Deathstalker Coda by Simon R. Green Page A

guards. Finn had only just started to come down when reports came in that his supposed allies, the AIs of Shub, had also betrayed him and seized control of the Madness Maze, and that had set him off again. The purges that followed had been particularly vicious and far-reaching, and next morning all over the city there were men and women hanging from lampposts.
    Finn took in Joseph’s anxious face, and laughed quietly. “Don’t panic, I’m over that now. The loss of Shub is a set-back, but I had made plans, just in case. I have secret allies and hidden super-weapons, just waiting for my call. I’ll blast the Shub homeworld into so much radioactive dust, and my loyal fleet will blow the rebel ships apart like so many rotten apples in the night.”
    Joseph nodded quickly. With anyone else, he would have dismissed such talk as mere bravado, but this was Finn. The master of schemes within schemes, and secrets within conspiracies. He might just mean it. Greatly daring, Joseph raised what was normally a forbidden subject.
    “And . . . Owen? Do you really believe the reports? That the blessed Owen himself has returned, and joined with his descendant against you?”
    “I ask you,” said Finn. “Does that even sound likely?
    Dead is dead. I should know; I’ve ordered the deaths of millions of people, and none of them have ever come back to complain. It’s just rebel propaganda. Wish I’d thought of it first . . .”
    “Only . . . there are rumors,” Joseph said carefully. “Entirely unconfirmed reports, of course, but still . . . there are those who say that the blessed Owen himself has taken control of the fleet over Haden . . .”
    “If Owen Deathstalker really was back,” said Finn, “we’d know. He wouldn’t need a fleet. He’d be right here, banging on my palace door and asking for me by name, and I would be hiding under my bed and wetting myself. No, when Owen bloody Deathstalker comes back, the skies will open and he will descend surrounded by angels. And I personally will believe that when I see it, and not before. Actually, I’d almost welcome his return, if he said he could stop the Terror. I could probably deal with Owen.”
    Finn leaned back in his chair, brooding quietly, lost in his own terrible thoughts, and Joseph took the opportunity to study his Emperor quietly. Finn still had the same classically handsome face, but it was deeply marked now with lines of strain and worry, and his eyes were just that little bit too bright. He looked . . . like a cornered animal—desperate, focused, and still very, very dangerous. For all his sudden rages and vicious temper, Finn could still be calm and rational when he had to be, and his grip on power had never been tighter. Being second-in-command to such a man was never going to be easy, but Joseph had faith in his own abilities to survive, if nothing else. All the terrible things he’d done, or ordered done, had all been done in Finn’s name. Joseph’s position might well be more than a little perilous, but sometimes all you can do is ride the damned tiger and cling on with both hands. And if nothing else, it was an exhilarating ride. . . . After all, Finn couldn’t live forever. No matter how much time he spent with the notorious Dr. Happy. No, eventually Finn would fall, and then a wise and prepared man might easily step in and take over. . . .
    “I want transmutation engines put into orbit around Logres,” Finn said abruptly. “No need to activate them— not just yet. No, their presence alone will serve to remind everyone who’s in charge here, and take their minds off all these ridiculous rumors about a returned Owen. The engines will also serve as a warning to Lewis and his damned fleet of what I’ll do if they dare challenge my position here.”
    Joseph looked at him uncertainly. “You’d really threaten to destroy Humanity’s homeworld?”
    Finn smiled easily. “Threaten? My dear naïve Joseph, I’ll wipe this whole planet clean of