The purity plot, p.17
The Purity Plot, page 17
The robot made three more charges, and each time Pias was able to duck out of the way. But his margin for error grew smaller with each pass. Pias's native planet, Newforest, had a surface gravity of two and a half gees, while here on Purity the gravity was three gees. Under normal circumstances the difference was not significant. But in a stressful situation such as this, that extra half gee could make a considerable difference. Pias was tiring a trifle more easily than he should. He knew he would have to make his move soon, or the robot might get its chance to kill him before he could play out his trick.
He maneuvered himself into position to make it work. All during the fight, he had been edging his way down the hillside, closer to Clunard and the army. He wanted to make sure they would have a good view of what was about to transpire. He was now as close as he could hope for. The robot was downhill from him, preparing for another charge upward. So far, it had always gone past him, pivoted, and made a charge back down the hill at him; he prayed it would continue in that pattern one more time.
As he waited, he shook his right sleeve slightly, letting the tiny vial he had concealed there slip down into his hand. It was a container of acid from one of the acid-mix fuses in the armory. Pias felt justified in using it despite his promise because, after all, the robot had attacked him with something artificial-itself. He would have only the one chance to throw it though, so he had to do it well; he needed to hit a spot where there was plenty of "skin" rather than clothing.
FitzHugh charged, and Pias stepped aside to avoid the rush one more, simultaneously flinging the bottle into the robot's face. The thin glass shattered, spilling the acid over the automaton's visage, even as she whirled to make another downhill pass.
Pias had not stood his ground this time, but had run several steps further downhill, toward Clunard and the army. "I want you to look carefully, Sister Tresa," he shouted. "Look at this thing you trust so deeply."
The acid had begun to eat quickly away at FitzHugh's artificial skin, revealing the machinery behind it. The robot froze, aware it was being exposed but uncertain, for a split second, how to deal with the situation. In the meantime Tresa Clunard and her Army of the Just had a clear view of the workings behind FitzHugh's face.
"It's a machine, Sister Tresa," Pias continued, hammering his point home. "You have been fooled by the very machines you claim to detest. You Have listened to their advice and trusted them, and they have betrayed you and misled you. That machine is your enemy, not I."
The FitzHugh robot, realizing it was useless now in its undercover role, began to flee up the hill, moving at a speed no human being could have matched. It had gone only a few dozen meters though, when a blaster bolt sizzled out of the armory, hitting it squarely in the chest. Yvette's shot knocked the robot to the ground. The machine sputtered for a moment, twitched its limbs a few times, and then lay still.
Silence blanketed the hillside for half a minute.
Then a few bold members of the army detached themselves from the group and went over to inspect the corpse. The blaster bolt had laid open the robot even further, and its workings were self-evident. The soldiers looked down at FitzHugh and then over to Tresa Clunard. There was a new expression on their faces. Before this moment, Tresa Clunard had been, if not a demigod, then at least a saint. But now, seeing that she had been fooled so badly by a symbol of all she had preached was evil, their adoration was fading rapidly.
Pias fought to hold back a smile. There are some people who'll stay with her no matter what, he thought. But by nightfall I doubt she'll have more than a few hundred followers in her army. The threat from this paramilitary force had been ended.
He and Clunard stared at one another for a moment, both .aware of the momentous change that had occurred. There didn't seem to be much left to say to one another so, with a shrug, Pias turned his back and began walking up the hill to the armory.
"Brother Cromwell," she called, and Pias turned. "Are you satisfied now that you've destroyed me?" "That was never my intention," he said gently. "I merely wanted to show you the error of your ways. We can all get so caught up in our causes that we lose sight of the morality of the situation."
"I still believe I'm right," she said. "I will continue exhorting against decadence in society."
"I never asked you to stop." And Pias climbed uphill once more to help Yvette dismantle the deadman's switch. As he reached the armory he looked back. Clunard was on her knees beside the body of the FitzHugh robot. She was praying. But what she was praying for, he never learned.
Chapter 16
Problems Ahead
As Pias had suspected, the Army of the Just virtually disintegrated during that day. Their respect for Tresa Clunard had shattered along with the robot and, while they might still agree with her philosophy, they simply could not follow her as a military leader after she had been so badly duped by the enemy. True to Clunard's promise, Pias and Yvette were allowed to leave in peace. They made it back to their aircar and called the local SOTE headquarters, explaining what had happened.
When the regular SOTE forces arrived at the camp they met with no active resistance. Most of the volunteers were in the process of leaving, and SOTE didn't try to stop them. The weapons in the armory were confiscated, and the camp's buildings were burned. Tresa Clunard was taken into temporary custody and given a stern lecture on loyalty to the Empire. She listened sullenly and gave her word never to organize a military force against the lawfully constituted government again. The local SOTS chief, seeing no point in detaining her further, merely suspended her counseling license for five years and released her.
Two days later, a regularly scheduled flight departed from Purity to DesPlaines. On board were two very tired and very satisfied SOTE agents. Yvette had had her shoulder wound treated by a Service doctor and had received assurances she would be as fit as new in a week or two.
"In a way," she said to her husband during the flight, "I feel a little sorry for Clunard. There she was at the peak of her persuasive powers, an army of ten thousand people at her command, knowing with absolute certainty that God was on her side, and then it all crashed down around her in a matter of seconds."
"Pity is the last thing you should feel for her," Pias remarked. "She'll bounce back; fanatics always do. In some ways, this might be the best thing that could have happened to her. Fanatics are really at their best when they're the underdogs. If they ever get into a position where they're in charge, everyone's in trouble. As long as Tresa Clunard is kept out of any positions of real power, everything will be smooth."
The trip back to DesPlaines proved uneventful. The Bavols found themselves greeted at the spaceport by Jules and Yvonne, who had beaten them home by two days. There was a happy reunion and a great deal of backslapping, as each team was relieved to see that the other had survived its mission. As they drove back to the ducal mansion, Felicite, they exchanged stories about how their tasks had gone, and each couple tried to make their own adventures sound more harrowing than the others.
When they arrived at the estate, Jules and Yvette parted temporarily from their respective spouses and went straight to the communications room to report in person to the Head. It happened to be nighttime at the Head's home on Earth, but he was always willing to be awakened with good news from his two best agents.
Jules had already made his report two days ago, and Yvette boiled hers down so concisely that it took only ten minutes. A more detailed, written report, of course, would follow.
The Head, as always, listened attentively. "That's one less robot to worry about," he remarked when Yvette had finished. "But there's still at least one more somewhere. And your supposition, Yvette, that the robots take subordinate roles coincides with my own theory. But that only makes the remaining robot, or robots, harder to find. A male from a heavy-grav planet..." His voice trailed off as he looked-thoughtful.
"Did you get my message from Purity and check out my hunch?" Yvette asked, since the conversation had drifted this way.
"Yes, I did. Sorry, but for once you're wrong; our chief on Newforest was able to do a quick, unnoticed test on Pias's brother. Tas Bavol is not a robot. Whatever mischief he may be up to, it's purely human mischief." He saw Yvette's face fall and continued quickly, "That's not to underestimate it, of course; human mischief is the worst kind. It's usually more inventive. I don't approve of the younger Lord Bavoi's actions myself, and I've ordered the chief there to keep a watchful eye on things. But for the moment, there's little we can do until he actually makes his move."
Their boss changed his expression once again as he glanced over toward Jules. "There've been more developments on your case since I last spoke to you. Duke Morro of Tregania has been talking so fast we can hardly keep up with him. He doesn't know Lady A, claims never to have heard of her, and since the rest of his story checks out, I tend to believe him. He does confirm some of what we know about the mysterious C though. He's never met C, nor does he know of anyone who has. All of C's messages come over the telecom circuit, written out on the screen. If a physical copy is required, it's burned the instant it's served its purpose. There is never anything left to give any clues to C's identity or whereabouts."
"Just what we needed," Jules said, grimacing. "We only started getting a handle on Lady A and now this C comes along. If he never goes anywhere and only communicates via telecom, he could be sitting on any planet in the Empire and there's no way to track him down."
"I suspect he must be Lady A's superior," Yvette said, thinking aloud. "He stays quietly at home, running the show. If there are any errands to be run, he lets her do them. That way she faces all the risks; he's still safe." The thought of anyone who could boss the awesome Lady A around was frightening indeed, but the conclusion made sense to Yvette.
The Head nodded slowly. "Your thinking matches my own--which makes the capture of Lady A even more necessary. She's probably the only person who will be able to tell us the identity of C."
"And finding her won't be easy, either," Jules said. "We've been so close a couple of times. But close doesn't get us any points."
"There's going to be more pressure on us in the upcoming weeks than ever before," the Head continued. "I want you both on standby alert for instant action. Four days from now, the Emperor is going on a galaxy-wide com network to make a major announcement. He's going to be abdicating on his seventieth birthday in favor of Edna."
Neither Jules nor Yvette was particularly surprised. Although the timing of the event was, to their minds, premature-William Stanley was still a healthy and capable man-the fact of his abdication had been discussed in their very first meeting with him. "I'm sorry to see it happen so soon," Jules said. "I don't think I've ever met anyone so ideally suited for the position."
"With the possible exception of Edna," Yvette smiled. "And it's not as if he'll be dead and buried; he'll still be around to give counsel and guidance for a long time to come. It's just that he'll have a little more time to enjoy life without the press of responsibilities."
"There is the precedent for this timing too," their boss reminded them. "If you remember your history, Empress Stanley Three abdicated in favor of her son Karl when she was seventy, so Bill decided that was as good a deadline for him as any. But that's only a few months away, and you can bet that if Lady A and her crew had something special in mind for Edna's wedding, they'll make an even more concerted effort around the time of the coronation. A government is always at its most vulnerable when there's a transition of power from one person to another. I have a feeling Edna is going to get her baptism of fire very shortly after ascending the throne--and it'll be up to us to ensure that she survives it."
And, elsewhere in the galaxy, Lady A-having spent a few hours cursing SOTE's interference in her plans--calmly turned her devious mind to the next operation...
E.E. Doc Smith, The Purity Plot
