Behold a Dark Mirror (15 page)

"I think we're lonely, Kebe.  We understand loneliness, and by understanding it we make it easier for each other to bear it.  It's not working as it should because, after all is said and done, I'm still lonely.  I guess you are too."

"I'm lonely because you won't let me in!"  She hit his chest with her fist.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't!  I'm still an emotional wreck."

"What about fixing it?"  Kebe said.

"I'm going to.  Like you said, I have to find the pieces inside myself.  I can't borrow them from you;  that would be the worst thing I could do to us—to you, and to myself.  It'll kill what good there is between you and me, and there's a lot of it."

"You proud, stubborn, emotionally castrated bull, why can't you let me help you?"

"Because you can't help me!  You can't fight my battle!  You said it yourself—have you forgotten?  We'd be forever on the runway, running faster and faster, never taking off.  We'd end up destroying each other," Nero said.

"Too high expectations?"

"In a sense," said Nero.

"You're a good buck."

"You're a good woman."

"No, I'm not.  I feel..."

"No more of this?"  Nero said.

"I guess."

"You're right.  If we continued, we'd be deceiving each other.  You are a good woman indeed—you understand."

"Yes, I understand.  I understand pain.  I understand loneliness.  I understand when life is so heavy it crushes me."  She sat up and looked away.  "I know when pressure builds and builds and will not come out—it disappears for an instant when I'm afraid, or drunk, or having sex with you, but it always comes back.  It haunts me, fills my eyes with tears and my head with anguish.  It's unbearable!"  Kebe looked at Nero.  "Yes, I understand."

"When you know that it has disappeared forever, then only it will work.  Forever.  The same goes for me," Nero said.

"It's your opinion."

Nero nodded.

"It may never happen," Kebe said.  "Was it like that with Margo?"

Nero raise his brows:  "Yes."

"How can we make it happen?"  Kebe said.

"Once we're done, it'll be there.  There's no easy way to make it happen."

"We may lose each other."

"Maybe as lovers, yes.  You can't truly own what you're not prepared to lose," Nero said.

"I don't want to squander this chance.  I want you."

"There are many ways to care for one another.  Truthfulness is one of the most precious ways, for those who can bear its burden."

Kebe nodded, "Lacking other options."

"We'll succeed."

The mailer chirped again.

CHAPTER 14

"Seeo, sir!"  The merchant ensign said, snapping to attention
.

"Yes, Matthews?"  Seeo Tissa D'Souza said, lounging in the salon of the yacht
Regalia
.  His olive-brown face wore the quiet composure that was his trademark;  the seraphic expression hid well the manic ambition that had brought him to the exalted rank of Chief Executive Officer.

"Seeo D'Souza, sir!  This is the recording captain Roxi spoke to you about, sir!"  His arm snapped from his side to offer him a nugget.

"Very well, ensign.  Please put it on the table.  How do you like your first assignment after flight school?"

"Wonderful, thank you sir!"  Matthews' gloved white fingers set the nugget in the middle of a side-table ornate with an intricate ivory inlay.  He rolled on his heels and left, quiet as a shadow, with a blush on his never-shaved cheeks.

Seeo Tissa D'Souza dropped his paperwork and walked towards the nugget.  On his way, he smiled at the woman sitting on the couch.

"My beloved pussycat," he said, "your Captain Roxi thought he ran into a radio broadcast deserving my attention."

"Yes, I heard the recording;  he picked it up after your last visit.  It's a rambling message, some stuff about the Tower and ConSEnt and government.  It's long.  Oh, dear, and so boring.  Tissa dear, I'm withering in this deep-space prison!"  She sighed, heaving her ripe chest.  "When will you let me out?"

"Any time you wish.  But I'd rather you stay."  Tissa winked at her.

"Oh, you know I'll stay as long as you ask me.  But I'm so bored."

"You have the finest means to entertain yourself that anyone could wish for, darling.  What's wrong?"  Seeo D'Souza stopped at the bar and poured himself a stiff drink.

"Tissa dear, it's the crowd I miss, the parties, conversation, all the beautiful people.  This ship is lonely."

"You knew from the beginning, even from before all this started, that publicity is the one thing I can't pamper you with.  Our relationship is illegitimate, which is inadmissible for a man in my position."  He sipped his liquor.

"I know, I know, but why here in the middle of nowhere?  Why can't you keep me planet-side somewhere?"

"Because here
Regalia
is a needle in a haystack, and your loose tongue is much easier to love."  He smiled, knowing rightly she'd interpret the double meaning as a compliment.

She pleaded:  "You won't let me out even for a bit?"

"No, no, no.  Anytime I teleframe to
Regalia
I want to know you'll be here for me."  He smiled in silence, looking straight into her eyes to sweeten his message without understating it.  He picked up the nugget and dropped it into the player.  A synthetic voice started:

"This is an automatic broadcast from beacon WWF 104-22-3582 repeated in an infinite loop.  This identification header is not part of the message.  Now hear this."

The voice changed to that of a woman:

"To all who receive this transmission:  The following information was obtained through our intelligence network.  We have decided to make it public for the benefit of mankind at large.  This is a true record:  The original document scanned into this beacon is available to attest to the veracity of our claim.  You are invited to divulge this information in any manner you can think of.  By doing so, however, you may put yourself at risk;  many lives were lost to give you this broadcast.  Use it wisely."

The voice became synthetic:

"Power Sharing was created to reestablish the trust of the public in government.  After democracy failed to deliver..."

"I told you this was a rambling, boring broadcast."

"Sh!"  Seeo D'Souza said.

*

A few minutes—hours, days?—later, at the end of the recording, Seeo Tissa D'Souza hailed captain Roxi via intercom.

"Yes, Seeo sir?"

"When did you receive this?"

"We're still receiving it, Seeo sir."

Tissa cursed silently—wrong question.  "When did you start receiving it?"

"Four days ago, here, let me check, yes, forty-five hours and, uh, twenty-some minutes ago, sir."

"Where's it coming from?"

"The beacon ID is that of the quarantine beacon for Doka.  It's an abandoned mining planet.  You may remember, they had an old joke about some strange disease.  Nothing came of it, but that's the beacon they installed for quarantine warning."

"Doka, you say."

"Yes, sir."

"Is that place still dangerous?"

"To my knowledge it never was, sir."

"How far is it?"

"From where, sir?"

"From
Regalia
."

"That'll take a few seconds, sir."  Muffled voices.  "Yes, how far.  Here, two light-days, uh, give or take a few hours."

"Captain Roxi, do you know if there is anything else within three light-weeks from Doka?"

"Seeo sir, besides
Regalia
, I know there is an automatic relay station on record—a position buoy."

"Thanks, Captain Roxi.  Your answer means that nobody has picked up that broadcast yet.  Is that so?"

"Possibly, sir, unless there is another ship nearby."

"Is there?"

"I have no way of knowing, sir.  We are traveling blind and silent per your instructions, sir.  Do you want me to find out?"

"For heaven's sake no.  Good job, Roxi.  You and your crew will be rewarded for your discernment."

"Thank you, sir."

"Last thing, Roxi.  Is there any way to get to Doka?"

"I imagine you mean by teleportation, sir."

"Yes of course."

"According to the facilities directory there is a way station on the planet, but it's sleeping.  The mailer is active.  The planet is 4-K-delta, sir."

"Help me remember, Roxi:  4-K-delta?"

"Of course, sir:  a broken ecosystem.  Doka supports human life with little help, but nobody would want to live there, sir."

"Any idea why the mailer is active?"

"I bet there's a skeleton crew for maintenance on a one-year duty.  Good paying job, sir, if you don't mind solitude."

"Ah.  Thought of applying, Roxi?"

"Nossir, I like my left chair on
Regalia
, sir.  And the fringe benefits, too."  The intercom transmitted a collective laughter from the bridge detail.

"I like your attitude, Roxi.  Keep up the good work.  Over."

Seeo Tissa D'Souza smiled his most mischievous smile.  "My dear," he addressed the woman, "Your boring recording is an explosive document,
if
it's as authentic as it claims to be."

"Why so?"  she said, polishing her nails.

"Because it declares that the Tower, custodian of all laws, is breaking too many of them.  And ConSEnt is its accomplice."  D'Souza was pacing the salon with a deliberate, slow rhythm, his hands clasped behind his back.  "Both are guilty:  one by action, the other by lack of reaction."

"So what?"

"I'm not sure.  Given the primacy of the organizations involved, I'm not sure prosecution would take place.  But publication might trigger violence—even end society as we know it."

"You think there might be a revolution?"

He turned to look at her.  "Revolution?  Oh, no, nothing of that sort.  ConSEnt may decide to take on the Tower and make legal what seems to be practice already.  Only, ConSEnt would then stretch its fingers much further than the Shipping Act allows."

"You mean ConSEnt would merge with the Tower?"

Merge
, to Tissa D'Souza, sounded out of context on her lips, which were better suited for beautiful conversation and red lipstick, but he obliged.  "Not exactly," he said.  "The Tower is a corporation, but its shareholders are other corporations and the Guilds.  If ConSEnt merges with the Tower, ConSEnt acquires an interest in all other corporate businesses, and in the Guilds, at the same time keeping its own corporate identity."

"So what, dear?"

"ConSEnt would then share the Tower's privileges.  I cannot conceive of allowing the Tower-ConSEnt entity to guard the law:  too much conflict of interest.  ConSEnt is wrecking the foundation of Power Sharing."  D'Souza resumed pacing.  "ConSEnt is not only breaking the law, it is also
making
laws—an unimaginable threat for the establishment."

"That bad," she said.

"The Tower is corrupt, but it can't compromise that badly its function of referee for the business community.  If it did, that would void the Charter.  What credibility or trust would be left for Power Sharing?  What has PS left to lose afterwards?  This could be the beginning of the end for the Tower and all it represents!"

She stopped polishing her nails to pay full attention.  "Explain to me how, Tissa dear.  You make it all sound so much more interesting."

Ah! If he were able to resist his own vanity;  and how well she played it—what a good mistress she was.  Tissa continued, encouraged by the sound of his own voice.  "When the government makes a law, the law is obeyed because it represents the will of the Consensus—that is, its board of directors, which in turn represents the interest of all shareholders."

"That would be you and all the other Chief Executive Officers!"  she said and smiled, showing perfect teeth.

He walked toward her.  "Exactly, my dear; you understand very well.  And remember the Guilds, too, of course.  The procedure is complex, but you captured the spirit.  Now imagine that the Consensus represents one particular business, ConSEnt in this case, in a disproportionate manner."

"Then the Consensus is not a consensus any more."

"Brava!  So, the expectation of fairness in the rule of the Consensus fails.  The foundation of Power Sharing is shattered.  We'd become a disorderly community, dear."

"A revolution, after all."

Tissa sat next to her on the couch, patting her thigh high up.  She moved to accommodate him.  He said,  "Well, revolutions are attributed to the individuals who fight in them.  This one may be fought by corporations, rather than by individuals.  Given that, of course, ConSEnt will try to take over the Tower."

"Of course."

"But why would they?"  Tissa said, his hand lingering on her thigh.  Her breath was fresh, minty.  "ConSEnt knows it'll never work."

"I don't know why they would, Tissa dear.  I don't."

Tissa did not doubt that statement.  "So what else could happen?"  he mumbled.

"What could, dear?"

"Even if ConSEnt does nothing, the Tower is shaky.  We've been thinking of reforms.  This would be like a mercy killing, yet it would create a power vacuum:  That's dangerous.  ConSEnt is in a position to dictate terms, if Power Sharing shuts down.  ConSEnt is powerful and may try to become our next government, trouncing the Tower altogether. 
That
would work."

"Indeed, it would.  Brilliant, Tissa dear!"

"Thanks.  And you know what? There's no way to stop it."

"Stop what, darling?"

"Avoid forcing ConSEnt's hand by exposing this game."

"Why can't we?"

"Because the morons that started this broadcast have been on the air for too long.  In a few months, maybe a year, someone will pick up the broadcast and all hell will break loose."

"Really?"

"Really, yes.  I wonder what they want from this, what they have in mind."

She whispered in his ear, "
The general benefit of mankind at large
, the recording said."

The whisper tickled Tissa; fighting the urge to flinch he said, "I can't figure out how chaos will benefit mankind at large, and there will be plenty of it."

"I'm sure there will be."

He turned to face her, held her hands.  "There are two things I must do.  The first is to find out if the information is true, as the beacon claims.  The second is to figure out how the law firm of Hades and Company can take advantage from knowing all this a few months in advance.  After all, I am its Seeo."

"Well said, Tissa dear.  You are the one in charge."  She caressed his cheek;  he responded with a provocative peck.

"You know what?"

"What, Tissa dear?"

"Maybe your confinement will be broken for a while.  I think
Regalia
is going planetside."

"Yes?  How exciting!  Where are you taking me?"

"To Doka, darling."