"I, Mengsk" - читать интересную книгу автора (McNeill Graham)

CHAPTER 6

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE LINED SENATORS' PARADE, the marble-paved street that led from the Martial Field to the Palatine Forum. Their cheers were deafening, and Achlon Feld had to concentrate to hear the updates from his men over the mike nestled in his ear.

He had been awake since dawn, overseeing the last-minute preparations for Angus Mengsk's walk through the heart of the city. After the attack on the summer villa, Feld had increased security around the senator, but this had been the moment he had been dreading for weeks.

Angus's natural disregard for any threats to his person had given Feld dozens of sleepless nights as he worried about Confederate assassins, lone nutcases, or simply a zealous supporter of Lennox Craven. To watch for such a threat, Feld had men spread throughout the crowd, equipped with detectors attuned to the spectral frequency of the alloys used in the ammo of slugthrowers and spike pistols.

Thai would detect the most common firearms, but he knew that if anyone in the crowd carried a more sophisticated weapon, it would need to be visually recognized.

The atmosphere was electric and the mood of the crowd was jubilant (which was something to be thankful for) as they awaited Angus's arrival. Today was the final day of the Korhal Senate's sitting for the year, and it was traditional for a senator chosen by popular acclaim to deliver the Close of Session speech.

Ever since he had taken a stand against the tyranny of Confederate rule, it had been clear that it would be Angus Mengsk the people of Korhal would choose to deliver the speech.

Feld looked along the length of Senators' Parade, steel barriers keeping the crowd from the road. Banners with Angus's name on them were held high alongside flags with the wolf-head emblem of the Mengsk family crest. The route itself was clear and the gleaming white structure of the Forum shone like a beacon of light at its end. The roof blazed in the summer sunlight as though afire, and even Feld had to admit that it was an impressive sight.

All being well, Angus would walk through the great oaken doors of the Forum and stand before the assembled senators and visiting planetary dignitaries to deliver his speech. And after that...well, after that, the dynamic between Korhal and the Confederacy would be changed forever.

Feld heard a double click in his earpiece and felt a jolt of adrenaline hit his system. Angus was on his way.

Sure enough, Feld saw the silver ‘58 Terra Cougar as it pulled slowly around the curve of the road that led to where he awaited his employer and friend. The groundcar moved slowly and Feld silently willed it to hurry up as the noise of the crowd grew louder with word of Angus's arrival.

At last the groundcar pulled up, and Feld moved quickly to open the door. The door slid upward and Angus Mengsk emerged from within, resplendent in his bright red toga. Angus stood tall, waving to the crowd with his head held high, his smile warm and genuine.

Katherine Mengsk followed him from the car, and Feld did a slow double take at the sight of her. She was dressed in a simple yet elegant dress of cornflower blue, her long dark hair bound up in a flattering style that brought out the classical lines of her cheekbones.

Angus turned back and took Katherine's hand, but before he could walk to the end of Senators' Parade, Feld stepped close and said. "What the hell are you doing, Angus?"

“I'm walking toward the Forum, Achton," said Angus through his smile. “What does it look like I'm doing?'

"It looks like you're blatantly disregarding the security plan we discussed. What is Katherine doing here? She was supposed to meet you at the Forum."

"I didn't like that plan," said Angus. "Now get out of my way. I'm going to walk to the Forum with my wife, and I don't want you next to me like a guard dog at my heel."

"Do you want to get killed?" asked Feld. "Is that it?"

"Don't be ridiculous—even the Confederacy wouldn't try anything today," scoffed Angus. "And we're both shielded by that force field of yours. Nothing's going to happen."

Feld stepped back and allowed Angus to walk past him, angry beyond words that the senator had so casually thrown out the security plan designed to keep him safe. Angus was probably right that nothing would happen today, but in Feld's experience it was usually just at that moment—when you lowered your guard—that your enemies struck.

Cursing Angus's need for dramatic gestures, Feld quickly broadcast an update on the security situation to his men in the crowd and closed the groundcar's door, thankful that Angus hadn't gone the whole hog and decided to bring Dorothy along. The vehicle would follow a discreet distance behind Angus in case a speedy exit was called for, and Feld just hoped it would not be needed.

Setting off alongside the groundcar, Feld scanned the crowd as Angus began his walk to the sounds of ecstatic cheers and howls of support. Every face was fixed on Angus and his glamorous wife.

Any one of them could be a potential threatm Feld knew.

I should have taken that job on Brontes, he thought.

Angus felt the mood of the people surging through him and knew he'd made the right decision to bring Katherine along with him. He was just sorry he hadn't decided to ask his wife to bring Dorothy and Arcturus, but quickly discarded that thought.

Bringing a child as young as Little Dot to an event like this would be foolish, and Arcturus... well, his son would never have agreed anyway. They had spoken little since the events of Graduation Day, his dealings with Ailin Pasteur and preparations for today's events taking up the bulk of his time.

In any case, Arcturus had been spending most of his time since leaving the academy with Pasteur's daughter. The only real time Angus and his son had spoken had been yesterday at breakfast, where, despite his wife's warning glance. Angus had broached the subject of what Arcturus was planning on doing with his life.

"I haven't decided yet," said Arcturus, and Angus's political instincts sensed evasion.

"I could set up an interview with Nestor Jurgens," said Angus nonchalantly. "He runs one of my machine tooling factories in Fairstens. He's a good man—you could learn a lot from him."

"What would I want to learn from a factory manager?" said Arcturus.

"Nestor's more than just a factory manager," replied Angus, irritated at his son's ingratitude. "All my managers effectively run their businesses autonomously. They're CEOs and financial managers all in one, though, of course, they answer to me. You're eighteen now, and you'd learn the ropes of what it takes to succeed in the industrial marketplace and acquire the skills you'll need if you're going to succeed me."

"Succeed you?" spat Arcturus. "I have plans of my own."

"I thought you said you hadn't decided on what you wanted to do."

"Well, I have."

When Arcturus didn't continue Angus sat back. "Are you going to keep us all in suspense?"

"You'll find out," said Arcturus, and Angus hadn't liked the sound of that one bit. After Arcturus's stunt at Graduation Day, Angus knew his son's mind could work in the most devious ways.

Arcturus had excused himself from breakfast at that point, and only Dorothy's spilling her cereal over the table had prevented Angus from going after him and demanding to know what was going on.

Angus pushed thoughts of Arcturus from his mind as Katherine gave his hand a squeeze.

He turned to her and kissed her cheek, and the crowd went wild.

They walked along Senators' Parade, the shimmering whiteness of the Forum drawing them ever onward. A tall figure in a red toga stood at the top of the steps and Angus smiled as he recognized Lennox Craven, the senior consul of the Senate and the man who would formally welcome him.

"This must be killing him," said Angus. "Having to welcome me in personally."

Katherine didn't need to ask who he meant, and smiled back. "I'm sure it is, but I can't say I have any sympathy for him."

Angus heard the steel in her voice, knowing that Katherine believed with utter certainty that Craven had dispatched the men who had come to kill them in the summer villa. She was probably right, but without concrete proof, there could be no public accusations.

"I'm going to enjoy watching that bastard squirm," said Angus.

"Careful, dear," cautioned Katherine, waving to the crowd. "There are a dozen holocams on you, and it would be bad form if someone lip-read that from you."

"Very true," said Angus. "As always, you are the soothing wind to my raging storm."

"Such is my role." She smiled. "But just make sure you do make the bastard squirm."

Lennox Craven was not a man given to public displays of emotion, but as he watched Angus Mengsk march toward him with barely disguised relish, it was all he could do to keep the anger from his face.

Dressed in a red toga identical to Mengsk's, Craven knew he was nowhere near as imposing or impressive a figure as his nemesis, but then, he had never set out to make himself a self-styled man of the people.

He knew for a fact that Mengsk's public face was as manufactured as that of any of the dozens of vacuous actors and actresses that UNN's celebrity channel broadcast day and night. Mengsk might pretend to be the champion of the common man, speaking out against the perceived injustices of the Confederacy, but hadn't he in fact benefited massively from all the Council of Tarsonis had done?

Wasn't Mengsk a wealthy man thanks to the very apparatus he so gleefully attacked with his speeches in the Forum and his incessant interviews on UNN? No, Lennox Craven knew the true face of Angus Mengsk, which made it all the more galling that he had to stand here as though they were the greatest of friends.

It made him want to throw up.

Even with bribes and calling in the many favors he was owed, he had not been able to prevent Angus from winning the hearts and minds of the people and the right to speak at the Close of Session. The Council had been most insistent: Angus Mengsk must be silenced. If one of the Confederate's most treasured and pampered worlds was seen to turn against them, then it would only be a matter of time before others attempted to follow its example.

And that could not be allowed to happen.

His paymasters were demanding results, and Lennox Craven had singularly failed to deliver them.

Thousands upon thousands of people lined the streets, and Craven could not remember a time when such numbers had come out to watch a senator march to the Forum. He remembered the year he had been chosen to make the Close of Session speech, and his bitterness at the apathy the people had displayed threatened to choke him in the face of Angus's popularity.

He drew himself up to his full height as Angus and his wife reached the bottom of the wide steps that climbed to the columned portico and the great black doors, beyond which lay the grand debating chamber.

Angus turned to give another wave to the cheering crowds, raising both arms above his head and accepting their adulation. He then turned and, taking his wife by the hand, began his ascent of the steps.

Craven could see the relish in Mengsk's eyes and prayed the man would stumble and fall flat on his face—anything to puncture the pompous arrogance that surrounded him. But Angus reached the top of the steps without mishap, and Craven fixed a practiced smile across his features and assumed the dignified mien of a seasoned senator who was about to welcome one of his dearest friends.

"Angus Mengsk, you've brought quite a crowd with you," he said by way of greeting. "And Katherine, you look radiant. A pleasure to see you, as always."

Mengsk's wife curtsied graciously and said. "Thank you, Lennox."

Angus Mengsk came forward with his arms open, and Craven's smile faltered.

Dear God, was the man expecting an embrace?

The crowds roared, and Craven knew he would have to play along with this charade of friendship. He opened his arms as Mengsk swept him up in a crushing bear hug, then awkwardly patted Mengsk's back in a suitably brotherly fashion, hoping that this would suffice.

"I know it was you who sent those men to kill me," whispered Mengsk. "I just wanted you to know that before I destroy you in there."

Craven stiffened, but before he could reply, Mengsk released him and made his way to the great doors of the Forum. Katherine Mengsk swept past Craven, locking her eyes with his as she went to join her husband. Though she said nothing, her cold gaze pinned him like a butterfly on a collector's wall.

Taking a deep breath to compose himself, Lennox Craven turned and followed Angus Mengsk into the Forum, already dreading what the damnable man was going to say in his speech.

The inferior of the Palatine Forum was no less magnificent than the exterior, the floor of the vestibule fashioned from great slabs of black marble veined with gold and its columns fluted and rising to dizzying heights. The alabaster walls were painted with great murals depicting the pioneers of Korhal's heroic past: revered senators, intrepid spacefarers, great architects, military commanders, and far-seeing philosophers.

Angus and Katherine crossed the vestibule and approached the bronze doors of the great chamber of the Forum, behind which could be heard the animated buzz of voices.

Lennox Craven caught up to them, but Angus did not deign to glance in his direction.

Katherine squeezed his hand. Once again, Angus was thankful for her steadying presence.

She turned to him and said. "I love you."

"I love you too," said Angus without hesitation.

Katherine smiled and made her way to a door at the side of the vestibule, which Angus knew led up to the viewing gallery. Tradition demanded that only senators enter the main chamber through this door, so Katherine would need to view proceedings from above, with the rest of the families and Invited guests.

He waited for a few minutes—pointedly ignoring Lennox Craven—until he was sure Katherine would have reached her allocated seat. Then he approached the door.

It swung open smoothly, and Angus felt his heart race as he saw the assembled senators and dignitaries awaiting his arrival.

Yes, he thought. This is my moment...

"There's your mother now," said Ailin Pasteur, and Arcturus turned to see Katherine Mengsk threading her way through the assorted family members gathered in the viewing gallery. She saw him silting there, her eyes bright at this unexpected pleasure, and Arcturus felt a genuine moment of regret at what he was about to do to her.

Juliana sat behind her father, full of nervous excitement at the thought of seeing Angus Mengsk give the Close of Session speech in the Korhal Forum. In the time since graduation, she had spent a great deal of time with Arcturus, though thanks to the constant presence of a chaperone he had not had a chance to take her to his bed.

Instead, they had spent most of their time in closely supervised walks through Styrling, and though he never tired of filling her head with his grandiose dreams of the future, he had begun to tire of her company.

Not that that would be a problem soon, he thought, picturing the sheaf of papers nestling in his coal pocket. Only Juliana knew what he planned, but he knew she would say nothing.

His mother smiled as she negotiated her way toward their little group, obviously pleased to see him there. She smiled at people she passed, and Arcturus could see the genuine affection in which his mother was held. In addition to being the glamorous wife of a senator, Katherine Mengsk was a patron of numerous charities and spoke out on many issues that affected people from every strata of society.

She had been the first to address the subject of child trafficking between worlds, had opened people's eyes to the plight of the homeless in Styrling, and had set up numerous health organizations to aid the many victims of war. His mother offered kind words to everyone she passed, and watching her easy smile and natural grace made Arcturus realize why she was so beloved by the people of Korhal.

At last his mother reached them, and Arcturus shifted up on the wooden bench to allow her to sit next to him. She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"I'm so glad you came, Arcturus," she said, her smile warm and genuine.

"So am I," said Arcturus.

She directed her attention to the Pasteurs and said, "Ailin. It's wonderful to see you here. And Juliana, Angus will be so pleased you came to see him deliver his speech."

Juliana smiled shyly at Katherine, and Arcturus could see she was a little in awe of his mother. "Thank you, Mrs. Mengsk."

"Call me Katherine, dear, please." She smiled, patting Arcturus's knee. "You're practically family now."

Ailin Pasteur returned Arcturus's mother's smile and said. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world, Katherine. People are going to remember this day for a long time to come."

"I have no doubt of that," said Katherine, beaming as the master of ceremonies rapped his bronze-tipped staff on the tiled floor of the Senate floor.

The senators below stood a little taller and everyone in the gallery leaned forward as the bronze doors opened and Angus Mengsk made his entrance.

Angus raised his arms in triumph as he stepped into the vast domed chamber of the Senate, recognizing that this was a symbolic as well as a literal crossing of a threshold. Like the most alluring woman, the Palatine Forum saved its most majestic treasures for last and, as always, Angus felt a deep sense of pride, awe, and reverence for what this chamber represented.

Democracy, free will, and freedom from oppression.

The central floor was paved with panels of opus sectil, in which porphyry and serpentine figured prominently. To either side were three broad, low, marble-faced steps, and on the level nearest the floor sat the more notable senators upon their curule chairs.

The two top steps were broader than the others, and upon them stood hundreds of richly dressed men and women, the entire body of the Korhal Senate and assorted dignitaries granted special leave to attend the Close of Session.

Gray marble wainscoting ran along each wall, finished with a molding above which marble panels were rhythmically placed with only the interruption of three statue-filled niches to break the pattern. As the wall rose toward the dome, it was faced with tall gray rectangular panels with golden lettering: the constitutional tenets set down by Korhal's earliest settlers and the principles by which its people were to be governed.

The dome itself was made up of heavily gilded lacunaria consisting of square coffers set with golden discs at their centers. Just below the dome was the viewing gallery, where those important enough to be allowed into the Palatine Forum yet not of sufficient stature to set foot in the main chamber could be seated.

Ailin Pasteur watched from here, as did Katherine, proudly awaiting Angus's arrival. He resisted the urge to wave to her. Looking farther along, he was surprised and pleased to see Arcturus next to her.

Katherine had probably emotionally blackmailed their son to get him here, he figured. Briefly he wondered why Katherine hadn't told him that Arcturus was going to be here, but put the thought from his mind. Where Arcturus was concerned, Angus would take what he could get.

He looked up into the dome as thunderous applause swelled from the assembled senators, and let the moment stretch as he reveled in the acclaim of his peers. When he judged the moment right, he slowly lowered his eyes to the Confederate flag hung opposite the entrance, below which sat the senior consul's plinth.

It was from this plinth that Angus would deliver his speech, and he marched across the floor of the Senate chamber toward it. With applause still ringing in his ears, he stepped up onto the plinth and stared up at the red and blue of the flag.

His scathing look made no secret of his loathing for all it represented.

Creed, corruption, and moral stagnation.

With one swift movement, he reached up and ripped it down.

The cheers of the assembled senators doubled in volume.

Arcturus watched the faces of the people below in the Senate hall and gathered around him in the gallery as they clapped and cheered. He was amazed they could be so enamored of his father. Could they not see him for what he was—an ordinary, stubborn man who didn't know how to listen? In that moment, a realization crystallized in Arcturus.

It didn't matter what the reality of a person was, it was what he showed the world that mattered. The people of Korhal didn't know the real Angus Mengsk: they knew the reality he gave them, the manufactured persona calculated to win them over to his cause. It didn't matter that his Father was as human and as fallible as them: all that mattered was what he meant to them and what he promised them.

Arcturus had always known that ordinary people were easy to manipulate, but to see supposedly educated men and women so easily swayed was a revelation.

He sat back as his father strode across the Senate floor toward the senior consul's plinth, basking in the applause of his fellow senators. This was a salutary lesson in the power of perception versus reality, but Arcturus had no wish to sit through another of his father's impassioned rants about the iniquities of the Confederacy.

He'd heard enough of those over the course of his young life to last him a lifetime.

It was time.

Arcturus took a deep breath and reached inside his coat packet, removed the sheaf of crisp papers he'd signed earlier this morning, and laid them on his lap. He looked over at his mother, again feeling slightly guilty about what he was about to do, but knowing that this was the right thing for him to do simply because it was what he wanted to do.

Sensing his scrutiny, his mother glanced over at him, and her clapping faltered as she saw the papers laid out before him and the insignia emblazoned at the top.

"Arcturus...." she said hesitantly. "What's that?"

"Enlistment papers, Mother," he said. "For the Confederate Marine Corps. I went to the recruitment offices this morning."

Katherine looked down at the papers, her confusion turning to cold dread in the space of a heartbeat. “Oh Arcturus, no...please, no... What have you done?"

She went to lift the papers from him, but he was quicker, and snatched them up before she could take them as the cheers of the crowd suddenly swelled in volume.

"Arcturus, what did you do?" cried his mother. "Tell me!"

"I joined up," he said.

"No, no, you didn't!" said Katherine. "You didn't. Arcturus, if this is a joke, it's in very poor taste."

"I'm not joking, Mother," said Arcturus. "As of this morning, I'm part of the officer corps of the 33rd Ground Assault Division under Commander Brantigan Fole."

"No, no, you're not. This is some kind of prank, isn't it?" said his mother, and Arcturus saw real panic in her eyes. "Isn't it? Tell me it's one of your stupid pranks!"

People were turning from watching his father below on the Senate floor to the growing commotion in the gallery as Katherine's voice rose in pitch and volume. The applause was still loud and cheering echoed around the chamber, drowning out their words to all but the nearest spectators.

"It's not a prank, Mother," said Arcturus, cold fury entering his heart at the idea that something this important to him would be dismissed as a prank. This was his life, and she thought he was joking?

"I'm leaving this afternoon," he said.

His mother slapped him across the cheek.

Gasps of surprise spread like ripples in a pond at the sound of her palm connecting with his cheek.

"You stupid, stupid boy," stormed Katherine. "You stupid, selfish boy. Is this your way of hurling your falher? Of hurting me? Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I know exactly what I've done," said Arcturus, his resolve now hardened in the face of his mother's insulting slap. "And you've just made it easier for me."

Katherine reached for him, but he batted her hands away and rose to his feet. His mother looked up at him, tears spilling down her cheeks, but Arcturus didn't care anymore. He slid his enlistment papers back into his coat pocket and said. "Good-bye, Mother. Tell Dorothy I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to say good-bye to her. Tell her I'll write."

"No!" wept Katherine, her heartbroken cry swallowed up by the clapping that still filled the Senate chamber. “Oh God, please don't do this! Arcturus, please, please...wait!"

Arcturus ignored his mother's terrible, aching grief and strode through the astonished crowd silting in the viewing gallery. He could feel their eyes upon him, but kept his head held high, determined to leave this place with dignity.

A strong hand gripped his arm, and he turned to berate the person for this impudence.

Ailin Pasteur stood behind himm his face a mask of anger. "Your father will never forgive you to this, Arcturus."

"I'm not asking him to," snapped Arcturus, shrugging off the Umojan ambassador's hand.

"Of all the days you could have done this, why today?" demanded Pasteur.

Arcturus returned Pasteur's stare with a steel gaze of his own. The man recoiled from the determination in Arcturus's eyes as though struck.

“Sometimes you have to do something dramatic to make your point," said Arcturus.

Pasteur shook his head sadly, turning to look at his weeping mother.

“Well, boy," he said sadly, "you've certainly done that. I just hope you don't live to regret what you've done today."

“I won't," promised Arcturus, turning and walking away.