Back | Next
Contents

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

icon


In the end, it took more than a couple of hours. Kreega was mad as hell and wanted to charge all of us—Selene and me included—with every crime she could think of. The attempted late-night intervention by the Patth ambassador only made her attitude worse. Especially when the ambassador insisted that Galfvi and Kiolven, as Patth citizens, be released into his custody.

Fortunately, by the time the conversation expanded to include the regional authorities, Alainn’s overall planetary legal department, and a couple of Commonwealth undersecretaries for offices I was never quite clear on, Kreega had turned us over to Badgeman Zilor. With his eyes and hopes on Galfvi’s own list of charges and the clear expectation that Kreega would win the jurisdictional battle, he got through our paperwork in record time. We promised we’d stay in Bilswift for a few more days in case he needed us, and beat a hasty retreat.

But not before Huginn pulled me aside and reminded me of our deal. I confirmed my commitment and told him to call me when he was free to talk.

Four days later, with ill will and resentments still hanging over Bilswift like the evening rain clouds, he finally was.

* * *

“Rather surprised you chose this place,” he commented, taking a sip of his drink and sending a measuring gaze around Panza’s Café. “I knew you were something of a sentimentalist, but I wouldn’t have thought this fit that particular bill.”

“It’s less sentimental than historical,” I told him, sniffing at the barbeque aroma wafting from the kitchen and wishing there’d been time for an order of ribs. But Huginn had made it clear that he had work to do, and that this would therefore be a one-drink conversation.

Though I suspected that what I had to say might take some of the edge off that urgency.

“This was Lukki’s booth,” I went on, running my fingers across the table between us. “This is where it started—Lukki, Galfvi, Tirano, the Vrinks, and all the rest. It seemed only fitting that we should put the endcap on here.”

“As I said, sentimental.”

“Besides, I thought you might want one more meal of whatever the Patth dish was you were eating when Selene and I first arrived,” I added. “What was it, if I may ask?”

He pursed his lips. “It was basically a spice roast,” he said. “Modified slightly for human consumption. One of Sub-Director Nask’s favorites that I’ve developed a taste for.”

“Yes, I’ve heard of spice roasts,” I said. “Though I imagine you had to give the kitchen a fair amount of instruction on the correct preparation.”

“That I did,” he confirmed. “And now you’re stalling. Time to pay your part of your deal. Interesting back door you have on your ship, by the way. I don’t think I’d have been able to find it or get in without your instructions.”

“Glad you like it,” I said. “Actually, most bounty hunter ships have either a back door or some kind of camouflage for loading passengers that local authorities want to hang onto.”

Huginn grunted. “We could have used something like that,” he said. “The Patth and the Commonwealth may have come to an agreement, but that doesn’t mean Kreega and her badgemen liked it. I half expected them to have brought in the traditional European torch-and-pitchfork mob to see them off.”

“I think European mobs mostly use flashlights now,” I said. “But they’re gone, and the Patth get to decide on their judgment.” I raised my eyebrows. “There will be judgment, won’t there?”

“Oh, yes,” Huginn said darkly. “As well as a long-neglected review of the ancient laws and traditions that are still technically in force. You were right—the old Purge laws only applied to Patth, and they obviously can’t be allowed to spill over onto other species in the Spiral.”

“Or should be abandoned altogether,” I said. “Killing someone who simply knew the offender? No offense, but that’s barbaric.”

He shrugged. “Different cultures, different rules,” he said. “Which isn’t to say I disagree with you.” He took another sip of his drink. “But we’re not here to discuss legal philosophy.”

“No, we’re not,” I agreed, trying to relax. There were several directions this conversation could go, some less pleasant than others, none that would leave me looking particularly good. But I’d made a deal, and Huginn had kept his end of it. “Okay. Let me start by telling you I’m on to your little changeling plan.”

Huginn raised his eyebrows fractionally. “Our what plan?”

“Your changeling plan,” I repeated. “Your idea of letting Selene and me find the nonfunctional portal and confirm to the Icarus Group that it is nonfunctional. They then check off Alainn as a failure, and everyone moves on to more promising pastures.”

His eyes were steady on me. “And?”

I braced myself. “And then,” I said, “after we’re gone and the Icarus paperwork has been filed, you sneak in under cover of darkness, pull out the dead portal, and drop one of your own very functional Janus portals in its place.”

“And why would we do something that insane?” he asked, his face still not giving anything away.

“Because it’s not insane,” I said. “The hijacking of your Fidelio portal showed that even something that big is still vulnerable to theft. Plus the very nature of a Gemini means that if someone gets hold of one they have instant access to the other. You need a secure place for them to sit while you study them.”

“Our portals are in secure places.”

“I’m sure they are,” I agreed. “But most of the time secure also means sensitive, and as I just pointed out putting a portal in a sensitive spot may not be the best long-term idea. Even hiding it out in deep space isn’t a good option, because the supply and personnel traffic back and forth can draw attention and theoretically be traced. I imagine the Patth hierarchy has had long and heated discussions on the subject over the past few months.”

I waved a hand around me. “And then, you found Bilswift.”

I took a sip from my Dewar’s, waiting for Huginn to respond. But he remained silent.

“Bilswift is a backwoods area on a back-woodish planet that nevertheless has a comfortable degree of traffic in and out,” I continued. “Equally important, there are enough Patth already established in the major cities that someone seeing a few new ones pop in won’t even notice. You could drop your Fidelio portal here, in the exact spot Selene has already certified there’s nothing of interest, and study it to your heart’s content. No one from the Icarus Group would ever give the place a second look. In fact, it occurs to me that you could set up a Patth birdwatching society or something in Bilswift or Cavindoss and hide your heightened presence in the area even better. Either way, you’d be free and clear.”

Huginn shook his head. “You have an amazing imagination, Roarke. I’ll give you that.”

“I appreciate the compliment,” I said. “But we both know better. You see, I got a good look at the underside of that clearing. I saw how you’d already prepped the area by digging the portal mostly clear, leaving only enough sod on top to give visitors something solid to walk on. All you have to do now is scoop off those top two meters, haul the dead portal up with some of your heavy lifters, drop the Fidelio portal in its place, and refill the dirt around it.”

“That’s all, is it?” he asked wryly.

“I’ve seen Sub-Director Nask in action,” I said. “For him, I’m guessing this will just be a typical Tuesday. Incidentally, I want to compliment him on the support mesh you used under the crust. Even while I was digging through it I thought it was some kind of exotic root system that crisscrossed beneath the soil and held it up against whatever strange erosion had taken place. It was only later, after I was out and thinking about it, that I realized what the underground gap really signified.”

For a long moment Huginn stared at me, probably deciding whether he should keep up his bluff or admit the truth and move on. “Suppose what you say is true,” he said at last. “What then?”

“Two things,” I said. “First, obviously, you might as well junk the plan. There’s no point in moving the Fidelio portal here now that we know what you’re up to.”

“Now that we know?”

I forced myself to meet his gaze. “The Icarus Group knows the Alainn portal doesn’t work. They don’t know about the changeling part of the plan.”

“And you think it was a smart thing to tell me that you knew?”

I took a deep breath. “I’m sure there are a hundred situations where you’d kill me without hesitation,” I said, keeping my voice even. “I don’t think this is one of them.”

Huginn mulled at it a moment. Then, his lip quirked in a tiny smile. “Maybe, maybe not. Luckily for you, Sub-Director Nask still considers you a useful asset.”

“I’m honored,” I said, breathing a little easier. “Dare I say I feel the same way about him?”

“I wouldn’t,” he said. “At least, not in his presence. I’m still waiting for you to get to the urgent information you promised.”

“Good news, then, because we’ve arrived,” I said. “As far as I can tell, the only thing wrong with the portal is that some of the components are missing. But you have a pair of working Gemini portals, plus maybe one or two more that you might have scrounged up when we weren’t looking. I’m thinking you could raid one of them for the missing parts and see if you can get this one up and running.”

Huginn shook his head. “I’ve already suggested that. Sub-Director Nask and the Director General agree that such a move would put the donor portal at unacceptable risk.”

“Yes, the Icarus Group reached the same conclusion via the same arguments,” I told him. “Especially since they don’t expect to find anything useful at whatever portal this one was linked to ten thousand years ago. Did that point also figure into the Director General’s decision?”

“It did,” Huginn said, his forehead creasing slightly. “Do you know something about the other portal that we don’t?”

“Nothing about the other portal, no,” I said. “What I do know is that the Alainn end wasn’t abandoned ten thousand years ago. It was still in operation until at least a hundred years ago. Possibly only fifty.”

Huginn sat up a little straighter, the hand gripping his glass suddenly tightening. “Explain,” he said quietly.

“The footbridges from Seven Strands,” I said. “I’m sure you know Lukki and her people used the one leading up to the Loporr colony to bring out the Vrinks they were trafficking. You probably also know that Selene and I used the bridge leading to the portal to sneak over your fence. I do appreciate the gap you engineered for us in the riverfront section, though. If we hadn’t found the bridge we would probably have gone in that way.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “And?”

“And those two bridges are in good condition. But.” I lifted a finger for emphasis. “I tried one of the other bridges, the one that leads into a different part of the mountains, and the thing disintegrated under my feet. That was a bridge that’s been sitting untended for a few thousand years.”

“But the other two hadn’t,” Huginn murmured, a quiet intensity growing in his face. “Someone was still traveling between the portal and the Loporri.”

“Someone who liked silver-silk enough to have kept those bridges maintained,” I confirmed. “Whoever that was, they might still be hanging around the other end.” I raised my eyebrows. “And that might be worth risking one of your other Gemini portals for.”

“It might indeed,” Huginn said, his eyes focused on something distant.

Abruptly, the eyes came back to my face. “Why?” he demanded.

“Why tell you?” I shrugged. “Three reasons. One, the Icarus Group already said that wasn’t a risk they were willing to take.”

“So did the Director General.”

“So you said,” I agreed. “Two, because I’m curious about who or what is at the other end, and Sub-Director Nask strikes me as being more willing to change his mind than the people at Icarus. And three . . . ”

I felt a hard lump form in my stomach. “Because whoever’s running Icarus at the moment threw us to the wolves,” I said. “We had backup already here on Alainn, but when Selene filed her petition about Loporr sapience that backup was withdrawn. Quickly and immediately withdrawn.”

Huginn frowned. “They withdrew your backup? Don’t they realize how valuable you two are to them?”

“Apparently not,” I said, hearing a sudden edge of bitterness in my voice. “Let me make it clear: If he’d been available, I wouldn’t have needed to call on you to get us out of Kiolven’s trap, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But he wasn’t, and I did, and you did. As far as I’m concerned, you earned this information.”

Huginn shook his head, his frown deepening. “That doesn’t sound like Admiral Graym-Barker’s style.”

“I agree,” I said. “It makes me wonder if he maybe isn’t calling the shots at Icarus anymore.”

“Could be,” Huginn said. “That would be unfortunate.”

“You think that highly of the admiral?”

Huginn smiled. “We know and understand him,” he corrected. “A known opponent is always easier to prepare for than an unknown one.”

“Sounds like something my father might have said.”

“Very likely,” he said. “Anything else?”

“Yes,” I said. “I know you’re the one who killed Venikel.”

I’d expected a sharpening of his expression or a quick denial or even a reflexive threat. But he merely cocked an eyebrow. “Really,” he said. “Why would I do such a thing?”

“I’m sure you didn’t want to,” I said. “But your plan revolved around you giving Selene and me enough rope and subtle guidance to find the portal and confirm it was dead. I imagine you were annoyed beyond belief when first Galfvi and then Kiolven started tearing through Bilswift threatening to blunder into and derail the whole scheme. That was probably a major part of your talk with Kiolven and Venikel when you met them here: Stay away from Selene and me. Unfortunately, Kiolven decided his mission took precedence and chose to ignore you.”

“And that will cost him,” Huginn said darkly. “But it’ll cost him according to Patth law.”

“As it should,” I agreed. “Because Selene and I were slated to be their next victims. They must have decided there were enough hints that we knew Galfvi, even if only through Tirano, for them to add us to their death list.” I cocked my head. “So when exactly did you decide you wanted Tirano for yourselves?”

Huginn hesitated, then gave a small shrug. “Originally? When Admiral Graym-Barker hired you and Selene to hunt portals for him. Sub-Director Nask realized there must be something unique about Kadolians, and started looking for one we could hire. It’s something in the scent, isn’t it? Some alien residue she can still pick up?”

Briefly, I wondered if Selene’s abilities in that area were a state secret. But if Nask didn’t already know, he would soon. “It’s the hull metal itself,” I told him. “Metals don’t give off a huge amount of scent, but there’s enough that she can pick it up, and it’s very distinct. Did you say you hired Tirano?”

“Yes,” Huginn said. “And to answer your next question, he came with us willingly.”

“I’d like to confirm that.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Huginn said. “But even with such a valuable prize as Tirano we’re hardly talking motive for murder.”

“I didn’t say you murdered him,” I reminded him. “I’m guessing he pulled his weapon first. But he was using Tirano as bait in order to kill us, and both parts of that plan were unacceptable to you. When he wouldn’t back down and drew on you, you really had no choice.”

“Sounds reasonable, I suppose,” Huginn said. “Still just speculation, of course.”

“Actually, it isn’t,” I said. “Because you’re the only person in the mix who would have then used a corona weapon to burn the body. Not to impede identification, but to keep Selene from getting close enough to the crime scene to pick up your scent. You had to keep the portal and family vengeance parts of this scenario completely separate, which meant you couldn’t be seen interacting at all with Kiolven and the others. I assume you used Venikel’s own corona weapon on him?”

Huginn pursed his lips. “I’ll see what I can do about getting you a meeting with Tirano before we leave,” he said. “Are we done?”

“We’re done,” I confirmed. “When are you taking the portal out?”

“Why?”

“It sounds like an interesting project,” I said. “I hoped you’d let me watch.”

He smiled. “You really are an interesting opponent, Roarke.”

“Better the one you know, right?”

“So I’ve heard.” He finished his drink and slid out of the booth. “I’ll be in touch about the Tirano meeting.”

“I’ll be waiting,” I said. “One other thing.”

He paused at the side of the booth. “Yes?”

“I heard something about Galfvi getting shot while you were escorting him and Kiolven to the shuttle. What’s the story on that?”

“Not really a story,” he said, shrugging. “Galfvi grabbed my plasmic while we were walking him from the van to the shuttle and tried to make a break for it. Badgeman Zilor took him down with a shot to the upper torso, and Galfvi got to finish his walk in a great deal of pain. Nothing to it.”

“Really?” I asked. “He got your plasmic, and Zilor just happened to be on hand and ready to shoot?”

“Zilor’s profile listed him as having a high marksman proficiency,” Huginn said. “He was also hot to deliver justice to Galfvi for Lukki Parsons’ murder, and furious about the Patth pulling diplomatic rank and stealing him away. I figured he should at least get the minor satisfaction of making Galfvi hurt a little.”

“And your plasmic was of course unloaded?”

Huginn gave me a small, enigmatic smile. “Like I said. I’ll be in touch.”

* * *

I was not, in fact, invited to watch the portal operation. But Selene had kept track of the traffic flow around Alainn, and I knew when the Patth heavy lifters arrived and could anticipate when they’d be in position.

And even seen from the distance of Seven Strands, the whole thing was pretty impressive.

It started with three heavy lifters dropping out of the sky, the ground and portal presumably already having been prepped. For a couple of minutes they held position, staying just high enough to keep their thrusters from setting fire to the forest. I watched the cradle being lowered, though the cables attached to it were too thin for my binoculars to resolve, and saw the twitch as the lifters took up the slack. The blaze from the thrusters intensified, and they began their slow drive up Alainn’s gravity well.

And then, looking eerily like a double moonrise as they were bathed in the glow of the thrusters, the twin spheres of the portal appeared.

I felt a lump in my throat as the portal followed the lifters skyward. That could have been us, I knew. We could have had a new Gemini portal for the Icarus scientists and techs to study, and I might even have been able to talk Graym-Barker into risking one of their others to learn this one’s secrets.

But Selene and I had been abandoned and left in the wind. This was the price the Icarus Group had paid for that decision.

There would surely be a price for me to pay as well, I knew as I drove back to Bilswift. The only questions were what that price would be, and when it would be exacted.

Both answers, I suspected, were already waiting for me.

* * *

Tera C—I still didn’t know her last name—was seated in the Ruth’s dayroom when I walked in. “I see you made it,” I commented as I walked to the pantry and pulled out a breakfast cola. On the table in front of her, I noted as I passed, was the recorder I’d left for her to listen to. “I wasn’t sure the timing would work.”

“It was tight,” she said. “But the admiral was very clear that you needed a talking to.”

“So that part of Icarus he’s still in charge of?” I asked, sitting down across from her.

“What happens inside the Icarus Group is none of your business.” She tapped the recorder. “Huginn really let you leave with this recording?”

“Not sure he knew Lukki had bugged the booth,” I said with a shrug. “Or he knew and didn’t care. It’s not like he didn’t expect me to tell you all about our conversation anyway.”

“Gregory, he practically confessed to Venikel’s murder!”

“No, he just didn’t deny it,” I said. “It would never stand up in court. Besides, as we’ve just seen, the Patth are very much into dealing their own justice to their people, and to hell with any other laws or badgemen who stand in their way.”

“Yes,” she said, a sour look on her face. “That’s fine for Huginn. Not so good for you.”

“You heard my reasons,” I said, gesturing toward the recorder. “Would the admiral rather Selene and I had died here?”

A muscle in her cheek tightened. “The admiral, no,” she said, her anger fading. “Some of the others . . . maybe. All I know is that when I bring this back to them you’re going to be in serious trouble. You and Selene both.” She paused, her eyes flicking to the dayroom hatchway. “Where is Selene, by the way?”

“With Huginn,” I told her. “He offered to let her come and say good-bye to Tirano.”

“What, in the middle of the night?”

“He said he had to leave Alainn right away, and this was her last chance. He also probably thought I’d come with her and thereby miss the chance to see them take out the portal.”

“Ah.” She gave me a speculative look. “How was it?”

“Well worth getting up in the middle of the night for,” I said. “So let me sweeten the pot a little. First of all, we kept the Patth from pulling their changeling routine on us.”

“Though knowing they were doing that would have given us a crack at their working Gemini portal,” Tera pointed out.

“You don’t seriously think that would have been a good idea, do you?” I asked darkly. “The admiral’s new bosses might not remember the doomsday scenarios that were discussed the last time Nask lost a portal, but I do.”

“Fair point,” Tera conceded. “But if that’s what you consider sweetening the pot, you really don’t understand that phrase.”

“Let’s try this, then,” I said. “Do you know what currency the Patth use?”

“It’s the commark, isn’t it?” Tera asked. “Everyone else uses it.”

“I mean their local currency, the one they use among themselves on the Patth homeworlds,” I clarified. “It’s called the cesmi, and it comes in at two commarks per.”

She shook her head. “Never heard of it.”

“Neither had I,” I said. “But I noticed a reaction from Selene when Kiolven mentioned it. I asked her about it later, and she said the term was very similar to the cesmer currency that her fellow Kadolians use.”

“So what?” Tera asked. “There’ve been a lot of local currencies in the Spiral over the centuries. There are bound to be a few naming coincidences.”

“And that may be all it is,” I agreed. “But what if it isn’t? What if the Patth and Kadolians are connected?”

“You mean like the Kadolians come from one of the Patth planets?” Tera asked. “I suppose that’s possible. It’s not like we know much of either species’ history.”

“Or even their home worlds or current bases of operations,” I agreed. “Selene says the Kadolian remnant moves around a lot, but that doesn’t really tell us anything.”

“Certainly not about where they come from.”

“True,” I said. “But here’s the thing. What we do know is that sometime in the distant past the Kadolians were a client species to some unknown species. I’m wondering if the similarity in currency names means the Patth were, too.” I paused for emphasis. “What if the ones they were clients to were the Icari?”

For a moment Tera just gazed at me. “You have any proof?”

“No,” I admitted. “But there are indications.”

“Such as?”

“For starters, like you just said, we don’t know where either species came from. There are also indications that the Patth knew about the portals before you and Jordan McKell stumbled on the original Icarus.”

“They were certainly quick to start chasing us,” she agreed, nodding thoughtfully. “Anything else?”

“Just the bombshell,” I said. “We all agree these portals are great. But they don’t travel on their own. Someone had to have moved them from wherever they were built to wherever they ended up. And to make a trip like that even marginally efficient, that someone must have had a really good, really fast stardrive.”

Abruptly, Tera stiffened. “The Talariac Drive?”

“Or maybe something even better,” I said. “My point is that no one knows how an obscure species like the Patth suddenly came up with this game-changing tech—tech that no one has ever been able to duplicate—and parlayed it into economic dominance of the Spiral.”

“Because they didn’t invent it at all,” Tera said, her eyes glinting as she saw where I was heading. “They reverse engineered it.”

“I think that’s as logical as anything else,” I said. “And now, thanks to the Alainn portal, they may have the chance to find a group of people who’ve been collecting silver-silk for hundreds or thousands of years.”

The glint abruptly went out of Tera’s eyes. “Are you saying there may be more Icari tech out there?”

“Maybe even some Icari themselves,” I said. “I know, I know—don’t look at me like that.”

“Why not?” Tera bit out, her earlier anger back in full force. “Damn it, Roarke. We could have had that contact. Instead, you gave it to the Patth?”

“You gave up your chance to it when you left us to die,” I shot back. “Anyway, it’s not as bad as you make it sound. You already keep track of what the Patth are doing. Well, now’s your chance to look for changes in attitude or travel locations or tech and start connecting brand-new dots.”

For a few seconds Tera continued to glare at me. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled it. “They won’t be happy about this,” she warned. “They really won’t be happy.”

“Hopefully, they’ll learn from their mistakes,” I said. “So do Selene and I still have a job? Or are you cutting us loose right now?”

“You still have a job,” Tera said reluctantly as she stood up. “The idea you floated for us a few months ago is nearly ready, and they’ll need you for that. But when that’s over . . . I can’t promise anything.”

“Understood,” I said. “Just let us know. And you might remind them of all the chestnuts Selene and I have pulled out of the fire for them.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” She hesitated. “For whatever it’s worth, I don’t blame you. Also for whatever it’s worth . . . ” Her lips compressed. “Maijo’s a good man, and a good operative. But he tends to focus on the immediate situation and not the larger view.”

“And he follows orders to the letter?”

“We’re all supposed to do that,” Tera reminded me. “I’m just saying that if your backup had instead been Jordan or Ixil, they’d have been here when you needed them, pull-back order or no.”

“I know,” I said. Oddly enough, I genuinely did. I’d had my differences with both of them, but when it came to crunch time both of them had always had our backs. “I hope this doesn’t get them in hot water, too. Or get you there.”

“Don’t worry, we can handle it.” She gave me the ghost of a smile. “Anyway, sometimes being in hot water means you’re doing things right.”

“We can hope,” I said. “Good-bye, Tera.”

“Good-bye, Gregory,” she said. “Give my best to Selene.”

Picking up the recorder, she headed out into the corridor. A minute later, I heard the sound of the entryway being opened and once again sealed.

* * *

I’d been sitting there an hour, gazing into my cola and thinking about the future, when Selene returned.

“Did you see him?” I asked as she took the seat across from me that Tera had recently occupied. “How was he?”

“Yes, I saw him,” Selene said. “Huginn even let me have a few minutes alone with him.”

“And?”

She shrugged, a deep weariness in her pupils. “He said he was fine,” she said. “He told me Huginn had rescued him from Venikel and offered him a job with Sub-Director Nask and the Patth, and that he’d accepted.”

“Did you warn him that the Patth were just using him?” I asked. “That they didn’t care about him personally?”

“Yes,” she said. “He said . . . he told me everyone has always used him—Lukki, the Javersin brothers, Galfvi.” Her pupils took on an edge of quiet pain. “Us.”

“I would argue that last,” I said. “But maybe that’s how it looked from his point of view. So he’s set on going with Huginn?”

“They’re already gone,” she said. “I watched their shuttle lift. Did you see them take the portal?”

“Yes,” I said, feeling an unreasonable surge of guilt. Unreasonable, because Selene had specifically asked me to let her see Tirano alone. Guilt, because I should have made it my business to be there for her afterward anyway. “It was interesting. Not as spectacular as I’d hoped.”

“You should have tried to get closer,” she said. “Seven Strands was a bit far away.”

“Next time,” I promised. “Brought home the scent of the platform on my shoes, did I?”

“Yes,” she said. “How is Tera?”

“Mad at us for letting the portal go,” I told her. “Probably not as mad as the admiral and his bosses will be when they get the full report on what happened here.”

“Are we fired?”

“Not yet,” I said. “Tera says they still need us for at least one more job. After that . . . ” I shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Selene nodded and fell silent. I went over to the pantry and got one of her favorite meal bars and a breakfast cola. “The Ruth looks to be back together,” I said as I set them in front of her. “As soon as the maintenance office opens and we get final certification we’ll be out of here.”

“All right.” She hesitated. “What do you think will happen with the portal?”

“No idea,” I said. “It could be that the last users deliberately took out a few components and that it’ll just be a matter of plugging in replacements to get it to work. It could just as easily be like the admiral warned, that those pieces burned out and the new ones will burn out, too. In that case, the Patth will have lost themselves a portal for nothing.”

“And if it does work?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, Selene. They may find the other end of the portal abandoned. They might find whoever the client species was the Icari had collecting silver-silk for them. They might even find a remnant of the Icari themselves. Right now, it’s a big fat gamble.”

“You humans are supposed to be good at gambles like that.”

“We used to be, anyway,” I said. “Maybe not so much anymore. You worried that they’ll find the people who the Kadolians used to work for?”

It was an insensitive question, and I wished instantly that I’d kept my mouth shut. But Selene didn’t seem to notice. “I hope not,” she said. “There’s another possibility, Gregory. The people who disabled the Alainn portal may not have been trying to keep people here from traveling to the other end. They may have been trying to keep those at the other end from coming here.

I felt my stomach tighten. That thought hadn’t even occurred to me. “In that case, we’d better hope the Patth can’t get it working,” I said. “Or maybe not.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her pupils looking puzzled.

“Remember that the last place the people at the other end saw before they boarded up the portal was Alainn,” I reminded her. “Not exactly the height of Spiral civilization or commerce. Definitely not the height of military capability. As my father used to say, The enemy of my enemy may find himself having bitten off more than he can chew.

“I suppose.” Selene paused. “But I presume that applies to both sides.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” I conceded. “And right now, we don’t even know what the sides are.”

“Or if you and I are part of any of them.”

“Or that,” I agreed soberly.

And that could be a problem . . . because as my father also used to say, Just because no one notices the ant on the battlefield doesn’t mean he’s safe from getting stomped on along with everyone else.

Selene and I had to figure out what side we were on, and figure it out fast. Or else we had to make damn sure we stayed off the battlefield.

I just hoped we could figure out what and where that battlefield was before it was too late.


The End


Back | Next
Framed