by Pam Uphoff
Chapter Nine
"Bad enough these rumors about you eloping with Raelphy, my little boy! But, but . . . " Uncle Sbozoi sputtered to a halt and gulped. "But that!" He pointed across the room where Raelphi had Gold hanging on his left arm and Silver on his right. "If they were really pseudo, it wouldn't be so bad, but, but . . . "
Xaero patted him on the arm. "Oh, I know it comes as a bit of a shock, but really, they're a handsome trio and I'm sure Raelphi will be a fine father."
***
"Princeling Fatreve, Your Majesty."
The empress nodded her thanks, her ancient hands cradling a hot cup of fungu tea. "Thank you." Hearing the implicit dismissal, the servant bowed out.
The prince knelt at his mother's feet.
"What brings you so early and so privately, Fatre . . . " She trailed off as she took in the shedding scales of his temples and throughout his head spines. "Well, now isn't this a pleasant surprise. Prince Fatrevi."
"It's is going to complicate my job enormously, and give Fensteri another excuse to not shape up. I think I need to pretend to be a pseudo for a while yet."
"Bah." She waved the mention of her eldest away. "Ferita is well on her way to Elder Wisdom. Fensteri can be as big of a rockhopper as he wishes, if only one of them—or you—will produce at least one heir." She studied him. "Do you truly wish to continue this insane career of yours? The REM is destroyed as a terrorist organization. The Dims can do without you." She frowned. "You will have to have an expanded bodyguard. You are now in the succession, even if we delay announcing it."
"I know. And I'll have to avoid the really dangerous assignments, from here on out." He hesitated. "I've asked for a posting in Icefire Met."
"Why on Mars would you . . . ?" The old lizard stopped and smiled slowly. "Tell me all about her."
He flushed and hesitated. "What do you want first? The bad news, the bad news or the bad news?"
"Dear me. You'd better start with the bad news."
"She's General Xavarti Ile Leia's granddaughter."
"How delightful! He really was an awful old barbarian, but he kept his word to live peacefully with us for the rest of his life. His scathing comments on some aspects of our society entertained a whole generation of us young and naive Cave Dwellers. I'm so glad to hear his family continues."
"She's pretending to be a pseudofem."
"Good Water, son, do you think I don't know the attraction of that!"
"She's a lawyer."
" . . . You know, these first loves sometimes don't last . . . "
Martian Times
Chapter One
Xaero was hanging on the fridge door contemplating the thin possibilities for dinner when the door chimed.
She stood on tip toe to peek through the spy hole and choked faintly. Control your breathing. THINK! Mind the sandy blood flow to your brain! Breathe two three four, breathe two three four.
She tripped the lock and swung the door open, knowing, just knowing she was about to make a complete fool of herself.
"Come in. Umm, Trev." Breathe two three four. Her eyes slid beyond him to the Very Large Lizard. VLL, she'd called him, when she'd thought him a criminal's bodyguard.
"This is Imperial Security Sergeant Gergi H'nkel." Trev flushed a bit. "He needs to umm, search."
Her brain was definitely shutting down, all she could manage was a general wave at the apartment."Sure, go for it." Then all her attention switched back to Trev. Maybe she needed a bit more distance, his chemical cocktail seemed to be airborne . . . her feet didn't like the idea of backing away and refused to move. It had been twenty days; she should be over this, this, absolutely gorgeous lizard.
"I, umm." Trev reached out tentatively and stroke a single finger along her muzzle. "I wanted to talk to you."
"Umm. I've heard that with practice and age the brain doesn't totally shut down." Xaero refrained from trying to shake some brain cells back into working order by knocking her head on the nearest wall.
"I hope so." Trev broke eye contact, looked around. "How did you rate this much cubic?"
“I inherited the original nine hundred ninety nine year royal lease. It's still got over three hundred years to run. Not that various other family members don't try to make me feel guilty enough to sublease it to them and move someplace 'cozier'." Xaero managed to shift her feet and moved into the main room.
"The taxes must be horrible."
"Yep, but I won't be budged."
“The pet plant I recognize, and the sweeper.” Trev edged over and studied her little garden. “What is the spiral one?”
"Grandfather called it a vance. Speaking of sweepers, there were some really large ones at the resort, and pet plants and I umm, led some guards down the garden path, so to speak."
The VLL, aka Sergeant H'nkel walked quietly back down the stairs, and started looking through the kitchen cabinets.
Trev snickered. "The report from the occupying troops was interesting. Blozolli survived the pet plants; luckily for him they accidentally threw him out the door before they broke something irreparable. We've got him under lock and key at the hospital, a bit redundant, as he's in traction."
"That's, umm, good, I suppose. What about the fems in the vater greenhouse?"
"They were fine when they finally woke. Dehydrated, and confused. The vaters were all confiscated and transported to a government licensed farm. The botanists are all excited about them being an unknown variety."
The VLL looked around at her . "How did you not get whatevered by any of the plants?"
"I scouted them all out two days before, and I know what the plants can do. I know what triggers them. I'm afraid what happened to all those guards was quite deliberate." She switched a look back and forth between them. "Who took care of the place? The paths had been trimmed back, but not recently."
"The original REMs, before L'azlod started his move. L'azlod and Blozolli ran the secure storage business, and provided the guards, while the true believers kept the plants and designed posters and protest marches."
"What . . . " but she really didn't want to rehash L'azlod's plot. "What are you doing in Icefire Met? I talked to a Colonel S'trooth about some, umm, legal stuff, and he seemed to think it was a done deal."
"S'trooth's running the effort to shut down REM finances. What did you . . . never mind, I suspect I don't want to know. For my part, a lot of important people just happened to suddenly leave Imperial City on the day L'azlod had planned something unpleasant for the afternoon. Some came back in the ordinary way, some came back looking nervous, and some didn't come back at all." He shrugged. "Separating the vacationers from the plotters will be a real pain. I volunteered to handle hunting any of the still missing that might have come here."
She glanced at the Very Large Lizard.
"Sergeant Gergi and a couple of other fellows are going to be mother cheepering me, now that I've matured." He eyed her uncertainly. "I've suddenly turned into the number three heir."
"Your brother and sister? I thought Princess Ferita would get bumped down?"
"Yes, but Principle Feritu has moved up." He smirked with a sibling's delight. "Fenni is pissed, or maybe pleased, I don't think he's figured it out yet. And, none of this is public. And since I matured so late, they won't write off Feritu's youngest quite yet, so I'm more like fifth in line anyway."
She nodded readily. Prince Fensteri had been a drunken playboy all his adulthood. Princess Ferita, who'd been her Empress Mother's assistant and representative for so long, had a reputation as an intelligent hard worker. Or from the other political parties, as the Empress’s hatchet lizard. Her advancement to Elder Wisdom and primary heir was not going to be universally popular. A lot of people had invested a lot of effort in ensuring their place with Fensteri's future government.
"When, umm, this does go public they aren't going to mention me, are they?"
"Probably not." He looked very uncertain. "Umm, depending."
Well, she didn't need it spelled out.
He was wondering about children.
Right. She wondered a little uneasily about how much her recent travels south of the equator might have thrown off her once-a-year-in-the-spring cycle. She'd only had two eggs so far, being fairly new to fertility herself, and they very definitely hadn't been fertilized. In theory she didn't have to worry about it for another two quarters.
"Well, perhaps we should get to know each other a bit better before we do anything . . . " she floundered, at a loss for words.
"Good idea." He said. "Why don't we start with dinner?"
***
"Xaero, who was that hunk you were drooling over at Hesperati's last night?"
"I met him on vacation, quite an eyeful, isn't he?" Xaero grinned at her aunt, well, technically speaking the wife of her second cousin once removed. "Thank goodness for modern medicine."
"Xaero!" Danca went wide eyed in shock. "It is hardly fitting for a Member, a Junior Partner! Of an August and Respected firm like L'svages, L'svages, L'svages, L'svages, L'svages and L'svages to indulge in wild orgies of artificially induced passion!"
Her voice, while not overly loud, had a carrying quality to it. It belatedly occurred to Xaero that perhaps there were better places to have teased and shocked her stuffy aunt. Every head in the elegant elevator lobby turned and stared. At least a quarter of them were relatives and or employees of the firm. Hopefully no clients.
Xaero forced a laugh. "Now Aunt Danca, don't be silly." Of course this was better than rumors she was a trufem. Barely. But to consider her reputation as anything but totally and instantly trashed—damn good thing for her career that she had that memory crystal.
Danca huffed and puffed at her all the way up to her floor, and was still huffing as the elevator doors closed behind Xaero.
"Good morning Miss C'ank." She called cheerfully, as she swung into what she considered "her suite." C'ank, the crotchetiest secretary in existence had a large desk in the outer office, her associate Raelphi had an office across the hall and her own office was, ah, home away from home. With even more plants than the outer offices and other floors. Xaero sadly realized that without her mother around to baby the plants and manage the decor, the firm was phasing out that style and into a more modern and 'clean' interior. Xaero loved the smell of the plants, but the pollen did add to the dust load.
She fired up the comp and started unlocking all her secret files. Nobody, but nobody was going to get these away from her. She was through tabulating them and tracking all the parties down. The letters were ready to go out. Group mediation was the preferred method of conflict resolution in civil matters, and these companies were going to really, really want this to remain a civil, and very private, matter.
Blozolli had been hawking all the proprietary secrets stored "safely" in the bosom of REM's cover company. His computer backup crystal had all the information. Through these illegal sales, the Martian biotech industry had been providing a large percent of REM's financial resources. Colonel S'trooth had made it clear that the government didn't want to have to prosecute, in as much as they felt few if any of the companies knew they were financing terrorists, not to mention the shock to the economy of shutting down half the biotech industry and throwing their owners in prison. The taint of terrorist association would cling to most of the best genetic engineers in the world, in many cases ending their careers. The DMS had been told to be satisfied with the money tap being shut.
So, it was going to involve a lot of highly confidential negotiations, as a very large number of companies had all been eager to, umm, obtain through unusual channels, each other's research results. Since the stuff being sold was ancient—nearly six tenths old on average—the main result would probably be lots of very stilted and polite conversations at Biotech Conventions. She felt a bit like an ambulance chaser, sending out all these letters. It was going to be rather fun. As the organizing mediator, she'd get a set cut of the final gross settlement, and the companies' lawyers would share the rest of the legal fee percentage, all a matter of long established procedures.
She double-checked the lists of companies against the list of letters. One type of letter for companies who'd had information stolen, one list for companies that had purchased data on the black market, and the longest list of all, the companies who'd both robbed and been robbed. She cued the printer to start, and sat back smugly. Oh, the joy of stirring up a sand storm!
The only problem would be that short list of companies who'd committed no crimes. With no possible chance of being prosecuted as terrorists, they could create a considerable stir. She'd have to persuade them that money was the best form of revenge.
Raelphi wandered in, looking both exhausted and deliriously happy, and she put him to work stuffing envelopes as she signed each letter.
The last two she kept back. The two companies were already clients. She'd talk to Apru, Sbozoi and Coureti in a few days, and let them in on it, but the others were hers, all hers.
"How are you doing on untangling your paper trail?" she asked Raelphi as he sealed the last envelope.
"Great." He perked up. "All the shell companies are owned by other shell companies and so forth, but I think I'm finally getting down to where they all are owned by the same few companies. Sooner or later I'll hit a company that has an actual person owning it, and then we'll be somewhere."
"Where is the question." Xaero smiled at his enthusiasm. "I hope we don't find out that Blozolli owns the resort."
"Aunt Xaero! Don't say things like that!" He scratched his flaking scalp where his secondary spines were growing in. He was going to have an impressive crop. "I'm more worried they may trace back to Traveler, or L'azlod. They didn't catch either of them."
Xaero paused. I don't know what I'm allowed to say! She shook her head and sent him off to the mailroom to see the pile stamped and sent.
C'ank muttered. "You should get an intern to do that, waste of a good lawyer, the firm doesn't pay him to be a mail clerk."
"Well, I don't have an intern, and I'd hate to strain your knees running down to the mailroom for me, so Raelphi's the best solution." As expected, C'ank's eyes glittered nastily at the suggestion that a legal secretary would lower herself to do a clerk's job.
Well, not this legal secretary. She'd been with the firm long enough to know where all the bodies were buried. And had been known to demonstrate her repertoire of embarrassing childhood anecdotes when especially displeased with one of the partners.
"Perhaps if these contacts bring in some business, I can ask for an intern."
C'ank actually smiled at that. Pity the intern that got assigned here.
She sauntered down to the breakroom, to see if there was any gossip to pick up. The way silence fell when she walked in, apparently the gossip was all about her. Whoops. Well, no time like the present.
"Hi, Pasticha, morning Coureti. I see you've been talking with your mother, Pas. Is she still going on about Raelphi, or have I taken the lead?"
Pasticha snorted. "This morning you're in the winner's circle. Who was that lizard? You aren't actually doing hormones are you?"
"I met Trev last tenth, and thought it was time I admitted I wasn't going to mature and started getting on with life." She laughed at their shocked expressions, then forced a dubious expression onto her face. "It was certainly interesting, but I'm not at all sure it's worth the bother." Huh. Two true statements and two bald faced lies, and they believed them all.
She poured herself a cup of fungu tea and sauntered back to her office, grinning as the chatter rose behind her.
Crosstown mail being efficient, she got her first call in the late afternoon.
"How dare you accuse us of buying data from a thief!" There were stress tones under the forced indignation. She glanced at her comp for the caller's identity. Blocked of course, but her tracer followed it to Cavern North Five, on the west side. That meant it was Genexplor, one of the buyers only group. She tapped in that information, as the comp automatically transcribed the conversation.
>
" I believe when dealing with you he used the name, Nuthrei D'rendo. Fortunately I was able to get a copy of his comp backup crystal before the DMS arrested him ten days ago." She waited for a bit for that to sink in. "I think if all the companies involved get together and settle this matter out of court we should be able to avoid any official attention. Colonel S'trooth of the Department of Martian Security seems to be much more concerned with shutting off sources of Red Ever Mars financing than sending half the biotech industry to prison."
The silence stretched for a long moment. "REM? Prison?"
"Didn't you recognize Blozolli C'dasl when he was on trial?"
There was an even longer silence. "This is going to get expensive, isn't it?"
"And embarrassing," she told him. "Fortunately the number of companies who were only stolen from is small. Most companies both bought stolen research reports and had research results stolen from them. So I think we can all be reasonable and get out of this quietly, with a perfectly ordinary Mediated Group Settlement."
The lizard on the other end sighed. "Can't I just bribe you?"
"Nope. Sorry. Now, what I think the best method of handling this unfortunate situation would be . . . "
She stayed late fielding all the local calls. No point in heading home, Trev had said he had to return to Imperial City for several days before returning for good.
Raelphi had left early, but came blasting back wide-eyed and frantic after the office was nearly empty. "Aunt Xaero! Do you know what they are saying about you! Who was that! Please tell me it wasn't Traveler! You can't be, be, with a criminal!"
"Raelphi . . . " she sighed. Poor kid. Young male. "Look, if you see him, act like you've never met him, and tell Silver and Gold to do likewise." And I'll find out what I can tell you.
He sank down, nearly whimpering. "The Dims are still investigating. If you're associating with a, a, you're making everything worse! What about Silver and Gold, they could still arrest them, you know? And they really didn't do anything. Not, not really." He looked at her with pleading eyes. "We're expecting chicks."