Bio Of A Space Tyrant Omnibus by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Space Opera, General, Science Fiction, American, Fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18 COUNTERSTROKE

I stood at the podium, addressing a small, select group of reporters in this chamber, and the holo-cameras for a vastly greater audience. It was time for me to give my prepared speech.

I had been so absorbed in my final flashback revelation that I really couldn’t remember how I had gotten here. It hardly mattered; I knew that I was back on Jupiter, in a major city-probably New Wash-and that I had a meticulously crafted script to deliver. I also knew, now, that it represented disaster to my campaign, for it promised so much that no one would believe it. I was no minor party candidate; I was the leading challenger, with an even chance of winning the election-if I did not throw it away here. But if I repudiated the script, Dorian Gray would suffer, and, of course, I myself would be summarily whisked away and doomed, for I remained in the power of the enemy. They did not realize that my system had fought off the addiction, the mem-wash, and the reeducation program. I was no robot to do their bidding, but they still had some power over me. Not the city-blasting threat-not here!-but still the power of individual murder.

A man stood at my elbow, theoretically to assist me, but as I hesitated, he touched something in a pocket, and I felt a dread twinge of discomfort in my gut. He had a pain-box there-tuned to me! They had buttressed their program in the professional manner, giving me positive and negative incentives to perform. Tocsin really wanted me out of the race! How could I get out of this?

Then I spied a familiar face in the group before me: Thorley. Suddenly I knew it was all right. If he was here, then QYV knew my location; indeed, QYV would have tracked me all along. Spirit would have the situation in hand.

Except for that pain-box. I literally could not act independently, as long as that was tuned to me.

I had no time to ponder. The broadcast signal came on, and I started my prepared speech. I had no other, and I could not risk what would happen if the enemy caught on to my awareness before we gained control of that sub and nullified the pain-box.

Actually the text began moderately enough; it was the cumulative effect of it that would be devastating. While I spoke, I watched my audience-especially Thorley. He knew that I had been abducted; I was sure that fact had been concealed from the public, but Thorley had been, as it were, in on the conspiracy. He would let me know when it was safe for me to break free. But did he know about the pain-box, which would cripple me the moment I tried?

Then the signal came: Thorley’s thumbs-up. That meant that our people had completed the nullification of my captors, working quietly behind the scenes. The enemy administrators, elsewhere in the city, would not know. Tocsin would not know. I was free to pursue my own course.

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