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weapons.
    “The officer should not have said it is a Rhadan star-ship,” Mariana said soothingly. “We are not yet sure. But we must be cautious, husband. You are the Galacton.”
    Landro returned and said to Mariana, “He’s been relieved.”
    Torquas looked from his wife to the warleader. He wished that it didn’t always seem they were alone together when they were speaking to him. Perhaps it was that they were grown up and he was not. But he was, after all, King of the Universe. “Well,” he said with some irritation, “is it the Rhad?”
    “All this is a precaution, King,” Landro said confidently. “Nothing more.”
    “Kier of Rhada was my father’s friend,” Torquas said, rubbing at his nose and wondering how one could be dignified with a head cold.
    “You haven’t seen the recent dispatches, loved one,” Mariana said. “His messages have gone from insolent to threatening. And now, suddenly, here he seems to be-- perhaps with a starship full of warmen. We must take care. He isn’t called The Rebel for nothing, husband.”
    Torquas’s composure was beginning to break. He didn’t understand why he had been told nothing of all this. Yet Mariana and Landro never told him anything political. They said he was too young to be troubled. “Why be Galacton if you can’t rely on your loyal subjects?” she said. Somehow, Torquas doubted that his father would ever have let anyone do things in the Imperial name without telling him about it. But then, at twelve, Glamiss Magnifico had been leading armies in war on Vyka.
    “Well, is it Kier or isn’t it?” he demanded.
    “It might be,” Mariana said, brushing a fall of hair away from his forehead. “The ship is only just out of Earth orbit, loved one. But we simply cannot take any chances with the Rhad-- if it is the Rhad.”
    Torquas shook his head in confusion. He wondered why it was that Mariana could make things so very difficult to understand.
    “Well, I want to see the starship land,” he said almost plaintively.
    Mariana glanced once again at Landro and inclined her head quizzically. “I see no objection to that, do you, Warleader?”
    “None, Queen,” Landro said.
    “You shall see it, then, husband,” Mariana said. “From the Empire Tower.”
    Torquas felt a sudden inner chill. “The tower?” The Empire Tower was the most ancient structure in the city. Its lower levels lay deep within the tel, five hundred feet or more. And its upper levels had been destroyed and rebuilt times beyond counting in the turbulent history of Nyor. Since Interregnal times it had been used to house political prisoners. It reeked of cybs and demons.
    Mariana smiled and ran her hand gently through the boy’s hair. “The view is best from there. You can see far beyond the river. And you will be safer there than here if there should be any fighting.” She drew a folded parchment from her gown. “But first I need your name on this paper,” she said. “It is an Imperial warrant for the commander of that starship--whoever he may be.”
    Torquas sighed and leaned against her. “Must he be arrested? If it is Kier, I mean?”
    “No one may be permitted to land at Nyor with a vessel filled with troops, husband. You remember Father Glamiss made that the law.”
    “But Kier of Rhada--”
    “The law is the law, loved one. You must enforce it.”
    Torquas nodded agreement. Mariana was right, of course. Grownups were always right. It made being King of the Universe difficult. He took the paper to an escritoire and wrote across the bottom: Torquas the First, G. He liked signing state documents that way. Of course, Mariana could have signed it herself, as regent. But he was pleased that she wanted him to put his royal name to this one, though he would be sorry if it got Kier into trouble. Still, he had no right to come dropping down on the Imperial capital with an army--
    Mariana took the paper from him and said, “Now I’ll have the warmen take you to see the starship