Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

insisted.
    Not too far away stood Evangeline Shreck, representing the clone underground.
    She smiled graciously about her, quite splendid in a little black dress that emphasized her gamine beauty. Random thought she looked just a little too at ease, for someone who'd only recently been to the funeral of her dead love. At her side was a new figure; the Unknown Clone. He wore full battle armor, sword and gun, and a black leather mask that covered his entire face. Apparently he represented all the clones who'd died in the rebellion, and their refusal to ever be enslaved again. Random wasn't sure whether this new figure was supposed to be primarily a political statement, or Evangeline's bodyguard. He was a tall, disturbing presence, and Random couldn't help feeling there was something familiar about him.
    Toby and Flynn were working the crowd, buttonholing the right people, asking awkward questions and refusing to be fobbed off with soundbites.
    Two of the esper undergrounds' enigmatic leaders had turned up, hidden as always behind projected telepathic illusions. One had come as the fabled ogre Hog In Chains; a great beast of a man with a hog's head, wrapped in yards of rusty chains, carrying a bone club from which human brains dripped constantly. The
    other figure had come as the Lady Of The Lake; an ethereally slender woman in pure white samite, who ran constantly with the dark river waters that had drowned her. The water collected and pooled about her bare feet, but somehow never spread any farther. Random tried to read some meaning or significance into the esper leaders' choice of images, but like everyone else he retreated baffled. Sometimes Random thought they just chose their images at random, to mess with people's heads and keep them off balance.
    It was what he would have done.
    There were fifty Members of Parliament, from all the main parties and factions, most ostentatiously not talking to one another, but still making pointed comments in loud voices when anyone else made the mistake of looking interested.
    Almost as many more Family representatives were there too, again covering a broad spectrum of interests and influence, including a last-minute substitution for Cardinal Brendan, who had business elsewhere. The replacement spokesman for Clan Chojiro (and, of course, Blue Block) was Matoul Chojiro; a tall, gawky, and wide-eyed young man, apparently on his first assignment for the Clan. He seemed open and innocent, and fooled absolutely no one. And last, but definitely not in any way least, the large and portly figure of Elias Gutman, Speaker of the House. He smiled amiably at one and all, but his eyes were cold and thoughtful.
    Jack Random strode through the crowd, brushing aside those before him by sheer force of personality, and came to a halt before Gutman. The Speaker bowed, with surprising grace for someone of his bulk. Random didn't bow in return. "I'm glad you're here, Elias. What I've got planned just wouldn't be the same without you here."
    "How could I not attend?" said Gutman easily. "After your excesses on Loki, I'm
    as interested as anyone in how you plan to justify yourself. And then there's your promise of a statement of policy that will change Imperial politics forever. I do hope that wasn't just rhetoric, Random. I'd hate to think I was brought here under false pretenses, when there are so many other useful things I could be doing."
    "Don't worry, Elias," said Random. "I guarantee this is one statement of principles you'll never forget."
    He strode on through the last of the crowd, and jumped lightly up onto the raised dais at the end of the hall. Ruby stepped up to stand beside him, still scowling. The great crowd before them quickly grew quiet, conversations abandoned in midstream, as they realized Random was about to start.
    "Thank you all for coming," said Jack Random calmly. "So good to see so many of you here. Not a bad turnout, all things considered. I had hoped a few more of the top echelons might have put in an appearance… but you'll do nicely to help me make my point. Let me start by addressing my recent visit to the planet Loki.
    I'm sure you've all heard awful rumors about what I did there. I'd just like to say that they're all true. Especially the worst ones." The listening crowd stirred and murmured uneasily, but Random just kept talking over them, and they shut up to hear what he was saying. He was smiling as he looked about him, and sounded quite calm, almost cheerful. "When