At Galactic Central

by Kate MacLeod

“Probably for the ponds and fountains, since it doesn’t look like it’s being processed,” Daisy said. She walked across the narrow bridge as if she didn’t even notice that nothing was keeping her body from falling over the side down into the churning water below. There was a panel in the wall on the far side, and she headed immediately for that, popping it open and tinkering at the insides and never once looking back to see if Scout followed.

  Scout looked down at the water. It couldn’t be so very deep, considering Scout had just come up through the very bottom of this island and hadn’t gone up so much as a flight of stairs since.

  Still, water moving that fast? Probably didn’t need to be deep.

  Back home on Amatheon, she had traveled across endless prairies, over hills and mountains and all kinds of terrain.

  But she had never tried to cross a river. She had sat on the banks of one once, watching debris from a storm washing past her, getting pulled under the waves and dashed against the rocks. She had decided that her world was big enough on the side of the river she’d been born on.

  But her friends were waiting for her. Daisy would be waiting for her as soon as she noticed she wasn’t right behind her.

  Scout took a deep breath, tuned out the angry sounds the water was making, and fixed her gaze at a point on the wall directly across from her.

  She took one step after another, fighting the urge to clench her hands into fists and the even greater urge to just shut her eyes.

  Then she was across. A small victory, but she would take it.

  Daisy slammed the panel door shut angrily, then turned to look at Scout. Her eyebrows rose questioningly, and Scout realized she was grinning. She sterned up her facial expression.

  “Problem?”

  “Maybe,” Daisy said. “I’m not seeing what I want to see. It might not be a problem. But then again, it might.”

  “Okay, what’s the next step?” Scout asked.

  “You wait here,” Daisy said. “I’m going to go ahead a bit and make sure we’re as invisible to the security systems as we’re supposed to be. I’ll come back for you when I’m sure.”

  “Okay,” Scout said. She understood why Daisy would go first and alone. Being both augmented and a trained assassin, she had ways of not being seen that Scout could never learn. But . . . “What if you don’t come back?”

  “I don’t know, Scout,” Daisy admitted. “Let’s assume I will.”

  “Okay,” Scout said, trying to sound far surer than she felt. “I trust you.”

  “I trust you,” Daisy said, squeezing her shoulder and touching her forehead to Scout’s.

  Then she was gone, and Scout was alone in the dark next to the chasm of raging water.

  Scout tried pacing, but even this far from the edge, visions of tripping and falling into that channel tormented her. She opted instead to sit just inside the mouth of the tunnel Daisy had disappeared down.

  She patted all her pockets until she found a packet of dried berries she had bought in the marketplace days before. She ate them slowly, trying to guess in the darkness which kind of berry each was without getting her glasses out to tell her.

  Then the berries were all gone, and she had nothing left to do but wait.

  Wait and worry.

  “Hello, Teacher,” she said at last.

  “Hello, Scout,” Warrior said, appearing at her side. Scout almost thought she could feel the warmth of her hip so close to her own, but of course, that was impossible. She was just a trick of the light, only visible to Scout because she had special glasses over her quite ordinary eyes.

  “Is this going to work?” Scout asked, trying not to sound as miserable as she felt.

  “Certainly,” Warrior said brightly.

  “How can you know that for sure?” Scout asked. The AI wasn’t programmed to lie to her to make her feel better, which only made her answer more puzzling to Scout.

  “I have access to the Months’ systems,” Warrior said. “Daisy’s ploy was successful, as I’m sure she knows by now. Really, things for both of you would go so much smoother if you just told her about me.”

  “I can’t,” Scout said. “At this point, it would just be weird.”

  “It will only get weirder until it becomes an actual problem,” Warrior said.

  “I know,” Scout said. “It’s just—”

  But Warrior winked out of existence even as Scout was looking at her. Then she saw Daisy jogging up the tunnel.

  “Were you talking to someone?” Daisy asked in a whisper.

  “Just myself,” Scout said. “You were gone a long time.”

  “I ran into Sparrow,” Daisy said, pressing a bundle of cloth into Scout’s hands. “She gave me these. We'll just put them on over our clothes. Everything is so hectic up there I don’t think anyone would notice.”

  “What is it?” Scout asked, shaking it out. It appeared to be a long, white robe with sleeves so large they actually contained little pockets.

  “The servants wear them,” Daisy said. “I can’t tell if we’re invisible to the systems or not and I asked Sparrow to find out for sure, but then she came up with this idea, which is really much simpler.”

  “Much,” Scout agreed. She hoped Daisy’s augmented eyes couldn’t tell she was blushing with shame in the darkness. She told herself it didn’t really matter that she wasn’t telling Daisy she knew their ploy had worked, not now that they had this other, better plan.

  “Follow me,” Daisy said. “Sparrow is waiting at the end of this hall.”

  Scout wanted to argue that a slash in the bedrock hardly qualified as a hall, but the further they walked, the more squared off the walls became. Then there was light ahead of them, and then they were out in a proper hall, a large hall that looked like it had been carved out of an enormous block of rose-colored marble, complete with arches over the doorways and little statuary growing up out of the floor.

  Sparrow was waiting for them wearing a long white robe the same as theirs. She handed Daisy a tall stack of bed linens, then picked up a tray covered with plates under shiny domes from a little table and pressed it into Scout’s hands.

  Then she brushed past Scout to swing shut a heavy door that, once closed, proved to be shaped like a marble pillar, blending imperceptibly with the wall.

  “We should hurry,” Sparrow said, and there was a tightness around her eyes and mouth that spoke of great worry. Scout clutched the tray tightly to keep the domes from rattling on the plates as Sparrow, an enormous urn hugged tight to her chest, all but ran through a maze of hallways to one of the more ornate doorways.

  Two guards flanked the doorway. Or Scout assumed they were guards; they had no uniforms. The motley array of bright clothing and too-generous glimpses of bare chest brought to mind the time she had been summoned before the Months and their full court of smugglers and pirates.

  Sparrow gave the guards an imperious stare but said not a word. The younger of the two flushed, mumbled an apology, and opened the door for her. Sparrow straightened her back and tossed her head, but even then, the top of her tall Afro barely came to the boy’s shoulder.

  But her attitude made her seem taller.

  Daisy and Scout rushed to follow her. Daisy glanced around, saw a row of beds against a wall, and crossed the room to set the linens there. Scout followed Sparrow to a large, round table, setting her immense tray next to the large urn.

  Then she looked up and saw Emilie standing in the open archway between the room and the garden beyond. Geeta and Seeta were just behind her, Seeta holding Geeta’s arm without quite leaning on her.

  Scout wanted to rush forward, to throw her arms around all three of them, but Emilie’s eyes were narrowed, and her head gave the smallest of shakes.

  “Honestly,” Sparrow said, spinning on her heel to march back to the guards at the door. “I know this isn’t your usual duty, but do try a bit harder.”

  “How’s that?” the younger asked.

  “Shut the door, heathen,” Sparrow all but seethe
d.

  “Oh. Sorry,” he said. His companion just rolled his eyes, although whether at him or Sparrow it was hard to tell.

  The door slowly swung closed, the guard grunting with the effort made no easier by the loudly protesting hinges.

  Then it shut with a boom as if they were all now sealed inside an airless tomb for all time.

  But that macabre image didn’t live long in Scout’s mind. Not with all her friends around her, hugging her tightly.

  “It’s great to see you, don’t get me wrong,” Emilie said after a far briefer hug than the other two had given her. “But we have a problem.”

  “Yes,” Scout said. “War.”

  “Not just that,” Sparrow said sadly.

  “The woman in black,” Emilie said.

  “Shi Jian,” Scout said to Daisy. “She means Shi Jian.”

  11

  Scout had never seen Emilie look so thoroughly exhausted and wired with energy at the same time. Some degree of those things was sort of her trademark, but never anything like the way she looked now. Too thin, too pale, too twitchy. Her shock of red hair had faded to a yellowish pink, white at the ends and dark brown at the roots. Scout hadn’t realized how carefully crafted her riot of curls had been until she saw it now in its matted, unkempt state.

  She was watching Scout closely for her reaction to that name, the eyes behind those familiar dark frames wide, the pupils jumping back and forth.

  “We have to get out of here,” Scout said at last. It made her heart hurt just looking at her friend. Watching from above, she hadn’t had a clue how bad things had gotten. She hadn’t even noticed the hair.

  She had been so oblivious.

  “Not just yet,” Sparrow said. “We’re supposed to leave with empty trays. The guards will check.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Emilie said, turning away before Sparrow had even taken the domes off the dishes. The food smelled wonderful, rich roasted meats and vegetables swimming in buttery sauce with plenty of crusty bread.

  But Scout found she wasn’t hungry either. Not that a handful of dried berries was enough to top her off, just that the idea of eating such heavy food when she was geared up to flee just felt wrong.

  “We have to eat it,” Seeta said, pulling a chair up to the table and filling a plate with a bit from each dish.

  “You look good,” Scout said.

  “My sister takes good care of me,” Seeta said with a smile. She was the very opposite of Emilie, well fed with a healthy glow. There was a slight tremor to her hand when she lifted a spoonful of sprouts onto her own plate. Geeta saw Scout frown at it and gave her a small smile and a tilt to her head that seemed to say, “Much better but not 100 percent yet.”

  “We should all try to eat something,” Daisy said. “We’ll need the fuel for when we run.”

  “It’s safe to come over here, you know,” Sparrow said.

  “Surveillance?” Daisy asked.

  “All over,” Sparrow said perhaps too cheerily. “But you spoofed the system, right?”

  “I’m not sure,” Daisy said.

  “I am,” Scout said, and felt her cheeks flush again. But she held out a hand for Daisy to join them at the table. “Daisy, this is Geeta and Seeta Malini, and Emilie Tonnelier,” Scout said. “Which you already know since we’ve been watching you all for weeks now, but now we’re finally all face to face.”

  “Hi,” Daisy said and ducked her head shyly.

  “And this is Daisy,” Scout said. “She saved my life, and I guess I saved hers too, but she’s saved mine more.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Daisy,” Geeta said, extending a hand. Seeta wiped her own on a napkin before holding it out as well. Emilie seemed occupied with something in the corner of the room and didn’t turn around.

  “You’re from . . . what planet were you on?” Geeta asked, her gaze moving from Daisy to Scout.

  “I was on a place called Schneeheim, but Daisy is actually also from Amatheon. A Planet Dweller, like me,” Scout said.

  “Really?” Geeta said with keen interest.

  “That’s not all she is,” Emilie mumbled over her shoulder.

  “No, that’s not,” Daisy agreed, still mostly looking at the floor.

  “What do you mean?” Geeta asked.

  “She’s enhanced,” Scout said.

  “An assassin,” Daisy said, finally raising her chin. “Built and trained by Shi Jian. But I am not one of hers. Not anymore.”

  “I can promise you that,” Scout said earnestly.

  Geeta and Seeta exchanged a glance. Then Geeta turned back to Daisy with a frown. “You saved Scout’s life?”

  “From Shi Jian’s assassins,” Scout said. “And from Shi Jian herself.”

  “That was a joint effort,” Daisy said. The corner of her mouth looked like she wanted to smile but couldn’t quite bring it off.

  No one spoke for a long moment. The soft sound of Emilie keying her way through something on her tablet only made the silence more pronounced. Geeta kept looking like she wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words.

  At last, it was Seeta who spoke. “If Scout trusts you, that’s good enough for me.”

  “Thank you,” Daisy said. “I know what you’ve been through. I wish Scout and I had kept Shi Jian’s arm. We could have given it to you as a token.”

  “You took her arm?” Geeta asked, nearly choking on the piece of bread she had been picking at.

  “I’m sure she has a new one by now,” Scout said.

  “And is madder than ever,” Daisy added.

  “In both senses of the term,” Scout said. They exchanged a tired sort of smile.

  “But she’s here now?” Daisy asked.

  “No, not here,” Emilie said, coming back to the table with her tablet in her hands. “I’m not even sure if she’s on Amatheon. But she is involved in all of this.”

  “We already knew she was,” Scout said with a frown.

  “No, not like this,” Emilie said. “Sparrow told us what the governor told you this morning, about the war. I’ve been reading messages back and forth between the Months and a bunch of other people for weeks now, but it was all in code. None of it made a lick of sense. Until Sparrow said the word ‘war.’”

  “So what is going on?” Scout asked.

  “We already knew the Months were influencing the Space Farers, and we suspected they were controlling the rebels as well, right?” Emilie said. “But I intercepted some messages that were directed to some of the merchants that serve on the council of the so-called governor. They’ve been there for years, and the Months have been calling the shots for at least that long.”

  “The governor says he suspected one or two, but he knows it’s all of them now,” Scout said.

  “So, Space Farers, Planet Dwellers, and rebels—a three-way war, but where all three sides are being secretly commanded by the same two sisters?” Daisy frowned.

  “Actually,” Geeta said slowly, then looked at Emilie.

  “The people in the black not-uniforms are the ones influencing upper management,” Emilie said. “I don’t know who they work for, but it’s not the Months.”

  “I thought it was Bo,” Scout said. “Now I'm thinking it was, but only at first. Then Shi Jian stopped relaying his orders and started issuing her own instead.”

  “But that leaves us in the same place,” Daisy said. “All three factions being controlled through one person or intermediaries of the same person: Shi Jian. Why?”

  “The Months would see everything burn just because they can’t have it,” Scout guessed. “They’ve been dragging out this legal battle for years, but I’m guessing their lawyers told them they weren’t likely to win. If they can’t have Amatheon for themselves, they’ll destroy it.”

  “But why?” Seeta asked.

  “Who knows,” Emilie said, spinning a finger around her temple. “Knowing why isn’t going to help us, so let’s not focus on that now. And figuring out who Shi Jian is and who she works for is really a w
hole other matter. She’s covered her tracks really, really well. So let’s just focus on what’s in front of us. We see the steps that will lead to war. We have to stop them from happening.”

  “Sparrow has told us your plan,” Geeta said.

  “Most of that plan was Sparrow’s,” Scout said, and Sparrow beamed.

  “We’re leaving tonight?” Seeta asked.

  “We have a ship ready and waiting,” Scout said. “My dogs are already there.”

  “Tonight,” Emilie repeated with a frown.

  “What’s the problem?” Scout asked.

  “She’s been digging into this Shi Jian stuff,” Geeta said.

  “But you said we had to focus on not her,” Scout said.

  “I know, it’s just hard to get good info on her,” Emilie said. “She’s planted a lot of false records. It feels like I’m close. But I won’t have access at all back home.”

  “Didn’t Bo Tajaki contact you?” Scout asked. “I told him to. He’s been investigating the exact same thing.”

  “Our hosts became a lot less accommodating once we got here,” Geeta said.

  “They brought me back,” Seeta said.

  “Yes, they did that,” Geeta grudgingly agreed. “But we’ve been prisoners, not guests. Prisoners they frequently seem to forget about entirely. We already testified for the court. Remotely, from here—we didn’t even get to go to the building. Since then, nothing. Not a word. No hint as to when we’ll get home.”

  “Now,” Scout said. “We’re going home now.”

  Emilie made a sound of protest, and Scout turned to look her in the eye. “Do you really think if you stay here and keep digging that you’ll find anything useful? Or will you just burn a lot more time chasing phantoms?”

  “We need you, Emilie,” Seeta said when Emilie sullenly refused to reply.

  “Fine,” Emilie agreed. “You’re right. I’ll be more use back home. Let down by the tech, but I guess of more use.”

  “But I’ll be more use here,” Sparrow announced.

  “Is that safe?” Daisy asked.

  “Perfectly,” Sparrow said. “And I’ll be leaving when their ship departs, so we won’t even be far apart from each other for very long. You might still need someone on the inside when we’re back at Amatheon.”