The Legend of Miaree

Chapter Twenty

Argun, President of the Delanian People in Exile, was a virile man in the prime of his life. Although he carried a heavy responsibility, he lived with an elan that kept his outlook youthful and optimistic. As a youth, he had helped to tame a world which had presented more problems than the little ice ball the Artonuee had loved so much before Delanian vitality had made the place liveable. His genes were the finest, and even before leaving the home worlds, he had been allowed four offspring with four different chosen women. Two of his sons were among those selected to live. And Argun had sired a daughter and a son since coming to the Artonuee system. His seed would be preserved and preserved well. He took great

pride in that.

At his headquarters in the Government Quad in Nirrar City, adjacent to the Mother’s building, he maintained two Artonuee mistresses and was not averse to spreading that particular form of Delanian joy to others, casual acquaintances longing for a dose of the Delanian drug.

For his personal staff, he had selected the strongest and wisest, both men and women. He was a man with a purpose, and he worked toward that purpose with untiring vigor. He had seen enough death. Those who had not been on the home worlds at the end could not possibly understand.

Seated with Argun was young Rei, who warmed the Mother’s bed.

"You have completed the assignment?" Argun asked.

"It is confirmed." Rei said. He sipped the Artonuee liquor, for which he had acquired a taste, while Argun drank heartily from a mug of synthetic Delanian grog.

"Quite a dish, no?" Argun asked.

"She was a good specimen," Rei said.

"Indeed," Argun said. "I know. I envy you the fob of knocking her up. Would have done it myself, but I don’t want it said that I take undue advantage of my position."

"Your fairness to our people has never been in doubt." Rei said.

"But not the Artonuee, huh?" Argun said, laughing. "My boy, you’re too soft."

"I was the first to land on an Artonuee world," Rei said softly. "I have worked closely with them for twenty years. They are an admirable people."

"Ah, that Artonuee cunt," Argun said. "Now that is admirable." He drained his mug and set it down with a clank. "But I have six billion people to worry about."

Sir—

"Six billion," Argun said. "And I watched twenty-four billion die. I saw it, damn it. I was there. I heard my own son cry when he was told that he had not been selected. I had to deny his last minute plea. I gave the orders which brought instant death to thousands in the port riots. I saw my men turn their weapons on their own people, brothers, sisters, lovers. Have you ever seen flesh after it’s hit with a burner? It stinks. It’s the color of dirt. And when the ray hits, the flesh crawls and jumps and moves even after the brain is dead. And I had to say, "open fire!" I had to give the order."

"It was a tragedy, sir," Rei said.

"Tragedy? Damn, man, it was horror. Can you comprehend the death of twenty-four billion people? No one can. It staggers the imagination. We can understand the death of a man, or a few men. You helped in the post-mortem of the first expedition, didn’t you? I thought so. You saw the way the limbs were torn from bodies. Did it affect you?"

"It affected me," Rei said.

"Think of two billion more bodies. Think of them dying slowly from radiation and then being seared by flame. Is that a pleasant picture?"

"No, it is not. But neither—"

"There is no alternative," Argun said, standing. "Of course, if you should volunteer to stay—" He grinned as Rei shifted uneasily. "Goodnight, then, my boy. It is not pleasant for any of us. We must do as we think best for all of our people. In the meantime, we drink, no?"

"We drink," Rei said, gulping the jenk.

"And our geneticist wants another chip off the old Rei block," Argun said, showing his teeth suggestively. "Up to another session tonight?"

"I think not, sir."

"Soon, then. She’s a knockout. A farm girl from old Tagour. Knockers out to here. Huh?"

"Yes," Rei said. "Soon."

Later, fanned by Miaree’s ecstatically fluttering wings, hearing her love