“You are Viis,” Ampris said firmly. “The term ‘Reject’ is an insult. They do not want you, no matter whether they supply you with food or not. They do not want you. That must hurt.”
Harthril muttered angrily to himself and moved away. Luax watched him pace about and would not look at Ampris.
“I know I am saying things that upset all of you,” Ampris admitted. “I’m sorry. You have seen my own sons. You know that I can sympathize with your situation. Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps the Viis government won’t turn against you. But I have personally seen the blighted stelf crops. I have seen patrollers burning the fields. I know the food stores are running low, and that the cargo ships have not gone to the colonies to bring back more. The food will run out. And when it comes down to a choice between the accepted Viis families and you, well—”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Mahradin flicked out his tongue. “We see the threat. Or we would not be here at all.”
Ampris held back her own impatience, wishing they could have reached this point sooner.
“You ask much of us,” Mahradin said. “But what do we get for risking our food? When the Viis drive you away, will they not remember the trouble we caused them and punish us?”
“You’ll come with us,” Ampris said. “To Ruu-one-one-three. How ironic that your people should inherit those beautiful lands instead of your flawless Viis counterparts.”
Mahradin swung around and exchanged glances with the other Rejects. “And we would have our own ship?”
“Yes,” Ampris said. It was so easy to promise what she did not as yet have.
“You would accept us? Not torment us?”
“Yes.”
“You would give us our own land, not make slaves of us?”
“We are putting an end to slavery!” Ampris said heatedly. “Not taking it with us.”
Mahradin fell silent.
After a moment, Ampris backed her ears. “I don’t know what else to say to convince you. Only that we need your help. Without you, we cannot succeed.”
“Flattery is an evil thing.”
“Truth is truth,” she said shortly.
At last he flicked out his tongue and nodded. “Very well. We will cooperate. But do not forget your promise, Ampris. We make bad enemies.”
“I want no enemies,” Ampris replied. “I will not forget. When can you begin?”
He blinked at her eagerness. The others looked disconcerted.
“It is not easy to change the habits of a lifetime,” Mahradin began.
“You must start tomorrow,” she said. “Today if possible. Not just in Vir. Can you persuade Rejects in the other cities to go along? The more widespread the trouble is, the better.”
“We will see what can be done,” Mahradin said reluctantly. “But take care, Ampris. You are setting something very frightening in motion.”
She no longer allowed herself second thoughts. Clutching her Eye of Clarity, she said, “I know.”
That night it began, the first phase of Ampris’s plan. The Rejects might have been wary and suspicious, but they did not delay. On the evening vidcast, a report showed up about Rejects forcing their way into a fashionable restaurant and showing their features. Patrons had been upset. Many had departed immediately, in the middle of their meals. The proprietor had gotten the Rejects to leave, but he was distraught at the loss of the evening’s usual revenues.
Elrabin laughed and tapped Ampris on the arm. “Get ’em in their pockets, see?” he said with glee while Velia sat curled up against him. “That’s brilliant.”
At first the Rejects were peaceful, as Ampris had requested. They simply turned up at any and every public event, making their heretofore-invisible presence known. Viis citizens apparently had no idea just how large the Reject population had grown in recent years. Now they never knew when they were going to be accosted by a Reject claiming to be a relative and asking to move in.
Soon, an incident of violence was reported. Then another and another.
“No!” Ampris said angrily. “No bloodshed!”
But the Viis grew more violent in repudiating the Rejects. And despite Ampris’s advice, the Rejects retaliated in kind. Suddenly there were riots, break-ins, and looting.
“Mahradin,” Ampris said during another hastily called meeting. “You must put some kind of control on this. Rejects are getting hurt. If the riots don’t stop, the government will do something terrible to your people.”
Mahradin looked up at her fearlessly. In the past few weeks, something had changed in his eyes. She saw it in other Reject eyes as well—a new pride, a new fierceness. “The government has done nothing,” he said with confidence. “Oh, sometimes the patrollers come in and break things up. There have been some looters arrested. But no one wants to look at us long enough to put restraints on us.”
“Take care,” Ampris warned him. “If you push too far. the Kaa will order—”
“What?” he replied. “Many of us carry aristocratic, even imperial blood, you know. We may live in poverty, but our lineages are proud.”
“I see,” she said, understanding at last why the government was being so patient. “But take care. The Viis have never been very good at coping with moral dilemmas.”
Mahradin smiled and flicked out his tongue. “That is exactly what we count on. Have you seen the latest vid-casts? Debates over the Reject problem on almost every channel. The patrollers can’t be everywhere at once.”
“And deportation of the abiru has all but stopped,” Ampris added. “Yes, that is good news for us all.”
“We’re doing our end of your plan,” Mahradin said. “Now it’s time for you to do your part.”
She nodded. “The second phase of my plan is already going into effect.”
“And what is that?”
She had learned to value these varied leaders and co-conspirators, but she was wise enough not to trust any of them too completely.
She smiled at Mahradin and tapped her finger against her muzzle the way Elrabin did. “Elrabin the Kelth is in charge of phase two. When it is successful, you will learn all about it.”
CHAPTER•EIGHTEEN
As soon as Mahradin finally left, Ampris limped over to their linkup. Someone whose name she could not remember had stolen it and brought it here to their little headquarters. Velia sat hunched by it now, carefully trying to feed a surreptitious message into the link by piggybacking it onto a legitimate signal.
“Any luck?” Ampris asked.
Velia shot her a look of frustration. “I said I’ll let you know.”
Ampris veered away, not wanting to irritate her more. They had never gotten along, and there was nothing Ampris could do about it except leave Velia alone as much as possible.
Restless, she roamed about the one-room structure. So far they had been safe living here in Jobul’s tiny house, although it could not accommodate everyone in the group. The others were scattered, and coming and going was risky, although less so while the patrollers were busy dealing with the unruly Rejects.
Ampris told herself, however, that they should not risk Jobul’s home much longer. He had been kind and generous, surrendering his private space to a bunch of strangers. Thanks to his care, she was much stronger now, almost her old self, although she now wore a brace to support her leg. She peered out a narrow security slit at the street outside, wishing she could have gone with Elrabin and the cubs today. But she was not allowed outside. The risk that someone would recognize her was too great. Velia was here both to operate the linkup and to act as an unofficial guard.
“I have something!” Velia said sharply.
Startled, Ampris swung around, then hurried to her. “What is it? A voice signal?”
“Yes. Someone’s gotten our message and is calling back. I’ve routed and cross-routed it so we probably can’t be traced by any monitors, but don’t talk too long. If I say cut it off, do it right then. Agreed?”
“Yes,” Ampris said eagerly.
They had no pictu
re capabilities, but she reached for the mike. “Shrazhak Ohr, this is the Freedom Network calling. Shrazhak Ohr, come in.”
Static crackled over the speakers. Then a thin, hostile voice replied, “What do you want?”
“I’m calling the engineers of Shrazhak Ohr. This is Ampris of the Freedom Network.”
“What do you want?”
Ampris explained in a few well-chosen sentences, keeping it as brief as she could.
Silence came back to her, a silence so long she wondered if the signal had been lost. Velia scowled, looking worried.
“Shrazhak Ohr, are you there?” Ampris asked.
“We cannot help you,” the engineer replied.
Ampris backed her ears. Zrheli were always difficult. Their stubbornness, she figured, must be a genetic trait. “Please,” she said. “If we can get the abiru population on the cargo ships, will you let them through the gate to Ruu-one-one-three?”
More silence. Velia fidgeted and began to pant.
“No,” came the answer finally.
“Can’t or won’t?” Ampris asked.
“No.”
“Look, I know the planet is somehow sacred to your people. I know you’ve closed it off to protect it from the Viis. I honor and respect that. But for most of us our homeworlds are either destroyed or still under Viis rule. We need somewhere to go, somewhere to live as free, self-governed citizens with our own way of—”
“No.”
“What do you fear?” Ampris asked in rising irritation. To get so close and find herself blocked frustrated her. Trying to control her temper, she said, “We would live on that world with gratitude. We would honor it and take care of it. We intend no exploitation. We would not ruin it the way the Viis have ruined Viisymel.”
The engineer said nothing.
“Please,” she said. “Won’t you help us? Have you no wish to live free yourselves? Think of your families. Think of what life could be like for them if they were free of Viis domination.”
Nothing.
“Do you love your Viis masters so much?” she asked in desperation, not knowing how to reach these fierce, feathered scientists. They were rude, isolated, brilliant, and difficult to understand. But once, when she was trapped in Vess Vaas, she had succeeded in getting the Zrheli there to help her. She was praying now that she could do it again, but so far nothing was working. “I guess you do love them. I guess perhaps they have stopped killing you in the arena baitings as punishment for keeping the gate closed. If you are happy under Viis domination, then I shouldn’t ask—”
“Who is happy in this box of death?” asked the Zrhel fiercely. “And you have killed some of us, Ampris. We know your name. We abhor it!”
She sighed. They would never forgive her for what she’d been forced to do. They would never trust her. And yet it had been a Zrhel, frightened out of his mind, who had savaged her in the arena, crippling her leg and ending her career as a gladiator.
“My apologies can never be strong enough for those I was forced to slaughter,” she said quietly. “We all have our regrets, engineer. I am trying to pay my debts by seeing that all the abiru races go free—at least all who live on Viisymel. I can’t help others in the empire now, not directly, anyway. But the mining worlds have broken free of the Viis. If we can break free too, then others will manage. Will you help us?”
“Can’t.”
Her ears pricked forward. This was an improvement from the bald no of earlier. “Can’t? Why not?”
“Surveillance. We can’t open gate. Masters would know at once.”
Ampris’s heart started beating faster with excitement and hope. “So it can be done,” she breathed. “I knew it.”
“What? Transmission unclear.”
“If we can send a distraction for your station managers, something that will break up their surveillance, will you help?”
“In exchange for what?”
“Freedom to come with us.”
“You have too many ifs in your plan, Ampris. How can you stop the surveillance on us—”
“Leave that to me,” she said with confidence.
“And how will you get abiru slaves released and on ships? Who will fly those ships?”
“They can run on automatics all the way to the station,” she answered. “But there are abiru pilots and equipment handlers. We’ll figure it out.”
“You cannot do this.”
Velia was signaling her. Ampris backed her ears. “I’m out of time. I’m being traced. Promise me that if I deliver my end you will deliver on yours.”
“Get off now!” Velia said.
Ampris leaned closer to the mike. “Promise!” she said urgently.
Static crackled, but his reply was cut off.
Roaring in frustration, Ampris swung around, but Velia glared right back.
“I told you I’d cut the signal to keep us from being traced,” she said defiantly. “You had plenty of time.”
“But now I don’t know what his answer was,” Ampris said, pacing back and forth. She wanted to smash something. She wanted to bite something. “How soon until we can call back?”
Velia bared her teeth. “No way. It was too risky the first time. We stay off this now. One activation could be enough to let a tracer finish coming right to us.”
Ampris growled.
“Look,” Velia said. “I know you think I’m useless. Maybe I don’t have much courage, but I know about tracers. I know about patrollers raiding in the dark and dragging off people you love, never to be seen again. It ain’t going to happen here, okay? We stay off this thing, until I think it’s safe. Or I’ll smash it. You understand?”
Velia’s voice was shaking. Her tilted eyes held memories of things no one should have to remember.
Ampris’s anger faded. In its place came sympathy and a certain measure of pity. “Yes, I understand perfectly,” she said quietly. “We’ll just have to proceed as though the engineer said yes.”
Velia snapped back her ears. “But that’s a lie! You don’t know for sure.”
“We’re not stopping now.”
“But if you get everyone all the way into space and we get stopped . . . No, Ampris, you can’t do it! You can’t take such a big risk.”
“I can,” Ampris said in a voice like iron. “And I will. Say nothing about this, Velia.”
“I have to. Lives are at stake. I can’t—”
Ampris advanced on her. “Velia, we’re all in this too deep now to back out. We have two choices now: We keep going with the plan and get off Viisymel, or we’ll eventually find ourselves arrested and in the death camps. Make up your mind, but keep your mouth shut.”
Velia panted, a mixture of resentment and fear on her face. “You don’t talk to Elrabin like this. You ain’t hateful to him.”
“I don’t have to be,” Ampris said. “He knows which way to jump. It looks like you’re still learning.”
“Everything has to be your way.”
“We agreed on the plan, Velia.”
“You don’t give folks much choice,” Velia said in resentment. “You get folks in trouble so that they have to keep helping you in order to get out of it. That’s the way you operate.”
Ampris’s gaze never wavered. “Freedom has to be earned. It’s never a gift.”
Velia lifted her muzzle proudly. “I won’t betray my mate, if that’s what you’re thinking. You’d like me to, wouldn’t you? So you could—”
“No, I don’t want you to betray Elrabin,” Ampris said wearily. “It would break his heart. He loves you deeply.”
Velia blinked as though she hadn’t expected Ampris to admit that. “No. He feels sorry for me. That’s different. It’s you he loves.”
“Elrabin and I have been friends a long time,” Ampris said, wishing Velia would grow up. “But I will never take a mate outside my own species. Nor will he. He adores you, Velia, or he wouldn’t have taken you as mate. If you haven’t figured that out by now, then it’s him you should be having this
conversation with, not me.”
Velia looked confused. She rubbed her muzzle with both hands. “But he never says anything. He never shows me—”
“He comes home to you,” Ampris broke in. “Elrabin grew up on the streets. He had a dust addict for a father and a mother who worked two or three shifts a day trying to feed her family. Elrabin has always been able to walk out of any situation he didn’t like. As I said, he comes home to you. If he can’t show you any better than that, then talk to him. I’m not the problem in your relationship.”
Velia sniffed and stared at the floor. “Sorry,” she said after a moment. “Maybe I’ve been wrong.”
“Maybe you have.”
Velia nodded. “I won’t tell the others about what happened today, not even Elrabin.”
Ampris sighed in relief. “Especially not Elrabin.”
But even as they smiled at each other perfunctorily and moved apart, Ampris wasn’t sure she could rely on Velia to keep any promise at all. If only Velia hadn’t cut the signal right at that second. It was almost as though she didn’t want Ampris to get an answer.
Or maybe Ampris was just growing paranoid and too suspicious of everyone.
Maybe.
Elrabin lay on a rooftop, feeling baked to a crisp by the sun, and squinted at the oblong-shaped building. Constructed of ugly, utilitarian block units designed for temporary structures, it was only one story and much smaller than he’d expected. It stood on a vacant lot where a much larger building had been taken down. Discarded steps and broken glass lay scattered about. A tall wire fence surrounded the building, and a pair of Toths stood guard, looking half-asleep and bored at their posts. One was chewing his cud. The other one yawned and flicked his floppy ears at the flies buzzing around his head.
About fifty meters or so behind the building, a structure under construction had begun to take shape above its foundations. No one was working today, which suited Elrabin fine.
He nudged the hooded cub lying next to him. “Tell me what you see.”
“It’s a gray building. It has a fence around it and some guards posted,” Nashmarl said. His voice was bored and as he answered he didn’t look at the building once.
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