by Patty Jansen
“Was there really a need to knock them out, Mr Wilson?”
“Would we have been able to check your administration otherwise?”
“I would have told you the same thing: I sent you all I have.”
“With the way Nations of Earth has treated me and my zhayma, would there have been any incentive for me to believe that?”
Danziger said nothing. I think he got the point. “I’ll submit a letter of protest about this.”
“Sure.” Let the bureaucrats fight over it.
I continued. “Mr President, I want Nations of Earth to understand that this has the potential to blow up into a conflict much bigger than taking two hundred thousand gamra citizens on Earth hostage.”
“We didn’t—”
“The emergency council used the military to close the Exchange.”
“To keep the murderers from leaving.”
“The action targeted the wrong people and sent the wrong signal. Gamra has no involvement. Nations of Earth did not invite me to give my opinion. I was not invited to the emergency council meeting.”
“Your position was compromised.”
“I was being treated as a suspect. Nicha Palayi was treated as a suspect, without reason.”
“I admit on behalf of the police that it was a mistake, but one I think they were justified in making.”
“It’s time that Nations of Earth understood that the conflict isn’t about Nations of Earth, but Nations of Earth is being used as a pawn. Nations of Earth is being used—forced and pushed to choose sides. Does anyone at Nations of Earth know what the conflict within gamra is about?”
Danziger stared at me.
I said in a low voice, “Isn’t that why I was employed?”
“You are welcome to explain this to the assembly.” Stiff-faced as hell.
“I will, after this is sorted. After that, I will return to my post. This isn’t over yet.” I met Danziger’s eyes squarely.
Danziger only nodded. “As you see fit, Mr Wilson. I don’t like you or your methods, but you do seem to have a talent for holding together a number of slippery threads.”
“Thank you, Mr President.” I made for the door.
“Mr Wilson?”
I turned.
“Just to be clear, don’t expect my vote. I intend to replace you as soon as possible.”
Oh shit, hell and damnation.
Danziger was going to bring in his cronies and take Nations of Earth back to the days of Kershaw. After this debacle, he might even have the numbers.
Where did that leave me?
I sure as hell wasn’t coming back here for a diplomatic post. Back then, when Amarru gave me the choice of getting out or staying, I had burned my bridges. I’d hoped, perhaps stupidly, that I could patch things up if I could solve Sirkonen’s murder.
But I was no nearer to finding proof, and now I’d been put on notice. Did I need Nations of Earth? Yes, I did, for the money. Did I fully represent them?
Well, actually . . . I represented peace, stability, mutually agreed relationships. I represented respect for cultures, all cultures, not just my own. I was a pioneer of the third wave of colonisation, moving beyond the parochial interests of Nations of Earth. I didn’t represent them. In all honesty, I probably never had.
Well, damn, that was one heck of a useful revelation that came about ten years too late.
In the train on the way to the hotel I was not the only one lost in thought. Night came early at this time of the year, and it was already almost dark outside. Evi and Telaris sat on either side of the cabin, silent, listening to whatever chatter came in on their comm units.
Ezhya Palayi sat in a corner alone, lost in communication.
I went to sit with Thayu and Ezhya’s guards, who were debating the course for tomorrow. We were to travel on the fast train across the Channel to York for the Dawkins Institute.
Thayu split her attention between the discussion and her reader, which displayed Sirkonen’s file in the familiar array of hexadecimal data in which she seemed to have patched more holes. She had restored two maps.
“We try to contact the son,” the female guard was saying. “He lives in this town. He might have something.”
Security seemed to have everything under control.
I dragged my reader onto my lap and connected with the news services. Flash Newspoint. I read through the headlines.
Housing crisis in Europe.
India defeats South Africa in cricket.
Our promise to the poor: Danziger.
I selected the last article and skimmed through text that spoke of Danziger’s commitment to suffering people of central Asia and Africa. Housing for refugees of the dust storms. Water recycling plants. Immunisation programs. Education. That was Danziger all over. Gamra was obviously a low priority on his list. Maybe he was right about that.
He wasn’t a bad man, and maybe I should just shut up and go away.
There was nothing about my visit. Nothing about gamra, the closure of the Exchange, or about Nicha’s release. It seemed the issue had already been forgotten. The world was still turning around; there were other news issues to take up space on the anchor page.
And there was nothing written by Melissa Hayworth. I entered her name. A list of articles came up, the last of which was the one about my isolation in Barresh. That was now ten days ago. Ten days in which she hadn’t published anything, or been in contact with me.
A chill went over my back. Either Danziger had silenced her, or . . . I had asked her to find information about Amoro Renkati.
Feeling sick, I sent her a message. Am in Rotterdam, if you want to see me.
I waited for her reply, but none came. I stared out the window, but all I saw was the reflection of Thayu and the guards at the table behind me. Ezhya Palayi had come back from his corner and spoke to his male guard. Telaris was checking the charge level on his gun.
Thayu stiffened, straightened, and pushed her hand to her earpiece.
The others stopped talking.
“Anything up?” Ezhya’s male guard asked.
Thayu listened, a frown coming over her face. “I’m getting an outside signal.”
Outside being jargon for enemy.
“Close?”
She listened again. “Wait . . . it’s gone.”
The guards exchanged meaningful glances.
“Are we in trouble, mashara?” I asked.
The female guard turned to me as if noticing me for the first time. “Of course they know where we are, Delegate. We know where they are, too. They won’t move until we have what they want. But if they’re coming closer, we’d best get to our accommodation soon.”
Amarru had booked a hotel next to a railway station, in a sleepy, insignificant new suburb, one I was not familiar with.
There were three rooms: one for me, and Nicha, I hoped, but there had been no sign of him yet; one large room for the men and a smaller one for the two women. My room had enough beds to sleep a family of six. I stood there, looking at all those beds, feeling miserable. How I wanted to be back in my apartment in Barresh. I dumped my luggage on the double bed in the separate bedroom, because its window looked out over a courtyard rather than the street.
After a quick meal of take-away chicken, which we shared in the men’s bedroom and at which the conversation consisted of security arrangements, I left for the solitude of my own room.
Someone waited at the door. Someone slender, wearing a dress, and with a mass of curly dark hair.
“Cory?”
My heart jumped. “Eva, what are you doing here?”
“It seems this is the only way I can see you.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“I got a message.”
“Who from?”
“From you.”
“I didn’t send a—” I stared down the corridor. Nothing.
Thayu?
What?
Check bugs. Someone’s slipped our security.
“Oh, Cory!” She flung her arms about me. It was awkward to feel her warmth through all those layers of clothing, and I noticed how small and thin she was, compared to Thayu. I pushed back, glancing at the door, listening out for Thayu’s response.
Someone was running down the stairs to the entrance of the hotel.
Eva stood there, looking very small and fragile, and frightened, her eyes wide.
“Eva, what were you thinking? It’s dangerous to come here.”
“I really wanted to see you. The message said—”
“I didn’t send you a message. Honest. I wanted to keep you safe. Dangerous people are watching us. Please go to a safe place. I will come and see you. I promise.”
“I’m not important.”
I cringed. Please Eva, don’t start this now.
“Cory, you’ve been running away from me ever since you left so suddenly. I don’t know why. I can’t get onto you. I leave messages, but you never write back.”
“I replied to every message I got. Danziger cut off my communication. I’ve had to deal with an emergency.”
Her eyes went hard. “It’s always the same, isn’t it? The world revolves around you and your work.”
The door opened. “Hold it!” Thayu, in Coldi. She stood there, legs apart, pointing her charge gun into the room.
Eva screamed.
Cory?
It’s fine.
Thayu let the weapon sink.
Eva came out from behind me, panting, her eyes raking Thayu’s black-clad form, her armour, her massive shoulders and arms. Looked from me to Thayu and back.
“I see.” Her voice was cold. “I received this message from Delia Murchison’s office, that you’d taken up with . . . one of them . . . that you had taken her to bed.”
Thayu strode into the room and passed a scanner over Eva’s back.
Thay’? Any bugs?
No. How did she get in?
Eva’s voice sounded far off through the roaring of blood in my ears. “I didn’t believe it, Cory. I thought you were a good man, and I thought she was just trying to be nasty. I trusted you!” Her voice cracked. “You’re not even listening to me!”
Thayu stepped between us, as if ready to protect me.
“That’s her, isn’t it?”
“Eva, this is Thayu. She is my zhayma temporarily replacing Nicha. She is my colleague. Nothing happened between us.”
“I don’t believe that. Tell me. Tell me to my face and look me in the eye. Then I will believe you.”
“Listen Eva. What I’m going to say now is important. I want you to go home, and stay there until this has been solved. The people who sent you the message are extremely dangerous, and they’re using you.”
“No one is using me. I came by myself.”
“But someone gave you this address.”
“No one gave me anything! You’re avoiding the question. Tell me the truth, Cory. Did you sleep with her?”
“No, I didn’t! Listen to me and stop the hysterics. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
She stepped back, blinking. “I don’t believe you.”
“Then don’t.” I let my hands fall by my sides. There was no arguing the evidence anyway. She could easily have seen the recording of me and Thayu kissing in bed, because there was a recording of it somewhere. Never mind I hadn’t taken it any further. In hindsight, I should have taken it further.
Eva let out a strangled sob and hid her face in her hands. “Why Cory, why? You promised you’d marry me.”
“Damn it, Eva. Listen to me. I want you to go home safely. I’ll come when all this is over, and then we can talk about it.”
“Talk about what? I have a life, Cory, and I don’t want to spend it justifying you.”
Why should she have to justify me? For her family? That I couldn’t be at every damn dinner party? It was always the same issue, always. Laying claim on my time. Demanding things I could not, possibly, comply with. And I had enough of it. “If that’s what you want, fine. Go and find yourself a Polish guy who will be happy to be your trophy husband.”
Silence. Shit, I’d let myself go.
“Cory . . .” Her eyes were wide. A tear slid down her cheek “You didn’t mean that, did you? You couldn’t possibly take up with her could you?”
Oh, how the memories flooded back of how insanely jealous she’d been when we just started going out and someone mentioned Inaru.
“It is not about her. It’s about us. I’m stressed and there are dangerous things afoot, so you’re not getting the best response out of me right now, but since you’re pressing me for an answer, I’ll tell you as it is, much more bluntly than I wanted: This—us—is not going to work. My life is in Barresh, and you want me to come to live here permanently. I—”
“I said I’d come.”
“Eva, please. I’m no regular diplomat and you know that. You’re much better off finding yourself a man who agrees with your father and who is happy to host dinner parties.”
“But I love you, Cory.” A tear trickled down Eva’s cheek.
I let a silence lapse.
“You know, Eva, I don’t think you do. You love a person you think is me. You love me as you want me to be, not as I am. It’s the same for me. You dream of me being a perfect Nations of Earth diplomat. I dream of you heading my household in Barresh. Neither of us is going to fulfil the other person’s dream.”
A further silence. Eva sniffed.
“Eva, you have a lot of love to give, but I am not the man you want to give it to. Step into the world and enjoy yourself. You’re young—you have plenty of time. Don’t wait for me.”
She said nothing, crying silently. I felt a stab of guilt. It was a bugger of a thing to have happened like this, and I had known people were watching when I kissed Thayu, and I’d still let myself go.
“I’ll get Telaris to take you home.”
“I can get home by myself.”
Abruptly, she turned and ran for the door.
I heaved a sigh and sat down on the bed. What a mess.
Thayu shut the door and crossed the room, silently settling herself on the desk. After a long and heavy silence, she said, “That is the woman who is contracted to you?”
I nodded, not meeting her eyes.
“What did she want?”
“To see me.” To a Coldi, that would sound strange. A person did not love the subject of a contract and would not seek them out for pleasure. “Tell me, Thayu, she wasn’t wired at all?”
“Not her.”
“Renkati sent her the images of . . .”
There was no emotion in her eyes, no sign of understanding or sympathy. No sign that she even remembered that crazy kiss.
I breathed out heavily. My job didn’t lend itself to relationships, least of all with her. Soon, Nicha would be back and I’d best not interfere with Nicha’s contract.
She pushed herself up. “Well, that was all a scare for nothing, then.”
Then she left the room, too.
I lay awake most of the night, staring at the ceiling.
22
A RATHER STRANGE procession boarded the train in the morning. I had persuaded the guards to dress less conspicuously, but that didn’t take away from the fact that two of them were dark-skinned and very tall, and they still had to wear sunglasses to hide their green eyes, and that the others all had peacock hair and included a woman more muscled than an Earth champion weightlifter. Earth clothes fitted them poorly. Only Ezhya Palayi looked remotely normal. At least his clothes fitted him, but his hair gave him away. He sat a little apart from the rest of the group, fiddling with a comm unit. Something to be taken care of at home no doubt.
I sat and stared out the window, where green fields whizzed past under a leaden sky. I was exhausted, my eyes gritty. I kept seeing Eva’s face, and wished there had been more time to talk to her, wished there had been the opportunity to break the news
gently, if such news could be broken gently. It was all my fault. I should never have let myself be lulled into thinking I could adapt to her world.
I had deceived her; I had not done the right thing with her, and I couldn’t possibly, ever, make up for it.
Guilt cut deeper with Melissa Hayworth’s continued silence. When I decided sleep wasn’t going to happen, I scanned the news services, but found no trace of her. She had a network diary—untouched since the day that fateful article had been published. Had she lost her job because of me? Was she hiding from Renkati?
One point of light had been a message from Nicha saying he would meet us as soon as we came back from York. Again, this made Thayu happier than she should have been. I couldn’t stand to look at her, and I couldn’t stand not looking at her, and each time I did, my guts turned to mush.
It was raining by the time we came to York. A minibus taxi took us to the Dawkins Centre, a low building on the outskirts of town surrounded by green paddocks and grazing cows.
Before going up the stairs to the entrance, I checked with security. “All still fine?”
Evi gave a single hand signal. He fiddled with something in his pocket. “There are agents all around, Delegate. Very noisy here.”
“Meaning?” I glanced at Thayu.
She gave a shifty glance at the other guard, and avoided returning my look. “I think we want to be out of here as soon as possible.” She used formal pronouns.
While we walked up the stairs, I felt irritated with myself. She hadn’t been this formal with me for a long time. I could, of course, just ask her what her relationship with Nicha was. I had to face the fact: I was too much of a coward to hear the answer. I didn’t want to think about her with Nicha. Hell, I was jealous even before I had taken her to bed. And I had no time for this crap right now, but my mind churned and my heart ached and I knew I had lost her.
We were already in the foyer, a light-filled room with floor-to-ceiling windows. The receptionist gave us a wide-eyed look. First at Thayu, then at me, and then at the rest of the party filing into the foyer, then back to me, her gaze raking my gamra outfit. I knew that look; I could almost hear her think a human in chan clothing. . . .
I stepped up to the counter, placing my hands on the wood in a Coldi gesture—show them your hands; they’ll know you mean no harm. “I need to speak to Mr Scott.”