Diamond Star

by Catherine Asaro

  "He's being charged under Eubian law," Tarex said. "I'm taking him to stand trial."

  Liar, Del thought. The moment they reached Trader space, Tarex would collar and cuff him, and file documents to declare Del his legal property.

  "I understand," Gregori said, with a sympathy that made Del want to strangle him. "But he must stand trial here before extradition." He gave Tarex a sympathetic look. "You can't take him off Earth yet. It's against our laws even if he wants to go with you. You would be abetting the flight of a criminal."

  What? They called him the criminal? They were crazy. Del fought to move, protest, anything, but he could barely blink.

  "I'm sure our representatives can work this out," Tarex said smoothly. "Our laws require that anyone who offends against an Aristo must face a Highton tribunal." He tried to look apologetic, but he came off patronizing. "So you see, I can't give him to you."

  "I have orders to bring him back," Gregori said.

  "Yes, I understand," Tarex said with impatience. "I'll make sure you aren't held responsible."

  The ship's EI spoke on the bridge channel, which wouldn't carry to Gregori. "Lord Tarex, an Allied space-pod is approaching the yacht."

  Tarex didn't hesitate. "Cut transmission." As Gregori's image vanished, Tarex said, "Freeze controls on the pod and have the cargo cranes immobilize it. And have my Escorts increase their surveillance of that Allied police cruiser."

  "Pod frozen," the EI said. "Alert status increased to gold."

  Tarex spoke to someone out of Del's sight. "Get Arden moving."

  The med-bot appeared, its blue metal reflecting the harsh light. It gave Del another shot in his neck. When Del winced, Tarex frowned at the robot. "Don't use that syringe."

  As much as it relieved Del to have any reprieve, he didn't trust why Tarex would spare him from pain. Then it hit him. He was a drug to the Aristo. In a potentially dangerous situation, Tarex didn't want to be affected by a psion any more than he wanted chemicals to blur his mind.

  "Bring him," he told the med-bot.

  The robot tugged Del to his feet with unexpected gentleness, but Del flinched anyway. His welts burned. The low pseudo-gravity from the yacht's rotation made him dizzy, as did the Coriolis forces when he leaned in the wrong direction.

  Tarex was watching him. "Cooperate," he told Del, "or I'll let Kryxson put you in the storage unit." When Del's lips drew back in a snarl, Tarex said, "Oh, never mind, you'll just use more of those quaint little cuss words. Try this, Del. If you don't cooperate, I'll let you watch me hurt whoever is in that pod. You're responsible for what happens to them."

  Del blanched. He had already been responsible for who knew how many deaths, including Tyra and possibly Cameron. He spoke with difficulty. "I'll cooperate."

  Tarex nodded, his eyes glazed. "Good."

  Del wanted to break the Aristo's gratingly perfect face. Regardless of what Tarex intended, he was clearly savoring Del's pain, both emotional and physical.

  Kryxson was waiting in the archway between the bridge and dining area. He glanced at Del with a hint of Tarex's drugged look. Then he spoke to the Aristo. "The Escorts are ready to fire, sir. The pod is trying to dock with this ship, but they can pick it off the hull if you want."

  "How many people are in it?" Tarex asked.

  "None," Kryxson said.

  "Don't destroy the pod yet," Tarex said. "Keep the Escorts on alert. I'd like to avoid antagonizing these police, if possible. But have the security bots meet us in the cargo bay."

  Del gritted his teeth. Just his luck, that Tarex was smart enough to put his ego on hold. If the Aristo had been willing to alienate the Allieds with his arrogance, they might have been more willing to help Staver in the first place.

  Kryxson and Tarex strode down the corridor, and the med-bot followed with Del, holding his upper arm as it pulled him along. Although Del moved stiffly, the low gravity helped. But the nausea roiling within him came from more than the ship's rotation. His difficulty in walking was a painful reminder of the way he had struggled even to take one step when he first came out of cryo. The idea of being crammed in a cold storage unit terrified him almost beyond thinking. It would be like being trapped in cryo, but while he was awake, buried alive in the crypt of his nightmares.

  Del didn't see why the Allied police had sent a pod. If they expected Tarex just to give him up, they were woefully naïve. Of course, the Allieds had always seen the Aristos though a rosy filter that denied the truth.

  They stopped in the upper cargo bay, Tarex on one side of Del and Kryxson on the other while the med-bot waited behind them. Two looming security bots strode into the area, their gold bodies reflecting the curved blue bulkheads.

  "Open bay doors," Tarex said.

  Del went rigid. "There's no airlock!"

  Everyone ignored him. He stood riveted as the huge doors in front of them pulled apart, their engines rumbling, their giant serrations reflecting the stars outside. Even knowing Tarex wouldn't open his ship to the void of space, Del waited for the roar of escaping air. The Milky Way moved across his view like a path of glitter. He stared in terrified awe at the spectacular panorama undimmed by any atmosphere. So many jeweled stars!

  "Gods," Del breathed. "It's incredible."

  "Aye," Tarex murmured. " 'Such majesty beyond the end of days would never compare to the dust of the gods.' "

  "Did you write that?" Del asked. It wouldn't surprise him if the Aristos thought they were gods, with galaxies for stardust.

  "It's from an opera sung by Vitar Carlyx." He smiled at Del. "His voice isn't as good as yours, though."

  Del blinked, at a loss for a response. He motioned at the open doors. "How do you keep the air from going out?" He had only traveled in space a few times, and he had never been interested in starship design.

  "It's a membrane similar to the airlock," Tarex said. "But much bigger." He gazed at the view. "I wanted it transparent so I could look out."

  "I see why." With a rush of nausea, Del realized he was making small talk with his torturer. He shut his mouth and said nothing more.

  A crane with a huge claw unfolded from inside the bay. When it swung toward the open area, Del tensed. "It'll break the seal." He instinctively tried to back up, as if that could save him when the atmosphere escaped. The med-bot stopped him, and held him in place.

  "Relax." Tarex said. "It becomes part of the seal."

  As Del watched, his pulse surging, the claw swung out into space, the shimmer of a membrane sliding along its gold surface. It moved out of sight around the edge of the doors, but within moments, it reappeared with a spherical life pod tight in its grip. The pod was barely big enough for two people.

  Tarex glanced across Del at Kryxson. "What's in it?"

  Kryxson was studying the mesh on his gauntlet. "Nothing, sir. No people, weapons, or supplies."

  "Secure it," Tarex said. "Notify the Allied police we have it in the hold."

  As Kryxson worked on his gauntlet, Tarex glanced at Del. "Do your people actually believe I'll put you in and send you back?"

  "I don't know." He didn't miss Tarex's phrasing. Your people. Mercifully, the Aristo still believed he was an Allied.

  "I have Lieutenant Gregori," Kryxson said.

  Tarex lifted his own wrist gauntlet. "Lieutenant, did you send me this silly little pod?"

  "I thought they sent a shuttle," Gregori said.

  Del wanted to groan. Couldn't the police do any better than this? Maybe not, if they were clueless enough to believe he was the criminal here.

  Gregori's voice came back. "I'm sorry, Lord Tarex. We meant to send a shuttle with one of our representatives to greet you and accompany Mister Arden back. However, you can send him in the pod. It's rated for prisoners."

  "Good gods, man," Tarex said. He switched off his comm and glanced at Kryxson. "Close the doors. I want every picometer of the pod examined. Make sure it has no surprises." Grabbing Del's arm, Tarex shoved him toward the archway that led back to the dinin
g area. "Come on. Enough of this."

  Del stumbled on his lacerated feet. "Slow down."

  Tarex laughed shortly. "Like the minds of your police?" He dragged Del into the dining area and pushed him at a bulkhead. "In here."

  "What?" Del saw nothing but blue metal. He didn't understand the abrupt change in Tarex's behavior, but he had no idea what was normal for the Aristo.

  Tarex smacked the bulkhead and it shimmered into an archway. The Aristo shoved him through the opening, and Del stumbled into living quarters with sumptuous furnishings, wooden cabinets, and panels painted with pastoral scenes. The green carpet was a balm on his ravaged feet. A bed was fitted against a bulkhead across the room, under a low ceiling where the ceiling sloped down.

  "You live in here?" Del asked.

  "Be quiet," Tarex muttered. It was the first time Del had heard him sound distracted. He dragged Del across the room and threw him down across the bed. "Rest. I'm going to have a drink."

  Del sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Tarex didn't even turn around as he walked away; he just raised his hand, holding the disk that activated the neural dust on Del's skin. "Stay put."

  Del froze, his gaze fixed on the disk.

  Tarex opened a cabinet and took out a crystal decanter, tall and rectangular. He poured gold liquid into a crystal tumbler. The liqueur looked so odd, going slow in the low gravity. Then he set down the decanter and leaned against the cabinet, facing Del while he drank.

  Del wondered what was wrong with Tarex. Maybe he was an alcoholic. He had certainly acted like someone who needed a fix these past few minutes. But he could afford nanomeds in his body to stop the chemical processes leading to addiction, and he didn't seem the type to forego them.

  "Look at you, staring like an Earth gazelle." Tarex raised the glass. "I've acquired a singer. It's why I came to Earth, but I didn't expect it this way. Who would have guessed you were such an incredible empath?" He shook his head with a laugh. "You Allieds are so foolish. No one wants to believe psions exist. So they waste your talents and let you go crazy in a world that has no accommodation for you."

  "You offer such a great alternative," Del said acidly. "Torture for the rest of my life."

  Tarex's voice quieted. "Life as a provider won't be as bad as you think. I'll take good care of you." He even looked like he meant it. "You won't want for anything. I'll give you luxury you can't imagine. You'll never need to worry about anything." Tarex downed the rest of his drink. "And my conglomerate will make billions from your singing."

  Del couldn't believe he was so blithe about it. "No free citizen will buy the music of someone you kidnapped and enslaved."

  "Oh, don't be stupid," Tarex said. "It will titillate people no end. Besides, you'll tell the media you wanted to come, that the life I offered fascinated you, blah, blah, blah."

  "Like hell I will."

  "By the time I'm done with you," Tarex said softly, "you'll do anything I damn well want."

  Del clenched his fist. "Go drill it, Tarex."

  "Oh, be quiet. I'm tired of your filthy mouth." He set down his drink and walked over to Del. "You said it, so that must be what you want, eh?"

  Said what? Del tried to jump away, but he mistimed his moves in the unfamiliar gravity and stumbled. Tarex easily threw him back on the bed, on his stomach.

  "You want to drill?" the Aristo said, kneeling so he straddled Del's hips. "Fine. I'll give you what you want."

  "Stop it!" Panicked, Del tried to throw him off. Tarex shoved him back down and yanked on his belt, loosening it. Del's memory of that night at the lake flashed in his mind. This time, his brother wouldn't rescue him—because the Aristos had killed him.

  Anger snapped within Del. He wasn't a damned helpless kid any more. He jerked his shoulders to mislead Tarex, and when the Aristo shifted his grip, Del twisted into a mai-quinjo roll, hurling Tarex to the floor. As he and Del both jumped to their feet, Tarex backhanded Del so hard across the face, Del slammed into the hull. Tarex's face twisted with rage. Del didn't know what was wrong with him, why he didn't call for help or use the disk clenched in his fist, why the ship hadn't sent in the security bots. He tried to dodge past the Aristo, but he couldn't go fast enough. Tarex hit him again and again, beating his shoulders and arms.

  Del leaned back and kicked, ramming his foot into Tarex's gut. The Aristo grabbed Del's calf and flipped him backward. As Del crashed to the deck, hitting his head, colors shot through his vision. Dizzy and off balance, he scrambled to his feet. His training couldn't help him adapt to this gravity, but it kept him going even when he could hardly see. He kicked again, spinning so Tarex couldn't grab his leg, and hit the Aristo in the hip so hard, he heard the crack of bone.

  Tarex's face contorted with fury, and he clenched his fist hard on the disk. Del's nerves burned with an agony of fire. He screamed and dropped to his knees, doubled over. But he refused to let it stop him. When Tarex grabbed his shoulder, Del reacted through the haze of pain, and threw himself into a roll, knocking Tarex to the ground—

  The worst of the pain stopped.

  Del rose to his knees, swaying as he gasped. Tarex lay under the table, his head bleeding. Gods almighty, would the police add murder to Del's crimes? How much worse could this nightmare get?

  But no, Tarex was breathing. As much as Del hated him, he gasped with relief. He struggled to his feet and backed out of the quarters. He dreaded what would happen when Tarex awoke. Del was trapped here, and no way would the ship let him near the controls again.

  Del looked around, dazed. Surely Kryxson, Bronzeson, the robots, something had picked up the fight. He staggered through the ship, unable to think through his haze of pain.

  Del found Kryxson and Bronzeson in the cargo hold, sprawled on the deck, bruised and unconscious. It looked like they had been fighting. Del turned in a confused circle, swaying—

  And came face to face with Lieutenant Gregori.

  "Ah, gods," Del whispered. He was hallucinating.

  Gregori came toward him with several officers. Wait. That one, the captain . . . she was familiar. Hadn't she been with the squad that rescued him from Raker? Captain Penzer. And Gregori! He had been part of the squad, too.

  Gregori was saying something. Del struggled to concentrate.

  " . . . you ride in the pod?" Gregori asked.

  "Anything," Del rasped. He would stand on his head and chant in ancient tongues if it got him out of here.

  Gregori opened the hatch of the pod, and Del climbed in. When Gregori tried to help, Del jerked his arm away. He didn't want anyone touching him.

  It was cramped inside, with two seats molded into the hull, a panel curving around one side, an icer for food, and nothing else. Del kept his head bent until he sat down. When Gregori started to climb in, Del stiffened, remembering Tarex grabbing him.

  "No." Del pointed past Gregori to Penzer. "Her."

  "You'd rather have Captain Penzer ride with you?" Gregori spoke carefully, as if he thought Del might break. Del had no idea what he looked like, but he felt like a jigsaw puzzle about to fall apart.

  "It's all right," Penzer said. "I'll go."

  Gregori backed out, and Penzer squeezed onto the seat across from Del. He moved his knees aside, giving her space, but they were still cramped. Gods, he wished Ricki were here. Not that he could hold her; he hurt too much. He felt insubstantial, as if his mind were apart from his body. His nausea hovered like a bird, ready to swoop down. He had a horrible feeling this was a hallucination, or that if it was happening, Tarex would recover and stop the pod. Del jerked as the closing hatch sealed them in.

  Within seconds, they were in space. Penzer activated a screen so Del could look out. He watched, dizzy and ill, as they drifted toward the police ship, which gleamed silver and blue.

  "What happened?" Del finally asked. "Why did Tarex and his crew go crazy? Why didn't his ship stop you from boarding?"

  Penzer was watching him with concern. "The pod was doped with nanos targeted at
Aristo genes. We got the codes from your Jagernaut bodyguard."

  Del's pulse leapt. "Tyra is alive?"

  "Well, yes," she said. "Very much so."

  Emotions welled up inside Del that he couldn't describe. He wanted to laugh, then to cry. "And Cameron?"

  "He's fine."

  They were alive. He hadn't killed them. "How many people died when the yacht took off?"

  "No one," she said gently. "They had plenty of warning."

  Del wiped his palm over his eyes, smearing away the tears. He hoped Tarex rotted in a worm-world slum-hell. "I'm surprised Tyra didn't demand to come with you."

  "She wanted to, but we couldn't risk it. Tarex's security monitors might have detected her biomech. His systems respond to Skolian tech far more than they do Allied." She paused awkwardly. "Since you all had that war."

  Of course. The Traders were always developing counters to Skolian technology. "What do the nanos in this pod do?" Raggedly he asked, "Can they hurt us?"

  "They act on certain brain centers. But not ours. Only Aristo. They were supposed to knock out Tarex and any crew he had with Aristo DNA. Which was apparently both of them."

  "I think it made them crazy, aggressive too."

  Penzer grimaced. "Apparently." She glanced at his bruised chest, which throbbed where Tarex had beaten him. "I'm sorry."

  "You don't have to apologize for their inhumanity." Del couldn't say any more. If he talked about it, his anger would scorch him. He stared at the screen, watching the police cruiser come closer. The Escort ships drifted in space beyond it. "Why aren't Tarex's Escorts trying to stop us?"

  "They don't know what's going on," Penzer said. "Except that their vessels are in Allied custody." Her eyes glinted. " 'Tarex' just told them that he sent the empty pod back to us."

  Del still didn't understand. "Surely they can monitor the yacht and this pod. They must know what's going on."