Steve White - The Disinherited

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White, Steve - [The Disinherited 01] - The Disinherited

THE DISINHERITED

By Steve White

CHAPTER ONE

Tareil had set, and Norellarn was a city of light. The pedestrian

slidewalks were streams of mercury, the soaring crysteel-and-glass

towers were a blaze of illumination, and, barely visible in the far

distance, this hemisphere’s orbital tower was a string of light rising

impossibly up, up, up into infinity.

Yes, Norellarn seemed constructed of light. And to Varien

hle’Morna, viewing the dazzling cityscape from the balcony of his

private office, it was as insubstantial as the massless photons of that

light, for he knew it was doomed.

The great city in the last days of its greatness, its civilization a

ghost that does not yet know it is dead! Varien shook himself

irritably. And how many more banalities shall we dredge up from

bad historical fiction? He rubbed the tip of his right index finger

across an area of skin on the back of his left hand, activating the

imprint circuits, and consulted the tiny chronometer that glowed to

life. Yes, it was time. He squared his narrow shoulders, turned his

back on the city and strode purposefully inside.

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White, Steve - [The Disinherited 01] - The Disinherited

He paused to look around the familiar office, seeing its architecture

and furnishings with new eyes. It was like a showcase for a tradition

of understated elegance that had had centuries to refine upon

refinement… a showcase about to be smashed by a steel truncheon.

Yes, perhaps one could do worse than historical novels as a source

of inspiration just now. History has started happening to this world

of Raehan again, and it’s been so long that we’ve forgotten how to

react. Better cliché than speechlessness.

Enough! He lowered himself into a Taelieu-period recliner and took

a set of wraparound, ear-covering goggles from the small matching

end table beside it. He then attached a few tiny movement sensors to

his clothing at various points on his upper body, put on the headset,

and spoke a short numeric code.

Tarlann and Arduin were already seated at the plain conference

table. Sitting and talking was, of course, about all that the three of

them, located in as many continents, could do; nothing more was

required at the moment, and it would have been too much trouble to

don the full suit and helmet that would have enabled them to

interact physically, with all the appropriate sensations. Never really

liked the things anyway, Varien groused to himself. If they get much

better, how will we keep track of what is and isn’t real? At least,

this shared line was as secure as Variens resources, and the military

ones at Arduins disposal, could make it. And the stark, utilitarian

meeting room that the program simulated was appropriate to the

subject at hand.

“Well,” Varien began without ceremony, addressing Tarlann. “Is

everything in readiness?”

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White, Steve - [The Disinherited 01] - The Disinherited

His son nodded, his unease palpable as the computer faithfully

reproduced all the outward signs of human emotions it would never

feel. “Yes, father. I know its useless to try to talk you into changing

your mind…”

“Then don’t bother trying,” Varien cut in. “Our time is limited.” He

instantly regretted his curtness— he might never see his only son

again. He softened his tone, which had always represented his very

best effort at apology. “Our plans have already been set in motion,

son. And you’ve been running our enterprises on a day-to-day basis

for years now, so the company shouldn’t go into shock. Besides, It’s

not as if I was leaving permanently!” Which, he gibed at himself,

might even turn out to be true. He turned to Arduin. “And at your

end?”

His old friend and colleague nodded, looking even more miserable

than Tarlann. Varien understood; as a senior officer in the new

Raehaniv military, Arduin was experiencing a conflict of loyalties

with which his open and honorable nature was unfit to cope.

Varien’s arguments had persuaded his intellect, but his conscience

remained stubbornly unconvinced. Of course, Arduin’s misery

might also have had something to do with the sheer discomfort of

the uniform he was wearing. The Raehaniv had remembered enough

of their history to think, uncritically, of uniforms as something

soldiers were supposed to have. And for their desperately

improvised military, they had naturally looked to the most recent

examples of such things: the consciously archaic (even then)

confections used by the rival states of the Fourth Global War in

their efforts to reignite their despairing populations’ nationalism.

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White, Steve - [The Disinherited 01] - The Disinherited

So we made our defenders look—and feel—like buffoons, Varien

reflected. Ah, well; we did everything else wrong, so why not that

too?

“Yes,” Arduin amplified. “The last of the supply caches is in place.

And I’ve managed to arrange for the transfer of the remainder of the

units whose commanders I can be sure of. There’ll be a resistance

fleet operating in the asteroids when you return.” A fresh wave of

anguish crossed his blunt features; he was discovering what it was

to serve two masters, and it was anathema to him. When he spoke, it

was to blurt out the final appeal that Varien had known he must

make. “Varien, you don’t need to do this! Turn the new drive over

to the government! Maybe we can still put it to use, stop the

Korvaasha before…”

“We’ve been over this ground already, Arduin,” Varien interrupted,

his voice unwontedly gentle. “Many times, in fact. I put it to you:

has the situation changed since our final decision was reached? Do

you have any new information that invalidates the logic of that

decision?”

“No,” Arduin admitted.

“Then,” Varien went on remorselessly, “our conclusions still stand.

The Korvaash fleets are advancing at a rate limited only by their

own caution—I imagine they still haven’t fully grasped how feeble

their opposition is.” He raised a forestalling hand. “Forgive me, old

friend, but the time for good manners is past. No one doubts the

courage of your young men and women. They will go on till the

end, trying to shelter Raehan behind a wall of their own corpses.

But they are, quite simply, amateurs—products of a society for

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White, Steve - [The Disinherited 01] - The Disinherited

which war has been nothing more than the fading memory of an old

nightmare. And they are fighting an enemy who sees himself as

being permanently at war and organizes his society accordingly, and

who commands resources that dwarf ours.”

“But,” Arduin argued stubbornly, “our technology is more

sophisticated than theirs! Given your new drive…”

“… We could do far more damage to them than we otherwise

would,” Varien finished for him. “Maybe even provoke them into

making exceptions to their usual guidelines for dealing with newly

conquered planets—exceptions we wouldn’t like. But we could not

stop them. No technological advantage can win a war without a

viable military force to take advantage of it. To give the drive to our

government now would merely make it part of the spoils the

Korvaasha will take when they occupy Raehan.” He paused for

breath, and then gazed somberly at the other two.

“I haven’t used this argument until now, partly because”—a wintery

smile—“it is so out of character that you both would have suspected

I was up to something. But I ask you to consider this. We now know

we are not the only intelligent race in the cosmos. So we are acting

not only for ourselves, but for all that lives and thinks! To give the

Korvaasha the secret of faster-than-light interstellar travel without

recourse to displacement points—and, I repeat, that is precisely

what turning it over to our government would amount to—would be

to remove all limits to the militaristic expansion their ideology

commands them to pursue. Their capabilities would become as

unbounded as their aims. I will see Raehan go down into the dark

rather than permit my work to be so perverted!”

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摘要：

White,Steve-[TheDisinherited01]-TheDisinheritedTHEDISINHERITEDBySteveWhiteCHAPTERONETareilhadset,andNorellarnwasacityoflight.Thepedestrianslidewalkswerestreamsofmercury,thesoaringcrysteel-and-glasstowerswereablazeofillumination,and,barelyvisibleinthefardistance,thishemisphere’sorbitaltowerwasastring...

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Steve White - The Disinherited

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