by S. N. Lewitt
A voice came from the outlet beside him. "I will venture this," the Mromrosi informed him.
"Good," said Haakogard, knowing that the alien would serve to distract the Comes Riton and his men.
"Clever. They're still trying to figure out what the Mromrosi is," said Perzda.
"Aren't we all?" Haakogard interjected.
She ignored this. "But once they get used to him, I will wager that the Comes Riton will be looking for Zim again. He's captivated by her. It's the blue hair." She chuckled; her chuckle was one of the few things about her that did not seem ordinary—she sounded like a very large and lazy cat purring.
"Was it a mistake to use her? I didn't anticipate this infatuation," Haakogard mused aloud.
"Who knows?" said Perzda. She saw the Bunter returning. "I'll let you get dressed. We'll review later." Without waiting for his dismissal, she left the conference room.
By the time Haakogard emerged from his quarters, parade-perfect, the jangle and blare of the Comes Riton's military band had become loud enough that he knew he would have to use his ship's hailer to be heard over the noise. He stood at his command couch in the bridge and watched the surveill screens.
The Comes Riton was accompanied by thirty musicians and eighty-eight soldiers. If they were going to have to fight, thought Haakogard, the odds were bad. "Tallis," he said to his Executive Officer, "I want you to keep an eye on the surveill screens at all times. Pay special attention to those monitoring the perimeters. We'll need warning if anything is happening out there."
Mawson Tallis offered a halfhearted salute. "I'd rather be out there with you, just in case."
Haakogard was familiar with the complaint. "Be glad you're not. And while you're in here, keep your fingers off the triggers. We're supposed to be helping these people. We've been sent to assist them." As he said it, he could not conceal the uncertainty that had been with him since his arrival on Neo Biscay.
"But if they're armed . . ." Tallis protested, his eyes growing brighter with anticipation. "I've got to protect you first of all."
"No," Haakogard corrected him patiently, "you have to protect the mission first of all." He watched while Tallis considered this, then went on. "We are here because the Twelve sent us here." In the Magnicate Alliance there was no higher authority, and Tallis flushed at the name.
"What do the Twelve care about Neo Biscay?" he challenged, glowering.
"I can't imagine," said Haakogard. "But I was given my orders by Fleet Commodore Herd himself, and he answers only to the Twelve. So. . ." He pressed the inter-ship hailer. "Are you ready?"
The three Group Line Chiefs responded in unison.
"Then let's get it done." Haakogard drew on his pale gray gloves. "And Tallis, remember: nothing hasty."
The Comes Riton was clearly offended by the long delay, and as he approached Haakogard, he said, "I am not used to such a reception. I have never needed to wait as you have required me to wait." His beautiful voice carried over the racket his band was making.
Haakogard and his three Group Line Chiefs stood the proper distance away from the Most Excellent Comes. "Sadly," shouted Haakogard so that he could be heard over the din, "since we were not informed you were coming, we had no opportunity to prepare ourselves for your visit, and as a result could not welcome you as you arrived."
"Ridiculous!" jeered the Comes Riton, but not as confidently as before. He paused, then signaled his musicians to stop. The silence was so abrupt that it was nearly as intrusive as the music had been. "But I will excuse your execrable behavior because you are strangers and you have upheld my honor."
"We have done as Petit Harriers do, Comes Riton," said Haakogard, deliberately leaving off Most Excellent; he was rewarded with a hard stare. "We are sworn to the Magnicate Alliance, not to you. If there is ever any dispute between you and the Alliance, we are Alliance troops, not poMoend's and—"
"That is enough!" The Comes Riton was very angry and his sand-colored eyes had an implacable yellow shine to them. "I will hear nothing more of this!" He gestured to some of his officers and weapons appeared in their hands.
Haakogard fell silent, still.
The men with the Comes Riton were restive now, and a few of the musicians were so nervous that they could not keep quiet.
The Comes Riton paced back and forth in front of Haakogard, his expression more and more forbidding. At last he stopped and pointed directly at the Line Commander. "Where is Zim?" he demanded.
"At her work," said Haakogard mildly. "She has readings to enter in the permanent log of the mission. They must be made at specific times every day. Each member of the crew has such obligations." It was a convenient fiction used on missions, and the officers with him supported the lie now.
"That's the truth," said Section Leader Jarrick Riven mendaciously. "If these readings are not entered regularly, the Alliance ships will come to find out why they have not been made." He grinned mirthlessly. "They will assume there has been trouble and they will be prepared to fight."
"I wish to see Nola Zim," the Comes Riton said, making it a command. "She interests me."
Standing behind the Petit Harriers, Thunghalis paled and stared at the Comes Riton as if the man were suddenly a complete stranger to him.
"Oh, really," said Group Leader Perzda with feigned amazement. "You arrive with an army and then you say she interests you." She shook her head as if watching an ambitious child attempting a task beyond his skill. "She is doing her sworn duty, Most Excellent Comes Riton. It would not be honorable for her to fail in this." She nodded in the direction of Group Chief Leilah Chanliz, an angular, graceful, tall woman from Lontano, with pale, flawless skin and bright hair. "Would someone else be able to assist you?"
"No," said the Comes Riton gracelessly. "I must speak with Navigator Zim, and no other." The men around him were standing nearer to him, weapons still drawn, and their expressions were no longer bored or polite; a few reflected the astonishment on Thunghalis' features. One or two lowered their weapons. "I will speak with her or you will answer for it."
"Oh, Bleeding-root Rot!" Haakogard said under his breath, using the same mild oath his father had all those years ago on Grunhavn. This was turning into a standoff, and he hated standoffs.
"What's the matter, Line Commander?" asked Group Chief Eben Dachnor.
"Nothing," said Haakogard, speaking a little louder. "This whole impasse is ridiculous. We're supposed to be aiding them. That's what Commodore Herd ordered. We're not here to fight with them."
"Better let them know," Dachnor suggested, smiling tightly.
A poMoend officer with the shoulder points of a Tydbar came directly up to Haakogard. "The Most Excellent Comes Riton is here to speak with Navigator Nola Zim. Any attempt to prevent this will be known as a hostile act and we will respond as honor demands. We are sworn to uphold the honor of the Comes Riton."
"This isn't about honor," said Viridis Perzda, just above a whisper so that the poMoend men could not hear her, "it's about manners."
Haakogard concealed a sigh and bargained for time. "All right. I'll speak with Navigator Zim and find out what she wishes to do. If she is willing to interrupt her work to speak with you, then I'll allow it. If she isn't willing, I will have to stand by her decision." He looked directly at the Comes Riton. "And our firepower is superior to yours. I ask you to keep that in mind if you're tempted to force the issue."
"You have been sent to protect me," protested the Comes Riton. "How can you refuse what I demand of you when you are here to protect me? You are failing in your purpose, and that is not honorable."
"We are here to prevent a war. That was what you required, and that is what I am going to do. I will do nothing that will cost me one member of my crew, and if that means firing on your troops, so be it," said Haakogard. "If you will wait here? Dachnor, will you be good enough to present my compliments to Navigator Zim and ask her if she would join me and the Comes Riton at her earliest convenience, if she is agreeable?" He said it in the b
est form, as neatly as a Grand Harrier would have, he told himself.
"You do not order her? Why do you not order her?" the Comes Riton demanded, his sand-colored eyes looking pale with emotion. "It dishonors you to make your order a request."
"She has this time at liberty unless we are in actual combat alert. It would not uphold my honor to countermand our traditions. My authority is curtailed during liberty hours," said Haakogard, then added, "and she does not like being ordered about. I know this about her, Most Excellent Comes. She's served on the Yngmoto for six years. I've learned that much about her."
"So." The Comes Riton folded his arms and glared at his officers. "We will remain here until she comes. Eventually her liberty will end."
Haakogard bowed a little. "It's your planet; do as you wish. Perzda, make sure we have all the monitors operating, will you?"
"Done," she said, "already."
"I might have known," Haakogard said softly and heard Riven and Dachnor chuckle. "The Group Chiefs remain here, except Dachnor. The rest of you can return to your ships and get back to your duties." He signaled to Thunghalis. "I need a word with you, Pangbar, if you will? I must make a log entry."
"I am no longer a Pangbar. I forfeited my right to the rank," Thunghalis corrected him as he followed Haakogard to the entry hatch of the Yngmoto.
"You're the closest thing I've got to one," Haakogard pointed out as they stepped inside. He drew him into the suiting alcove. "What is going on out there? Will you tell me that? I've been going over the tutorials and I didn't find anything in them about the Comes Riton's women."
"He doesn't have any," said Thunghalis miserably, looking more worried than ever. "Why should he, being a clone, have need for a woman? And if he were to have a woman, it would not be a free-breeding one. Women are for those who free-breed, or who are not entitled to the honor of clones." He folded his long hands, cracking the knuckles loudly. "I have never heard of the Comes Riton so . . . forgetting himself in this manner. It goes against all traditions. No phase has ever done—"
"But you say that any phase is still the same Comes Riton as the first," Haakogard reminded him. "How can you account for this? Is he a late developer, perhaps?" His feeble joke was not understood at all.
"He develops as all others do," said Thunghalis seriously. "He repeats himself." His frown deepened as he spoke.
"Seems that cloning doesn't cover everything, after all," Haakogard said, and in another, crisper tone, he went on. "All right, go to your quarters but keep ready. Watch the surveills in the wall; I'll have the monitors routed there. You'll know if something happens that requires we respond. If that happens, use the hailer to warn me."
"I should remain at your side," said Thunghalis with determination.
Haakogard shook his head. "I don't want to remind the Comes Riton that you're around; he's touchy enough without that. Who knows, he might decide to pass the time by having you kill yourself for his amusement if you stay with me."
"I wish he would," said Thunghalis, his eyes alight with fervor.
"Well, I don't," said Haakogard bluntly. "Let me know if you see anything—anything!—that does not seem right to you. Don't hesitate. We can't afford delay."
"Very well," said Thunghalis unhappily.
At that Haakogard relented. "We'll get this figured out, Pangbar, don't worry about it." He started to turn away but saw Navigator Zim coming down the hall, her short forest-green Petit Harriers' cape swinging around her. He motioned Thunghalis to remain where he was and stepped out of the alcove. "Nola."
"Line Commander Haakogard." She was looking annoyed, but her expression changed. "Dachnor's at my station. I just reviewed the surveills. What does the Comes Riton think he's up to?"
"He's courting you," said Haakogard, somewhere between disgust and amusement.
"Is that what he thinks it is? Really?" she asked of the air. "Courtship? I know part of my job is to be a distraction, but this time it backfired, didn't it?" Before Haakogard could answer, she flung up her hands. "What am I supposed to do now? This is impossible."
"Use your good sense," said Haakogard. "And try not to escalate the situation if you can. He wants to fight someone right now, and that would not be . . . convenient."
"What is this, a schoolyard? Fighting over girls is for children," she protested, "not some sixth or seventh or eighth generation clone." She fastened the four decorative frogs that closed her cape so that she was now enveloped to her knees in the garment.
"He might as well be a child," said Haakogard. "Thunghalis says that the Comes Riton has never been involved with a woman before: being a clone, he has no need for women, you see." He kept his voice completely neutral.
"Lord of the Poisons!" Zim swore. "What kind of lunacy is this? How can this happen?" She tapped her foot in exasperation. "All right, I'll talk to him, but you'll have to come with me. I don't want to be by myself with him. What were they thinking of when the colonists started this cloning nonsense?" She did not wait for an answer but opened the main hatch. "You'd better be coming. Sir."
"Right behind you," said Haakogard, planning to speak with Thunghalis later about what the Pangbar had surely overheard.
As soon as Zim stepped out of the ship, the brasses and gongs set to work again, and the racket was overwhelming. She stood still, trying not to clap her hands over her ears, and watched while the Comes Riton approached her with an escort of five Tydbars.
"It is ultimate delight to see you," he said, silencing the music with a decisive gesture. His splendid voice rang more than all the brazen voices of the gongs and trumpets.
"What can I be but flattered?" Zim replied, glancing over her shoulder to be certain that Haakogard was there.
"What else is possible?" the Comes Riton concurred, wholly unaware of her sarcasm. "You have done that which has never been done before, in any phase of the Comes, from the True First until now. It is not surprising that you are from a distant planet and unlike anyone on Neo Biscay, for only a woman as remarkable as you could cause me to depart so totally from the nature of myself and the traditions of all my phases." He beamed at her.
"How kind of you to say so," said Zim expressionlessly.
"We will begin proper arrangements." He laughed, the sound deep and theatrical. "For once there are no traditions to guide us, and I have nothing to draw upon for myself, except my ingenuity and my honor. For both of us it is an experience entirely unique. I will have to hope that you will contribute your wishes to the planning and negotiations."
"What planning and negotiations?" Zim asked, for the first time showing real alarm.
"Why, to arrange for us to marry." He was startled by her question.
This announcement brought stares from the Petit Harriers, but the soldiers and officers who accompanied the Comes Riton were openly distressed at what he said. One Tydbar turned on his heel and walked away, and several men fingered their weapons.
The oldest Tydbar, who stood very near the Comes Riton, cleared his throat. "That would lead to free-breeding, and it is prohibited for all of us. You are a clone, Most Excellent Comes, and the strictures are intended to preserve you without contamination."
"This isn't free-breeding," said the Comes Riton, making a gesture to show how little the issue concerned him. "I will have no part of any female from this planet, just as has been the case before. But Navigator Zim is not from Neo Biscay. Therefore she is not part of those who are free-breeders, and therefore it is fitting and honorable that she marry me. It is because she is alien to Neo Biscay that it is permissible."
Most of his men did not seem positively impressed by the Comes Riton's reasoning, one of the Pangbars going so far as to make a short, scoffing sound.
"Navigator Nola Zim," she said of herself in the third person, as she would have done at home on Xiaoqing, "is not able to marry the Comes Riton or anyone else. As the Comes Riton is governed by the laws of his homeland, so is she governed by the laws of hers. Regretfully she must decline the generous an
d flattering proposal of the Comes Riton because she is not free to accept it." She bowed to him, then shot a look at Haakogard that clearly said get me out of here.
"Impossible!" the Comes Riton burst out.
Haakogard stepped forward. "No. What Navigator Zim tells you is the truth. In the tradition of her homeland, she is married already. She would not be allowed into the Petit Harriers if she were not."
"All the women in the Petit Harriers are married?" the oldest Tydbar asked incredulously.
"No, just all the women from Xiaoqing, which is Navigator Zim's home, which is their tradition." He rested his hand on his stunner, making sure that the Comes Riton saw him do it. "We would be failing in our duty if we permitted you to take her away from us, not only as Harriers of the Alliance, but as those answerable to her husband and family." He indicated the monitors at the perimeters of their site. "These machines are set to guard us—all of us. It isn't wise to press your case, Comes Riton."
The Comes Riton glowered at Haakogard. "We would do no harm to those who serve with Navigator Zim." He made a single, chopping gesture and his men formed into ranks of six. "We will return when I have come upon a way to deal with this. If there is any attempt at departure, we will send our ships after you and we will bring you down."
"With Navigator Zim?" Haakogard asked, pushing his luck.
"She will take no harm," said the Comes Riton a little wildly.
Haakogard knew his Katana-class Skimmers could easily outrun the old-fashioned flyers of Neo Biscay, but he did not mention it. "We are here at your request to help you settle the matter of your alternate clone. Or has that slipped your mind?"
Now the Comes Riton was truly furious. "It is more essential than ever that my alternate be devivified. If I am to have a wife, the alternate cannot continue to exist, for that would endanger everything. There would be too much confusion about the succession, for we will have sons to succeed me, and the clones will be for an alternate if the sons are not sufficient. This time there were shouts of anger and disapproval from his men but he ignored them.