Part 49 (1/2)

”No. Oh, no. I'm happy,” Zed Yago said.

*Chapter Twenty-One*

In the anteroom of Recovery, Rhani Yago spoke with Ja Narayan. ”He knew me,” she said. ”He spoke to me.”

The little surgeon was amused. His dark eyes glittered. ”Certainly he knew you, Domna, there's nothing wrong with his brain. He'll be out of bed tomorrow; in four days you can take him home.”

”Thank you,” Rhani said. ”Please send your bill to me at the Yago estate outside Abanat.”

”As you wish,” he said.

”I wish,” said Rhani. She glanced at the pilot of the hired bubble, who had been waiting for her all this time. She had called Landingport East and rented his services just before she received Dana Ikoro's call. ”Thank you,” she said, ”I appreciate your help.”

The boy -- he was gangling and awkward and seemed very young -- smiled diffidently. ”You're welcome, ma'am.” He had a pleasant drawling voice. ”I hope the Commander's better soon.”

Rhani said, ”My brother is going to be all right.”

”That's good. Do you want to go home now, ma'am?”

Yes, Rhani thought. ”No,” she said. ”Thank you. If I need you again, I'll call Landingport East.” She watched him walk away down the curving hall. In a little while she followed him along the route they had told her to take: Recovery to CTD, CTD to Outpatient, Outpatient to the street. Twice she pa.s.sed people in blue-and-silver uniforms. The Clinic staff had told her that soon after Zed arrived they had begun to appear, and she wondered who had called them and how they had known.

In Outpatient she saw a PINsheet stand. ”YAGO NET DESTROYED!” the headlines cried. A few of the people in the waiting room recognized her; she could tell by the way their eyes seemed to fasten on her face, and by the way they then looked quickly aside. No one spoke to her: she felt invisible, a ghost. Someone touched her shoulder; she turned, and found Ferris Dur beside her. The unexpectedness of it shocked her momentarily from her exhausted state.

”Ferris, what are you doing here?” she said.

He flinched as if she had hit him. He was wearing red-and-gold and in the utilitarian Clinic he seemed completely out of place.

”I heard,” he said. ”About the Net, and your brother. I came to see if I could help.”

”But it's dawn,” Rhani said. Light stained the windows of the corridor.

”I know,” he said. ”Rhani -- do you have a place to stay?”

Rhani blinked. She hadn't thought about it. She did not want to go to the Kyneths' again. ”A hotel, I suppose,” she said.

”Amid all those tourists?” he said, with one of his rare flashes of humor. ”I thought -- I hoped -- I offered you my house.” His fingers tugged at each other.

Rhani pictured Dur House: the heavy, stone walls, the odd melange of furnis.h.i.+ngs, half Domna Sam's tastes, half her son's.... She sighed. Her bones hurt. ”Would I have to sleep in that d.a.m.ned gold bed?” she said.

Eagerly he said, ”No! I have a room -- I made it -- ” He stumbled over the words and stopped. ”I won't touch you, if that's what you're thinking,” he said in a low, miserable tone.

A medic walked by them, wheeling a tray filled with instruments. Well, Rhani thought, I can't sleep here.... ”All right, Ferris. I accept your hospitality. Thank you,” she said.

His heavy-boned face beamed. ”I brought a bubble,” he said. With infinite care, as if she were made of crystal or gla.s.s, something that might s.h.i.+ver apart at his touch, he cupped his hand beneath her arm.

They walked to the Clinic hangars. A bubble with the raised axe emblem on the door sat waiting. As they went toward it, a second bubble spiraled from the northwest toward the hangar. It landed, and six more uniformed Net crew members climbed from it. They looked grim. They strode toward the Outpatient entrance.

”Wait,” Rhani said over her shoulder to Ferris, and moved to intercept them.

They turned at her approach, and she saw one woman pull a small cylinder from a pocket. It looked suspiciously like the miniature stun gun her brother had brought her. But that, Rhani thought, was very long ago. She wondered where it was. Gone with my house. ”Domna Rhani,” said the woman. They closed in about her. They were all taller than she was and it was like being surrounded by steel columns. ”How is the commander? Is he going to recover?”

”Yes,” Rhani said. ”Thank you.”

”Can we help you?”

”No. No, I'm fine. I just wanted to know why you're here.”

”We're guarding the commander,” said the woman grimly.

”Why?”

”That cop -- A-Rae,” the woman said. ”He's still somewhere in the city.

They've grounded all flights from the Landingport until he's found. Except for us, of course.” She jerked her thumb at the bubble they had come in. ”We've got special clearance.”

”From whom?” Rhani said. ”How did you know?”

”Tam Orion,” said one of the men. ”He called us. Woke me from sleep.”

The woman snorted. ”_I_ wasn't sleeping.” She grinned, and patted Rhani's arm. ”Don't worry, Domna. No one'll get to the commander while he's in this place.”

”And if they try,” the other woman said, ”too bad. I'd like to get my hands on the people who killed Jo Leiakanawa.”

”I see,” Rhani said. ”Thank you.” She swallowed. They murmured rea.s.suring noises at her as they walked away. She went back to Ferris, wondering how Tam Orion could have called them all when he never spoke, and then remembering that he was a telepath. Odd, she hadn't known that until Dana told her. Dana -- was he still on Chabad, then? Perhaps he had gotten away before they grounded the flights.

She climbed into Ferris' bubble and closed her eyes. A moment later he was shaking her awake. ”Rhani, we're here,” he said. She rubbed her face and gazed at the shadowy hangar. I wonder if I'm doing something stupid, she thought. Maybe I should have gone to the Kyneths'.

But once within the walls of Dur House, she began to feel, not less tired, but more awake, and she recognized the artificial clarity of that state beyond sleep. Her eyes burned, gritty with hours of wakefulness, and her clothes were sticky with sweat. ”I would like a wash,” she said to Ferris.

”This way,” he said, guiding her along the upstairs hallway. Noises drifted up from the kitchen below; someone dropped a pot. He opened a door.

”Here. Look.” He pushed her gently into the doorway. Rhani gasped.

The room was like nothing she had ever seen in the somber depths of Dur House. The walls were blue. The bed, which was low and uncanopied, was covered with a blue-and-white spread. A white kerit fur rug graced the floor. One window looked south, another west, and through its clear pane she saw the gleam of sunrise on the Abanat ice. A wooden chair with curved runners at the base of its legs stood beside the window. ”What's that?” she said.

”It's called a rocking chair. I thought you might like it,” Ferris said.

Walking to it, Rhani pushed tentatively at the back. The chair rocked slowly back and forth. It was a soothing motion -- good for the baby, she thought. Then the sense of Ferris' words penetrated. She said, ”You thought _I_ might like it? You brought it here, for me?”

He nodded, and his hands plucked at the gold b.u.t.tons on his robe. ”Yes.

When I first thought, maybe -- about the marriage, you know -- I asked people what your room at the estate was like, people who had been there, I mean. I know you love the estate. I wanted to make you a place where you would be comfortable.” Rhani said, ”You made this room for me.” He nodded again. ”How long ago?”

”A while. Since -- since my mother got sick. She said you were more like a daughter to her than I was like a son. That's when I thought of asking you to marry me.” He bit his lower lip, and said in a low voice, ”Advocate Wu spoke to me. She told me I'd been stupid and unfair because I didn't tell you the truth about not being the head of the Family.”

Rhani scowled. Christina had no business doing that, she thought, annoyed. ”It wasn't stupid,” she said. ”After all, you are Ferris Dur, _Domni_ Ferris Dur, and even if you don't make all the decisions for it, you are still head of your Family.” For what it's worth, she thought. At least Domna Sam had the sense not to take that away from him. She gazed at the room, astonished at the care with which it had been furnished. The bed's coverlet was apton and silk, and the curtains were white gauze. The bed's headboard was white, wooden, with three sliding shelves.