“No change,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t answer. I hadn’t really expected him to. “You’ve had quite an experience,” he said. “We didn’t expect things to happen the way they did. Your grandfather is anxious for news. It’s been a very dangerous situation.”
“He should have thought of that before he tricked us into being taken here.”
Ronti took a step back and examined my face. “You sound angry. Perfectly natural. I didn’t know about the plan in advance. Admiral Neen keeps his secrets. Personally, I would have advised a different strategy, though I doubt he would have listened to my advice.”
I didn’t know if I believed Ronti. He’d probably suggested the whole trip to my grandfather.
“But it doesn’t matter now,” Ronti said. “What’s done is done, and we have to deal with the consequences. Don’t worry about it. Your only concern is getting that eye fixed and then completing your officer training. We’re going to need all the trained forces we can get to solve this unrest. We’ll get you off this planet as soon as possible.”
“What about my father? He was seriously injured in the coup. He’s in the local hospital. Can you get a CF doctor to examine him?”
“Of course, I’ll take care of that right away.” A grin was still plastered on his face, like he was having the best time imaginable. “Where are all the others you came with?” he asked. “I was given a list of those who were aboard the Pelican.”
“They’re all over the planet, except for one who we think Ansun forced to fly one of the ships. He was one of the landing bay controllers aboard the Everest, and we picked him up when the Everest was going down. I can go find the others and have them meet us somewhere.”
“No need. We’ll locate them. We’re trying to get an idea of exactly what happened. Where is Lieutenant Nic SooSenk? We haven’t been able to locate her. She isn’t responding to our attempts to contact her.”
“I don’t know where she is.” I’d seen her several hours ago, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for Ronti to find her. I still wasn’t sure I believed everything Nic had told us about why she’d come along to Reyet, but I didn’t need to get in the middle of that issue. I had enough problems of my own.
“Something obviously went awry,” Ronti said. “She was supposed to get off the ship and escort Mira to her meeting with Ansun.”
He was lying, or at least leaving out the important part. Nic had finally told us her mission was not just to protect Mira when we arrived on Reyet. She was supposed to assassinate Ansun. She’d failed, but I’d let her tell her superiors why.
An officer pushed his way through the crowd. He was panting, and his face was drenched in sweat. “Sir, we’ve captured a traitor,” he gasped to Ronti. “General Hise, who was working with Ansun. He’s being brought to headquarters right now.”
Ronti’s smile widened. “Very good, but he is the former General Hise, soldier. He’s been stripped of his CF rank. Take Mr. Neen back to the ship. I need to interview Hise before he is executed. Get the execution organized while I talk to him. We need to make sure it is a spectacle. Order the population to gather in the government plaza so they can watch. It must be made clear we don’t put up with traitors.”
Executed? Ronti said it as calmly as if he was ordering a performance review.
Bile rose in my throat. I thought I was going to be sick. “No! Hise isn’t a traitor,” I said. “He was leading a protest against the corruption here on Reyet.” Even though General Hise had helped Ansun, he’d broken their partnership when he’d learned the extent of Ansun’s desire for power.
Ronti shook his head. “No, Quinn. He worked with Ansun against the Combined Forces stationed here. Soldiers died. He’s a traitor.”
The gabber on Ronti’s arm beeped. He touched his ear pin and listened.
“Change of plans,” he said. “There are some pockets of unrest near the spaceport. Quinn, you’ll have to stay with me for the moment.”
“I really need to find my friends. They are going to be worried.” I didn’t know what time it was, but it had to be getting close to nine hundred.
“No, you’ll stay with me.” He nodded and the two soldiers accompanying him moved closer to me. One on each side.
There was no way I could make a run for it. At least not at the moment. But the right time would come. I’d just have to be ready for it.
Chapter Four
We followed Ronti to a building in the government plaza. The plaza was littered with the aftereffects of the party and empty of people, except for soldiers stationed at the entrances of all the buildings.
Inside, the building appeared empty. We went down a hallway into a small room that contained only a table and some chairs. “Sit, Quinn,” Ronti said, motioning to a chair by the wall.
I sat, running through all sorts of schemes to get out of the room and away from Ronti. I couldn’t come up with anything that would work. His two henchmen had taken up positions on either side of the door. The slime-eyed one stared off into space, and the other shifted around, never staying still for more than a few seconds.
Ronti stood looking at an image on the wall of the gorge that had made Reyet famous. It had been taken at the base of the gorge in what appeared to be the middle of the river, looking downstream so that it showed the steep cliffs on either side. I’d like to go back there sometime, when we weren’t desperately trying to stop an earthquake from destroying the planet. Our visit hadn’t occurred under ideal conditions for sightseeing.
Ronti turned away from the image and nodded at the soldiers. “You can go take up posts in the hall,” he said. I felt a twinge of unease. Ronti moved so that he was to one side of me. When he spoke, I had to turn my head to see him. He’d done that the last time I’d talked to him. I hadn’t liked it then and I didn’t like it now.
“We’ve learned some new information we didn’t have before,” he said. “I understand there are Fosaanians on Reyet descended from those who were not on Fosaan at the time of the apocalypse. I’ve been told a few hundred of them came here and prospered over the generations. Their descendants were not recorded as Fosaanian in any recent census. I find that rather odd. Have you met any of them?”
I didn’t know why he needed to know about my contact with them. “A few,” I said. “They apparently keep to themselves.”
“Most odd, though it does explain why Ansun chose this planet. He wanted to recruit other Fosaanians.” Ronti pulled up a chair and sat down too close to me. “It’s unfortunate young Mira has apparently left with Ansun,” he said, staring into my eyes like he was trying to see inside my head. “That is what happened, isn’t it?” he asked.
I leaned back as far as I could, though I knew he was sitting close to me to make me uncomfortable. It was working. “Yes. She didn’t tell us she was leaving.”
“I know your grandfather is unhappy you have a relationship with her, but trust me, I understand. You must be very upset with her actions.” He moved even closer to me. “I can assure you we will do what we can to get her back.”
“What happens when you do?” I asked, forcing myself not to move any farther away from him.
“She’ll be treated like the royalty she is. We need her. If we crush Ansun, we run the risk that he will be viewed as a martyr and some other Fosaanian will continue the cause in his name. Martyrs are very, very dangerous. Now someone like young Mira would be a wonderful example of a Fosaanian working together with Earth to bring prosperity to her planet and help it fit into the modern galaxy. Youth standing up for what is right is a very powerful message.” Again, he searched my face like there was some clue hidden in it.
It was true, Mira did want Fosaanians to have all the opportunities they could. I just didn’t know how closely she wanted them to be aligned with Earth. I knew she didn’t want to be a puppet of Earth. She had every reason to hate what Earth had done to her planet and her people.
“Ansun wi
ll be defeated in the end, but he can cause much damage before that,” Ronti said. “We know that too much power has a strange effect on a person’s mind, unless they have an exceptionally strong character. It’s too simplistic to say power corrupts. Rather power warps a person’s perception of reality, and that can be dangerous for those who must live with a powerful person’s decisions.” His voice dropped. “Now Quinn, I’d like to discuss a very sensitive matter about what you discovered here. The earthquake triggers. How do you feel about that?”
I felt the anger rising in me. I pushed the chair away from the table and stood up. “How do I feel? You’re joking, right? How do you think I feel, finding out Earth set triggers to destroy the planet if communications were cut off?”
“I know it is shocking, but you are a very intelligent young man. I’m sure you can understand the thinking behind it. Sometimes we have to do what is necessary for the greater good. Admiral Neen and the rest of the Konsilon leaders are strong proponents of that philosophy.”
“Well I’m not.” I didn’t understand how my grandfather could take the easy way out and order something that would cause the deaths of thousands of people.
I heard a commotion outside. The door opened, and soldiers dragged General Hise in. If I hadn’t known who he was, I wouldn’t have recognized him. He’d been beaten, and his face was swollen and bruised. Blood had dried where it had run from his nose. One arm hung limply at his side. One of the soldiers shoved him down into a chair and then moved over by the wall. The General looked down at the table. He didn’t speak.
“You can go,” Ronti said to the newcomers. “I’ve got my men with me. We’ll take charge of the prisoner now.”
“Sir, I don’t advise that,” a lieutenant said.
“I didn’t ask for your advice, soldier.”
The woman shrugged and motioned for her people to follow her.
As they left, Ronti called out to his two guards. They came into the room. “Sergeant Breem, take Quinn to the governor’s palace and wait for me there. It’s been secured. Graster, wait out in the hallway for me.”
We went out of the room. I looked back to see General Hise had straightened up and Ronti was offering him water from a water pouch Ronti must have been carrying in his tunic.
I followed the one named Breem, glad Graster had been left behind. At the entrance the sergeant opened the main door and then slammed it shut again. I heard the sound of weapons discharging. “People are running all over out there,” the sergeant said, his voice rising. “Something is wrong.” His gabber beeped. “Problem,” he said. “I’m going to take you back to Graster. They need some help out there.”
I thought about just running out the door, but since I didn’t know who was firing on whom, I decided that was not much of a plan. I followed the sergeant back down the hall. He told Graster what he was going to do and then said, “Tell Ronti.” Graster nodded, but after Breem left, the man made no move to go into the room. The minutes ticked by while we stood in the hallway. I twitched a little when Graster took the standard issue CF walthaser off his belt.
He examined it and then looked up at me with a weird grin. That quashed any thoughts I had of making a run for it. I didn’t want a laser blast in the back. I had a feeling since Ronti hadn’t given him a direct order not to shoot me, the man would not hesitate.
I heard General Hise’s voice through the door. He was shouting. “You of all people should understand! You’ll never move any higher than you are now! They’ll never give more power to anyone who wasn’t born on Earth.”
Graster frowned and put his hand on the door, but he didn’t open it. I didn’t hear Ronti’s response.
Hise shouted again. “It’s rotten to the core!” Something made a loud noise, like a chair tipping over.
Graster called out, “Everything okay, sir?”
Ronti’s voice came through the door. “Everything is fine. Maintain your post for the moment.”
After that I couldn’t hear anything more until Ronti opened the door and stuck his head out. He didn’t see me as he beckoned to the sergeant. “In here, now!” he ordered. “I need some assistance.” The sergeant went in, leaving the door open. I got up. I wouldn’t get a better chance to flee. If anyone inside the room was looking out the door, they’d see me, but it was a chance I was willing to take. Just as I took a step, Ronti and General Hise came out. “I’ll be in contact,” Ronti said. General Hise pointed at me, and Ronti twisted around.
“Quinn! Why are you still here?”
I explained, wondering where Graster was.
Ronti looked at Hise and then back at me. “Fine,” he said. He leaned into the room. “Graster, keep an eye on the General. I’ll be back shortly.”
A confused expression passed over the General’s face.
I didn’t hear a reply from Graster. “Go ahead, General.” Ronti pushed him into the room and then shut the door after him. “Come along, Quinn.”
We got to the entrance right as Breem came back in. “All clear,” he reported.
“Good,” Ronti said. “Go organize a transport for us.”
“We can walk to the port,” I suggested, thinking that with all the crowds I’d have a better chance to get away.
“No, this blasted planet is too hot.” Ronti took a cooling cloth out of his pocket and mopped his forehead. “It’s not healthy to walk in such heat. It’s … ”
A commotion at the entrance of the plaza cut off whatever he was going to say next.
Dozens of people were coming toward us. I knew in an instant from the colorful robes and white hair that they were Fosaanian.
An officer came up to us. “Mr. Ronti, I was given a heads-up these people were on their way. It’s a delegation of some of the locals who opposed Ansun.”
“Fosaanians?”
“Yes. They insist on speaking with you.”
I couldn’t believe who was leading them: Fade, who made a point of staying removed from everything and everyone.
They reached us, and everyone starting talking at once as they surrounded Ronti, their voices loud and agitated. It was completely out of character; those Fosaanians prided themselves on their elegance and manners.
More Fosaanians poured into the plaza. I’d known there were a lot on Reyet, but I’d only seen a few. There were hundreds in the group. Somehow several of them managed to get between me and Ronti. I spotted Javen at the edge of the crowd. He should have been at the spaceport, ready to board the raider ship.
I edged back toward the building and tried to figure out if I could get out of the plaza without anyone noticing me. The main entrance was too exposed, and I didn’t know if there was another way out.
I hadn’t realized Javen had maneuvered himself behind me until he spoke into my ear. “Edge back a bit more. I’m going to get you out of here.”
The voices rose. “Now,” Javen said. “Follow me.” He went back into the building and took off running down a hallway. I ran after him. The building was built into a cliffside, like all the larger structures on Reyet. I should have realized since they were built by Fosaanians, there would be secret tunnels leading out of it. The Fosaanians never revealed all their strengths.
He turned down a narrow hallway and then stopped at the end, at a door that was marked “Supplies.”
“In here.” Just as I had suspected, there was another door hidden behind a shelving unit that he swung out. When he opened it, I saw a tunnel lit by globe lights.
“Was that all planned to help me?” I asked as I followed him into it.
“Yes, we heard you were being detained. Fade wants to make sure you get off the planet. I’ve got the extra funds for you, too. You gave away a fortune to him without even considering what you could have asked for.”
I knew I had, but the night before all I’d been thinking of was getting off the planet so I could find Mira.
“Why did all those other Fosaanians help him?”
“Why do you think? They want Mira to be safe. After Ansun’s debacle, they realize the man is just an incompetent upstart. Any future for Fosaan is going to have to involve Mira. She’s their best hope to be the one person both exiled Fosaanians and those who grew up on Fosaan will rally around.”
I wished they would have come to that conclusion earlier. If they had taken away their support from Ansun, his coup wouldn’t have gotten off the ground.
Even though it felt like we were in the tunnel a long time, I knew it was only minutes until we reached the end. The tunnel opened out into a narrow space cut into the cliffside near the spaceport.
“Be quiet and stay here. I’ll see if we can come out into the open without anyone noticing us,” Javen whispered.
I nodded my head to show I understood.
Javen moved forward down the narrow passage and stuck his head around the corner. He beckoned to me. There was a crowd outside the spaceport, but no one was looking in our direction. They were all focused on the entrance to the port, where two Combined Forces soldiers stood guard. We walked out and stood at the back of the crowd.
At first I didn’t see anyone I recognized. Then someone moved aside, and I spotted Lainie on the opposite side of the crowd. Decker was with her, but not Saunder.
“Over there,” I said to Javen. He followed me around the back of the crowd.
“Where is Saunder?” Lainie asked when she saw me. “I thought he was going to come with you.”
“You haven’t seen him?” I felt a jolt of worry. He should have gotten to the port long before Javen and I did. “We got separated, and I came through a back way. Maybe they’ve blocked off the road along the gorge. They are trying to get people to stay in one place, so he may not be able to get through now.”
“He has to get through. We’re not leaving him behind.”
I had to tell her. I took a deep breath. “Lainie, he doesn’t want to come with us. He was coming to the port with me to tell you that.”
Lainie looked at me like she didn’t understand my words.
Paradox Hunt Page 4