The Assassin

The door of the Sovereign's bedchamber opened. One of their body servants appeared and announced, "The Sovereign has retired for the night."

"We have been informed that our Sovereign has retired for the night. We will stand watch as they sleep. May their dreams bless us all!" The head guard replied. I slipped into the chamber under the cover of the deck field as they went through the ritual, moving into the shadows of the large bedroom. My chameleon suit reflected the darkness around me, allowing me to blend in with the floor and walls. Unable to hear anything under the ancient deck fields, I watched the other body servant deposit as glass of water from a tray on the table next to the massive bed, then leave through a side door. I stayed still, keeping my breathing shallow and steady, waiting to ensure that the Sovereign was actually sleeping and that the servant wouldn't come back.

Most people wondered why the builders of the Capital Ship never changed to the more modern deck fields in the Imperial Palace. We learned in our training that when humans first created artificial gravity and could only extend the field enough to keep people's feet on the deck, one of the unexpected effects of the field was that it muffled all sound, making ships strangely quiet. No one was able to hear footfalls in the early days of long-range space travel. The engineers, and most of humanity, were eager to fix the uncanny effect, especially the military. Eventually, they were able to mitigate the dampening effect, and all ships after that were built with the new deck fields or retrofitted.

Except on the Capital Ship in the Imperial Palace. But here it wasn't about security, even though it was a security nightmare.

The Sovereign, it is taught, is not only the ruler of the Empire, but the Speaker for the Spirits and Archpriest of the Church. They are ruler by Divine Right and must not be disturbed by something as trivial as footsteps. That divine nature was also why the Capital Ship traveled among the stars, never staying in one system for more than was necessary to settle disputes and dispense laws and justice.

The Sovereign is of the Gods and the Capital Ship is their sanctuary among the Heavens.

A very old and vulnerable sanctuary, as it happens. The Prelate had been correct about that. The halls of palace were well guarded, but there were weak points throughout the air and waste systems, and of course, the dampening effect of the ancient deck fields. The construction of the Capital Ship was hundreds of years older than any other ship or station in the current Empire, and thus much easier to breach. It had made it relatively easy anyone with a chameleon suit to hide under the deck fields to reach the inner rooms of the palace proper. I thought it strange that there were no guards inside the bedchamber, but pushed aside my musings. Now that I was here, in the Sovereign's bedroom, they seemed so much smaller than the Nets made them out to be. I took a breath and pushed all other thoughts aside, because it was, at last, time to carry out my edict.

Standing, I noiselessly crossed the room and stood tall at the foot of the bed. "Your Majesty!" I called in a loud, clear voice.

The Sovereign sat up, instantly looking around to find the intruder. "What-?"

"Your Majesty," I repeated, "I have come to read you your Litany of Crimes and then you will die by my hand."

Their gaze settled on me. Instead of cowering in fear or showing anger, the Sovereign laughed. "Oh. I see. Apparently, the Prelate's spies have been less than diligent. Or, as usual, sloppy." They grinned. "You're too late."

"What?"

The Sovereign grinned. "The real Sovereign is three years dead." Their face shimmered in the familiar way of chameleon body tech, changing to a more masculine face. "Did you think you were the only assassin the Prelate's sent over the years?"

"Three years?" I stammered in shock. "How? You-- but our precepts--!"

"Our precepts say we are to leave the dead to be found as tribute to the Gods. I did do that, more or less. Maybe not to the letter of the rule, but certainly to the spirit of it." They swung their feet over the side of the bed and picked a robe that laid on the bed, putting it over the night dress they were wearing. "The old Sovereign is currently floating in the atmosphere of a mining moon in a worker's uniform. Given the fact that the old Sovereign was quite fond of exploiting workers, she's just another body among hundreds. I'm sure it'll be found eventually and cause a great scandal that I'll have to take care of."

I stared at them. "I don't understand," I said.

"It's quite simple, really," they said as they got up off the bed and stood in front of me. "I was sent by the Prelate to assassinate the Sovereign, like you. I fulfilled that contract, but the trip to the Capital Ship taught me much more about the Empire than the Prelate teaches in the Academy. I realized that if the Empire were to collapse, it would be anarchy, not revolution. The ones that the the Prelate claims to want to help would be crushed under the weight of the Elite trying to fill the vacuum of power. So I disposed of the body discretely and took the Sovereign's place."

I commanded the programmable matter in my hand to form into a small dagger and held it up. "You're trying to trick me!"

"Am I?" The Sovereign -- the fake Sovereign -- laughed again. "Do you truly think I'm defenseless?" they said, waving their hand in a intricate pattern. "Are you absolutely sure that all the Prelate told you about the palace was accurate?"

I froze as twenty drones emerged from the deck fields. The rounded cubes barely reflected the light of small nightlight on the side table. They moved slowly, surrounding both of us with barely a hum. "You can't have these!" I exclaimed. "Drones were outlawed a millennium ago!"

They laughed again. "My dear, nothing every truly goes away. No tech ever gets wasted. Improved on, changed, redistributed, but never wasted." Locking eyes with me, they asked, "Now, that you know of my deception, what do you plan to do about it?"

"I have a contract! I must fulfill it!"

"Yes. I suppose you could. However, how just would it be to kill me now? Those charges are now out of date, and, while the Prelate doesn't know it, your contract has already been fulfilled." They paused. "Since I know for a fact that the Prelate doesn't recruit stupid people, I can assume you've watch the Nets since you've come onto the Capital Ship." They smiled. "I'm sure you've seen that a lot of what the Litany of Crimes says is no longer true."

I opened my mouth and shut it again. I had checked the Nets, since it had taken over two years to reach the Capital Ship from our Order's system, which was much more isolated from the rest of the Empire. The realization that the Sovereign was right made me feel uncomfortable about the mission and I had no real answer to give them. I kept quiet.

The Sovereign's face rippled back to the dead ruler's visage, and they gave short laugh. "Ah, yes, I read you right. You've seen the differences now, haven't you?" They moved over to the bed again, getting back in it, this time sitting up, with the covers pulled over their legs. The drones closed in on me. "I will tell you a secret, friend," they said. "Once I assumed the Sovereignty, I was able to access the Privy Archive. Did you know that the Prelate of our order was once the Crown Sibling of the old Sovereign?"

My mouth dropped open. "What?"

They nodded. "Yes. He was exiled by the now dead Sovereign for trying to usurp the throne. The Prelate doesn't truly want to bring down the Empire altruistic reasons. He wants the throne for himself. I'm sure you've known that the Prelate hs no real plan on what to do with the Empire once he is in control."

"I-- yes," I stammered, the patterns I'd seen coming together in my mind. A memory surfaced. "I asked him, once, about what happens after we take you-- the Sovereign-- down. All he said was that it will be a return to a more equal and just government for all the people, but the Prelate never gave any concrete answers." I stared at the Sovereign on the bed. "How did you convince the Council and your advisors you'd had a change of heart? The previous Sovereign was ruthless and cruel!"

They laughed again, spreading their hands out and inclining their head. "I am the Divine Ruler, ordained by the Gods, and Archpriest of the Church of the Empire. I receive visions and messages from the Gods all the time, and have dreams that bless and guide me," they said. "I came running into the Council chamber early one morning, still in my nightclothes, babbling about how the Gods would punish me and the Empire if I did not change my ways. While many on the Council were skeptical, no one dared say that it wasn't true."

I stared at them. My mind was racing with doubt and fear and confusion, but I couldn't deny what I had seen, and was seeing, with my own eyes. I couldn't deny what they were saying, either, or anything that they'd told me. I was unsure what to say to that, so I stayed still.

The silence stretched for a long moment, before the Sovereign said, "Well, it is time for you to make a choice."

"A choice?"

They nodded. "The current Golden Hand, who I inherited from the previous Sovereign, is too ambitious for his own good. I have ample evidence that he has aspirations beyond his station and that he is much too fond of the younger palace servants. He is a liability, and I can't have that in my palace." They took up the glass of water from the nightstand and sipped it. "I want you to take care of him, change your form, and take his place."

"Me? But I came here to kill you! Why would you trust me?"

"Why not you? You are a highly trained assassin of the Order, skilled in all the areas that the Golden Hand is in charge of. While the Prelate isn't what he pretends to be, he does know how to train his subordinates well. You will need to learn more about your duties, but your education is suitable enough to hold the Golden Hand's office." They put the glass down. "Instead of working for a Prelate that has lied to you for decades, you can work for me and help me change the Empire. There is a good deal of corruption to root out." They laughed again. "You certainly won't be bored."

"And if I choose not to do this?"

They smiled again, but this time it didn't reach their eyes. Waving their hand again, the drones closed in around me. "These drones have genetic bot disrupters installed which will disrupt the molecular cohesion of all the programmable matter in your body. It won't be a pleasant death, and I'd have to call in a cleaning crew, but it will send you to the Gods in short order." They paused. "I'm sure you've figured out by now that I can't release someone who knows the truth about me out among the general population."

All my life, I had honed my body and mind to kill the Sovereign. I had resigned myself to the possibility that I'd be sent to the Gods instead. If I was honest with myself, however, I had had doubts about the Prelate from the beginning and, frankly, I didn't want to die for a cause I no longer had faith in. This Sovereign, though, was offering me a true purpose. I could be more than just an assassin.

They waited patiently for me to answer, with no expression on their face. They weren't trying to influence my decision, not really. It was as simple as life or death.

After weighing it all in my mind, I absorbed the knife in my hand, and dropped to one knee. Keeping my head above the deck fields so they could hear me, I said, "I will do as you command, my Sovereign."

The Sovereign pulled out a tablet from the side table, tapping it a few times. "Good," they said with a nod. "Use the servant's door to leave this room. I trust you know where the Golden Hand's room is. The recycling shutes can dispose of any bodies." They waved their hand in a different pattern, and the drones backed away, returning to the silence of the deck field. "When you're finished and changed, report back to me immediately. We have much work to do and you have much to learn about your new role." They then brought their attention back to the tablet as if I wasn't there.

I waited for a moment, not sure if that meant dismissal or not. It felt like one. I stood, staring a them, wondering what I had truly just agreed to.

They looked up from the tablet, eyebrows raised. "You have your orders, Hand, do you not? Carry them out."

"Yes, your Majesty," I replied with a short bow and left as noiselessly as I came in.