Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

hadn't been frightened of the Maze."
    "We chose to progress cautiously!" Douglas snapped. "And with good reason. The Maze kills people, or drives them insane. That's all it's done, since Owen's time. No, Shub; I know you're desperate to go through the Maze, but I can't let you use even the Terror as an excuse. The risks are too great. The Madness Maze stays closed and isolated, until we've tried absolutely everything else. Some cures are far worse than the disease."
    "The Terror just wiped out seven populated worlds," said Lewis. "Billions of people dead, in horror and despair. What's ten thousand volunteers dead in the Maze, compared to that? If only one person were to go through and survive, to transcend, like Owen and Hazel and-"
    "Are you volunteering to go in?" said Douglas. "To risk almost certain death or madness, just on the off chance of becoming like your ancestor?"
    "I don't know," Lewis said honestly. "The Maze scares the crap out of me. The odds aren't good, but . .
    ."
    "The odds stink," said Douglas. "I won't risk killing the brightest and the best, the bravest and most heroic of my people, just on the chance the Maze might throw up a miracle. No one gets into the Maze.
    In fact, this House had better cut orders to increase the levels of Quarantine protection. The last thing we need is streams of religious zealots trying to force their way in. Dead martyrs piling up on Haden would only complicate the situation further."
    "And of course, we don't want rogue superhumans running loose about the Empire, answering to no one but themselves," murmured Lewis.
    Douglas looked at him sharply. "No; we don't." He turned away, to face the esper representative, a tiny woman barely four feet tall, with golden skin and leaf green hair and the biggest overbite Lewis had ever seen. Douglas nodded courteously to her. "I need the oversoul to organize all the espers on the outlying planets. Just in case the Terror changes its course. The espers can be the Empire's early warning system.
    Let us know if there's any change in the herald's direction or speed. Since you don't rely on tech, you should be able to operate longer than most."
    The tiny woman nodded briefly. "We're on it, your Majesty." "We ought to set up a watch all along the Rim," said Lewis. "Who's to say there's only one Terror?"
    "Shut up, Lewis," said Douglas. "You're depressing me." And that was when the Swart Alfair, the representative of Mog Mor, left the alien section and stepped out onto the floor of the House. Ten feet tall, the huge crimson-skinned batlike creature was an imposing presence, and it knew it. Its wrapped its membranous wings around its vaguely humanoid shape, like a great ribbed cloak, while thick blue
    ectoplasm boiled around it, churning mists containing images that came and went too quickly to be studied. The Swart Alfair made sure it had everyone's attention, and then it turned to face the King. Its eyes were black on black, its snouted gargoyle face unreadable. The Swart Alfair pretended not to notice that Lewis was now covering it exclusively with his disrupter.
    "Mog Mor has an offer to make, to King and House and Humanity. Mog Mor offers help and support, in time of mutual need. The Destroyer has come at last, and must be faced and conquered if any are to survive. So; the time for silence has ended, and the Swart Alfair must talk of many things. We have technology you do not even suspect. Technology advanced beyond anything you have, beyond anything in your wildest dreams. We have weapons, ships, machines that think. Greater and more powerful than you can imagine. Kept secret, unsuspected, for time of need. We can blow apart worlds, put out suns; perhaps even stop the Destroyer. Mog Mor will make all this available to Humanity, and Empire, in return for certain promises and assurances . . ."
    The King looked around the House, but the honorable Members seemed just as stunned as he was.
    "Promises . . ." Douglas said finally.
    "We want things," said the batlike creature, showing all its pointed teeth in something that might have been meant as a smile. "We want to colonize worlds of our own. Rich, useful, pleasant worlds that would normally go only to human colonists. There are such worlds close to our home planet. We lay claim to them. They are already colonized by humans, so they will have to leave; so Swart Alfair can occupy them. We want . . . more of a presence in the Empire. We want a Seat and a Vote in the House, for every