Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

future, monster. What will happen between now and then, to produce such as you?”
    “In my time,” Owen said, “all of Humanity is faced with the threat of extinction. An enemy is coming that we cannot stop or turn aside. It is my hope that by tracking down the Mad Mind, and stopping it, I can learn how to save Humanity in my time. You must not stop me, Your Majesty. The future of our species may depend upon what I can learn.”
    “A future full of monsters doesn’t deserve to be saved,” said Ethur. “Perhaps by dissecting your living body and probing your mind, we will find the knowledge to create a different future. Your slow and hideous death will serve many purposes, Owen. Try and remember that, while you’re screaming. We will have justice, for what was done to us. We will have vengeance.”
    “And after everything I’ve done for you,” said Owen.
    “We will learn how you remade that city and its people, from the agonies of your body and your mind. Nothing will be wasted.”
    “Think of all the good I could do.”
    “We will allow no greater power than us in this Empire,” said Ethur. “We alone know what is best for Humanity.”
    “Nothing changes,” said Owen Deathstalker.
    He blew the energy gyves off his wrists with a careless shrug, and the surrounding guards cried out in shock. Energy guns trained on him from every direction, and even Dominic Cairo and Glory Chojiro had weapons in their hands. The courtiers screamed and shouted, and did their best to scrabble back out of the line of fire. All around Owen, people were changing into more dangerous battle forms. Owen ignored them all, his gaze fixed on the stupefied Emperor.
    “It doesn’t matter what time it is; Emperors are always a bad idea. I think the whole idea’s intrinsically corrupting. People just aren’t supposed to wield that much power. It isn’t good for them. So, sorry, but I decline to be vivisected. I have work to do.”
    He looked casually around him. The guards were now great metallic forms, or creature hybrids. There were looming insectoid forms, with wild energies coruscating around their branching horns. And even a few shapes that made no sense to him at all. And there were more guns pointed at him than he’d seen in the whole Rebellion. Owen looked back at Ethur.
    “Boo!”
    All the guns opened up at once, tremendous energies leaping out to destroy him. Owen stopped them all in midair with a thought. They hung helplessly on the air, caught between one moment and the next. Owen considered the matter for a moment, and then absorbed all the energy into himself. He didn’t want any of it running loose when he left and injuring innocent bystanders. Assuming there were any . . . The guards tried to fire again, but their guns didn’t work, because Owen had decided they didn’t. He could have killed them all with a thought, but he didn’t. They were just doing their jobs. He could have killed the Emperor . . . but history had to take its course. And he didn’t want to abuse his power. That way led to Emperors, and Mad Minds.
    He strode up the steps to the top of the dais, to look right into Ethur’s face. “I ought to rip you right out of that throne and strangle you with your own life-support systems. But I can’t, because history has its imperatives. What you will do, in years to come, will eventually lead to a better Empire. My best revenge . . . is knowing that you’d really hate the Empire that’s coming.”
    “This isn’t over yet,” said Ethur.
    He gestured at his guards, and they closed in around Glory and Dominic, and turned their guns on them. Owen looked at the guards, and then back at the Emperor.
    “You are fond of these two,” said Ethur. “You care about them. We have had reports. So, surrender or they die. Right here and now. Or will you sacrifice your newfound friends to necessity, and prove yourself as inhuman as the Mad Mind?”
    “There’s only one monster in this court, Ethur,” said Owen.
    He gathered up Glory and Dominic with his mind, and in a moment they were back at the starport. The Investigator and the Defender looked dazedly about them, shocked by the sudden transition. Great silver ships loomed over them, and people came and went, intent on their own business. Glory recovered first, and gave Owen a hard look.
    “I didn’t know you could do that.”
    “Neither did I,” said Owen. “I’m learning new things all the time now. It seems I’ve destroyed your lives,