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entrance to the throne room proper and stepped boldly through as Alp and Pei-li waged another
defensive action against the furious lunge of four more guards.
The vast room was empty. The throne was bare.
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r r
"Not even here!" Uga said, disgusted. "Probably carousing with young boys in some other decadent city.
Bastard never intended to see us!"
"Might as well go home," Alp said, glad the scheme had been exposed, so that no more time would be
wasted.
"Not without a damned princess!" Uga said.
Pei-li shook his shaggy head. "I agree with Ko-lo. The Emperor will not give us a princess especially
not after this mischief in his palace. We have dispatched eight "
"Nine," Alp said, running another through.
"Who said anything about giving?" Uga demanded, cheerfully grim. "Are we not Uigurs? The Chinese
exist only to provide spoils for the sons of the Turk!"
Alp was getting to like this man, too! He might be imitation-Uigur, but he had the basic spirit. Uga's
eyes-front march to the throne room had been an impressive act of nomad bravado. The Chinese would
remember that!
But Pei-li counseled caution again, even as his sword dazzled another guard. "Reinforcements will come
soon. We are surely finished in these roles if we delay further before going for our horses."
"Ko-lo says these roles of ours cannot be terminated here," Uga said. "Do you now call him liar?"
Alp knew Pei-li had been observing his technique, just as Alp himself had been observing Pei-li's. Pei-li
was more proficient with this particular type of weapon at this time but Alp's strength and reflexes
were faster. Was Uga trying to set them off against each other?
Pei-li stifled an explosive bark of laughter. "Not while I yet live!"
Alp relaxed. Pei-li had identified the essential conflict: they would have to die to prove Alp wrong. It
wasn't worth it!
"You two won't die here," Alp said, parrying another aggressive guard. "Unless the Game diverges from
history. But I have no such assurance. My own future is blank to me."
"Still," Uga said, as if that were a mere quibble, "we might as well put it to the test." And he walked
forth into the bristling blades of the Emperor's reinforced guard.
Pei-li and Alp, caught by surprise, were not able to protect him immediately. The T'ang troops were
astonished. They fell back, daunted by the assurance of the unarmed nomad who stepped so blithely into
their midst.
Now Alp was quite curious. The theory was simple enough: the Game Machine would not permit an
important character to die unhistorically. But the practice could become complex. What would happen if
a guard struck directly at Uga, and no one was there to foil it? Alp had observed no direct intervention,
and all characters in this play seemed to possess free will. So how did the Machine preserve the lives of
those players fated to live and how did it ensure their demise when the proper time came?
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r r
Uga strode on through the ranks, Pei-li and Alp following. The guards, abashed, did not attack. There
was now an aura of invincibility about the Uigur group. Did the guards suspect that the Game plan
protected at least two members of the party? Were the Chinese afraid of what might happen if they
pushed that limit too hard?
The question bothered Alp increasingly as he followed the chief. History was too intricate; there had to
be control if the Game were not very quickly to diverge far from history. Yet there was not control and
little diversion so far. Some element was missing.
He could test it very simply: all he had to do was try to slay Uga himself. The Machine would either
act or it wouldn't. But he couldn't because he had sworn loyalty. Aside from the fact that treachery
against one's leader was not the Uigur way.
But he was a special case; most players were Galactics and so not bound by true Uigur codes. They
would try to get ahead by cheating.
Then he saw a possible solution. In life, death was final. In the Game, it was not. A player could assume
a new part and no doubt an old part could be reactivated by a new player. If Uga died here, a new
Galactic would be sent in to fill his place, and Game-history would continue with only a momentary
hiatus. Who else would know the difference? The part would terminate when history decreed; the player
remained mortal. Despite his overall immortality!
They had been taking ridiculous chances! How many other players had thought they were
untouchable only to wash out early, while replacement players reaped the fruits of their labors? The
Game Machine didn't care about people; its concern was the proper re-enactment of history.
Uga walked rapidly from room to room of the great palace searching for his princess, while the guards
followed helplessly. Less helpless than they knew, perhaps! But this brought up another problem. What
would happen if they actually found the princess? Success of this mission was not fated, either!
Obviously they would not find her. The Emperor would not have left a royal daughter here while he
departed. So this was futile, if Uga would only recognize that.
Uga shoved aside the curtain of an upstairs chamber. A girl screamed. Alp felt a shock of alarm before
reminding himself that there would be a thousand servants and slaves here for every royal figure.
She was a child about nine years old but a black-haired regal beauty. "Who are you?" Uga demanded,
striding into the room.
Though terrified, she put up some show of hauteur. "I am the Princess Kokachin, and if you don't get out
of here "
"Take her," Uga said to Alp.
"...my father the Emperor will have you "
Alp moved to sheathe his sword but had no sheath. For the moment this minor problem upset him
more than the major one: they couldn't take this princess!
"...boiled in oil," she finished defiantly.
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r r
Uga took the blade from his hand. "I've passed up some of the fun; now it's my turn to fight!" he said.
"And if what you predict is true, I couldn't get her out of here anyway but maybe you can!"
For Alp had a nonhistorical part... maybe it would work, after all! Uga wasn't going to take the girl to
the Khagan; he just wanted to punish the Emperor. Would the Machine allow that variation?
Chapter 9 KOKA
Meanwhile, the immediate problem. Alp knew the little princess would not come willingly. She had
meant her threat literally. But at least this represented a fair test of Game policy and might offer insights
that would assist his private effort. He grasped the girl by the arm and leg and heaved her over his
shoulder.
He expected her to kick and claw and bite, but she didn't. Apparently it was beneath the dignity of a
princess to fight, even a child-princess. Dire threats would have to do! Or perhaps she was now terrified
into immobility though she didn't seem afraid. But she really had little to fear; the palace guard would
surely rescue her long before the Uigurs reached their horses.
Now it was Uga and Pei-li who wielded the swords on either side of Alp. If they wanted to ditch him,
now was their chance. He was almost helpless, for even the nonresisting burden of the young girl was
too heavy a load to permit effective combat even if he had his sword. And it was death to any common [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]