Part 41 (2/2)

He smiled at her. ”Nothing too disturbing,” he said. ”It's almost certainly my sister. Now you can see how much you look like her.”

At the half-open door he stopped, suddenly apprehensive. The shadowed empty room seemed terrible, redolent of mystery. Irritated with himself, he jerked the door aside and stepped in, flicking on the light. It was Rhani's room, it smelled of her, that was all.... And before that, it had been his mother's room. Darien turned in a circle, looking with admiration at the richly textured curtains, the thick kerit skin rug, the blue walls. Against one wall the com-unit beeped plaintively.

Zed went to it and touched the keys. The display screen glowed: CALL FROM RHANI YAGO TO COMMANDER ZED YAGO, it said.

Zed pressed the accept key. Rhani's face appeared on the screen. She was smiling. She looked very severe; her hair was tied so tightly that he could see strain lines about her eyes. ”Good evening, Rhani-ka,” he said.

”Good evening, Zed-ka,” she answered. ”How was your trip? Are you well?”

”My trip was fine,” he said, ”and I am very well.”

”Is the estate intact?”

”It is,” he said gravely. He saw Dana at her elbow, a dark blue shadow, and behind him a smaller figure whom he took to be Imre. He wondered if she could see Darien. He stole a quick look behind him. Darien had retreated several meters back, well away from the reach of the camera. She was staring at the screen.

”Are you well?” he asked.

”Fine. I will be coming home soon, I think. Within three or four days. I am still waiting to be contacted by our Enchantean visitor.”

Loras U-Ellen, he thought. He wondered if Dana had indeed made the connection he claimed. But that was not what his lie had covered. Zed was sure of that. Uneasily he thought: Maybe I should have forced him to tell me.... ”And how is Ferris Dur, Rhani-ka?” he said.

A frown skating across her face for a moment warned him that she did not want to talk about Ferris Dur, probably because Imre was present. ”As far as I can tell, he is well,” she said. ”Zed, Imre has received some interesting news, which we both desired to share with you. It seems that Michel A-Rae's replacement has been chosen. She's on her way here from d.i.c.kson's World. Her name is Cat Graeme. Do you know anything about her?”

Zed drew a breath. ”d.i.c.kson's World? You're sure?”

”That is what Imre's informant says.” ”d.i.c.kson's World,” he said, ”is a mercenary planet. Its citizens -- a high percentage of them anyway -- hire out to other worlds as bodyguards, police officials, and leaders of government forces. You remember the civil war on China III about a decade ago? The government hired a small group of folk from d.i.c.kson's World to put it down. They did, in six weeks. But I've never heard of one of them working for the Federation before.”

Rhani was nodding. ”And Cat Graeme?”

He shrugged. ”I don't know her, but the Graeme clan is a powerful and respected one.”

”Hmm. I see,” she said. ”Have you seen the PINsheets, Zed-ka?”

”No,” he said. ”Why, what's happened?”

”Referendum Momentum Diminished!” she declaimed. ”The PINsheeters spread the news of A-Rae's criminal behavior all over the headlines, and now no one wants to sign the pet.i.tions.”

”Then there may be no referendum at all,” Zed said.

”Exactly. Perhaps a certain proposition which you and I have discussed -- ” she paused, and he nodded, knowing she was talking about the possible legalization of dorazine traffic by the Federation, ”will never have to be made.”

He scowled, thinking of what he knew of the folk of d.i.c.kson's World.

”Rhani-ka,” he said, ”the mercenaries of d.i.c.kson's World are d.a.m.nably efficient.

If one of them has been named to head the drug detail, she won't do a halfway job. She may even finish what A-Rae, in his fanaticism, began.”

”Another fanatic?” Rhani said.

”No. They aren't fanatics. But they do what they're hired for.”

Rhani was scowling. ”I see,” she said. ”Yes. That changes things.”

Reluctantly, Zed said, ”Rhani-ka, do you want me to come to Abanat?” He heard Darien move at his back. He glanced at her; she was shaking her head.

”No,” Rhani said. Darien sighed. ”You look rested. Stay there, and I will join you as soon as my business here is done. If Cat Graeme arrives, perhaps we can meet, and reach some kind of understanding.” She smiled. ”Good night, Zed- ka. I miss you.”

”I will see you soon,” he said. The screen blanked. Zed stared at it a moment. Darien glided to his side. He smelled the scent of her, unforgettable as the bitter-pear.... Reaching out, he rubbed the screen with one finger.

”What do you think?” he said.

Darien's shoulders hunched as she put her hands in her pockets. ”Yes,”

she said. ”I see what you mean.”

They separated on the landing. Darien, without a word, went down the stairway to the slaves' hall. Zed went to his room. Seeing Rhani had brought the tension back. He stripped. The hanging skeleton cast a web of shadows across the room. He had left the city stupidly forgetting to replace his medikit; he would have to raid the supplies in the cellar storeroom if he needed a drug to help him sleep.

Someone tapped on the door. He called, ”Come in.”

He supposed it was Cara. But when the door slid back, he saw that it was Darien. Before he could stop her, she came inside the room and slid the door closed. She wore a long gold gown. Her hair crackled. She stepped toward the bed, one hand reaching toward him. ”Please don't tell me to go away.”

”What are you doing here?” he said.

She looked around for a chair, saw none, and sat delicately at the foot of the wide bed. She laced her hands together in her lap, unlaced them, smoothed her hair, touched her cheek with both hands as if testing to see if they were hot.... ”Yesterday you said I might think of myself as a companion.”

”Yes.”

She leaned forward with that too-direct look again. ”Then I would like to sleep with you,” she said. His heart began to beat double-time. He felt flushed. He touched his cheek with his hand, her gesture. His mouth dried with the adrenalin rush.

Detachedly he wondered why his body perceived the request as a threat. ”No.”

He expected her to say, ”Why not?” She didn't. She rested her open hands in her lap and looked at him. Then she said, ”They're true: the stories they tell in the Barracks.”

”I don't know which ones they told you.”

”I expect they're all the same.”

”They're true.”

She bit her lip, and then her mouth relaxed. She said, ”I don't believe it.”

He said, ”Then you're a fool.”

”I'm not a fool. I've been with you for two days, long days. I haven't seen you do one cruel thing.”

”You should talk to Cara.”

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