The Amtrack Wars - Earth Thunder Part 26

The domain-lords eyed the bug sceptically as Cadillac pushed it round the table for each of them to examine. 'It looks like a black stone from a go board,' said Mitiyake Se-Iko. 'Can it really capture voices?"

Cadillac shot a quick glance at Roz, then pretended to make a crucial adjustment to the bug. Roz quickly rewound a section of the tape and hit the play b.u.t.ton as Cadillac raised the bug between thumb and forefinger.

To their utter astonishment, the Iron Masters heard the voice of Lord Se-Iko issue from the black box: 'It looks like a black stone from a go board. Can it really capture voices?"

Hhhawwwww-wwwww. This was magic indeed.

'But what does this mean?!" demanded Lord Min-Orota.

Cadillac twisted the two faces of the bug between his fingers and held it near the radio. There was no high-pitched bleep. Roz had switched tracks but no one had noticed. 'I have emptied the Dark Light from it.

It no longer hears. But while it was alive, it noted the words spoken in this room as faithfully as a scribe!"

Aishi Sakimoto and the other members of the family council paled visibly. 'Merciful heaven!" exclaimed Hide-oshi Yamaos.h.i.ta. 'It was around this table that our late and much-beloved Lord Hirohito held many of his most important meetings!"

Cadillac nodded. 'Which probably included his future plans for expanding trade and the strategies to be employed in countering the machinations of the TohYota."

He did not wait for Hideoshi to answer. Holding up the bug, he said: 'You may be sure that every word was carried from this room to eager ears beyond these walls - by this cunning device! Ears belonging to the Toh-Yota! For it was the agents employed by Lord Ieyasu who placed it beneath this table!"

Lord Min-Orota, astounded by what he had seen and heard, was not yet ready to condemn the Toh-Yota. 'The device can only have come from the long-dogs, and it must have been placed there by someone, but there is, as yet, no proof they were agents of the Toh-Yota. The Shogun's feelings on this matter are well known. His family has always upheld the edict against the Dark Light. It is not possible for him to be involved in such an appalling act of treachery!"

ishi Sakimoto nodded then turned to Cadillac. 'Can you back up this charge?"

Cadillac bowed. 'Sire, if my accusation is well-founded, there will be agents of the Toh-Yota stationed nearby equipped with more powerful devices to capture the words spoken here. Their task is to despatch them unheard and unseen, together with any other intelligence, to their ultimate destination. Let us see what we can find."

Returning to the small table, he sat down beside Roz, and whispered: 'I think we've got 'em." Twiddling the controls of the radio, and manipulating the b.u.t.tons controlling the multi-track tape, Cadillac succeeded in 'capturing' a conversation between two voices for his attentive audience.

The content of the transmission removed any shred of doubt in the minds of the listening domain-lords. The unidentified agent - who had apparently been standing by to eavesdrop on the present meetingreported that the listening device had stopped working before anything incriminating had been said.

Questioned by the 'home station' he expressed his certainty that the Yama-s.h.i.ta family, led by Aishi Saki-moto were plotting a coup of some kind, and pa.s.sed on the names of all those present. It was vital, said the agent, that Lord Ieyasu and the Shogun were informed of what was afoot. With the failure of the device within the Sara-kusa Palace, information on the plotters would have to be gathered elsewhere.

The domain-lords gasped as they heard the 'home station' tell the agent that that was not a problem.

Lord Ieyasu, said the voice, had been able to place a string of black beads across the length and breadth of Ne-Issan and with their help he would be able to strangle any conspiracy to remove the TohYota.

Seeing the effect this had on the domain-lords, Cadillac went for the kill. Addressing Sakimoto, he said: 'Sire! I promised you proof of the Toh-Yota's treachery. Now you have seen and heard it with your own eyes and ears!

They have not only betrayed you, they have betrayed the soul of the nation!"

Coming hard on the heels of his discovery of the listening device, these phantom voices banished all doubt - even in the mind of Lord Kiyo Min-Orota. The TohYota had abused the power accorded to them by their fellow domain-lords in the most heinous way imaginable - demanding death, money and other punitive forms of retribution for crimes which they themselves had perpetrated for years. And were continuing to do so!

Cadillac and Roz sat back calmly as the shocked domain-lords tried to hammer out a coherent response to these revelations. All were agreed that the TohYota shogunate had to be swept away, but they were hopelessly split over the means by which this could be best accomplished. Hawks and doves both knew it would require the use of considerable force.

Probably full-scale civil war. Despite their present sense of outrage, that was not a course the majority of the a.s.sembled n.o.bles were ready to embark upon without careful preparation.

It would be better, said the doves, to gather more support for their progressive ideals by exposing the corrupt behaviour of the shogunate.

Quite so, said the hawks - but could it be done quickly and effectively before the Toh-Yota - who would be bound to learn what was afoot launched a pre-emptive strike on the Yama-s.h.i.ta with whom they shared common borders?

When the steam ran out of the discussion without any agreed plan of action having being produced, Cadillac asked permission to speak.

Aishi Sakimoto, who was presiding over the meeting, invited him to do so.

'Great and n.o.ble lords, I have listened to your deliberations and sensed your rightful anger. The house of TohYota, the supposed guardian of tradition, has flouted the sacred edicts it imposed on the rest of Ne-Issan. For this alone, it should fall. But I would advise you against the use, at this stage, of military force.

'The Shogun and his princ.i.p.al advisors have shown themselves to be cunning, unscrupulous adversaries.

They may well find ways to ridicule or deny the proofs I have laid before you. Through their great wealth and the patronage they can bestow, they may be able to purchase the support of domain-lords who are less principled than yourselves. The answer to this problem lies elsewhere.

'It is the Shogun and Lord Ieyasu who stand condemned.

If you remove them, the house of TohYota will be plunged into confusion. Ieyasu is like the head of a viper with a thousand forked tongues - spies and provocateurs who have poisoned the minds of this nation and filled them with fear and hatred for those - like you - who wish to see it strong and secure. Able to resist the Federation. For there, beneath the Deserts of the South, is where the real threat lies.

'A threat which the Toh-Yota cannot meet, because it lacks the will.

It has no vision of the future and, most of all, with its pretence of clinging to tradition, it deprives you of the means to adequately defend yourselves!"

His words met with strong murmurs of a.s.sent. Cadillac turned to Roz who sat cross-legged beside him and sought encouragement with a raised-eyebrow 'how am I doing?" look. She maintained the same blank expression she had a.s.sumed on entering but nodded approvingly.

Lord Min-Orota, in whose domain the ill-fated Heron Pool had been built, said: 'Are you suggesting the a.s.sa.s.sination of the Shogun and Lord Ieyasu?"

'As the first step, yes,' said Cadillac. 'From what I have learned, Lord Ieyasu is the most powerful man in Ne-Issan and your most feared adversary. The Shogun, Prince Yoritomo, has certain strengths, but he is manipulated by his great-uncle - and is thus equally guilty.

'He has no male heir and he has no brothers. The question who would succeed him is bound to cause great dissension amongst the rest of the TohYota family - especially after his guilt is revealed. That is the moment when you should make your challenge against their authority."

Sakimoto shook his head. 'I commend your insight, but the proposal you have just put forward has been considered and rejected on countless previous occasions."

'Rejected,' added Lord Se-Iko, 'because of the difficulties of placing an a.s.sa.s.sin within reach of the Shogun. If anything, Lord Ieyasu is an even more difficult target.

The a.s.sa.s.sination of both of them simultaneously or in quick succession is not a practical proposition.

'On all formal occasions they are surrounded by guards whose loyalty is beyond question, and there are watchers who exercise extreme vigilance at all times. Access to the Inner Court is strictly controlled and no one is allowed to carry anything that might be remotely considered as a weapon when accorded a private audience."

'What const.i.tutes a "private audience"... ?"

Sakimoto swapped glances with his coconspirators.

'The phrase is usually applied to meetings between members of the Inner Court in which two individuals - although it can be more - engage in some form of s.e.xual intercourse."

Lord Se-Iko enlarged upon his colleague's reply. 'In the case of Ieyasu, these audiences are said to be a daily event. The Shogun, despite his youth, is somewhat less voracious."

Cadillac looked at Roz, then said: 'Can you enlighten us further?"

'In what way?"

'By telling us what kind of partners, they prefer, how they are chosen and how they are introduced into the presence of Lord Ieyasu and Prince Yoritomo."

'We can give you some information,' replied Sakimoto, 'but this is a blind alley. Anyone chosen to receive the intimate attentions of these gentlemen has to strip and bathe - and of course they are washed and groomed by trusted members of the palace staff.