The Return of the Emperor by Chris Bunch; Allan Cole Read Free Book Online

and reanalyzing the past, seeking the perfect formula, saying so and so was the right course to follow, and such and such was obvious folly.
    Kin mated with kin to achieve power, producing gibbering heirs to their throne. The threat of such a succession sometimes assured the parents of very long and royal reigns.
    Kin also murdered kin, or kept them in chains for decades.
    Genocide was another favorite trick, one of the few foolproof methods of achieving majority. The difficulty with genocide, the socio-historians said, was that it needed to be constantly applied to keep the edge.
    Politics without murder was also favored—under special circumstances. Power was won in such a case by constant and unceasing compromise. Many voices were heard and views taken into account. Only then would a decision be reached. A little artful lying, and everyone believed they had been satisfied. Everyone, in that case, was defined as beings of material importance. A leader only had to make sure those same beings had sufficient bones of imagined progress to toss to their mobs. The rule, there, was that if one had too little, the prospect of more was usually enough to satisfy.
    There were other methods, but they tended to follow the same paths.
    The most certain way, those historians agreed, was to possess a commodity that beings desired above all else. In ancient times it had been food or water. A well-placed road might accomplish the same end. Sex worked in any era, given the proper circumstances. Whatever the commodity, however, it had to be kept in a safe place and guarded against all possible comers.
    The Eternal Emperor had had AM2. It was the ultimate fuel and the cornerstone of his vast Empire. In the past, he had merely to turn the tap one way or the other to maintain complete control. His policies had been supported by the largest military force of any known age. The Emperor had also kept the AM2 in a safe place.
    More than six years after his assassination, his killers were unable to find it—and they were about to lose the power they had committed regicide to claim.
    Even if they had possessed the key to the Emperor's AM2 treasure chest, it was likely the privy council was headed for disaster.
    Times had not been kind.
    In the aftermath of the Tahn wars—the largest and most costly conflict in history—the Empire was teetering on the edge of economic chaos. The Eternal Emperor's coffers were nearly bare. The deficit from the tremendous military spending was so enormous that even with the highly favorable interest rates the Emperor had bargained hard for, it would take a century to significantly reduce it, much less pay it off.
    When the Emperor was still alive, Tanz Sullamora and the other members of the council had strongly proposed their own solution. It involved freezing wages below the pre-Tahn rate and creating deliberate scarcity of product, forcing sharp increases in the price of goods.
    And a hefty surtax on AM2.
    Through those means and others, the debt would be quickly paid, and corporate health assured for the ages.
    The Emperor had rejected those proposals out of hand.
    When the Emperor rejected a thing, it was law. With no appeal.
    His Majesty's postwar plans called for a directly opposite approach.
    The late, never lamented Sr. Sullamora had detailed the Emperor's views to his fellow conspirators without editorializing:
    Wages would be allowed to rise to their natural levels. The war had been costly in beingpower—especially, skilled beingpower. This would result in immediate higher costs to business.
    Prices, on the other hand, would be frozen, putting goods within easy reach of the newly prosperous populations.
    Of course, the war had been a tremendous drain on supplies. To alleviate that, the Emperor fully intended to temporarily reduce taxes on AM2—immediately—making goods and transportation cheaper.
    In time, he believed, a balance would be achieved.
    Where the lords of industry had once seen a future of