Wolfling by Gordon R. Dickson

Author:Gordon R. Dickson [Dickson, Gordon R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The planet Athiya to which Jim was sent with his Ten-units of Starkien, Adok, and Harn II—who was the Ten-units’ original commander but now acting-adjutant to Jim—was one of the many worlds populated by the small brown men with long, straight hair hanging down their back. The Governor, a burly little chestnut of a man, avoided all references to the uprising, to put down which he had asked the Highborn to send him Starkien help. He insisted that they go through a large and formal welcoming ceremony, during which he avoided all references to the uprising and any questions about it made to him by Jim.

However, explanations could not be put off forever. Jim, Harn II, Adok, and the Governor all ended up at last in the Governor’s private office of the capital city of Athiya. The Governor attempted to fuss around getting them hassocks and refreshments, but Jim cut him short.

“Never mind that,” said Jim. “We don’t want food and drink. We want to know about this uprising—where is it, how many people are involved, and what kind of weapons have they?”

The Governor sat down on one of the Hassocks and abruptly burst into tears.

For a moment Jim was dumbfounded. Then knowledge that had its roots not in what he had learned on the Throne World as much as what he had learned back in his anthropological studies on Earth reassured him with the obvious deduction that the Governor belonged to a culture in which it was not unusual for the males to cry—even as publicly and noisily as the Governor was doing now.

Jim waited, therefore, until the Governor had gotten rid of his first explosion of emotion, and then put his question again.

Snuffling, the Governor wiped tears from his eyes and tried to answer. “I never thought they wouldn’t send me a Highborn in command of the Starkiens!” he said thickly to Jim. “I was going to throw myself on his mercy … but you’re not a Highborn—”

His tears threatened to flood his explanations once again. Jim spoke sharply to him, to bring him out of it.

“Stand up!” Jim snapped. Reflexively, the Governor obeyed. “As a matter of fact, I’ve been sponsored for adoption into the Highborn. But that’s beside the point. Whatever the Emperor sent you is what your situation deserves.”

“But it isn’t!” choked the Governor. “I—I lied. It isn’t just an uprising. It’s a revolution! All the other families on the planet have joined together—even my cousin Cluth is with them. In fact, he’s the head of it all. They’ve all banded together to kill me and put Cluth here in my place!”

“What’s this?” demanded Jim. He was aware that the Colony Worlds of the empire had their miniature courts, modeled on the Throne World’s. These courts consisted of the noble families of the Colony World, headed up by the family and person of the Governor, who was a small Emperor locally, in his own right.

“Why did you let it get this far?” put in Harn II.

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