The Emperor's Ride. Tom Ph.D. Anderson
was to be emptied of all significant Lindle artifacts during that 500 hours and the Emperor was going there to watch. The Emperor completely dismissed the idea of a Barony trap. The Barony forces were no match for the fleets of the Empire. There was no one strong leader among the Households of the Baronies, and the Baronies had their hands full defending against raiders from the outer worlds and pirate raiders from the Market Sphere.
The Emperor was an avid collector of Lindle artifacts. If he had been passed over for the throne the Emperor would have been an archaeologist and devoted his life to studying the Lindle. The Emperor had to go. Lindwella (or Linda as she was called by her family and close friends) alone among the Emperor’s children shared his passion for the Lindle. Lindwella also would go.
Lindle 4 had the worst of the Lindle ghoul infestations. They were larger and far more numerous than at other Lindle sights. It had been three hundred and fifty years since all life had ended on Lindle 4. How could any ghoul have survived? Still no chances were to be taken. As modern weapons were totally useless in a gloride formation, the best ghoul hunter teams in the Empire, as well as the best teams from the Baronies and the Market sphere were to come. Also the 900 men of the Emperor’s personal guard, the finest fighting men anywhere, newly trained in ghoul hunting techniques and armed with the finest ghoul hunting weapons were also to go. Even a single man ghoul hunter team was offered the chance to come, at twice his normal fee. He alone declined. He didn't do bodyguard work. The man saw the job as an excess of caution. How could any ghouls have survived?
The Lindle site was huge. Only about a tenth of it had been thoroughly explored. Archaeologists went with teams of workmen, deciding which items to remove and which items to merely record and leave behind. Thousands of huge packing crates were constantly being moved into, and spread throughout the mine. As the empty crates were being filled, they were constantly monitored and their contents meticulously recorded. The amount of artifacts being removed was enormous, a continuous flow. The ghoul hunter teams kept their eyes open but mostly just kept out of the way.
The Emperor stayed with half a dozen of the most prominent archaeologists, examining the ruins and discussing the last days of the Lindle. The Emperor was in heaven. Lindwella went off alone, in the company of a contingent of her father's guard of course. They were content to follow, not lead. They had no eye for the ancient splendor. Lindwella's safety was their only concern.
PRINCESS LINDWELLA
Linda picked up a small beautiful painting of a silver gray bird sitting in a tree with yellow flowers and leaves of green and orange. She also picked up a small sealed bottle, liquid still in the bottom, on a chest next to a bed with the covers thrown back as though someone was about to slip in. Linda opened a drawer and pulled out a scarf of incredible softness, but of a beautiful color she could not put name to. A handful of other souvenirs, then Linda and her guards headed out of the ruins and towards her quarters in the landing craft.
Linda was barely out of the mine when the attack began. Linda heard the screams, saw people covered in blood, some dragging more seriously hurt behind them. After them came a half dozen ghouls which the Imperial Troopers used force rifles to cut to pieces.
Communication in a gloride deposit must be hard wired. The only hard wired line was connected to the safe area at the center of the sight. The Emperor's guards had herded him and the six archaeologists with him into the safe area. The surface was much too far away. The Emperor ordered the guards to make a quick reconnaissance of the immediate area to bring back any other survivors and then come back to wait for help to come. None of his guards returned. Not one. The ghouls smashed against the bars of the enclosure. They could not break them down or slide between them. The Emperor and the other six were safe for now. Linda could not think of all the people who had died. Linda had to concentrate on the fact that her father was still alive and he was safe.
Only 100 of the Emperor’s guards were in the ruins with him. The other 800 assembled outside the entrance. They were men handpicked from across the Empire. Big, well muscled, highly disciplined, and well trained in the weapons they carried. They would march straight down the main corridor to the safe area, pick up the Emperor and march straight out. There were only thirty hours to planetary collapse.
As Linda watched them march into the mine opening she knew her father would get out. It was a three hour march to the safe area and a three hour march back. Her father was safe now and Linda could not imagine those men not bringing him out. Linda's only concern was that the ghouls might find a way to break into the safe area before help arrived.
Linda watched as the minutes passed by. One hour, then two, and finally three, then almost four, when word came from the safe area that the first of the guardsmen had just come around the corner at the far edge of the hallway. Linda felt as if she were a balloon so filled with air as to be about to pop when someone untied the string and let the air out. The half dozen guardsmen were overwhelmed by ghouls and dragged away. Linda's mind couldn't focus on what she had heard. How could they have failed? The hours went by and no more guardsmen came.
There were a handful of Imperial Troopers. They were only armed with force rifles and force rifles were less useful than clubs in the mines. There were thousands more in the transports, but they were mostly men trained to analyze, catalog, and pack Lindle artifacts. The rest were trained only to run the ships. None were trained to fight ghouls, even if ghoul fighting weapons could be found. Less than twenty hours to go. Not enough time to send for help from anywhere.
The Elan representative told Linda that the ghoul hunter who had refused to come had changed his mind and was nearly here. The situation had been explained to him. Linda almost laughed in the Elan representative's face. Only one man, he was the only hope there was. Linda allowed the Elan representative to talk to the event recorders who swarmed around the entrance to the mine. Within minutes word was being spread across the galaxy that there was a possibility that the Emperor might still get out of Lindle 4 alive. Linda even talked to the event recorders herself. Linda put on her most convincing face. Linda told them that she believed this ghoul hunter would get the Emperor out. Even so, other methods were being explored. He was not the last option. The Emperor would get out. Linda lied. This ghoul hunter was the last option. Linda wanted to have the troopers herd the event recorders into the mine opening. Then they could record each other being torn to pieces.
When the Elan courier ship landed Linda expected the ghoul hunter to come in for a moment to be briefed on the situation. Linda wanted to thank him personally for coming, to hold his hand, to look in his eyes, to bless him before he went to his death. He jumped out of the Elan courier ship and talked to an Imperial Trooper for a moment. Then he ran for the entrance to the mine. He ran. The Emperor's personal guard had marched in grimly, every eye alert, every muscle tensed, every hand ready. He ran.
There were only fifteen hours until planetary collapse. Linda was glad he ran. The hours went slowly by. There was no hope. The ghoul hunter was almost certainly long dead. Three long hours went by. Why did Linda bother? Linda was busy coming to terms with never seeing her father again, never feeling her father's arms around her. Never giving her father her biggest, brightest smile because Linda loved the smile her father always gave back.
◊As I got out of the courier craft I ignored the mobs of event recorders being held back by lines of Imperial Troopers. I had been told about the eruption of ghouls that had killed virtually everyone in the Lindle ruins. The Emperor was still in the safe room and if I could get him out of the mine before the gloride deposit’s collapse destroyed the planet, the galaxy might still be spared the Baronies of the Son’s of Shonlin and the Empire of the Lan-Thu going to total war. I grabbed one of the Troopers and made certain that I understood the markers that led to the safe room. Then I ran in the mine. Every time I met a ghoul my ability would take over and use my body to kill it. When I would regain control of my body I again started to run for the safe room. I didn’t even try to keep count of how many ghouls I killed. There seemed to be an endless supply of them. I didn’t have time to be afraid. I filled my mind with thoughts of how many people would die in the war that the Emperor’s death would cause. I went around a bend in the tunnel and saw the entrance of the safe room in the distance.
The men in the safe area saw me at the end of