3-Out of the Darkness by Peter David

Author:Peter David [David, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780345427205
Publisher: Del Rey: Nov 2000
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

- chapter 12 -

When General Rhys met the prime minister for breakfast, he found Durla to be in a fairly somber mood. "Is there a problem, sir?" Rhys inquired.

Durla was holding a roll, staring at it. Then he placed it down carefully and looked at Rhys. "General," he said after a moment, "my lady wife, Mariel, will not be continuing with us. I wish to have her returned to Centauri Prime as soon as possible."

"Is she feeling ill?" Rhys asked solicitously.

"You can say that, yes." "Ah" was all Rhys said.

"I believe she wants to go home. This surveying of our fleet is too strenuous for her."

"Ah," he said again.

"Furthermore," Durla continued, "I think it best if she be kept to herself for a while. I am concerned about things she might say and do."

"What... sort of things?" inquired Rhys.

Durla looked at him darkly and seriously. "Unfortunate things. Things that, if they were spoken by just any woman, would be considered disloyal enough. But spoken by the wife of the prime minister? They could serve to undermine my people's faith in me. 1 will not have it, General. I will not be undercut by her."

"That's very understandable, Prime Minister," Rhys said judiciously. But he was more than capable of reading between the lines ... and was wondering, in a bleak manner, why Durla wasn't insinuating that the woman simply succumb to an "accident" on the way home. It was not a suggestion, however veiled, that Rhys was looking forward to receiving. He was not quite certain how he would react to such a thing. He was a soldier, not an assassin.

The question, however, promptly became moot when Durla spoke again. "From whisperings I have heard, and things she has said ... I believe the emperor has taken an interest in her fortunes."

"I thought the emperor despised her," said a surprised Rhys. Durla shrugged, clearly mystified. "Who can possibly intuit the way in which the emperor's mind works ... or even if it does work at all." He laughed heartily at his little witticism, but when the general offered little more than a slightly pained smile, he reined himself in. Instead, all business, he continued, "So make certain that she is kept to herself. I do not want her talking to others. I do not want her sending communications to others. She needs time, I think, to assess the current state of affairs and come to terms with them."

"As you wish, Prime Minister."

Durla smiled. "There are times, General, when I think that you alone fully understand my concerns."

"You wish to make Centauri Prime great again," Rhys said, "You see our future as a great monument. Naturally you must chip away at anything that is not in keeping with your vision."

"Yes, yes. Exactly." He let out a sigh, as if relieved.

Then he got up and walked over to the great bay window that overlooked the field. There, in the morning sun, the ships gleamed. Not as many as in his dream, no. But a considerable number nonetheless.

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