One's Aspect to the Sun (26 page)

“No. He told Hirin he'd heard there was a female anti-aging researcher doing work for the Chairman on Kiando, and he'd wrangled an invitation to join his colleagues there. Hirin passed it on to me. It was only a guess hitching a ride on the back of a rumour, but it seemed worth a try.”

“That's all?” She raised her eyebrows. “It's a pretty thin rumour.”

“I started following thinner rumours than that a long time ago.” I regretted the words when I saw the look of pain that flashed across her face, and shook my head. “Don't apologize again. I'm pretty sure I understand some of the reasons—”

A staccato knock sounded on the door and it opened to reveal Chairman Buig. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him quickly. He didn't look happy. The skin around his pale eyes was taut and worry lines creased his forehead.

“Pardon the intrusion,” he said, and his eyes quickly found my mother. “Demmar, we need to speak. It's urgent.”

Her face stayed calm, but I saw her fist clench ever so slightly. “Gusain, what is it?”

He flicked a glance over the rest of us. “Perhaps it would be better to speak privately—”

Mother shook her head. “It's all right. Whatever it is, you can say it here.”

He pulled a deep sigh, looking even more unhappy, if that was possible. “I've had a very unsettling communication from a vessel that's on its way here,” he said. “I really think this should be private, but . . .” He must have recognized the stubborn look in my mother's eye, because he seemed to make up his mind. “The vessel is from Earth, a PrimeCorp far cruiser named
Trident
—apparently belongs to their police branch. They just came through the wormhole from Delta Pavonis. They say they have a warrant for your arrest—although they used a different name—for corporate data theft and other Planetary Statute crimes. And a second warrant to obtain genetic samples. They had a holo for identification, it's—it's definitely you, Demmar. Their assertion is that I am constrained by interplanetary Nearspace law to hold you until they arrive, and deliver you to them.”

Mother didn't say anything, and Buig turned to me. “They have a similar warrant for you, although it's only for the genetic samples. I believe if you allow them to take those, they have no interest in detaining you.”

I caught Maja's eye. She shook her head almost imperceptibly.
I had nothing to do with this.

Damne.
My stomach roiled and I felt sick, a weird echo of Alin Sedmamin's trick with the virus. This feeling, though, came from my own emotions.
They must have followed me, somehow, despite my precautions. I've led PrimeCorp straight to my mother.

“Chairman Buig, did they say how long it would be before they arrive?” I asked.

“Several hours. It's a far cruiser, and they're still in the outer system.”

My mother spoke then. Her voice was flat, emotionless, as if she'd gone completely cold. “And what did you tell them you would do?”

He didn't flinch under her gaze. “I told them I wasn't certain of your whereabouts, either of you, but that I would see what I could do to locate you.” He flashed a quick grin. “It's called,
stalling for time
.”

Mother let out her breath in a quiet chuckle and I felt my stomach unclench. It looked like Chairman Buig, at least, was our ally.

“Why would they give you so much notice? Why not just show up and make their demands?” Baden asked.

“That's PrimeCorp for you,” Mother said with a humourless smile. “Supremely confident in their own power. It wouldn't occur to them that Gusain would question their authority or not comply. He works for a
smaller
corporation.”

“Well, they don't know us very well either, then,” Rei said. “So what's the plan? Make a run for it?”

“If they're still that far out, we can outrun them easily,” Viss added. “Far cruisers aren't built for speed.”

Mother turned to me with a half-smile. “You're docked nearby?”

I took hold of Mother's hand. “My far trader's at the Havering dock. And when we say 'we,' you're included in that. I'm not letting you go so soon. Not for a long time yet.” I smiled. “Just so you know.”

She squeezed my hand in return. “You couldn't if you tried. Can you give me a few minutes to grab some of my things? I'll be quick.”

Gusain Buig opened his mouth as if he might protest, but I said “I'll be right here,” and without hesitation she opened the door that led to the salon. The Chairman followed on her heels and they merged into the crowd. I saw him catch up to her and cup a hand under her elbow as he leaned in close to speak.

“But we have to be fast,” Yuskeya said. “It's silly for everyone to wait here. Why don't I go with them, and I'll bring her back to the groundcar? If we meet back there we'll get underway faster.”

“And if I ask the Chairman to give me access to his communications crew, I might get some better details on the ship and how soon it might be here,” Baden suggested.

I nodded. “Good ideas. Go catch up to them, and we'll meet back at the car.” The two of them hurried after Mother and the Chairman.

I looked at Dr. Ndasa. “Doctor, I'm afraid I'll have to insist that you come with us until we have this sorted out,” I said. “We're in enough trouble now. I can't take any more chances.”

He looked startled, then nodded.

“Bring him,” I told Viss. He took Dr. Ndasa's arm with smooth efficiency, and the Vilisian doctor didn't try to pull away.

Maja slid into the crowd and found one of the waiters, and we asked him to show us the quickest way out, avoiding the salon. He seemed unfazed by the strange request—perhaps guests often wanted to leave unseen—and led the way through a twisting maze of hallways. All were sumptuously carpeted and gently illuminated by elaborately blown glass sconces. Finally we rounded a corner, and the waiter let us out a back door to the parking area. All the time I followed him, I tried to calm the pounding of my heart, sick with the fear that I'd led my mother's enemies to her safe haven.

Kiando's moons were on the rise and shone brightly, painting pale puddles on the ground and deep shadows under the parked vehicles as we waited at the groundcar. None of the others were back yet, but I couldn't make myself get inside the groundcar to wait. Hirin and Dr. Ndasa climbed in, and Maja sat on the running board, but I paced nervously across the silver-limned space next to the car. I felt as if I'd just opened the box and found Schrödinger's cat alive and well, but that there was no guarantee of maintaining that state.

Rei leaned back against the groundcar and crossed her arms, watching me. “Congratulations, Captain,” she said suddenly. “Slow down a minute, would you, and take a breath? You did it! I mean, you really did it, you found her. After all this time.” She grinned. “PrimeCorp notwithstanding, that's a good thing.”

I stopped and took a deep breath, closing my eyes. “Thanks, Rei. You're right. Although I think I'm still in shock, mostly.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Viss glance at his datapad. “I hate to say this, but what if she doesn't come back?” he said slowly. “She said she'd be quick, and that PrimeCorp ship is getting closer by the minute.”

“She'll come back.” I'd seen the look in her eyes. She wasn't going to run away again—not just yet, anyway.

Baden came around the corner at a run and practically skidded to a stop, leaning on the groundcar and panting. “I thought you might leave without me,” he said between breaths.

“Oh, we would have, if Yuskeya and Luta's mother had raced you back,” Rei drawled. “However, since you're here, did you find out anything useful?”

He paused to stick his tongue out at her, then said, “Judging by the timestamps on the comm signals between the ship and the Chairman, we should make it off the planet before they're in sensor range. Even if they've sped up considerably since then, we should have a decent window of opportunity.” He glanced toward the Chairman's palace. “As long as we don't waste too much time.”

I started pacing again. What could be taking them so long? I assumed that my mother, in her years of running and hiding from PrimeCorp, could be packed and out of anywhere in short order. Unless Gusain Buig was trying to talk her out of it. Or wasn't really on our side, after all. But Yuskeya was with them, and she was more than competent to make sure my mother was able to come with us. I sent her a quick message from my datapad.
Where are you?

Coming!

But after five minutes they still weren't back. I messaged her again.
Everything okay?
This time she didn’t respond. Well, maybe she wasn't paying attention to it and had the sound off. Maybe she was busy trying to hurry mother along, or talking to the Chairman. After another five minutes of silent pacing, and two more unanswered messages, checking my datapad every thirty seconds or so as the moons climbed higher into the sky, I said, “I can't take any more of this. I'll have to go and find—”

My words were cut short by the appearance of one of Chairman Buig's uniformed security personnel, who appeared in the doorway we'd come through into the parking lot. He held the door open and beckoned a finger in my direction. I took off at a run, although I heard Viss say, “Captain, wait! It could be a—” Then his footsteps followed mine. I knew the others would be watching from the groundcar, so nothing too bad was going to happen.

When I got close enough, though, my heart tightened in a painful spasm in my chest. On the richly carpeted floor of the hallway next to the guard lay a figure whose long, tousled dark hair I recognized immediately. Her multicoloured robe lay wreathed around her like a shattered rainbow.

Yuskeya.

Chapter Fifteen

I must have stopped in shock, because somehow Viss was there before me, kneeling beside her and feeling for a pulse at her neck. I felt a hand on my arm—Maja had come, too. The guard said to me, “She's unconscious, but otherwise she seems fine. The Chairman found her in a hallway, and said to bring her—”

“Where's the Chairman now?” I interrupted him. “And there was a scientist with her, a woman—red hair, looks a lot like me—”

He shook his head and gestured toward Yuskeya, whom Viss had now lifted up from the floor. He held her cradled against his chest as if she weighed no more than a child. I noticed distractedly that he looked unusually pale. A dark bruise stained one side of Yuskeya's forehead, and the blow that had done it had raised a nasty-looking lump, as well.

“She's the only one I saw,” the guard said. “The Chairman said to contact him on this channel.” He fished a torn scrap of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“I have to see him—” I started, but Viss cut me off.

“Time, Captain. We don't have much. Let's get Yuskeya into the groundcar and you can call him. No point running around here looking for him.”

“Just call him, Mother,” Maja urged. “It'll be quicker.”

Damne.
I wanted to grab the guard, shake him, and demand that he take me to Gusain Buig, but Viss and Maja were right. We were on a deadline. And now I didn't know whom I could trust. Swearing under my breath, I punched the code from the scrap of paper into my datapad. The Chairman appeared on my screen almost immediately.

“What's happening, Chairman?” I asked. I was surprised at how calm my voice sounded.

His face was pale, and he puffed out a sigh of relief upon seeing me. “Captain, you're all right. Is Demmar with you?”

My fingers tightened reflexively around the datapad. “No,” I said evenly. “The last I saw her, she was with you, and so was my navigator, who
is
with me, but currently unconscious.”

His image jumped unsteadily on the screen, and I realized he was walking quickly as he talked to me. The glass wall sconces flickered behind his image as he passed them. “I don't understand,” he said. “Your crewmen caught up with us. She—your navigator, I assume—went with Demmar. I took your communications officer, Mr. Methyr, to a console and connected him with my comm station, and told them to give him any information he needed.”

We had reached the groundcar by now, and Baden heard the end of what the Chairman said. He nodded his confirmation. Buig was telling the truth—at least to that point.

“Then what?” I stood beside the car while Rei and Viss manoeuvred Yuskeya inside. She still hadn't stirred. They settled her in one of the seats, her head still leaning on Viss's shoulder, his arm around her. Baden clambered behind the wheel.

Buig ran a hand across his forehead. Tiny beads of sweat glistened on his skin and his hand shook slightly. “Then I went to find Demmar. I wanted—I wanted to say goodbye, properly. To find out where she was going to go, and when I might hear from her. But she wasn't in her room, so I thought I'd missed them. I was on my way to see if I could catch up to you in the parking area when I found your navigator, unconscious, and called a guard.” He was in a darker hallway now, the light from the datapad throwing his features into caricature-like relief.

“Where are you now?” I could feel the eyes of everyone on me: Hirin, Rei, Baden, Viss, Dr. Ndasa. Waiting for me to tell them what we would do next.