Spheres of Influence-eARC

by Ryk E. Spoor

  “If we’re right,” Ariane continued, “once in the Faction House, Sethrik will be able to find Vantak’s contact protocols with whoever was behind it, and get them called in for a meeting. We will deal with them privately—in-Faction—once we get the evidence. Externally,” she said, looking directly into Sethrik’s black eyes, “we will state that the Blessed acted to protect me from an unknown assassination attempt, and encountered difficulties which required a roundabout route to return me. I will thank the Blessed for their prompt action and efforts on our behalf.”

  She then gave a momentary humorless grin. “You will convey these…thanks to the Minds, via a courier, along with this message. Are you ready?” she asked of Orphan.

  “Recording now, Captain Austin,” Orphan said. “We can edit when you are done.”

  She took a breath, then read from the speech she’d prepared along with Simon and DuQuesne.

  “This is Captain Ariane Austin of Humanity. Your attempt to kidnap me, and to extract the knowledge of how to use the powers of Shadeweaver and/or the Faith which are sealed within me, has failed, as you no doubt are already aware.

  “The details of that plan are now known to us, and you have no knowledge of how your plan failed—nor will you. But you should be aware that while your initial attempt to capture me succeeded, we deliberately and completely destroyed the Thilomon and the entire task force sent to bring me in.”

  She glared into the recorder, and her voice sharpened. “We are a very small Faction. We are a single world already at war with one of the Great Factions, the Molothos. But we are not to be trifled with, and you have made a very grave mistake in trying something that you couldn’t finish.”

  She pointed at the recorder, an accusatory finger that she knew would have the same effect on the Blessed that it would to humans, for a pointed finger meant very much the same thing to both. “You are going to pay for that mistake, Minds. You will pay because with the full details—both of what you attempted, and how your attempt failed—we can make it so that the Faction of the Blessed loses face, loses respect, and loses trust. More than this, however, is the main reason you chose to kidnap me. If you do not accede to my demands, Minds of the Blessed, I will go to both the Shadeweavers and the Faith and tell them precisely what you planned. I do not think they will look kindly upon this attempt of yours to seize that which both have kept to themselves for so long, and I also do not believe that you could afford the wrath of even one, let alone both of them.

  “Our demands are simple: three Spheres, given to us exactly as they would be had this been a formal Challenge and you had lost. One Sphere for capturing me, one Sphere for those who endangered themselves to rescue me, and one extra to remind you that if you ever, ever try anything against us, you will always regret it. You have thousands upon thousands of Spheres; this will not significantly harm you. But it will always remind you of what it costs to take on Humanity. You try it, you damn well better win, because if you don’t, it will hurt.

  “In return for this, we will not only not accuse the Blessed of these crimes, but will instead put forth a public story showing that the Blessed acted to protect the leader of another Faction, and made sure that she was safe before returning her home. As a sign of our good faith, this particular account of the events will have been released by the time you receive this message. I hope that you will not give us cause to withdraw that story.

  “Ariane Stephanie Austin, Leader of the Faction of Humanity—out.”

  She saw DuQuesne and Simon grinning fiercely, and Simon applauded. “Now that is a message I would dearly wish to observe being delivered,” Simon said. “Though not enough so to risk going to the Homesphere of the Blessed.”

  “You are playing…a dangerous game there, Ariane Austin,” Sethrik said, “for the Minds do not take at all well to threats. But…I think you are probably right to do so. Such an affront must be met with great strength, or they will believe you are too afraid to talk, too weak to dare confront them even when their offenses are of so heinous a nature.”

  “Indeed,” Orphan said, and bowed deeply to her in the human fashion. “But I expected no less from the woman who was willing to face Amas-Garao in single combat…and won. Oh, this will be most amusing—and I agree with you, Doctor Sandrisson, that I would give much for a chance to observe the delivery of this message! For I assure you, the Minds will think hard on those truths—that the one speaking so to them has done the impossible, taking the power of a Shadeweaver to defeat one of the eldest of that brotherhood, beating one of their personally-designed own in a race of speed and courage, leading her people into Factionhood through her own personal will and courage…and surrounded by people who have personally defeated Molothos incursions. They will think long and hard on this, and on the fact that you admit to having been captured…and yet, somehow, escaped, and destroyed the entire task force sent to retrieve you…and I believe find that they have no answers save to agree, for they cannot afford the price they will pay otherwise.”

  “Good,” she said, and sat down heavily. “Because I’m scared as hell that it’s going to get us in a war with a second Great Faction.”

  “Not a chance,” DuQuesne said positively. “Orphan and Sethrik agree. They decided to go for kidnapping and brainwashing, so we’ve turned around and given ’em blackmail. They’ll probably pay, once. I don’t like blackmail, but I like what they did even less, and right now it’s the only option we’ve got for hitting back at a Faction that large. And Sethrik’s right that the one thing we can’t afford is to ignore it or pretend we’re too scared to fight back. Do that, and they’ll figure they can try again, someway, somehow.”

  “I would still gladly go and beat these Minds for you!” Wu Kung said.

  She smiled. “I think that’s asking a little much even of you, Wu. But honestly I’d prefer that route. Manipulation and blackmail, why, I’ve already started down the dirty road of politics with Oscar.” She took a breath, let it out. “But with luck, I won’t have to do anything like that again.”

  The alert buzzed, telling her that they were ready for the final jump to Nexus Arena’s space. “All right, everyone…let’s do this.”

  Chapter 43.

  Simon restrained himself from taking breaths too large or small. We cannot betray nervousness yet. We have no reason to be nervous. We’ve simply finished our deliveries, had some very educational and entertaining weeks with our friend Orphan, and we’re finally home.

  DuQuesne strolled next to him, looking completely relaxed, as they walked the short distance to the Embassy of Humanity. He glanced over and said casually, “Good to be getting back, finally.”

  “Yes, indeed. While it was extraordinary to see so much of the greater Arena, and to travel with Orphan…it did begin to pall after a bit. Only three people in the ship, after all.”

  “Yeah, I was starting to get a little cabin fever myself. Well, here we are.”

  The door swung open before them and the two entered the main hall. For an instant they were alone in the entrance hall, quiet, deserted, and Simon had a chill go down his spine. Did something else happen while we were gone?

  But then one of the doors opened, and Laila stepped out, frowning down at some display in her hand, hair not quite as neat as its usual wont. She glanced up, glanced back down, and suddenly her eyes snapped back up. She froze, then ran forward. “Marc! Simon! Thank God!” She spoke to empty air, summoning a green sphere of light. “Carl! Gabrielle! Simon and Marc are back!”

  “You sound…agitated, Laila,” Marc said, a concerned look growing on his face. “What—”

  Another door popped open and Gabrielle Wolfe sprinted out, Carl Edlund at her heels; Oasis Abrams trailed behind. “Dang, but you boys chose a bad time to be incommunicado,” Gabrielle said.

  “What in the world’s happened?” Simon demanded. He thought the tone sounded sufficiently confused.

  “Ariane’s gone,” Carl said bluntly.

  “What do you mean, ‘g
one’?” DuQuesne’s voice was hard and cold now.

  “Just what he said, and don’t you go glaring at him over it,” Gabrielle answered sharply. She gestured. “Let’s go talk.”

  “She went out with Sethrik…about a week ago.” Carl said as they went into one of the conference rooms. “He was going to show her one of their ships, talking about getting the support of the Blessed against the Molothos—”

  “Yeah, I remember hearing something about that. So?” DuQuesne slowly seated himself. Simon did the same, and the others followed suit.

  “So,” Laila picked up, “they arrived on the Docks, that much we know. Then…something happened. There are no known direct records of the event and the few witnesses are not terribly clear on the exact sequence of events, but it appears that an attempt was made on Ariane’s life—or possibly Sethrik’s. The Blessed warship Thilomon departed shortly thereafter, but whether that was exactly at the same time or not we have no clear idea. We’ve heard nothing from Sethrik, and the Blessed Faction House says that he is away for some unknown period of time.” She looked at them both levelly. “I suspect they have kidnapped our captain.”

  “That…would be possible, I suppose,” Simon said, slowly, “but for what reason?”

  “That’s the problem,” Gabrielle answered. “We don’t know. Naraj and Ni Deng can’t get any more out of them, and they have no answers as to why they’d have done it—”

  “—Let’s be accurate,” Carl interrupted. “Our favorite diplomats don’t accept that it’s even possible the Blessed grabbed Ariane. And…well, there are some people who claim that they saw someone fall off the Dock during that time.”

  “Good God!” DuQuesne swore. “Did anyone search?”

  “Some people did,” Laila said, “but there was a very powerful storm only a hundred or so kilometers below the Docks at the time. If someone had fallen into that…”

  “What about Wu? Where’s he?”

  “Gone along with Ariane,” Oasis said quietly, and he could hear the sorrow in her voice. “One witness said he jumped off the edge of the Dock where the Blessed ship Thilomon had been berthed, another claims Wu ran up a nearby spire and disappeared; either way…no one’s seen him since.”

  “Dammit. Okay, where’s Ni Deng and Naraj?”

  “I am here, Doctor,” Oscar Naraj said heavily, entering. “I trust I am not intruding? No? Good. Michelle received a call and went out just shortly before you arrived, but I hope she will return soon; we have other engagements for later today.”

  He doesn’t look very happy, but then, I suppose he’d have to play along. “You haven’t any more ideas about what could have happened to her?”

  Oscar shook his head, sleek dark hair sprinkled with white throwing off highlights. “I have made as many inquiries as I can. No one seems able to throw any light whatsoever on the situation, which I find absolutely outrageous. Whatever our differences, Captain Austin was the leader of our faction, and it should simply be impossible for a person of such importance to disappear.”

  Simon glanced quickly at DuQuesne, and he could see they had both caught the potential telltale “was” in Oscar’s reply. Not enough to accuse on, though. After a week, he could easily argue that he was assuming something had happened to her.

  “Well…we’re not all that important a Faction—”

  “Irrelevant and unacceptable,” Naraj said firmly. “There are at most a few thousand recognized Factions of any size, and even the smallest of them include billions of citizens. A Faction Leader is a member of, perhaps, the most exclusive elite in all the universe…or universes.”

  There was a knock on the conference room door. “Ambassador?” Michelle Ni Deng entered, stopped in startlement as she saw Simon and Marc, then hurried forward. “Oh…! Welcome back, both of you. I…suppose you’ve heard the news.”

  “Yeah. No clues at all?”

  “None worth anything. I’m sure they’ve told you; contradictory eyewitnesses, no physical evidence.” Ni Deng brushed back her feathery hair in irritation. “And that Sun Wu Kung gone too.” She tried to smile, failed—or gave a very good performance of someone having that problem, Simon thought. “I am afraid this proves the point of needing bodyguards all too well.”

  “And if this continues…” Oscar sighed. “Gentlemen, I was somewhat dreading this moment, but with you back, I think we must discuss the possibility that we will never know what happened.”

  DuQuesne glared at him. Carl held up a hand to forestall the expected outburst. “It’s only been a week. The Arena’s huge. No one’s giving up yet.”

  “Perhaps you’re correct,” Naraj said carefully, “but do we have an idea of how long we should wait before…considering the possibility that there is no longer any point in waiting? And what we should do if that eventuality occurs?”

  Laila frowned, but nodded. “You know he’s right. We have to at least think about it. If she is gone…”

  “Then this Faction has no Leader,” Ni Deng finished. “And without a Faction Leader, a Faction’s crippled. If we don’t select a new Leader, the Arena may pick one for us, as you and Captain Austin once mentioned.”

  And the subject is exactly the one you would want raised quickly, Simon thought. He tried to dispell the wrong kind of tension. I should not be tense in anticipation. I have to be upset, worried, shocked, not tense as though waiting. I am…not truly suited for these kind of games. He noticed Oasis looking at him oddly for a moment. She beat a Hyperion on her own, she speaks with DuQuesne and Wu as equals. I suppose she may also have perceptions to rival theirs. But I don’t think she’s one of our enemies.

  In the tension, he felt…a hint of that edge, that perception of his own coming back. He had a faint sense of interconnection, of data behind the ordinary, of knowing things that might be, things that had been.

  DuQuesne glowered at the two diplomats, then sank back with one of his old-fashioned and obscure curses. “Right. Okay. But you’ve dropped it on us without warning, give a guy a chance to take it all in before you ask him to think about…stuff like that.”

  It’s no secret that DuQuesne—and I—are extremely interested in Ariane Austin, so I am sure they’ll interpret that appropriately.

  Simon suddenly felt a sense of connections drawing tight, of probabilities on the rise. Oh… I think…

  “Very well,” Oscar Naraj said. “You are correct, we should give you some courtesy in this. Come on, Michelle, Oasis…whatever the situation, we still have people to meet with.” He got up, and the other two rose. “The Geros have a most interesting—”

  As he reached the door, it slid open.

  Standing framed in the doorway was Captain Ariane Austin.

  The sensation had warned Simon, primed him to be watching with keen attention at that very moment. So he saw Ni Deng’s eyes widen and her face grow pale, saw her take a half step back. Her expression was, for a moment, not at all joyful or relieved, but fearful. Naraj’s…was subtle. There was a flicker, a start, perhaps, but even with this almost supernatural perception Simon could not swear that there was anything wrong with Oscar Naraj’s reaction to the sudden, unexpected appearance of the missing woman.

  Oasis, on the other hand, seemed to light up, as did everyone else there. “Ariane!”

  Her smile lit the room. “Sorry to keep you all waiting!”

  The others lunged forward, crowding Naraj and Ni Deng back, and for a few moments there were just happy greetings, hugs, and slightly tearful laughter. “But where were you, Arrie?” Gabrielle demanded.

  “Hold on a moment,” she said with a smile. “Ambassadors, don’t you want to hear this?”

  “Knowing you are back is more than enough for now,” Naraj said with a very convincing smile. “Once we’re back from our current appointment, though, I will insist you tell me everything.”

  “Oh, but Ambassadors, I insist you stay and listen,” Ariane said. “Wu, make sure they stay.”

  The Hyperion Monkey King suddenly
popped into view. “You heard Captain Austin. Come on, sit down.”

  Oasis twitched as her two charges were dragged back, but didn’t try to stop Wu. Knows that it would be a hopeless attempt, and probably assumes Ariane has a reason for what she’s doing.

  “What do you think you’re—”

  “Shut up and listen, Oscar. I’d really like to think you’re not involved, but I doubt it.”

  “Involved? Involved in what?” The look of complete confusion was, Simon had to admit, either genuine or the product of a masterful actor who had clearly missed his true calling.

  “In striking a deal with the Blessed to have me kidnapped, interrogated, and presumably eventually killed, thereby clearing away my inconvenient leadership of our faction, in exchange for their alliance with Humanity.”

  Ni Deng stared at her, as did Oscar Naraj, mouths open and stunned. “What? That’s…insane!” Ni Deng said sharply.

  Oscar Naraj, more controlled and canny, gestured for her to be silent. “These are…well, yes, perhaps insane, but certainly most serious charges, Captain. I trust you have evidence—perhaps some of these abductors?”

  “I’m afraid all the abductors are very dead, Oscar,” she answered with a cold smile. Simon noticed Ni Deng blanch again.

  “Then I think we shall be going—”

  Wu Kung shoved Oscar back into his seat with effortless power. “You’ll stay right where I put you!”

  “You’re making a terrible mistake, Captain—”

  “You,” she cut him off, “are making two mistakes. First, I don’t need evidence here in the Arena. As Faction Leader, I’m the boss. I don’t think you’ve ever really gotten that through your head. If I want to throw you out on the street, I can do that. Yes, you could go back home and make me very much persona non grata, but there isn’t one damned thing you can do to me here. That’s what it means to be a Faction Leader.

  “But the bigger mistake is assuming that just because I haven’t got any of the abductors that I don’t have any evidence.”