by Patty Jansen
When the panic had cleared, one figure remained on the floor. Thayu sprang over the railing and knelt next to the prone figure.
Breathing deeply, I clicked the weapon back into its bracket. The barrel was hot. I swallowed hard and for a moment felt like I would faint or throw up. “Is he. . . ?”
Thayu rose and nodded. “Bitter old man.”
I steadied myself against the dais, fighting my rebelling stomach. I had pulled a weapon on a fellow human, and killed.
Thayu’s warm thoughts touched my mind. Really, you did well. That was a shot worthy of a sniper.
But what if I’d missed?
What if he’d killed Ezhya Palayi?
I gulped deep breaths. The hall’s floor had become a seething mass of people, most of them security.
Everyone had failed Kershaw. The wrong candidate for the job, he had received little training and not enough physical preparation. Without adaptation, Seymour Kershaw had gone blind, and the lack of support had made him bitter, making him easy prey for Renkati.
The best I could do for him was to make sure I succeeded.
* * *
A humidity-laden breeze stirred the curtain. I leaned back in my chair, reading once more over the text on the screen.
To Sigobert Danziger, acting president, Nations of Earth,
It is with regret that I report I have found the remains of previous Earth envoy Seymour Kershaw, which I hope you will clear to be returned to his family.
It was still uncomfortable to think of what had happened, and something I would have to explain to Danziger, but not now.
I send some pictures as proof of identity. I advise you against displaying them in the general assembly—the detail is gruesome and might upset some members. Before his death, Kershaw admitted to having used new technology to kill President Sirkonen, who had been about to reveal the extent of Renkati’s treachery. All known members of the organisation Amoro Renkati have been arrested. There is no further threat to Nations of Earth. Gamra wishes to apologise deeply for this upheaval, but hopes that normal negotiations will resume.
Meanwhile, I wish to notify you of my intention to resign from my position. I have been offered a fully funded position as negotiator, but will be available to offer assistance to my replacement. . . .
Oh, how it pleased me to write that. He’d threatened to sack me, and now I’d made the first move, a move which he probably wouldn’t have expected. Yesterday I’d made my first down payment for the apartment which had been seized by gamra as part of the disbanding of Amoro Renkati. I’d also paid the staff outstanding wages. Money never interested me much, but I had never felt so good. And there was more to come.
I flicked to the other message.
Ms Hayworth,
I hope you have arrived in Athens by now. Amarru said she has been awaiting your arrival so your training as my publicity officer can be fast-tracked—
A light flicked on behind me, and soft footsteps entered the room. A yellow-skinned hand placed a steaming cup of manazhu between the edge of the table and my reader; its tantalising smell rose to my nose.
I reached over my shoulder, and found Thayu’s arm.
“I thought you might like this before we go to bed.”
The glow from the reader silvered the soft curves of her face.
“Bed? Is it that late?”
“It is. You do forget yourself sometimes. You work too hard.”
She said that a lot, in a mocking-joking way, but it was true. In the past few days, I’d spent far too much time in the semi-darkness of the communication hub. I would become anaemic at this rate.
I half-rose and pressed “send” and again “send”.
Then I picked up my cup and followed Thayu out of the room. My new office, my staff and the problems of the universe could wait a while. The night was warm and there were better things to do.
A Word of Thanks
THANK YOU very much for reading Ambassador 1: Seeing Red.
As author of this book, I would appreciate it very much if you could return to the place where you purchased this book and leave a review. Reviews are important to me, because they help readers decide if the book is for them.
In Ambassador 2: Raising Hell, the world of gamra is thrown into chaos when the Exchange cuts out. With Ezhya stuck off world, Asto descends into chaos over the leadership vacuum, and forces Cory to do something extremely dangerous that may well kill him.
Also be sure to put your name on my mailing list, which I use exclusively to notify subscribers of new fiction. All other chat about my writing or world-building and interaction with readers happens on my blog Must Use Bigger Elephants, which you are welcome to follow.
About the Author
PATTY JANSEN lives in Sydney, Australia, where she spends most of her time writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. Her story This Peaceful State of War placed first in the second quarter of the Writers of the Future contest and was published in their 27th anthology. She has also sold fiction to genre magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Redstone SF and Aurealis.
Her novels (available at ebook venues) include Shifting Reality (hard SF), The Far Horizon (middle grade SF), Charlotte’s Army (military SF) and Fire & Ice, Dust & Rain and Blood & Tears (Icefire Trilogy) (dark fantasy).
Patty is on Twitter (@pattyjansen), Facebook, LinkedIn, goodreads, LibraryThing, google+ and blogs at: http://pattyjansen.com/.
More by This Author
* * *
In the Earth-Gamra space-opera universe
The Shattered World Within (novella)
RETURN OF THE AGHYRIANS
Watcher’s Web
Trader’s Honour
Soldier’s Duty
Heir’s Revenge
The Return of the Aghyrians Omnibus
The Far Horizon (For younger readers)
AMBASSADOR
Seeing Red
The Sahara Conspiracy
Raising Hell
Changing Fate
Coming Home
In the For Queen and Country universe
Whispering Willows (short story)
FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY
Innocence Lost
Willow Witch
The Idiot King
In the ISF-Allion universe
His Name in Lights (novella)
Charlotte’s Army (novella)
The Rebelliousness of Trassi Udang (short story)
Shifting Reality (novel)
Shifting Infinity (novel)
Epic, Post-apocalyptic Fantasy
ICEFIRE TRILOGY
Fire & Ice
Dust & Rain
Blood & Tears
The Icefire Trilogy Omnibus
Short story collection
Out Of Here
Shorter works
Looking For Daddy (absurd horror novella)
This Peaceful State of War (Writers of the Future winning novella)
Visit the author’s website at http://pattyjansen.com and register for a newsletter to keep up-to-date with new releases.
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