The Diamond Deep (51 page)

Satyana nodded at Naveen and held her hand out to Ruby. “Pleased to have you join us.”

“Thank you.”

“Follow me.”

Ruby expected to be introduced to the two people with Satyana. The woman stood tall and thin, reminding Ruby vaguely of Marcelle. The man was squatter, but shared her features. They walked with sure strides behind Satyana and in front of Ruby and Dayn. Naveen took the rear position.

Satyana led them to a table in a small room with windows that looked out over the station. They were high up, so the Deep looked like a long froth of habitat bubbles and tangled transportation, punctuated here and there with the angular shapes of spaceships. Small vessels travelled between locations, each of them reminding Ruby how vast the
Deep
was.

A robot brought six steaming cups of stim in on a tray and retreated toward what must be a kitchen based on the smells coming from it. At least she was going to get the breakfast Naveen had promised.

Satyana sipped at her stim and looked at Ruby appraisingly. “You will tell no one that you've been here.”

“I thought every move was tracked. You told me so yourself.”

“This trip won't appear on anyone's tracking.”

“Really? How?” Dayn asked.

“There is a restaurant here, and you will be recorded as having dined with Naveen and Dayn, and no one else.” She smiled a slightly evil smile, playful. “And Naveen is picking up that tab.”

Naveen pulled a flask out of his pocket and dumped a stream of still into the stim. As far as Ruby could tell, everyone at the table noticed and chose to ignore it.

After a few moments of small talk, Satyana asked Ruby, “What do you plan to do?”

“About what?” Ruby asked.

“The song.”

Dayn shook his head. “Everyone's making an awfully big deal about one song.”

“It's not the song that worries them. It's how fascinated people are by our Ruby here. Naveen knows how to build interest, but this time the attention seems to have a mind of its own.”

Naveen's face turned red. “Ruby is unique.”

“You see.” Satyana turned back to Dayn. “This station is ripe for change. Most people didn't know it, but Ruby is helping to wake people up. This fits with our plans. We are also able to expose some of our leaders. Most people here wouldn't have cared enough, given that they've almost all got food and entertainment in plenty. But they will care if they fight Ruby, since many are coming to love her.”

The robot returned, serving Satyana first, then her yet un-introduced guests, then Ruby, Naveen, and Dayn. Each plate had fruit and nuts that had been heated and smelled rich and comforting, and three clever small breads in different colors.

After everyone took the first bites, Satyana continued. “We were hoping you'd get people a little riled up. We didn't expect so much attention so fast. I think it's because the current power structure reacted with so much negative spin. In other words, it really wasn't the song. You might be in real danger, but we'd prefer you don't get locked up just yet.”

Ruby felt slightly confused. “So you want me to drive more protests?”

“Yes. Will you?”

Ruby shook her head. “Maybe. I need to understand what might happen. My people depend on me.”

“We are working to change that,” Satyana said.

Now she was even more confused. “How?”

“Koren stole from you. We're going to expose her.”

“That explains the warning she gave me.”

Satyana narrowed her eyes. “You saw Koren?”

“At the after-party from the last concert. I saw her—with the Headman. She wanted me to tell Joel to stop doing something . . . something about cargo?”

Satyana and the other two looked at each other.

A long silence allowed Ruby to take a bite and to work her way partly through the stim. She loved the way it seemed to run slowly through her veins, waking her up bit by bit. The food tasted good, but it didn't sit well in her stomach so she pushed it around with her fork while she waited for the conversation to start again.

Satyana asked Ruby, “Did you tell Joel that Koren is on to him?”

“No. I'm sure everything in our calls is recorded.” She glanced at Naveen. “Being on tour is like being under a microscope. But I'm trying to get back home soon. I need a break.”

The man spoke. “We'll tell him. I'm going back there tonight.”

Ruby startled at that. “Is there a way to get back that fast? I thought it would be a multi-day journey.”

“It would be, on a train. I'll fly.”

The idea skewered her with homesickness, the feeling more physical than it had been so far. She put a hand over her stomach, the pain making her groan.

Dayn touched her shoulder, almost a caress.

Normally she would have flinched away from him.

“Are you okay?”

“Just a little tired.”

Satyana looked at Naveen. “Has she had a medical exam since they got here?”

He shrugged.

Satyana's eyes narrowed. “I'll send one.”

Ruby sat as straight as she could. The pain was starting to scare her, but it also felt private. “I'm okay.”

“We'll send a bot.”

“I don't need one.”

Satyana laughed. “It won't hurt.”

Ruby still didn't entirely trust Satyana. “So you and your friends want to overthrow Stevenson?”

Even though they said nothing, the answer lived in their body language. They did.

“What would you do differently if you were in charge?” Ruby asked Satyana.

“I will not be in charge.” She glanced at the man and woman who were going back home tonight.

They looked at each other and then back at Ruby.

She couldn't tell what kind of power they had. They seemed confident, and curious, but they didn't feel enveloped in confidence like Koren and Headman Stevenson. They felt . . . more real.

Ruby stared at Satyana. “You said you want to know what I'll do. I'll do anything to protect my people. That means the things I'll fight to change here are the things that we need changed to succeed.” She paused, took another deep breath and another sip of stim, which had now cooled and tasted slightly bitter. “We need time to learn about this place without the fear of the Brawl hanging over us.”

Satyana replied, “You also need good leaders to succeed.”

“This is not the
Fire
, where I knew how to tell good leadership from bad.”

The woman spoke for the first time. “I thought I would like you. I do. But I cannot tell you much. You are in danger and secrets cannot be kept easily here.” She sounded earnest and slightly hesitant. “I promise that we'll help your people as much as we can. If we can. This is an unstable time.”

Ruby said, “I still don't know what kind of help I should take from you or give to you.”

“How could you?” The woman glanced at Satyana. “Give her our gift.”

Satyana pulled a box out of her pocket and handed it to Ruby.

Inside, she found a small metal pin in the shape of the
Fire
. It looked like the ones they used at home, symbols that had gone on the uniforms of the first crew of the
Fire
and been passed down ever since. Onor and Marcelle each had one that Joel had given them shortly after he took power.

Satyana said, “We saw these in some of the videos. This one opens up, try it.”

Ruby ran her finger around the outer edge, which was a little bit sharp. Just behind part of the clip itself she found an unexpected ball of metal and pressed against it. Nothing happened.

“Let me show you.” Satyana took it from Ruby's hand and pressed hard, almost like snapping her fingers. She closed it again quickly and handed it back to Ruby.

This time Ruby managed to get it open, although doing so hurt her thumb. Inside, there was a button.

“Press that if you get in trouble. Then we'll know.”

“Okay.”

Satyana reached into her pocket and pulled out two more, handing them to Ruby. “Give these to whoever you most think should have them. Maybe pass them around so that are always with people who are protecting you. Naveen already has one.”

Ruby handed them both to Dayn. “The second one is for KJ.”

Dayn glanced at Satyana. “And what exactly happens if we press these?”

“We send people to help.”

The pin made her feel the dangers here more than anything else had, except perhaps the Headman's chatter about pets. She simply smiled and said, “Thank you.”

“Finish your food,” Satyana said. “We've only got a few more minutes.”

Ruby looked at the two strangers, who remained un-introduced. “Tell Joel that I miss him and that I'll be home soon.”

“We will,” the woman said.

Ruby pushed at her food some more, suddenly certain the meeting had really been for the two strangers. They had wanted to see her, to test her. She felt like she'd passed, but she wondered what that meant.

Back in the ferry, Ruby collapsed into a seat and waited for the invisible mechanism to push them away. “Did you know those two people?” she asked Naveen.

A small smile played around his lips. “Yes.”

“But you won't tell me their names?”

“They wouldn't mean anything to you.”

“But they do to you?”

“Yes.”

“You warned me on the way over. You said not to promise too much. What did you mean?”

“They will use you if you let them, and they won't care if they use you up.”

Dayn filled the ferry with laughter. “Really. And you're not using her?”

Naveen stiffened. “I'm giving her fair return.”

Dayn said, “Shouldn't we get more as her audience is going up?”

They were at it again. Ruby held up her hands. “Don't fight. You're probably both right.” She glanced at Dayn. “We wouldn't be out here without Naveen.” She looked at Naveen. “You are getting rich off of me. I'll finish these four concerts at the rates we agreed on, but I want more after that.”

“And what will you do to earn extra? Can I get you to start commenting and working on our communication nets?”

He'd been after her for that for a long time. “I can't. I need time to write songs.”

“You're stubborn.”

“I'm tired.” Ruby yawned, as if finally released from the tension of the rather odd breakfast. Dayn put an arm around her and she leaned into him. The last thing she heard was Naveen mumbling, “Maybe we need a medical bot today.”

Onor and Marcelle shared a table at the far end of the bar. Marcelle sipped fizzy water with a hint of fruit in it, and watched him contemplatively. “What are you trying to figure out?” he asked her.

“If you're happy.”

Pregnancy had changed her. He loved this Marcelle better than the younger version he'd known, although it was a mystery to him how such a natural process could make a woman so much more centered on emotions. If she had cared about feelings before, she hadn't shown it. When they were teenagers, she'd teased him relentlessly. These days, he often felt unsure about how to react to her so he just said, “I'm worried. We should have heard from Haric.”

“I'm worried, too,” she whispered. “About almost everything.”

He reached across the table and cupped her face. She was so thin her cheekbones rose like ridges under his fingers, as if the baby was eating everything she put into her system. “Don't worry about the things you can't control, anyway.”

“And you can control what happens to Haric?”

“I might be able to do something about it.”

A frown creased her forehead. “I knew you were thinking of leaving.”

At least she didn't object. Not that he'd call the tone he heard in her voice happy. “Haric would come to save any of us.”

Marcelle pointed toward the door he had been trying to watch. “Is that the couple you're looking for?”

He turned to see the tall woman and the shorter man inside the doorway, looking around. “Yes. Send Joel a message?”