“You're smarter than me, Lauren. You always were. I just thought that this one time I could stay a step ahead of you.”
“You were a step ahead of me,” she replied coldly. “It just took me a while to catch up.”
Nodding, he looked momentarily hopeful. “I just want you to know that however things turn out, I always meant what I said about your attractiveness. That was no lie. I loved your personality as well as your—”
“Shut up, Seth.”
The two peaceforcers took him away. He departed with a smile. Or maybe it was a smirk. She marveled that until now she had not been able to tell the difference. Fine details, she told herself as she stared at the resealed portal. Little things she ought to have noticed. So many little things . . .
She began to cry, long, heaving sobs that were punctuated by ferocious obscenities. Not only was she furious at the apprehended bioprospector, she was equally angry at herself. How could she have been so gullible? It had been so easy for him to fool, to flatter, and, ultimately, to betray. All the engaging conversation, the sweet words, the cunning kissing up—it hadn't been for her. Everything had been said and done to advance Case's own private agenda. He might have brought it off, too, if not for the suspicions of a low-level maintenance tech unwilling to see an innocent species unfairly vilified.
For most of a full hour she raged against Case and against herself, ignoring the brightly colored points of floating light that twinkled just above the surface of her restless desk. Then she went back to work.
As she was about to leave the building, Pandusky informed her that word had just come in from an extremely remote southern village of the arrival, tattered and tired but otherwise in good physical shape, of both the missing bioprospector Hasselemoga and the two members of the team that had been sent to rescue him.
“Wonderful news, isn't it, Administrator?” Her assistant was beaming. “After so many days missing in the Viisiiviisii, it's a miracle that they've turned up alive.”
“Yes, wonderful.” Her voice was a whisper.
Pandusky's brows drew toward each other. It looked as if—no. Surely Administrator Matthias had not been crying. It was the strain she was working under. That was it. Too much on her plate these past few days. And now this unpleasant business with the prospector Case. No wonder she looked so worn out.
“Should I authorize sending a third crew down to pick them up?” When she didn't reply, he repeated the query, adding, “Administrator?”
She blinked, looked over at him. “Yes, of course. Authorize it.” She started past him.
“I'll take care of it, Administrator—Lauren. Don't worry. I'll remind whoever's picked to go down there to take extra precautions with both predeparture and in-flight procedures.”
She glanced back. “Won't be necessary, Sanuel. There won't be any trouble—this time.”
“As you say, Administrator.” He dithered briefly. “If you don't mind my saying so, Lauren, you could do with a day off. A little rest would do you . . .”
His words trailed away. She was already out of hearing range.
By the time she got home she had convinced herself she was over it. She was wrong. Jack was waiting for her in the center room of their dwelling. Good Jack, kind Jack, faithful Jack. He had supper waiting for her. Again. That was all it took to start her weeping once more.
“Hey,” he murmured in bewilderment as she slumped, sobbing, into his arms, “I'm not that bad a cook.”
An alarmed Pandusky called the next morning when she failed to arrive at the office. His concern was understandable, given that Chief Administrator Matthias was noted for her reliability and punctuality.
“I'm fine.” She smiled across at Jack, who was also more than a little late for work. Neither of them much cared. For the first time in weeks, they were enjoying instead of lamenting the steady patter of rain on the curved roof of their suspended home. “I'll be there in an hour. And, Sanuel?”
“Yes, Administrator?” the voice floating in the air above the bed responded.
“Have those two AAnn brought over from Medical. I'll need to talk to them first thing.”
Closing the connection with a word, she turned back to her husband. As it turned out, it was a good deal more than an hour before she left for work.
The AAnn were not happy about being kept waiting. Not that it was very different waiting in the outer office of the chief administrator from waiting in the isolation ward where they had been held for the past several days. They were not very happy about a great many things.
Thessu let her know as much the minute she arrived, punctuating his declamation with more than a dozen first-degree gestures of indignation.
“Truly, Administrator, it iss unconsscionable to keep uss locked up like thiss!”
“You are not locked up.” Smoothly she slid back behind her desk. Unlike yesterday, this afternoon the position felt comfortable as well as completely familiar. “You are undergoing observation for your own protection.”
“Protection from what?” Jallrii was so upset, his switching tail threatened to demolish the chair that had been provided for him. “There iss nothing wrong with uss!”
“Patience,” she urged them, utterly unruffled by their ire. “I've brought you here to apologize to you.”
Their reaction showed that those were words they were not expecting. After an exchange of several sibilant hisses, Thessu turned slitted eyes on the seated human.
“We accept your apology.”
She smiled. “Don't you want to hear what it's for?”
The senior AAnn officer signaled third-degree uncertainty. “Truly, it musst be for forcibly resstraining uss on the mosst feeble of excussess.” He hesitated. “Iss it not?”
“No, indeed. If you remember our previous meeting, I suggested that you might be somehow responsible for the sabotaging of two skimmers that had been lost in the southern Viisiiviisii. I now know that not to be the case. You have been proven innocent of such charges.” Rising, she performed a third-degree double gesture of apology coupled with a second-degree forward bow of abasement. It was far from perfect, but her guests were impressed that she made the effort.
Taken aback, Jallrii recovered quickly. The rapid curling motion of his right hand, coupled with that of his tail, constituted the AAnn equivalent of a corporal smirk. “It iss alwayss gratifying to catch a human in a misstake, though it iss rare to have one express contrition in sso classical a fasshion.”
She resumed her seat. “Thank you. I pride myself on my studies. Please recall my earnest sympathy when you are returned to your isolation ward.”
Thessu started. “Returned? But you have jusst ssaid that we are abssolved of ressponssibility for the dissappearance of the two craft in quesstion.”
“Truly.” She smiled across at them. “That has nothing to do with your ongoing medical condition.”
“What ‘ongoing medical condition'?” Being slightly more excitable than his colleague, Jallrii was beside himself. “There iss no ongoing medical condition. It wass a russe on your part to hold uss here while you invesstigated the dissappearance of your two craft.”
“Did I give that impression?” She smiled anew. “I certainly never meant to do so. No, good nye, I was being truthful from the beginning when I said that you were being held for medical observation.” A sigh of sadness escaped her. “I regret to say that the tests that were run on you these past couple of days have come back positive. As a consequence, I regret to inform you that you are both to be deported from Fluva.”
Now it was Thessu's turn to hiss so violently that he threatened to blow his pointed tongue right out of his mouth. “What nonssensse iss thiss? We are the accredited repressentativess of His Imperial Majesstic Navvur W. Our mission on Fluva iss authorized by your own government. It cannot be ‘deported.' ”
“You are quite right, noble nye. The AAnn observation mission to Fluva cannot be expelled.” She folded her hands in front of her. “Its staff, however, can. I
am sure replacements for the both of you will be sent out from Blassussar as soon as word of your situation here makes its way back to the Imperial home world.”
The hissing that followed this pronouncement sounded like two steam engines fighting over the same sack of coal. “Thiss iss nothing but a crude ploy to get rid of my colleague and I.”
Not at all, she mused. It's a fairly elaborate ploy. She held up a thick folder full of hard copy. “This is the report from my medical staff. I'm afraid that their worst fears have been borne out.”
“Worsst fearss?” Thessu eyed her doubtfully.
“It seems that you indeed are infected with the suspect virus. No, don't be alarmed. I've been assured that an antidote exists. Not on Fluva, unfortunately. All relevant medical information will be provided so that you can receive proper treatment once you are on board a properly equipped vessel.”
Jallrii's anger had given way to sudden uncertainty. “But truly, there iss nothing wrong with uss. We feel mosst excellently well.” He blinked nictitating inner eyelids at his colleague. “At leasst, I do.”
“I know it must be difficult for you to accept. Surely you are aware that many diseases, especially newly discovered agents on a world as fecund as Fluva, do not always manifest themselves immediately. I'm told that the symptoms of the viral infection that is spreading within your bodies even as we speak is particularly minimalist.”
Reflexively Jallrii looked down at himself. Thessu, however, was having none of it. “I sstill think thiss is a trick. If we were contaminated as sserioussly as you ssay, we sshould feel ssomething, if only mild disscomfort.”
“And I would say, be glad that you do not.” She leaned forward slightly. “Please understand my position here, honored nye. If you were to sicken and die on my watch, I would be held responsible. It would result in a permanent black mark on my record of service. I'm sure you appreciate that I cannot take such a risk.” She snapped a command. The peaceforcers who had escorted the two AAnn officers to Administration reentered the room.
“These soldiers will accompany you back to Medical, where you will remain until the time comes to evacuate you from Fluva. It was a pleasure meeting you both, and I'm sure I will establish the same courteous relationship with whoever the Imperial government appoints as your successors.” She raised a hand in a futile attempt to forestall additional objections. “No, don't thank me.”
“Thank you? Thank you. Truly, outrage, truly, thiss!” Thessu's protests continued to resound until the door had resealed completely behind him.
Interspersed with the irate officer's bellowing avowals of indignation was the notably softer reservation expressed by his colleague. “Truly,” the now thoroughly subdued Jallrii could be heard to hiss softly, “now that I think hard on the matter, I musst confess that thesse lasst few dayss I have not been feeling at all that well.”
She stared thoughtfully at the now sealed doorway. Then she picked up the folder full of medical hard copy and set it off to one side. Pandusky could retrieve it later. She knew he would make proper use of the sensitive recyclable material. He would not even have to wipe it before use, since every treated sheet within was already perfectly blank. With the room once more devoid of visitors, she smiled to herself this time.
She was getting better at this business of bluffing.
There was nothing wrong with the two AAnn officers. If anything, they were even healthier than Thessu claimed. And just as she had acknowledged, they would indeed be replaced as rapidly as the relevant Imperial bureau could ship suitable substitutes off to Fluva.
But in the meantime, there would be no scheming AAnn stationed on the world of the Big Wet to stir up trouble between Deyzara and Sakuntala.
Now all she had to do was figure out a way to settle the current conflict between those two fractious resident species and life would return to its previous familiar damp routine. Nothing to it. If only, she ruminated tiredly, it would turn out to be as easy as convincing her newly pubescent daughter to drop the unsuitable and whimsically inappropriate forename Fitzwinkle.
Turning toward the window, she looked to the ubiquitous rain for inspiration. As it turned out, she found it not there but in the calculated schemings of someone whom she knew all too well.
It was more ironic than satisfying, though, to realize that she had Sethwyn Case to thank for the breakthrough.
19
Aniolo-jat had just finished caucusing with Yeruna-hua and the rest of the war council when the delegation led by Sesesthi-toa arrived. More than a little surprised to discover that the female Hata-yuiqueru had managed to find him, since he had been moving daily from place to place to avoid possible Deyzara reprisals, he nonetheless prepared to receive her and those traveling in her company with all the proper regard and deference that was due her standing. The unexpected visitation might even turn out to be a good thing, one he might well turn to his advantage. The S'Toa were an important clan, most of whom were presently neutral in the ongoing drive to force the Deyzara off Fluva. He would use the unexpected opportunity to try to sway her into committing the support of all those who remained uncommitted.
It was therefore with hope as well as respect that he welcomed her and her cohorts into his temporary headquarters. So optimistic was he about the forthcoming encounter that he went so far as to have his own guards forsake the entryway to the house of the village elder where he was presently residing. Following the conference of Hatas, his team of communications and strategy specialists would return to the house to resume transmitting orders and directives to the valiant fighters who were busily engaged in pushing the abhorred Deyzara out of their homes and businesses all across Fluva.
There were suspension chairs out back, overlooking a still-water pond in the midst of the varzea. That was where he waited to greet Sesesthi-toa and her entourage. Food and drink, the best that the village could provide, was hastily brought over. Thus prepared, he settled down to await the arrival of the delegation. He did not have long to wait, nor to wonder what had brought them so far so quickly.
Sesesthi-toa's tongue did not linger long on his own. After the most cursory of greetings, it retracted into her cheek pouch with an audible snap. It was not quite an insult, but neither did it indicate an extension of affection.
“Hauea, Aniolo-jat. The S'Toa and its friends,” she indicated the important personages who accompanied her, “are here to claim our share.”
“Certainly,” he agreed. Instead of swinging her chair in friendly fashion, the Hata-yuiqueru held it motionless. That was not a good sign. His initial hopes for the visit were growing shadowed. What had begun with promise was rapidly becoming something else. What was worse, he had no idea what had gone wrong.
“Your share of what?”
Angry mutterings rose from those warriors and representatives who had accompanied her. An increasingly wary Aniolo-jat was honestly confused. “I listen to my brothers and sisters, and I hear discontent. What troubles the S'Toa and its friends?”
“You ask for our support,” she told him, “and some of us give it freely. Where the A'Jah and the Y'Hua lead, I should like all of the S'Toa and others to follow. But that cannot happen until we certain we follow as equals, not as servants.”
What was going on here? he found himself wondering uncomfortably. “Was it ever said or implied otherwise?”
“There are many ways of saying things,” declared an elder in the entourage. “We want our share.”
Again, the laying of a cryptic claim. “You have your percentage of what booty has been taken from the Deyzara.”
“We not talking of share of that,” growled Sesesthi-toa. “We demand our share of additional credit paid you by our scale-skinned friends.” Further grumbling from the assembled rose in support of her request.
Aniolo-jat's ears all but folded in upon themselves in confusion. “What are you talk about? Is no ‘additional credit' from the AAnn. All funds given to support our cause are openly admitted to and accounted for.�
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She glared at him, nearly rising from her unmoving chair. “What about last four payments of two hundred thousand Commonwealth credits each? Where is admitting and accounting for that?”
Could they all be out of their minds? “Are no such payments. Where did you hear such crazy tales? Have you been talking military tactics with forest spirits?”
“We have seen the accounting,” declared another member of the war chief's troupe. “It was very clear. Four payments of two hundred thousand apiece, paid into two accounts controlled by the A'Jah and two by the Y'Hua. That is great deal of credit. It has not been used to support the action against Deyzara or for anything else. It just sit and wait.” Hands rested on knees, claws fully extended. “As do we.”
Without waiting for permission from Hata or elder, a noted fighter spoke up from the back of the crowd. “Do the A'Jah and the Y'Hua think to become wealthy on blood of the P'Kei? By my ancestors, I vow such a thing will not happen!” His disrespectful outburst was echoed by many of those bunched up behind Sesesthi-toa and the other ranking warriors.
Aniolo-jat worked fast to dampen the rising anger that threatened to shift from discussion to outright hostility.
“You say you have seen accounting for these vast sums of credit. Where did this accounting come from?”
The elder seated in the suspension chair next to Sesesthi-toa sported a streak of bright gray fur running the length of his body. “From special branch of the company Poutukaa. The payments to Y'Hua and A'Jah accounts were authorized by Geladu-tiv himself. When I go to inquire about them, he not available, but I was shown the relevant record-makings by a Sakuntala fiduciary. They said that the money was paid for ‘services rendered.' ” His fur, a gunmetal blue as well as gray, bristled. “What services have Y'Hua and A'Jah rendered to the Commonwealth Administration that they have not seen fit to tell their friends among the S'Toa, the P'Kei, the D'Sie, and the M'Rou about? Services that are worth eight hundred thousand Commonwealth credits.”
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