Lugal Meshara looked annoyed, and blinked as though in slow motion.
“Um, what she said.”
“You realize it is your master’s fault?” her voice creaked.
“Well, that may be, but we still need access,” he responded.
“So be it.”
Their escort nodded his head and moved towards the door behind them. Nero started to turn when the Lugal spoke again.
“I do have one question for you, if you will entertain it.”
“All right,” he said.
“Is it true the Savorchans have joined the Confederation and given you access to their transportation network?” The question creaked from her mouth.
“They’re in the process of joining,” he answered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about concerning the transportation network.”
“It is Baron Revenant of Cosmos Corporation who has found a way to access the network,” Athame said. Each word she spoke made the Lugal twitch.
“Um, yeah, like she said, it’s Baron Revenant.” He had no idea what she was talking about.
“I see. Thank you. May the Progenitors shower favorable fate upon you.” Lugal Meshara looked like she was going to be sick and made shooing motions with her long-fingered hand.
That seemed to end the interview. Nero followed their guide out into the hallway with the others.
“The Hall of Records is several levels below us,” Ameluan said once they were moving down the hallway. “Please, follow me.”
“What was that last bit about?” he asked as they walked.
Athame responded by transmission and included Sorina in the link. “Baron Revenant has an employee who discovered how to operate ancient alien technology on Savorcha. The technology allows him to access a transport network that enables near-instantaneous travel between systems.”
Nero felt his gut go cold. On Savorcha? Who is the employee?
“Doctor Suman Rega,” she responded.
His mouth went dry and his legs slowed as the memory of Paula Rega’s death flashed through his mind.
“Are you all right?” Sorina messaged.
He nodded, resuming his pace.
Athame continued. “The Lugal should not know about that. Baron Revenant only revealed his access to that network this year, and though the Savorchans were brought into applicant status at the close of the Savorchan Conflict, the VoQuana were not notified. It is further evidence that the quarantine was breached.”
Nero frowned.
The records room turned out to be a chamber deep within the ziggurat, filled with reflective black columns containing the billions of petabytes that made up the Zov government Cyberweb. Ameluan paused by the entrance and waved them through into the long, humming chamber. The sound of machinery and the smell of ozone was thick in the air. Two Isinari with white skin and red eyes were busy checking a server tower. They looked up, surprised, but at a gesture from Ameluan, got back to work.
“I will leave you to your business and wait for you in the hallway,” he said with a bow of his head.
Nero nodded.
“Do you have a forensic scanner?” Athame asked Sorina.
“Yes.” She held up her right hand.
“We are looking for evidence of erased data concerning your targets.” Athame turned to Nero. “This may take some time.”
Need I remind you that I can help? Prospero said.
“Of course, but that is up to Nero,” she replied.
Sorina’s eyes darted between them. True, Prospero could use his sensors to scan the data in the stacks, but he would be a passenger along for the ride in his own body. He knew next to nothing of computer hardware or programming, and it would bore the shit out of him.
“You two get to it, I have something else in mind,” he said, moving out to the hall.
More important than this? Prospero said. By the Will, man! This is—
Shut up! he responded.
“As Nero wishes,” Athame said.
Ameluan, good to his word, was leaning against the wall when he emerged from the server room. He paused to take the VoQuana’s measure before assuming a position across from him. The green sparks in his eyes scanned up and down his body.
“You are Praetor Nero Graves.”
“Yeah, guess so.”
Two Isinari approached from down the corridor having an animated conversation. One glanced up, said something to the other, and both turned around and left the hallway.
“Weird,” he said.
“Typical reaction, though.”
“To who? Praetor Login?” he asked. “Praetors in general?”
Ameluan traced a narrow, nailless finger across his thin lips. “Not to your kind. We don’t see much of Praetor Login down on the surface. When he is here he sees Lugal Meshara. Their reaction is to my kind.”
Nero scowled. “Didn’t they choose to stay on this planet? Why would they avoid the VoQuana?”
Ameluan’s eyelids covered his eyes for a moment before opening again. “Their grandparents chose to stay, not them. Many resent the quarantine and blame us for it.”
He shrugged. “Or they’re just uncomfortable around mind-readers.”
“All beings born on Zov grow up used to that,” Ameluan said. “All of them.”
Was that a note of bitterness? Prospero thought. That’s a bit strange, don’t you think?
He wasn’t sure.
“Of course,” Ameluan continued, “you and your escorts are immune from such a threat. The conditions of the quarantine prevent us from scanning any representative of Daedalus under pain of death. It is a little severe, but it gets the job done, don’t you think?”
“What do you want?”
“What do I want? I’m just making conversation while we wait. My Lugal instructed me to stay with you until you were out of the ziggurat. I thought I might make myself into better company for both our sakes. If you don’t want to talk, just say so,” he took in a deep breath through his nostrils and sighed. “It’ll be worse for both of us, though. A VoQuana abhors silence.”
“That’s funny, because you guys seem pretty quiet to me,” Nero said.
Ameluan tapped his temple with a finger in response.
“Oh, right.” He rolled his eyes and glanced back at the door. He wasn’t sure if he wanted chatty or quiet company while he waited.
“You look like a tough guy.”
“Do I?” Nero frowned.
“Exactly like one, yes. Have you seen any combat?”
“Plenty.”
We don’t have to entertain him, Prospero said. It’s probably better we don’t, actually.
“I don’t mean while apprehending criminals, or whatever it is you Abyssians do when you’re not keeping us in a bottle. I mean, have you ever seen war.” The skin above Ameluan’s eyes crinkled.
He may be trying to pump us for information. I wouldn’t answer if I were you, Prospero said.
It was sound advice. The VoQuana brought humanity to its knees during the war. Every citizen of the Confederation was raised to hate and fear them. Still, he realized that it wasn’t the fault of this VoQuana in particular—or was it? Did their mind linking constitute grounds for holding all of them responsible for what happened 60 years ago?
“Touchy topic?” Ameluan asked.
“No, I’ve seen war. I fought in the Savorchan Conflict, not that you’d know what that was.” He watched Ameluan’s face for any sign of a twitch, any reaction that might give away the fact that he knew the quarantine was breached.
“Interesting.”
“Gonna ask me what it was like?” he asked.
“No. I have no desire to be regaled. My mind tends to more peaceful topics.”
“Then why did you ask?” He frowned. Was this some kind of trap?
“As you well know, there isn’t much in the way of outside news here. I’m just curious.”
“Curious? Then why haven’t you asked me for more detail?”
“My curiosity
was passing,” Ameluan responded.
He frowned. That has to be crap.
Agreed, but I can’t guess at his intent without further information, Prospero said.
“I can tell you don’t believe me, and I don’t need to read your mind for that.”
“I don’t hide emotion well.”
“You don’t.” Ameluan paused for a breath. “Why are you here on Zov? Two Abyssians and an agent of the CSA. It is unheard of.”
“So I keep hearing.” He shrugged. “Why are you asking if I have seen a war? Do you think one is going on?”
Ameluan frowned, but did not respond right away. “I suppose I can tell my Lugal that you three are here to sightsee.”
Nero rolled his eyes. “If you want.”
The door to the server room split into segments and rotated open. Sorina exited with Athame. She looked about to say something, but he waved her off with a glance.
“I assume you can show us the way out?” he asked.
“Certainly. It’s this way.” Ameluan started walking with a loose gesture for them to follow. “Oh, and as long as you three are here to sightsee, you may wish to investigate the hills to the west of the city. They’ve got some amazing caves that are truly a wonder.”
“Ah, sure,” he shook his head.
“What is this about?” Sorina messaged him.
Don’t worry about it, he sent back. This VoQuana is a bit weird, that’s all. What did you find?
“The records were well scrubbed,” Sorina messaged back. “We are going to have to come back, possibly many times, to find anything.”
“Or,” Athame said on the link, “find another way to detect what has gone on here and locate some trace of your Captain Faen.”
Nero sighed. It seemed they would be here for the long haul.
Chapter Seventeen
Ikuzlu City, Kosfanter
41:2:32 (J2400:3160)
Giselle Tauthe’s living accommodations betrayed her true income. Nestled between the business and residential districts, the small neighborhood of Zudar’Xin was a network of hexagonal barges floating in Ikuzlu Bay. Each held a two-level house with accompanying gardens, and a network of floating walkways connecting them to each other and the shore. Her house was made of two long, opaque-glass rectangles. The upper level extended out at a 90-degree angle like an arm supported by twin columns with strangely proportioned beasts carved into them. An ornate garden covered the space between the gated entrance and the front door with thousands of small, green and red bushes cut to resemble miniature trees. Cygni could see Xur’qon Island with the white walls of the Palace of the Just rising from the water in the distance behind it.
“Is it just me? Or does Giselle make way more money than we do?” Sanul asked as his hooves clopped on the path through the garden. The night-time glare of the city lights made his organic-crystal horns glitter.
“She’s got other work,” she said as they approached the double doors. “Either that, or the baroness doubles as her patron. Maybe it’s both. No salaried employee of a company below management level could afford this place.”
He nodded.
The door slid open when she pinged it with her implant, and Giselle welcomed them with a smile on her face. The smell of cooking vegetables and some kind of spiced meat drifted out from behind her.
“Welcome to my home.” She gestured them into a wide space with a fire-pit in the center of its reflective black floor. The city skyline glittered from the other side of a transparent wall. Ila was already seated on one of the smaller couches spread in a half-moon formation. Niu stood up and smiled at them.
“Haem Cygni, Haem Sanul—”
“Knock off the formality already, would you?” Sanul moved over and gave nium a hug.
“Is Biren going to make it?” Cygni asked.
Ila looked down and to the side for a moment. “I have not heard from him in the last couple of days. He messaged me to ask for some time to himself and that was all.”
“Vanishing when we need him. Typical.” Her lips pressed into a thin line. Ila glared at her.
“He may have an excuse,” Giselle said moving into a kitchen area. It was separated from the living room by an island counter.
Cygni spotted three pots venting steam from their lids on the cooking unit. “I didn’t know you were making food. You cook?”
“I enjoy it quite a bit. You thought I only liked to eat fancy stuff, didn’t you?” Giselle answered in a cheerful voice.
The comment was a reference to the conversations they had when they first met about acclaimed culinary establishments in the city. She assumed that was a recent development at the time, but since discovering Giselle’s relationship with Baroness Sophiathena, she now thought the woman an experienced Ikuzlite.
“I hadn’t thought about it,” she said. “I have to admit, that smells delicious. What is it?”
“Khoreshe behh,” Giselle replied. “It’s an ancient recipe from Earth, but it’s quite common on Kanohaven.”
“Kanohaven?” Sanul asked.
“My home world.” She stirred the contents of one of the pots with a large plastic spoon.
“Never heard of it. Where is it?” he asked.
“460 parsecs away or so, on the Cygnus-side of the Confederation,” she answered.
Sanul moved up to the counter and rested his elbows on it, continuing to interrogate her about Kanohaven while Cygni turned towards Ila.
“I’ve been worried about Biren,” niu said, gesturing her over. “He has not been himself since the last time we saw him.”
“You don’t think he just flaked on us?” she asked.
Niu shook niur head. “No. He mentioned his mother in the last message and that was all. He said he would come tonight, but I don’t know. Something is very wrong.”
She reached out and gave Ila’s arms a squeeze. “We’ll find out what it is. I’m sure it will be all right.”
“Thank you, Haem Cygni.” Ila bowed niur head.
“Um, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”
“As I told you before, Isinari don’t mind such things as Solans do.”
“Ah, okay. How are you and Biren? I mean, did you two, ah—” She felt herself blush.
“He told me you knew he was with me. I am sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. I know you expressed displeasure about it in the park, but I also thought—”
“Hang on, no, I’m not asking because I disapprove. I’m just curious.” Why was she asking? She wasn’t sure. Was she jealous now that she and her former lover were getting close again? “Um, how is he handling it—I mean you?”
Ila searched her face with leafy-green eyes. Something seemed to occur to nium and niu brightened. “Do you mean how is he taking my anatomy?”
Her blush deepened so fast she felt her skin tingle. “No, ah—”
“We are getting along with it. I mean, he prefers my receiving parts, but I think I’m bringing him around to appreciating my giving parts as well,” Ila said without any trace of embarrassment.
“Oh.” Her blush deepened.
“Are you okay, Haem Cygni? Does it really bother you that I’m with Biren?” Ila cocked niur head to the side.
“No, no, of course not.” She gave Ila a quick smile, wondering if she was lying to both of them. “I’m just, ah—humans and this topic—you know?”
“You should relax. Your whole species is so tense about this. It is healthy for the species I am familiar with. It is not a bad thing.”
“No, of course not.” She cleared her throat several times without cause. “I’m glad you two are getting on well.”
“I can see why you favored him so much,” Ila said. “He is an attentive lover despite your warnings.”
“Okay, that’s great. I’m happy for you both.” Feeling the air seem to warm up, she started to move towards the kitchen where Giselle and Sanul were still engaged in conversation.
“Thank you, Haem Cygni. I am happy you are accepting o
f this.” Ila followed her with a human-style smile displaying rows of tightly-packed, small teeth.
“I guess he’s not coming. We should get started. The Khoreshe needs a bit anyway,” Giselle said in a loud voice.
She and Sanul moved into the living room, and she invited them to sit on the couches. Ila sat in close to Cygni with their hips touching on the soft smartfoam cushions. She took in a deep breath and her nasal implants flashed a pheromone alarm in her vision. The filters kicked in automatically, but she already had a dose of whatever they were and felt herself flush a bit as her stomach tingled.
What the hell? She thought. The analysis scrolled down the side of her vision. She scrutinized it for a moment while everyone else was getting settled, and realized she was picking up some kind of variation on Biren’s engineered pheromones. She cocked an eyebrow up at Ila, remembering that Isinari could copy genes from genetic material they came into contact with, but didn’t have a chance to comment before Giselle started speaking.
“First, let me assure you that no one is listening in. My house has all of the latest anti-surveillance technology. No one will know what we say here. Cygni, great job with the spy grain. Sophi was very pleased with the feed we have from Revenant’s office.”
Hearing her call Sophiathena Cronus by her nickname was a reminder of how well the woman knew the baroness and a good warning that Cygni had to watch herself around the woman. She assumed anything she said would make it to the baroness’ ears, though that would probably be true of all of them now that they were pressed into service.
“We’ll be contacted again once the baroness needs us,” Giselle continued. “So for the meanwhile, I guess we’re free to pursue Cygni’s investigation.”
“Wait.” She paused while the tingle in her stomach increased and she started to feel warm. That shouldn’t be happening with her nasal filters on but she couldn’t let it distract her. “Shouldn’t we talk about what was in the data-stream? I risked my ass for it, after all.”
“Of course,” Giselle responded. “I’m sorry. You know we got the planner Sophi was after, and mostly it was just Baron Revenant’s day to day leading up to his departure for the Helix Nebula. There’s not much of use to us.”
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