Part 20 (1/2)
”We do not wish any more of the Emperor's Slink eggs.” Dented-s.h.i.+eld sounded braver this time.
”Insolent slave!” the Taker roared. 'The Emperor owns everything. Every food Slink, every groundnut, every fruit on every plant, even the meat on the wild Swifts he owns. Pick up those eggs, or I shall banish you all from the Emperor's lands and you shall starve.”
”We give to the Emperor all that which belongs to the Emperor. We have no need of the Emperor's food. We have the food machines to feed us.”
”I will take the food machines, slave. Everything belongs to the Emperor. Even you.” Taker pulled out her whip-sword and flicked it menacingly. ”When I am through with you, insolent crust-slug, there will be no more talk of refusing to raise the Emperor's food Slinks.”
Dented-s.h.i.+eld raised her s.h.i.+eld as Taker urged her riding-Swift forward. Crust-Crawler rapped a short command into the crust and a nearly invisible magnetic barrier sprang up across the road. The riding-Swift slowed and reared as its tread touched the magnetic barrier. The ultra-strong magnetic fields stretched the molecules in the tread of the Swift to the breaking point. The Swift roared and backed off, favoring the burned edge of its tread.
Crust-Crawler moved forward to stand next to Dented-s.h.i.+eld.
”There is no need to raise food Slinks anymore,” he said to the Taker. ”The food machines can now give us Slink meat as well as all the other foods it did before. Now that we have nearly finished our task here, we would like to meet your Emperor. We will give him many, many food machines, cargo-gliders, personal gliders, road pavers, and other machines, as well as the power plants to run them. All of Egg can become prosperous, and there will no longer be a need for slaves.”
Crust-Crawler noticed that Taker's eye-wave pattern almost stopped as she contemplated the thought of not having slaves to do her bidding.
”If the Emperor will guarantee me safe conduct,” said Crust-Crawler, ”I and my machine makers will be glad to visit him in Bright Center. Otherwise, he may come here. As you notice, we have not attacked your party and have given you more than you came for. We would welcome the visit of the Emperor. If he wishes, he can ride in our stars.h.i.+ps and look down on all of his domain at one time.”
As if to punctuate his offer, there was a rising whine in the crust and the gravity catapult threw the scout s.h.i.+p back into the sky.
Faced with a barrier she could not overcome, and awed by the technology around her in spite of herself, the Taker decided to retreat.
”I leave to report your behavior to the Emperor,” she said. ”He will decide what you will do next.”
Crust-Crawler had the barrier around the herding pens lowered, and the porters, now reloaded with Slink eggs, drove the docile herds off on the long journey to Bright Center. Before the Taker left, however, she and her warriors used the treads of their riding-Swifts to push over all the low walls outlining the clan living areas and tread the meager contents into the crust.
”I hope the Emperor is more reasonable than the Taker,” said Metal-Bender.
”If the Emperor is the original Attila,” Crust-Crawler replied, ”even two dozen rejuvenations wouldn't be enough to make him reasonable. I think we had better work on our defenses.”
The Taker got back to Bright Center just as Attila finished his latest rejuvenation. His compact, muscular body was stronger than ever and just as speckled as before. He had a holding pouch of golden yellow crystals and was popping them one by one into an eating pouch.
”Good haul, Crazy-Eyes,” he said, looking at the food Slinks flowing past. ”I want one of those striped ones.”
”I will have the servers prepare it for turnfeast, Terrible One,” said the Taker.
”I want it now!” demanded Attila. ”I'm hungry.” He waved at a nearby server. ”That stupid rejuvenation robot kept feeding me mush and telling me to eat slowly. Had to dent it with my sword before it would let me go.”
”I had some trouble in the eastern provinces,” the Taker said after a long silence.
”Some slaves holding out on you?”
”No. They not only gave us back all the food Slinks they were supposed to, but they even refused to take their dozeth.”
”I thought the herds looked bigger. What's the matter with them?” Attila asked. ”They can't survive long on just groundnuts.”
”They have also refused to eat your groundnuts or plant fruits,” said the Taker.
”You sound like your brain-knot has stopped working, Crazy-Eyes,” said Attila. ”If I didn't know you better, I would say you are getting too old to be the Taker.”
”I am still the strongest of your warriors, O Terrible One,” said the Taker fearfully. ”But I have even worse news, O Terrible One.”
”Stop that 'O Terrible One' nonsense, Crazy-Eyes. I'm feeling great in this new body, and you know and I know that no other warrior of mine would be as good as you are for Taker-of-the-Emperor.” He paused for a moment as a server brought in a raw chunk of Zebu Slink.
'That is, unless you don't come out on top at the next combat trials.” Attila stuffed his eating pouch with the meat and started to suck on it noisily. He then tossed a few golden yellow crystals in on top of the meat.
”Excellent combination,” he said. ”Now, tell me the bad news.”
'They refused to take the new batch of Slink eggs.”
”You sliced up the Clan Leader and a few Elders until you found someone in the clan whowould take the eggs rather than die, didn't you?”
”I tried to, O Terrible One,” said the Taker, her tread stuttering in fear. ”But we were near the compound of the strange clan that made the food machine. They created an invisible barrier that stopped my riding-Swift.” She paused as she saw his eye-wave pattern take on a slow, thoughtful motion. ”I did my best, Terrible One,” she said.
Attila finally broke his silence. ”Did your Swift have a burned tread?” he asked.
”Yes!” she replied, amazed at his question. ”I could not understand it. I could see no heat radiation coming from the barrier.”
”That strange clan makes more than food machines,” said Attila thoughtfully. ”You ran into a magnetic barrier. It takes more than a Swift to cross them. What else did you see?”
”They have many machines. Some cover the crust with smooth roads, some spit out long tubes and bars of metal, and others crawl around cutting the metal into pieces to make other machines. They have even turned their giant flying machine into a machine that catches metal spheres that fall from the sky.”
”Those are Old One tales from the days before the big crustquake,” said Attila. ”Next you will be telling me that there are cheela that live among the stars.”
”I saw two cheela get out of the sphere and unload some small machines,” the Taker told him. ”Then they got back in the sphere and it was tossed back up into the sky.”
”I don't like the idea of someone being able to come and go from Egg without my permission. What if all the slaves decided to go to live in the stars?”
”The leader of the strange clan offered to give us all the machines we wanted, including new food machines that would make any kind of food Slink meat,” she said. ”He said we wouldn't need herders or gatherers for food, and all the work could be done by machine. There wouldn't be a need for slaves anymore. I didn't like the sound of that.”
”If there weren't any slaves,” said Attila, ”there wouldn't be a need for an Emperor and his warriors.” He jammed another hunk of raw Slink in his eating pouch. ”There is rebellion falling from the sky,” he said. ”I shall crush it under my tread just as I did long ago.” He wiped his manipulator on the crust and started moving toward the ancient Maze Temple in the middle of Bright Center.
He found no guard around the maze. The slaves were so afraid of the place that they never came near.
Attila ignored the entrance and circled around the outside until he came to a wide breach in the tall walls.
As he flowed up over the crumbled blocks of rock, the Taker lagged behind.
”Come along, Crazy-Eyes,” Attila ordered. ”You are not letting the Old One tales get to you, are you?”
”I have heard there are death-traps in there,” said the Taker.
”You heard correctly.” Attila continued to follow the path of destruction into the interior. The Taker came to an abrupt halt. ”But the death-traps stopped working when I reached the power generator.”
They finally came to the last broken wall. It opened into a large room. In the middle was a pile of metal plates and old Flow Slow bones. Attila pushed the bones aside and picked up a metal plate as big as a large s.h.i.+eld. He gave it a tap and it rang loudly.
”Feels solid,” he said. He placed it on the floor of the room and flowed onto it, pulling the edge of his tread up until none of it touched the crust. He held the position for a moment.