Planetary Parlay

by Cameron Cooper

  Dalton nodded. “Me, too.” He wasn’t lying.

  I realized I was staring at my hands in my lap once more. “I miss home.” I made myself look at him. “Not just the Lythion. All of it. Which I can’t believe I’m saying, but I do. Taking care of the Hegara survivors—especially the kids. Arguing with Arnold Laxman. And our house, Dalton. I miss our house.”

  Dalton smiled. “You mean the house out in the middle of the fields, surrounded by earth and trees and water? The house that gets rained on every third day?”

  “Yes, that house, you great lug. I miss our house.”

  He pulled me closer and rested his head against mine. “You don’t know how happy I feel, hearing you say that.”

  Then he demonstrated it.

  *

  An hour later, Lyth tapped on the door, and when I cracked it open, he simply said, “I found her.”

  —28—

  “I understand you want me to hover over the civilians,” Dalton said, as I finished dressing and adding various bits and pieces about myself, most of them extracted from the cavity below the false bottom of the crate in my room. “But taking Keskemeti with you…really, Danny? He’s as civilian as they get, and he’s done nothing but trip you up since we landed.”

  “I’m sliding in and slipping out,” I told him. “We wouldn’t survive a direct confrontation, not here in the heart of the Terran worlds, so I won’t start a fight. The Terrans know I’m looking for her and they’re tracking all of us, anyway. So, no head-on anything. All I want to do is get Colton. I want Keskemeti there to see it, because he’s the one who put her there. Wherever there is.”

  “Gut talking, Danny?” Dalton asked.

  I shook my head and shoved the small shriver into the pocket on my thigh. I was as loaded as I could be, without anything showing. “I want him to see the effort it takes to get her back. And he’s got a Y chromosome and the muscles that come with it. If she has to be carried, he can damn well carry her.”

  A tap on the door and Lyth slipped into the room, carrying a small pad. He was dressed similarly to me, with many pockets, most of them holding items, and a light armor vest that looked like an extra layer of shirt. It had been made of extruded polymers that, combined, helped repel the effects of the Terran fireballs. Little ones, anyway. If we were hit by one of mothership sized fireballs, all the armor in the world probably wouldn’t help us.

  “You’re sure about Keskemeti?” Lyth asked softly.

  “Bubble’s on,” Dalton said. “And she’s sure. I wouldn’t want to be anyone getting in her way.”

  Lyth hooked a thumb over his shoulder, toward the door. “He’s waiting out there with Juliyana.” He smiled. “Looking terrified.”

  “Good.” I kissed Dalton. “Don’t wait up.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” he replied.

  *

  Lyth had extrapolated where Marlee was being held using a method he had once employed as the Lythion’s shipmind—he had traced the trail of evidence left behind by computer records, communications and documents. The request to clear out a cabin a kilometer behind the Royal Residence. The order for a pack of neurological monitors and stimulators. An exchange of messages protesting over double shifts and unnecessary security protocols.

  His method of tracking people was not one hundred percent certain. Nothing was. However, it was Lyth doing the tracking, which gave the intelligence a higher degree of certainty than even the gold standard of analysis methods used by the Imperial Rangers in their day.

  We could have tried to sneak through the trees to the cabin that was our target, but two facts made that a bad idea. One, I had Keskemeti with me. ‘nuff said on that one. Two. The Terrans would absolutely know we were coming, because they were monitoring all of us. Any movement in the cabin’s direction would alert them as, until now, we’d barely moved out of the palace.

  Only, they were expecting me to search for Colton. I’d just got through telling them I’d do it myself, thank you.

  So moving through the trees, quartering the area, as if we really were looking high and low, would ease off their caution. Especially if we looked like we really had no idea where she might be. And also, because we had Keskemeti with us. If the Terrans had learned as much about us as I suspected, then they knew what sort of soldier material Keskemeti was made of.

  It would take much longer to get there, and I was twitching with impatience. Walking would help with that.

  “Should we separate to make it look good?” Juliyana asked softly, once we moved past the Residence and were under the canopy of the trees. She wore much the same casual-looking clothes and gear as me and her hands swung freely as she walked. But her hair was secured to the back of her head, out of the way, and each swing of her hands brushed the pockets on her thighs.

  “It would look more authentic, but I don’t want us scattered at all,” I replied. “Let them think we’re bumbling around, one big group with too many feet.”

  The earth under the trees had little undergrowth and few weeds, because the canopy was so thick it stopped sunlight from reaching it. Higher up, where shafts of sunlight could penetrate down a few meters through chinks in the canopy, vines and plants clung to tree trunks, reaching up for the light—which added to the dimness down here.

  That was fine by me. I was already sweating under the disguised armor. “So let’s do a big circuit around. Keskemeti, would you lead us, please?”

  “Me?” He looked startled. Then wise. “You want to look like you don’t know what you’re doing.” He wore a vest similar to ours, but his clothing held nothing but him. His baby-fine hair was already sticking to his head.

  “Thank you, yes.” It was easier to contain my impatience with the man if I used polite phrases and formalities.

  We set off after Keskemeti and he did wander aimlessly, even though I’m sure he thought he was being systematic. We came across a number of cabins that we checked by knocking on the door and peering in the windows. If someone answered, I would apologize, using my terrible Terran, while patently trying to look into the building over their shoulder. Then we would move on.

  The farther away from the residence, the smaller and meaner the cabins became. The doors were made of woven bamboo leaves instead of solid lumber sawn from bigger trees, or built from thicker bamboo stems. The windows were all open to the air, without glass, which couldn’t be grown. Instead, they mostly had coconut leaf woven shutters, thrown open. In this climate, when rainstorms were the worst the cabins had to weather, open windows weren’t as primitive as they seemed.

  Those who answered the door when we knocked on the more distant houses were clearly Ami.

  After an hour of it, I murmured, “Head north west, now.”

  “Where’s that?” Keskemeti said. His face was damp with sweat.

  “Turn around,” Lyth said. “That’s north you’re facing. Now, head northwest.”

  At least Keskemeti knew the directions on a compass. He headed in a more-or-less northwest direction, which I corrected with murmured “more to the left, now to the right a bit,” as we drew closer.

  The cabin looked as innocent as any of the others we’d come across, but it was larger than any which surrounded it. I thought it might have a few rooms beneath the bamboo roof. “Glass windows,” I murmured. “And solid walls, too.”

  “Soundproofing,” Lyth added.

  “Figure the windows are transparent plasteel?” Juliyana asked, eyeing the windows.

  “Just glass,” Lyth said firmly.

  “That makes it easier.”

  I glanced at them. They nodded.

  I marched up to the cabin, Juliyana just behind me, and pummeled on the solid warm golden door.

  We waited and I wondered if anyone would answer. It would make it simpler if they didn’t. But after ninety seconds, I heard the door unlock with the distinct sound of metal lock shafts shifting.

  I planted a friendly smile on my face as the door opened.

  The Drigu woman loo
ked puzzled and rattled off something I didn’t even try to catch.

  “She thinks we’re lost,” Lyth murmured.

  “Have you seen our friend?” I asked. “She has skin like yours, and blue lines…” I was torturing the Terran, but that was the point. I drew my finger along my forearm, in the approximate shape of Marlee’s tattoos.

  Then I forgot all about looking like a tourist, for over the Drigu’s shoulder, I saw a bank of electronic equipment with wires running everywhere, with LEDs blinking on and off.

  It was all I needed. I could have disabled the Drigu, even knocked her out, but instead, I picked her up by the shoulders and carried her over to Lyth. “Contain her.” I handed her over as she kicked and screamed. Keskemeti slapped his hand over her mouth, cutting off the screams.

  Juliyana had already entered the cabin. I hurried after her.

  Outside, I heard the muffled cries of the Drigu cut off and stopped listening. Lyth had taken care of it in some way or another.

  The front room of the cabin was full of gear and equipment. “I think these are data servers,” I murmured, examining the taller banks of electronics that I had first seen through the door.

  Juliyana clicked her fingers to get my attention, then pointed to a narrow door set in the back wall, which had been hidden by the servers.

  I moved over to her side as she pulled out her shriver.

  “Stunner only,” I told her.

  She rolled her eyes but got her stunner out of the other pocket. I did the same and nodded.

  Juliyana kicked the door in, and we flowed into the room, stunners up. A Terran in a white smock threw up his hands. Juliyana took him in the shoulder and he dropped with a tired sigh.

  There were no other Terrans in the room, but Colton was there. She lay on a table that made me think of the examination tables in the medbay of the Lythion. She was in a bad way.

  “Get Lyth and Keskemeti,” I told Juliyana.

  She whirled and left without argument.

  I went over to Marlee. The banks of equipment around her were not just medical tools. I could tell because there were leads and coils and who the hell knows what else emerging from the equipment and penetrating Marlee’s body. Mostly, they were probing her head.

  I felt sick just looking at it.

  The blue lines of her tattoos were blank, now. Marlee didn’t stir.

  I rested my hand on her head, feeling pure fury drive through me, and a sad helplessness, too. We could never make the Terrans answer for this. They would deny any responsibility and then shrug, because she was “just a computer”. The bigotry had allowed them to do this in the first place.

  Marlee’s eyes opened. “Danny,” she whispered.

  I snapped straight. “Stars! Marlee!” I gripped her hand and was appalled to feel how thin it was, and how the bones moved under the flesh. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry—I should have found you days ago…” I brushed her forehead. “We’ll get you out of here.”

  Behind me, I heard Juliyana return with the other two, but didn’t look around to confirm it. I kept my gaze on Marlee’s face and my gut twisted as tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. She shook her head, an amazing movement, given how the back of her head had been ravaged. And I saw a trickle of blood emerge from around the probes and things entering her. “I can’t feel anything,” she whispered. “Can’t walk.”

  “Oh, stars and heavens…” Keskemeti whispered.

  “This body is done,” Marlee said. “They think they can pull data out of my head like they do their computers…” She swallowed. “They keep trying, over and over.”

  My vision blurred. This was so much worse than I had suspected. I wiped furiously as my vision blurred.

  “Take care of it, Danny,” Marlee whispered.

  I shook my head. “I’m taking you home.”

  Juliyana gripped my arm. “No. Let her go. It’s best.”

  I squeezed Marlee’s hand, which was lifeless inside mine.

  “I’ll do it,” Lyth said. His voice was hoarse. “Okay, Marlee?” He bent over her, and I saw a tear drip onto her cheek. I wiped it away.

  Marlee’s mouth shifted, and I realized she was trying to smile. “That would be nice, Lyth.”

  He smoothed her forehead. “Close your eyes.”

  “‘kay.”

  I bent over her. “See you on the other side.”

  She closed her eyes, and I kept my gaze on her face as Lyth did what I could not.

  *

  Keskemeti stumbled out of the cabin in front of us, took three steps passed the sleeping Drigu on the ground, bent over and vomited, his back bowing with the effort.

  We waited silently under the trees while he wiped his mouth and tottered over to us.

  “Good to go?” My voice was wasted. I didn’t care.

  He nodded.

  “Don’t slow us down,” Juliyana warned him.

  He nodded again. And he didn’t slow us down, either.

  —29—

  We stumbled into the suite to find everyone in evening clothes, preparing to leave for dinner.

  Jai spread his hands with an expression that said, What the hell?

  I just stood there, unable to articulate a single word.

  Lyth moved over to the room-sized privacy bubble and kicked it into gear. He ground the heel of his hand into both eyes. “Marlee is dead. We…had to take care of it.” And he hung his head.

  Calpurnia drew in a sharp breath and sank into a chair. Her eyes glittered and she stared at her knees beneath the pretty green dress. Elizabeth Crnčević sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her.

  Jai came over to me. “What happened?” His voice was low.

  “They were trying to extract her…data.” My voice was still strained. I still didn’t care. “They took her, first, just to find out how she worked. Then they went digging for the regenerative therapies and the cloning tech. They figured she had it.” I drew in a breath, let it out. “I should have gone looking for her two days ago, when she first disappeared. But I didn’t think…” The sickness swamped me again.

  Marlow rested his hand on Jai’s shoulder. “We need to go, or we’ll be late,” he said quietly.

  “In a moment,” Jai said. “You go on with everyone else. Calpurnia must attend, too. Elizbeth can help. I want to talk to Danny.”

  Marlow moved around the room and swiftly, it emptied of people. Dalton squeezed my arm as he went past, but I could barely form a smile for him, as much as I wanted to. He was protecting the others, still, just as I had asked him to.

  Jai waved toward the chairs. “Sit down a minute.”

  I shook my head. “I really don’t think I can, Jai.”

  “I’m back to Jai.” He sounded pleased about that. “It’s been Van Veen for weeks.” He came back to stand in front of me, looking elegant in the evening garments that I knew, suddenly, Marlow had chosen for him. Jai had always preferred a uniform.

  He bent his head a little to look me directly in the eye. “You did everything you could to get her back, short of ruining the negotiations—a masterful demonstration of restraint for which I am grateful. Your last efforts to find her gave us the key to squeezing genuine compromises out of the Terrans. You’ve done more to keep this mission on the rails than anyone, Danny, and you didn’t want to be here in the first place.”

  I was too tired to argue. I nodded.

  “This has not turned out the way either of us thought it might,” he added.

  I sighed. “No.”

  “Now, I want you to slip on that blue dress of yours and I’ll take you to dinner.”

  “Stars, no, Jai—I just can’t.”

  “You must,” he said. “The Terrans will by now know what you have done with Marlee. They will be incensed and they may even try to accuse us of interfering with their domestic security matters. But if you are there, then I can look them in the eye and tell them I have no idea what they’re talking about.”

  I lifted my chin. “A flat out li
e?”

  “Just as they lied when they took her,” Jai said. “Kristiana tells me that in diplomatic circles, it is not considered a lie, merely a bluff.” The corner of his mouth quirked up.

  “They will have footage of us entering the cabin,” I pointed out.

  “Like the footage of the wolves bringing down their wildlife?” Jai raised his brow. “We will claim that what you did at the cabin is as fake as the parawolves footage.”

  “They won’t know what to think…” I murmured.

  “Doubt will squeeze them,” Jai added. “But it will only work if you are at the dining table. And if you’re there tonight, negotiations can continue tomorrow.” He sounded very pleased about that.

  I sucked in another breath and tried to breathe it out through my nose, to calm myself. “You’re getting somewhere,” I added.

  Jai picked up my hand. He was not a demonstrative man. Even hugs made him stiffen. But he held my hand in his and smiled. “Yes, we’re getting somewhere. Thanks to you.”

  He turned me around and pushed me toward the corridor. “Kamil is there, see? Go and get dressed quickly. I’ll wait.”

  I got moving. Kamil was likely appalled at my lack of attention to details. I used a hair clip to pile my sweaty hair on the top of my head. I put on the sparkly necklace and earrings Dalton had given me as a joke simply because they were so elaborate and nothing like I would ever voluntarily wear. The glitter drew attention away from my lack of makeup.

  And that I still had a knife strapped to my right thigh.

  Kamil tried to powder my shoulders, which I withstood for ten seconds, my nose wrinkled. As I sailed out the door, she sprayed perfume in my direction and some of it actually landed on me.

  Jai was waiting as promised, with not a hint of impatience. He raised a brow. “Marlow would have dithered for an hour. I’m impressed.”

  I took his arm. “Let’s do this.”

  Jai pressed his fingers over mine and we went to dinner.

  —30—

  The Terrans did not directly confront us, but I could tell they were brooding despite the smiles and polite conversation. Isuma Florina’s smile seemed brittle, and she was distracted.