“Just a bit.” Lin leaned back in her chair and slumped and closed her eyes. “Felt good, I have to say that."
“You scared me, and I wasn't even on trial.” Bain nodded toward the doors. “Do you think you made any impression on him?"
“I probably scared him into messing his pants for the entire voyage to Centralis,” she said with a snort. When Lin opened her eyes, she hadn't regained the sparkle of mischief she usually had even in dangerous situations. “No, I doubt I made any lasting impression. He's all rhetoric with no grounding in fact. It's very hard to talk sense to people like that. Gen'gineers consider themselves the only rational people in the universe. The rest of us are cattle to be used and disposed of, and we have no right to complain."
“There are probably more of them hanging around,” Rhiann said. “It just makes me itch to stay away from the safety of the ship and dare them to try something else."
“I know,” her sister said. “But Rhi, please don't take any silly risks, all right? Now that they know we know what they want, they may just take their samples and ovaries and kill you and be done with it."
“We all missed something,” Bain interrupted as Rhiann opened her mouth to argue.
He could tell she was going to argue, by the twitch of her lips, the way she leaned forward and the backwards tilt of her head.
“Spacers are just as much of a mystery and temptation to the Gen'gineers as Leapers,” he continued, when he had the attention of all three women. “Anyone known to have Spacer blood could be a target, too."
“Good point.” Lin touched her collar link. “Ganfer, did you record all that?"
“Every word, including the Gen'gineer's physical reactions to your words,” the ship-brain answered, his voice coming clear through the collar link.
“Pass the warning on to all the Spacer ships in port, and ask Portmaster Srolli to keep the message on file for future landings, would you?"
“Done."
“Now what do we do?” Rhiann asked.
“We go about our business and let the Gen'gineers and any other unnamed enemies try to take their shots at us.” Lin glanced sideways at Herin. “What do you say we increase the pressure and cause some divisions in the ranks?"
“That sounds like a lovely idea, Captain,” the Leaper captain responded with a cool, tight smile that matched Lin's.
* * *
Chapter Nine
“Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Rhiann asked as she and Bain settled down on a bench in the main causeway of Megavissy Carnival's ground floor.
“We missed our lunch yesterday, and Lin says we should go about our normal business.” He grinned and looked at the steady stream of people going past. If he really studied the details, he knew he could see the costumes of every culture and planet in the Commonwealth, and probably every planet in the Conclave going by them.
“Well, with these clothes, we're definitely fitting in.” She smoothed the billowy legs of her green trousers against her thighs and shifted back a little more in the seat. “It's been years since I wore civilian clothes planetside."
“Why?” Bain found he rather enjoyed being in his own clothes again instead of his new uniform. After the odd encounters with Gen'gineers and feeling like someone followed them, he was glad to be out of clothes that made him a target. It occurred to him that when he wore his uniform, the people he was with were marked as important, and by association became targets too.
“With all the universes we go through, it's easier to just wear a uniform. People forgive quite a few ‘sins of convention’ if you're wearing a uniform. It's a little too expensive to buy native costume for every planet you visit."
“Besides the trouble of storing it all."
Bain had to admit, Rhiann was a totally different person in civilian clothes. She wore a soft golden blouse with full sleeves, a long black vest with inner pockets for coins, debit cards and small purchases, and calf-high black boots. She moved more freely, as if her uniform had always been just a little tight and forced her to stand up straight and march. She followed him through the crowd with a liquid sway to her walk that he had never seen before. People still turned to watch Rhiann go past, but their attention wasn't drawn by her uniform, now.
“Well, what do we do first?” She swept her arm around in a wide arch, indicating the tumblers performing only a few meters to their left, a trio of singers backed up with guitars and flutes against the far wall, and five three-wheeled carts selling sweets, drink bulbs and hot meat rolls, the aroma of which made Bain's mouth water more with every sniff he took.
The lift tubes to the other twenty levels of the Megavissy Carnival waited at ten-meter intervals on either side of the main concourse. They were round, clear, tinted different colors, and each one looked large enough to hold twenty people at a time. With twelve tubes on each side, Bain found it hard to guess, let alone imagine the volume of people who went through the Carnival every day.
“Why don't we look at a map, first?” he said. “Or we could start on the roof and work our day down."
“What's on the roof?"
“Mazes and parks. Lin accessed the vital statistics for me a few days ago. There's four meters of soil up on the roof and some of the trees are nearly thirty years old and thriving."
“Amazing...” Rhiann giggled at the slight pun. “All right. Let's go to the roof and get lost."
Bain stood and held out his arm. Hooking their arms together was the only way to stay together for any length of time in the strong current of people moving in ten different directions around them.
They took a tube marked ‘roof access', which was a bright, pale blue with milky streaks. Bain grinned and fantasized that they were moving through clouds as they rode the lift to the roof. They started with six other people on the ground floor and stopped at eleven other floors. Bain kept count. They gained one hundred sixteen people along the way and lost everyone before they debarked on the roof.
“Oh...” Rhiann whispered and stopped short only a few steps from the lift doors.
Bain nodded, agreeing totally with her delighted amazement.
Clear baffles five meters high and twenty-five centimeters thick ran around the perimeter of the roof. Thin silver support bars spaced every five meters apart were the only things blocking the view. The sea lay on one side, stretching blue-green to the horizon with white wave tops. The harbor dominated the other side, rugged jumbles of rocky arms covered with green and gold and scarlet seaweed, and the silvery-white beaches between.
The lift tube opened out on a small hill. From where they stood, Bain and Rhiann could see the entire rooftop park and the three mazes that took up a little more than half the ground. The smallest maze was all of green hedges, little more than a meter high. Bain supposed that was for children. From his vantage point, it didn't look very complicated to get from any of the four entrances to the center and back out.
The second maze was twice the size and built of raw stone walls interspersed with hedges three meters high. A few streams cut through the maze, increasing the challenge for those who wandered its paths. They had the choice of crossing the streams and possibly getting wet, or finding another way around.
The third maze had a perimeter of hedges and only two entrances. The first several layers of walls going in toward the center were hedges or stone. Streams crisscrossed throughout the body of the maze with no discernible pattern Bain could see. The rest of the walls were a dull gray-blue-green and fit into slots in the stone pillars scattered throughout the inner portion.
“Those panels are nearly indestructible plastic. It would take beam burners to cut through them,” he told Rhiann, gesturing at the center of the maze, shimmering a little in the late afternoon sunshine.
“Why would anyone want to?” She wrinkled up her nose at him.
“Because you can never learn the maze and sometimes people get lost and can't find their way out for hours. They change the inner passages every week or so. That's why they're
plastic, for easy movement."
“Want to try it?"
“I have to get you back to the ship by nightfall."
“You have no faith in my navigational abilities,” she grumbled.
“We'll come back some other time, all right?” Bain hooked his arm through hers and led her back to the lift tube. “I just want to get a good idea of where everything is here, and then come back and explore the places that really look good."
The lift tube hissed as it slid to a stop. The only passenger was a slim, silvery-blond man dressed in dark brown. He turned to face the doors as they opened. He stepped back, visibly startled to see them approach the doors. He nodded to Rhiann and scurried out as she and Bain stepped inside.
“That's odd,” she murmured.
“What?” Bain reached out for a handhold embedded in the clear wall as the car lurched a little and started downward again.
“He's watching us.” Rhiann turned, putting her back to the doors and gestured behind herself.
Bain glanced sideways, catching a glimpse of the blond man standing close by the doors, watching the car descend. He looked away quickly, not wanting the man to know he had been discovered.
“Let's try something, all right?” He reached for the control panel.
“Try what?"
“Nothing stupid, I promise.” Bain hit the stop button the moment the top of the car drew even with ground level of the roof. He paused a few seconds, then tapped the button to take them back to the roof.
The blond man was nowhere in sight when they emerged a few seconds later. Bain looked in every direction, straining his eyes for some sign of movement. Nothing.
“He must have run the moment he realized we were coming back up,” Rhiann said.
“I guess—” Bain jerked as a huge black bird with scarlet streaks on its wings and head and a metallic-blue beak shot past them and flew away.
“What in the world was that?” She laughed a little and pressed her hand over her heart.
“I have no idea. Gemar has really weird animals."
“For all we know, they're all Hoveni who decided to stay in animal shape to keep from getting caught by the Gen'gineers.” Bain slid down onto the little bench that circled the perimeter of the car. “Whew, that scared me a little."
“Set'ri,” Rhiann corrected him absently. She stared off into the distance, following the path of the black speck that was the bird. It vanished a moment later, and she turned and sat down next to him. “What do you think it's like, being able to change into any living form you wanted?"
“Confusing."
“What?"
“How do you know what's your true shape?” he explained. “How do you keep everything straight?"
“Oh, you take all the fun out of everything!” She jabbed him in the side with her elbow.
Bain reached for her, deciding now was a good time to find out if Rhiann was ticklish. She leaped to her feet, grazing his fingertips, and fled to the other side of the car. Grinning, Bain slid back against the clear wall and made himself comfortable for the remainder of the ride to the next floor. He had plenty of time to find out that, and many other important details.
Rhiann's question stayed in his thoughts. What would it be like, he wondered, if there really were Hoveni alive on Gemar? Would they blend in with the population without anyone ever suspecting? If they were caught and killed by the Set'ri, there had to be some distinguishing physical trait to give them away. Maybe all it took was changing shape carelessly, with too many witnesses. What if Hoveni children had been orphaned before they learned how to change their form? What if they grew up without even knowing what they were, what they could do? What if there were people living on Gemar today with Hoveni abilities, and they didn't even know it?
Bain hoped the Gen'gineers hadn't thought of that theory. He didn't like to think of what kind of damage they could do to innocent people while looking for some elusive gene—a gene they didn't even know specifically existed, or even what it looked like.
For the rest of the afternoon, Bain and Rhiann kept watch for the blond man, but never saw him. On half the levels they explored, Bain felt a prickling sensation of being watched, but every time he turned around he never saw a familiar face.
Other than that, the afternoon was a success. He and Rhiann found nearly a dozen places they knew they had to come back and explore. They agreed they would bring Lin and Herin and Dr. Haral when the trouble at the spaceport was settled and it was a little safer for Herin to move around in public.
When they stepped out of Megavissy Carnival at sunset and started across the wide pontoon bridge to reach the mainland, Bain saw a shadow flicker across the water. He glanced up, and saw a black, winged shape fly by overhead. A shiver ran up his back when he thought he saw streaks of scarlet among the black. He said nothing to Rhiann and scolded himself to get his imagination under control. It had to be his imagination and nothing more. No bird would follow them.
* * * *
Bain and Arin had escort duty for Herin. When Herin went into Lin's office for that morning's review of the few new findings of the investigation, Bain took up guard duty at the right of the door and Arin took up his spot to the left of the door.
“How long do you think this is going to take?” Arin asked after the doors had whooshed closed.
“Half an hour, tops. Are you—"
“Don't!” a man shouted, in a voice gone hoarse with argument.
Bain turned, and around the corner of the hallway leading to the lift car came a procession that made him stare. His mouth dropped open. He glanced back at Arin and his friend grinned and nodded and they both turned to stare again.
Four men and two women came down the hall, dragged by three other people each; one on each arm and one pushing from behind. The six prisoners looked like they had a rough night and morning. Their clothes looked like they had slept in them, maybe spent several days in them; wrinkled, smeared with grime and streaked with sweat. When they drew close enough, Bain caught the sickly-sweet, sour, salty smell of people in fear, sweating and angry and dirty.
“Is the Spacer tribunal in there?” the biggest man of the escort asked when the group got within two meters of the doorway. He looked like a ditch digger, sunburned, lines around his mouth and eyes, his brown hair bleached red and gold by the sun, his shoulders wide and his arms heavily muscled. He could have brought one of the prisoners in all by himself with no trouble at all.
Bain and Arin stepped up next to each other, blocking the doorway with their legs spread for balance. They looked at each other, then rested their hands on the grips of their multi-darts.
“Captain Lin Fieran is in her office, as well as Leaper Captain Herin K'veer,” Bain said.
“Wonderful!” A woman threaded her way up through the small crowd. “We need to speak with both of them.” She put herself in front of the big man. Though the top of her head barely reached his breastbone, the proud tilt of her head, her short, neatly-combed crown of snowy curls and the freshly-pressed neatness of her silver-gray robe gave her an air of authority. She seemed to tower over everyone, including the two Scouts guarding the door.
“Why do you need to speak with them?” Bain asked, keeping his words slow so he could control his voice. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh at the tableaux before him, or draw his gun to defend himself. Something felt very odd, yet very right at the same time. He didn't like feeling the room was about to turn sideways.
“We've brought some of the people responsible for the attack on the administration building and the death of that Leaper captain,” she said. She folded her hands neatly before herself and took a step closer to the door. “Now, are you going to be good boys and let us in?"
Someone at the back of the crowd snickered. If not for the flicker of anger in the woman leader's eyes, Bain knew he would have said something nasty and sent for the building's security detail. This woman impressed him, though.
“May I have your name, Mistress?” he said,
giving her a nodding bow of respect.
“Jayza Fyx. And you are?” She nodded back to him.
“Scout Commander Bain Kern, ma'am. If you'll wait a moment.” Bain touched his collar link twice. Ganfer had set up the communications circuit so he could talk directly to Lin inside her office, instead of having to go through the ship-brain. “Captain, Mistress Jayza Fyx and her company are here to see you with information on the bombing of the administration building and the death of Captain Lorian."
The doors slid open less than five seconds later and Lin stepped out into the hall. Today she wore black, pants and boots and vest and thigh-length jacket, with a silver blouse and clips in her upswept hair. She looked imposing and pale as she stood still a very long moment and looked into Jayza Fyx's eyes. Then, slowly, she smiled.
“Mistress, I am very glad, and very grateful to welcome you,” Lin said. Her gaze flicked over the six prisoners and their guards. “I don't know if I can fit everyone into my offices. Would it offend you if I sent for Security to take your prisoners into custody?"
“Not at all, Captain Fieran.” Jayza turned to glance over her odd group of followers. “I'll send most of these louts away, as soon as they're not needed any longer.” The big ditch digger opened his mouth to protest. “You can stay, Saimore. My cousin's youngest boy,” she said in a softer voice, speaking only to Lin. “He thinks I need a bodyguard."
“Why?” she responded with a chuckle.
Twenty minutes later, the six prisoners had been taken into custody and everyone else had gone home except for Jayza and her escort. Lin called Bain into the chamber to act as the third witness with Herin while Jayza gave her story for the records.
“We're one of the secession parties,” the woman said the moment all three women were seated comfortably. Bain and Saimore stayed standing.
“Secession.” Lin glanced at Bain and raised one eyebrow, giving him permission to speak.
“One of the groups wanting Gemar to leave the Commonwealth and return to Conclave membership,” Bain supplied.
Gemar [Sunsinger Chronicles Book 9] Page 9