Part 25 (1/2)

He grinned mirthlessly at her. ”Does my rudeness upset you, Domna? And yet, you can stomach _this_!” He swept his hand toward the immobile, sweating slaves.

Dana's stomach hurt with tension. Rhani seemed able to ignore it. ”This repels you,” she murmured. ”Yet you are not distressed by prisons?”

”In prison, a person may retain some measure of dignity. There is no dignity in being _owned_.” Despite himself, Dana nodded. Out of the corner of an eye he glimpsed Binkie's face: the secretary/slave was drinking in A-Rae's every word, lips parted, eyes wide.

”I see,” Rhani said in a tone of polite disbelief. ”You have, of course, been to prison, and know.”

A-Rae scowled. ”No, Domna, I have not been to prison. Is this all you want to know from me?”

”Well,” Rhani said, ”I admit I am curious to know why your people are watching my house.”

A-Rae raised his thick eyebrows. ”My people -- I presume by that phrase you mean my staff, Domna -- are not watching your _house_.”

”Me, then?”

He grew grave. ”That is Federation business, I am afraid. You know I cannot answer questions about Federation business.”

Dana thought: He is enjoying this, isn't he. He thinks he is humiliating Rhani Yago, and he likes it. The realization disturbed something deep within him. He waited to hear what Rhani would say.

She simply nodded. ”You must have wounded your family deeply when you changed your name,” she said. ”Have you reconciled yourself to them at all, after so many years?”

A-Rae's dark eyes smoldered with anger. ”My family is also none of your business, Domna!” he said, clipping the words out. He touched the shoulders of his two companions briefly. ”This is my family!”

”Very touching,” Rhani said.

Her lack of excitement seemed to infuriate the man. ”You are so sure that you are untouchable, aren't you?” he said. ”You are wrong. I hope to prove to you that you are wrong.”

One of his companions murmured placatingly in his ear. His face worked, and then smoothed to a polite mask. ”Domna, if you will excuse me,” he said. The three cops stepped aside and bent their heads together.

The Barracks' bells chimed. Zed said softly, ”He is so _d.a.m.n_ c.o.c.ksure.”

Dana glanced at the Net commander. Zed was gazing at the little huddle the three cops made, his eyes grim.

Rhani tightened her fingers on her brother's arm. ”He is an uncivil boor,” she said. ”But I would prefer that you did not create a scene with him in public, Zed-ka.” Zed scowled. ”He said you have no morals.”

”I don't care what he thinks of me, Zed-ka.”

Dana said, ”His companions have stunners.”

Zed's shoulders stiffened. ”You think they'd use them? On me?”

”The way they feel about you and the Net? Yes,” Dana said.

Zed glared at him, and Dana thought for a moment that he would end up being the focus of Zed's evident rage. But the Net commander nodded. ”You are probably right,” he said. He was still watching the spot within the swirling melange of color where the black-clad cops stood.

Aliza Kyneth, who had listened to the entire exchange, said, ”Rhani, I admire your calm.”

Rhani smiled. ”Isobel always said I was too excitable.”

Aliza Kyneth said, ”Isobel would have been proud of you this morning.”

She turned her back on A-Rae. ”That man is irritating, but an insect.”

”An insect with a sting,” Rhani said.

”Perhaps,” Aliza said. She beckoned. ”Walk with me, Rhani. I have something to ask you.”

”Certainly, Aliza,” Rhani said. She withdrew her arm from Zed's. ”Excuse me, Zed-ka.”

Dana hesitated, unsure if he should follow Rhani and Aliza, or not. He turned to ask Zed what to do. ”Zed-ka, shall I -- ” But Zed was not listening.

His eyes were fixed on a point some fifteen meters away.

Dana wondered if he were contemplating what he wanted to do to Michel A- Rae. The Net commander seemed welded to the stone underfoot.

Suddenly he moved, slicing through the ma.s.s of tourists as if they weren't there. A murmur of resentment marked his pa.s.sage. Dana went after him.

”Excuse him,” he said. ”Excuse me. Excuse us.” It took him a few moments to maneuver his way through the packed crowd. When he finally broke free, he realized he was a meter from the platforms. Ahead of him, Zed stared upward, deaf to a spatter of speculative comments.

Dana looked up.

A woman slave stood gazing quietly over the throng. Her hair was long, loose, and reddish, like gilded chestnut in the light. She was slender, and not very tall. Her eyes were brown. She looked, Dana saw with incredulity, very much like Rhani. Her spare, neat, triangular face was Rhani's, and the set of her eyes was Rhani's, and the sharp line of her cheekbones was Rhani's. She stood like Rhani, head a little to one side, feet parallel and apart. She appeared to be Rhani's height. Dana tore his eyes from her to look at the screen. DARIEN RIIS. AGE: TWENTY-SIX. COMPUTER TECHNICIAN. CONTRACT: FOUR YEARS. DORAZINE.

DOSAGE: 1.25. She was ten years younger than Rhani.

Zed's fingers clamped like steel claws on Dana's upper arm. ”Where's Binkie?”

”I don't know, Zed-ka.”

Zed let him go; Dana caught his breath. ”Find him,” ordered the Net commander. ”Go find him.”

Dana looked around. Binkie had been at his elbow, as had Amri. Where the h.e.l.l had they gone? Zed was staring at the woman again. Dana plowed away from him, looking from side to side, trying to remember where they had been standing before, trying to retrace his steps. He wondered where Rhani was, and how she would find them in the press. All the faces about him seemed equally vacant, equally unfamiliar. He felt panic fluttering in his nerves, and forced it away.

He would find Binkie only by staying calm.

Hands clutched him. It was Amri, bright-eyed, beaming delight. Someone had given her a b.u.t.terfly. She opened her cupped palms to let light touch it; the wings flapped slowly. ”Do you know where Binkie is, kitten?” he said.

”Over there, by that platform. He told me to get lost.” She giggled.

”That wasn't kind of him.” ”He's talking to someone,” said Amri, ”and he doesn't want me to listen.”

She said with dignity, ”I don't listen to people that I don't even _know_.”

A high-pitched bell signaled a rest period. Chairs mushroomed up out of the platforms behind the slaves. Most sat. Some, too drugged to care, did not.

”Wait here,” said Dana. He pushed toward the platform till he saw Binkie.