Diamond Star (40 page)

"He's good at what he does," Mac said.

Fitz spoke dryly. "A lot of us are good at our jobs. It doesn't send women into screaming ecstasy."

Mac gave a self-deprecatory laugh. "My singing would make them scream, but while they ran in the other direction."

The general shook his head. "It's odd, watching that virt of him with the girl. I would have expected him to be more--hell, I don't know. Jaded. Slicker. He was like an affectionate kid."

"Maybe that's part of his charm. No artifice." Mac had a more pressing concern than Del's charisma. "Did you destroy the virt?"

"All three copies," Fitz said. "Also the systems they used to create it. None of it will get out on the meshes."

Mac let out a breath. "Good."

"We still need to talk to his family."

Mac could just imagine Del's reaction. "He'll hit the roof."

"Tough."

"It's touchy," Mac said. "The Harrison Protocol is clear, and it's been in place for sixty years. Del is here with our permission. He's done whatever we asked him to do and obeyed our laws." Mac wasn't sure about the bliss-node, but so far he'd found no indication Del's license was fake. "He has no link to anything military or political. He's a private citizen we've allowed to work on Earth. We have no more justification for violating his rights than for anyone else."

Fitz gave him a sour look. "He's a goddamn royal land mine."

"His family knows he chose to stay here," Mac said. "Our providing him a bodyguard and constant security is already going beyond Harrison." When Fitz scowled, Mac held up his hand. "Of course we protect him. But it was his choice to trick Cameron. As much as I'd like to lock him up, he broke no laws. He's responsible for his bad decisions and for how he tells his family."

"And if he doesn't tell them?" Fitz said. "What happens when they find out, 'Oh, excuse me, your son nearly died, and Earth's government neglected to mention it.' You want to explain that to them?"

Mac didn't want to be anywhere near that explosion. "No. I'm not saying we shouldn't tell them. But let me talk to him first. See if I can convince him to do it himself."

Fitz snorted. "His Royal Snarkiness is more likely to tell you to go fuck yourself."

"Maybe," Mac said wryly. "But I have to try. I've always leveled with him. If we talk to his family without trying to work with him first, he'll never forgive me. So we'll still alienate the Ruby Dynasty."

"Only one of them," Fitz said. "Their least influential, least involved member. Better him than the Ruby Pharaoh or Imperator."

"Give me a day. Just one."

Fitz exhaled. "All right. One day." Dryly he added, "Good luck."

"Thanks." Mac didn't doubt he would need it.

"His vids just hit the Skolian outlets," Windar said. "But he's
huge
on Earth."

Roca, his mother, stared at him. "You're sure it's Del?"

"Of course I'm sure! No one else sings like him."

They were standing in the living room of the pharaoh's home on the Skolian Orbiter, a space habitat dedicated to government and military personnel. Windar's visits were sporadic, but his Aunt Dehya and his brother Eldrin lived here. His brother Kelric--the Imperator--lived in a huge stone mansion on a hill above the pharoah's house.

At the moment, Kelric was leaning against the living room table, his arms crossed, the gigantic biceps straining his shirt. He stood seven feet tall, with gold skin and molten eyes. Windar had babysat Kelric too much in their childhood to be afraid of him, but even he broke out in a sweat when his "little" brother was displeased. If someone had told him back then that his sweet-natured brother would someday be a military dictator, Windar would have laughed. Except it wasn't funny anymore.

Kelric took after Roca, their mother, in his coloring and facial features, but where he was hard, she was beautiful. Usually. Right now, she looked more annoyed than anything. She frowned at Windar. "Del never said a word."

"And you're surprised?" Kelric asked. Then he said, "Bolt?"

The voice of Kelric's military EI answered. "Attending."

Kelric glanced at Windar. "Tell Bolt where to find this holo of Del. He'll play it for us."

Windar gave Bolt the codes, then said, "Open all the Del-Kurj mods."

"
All
of them?" Roca asked. "How many did you find?"

"You wouldn't believe it," Windar said.

Before he could go on, a woman walked through the archway across the room. Dehya. His aunt. The Ruby Pharaoh. A slight woman in a white jumpsuit, she had a heart-shaped face and a mane of black hair dusted with grey. She was small compared to Roca, and next to Kelric, she looked like a child. Windar had always liked Dehya, but her delicate appearance didn't fool him. Her strength of will was as powerful as Kelric's physical strength.

"I got your message," she told Windar. "What's wrong?"

Roca gave her a dour look. "He's showing us a holo of Del."

Bolt spoke in his deep tones. "I have the holos ready."

"Play the one called 'Diamond Star,' " Windar said.

"I remember that one," Roca said, her voice lightening. "Some parts have a nice melody. But he does such odd things with it."

The screens around a dais by the wall glowed, and the life-sized holo of a man formed. Music filled the room, a melody they all knew, though with instruments they had never heard. But it wasn't the song that mesmerized Windar. It was
Del.
He sang with abandon, his head thrown back. He turned around, crouched down, and jumped up, spinning in the air so he came down facing his audience. Then he ran forward and grabbed a stand. Snapping the mike into it, he stood with his feet planted wide, gripping the mike in both hands as he belted the chorus. His voice soared, and rainbow holos flared as if he were inside a diamond. Windar had never heard him sing this way before, wild and passionate, but the seeds had always been there. Now Del transformed them into a performance so intense, Windar couldn't stop watching.

"Gods almighty," Kelric said. "He's
dancing.
"

"Look at the audience," Windar said. "They're crazy for him."

"I knew he was singing on Earth," Kelric said. "But I had no idea it was like this."

Dehya smiled. "He looks like he's having fun."

"I don't believe this," Roca said. "He 'forgot' to tell us about this show? And what the blazes kind of music is that?"

"It's more than one show," Windar said. "I looked up their music charts. This is the top-rated holo-rock song on Earth."

Roca squinted at him. "On a chart for holographic stones?"

"No!" Windar smiled at her bewildered look. "On Earth, they have an entire genre with artists who sing like him. They call it rock. Right now, 'Del Arden' is one of their stars. The Earth meshes have holos about it everywhere. Newscasts of people mobbing him. It's incredible. Del! Can you believe it?"

Kelric spoke coldly. "Bolt, lower the volume." As Del's singing faded, Kelric said, "He has only two bodyguards, and Mac Tyler is a retired military officer. Who controls his career? Who pays his bills? Who looks after his health? Who monitors these 'mobs'? If he's that much of a public figure, who the
bloody hell
takes care of him?"

"He never said a word about it." Roca sounded stunned.

Windar felt his mother's hurt, and his anger stirred. She was already grieving over the loss of their father. Always Del caused her pain, with his brooding silences, his challenges, his sarcasm. He could have at least told her.

Dehya was watching him. "He told us last year."

"One message," Roca said. "And what does he say? He's staying to see some woman."

Kelric shook his head. "I want him back here. Immediately. No more 'rock star.' "

Dehya frowned at them all. "Maybe that's why he didn't say anything. Because he knew he would get this reaction."

"If he had told us," Roca said, "we wouldn't react this way."

"You would have said he was wasting his time," Dehya answered. "In fact, you
did
tell him that."

"He could do so much." Roca thumped her palm on the table. "Why does he throw away all that talent?"

"He doesn't see it that way." Dehya went over to stand with her and Kelric. "Roca, he can only be himself." She looked up at Kelric. "Legally we have no justification for forcing him to come home. He isn't breaking any laws."

"I don't care," Kelric said. "And we don't know what he's doing, legally or otherwise."

Dehya motioned at the holo, where Del had launched into another song. "If he's performing in a venue that large, with all those musicians, equipment, and effects, he isn't doing it for free. So he's earning a living. For the first time in his life."

Roca crossed her arms. "It's unseemly."

Windar stiffened. "Why? Because Ruby princes don't work for a wage? I do."

His mother's voice softened. "You've dedicated your life and personal assets to helping communities that couldn't even afford a school before you came. You've made a big difference there."

"I'm doing what I love," he said. "So is Del."

"He's making noise," Kelric growled.

"Actually," Windar said, "I sort of like his songs."

Roca regarded him with bafflement. "Why?"

"I always liked 'Sapphire Clouds,' " Windar said. "And the others sound better the way he does them now. It fits, somehow."

Kelric just grunted.

A rustle came from the entrance of the room as a man appeared in the archway. Eldrin. The eldest of the Valdoria sons, he had been the first to leave home, when he moved here to the Orbiter. Watching Eldrin walk toward them, Windar could see how much he looked like Del. They had similar features, coloring, and builds, though Eldrin was broader in the shoulders and chest. But no one would ever confuse them. Del looked like a farm boy, and Eldrin looked like a king.

Dehya's expression warmed as she saw Eldrin. "My greetings."

He came over to her, his face gentling. "I got your message." He glanced at the holo-dais where Del was silently singing. "I guess I don't have to ask what it's about."

"Your brother is following in your footsteps," Roca said dryly. "But opera, this is not."

Eldrin watched the holo with a bemused expression. "It looks like he's in front of a real audience."

"He is," Windar said. "He's done it all over Earth."

"
Live?
" Eldrin stared at him. "I could never sing that way."

"You do a lot," Roca said. "Just last year, at the Parthonia Arts Gala. It was exquisite."

"That was only a few hundred people." Eldrin gestured toward the holo. "That crowd goes on forever."

Windar could never imagine facing that many people. "Maybe it's not real, just a mesh-created audience to make the performance more exciting."

"Maybe." Eldrin didn't look convinced. "Look at his eyes."

"I noticed," Kelric rumbled.

Windar glanced at his brothers. "Noticed what?"

Kelric scowled. "He's drugged."

"Gods," Roca said. "Is he
trying
to kill himself?"

Windar's pulse lurched. After all those years they feared Del would die in his cryogenic tomb, it would be unbearable if he overdosed or had another runaway reaction now, when he was finally better. Windar had never understood his brother, but he loved him. He couldn't imagine losing Del again, not after all Del had gone through and survived.

Eldrin studied the holo. "I don't think it's drugs, unless you count his audience. I've seen that look before. When he's deep in his songs, he goes into this sort of empathic euphoria."

"I don't understand why he does something so inappropriate," Roca said. "If only he would really use that incredible voice of his."

"Mother, he's always sung like that," Eldrin said. "He's not going to change."

"We can't leave him vulnerable," Kelric said. He stood thinking, his gold eyes impossible to read. "I'll send an escort. If the Allieds refuse us access to him, we'll step up the pressure on their government. They know they had no business hauling him off to Earth and separating him from us."

Dehya was shaking her head. "Our relations with the Allieds are already strained enough. If he refuses to come home and we force him, it could turn into a diplomatic mess."

"His safety is more important," Kelric said. Frustration leaked around his mental shields. "Yes, I know what he'll say. He has a right to live his own life, and the hell with the rest of us. But damn it, he needs to think about who his behavior affects."

"It's called independence," Eldrin said dryly.

Kelric scowled at him. "It's called immaturity."

Dehya spoke quietly. "If you force him to come home, he'll never forgive you."

"I don't want to alienate him any more," Roca said. "But saints, we can't leave him there." She motioned at Del, who was crooning into the mike while his hips moved with the music. "It's not right.
Look
at him."

"What's not right?" Windar asked. He could tell the holo bothered her, but not why.

"The way he moves. Like a--" She cleared her throat.

Dehya spoke wryly. "Yes, Roca, he's a sensual, alluring man. He always has been. No matter how much it bothers you to see your little boy grown up that way, it won't change."

Windar blinked. Del looked like Del. He didn't see where "sensual" or "alluring" came into it.

"He's just a boy," Roca protested.

"No, he's not," Kelric said. "He's an adult, and it's time he started to act like one."

"He's not 'acting' any way," Dehya said. "He's being himself. It's not an offense against the throne, you know."

Roca scowled at her. "Women will get the wrong idea."

"For flaming sake, Mother," Eldrin said. "They've had that idea for most of his life. He's never objected. I'd say he's thoroughly enjoyed it."

"Don't talk about your brother that way," Roca told him.

"Dragging him home isn't the answer," Windar said. It would destroy what little detente they had built with Del.

"You have a better idea?" Eldrin asked.

It seemed obvious to Windar. "Let him sing."

Kelric gave him an incredulous look. "Until the media finds out who he is and turns it into a circus? Or until someone kills him?"