Bid of a Space Tyrant Volume 5: Statesman by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers, Anthony
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

BioofaSpaceTyrant

“I am sure that some accommodation can be made,” the King said quickly. Now his attention was on me.

“Don’t trust them!” Shelia urged me, speaking like a paranoid conscience.

“I’m not sure,” I said. Saliva appeared in the corners of my mouth, and my gaze flicked erratically about the room as if searching for something.

“You are tired, Tyrant,” the King said. “Let us conclude this business expeditiously, so you may rest.” If there was one thing for which the Tyrant was remembered, it was his siege of madness, which had manifested in some amusing and some devastating ways. No one could be certain in what manner or with what force this loosening cannon would strike. But they knew one thing that would set it off instantly.

“No!” Shelia cried. “They are iron!”

I hesitated as if distracted. The King strode across the chamber and his hand reached for mine, seeking the handshake that would seal the agreement. In the age of holo and recordings, such a signal had legal force. “It is agreed!” he said.

“Peace and trade, to mutual advantage!”

I blinked, becoming aware of my situation. Automatically my hand came to join his holo-hand. “Peace and trade,” I agreed.

Shelia, disgusted, wheeled her chair about and rolled out.

It was done. We terminated the meeting with the customary amenities. I knew that there would be sessions between the King and the extremists, but it would be apparent to all who studied the holotape that something strange had occurred, and that the King had elected not to risk the loss of a significant agreement that promised not only to elevate the price of iron, but to return Deimos at least nominally to Mars’ suzerainty.

For there was indeed no telling what the Tyrant might do in his madness. He was capable of the most unpredictable and bizarre acts. The agreement might not be ideal, by the standards of the Mars extremists, but the possible consequences of the loss of the agreement were likely to be considerably less palatable. The members of IPEC knew that the Tyrant had no brief for iron as an industry, and that both Saturn and Uranus supported the Tyrant’s project and would feel constrained to take umbrage if the Tyrant took offense at anything occurring at Mars. They would realize that even if this were an elaborate ruse, the consequences to them would be the same. And they would never be quite certain that it was a ruse. Moslem customs and beliefs differed from those of the Saxons or Hispanic cultures, and the appearance of a ghost did not have the same significance to them. But if I had looked about again, and seen and heard Shelia, all bets would have been off. The King had had to play the game. Too much was at stake to do otherwise.

Hope Hubris always had seen ghosts. Now others were seeing my ghosts too.

Chapter 14 EARTH

Chapter 14 EARTH

102

BioofaSpaceTyrant

Earth was amazing. The planet was blue, and half covered with clouds, and so pretty that it brought tears to my eyes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.