Again the flat expression that denied the warmth of her eyes. “Virri had almost no power at all. You will have even less. And no Council agent ever managed to get close enough to the administrator, in the right circumstances, to do him harm. You will be safe while we find a suitable replacement, and then you will be returned to Earth.”
“What if we don’t want to go back?” Justin spoke quickly, a strange light in his eyes.
“Don’t be an asshole, Justin. We’re going back.” Marcus dismissed his friend’s question with a wave. “We’re going back as soon as she lets us.”
Justin shook his head, sinking back into his seat, his eyes fixed on Marcus. “No, I’m not. What do I have to go back to? For that matter, what do you have to go back to? Clarissa left you, man. You haven’t spoken to your father in years, and your brother and sister—” He swallowed quickly and looked away. “They might as well already be gone, too.”
The light returned to Justin’s eyes and he leaned forward, swept up in his argument. “Think about it, Marc. Aliens? Spaceships? What could be better than this? You can’t un-know what we’ve learned here. Once they replace you, there’s no telling where we could go!”
“No.” The word was sharp, like a slap to the face, and stopped Justin cold. Both men turned back to the dark woman, who was shaking her head. “There will be no place for … for you beyond Penumbra. And once you have served your purpose to me, there will be no place for you there either.”
Marcus’s jaw clenched at that. She had been looking at him while she spoke. There would be no place for him, she meant. “Why?”
Her eyes shifted. “It is the way of things, Marcus Wells. Your life will be in danger from more than just any agent of the Council the entire time we are in Penumbra. The galaxy is not safe for you. Your rightful place is on Earth, and it is there that I will return you when we are finished with this sad charade.”
Marcus nodded, his face bleak. “So, I’ll be a figurehead, ruling nothing while chaos swirls all around me, my life in constant jeopardy, and life back on Earth churning on without me.” He took a breath. “Hardly seems worth my effort.”
“What effort?” Again, her anger reared up, flaring against him with infuriating heat. “All you need do is exist until I find a replacement! Breathe, and all will be well! You will be kept in luxury! You will have everything Penumbra can provide, until it is time for you to be taken home.”
Marcus shot Justin a glance. His friend’s face was set. He wanted to stay. Justin’s business was flourishing with lucrative government contracts that he seldom spoke of in any depth, but he had no family left. He was an only child, his parents had been old when he was born, and both were gone now. And Marcus did not doubt that his friend was following the deeper currents beneath this exotic woman’s words. Marcus would not be welcome in this wider galaxy, but she did not seem to be including Justin in that indictment.
“I want more than that. I want money.” He shook his head. “Or gold, or whatever. Something that will be worth something when I come back.” He straightened. “A lot of something.”
Had she been quick to offer him anything, he would have immediately feared for his life. He had seen enough movies to know what to look for, he thought. But she just stared at him. She stared at him for a long time. He started to wonder if he shouldn’t try to take back the demand. He could feel prickles of sweat breaking out across his scalp as their locked gazes held, trying to decide how he could break the nerve-wracking moment.
“Fine.” She nodded once, sharply, and then looked away with a sneer. “Virri had credit to spare. I’ll make sure some of it is freed for your return.”
He felt a rush of relief at her words, and forced himself not to expel the breath he had been holding in a relieved sigh. “Good.” He tried to smile, but he felt sick to his stomach. “That’s … that’s good. That’s just fine.”
Justin shook his head in disgust and turned back to Angara. “How long before you can find a replacement figurehead?”
Her mouth quirked sideways, lips pursed. “That will depend on how deeply bonded the medallion is. Given that Marcus Wells is Human, I do not imagine the bond can be that deep.” She rose with thoughtless grace and moved toward him, taking the necklace in one long-fingered hand. He would not release the chain, which tightened as she drew the jewelry toward her for closer inspection.
Deep within the blue gem he thought he could see movement, as if a distant fog were swirling in a soft wind. Angara inspected the medallion, moving it back and forth against the tension of the chain, her eyes flickering from it to Marcus and back. Her brow furrowed as she continued. Clearly, she was not finding the result she had expected. At last, she released the necklace and settled back in her seat. She was silent for several moments, staring at the jewel.
“Well?” Marcus looked down at the medallion. The movement in the stone seemed to have subsided. “How deep is it?”
She shook her head. “Far deeper than it should be, with a Human.”
He had had enough. “What’s wrong with Humans?” His anger heated the words more than he had intended, but he didn’t care. “And how do you know how deep this frigging thing should go with a Human? How many Humans have been bonded to it before?”
She reared back from his anger, but continued to look at him in disdain. “No Human has ever bonded with the medallion. Who would—” She shook her head. “I meant no insult.” That was so clearly not true it hardly required comment. “It will make finding a replacement slightly more difficult, is all. I had intended to offer the position to Uduta Virri’s deputy, Iphini Bha. But an Iwa’Bantu would hardly be a suitable cross-match for a Human.” Her eyes grew vague, lost in thought or calculation.
“Why?” This time, as Marcus spoke, he saw Justin nod agreement. There was far more going on here than she was telling them. “Why would this … person … being … deputy … why would she be a bad match?”
Had Marcus been looking anywhere but straight at Angara, he might have missed the look she skimmed his way. But he caught it; evasion and discomfort. Had he doubted the impression, he would have been reassured as she rushed to speak, ignoring his question.
“If any Aijians are in Penumbra, they might do. They accepted alteration long ago to perform their duties. The changes would lend themselves to such a match. Alab Oo’Juto would be an excellent choice, although given the circumstances, I am not certain he would agree.” Her words were soft, almost mumbled, and the wash of strange names and sounds, setting the bones of his jaw buzzing, swirled around him in mind-numbing confusion.
“K’hzan Modath would be another possibility, although I doubt he would be willing to serve, even briefly. The Variyar are not given to such positions, and he least of all. Still, he might, just for the insult it would be to the Council, and the spiritual connection would serve, I think.”
Marcus slipped the medallion back into his pocket and rose, his hands sweeping out in a sharp gesture. “Enough.” She looked up at him, seemingly in shock that he had interrupted her thoughts. “I don’t care who replaces me, or why they would be a good candidate. I don’t care what kind of connection I might or might not have with these aliens.” Several realizations had forced themselves upon him in rapid succession as she recited the strange names. “It’s probably been nearly twenty four hours since I last slept.” He stomped on the floor. “And I don’t mean that forced coma. I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, and I’m exhausted. I’ll do what you want, for as long as I have to, and then I want to go home.” He tilted his head toward Justin. “And I want him to go home with me.”
Justin’s jaw tightened at that, but he remained silent.
Angara looked to each of them, and then nodded. “We have a long journey ahead of us. More than enough time for you each to rest after this night’s troubles.”
She made no gestures, commands, or movements, but the two chairs the men had been sitting on lowered themselves, straightening smoothly like running wax, and were soon two low
beds. Angara pushed a couple of pillows on the floor toward them, gesturing to the blankets. “I will have food prepared for you when you awaken.”
The men looked at each other, at the beds, and then nodded.
As Marcus’s battered mind was drifting off to sleep, his body wrapped in the soft, warm comfort of the incredible blanket, his mind was a senseless jumble of everything that had befallen him since he woke up that morning. He knew he had missed a lot, and failed to follow up on many of the questions that had occurred to him along the way. Whatever his younger self had said in that dream, or vision, or hallucination he had suffered while he was under the influence of the nanites, it was all too much.
As he surrendered his last desperate grasp on consciousness, the image running through his mind was not that of the darkly exotic woman who had captured them, or the spaceship they were riding in, or the strange city toward which they flew. He caught just a glimpse of auburn hair, and a wide smile, and sparkling dark eyes. His last thoughts were of a woman who had cut herself from his life, with good enough reason, only days ago. And so cut the only real tie binding him to the planet of his birth.
Chapter 6
Iphini Bha sat rigidly on the stool she had had brought into the administrator’s office after Ambassador Taurani’s last visit. Her antique stylus, the only object from her homeworld she had managed to hold onto, spun deliberately around her fingers. On the walls, the psycho-reactive artwork had shifted from the graceful swirls of color and light they normally projected when she was alone, with jagged crimson flashes splashing through the once-tranquil patterns. Each day Uduta Virri was away, she grew more fearful. The staff of the control center knew that Virri was missing no matter what Bha might say, and with that knowledge came the age-old fear of a disruption in the life support provided by the Relic Core. What if something happened to Virri, wherever he was? If the Skorahn was not secure, they could all be resorting to emergency oxygen very quickly.
Bha, however, had even greater fears. The Council Ambassador had grown more and more insistent upon a private meeting with Virri. She knew the Kerie had to know the administrator was missing. Virri’s constant escapes were the worst kept secret in the city, and surely someone at this point had shared the tales with Taurani. His Njta thugs had become far more active around the city in the last few days, and that Eru body servant of his had been poking around in the strangest places.
Bha’s body was completely still. Her eyes were fixed on the far wall, not registering the artwork as it continued to chronicle her fear and concern. She cradled the stylus now, forcing herself not to spin it restlessly. If Angara Ksaka could not bring Virri back, the problems that would result would overwhelm the control center, and the Ambassador would be the least of her worries. She had worked with the governance of the city for very nearly all of her adult life, having fled shattered Iwa’Ban immediately after she finished her schooling. This was the only home she had ever known as an adult. She did not want it destroyed because one disgusting Rayabell refused to acknowledge his responsibilities.
The longer Virri was gone, the more likely it was that something truly discouraging was going to happen, and it would be up to her to fix it. She reveled in orchestrating the control center from the shadows, working with the beings that made Penumbra run smoothly despite their inept leader. But without that incompetent lout to shield her from the scrutiny of the city, she was nearly paralyzed with anxiety. She had arrived that morning only to find a discouraging report on Virri’s desk outlining a maintenance failure in the executive docking port, the landing bay closest to the control center.
She would need to see that the bay was operational again as soon as possible. Without it, there would be no place for Angara to land and sneak Virri back in when they returned … if they returned. She shook her head, refusing to think of the possibility. This was the first major technical failure to occur since he went missing, but if he was not back soon, it would not be the last.
The soft tone of a communications request insinuated itself into her swirling thoughts. She blinked twice before gracefully turning her head to look at the console on the desk. A personal request would have come through her implants, directly imposing a notification icon upon her field of vision. The fact that this was coming through the console in Virri’s private office meant it was either official business, or someone who was not aware that the administrator was still away.
She stared at the glowing ball of light that pulsed gently as it floated above the surface of the desk, and a small image of Ambassador Taurani appeared within the sphere. Bha’s pale face quivered, its first sign of emotion in hours of meditative contemplation. The fine lines of her flesh writhed as a frown of distaste warred with a fearful furrowed brow. She had been avoiding the Kerie since his last visit. Aside from not wanting to reveal the administrator’s absence, there was something disquieting about the Ambassador’s eyes when he regarded her. She felt as if he were sizing her up for some strange, unknown purpose. She knew it was probably the Penumbran distrust of the Council, bred into her after her long tenure in the city. But still, she was left with the discomfited shudder of a prey-animal whenever he spoke to her directly.
The light continued to pulse, and something told her that Taurani was not going to withdraw his request until she answered. She wished Virri had not given the Ambassador the direct link to the office, it made things far more difficult when she wanted to avoid him.
With a soft sigh she reached out and swept her hand through the glowing ball. The viewing field over the desk came alive with a life-sized image of an Eru in Galactic Council livery, his long legs disappearing into the surface of the desk. She had not met the body servant, but she knew an Eru when she saw one, and there was only one employed by the Galactic Council delegation in Penumbra.
The Eru were a race descended from predators only a few hundred years off their homeworld. They stood on two reverse-jointed legs, with the two long arms of a Humanoid, but with an elongated neck that supported a small, vicious-looking head topped with a thatch of coarse black hair. Their tall, muscular bodies were covered with a fine purple fur, and they usually dressed in undyed leathers and hides from their home. Iranse, Taurani’s body servant, however, wore a plain pale uniform better suited to his elevated position.
“Deputy Iphini Bha, I trust you are well?” The image of Iranse gave a respectful nod. She was caught off guard by the pleasantry, and the genuine tone of the question. She nodded wordlessly, and he continued without waiting for a reply. “Please wait for the Ambassador.”
Of course, Taurani would not have been waiting on the other end of the communication himself. Her nose wrinkled in amused disdain. The wrinkled faded quickly, however, when the image blurred, blending itself into the smooth grey features of the Ambassador. It was always difficult to gauge a Kerie’s emotions from its face, with their lack of any nasal feature, a broad expanse of pale, wrinkled flesh sat beneath their two ovoid eyes and above the dramatic, lipless slit of a mouth.
“Deputy Iphini Bha.” He gave a cold, shallow nod. “I hope your extra duties do not over-tax you?”
Bha did not even try to respond. She knew a rhetorical formality when she heard one. Her office dealt with diplomatic personnel from across the galaxy, whether they bore a formal title or not. As the lowly assistant to the not-overly-respected administrator, she knew exactly how much this type of creature cared for her well-being. Sure enough, Taurani continued without pause.
“I was wondering if the control center intended to do anything about the Thien’ha zealot that has been stirring up trouble on the Concourse.” The grey head tilted imperiously back to regard her through narrowed eyes.
Bha had been running ragged, juggling the many petitions for official review, the requests for services, and the infrequent complaints from the unofficial diplomats and other beings that filled the corridors of the city. No one had mentioned any Thien’ha that she could remember.
“I do apologize, Ambassador.” Sh
e used her calming voice, although she knew from experience that he was immune to its effects. “I was unaware of any disturbances along the Concourse. Perhaps you could elaborate?”
Although nominally the control center was responsible for keeping the peace within Penumbra, most of the many factions, delegations, and agencies that divided the populace policed their own areas. The Concourse, being where most of the denizens of the city mingled and mixed, was one of the few areas that fell completely under the remit of the administrator’s office, and could be contentious. It occupied most of their time and attention. There had been no reports of any trouble recently, however. Least of all anything about any religious fanatics.
One long-fingered grey hand flipped dismissively in the image, cream-colored robes falling away from the strong, sinewy arm. “A Goagoi Kuak, with some mysterious Humanoid novice.” He spit the word ‘Humanoid’, as of course he might. “They’ve been stirring up unwarranted anti-Council sentiment, to be honest. I feel quite unsafe, now, wandering the Concourse by myself.”
After a lifetime of dealing with touchy diplomatic types, Bha was quite able to school herself to stillness despite the sudden urge to snort. Taurani had not wandered anywhere in Penumbra by himself since his arrival. He was always accompanied by at least one enhanced Ntja bodyguard; and she had never heard of him venturing any closer to the Concourse than the isolated balconies that overlooked the usual press of sentients roaming over the wide spaces below.
Goagoi Kuak were generally quite peaceful unless provoked; a race more known for its scholars and philosophers than for rabble rousing and politics. Still, anything was possible. And Thien’ha could sometimes cause quite a stir with their mere presence. They had a reputation for bringing chaos and disruption with them wherever they went, and often people decided to take matters into their own hands rather than wait, causing the very pandemonium that they feared.
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