogance in thinking I
could fight their deception with more deception, their blackmail with more
blackmail, my secrets against theirs, little knowing that, as I did, I
would commit a grievous and savage crime." She paused, looked about. "One
of Tami su'Rialto's ko'velts, Leiphali, was kidnapped along with me. While
in captivity, he bonded with another, without the approval or knowledge of
his chi'velt. I had no knowledge of this until after, when I graduated
from captive to resistance member, and eventually leader. I ordered them
released. Upon the execution of that order, they were threatened with the
fact that we would make their bond known to Tami."
The Rialtons were shifting into anger now, several moving closer to
the steps. The guards flanking Rijaei and 'Diana' took notice and reached
for their sidearms. 'Diana' lifted a hand, and the guards returned to
their formal stances.
"If you would tear me apart, so be it," she said, her voice low,
tightly focused. "Or wait for Tami's soldiers to come and do it for you!
I will die... free of the shadows I have cast all my life!
"Today, I underwent the ceremony of the Naming. I am not the first
offworlder to have done so, though those before me all became ko'velts. I
told you Diana Dumont is dead. Now, you shall know me as Di'iam!"
Elizabeth tried to think of the translation. Di... that was a verb...
'emerge...'
"'The one who emerges from darkness,'" Tami said. Leiphali raised his
hand, placed it against Tami's back, just below his left shoulder.
"With this act, I have cut the remaining ties to my past life of
deception, of lies! As your predecessors did more than a century before, I
have turned away from the ways of the U.C.P, the ways of Megacorp. My
house of twenty-seven levels stands with me today!" She paused, a lifetime
of speaking timing the next sentence. "For this, Tami shall have us tried
and executed!"
The violence in the crowd was lanced; they had returned to their looks
of shocked confusion, emotion banging around without an outlet. Elizabeth
knew the feeling.
"A fitting move for a ruler who has learned to accommodate Megacorp so
well this past decade, don't you agree? Fitting behavior for one who uses
the knowledge of my crime to construct a blackmail of his own. He *knows*
I am alive! Only a day before, I was in his presence!
"He *KNOWS* my crime, but has committed one of his own in making his
knowledge part of his schemes. He disgraces the memory of Leiphali and his
office as ruler of Rialto with his secrecy. He disgraces you!"
A wave of whispers, muttered sentiments from the ghosts around her.
Leiphali glanced at a couple of them, turned back to watch Di'iam...
...then turned back to look at her.
Di'iam spoke, but Elizabeth could no longer see her.
"This resistance was begun by Rijaei and his patron, Borsi, as a means
of pressuring Tami into standing firm against the U.C.P. But it is not
theirs any more! It is not mine any more!"
Elizabeth stepped forward, slowly, compelled by Leiphali's eyes, so
much older than when she'd last seen him.
"It... is... *yours!*"
Tami saw her know, out of the corner of his eye, but he could not turn
fully around, couldn't look away from his former Diana, now growing closer
to him as the controller of the holocasting recorders at the scene focused
tightly on her.
"Secrecy and lies choke this planet like a shroud! Megacorp thrives
on them, but at the expense of your... *our*... souls! The ruling council
has become so wrapped in its own intrigues that they cannot hope to
dominate the enemy! So have we... until today!"
Leiphali was close enough to touch, now. He reached out with his
other hand, gently, firmly, taking hers. The crowd was crying out now,
their passion a palpable force, even these thousands of miles away. They
were cheering her now.
"We will win this war... but we will no longer fight Megacorp's fight!
No longer dance to the U.C.P.'s song! No longer bind ourselves with Tami's
dealmaking! We are living in the shadow of the hammer!"
The kiss was nothing like before. No taste of dominance, no
submission... only the dry, burning rasp of the desert and the feel of time
beyond reckoning gone by.
"It is time..."
The Rialtons were going mad now, roaring, screaming... all for Di'iam.
"...for the hammer..."
She submerged into Leiphali's one-armed embrace, not breaking the
kiss. There would be time and place for her anger. Not now... not this
moment.
"...to *FALL!*"
The scream of the crowd was a thunderclap through her.
SO... WHAT NOW?
YOU DON'T SUPPOSE THERE'S GOING TO BE SOME REPERCUSSIONS FROM THIS, DO YOU?
I MEAN, YOU'D THINK....
JUST MAYBE. ONE OR TWO.
MAYBE EVEN THREE.
TOUGH TO SAY, REALLY.
Just what those repercussions will be is up to none other than that
Engineer o' CHAOS himself, jaunty John Bankert, in an upcoming
Rialto-flavored ROUND ROBIN episode, only on SUPERGUY!
--
Rialto is the intellectual property of and is Copyright 1997 John Bankert,
Eric Alfred Burns, and Gary W. Olson. Electronic redistribution is
permitted as per the guidelines in the Superguy Mailing List FAQ. All
rights not specifically ceded are reserved.
--
Gary W. Olson
sw...@mail.sojourn.com
http://www.sojourn.com/~swede