The student body: Dalar ken Halvar's Combat College accepts 30 new students per year, entrance age being typically 11, though older students are sometimes accepted. Students who begin the standard course at age 11 graduate at age 27; imperial levies, such as Hatch, break their training for seven years of service with the imperial army. The number of Students of all ages now in training in the Combat College is 353. Of these, 29 are Startroopers and the remainder, of course, are Combat Cadets.
So young in youth the would-be warriors
Dream desire as blithe abandon -
Till drawing days from days the war
Lights monotonies of dust,
And lighting lights
Encasement of routine.
On entering the Combat College, Asodo Hatch naturally headed for Forum Three, for that lecture theater was where Paraban Senk habitually dealt with matters of communal discipline or communal crisis.
Forum Three was a steeply banked amphitheater in which seating and desking was ranked in a semi-circle above a small stage. The backdrop to the stage was a large communications screen, which was at present displaying the image of a lotus in full flower. There was seating for as many as 680 people in Forum Three, but at the moment it had fewer than five dozen occupants.
Hatch remembered the last crisis of common concern, when Paraban Senk had summoned all students after Hiji Hanojo had been found dead – dead at the age of 40, in the thirteenth year of his instructorship. Forum Three had been positively crowded then. But now, with trouble on the loose in Dalar ken Halvar, some students were fighting with the Free Corps, others were guarding their homes, and some had doubtless joined in the lawless rioting.
The few dozen students gathered in Forum Three evidenced both apprehension and excitement. They had trained for war, and so should have had a grasp of its realities; but the heroic fantasies of the Eye of Delusions had overmastered their training, so that they had found themselves ill-prepared for the realities of the misfortune which had come upon their city.
In Forum Three, politics was in the ascendant. Where was the Silver Emperor? Was he prisoner? Was he dead? Was Treasurer Berlin dead? Was it true the officers of the Imperial Guard were fighting amongst themselves? Would Manfred Gan Oliver really become the next emperor?
"Hatch!" shouted someone, as Hatch entered Forum Three.
"So here he is," said Lupus Lon Oliver. "The man who tried to make himself the master of Na Sashimoko. Who tried, but failed.
They say he ran at a speed a very rabbit would have envied."
The rabbit was a creature of the Nexus, a beast unknown to Dalar ken Halvar but said to be possessed of an extraordinary turn of speed and a streak of cowardice which encouraged it to put that turn to frequent use. But Hatch did not feel insulted, for he had absolutely no idea what Lupus was talking about.
Hatch said as much.
"What are you gabbling about?" said Hatch.
"Your inglorious encounter," said Lupus. "That's what I'm on about."
But Hatch was none the wiser, for he had not heard of the rumor which claimed that Asodo Hatch had been ignominiously outfaced, humiliated and defeated while endeavoring to singlehandedly put down the coup which had seen a parcel of Imperial Guards seize control of the palace of Na Sashimoko. Hatch was equally ignorant of a variety of other rumors, variously claiming that Hatch had started the revolution of the Unreal; that Hatch had personally murdered the Silver Emperor; that Hatch was dead; that Hatch had fled the city; and that Hatch had plunged into the Hot Mouth, taking Lupus Lon Oliver down to destruction as he leapt to his death.
"You're talking nonsense," said Hatch.
"So," said Lupus, "you don't admit it."
"If you won't tell me what I'm supposed to have done," said Hatch, "then I cannot reasonably either admit or deny it. Accuse me, and I'll account for my performance. Meantime, account for your own – what are you doing sitting here on your backside while our city burns?"
"What are you doing?" retorted Lupus.
"I came here to organize a response to the present chaos," said Hatch. "Inside of the night I'll do as much. But I'm fresh arrived, you seem to have been here all night."
"Not so," said Lupus. "I was out in the city, but returned in response to the messengers, just as you did."
"The messengers?" said Hatch in bewilderment, wondering if Lupus was suffering one of those illnesses where the deluded victim starts hearing imaginary voices speaking inside his head.
"Senk's messengers," said Lupus.
And by diligent questioning, Hatch learnt that Paraban Senk had despatched a number of Combat Cadets as messengers, telling them to recall Asodo Hatch and Lupus Lon Oliver to the Combat College.
"Then perhaps Senk wants us to jointly organize a response to the present crisis," said Hatch.
"Perhaps," said Lupus.
At this, a couple of Combat Cadets entered Forum Three. They were flushed and panting, scratched and bruised, and Hatch immediately zeroed in on them, thinking them hot from the battles of Dalar ken Halvar. But before Asodo Hatch could begin his interrogation of these fresh witnesses, the full-flowering lotus adorning Forum Three's communications screen disappeared, and was replaced by the olive-complexioned features of Paraban Senk, the Teacher of Control. Senk called the room to order.
"It seems," said the Teacher of Control, "that there is a degree of disorder in the city tonight."
This pronouncement was greeted with hoots, howls, jeers, and cries of feigned disbelief.
"Nobody can say where this disorder will end," said Senk. "In as little as a day, conditions may become far worse. Therefore, I am bringing forward the competitive examination for the instructorship. Tomorrow may be too late. Accordingly, we will proceed with the competitive examination for the instructorship as soon as possible. Asodo Hatch will fight with Lupus Lon Oliver on this very night. To the victor, the spoils."
Both Hatch and Lupus were on their feet immediately, protesting. Hatch out-bellowed Lupus:
"But I haven't slept!"
Thus protested Hatch, and in perfect sincerity.
Thanks to his Combat College training, Hatch was capable of maintaining a studied tortoise-faced inscrutability under interrogation, and of telling undetectable deadpan lies during such interrogation. But there was nothing inscrutable about Hatch right now. He was emotionally open, revealed, exposed. Under such circumstances, Paraban Senk could read Hatch to a nicety, and knew Hatch to be telling the truth.
Hatch had not slept.
So Senk believed, and so likewise did Lupus Lon Oliver, for that was what Hatch himself believed. In the heat of the moment, Asodo Hatch had entirely forgotten the fact that he had laid himself down to sleep in his empty house in the afternoon just gone, and had not been roused until early in the night.
For his part, Lupus Lon Oliver certainly had not slept. In the morning, he had been courting the statuesque Penelope Flute, and his subsequent embroilment in the alarums of the afternoon had made sleep impossible.
"We are warriors," said Lupus stoutly. "We need no sleep. At least, I don't. But if Asodo Hatch is too old for the rigors of war, why then, let him withdraw from this competition."
"Hatch," said Senk. "Do you choose to signify your withdrawal?"
"Why," said Hatch, growing cagey as he remembered that he had in fact got some sleep, "I, uh… I wouldn't want to disappoint young Lupus. But, Senk, this is no time for games. Our city's awash with blood and burning. We should be organizing the defense of our city, not playing at games."
"This is not a game!" said Senk.
There was an entirely human anger in Senk's proclamation.
Under the lash of that anger, Hatch felt that he finally had the answer to the question of whether Senk had fully human attributes.
Senk's mission, Senk's reason to live, was to train Startroopers for the Stormforce of the Nexus. Compared to that, what was Dalar ken Halvar to Paraban Senk?
"You should disqualify him," said Lupus. "He's not fit to be the instructor! He places his city ahead of the Nexus!"
"Well, Hatch?" said Senk.
To his surprise and dismay, Hatch saw that Senk was treating Lupus Lon Oliver's suggestion seriously.
"Senk," said Hatch, "the instructor's prime task is to liaise between the city and the Combat College. The instructor can hardly do that if the city has ceased to exist. Under the circumstances, I think both Lupus and myself should be devoting our best energies to preserving the city. I suggest that you order all Combat College students to place themselves under a joint command headed by Lupus and myself. Then we'll do what we can. But if the city ceases to exist – well, what chance of recruiting a fresh class of Combat College?"
There was a substantial pause while Paraban Senk meditated on this. Senk's eyes were closed, or so it seemed from the features displayed on Forum Three's communications screen, though of course in point of fact the unembodied Paraban Senk did not possess any such organs as literal "eyes".
Senk's eyes opened.
"It is my belief," said Senk, "that Asodo Hatch and Lupus Lon Oliver lack the ability to resolve the crisis in Dalar ken Halvar, either individually or acting in concert. The present crisis must take its course. Thanks to the limited data at my disposal and the complexity of the social forces at work, I cannot predict the ultimate outcome of the crisis. However, I believe that whatever forces ultimately hold power in Dalar ken Halvar will treat with me and mine on an equitable basis, just as the Silver Emperor did."
"Did?" said Hatch. "Do you believe the emperor dead?"
"I have it on your own authority that the emperor is not available," said Senk, giving Hatch the impression that some matter of either fact or rumor was being concealed. "It may well be that the emperor will remain unavailable. If that is the case, will you treat with the city's new ruling powers on my behalf if you become the instructor?"
"Without any hesitation," said Hatch.
"And I likewise," said Lupus.
"Then," said Senk, "I find you both fit to hold the instructorship, and rule that you must fight for the position this very night. Are you both agreeable to this proposition?"
"I am," said Lupus promptly.
"And I," said Hatch, forcing himself to an imitation of an equal readiness.
In truth, there were all kinds of further protests, caveats and reservations that Hatch wanted to make known. But he restrained himself. Without a doubt, he had angered Senk once already. Any repetition of that angering might see Senk disqualify him from contention for the instructorship.
As for Dalar ken Halvar's fate -
What could Hatch do on his own?
Less, surely, that he could do if he won the instructorship.
If he could win quickly, then he might persuade Senk to order the Combat College's student body to place itself under his command, and then he might be able to do something to restore order in the city.
"Good," said Senk, on hearing the prompt replies from Lupus and Hatch. "The pair of you will prove your worth as warriors by fighting against a background of war."
As Senk was so saying, Hatch heard a scuffle behind him, but paid it no heed, until he heard Shona say:
"What's monkey got?"
"Let me go!" said an anguished voice.
The voice was that of Dog Java, the Combat Cadet who had so recently tried to knife down Hatch. At that voice, Hatch turned sharply, and saw Dog Java trying to break free from Shona. Shona had come up behind Dog Java, and had seized Dog's arm in a grip a vice would have envied, and had got a lock on Dog's wrist.
As the human vice-rivaler exerted herself further, Dog was forced to drop the knife he had been holding. Then he cried out, for, rather than releasing her grip, Shona tightened it. Paraban Senk watched from the screen but made no move to intervene.
"Shona," said Hatch.
"Yes, Hatch my darling?" said Shona. "Shall I break his wrist? I'll do it for free. Just say the word."
"If he'll give you his and agree to keep the peace in the Combat College," said Hatch, "then you can let him go free."
"Well, Dog?" said Shona. "What do you say?"
When Dog Java made no immediate reply, Shona bit his ear.
Hard. Drawing blood. At which Dog cried out anew. As if in answer, cries were heard from outside Forum Three, and then a knot of Combat College students burst into that lecture theater. Amongst them was Scorpio Fax, his face a mask of blood, his scalp lacerated. Hatch pushed toward Fax, and was in time to catch him just before he collapsed.
Then someone else entered Forum Three.
It was Lupus Lon Oliver's father: the formidable Manfred Gan Oliver, head of the Free Corps. And Hatch, as he lowered Fax to the ground, heard someone cry out in astonishment:
"It's Gan Oliver! But what's he doing here!?"
A legitimate question, for Manfred Gan Oliver had been forcibly ejected from the Combat College when he graduated from that institution at the age of 27, and had been denied entry to the precincts of the College for the last 30 years.