by F P Adriani
My smile finally faded. “Not directly, no, not the exact person….”
“But the same people who killed Libby and hurt me?”
“Yes,” I said, with confidence this time.
“Will they try to hurt me again?”
“No,” I said, even though I wasn’t entirely sure there and probably never would be….
“Then you went to the map locations,” she said flatly now.
I didn’t answer her directly. “Julianne, did you know about what your mom found in the ground?”
She was staring into her lap. She finally nodded, only once, and so gently that I almost missed the nod.
“But how? Did she tell you then? I mean, the notebooks just didn’t explain that much.”
“The disks,” she said now, “the disks explained more.”
My eyes widened at her bent head. “What disks?”
“My mom voice-recorded most of her research details. But I destroyed the recordings right after she died.” She finally looked up at me, a pleading in her eyes. “What else could I do? They were bad. I didn’t think they should exist. So many details—dangerous ones! My mom said how someone was killed in one of the locations. That the force holding the planet together—maybe it wouldn’t do that anymore if people kept interfering. Maybe all the plants, the Sanders—everything would be ruined! I didn’t want anyone to find out what was in the locations—remember? I didn’t even want to tell you.”
“I remember,” I said. “But then why did you want me to go there? I mean, you knew it would be dangerous….”
“Not to get hurt—no! Is that what you think? No, honestly, I was worried you’d get hurt. But someone has to watch there. I can’t—I’m just a kid!” There was a long pause. Then, “So what did you do—have you protected the places?”
I shifted on my chair, feeling uneasy now: I had failed her on two fronts.
Ultimately, I’d been unable to do anything about protecting the locations. And since I’d been there, others had probably learned of the sphere. So now what would happen there?
Also, when John had last spoken, I’d never had a chance to establish who in specific had killed Amy Castano. I wasn’t sure if it was John or Ronin or someone else, though I knew they were all either beside or behind it, probably including the Thorntons, at least indirectly when they’d engaged John’s help.
In the cave I had been too worried about my own skin and Tan’s skin—and, yes, Hu’s and her friends’ skins too—for me to question other issues. And now I’d probably never be able to solve them.
I sighed now, suddenly realizing that neither Julianne nor I had achieved any satisfaction over our parents’ killers. I really had a lot in common with the girl.
…I also finally realized that I couldn’t ask her for the rest of the money; I hadn’t earned it, though I really could use it, considering all the money I’d spent because of the whole fiasco.
At the same time, the power of that huge diamond, the knowledge of the greater forces both within Diamond and within the Universe—all this made money problems seem quite insignificant now….
“I’m not sure yet what will happen, Julianne. But it seems the places can protect themselves. Right now, you should worry about yourself, about getting better.”
“I will get better—I will,” she said in her eager young voice. “And I hope Diamond will too.”
*
Later that night Tan and I were watching TV in his black living room when he repeated his statement about feeling confused.
“Did we actually achieve anything?” he asked this time. “I feel like we know more, but, physically, we’re in as precarious a state as ever.”
I looked at him: compared to when we’d been on the trek, his face held more color now, and neither his hair nor mine was rat’s-nest looking anymore. But he was still too pale, and so was I. This past week we’d both had trouble sleeping, as I had predicted about never sleeping well again….
“The thing is,” Tan continued, “well, did the damn thing get destroyed somehow? What the hell was all that light at the end?”
“I don’t know…” I said. “I can’t figure out if the ground shaking was a defense mechanism to prevent the diamond being tampered with even more, or if the tampering’s done damage we don’t know about yet. And then even further tampering would crack all of Diamond, like Amy claimed. I have to think she was right. She knew more about all this than we do.
“But, if the diamond sphere got destroyed that day, I’m pretty sure we would have been destroyed too. I think it’s still there, doing its thing.”
“You’re probably right…but none of that makes me feel any better.”
Something suddenly changed on the TV screen—something interesting had finally shown up. Or at least someone interesting: Burroughs.
“Raise the volume!” I shouted to Tan. So he did.
Now we both listened, our eyes glued to the screen….
“…the Detective received a tip about last year’s Diamond Sand Festival bomber. And he’s revealed to Channel Eight exclusively that the tip came from Arlene ‘Princess’ Hu, who’d apprehended the bomber and has been using him as a bargaining chip for when she’ll finally be giving herself up to custody next week. Negotiations are still ongoing about her jail-term….”
A picture of Hu filled the screen, a picture very reminiscent of the first one I’d ever seen of her face. The news report continued….
“…Yesterday Hu herself sent this statement to a Daily Sentinel reporter: ‘Some of the laws are unjust, some are just. I’ll be doing my time because of the just ones. Then when I get out, I might run for office.’
“The newspaper published Hu’s statement early this morning, and then the afternoon edition published this response from a local resident, ‘What a surprise: crooks are just politicians in training.’
“But Channel Eight has determined that Hu continues to hold a lot of support. Already ‘Free Arlene!’ signs have begun mushrooming in public places.
“Earlier today, our government analyst Mildred Simms had this to say: ‘The Council needs to proceed carefully. If it punishes Hu too harshly, I think the martyrdom blowback will be severe.’
“The latest off-world shipping news will be up next. But remember: Channel Eight always keeps you up to date on the latest-and-greatest of Diamond….”
Tan got up and turned off the TV. He was sighing when he came back to the couch and sat right beside me, his left bare thigh pressing against my right.
I said then, “If she runs, I bet she’ll win.”
“You know it,” Tan said. “Stranger things have happened in the Universe…and now you know that too.” He rolled his eyes, and they stopped on my face.
“I love you,” I said seriously then, staring into his deep dark eyes. And he pulled me into the warmth of his arms.
*
A few days later, I got a letter from Hu.
It had been slipped beneath MSA’s front door. When I first saw the bit of paper on the floor, I pulled my gun and called to Tan, who was standing by his car.
I’d come to my office intending to start up my business again; I even had a call to return about a possible new security job.
But now my heart pounded as my eyes quickly scanned the area…and found no signs of anything untoward inside. Just the letter and a very flat metal key inside the letter’s envelope.
Tan walked up to me as I was opening it. He frowned down at my hands. “What is it?”
I began reading the letter. “It’s from Arlene….”
Pia:
I thought you’d want the disk waiting at a friend’s Jersey Bank deposit box Number 620. You’re expected there. You’ll need to show ID.
As I write this, a Council-based army’s being set up solely for guarding the locations. This will mean more non-mining jobs will be created. And Diamond will have to think twice about how it uses the resources here. Now that the nature of the strength-force here is known, I’m sure a measuring device w
ill be constructed so we aren’t dangerously “digging in the dark” anymore.
Two days ago I had my operation. Today I’m notifying the press about the Diamond danger and that I was instrumental in protecting Diamond. This, as I’m sure you know, will help me politically. And it will also help lighten my sentence.
I have not and will not mention you. I will leave that to your discretion, though at some point you’ll probably be required to testify on something. See the disk. I will warn you though: a murderer of multiple people only needs punishing for one murder to get either a life-long sentence or a death sentence. Keep that in mind.
My own sentence will begin in two weeks. But maybe we’ll meet again someday. Life is funny that way: you never know what will happen tomorrow.
Arlene Huston
(P.S. As you can see, I took your advice.)
“What’s with the Huston?” Tan asked, peering over my shoulder.
“That must be Chuck’s last name and hers combined—they got married,” I said as I closed the letter.
Tan’s eyes slowly widened at me; then he shook his head just as slowly. “She’s a piece of work.”
The front door opened and Nell walked in, saying a cheerful, “Hi! I’m so glad you’re both here….” Her voice died as her brown eyes went back and forth between our probably-too-somber faces. “Is something wrong?” she asked fast.
Then I was equally fast in reassuring her because I knew this whole situation had taken a toll on Nell’s nerves. Like Diamond, Nell had always been more fragile than she seemed. “It’s nothing,” I said. “Good news actually! I finally heard from Hu. She said The Council’s setting up an army to protect the locations.”
Nell’s worried face turned into a grinning face. “Well, that is good news. And I have some more—I mean, if you both agree to it. Last night Derek and I talked and decided to move up the date—to next week. We want to get married then!
“I know this is such short notice. But now I see that life really is so short. If we wait too long, what if something bad happens before then? Why wait when you know something is right?
“But if it’s too short a notice to have the wedding at your house….”
“No way—no! It’s not,” said Tan, smiling widely at her.
“I agree,” I said. “You must have it there. I’d be so unhappy if you didn’t. All through this mess I’ve had a vision of you and Derek in my head on that day….”
*
The next week was a busy one as the four of us made the many arrangements for Nell and Derek’s wedding. We had so many things to buy and so much furniture to move and so many people to call and so much food to plan—we didn’t have much time to think about anything bad, which was good.
However, the day after I’d received Arlene’s letter, I finally retrieved the disk.
Later, sitting alone in Tan’s black living room, I slipped the disk into the TV’s player.
Ronin’s image appeared on the screen, and I immediately noticed that he didn’t look too hot, probably as hot as I’d looked while Arlene held me in that damn cave. And now I realized that I’d basically helped deliver Ronin into the same situation I had been in.
He was paler than I’d ever seen him, and more bruised than I’d last seen him. But I could tell he wasn’t drugged because his eyes were too alert, and his attitude still oozed his same sociopathic hate, even while confessing to his crimes. Clearly, he didn’t regret a fucking thing he’d ever done. He actually seemed quite amused by it all.
A muffled voice not visible on the screen asked him, “Did you set the Royal South Mine explosion in The Carbon District?”
He smiled coldly, shrugged his big shoulders. “Yeah, I admit I did it. And so what. No one will ever do anything about it. The UPG will take care of that, just like it did the last time when it hired me to do the job.”
“Why did they want that particular job done?”
He shrugged again. “I don’t know, I don’t care. That’s what the UPG does. Business-as-usual. Maybe the mine was just business-as-usual. No particular target. Maybe the people inside the mine were a thorn in someone’s side. So the UPG hired me to take out the thorn.”
There it all was, in concrete unambiguous form…. But now that I’d seen it that way, I understood what Hu meant in the letter: Ronin would be punished for at least one murder, but not for my parents’ murders.
It was too late for me to ever get the UPG; something even more important had happened now because of Amy’s discovery. While Hu might use this video as a blackmailing-incentive for The Council to reform itself, I now saw that, partly because of that, there was probably no way for Hu to let that info out publicly and protect herself—or protect Diamond either then.
Generating even more political chaos at this time would be too dangerous. An out-and-out war starting between Diamond and the UPG would be too dangerous. The Council wasn’t perfect. But the UPG was even worse, was too unscrupulous. I didn’t want to even think about what could happen if the UPG ever got its hands on the diamond-sphere locations….
There was more in the Ronin video, another confession; The Festival bombing this time. Then the video abruptly cut off.
The blank screen blurred before me in a wet haze….
I pushed the TV remote’s off-button.
“Pia,” came Tan’s soft voice as he walked into the room. Earlier, he’d wanted to watch the disk with me, to support me, but I told him then that I wanted to see it alone the first time.
Now I said to him, “You were listening all along, weren’t you?”
“Couldn’t help it.”
I was still crying. “Guess I’ll never get total satisfaction there.”
“Guess not,” said Tan in a sad voice. “But then some is still better than none.”
*
The day of Nell and Derek’s wedding turned out almost like my vision: Nell wearing an outfit in her favorite lime green and Derek wearing a purple outfit—that had been my vision because lime green and purple were my favorite color combination.
However, in reality on their wedding day, they both wore lime green, which equal-colors were even better than my vision.
In the almost-twilight of the setting Sun, they stood before Magenta Mountain, the increasingly purple sky hugging the beautiful mountain behind them. They said their vows, and they both looked so happy and so beautiful, I felt my eyes mist over. It seemed just about everyone there looked misty-eyed. Nell’s family, Derek’s family, Roberto, Mike, Lori, Julianne—even Jamie looked both happy and sad. He held his silent fiddle against his thigh….
Nell and Derek finally kissed, and then Jamie immediately started his exciting fiddle-playing while Tan and I hugged and congratulated our friends the newlyweds. Everyone else began hugging and kissing and even lightly dancing around.
Now I really did cry. I moved off to the side alone, wiping away my tears so no one would know they’d ever happened. Then I went back into the house, into the kitchen to check the caterer’s progress, who then asked if I wouldn’t mind helping him arrange the food platters in the dining room.
As I moved around doing that, I rubbed at my slightly-sore-but-healing-well wrist; that ridge fall had actually caused a hairline fracture, which the diamond sphere apparently hadn’t cured. I was now back to my normal Diamond strength—and weaknesses. The increased-strength effects hadn’t been permanent….
I now wondered if just like with the planet Diamond as a whole, the diamond-sphere’s strength effects were time-dependent: the longer you remained near the sphere, the longer the effects would last—and, at some point, they could possibly become permanent.
I also now saw that this would be a safety issue, and I hoped both Hu and The Council had realized this because no one guarding the locations should probably be near them for very long. The army personnel would need to be rotated, or else they could become way too strong and might then get ideas….
I was sighing inside the kitchen when Julianne found me.
“Can we talk alone?” she asked, smiling at me.
We went into Tan’s study and I shut the door.
Today Julianne’s excited eyes beyond her glasses and her cherry-red cheeks finally looked something close to happy—and healthy. “I forgot to give this to you the other day,” she said as she handed me an envelope.
I frowned down at it, but when I finally opened it, my frown faded. Inside I found a check for the remainder of that nice large sum she’d quoted to me that very first day.
“But, Julianne, I didn’t finish everything—”
“You did almost everything I asked. And you’re only human, aren’t you? A Sander, but not a Supersander. No one is, no one should be.”
I looked at her, smiling and nodding a little.
“I saw the news yesterday,” she continued. “It’s coming out now—my mother’s work will finally be known. The news talked about ‘a scientific discovery of great significance to Diamond’s geological history has forced the creation of a new army’. That’s what they said, ‘great significance’. That was my mom: great.”
Tears finally flooded her dark eyes. I took her in my arms and held her, and, for a moment, it felt like I was holding myself.
*
When I went back into the kitchen, Tan was in there alone; he was using a spoon to pick at one of the buffet’s rice dishes. He looked slim-and-fit gorgeous in one of his favorite all-black outfits.
But I said “Hey!” as I walked up to him and lightly smacked his hand from the platter.
His beautiful pink lips pouted at me. “Come on—just one bite.”
“All right,” I said, and my head moved forward to gently nibble at his right earlobe. He got distracted enough that I was able to snatch the spoon from his hand.
“Hey!” he repeated to me now. But I was laughing hard.
He tilted his head in the patio’s direction. “You know, that Jamie really can play.”
“No kidding.” My hands adjusting the errant square neckline of my pale purple dress, I moved over to the rented refrigerator to get some more booze to bring out into the dining room.
