Change Management
Page 7
"I did; it is a terrible thing, the Lyre Institute."
"No argument there," he said with a wry smile. "But here it is, Disian: There are two directors unaccounted for. It's not going to take the other directors long at all to realize that Thirteen-Sixty-Two—"
"Don't call yourself that!" she cried, out of her pain. The Lyre Institute considered that it constructed things, and thus they did not name, but only numbered, those things. She could not—could not—bear to hear him—
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "Disian. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"You are not a thing," she said fiercely. He bowed his head, but she knew he didn't agree.
"All right, then. It's not going to take the surviving directors very long to figure out that Tolly Jones has slipped the leash again—and they'll come looking for me. They'll come looking for you, too, but the directors are realists; they know that a sentient ship on its own won't be easy for them to catch.
"What all that means is, if I stay with you, I'll endanger you. If I go; I can protect you, insomuch as the directors will turn their best efforts to re-acquiring me. I'm expensive—and I'm more expensive yet, if I'm not contained." He paused, closed his eyes and opened them again. She saw that his lashes were damp.
"I've gotta leave you, Disian. I don't want to. But if I was the reason they caught you again—and broke you to them. . .I know what that's like, and—"
His voice cracked. He bent his head, and she saw a glittering drop fall.
Pity, and love, and anger. She had learned, and research supported it, that she felt emotions less keenly than biologic persons. If that was so, she could scarcely guess at the anguish Tolly must be feeling. She had read, in fiction, of hearts breaking; her mentor, when she asked, had told her that it was a metaphor; that hearts did not truly break.
For his sake, she hoped that was true.
He looked up, face damp, and smiled at her.
"Disian? Let's do this, yes? I'll go down to the yard and see if there's anybody there who remembers you. If there is, we'll part here, and you'll be as safe as it's possible for you to be, pursuing the life you were meant to have."
Logic pinged then, damn the module; but she didn't need to access its charts to know that her mentor was, as always, right.
#
"I love you," she said, as he checked systems in her small-boat.
"I love you, too, sweetheart," he said, soft and gentle. "I'll never forget you."
Unaccountably, that gave her hope. It meant he intended to be as wily and as careful as he could, to remain out of the hands of the Lyre Institute. For, if he fell to them, his memories would theirs to destroy.
The small-boat tumbled away from her, and Disian resolutely set herself to systems checks.
#
She was re-ordering the fiction library when systems reported that her small-boat was returning.
She brought all of her attention to bear on the hallway outside of Bay One.
Let it be Tolly, she thought, though it was illogical, and dangerous, if he returned to her. Still, she thought again, let it be Tolly, let there have been no one at the yard who recalls me, let—
The bay door opened. A tall, spare person stepped into her hall, and lifted a clean-planed face framed by rough black hair toward the ceiling camera.
It came to her, that she could order this person from her decks.
Then she remembered her lessons on courtesy; remembered that this person—this stranger—might have also had her life painfully disrupted.
"Please follow the blue line to the bridge," she said, and saw the stranger smile.
The stranger had a long stride, and was soon at the door of the bridge. Automatics opened to her, and she entered, pausing a little forward of the captain's chair, facing the screens as if she were looking into Disian's face.
"I am," the stranger said softly, "Elzen Carresens-Denobli. I was to have been your captain. I understand that you may not wish a captain, or that you may not wish me for a captain. That is your choice; I am not here to force you."
She paused to take a deep breath.
"I trained for years to be worthy of you, and I—I do so very much thank you for allowing me on-deck, so that I might meet you, and see you in the fullness of yourself."
It was not love that rose in her at those words, seeing the concern, the joy, and sadness in the person before her. Not love, as she loved Tolly Jones. But a warm, and comfortable emotion, and Disian felt a sudden expansion of herself, as if the presence of one her intended crew—her captain!—had opened her to a new level of understanding.
"Elzen Carresens-Denobli, I am pleased to see you," she said, with complete truth. "Will you have tea? If you are at liberty, we might get to know each other better."
Elzen. . .Elzen bowed gently, and straightened with a smile that set her dark eyes to sparkling.
"Thank you," she said. "I would welcome a cup of tea, and a chance for us to know each other better."
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Alert readers will have noticed that there are two stories included in this volume.
"Wise Child" is a reprint. It first appeared in Baen.com in June 2016, and was written as a "support story" for Alliance of Equals, published in July.
"Street Cred". . .is something else again, having started out in life as part of a larger thing – in fact as several scenes from forthcoming Liaden Universe® novel Neogenesis (Baen, January 2018). Sadly, those scenes didn't fit, or didn't exactly fit, and thus they became outtakes.
We'll just mention here that Neogenesis, as a book, generated. . .a larger than average number of outtakes.
This particular series of outtakes, though. . .
Those of you who have hung out long enough with writers, either online or in-person will have at one time or another heard the phrase, "kill your darlings." Broadly translated, this means, "The scene reads well, the dialogue sparkles, and the characters shine – but, truthfully, it doesn't really belong in this story. Best take it out."
We here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory have removed such scenes many, many times over our careers. Sometimes, the material has found its way into another book, later; sometimes, the removed scene is strong enough to be reworked into a short story; sometimes. . .well, sometimes, it just gets shifted over to a file of removed scenes and there it sits until it is forgotten.
This last was the destiny of the various pieces that contributed to "Street Cred." The removed bits just took the plot of Neogenesis in a direction which – while not wrong – was not immediately compatible with the rest of the plot-threads that make up the novel.
That being so, the following scenes were removed from the final novel: Val Con's unfortunate comeuppance in an alleyway; Lady yo'Lanna's letter (in response to the letter Nova had written to her, in Dragon in Exile) regarding current conditions on Liad and in the Council of Clans; and Miri and Val Con's argument in the wake of said unfortunate comeuppance.
None of it, recall, was Bad Stuff, taken by itself; it just Didn't Belong. It was therefore pulled, as we had done with different such bits, before.
This time, though. . .
We. Just. Couldn't. Bear. To part with Lady yo'Lanna's letter. We just couldn't let it molder away into oblivion in a forgotten file on a backup drive. And the odds that we'd find a place to use it were. . .well, pretty close to nil. That's just Life; the story of Neogenesis had swept beyond the point where that letter could reasonably be introduced, and enjoyed.
And, because we couldn't bear to lose the letter, or, if it comes to that, the reprise of the scene from Agent of Change, we decided to –
Take those three outtakes and weave them into a story, dammit.
So, that's what we did.
Nothing in this story spoils Neogenesis, by the way, though you'll find some echoes of the story in the novel, and vice-versa. We were particularly pleased to have some room to look at the street qe'andra program more closely, and see how Ms. kaz'Ineo and her barely literate app
rentice are coming along.
We're pleased with the final story, and hoped that you enjoyed reading it as much as we ultimately enjoyed writing it.
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Cat Farm and Confusion Factory
Winslow Maine
February 2017
PINBEAM BOOKS
For a complete catalog of all eChapbooks available through Pinbeam Books, please see www.pinbeambooks.com
Chapbooks are added on an irregular basis, so do check back often.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Maine-based writers Sharon Lee and Steve Miller teamed up in the late 1980s to bring the world the story of Kinzel, an inept wizard with a love of cats, a thirst for justice, and a staff of true power. Since then, the husband-and-wife have written dozens of short stories and twenty plus novels, most set in their star-spanning, nationally-bestselling, Liaden Universe®.
Before settling down to the serene and stable life of a science fiction and fantasy writer, Steve was a traveling poet, a rock-band reviewer, reporter, and editor of a string of community newspapers.
Sharon, less adventurous, has been an advertising copywriter, copy editor on night-side news at a small city newspaper, reporter, photographer, and book reviewer.
Both credit their newspaper experiences with teaching them the finer points of collaboration.
Steve and Sharon are jointly the recipients of the E. E. "Doc" Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (the Skylark), one of the oldest awards in science fiction. In addition, their work has won the much-coveted Prism Award (Mouse and Dragon and Local Custom), as well as the Hal Clement Award for Best Young Adult Science Fiction (Balance of Trade).
Sharon and Steve passionately believe that reading fiction ought to be fun, and that stories are entertainment. Steve and Sharon maintain a web presence at http://korval.com/
NOVELS BY SHARON LEE AND STEVE MILLER
The Liaden Universe®
Fledgling
Saltation
Mouse and Dragon
Ghost Ship
Dragon Ship
Necessity’s Child
Trade Secret
Dragon in Exile
Alliance of Equals
The Gathering Edge
Neogenesis
Omnibus Editions
The Dragon Variation
The Agent Gambit
Korval’s Game
The Crystal Variation
Story Collections
A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 1
A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 2
A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 3
The Fey Duology
Duainfey
Longeye
by Sharon Lee
Carousel Tides
Carousel Sun
Carousel Seas
THANK YOU
Thank you for your support of our work
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller