Planet Killer (Star Kingdom Book 6)

by Lindsay Buroker

  Yes, me too. Three days is plenty of time to get out of here and find a way to have a chat with the sultan.

  Kim hoped so. She wasn’t convinced those security officers would get a message to the sultan, no matter what they’d told Casmir.

  10

  The bombing had stopped, but alarms wailed in the city, and more air ambulances than Oku had thought existed flew through the rainy sky, landing on rooftops and in intersections, teams rushing in to carry out the injured. Or dead. Oku, on foot and wrapped in a long jacket with the hood up, paused to stare at one such scene—and the great pit where a building had been and now only rubble remained.

  Anger welled up inside of her, pushing aside the fear that had been a constant companion that night, first while sneaking out of the castle and then while navigating the wet smoky streets. What right did these invaders have to come to their system and bomb innocent civilians? Any grievances the rest of the systems might have from once being conquered by the Kingdom were over three hundred years old. She was certain these invaders were only here because they thought they could get away with it and claim Odin for themselves. Maybe her father and some of his expansionist talk had annoyed a few people, but it couldn’t warrant this.

  An alarm flashed on her contact, letting her know that her blood sugar was climbing. She snorted. Of course it was. But it hadn’t been that long since her last beta-cell infusion, so her pancreas ought to be able to handle the necessary insulin release to stabilize it.

  Maddie set a hand on her shoulder. “We should continue, Your Highness. Complete this errand before your parents send troops out to hunt you down and I’m accused of kidnapping you.”

  “Nobody will accuse you of that after all this time, Maddie. And anyway, I wouldn’t let them.”

  A wet nose pressed against Oku’s hand. Chasca, who’d found them when they’d been crossing the courtyard, was sticking close now, her long gray tail clenched between her legs. Oku wished she’d dared take her dog back down into the underground passages and to the Citadel, but she might not have been able to slip out again.

  “But yes, we’re going.” Oku tore her gaze from the scene, from the charred and unmoving bodies lined up on the street, and followed the map laid out on her contact. They were almost to Casmir’s parents’ building. Would they be home? Hunkering together on the sixth floor of their apartment building? Or would they have fled to one of the schools that had been designated as shelters?

  Oku thought of comming them, since they had a public code listed, but she didn’t know what she would say. She felt oddly nervous about introducing herself to them. She also had a perhaps illogical fear that they might flee if they knew someone from the castle was coming, that Casmir might have warned them of… well, she wasn’t sure what. But from what her mother had said, the mission Casmir had been taken on hadn’t been going to plan, and he might be held responsible for some of that. His parents shouldn’t have anything to fear, but when Oku’s father lost his temper, he was almost as apt to lash out as Jorg.

  “That’s the building,” she said, relieved to find the hundred-year-old brick structure standing.

  Searching for the entrance, she turned down a narrow side street crammed full of air bikes, bicycles in racks, and personal vehicles. A stone sign over the entrance read Gideon’s Court along with the frieze of some ancient warrior or soldier leading a battle. Had Casmir grown up here? She didn’t see any outdoor space for children to play, not even any trees planted on the sidewalks. Chasca sniffed a lamppost.

  The door was locked, but Oku waved her signet ring with its electronic transmitter under the gold band, and it opened. The inside was clean and well maintained, but the lights were out. Conservation or had a transformer been hit nearby?

  Aircraft zoomed past overhead, flying low, and the floor shuddered. Oku bypassed an elevator, questioning if it would work, and climbed stairs in the back.

  “Ah, good. The princess is determined to help me stay in shape,” Maddie said as Chasca bounded past both of them, perhaps believing the upper levels would be safer from threats than the lower.

  Alas, Oku didn’t think it worked that way. “I care about your health, Maddie. What if you keeled over and I had to get a new bodyguard?”

  “You’d fail to find one as lenient and yet efficient as I.”

  “There’s no doubt about that.”

  Most of the doors were shut tight on the hall of the sixth floor, but a couple of children had their noses pressed against a window at the end. When Oku and Maddie walked off the stairs, the kids glanced back, then scurried into a nearby apartment.

  Oku found F-11 and knocked. There wasn’t a security panel or camera or anything electronic, as far as she could see. She’d thought the building a hundred years old but wondered if it was much older. This part of the city dated back almost as far as the castle itself.

  A tall thin man with a dark beard, thinning hair, and glasses opened the door, still clothed despite the late hour. There was just enough light for Oku to identify him as Casmir’s father, Aleksy Dabrowski. She’d met them briefly at the clinic where she’d caught up with Casmir weeks earlier.

  “Scholar Dabrowski?” Oku started to offer her hand, but Chasca bumped her hip, sniffing inside the apartment.

  “Yes. Ah.” Aleksy looked down at the dog. “We have a cat.”

  “Sorry.” Oku dropped a hand and grabbed Chasca’s collar, wishing she’d thought to bring a leash. The dog had free run of the castle grounds and usually stayed out of trouble, so she hadn’t had it with her in the greenhouse. “You can bring him with you. Or her.”

  Aleksy squinted at her, as if he were trying to place her. There were candles and emergency lanterns glowing inside the apartment, but the hall was dark, and she was in shadows.

  “I’m Oku,” she said. “We met at the Pierce Clinic last month. And this is my bodyguard, Maddie—Madison. And that’s Chasca. We came to invite you and your wife to Basilisk Citadel. It’s a lot more protected than this old building, and if the bombers come back, you’ll be safe there.”

  Aleksy had the look of an academic trying to puzzle out a particularly challenging problem. Oku knew this must be surprising—usually, she would have four bodyguards with her if she traveled outside of the castle, and she would be on the way to one of the research facilities or the university, or some big venue for a dreaded public appearance. This was… unorthodox.

  “Who is it, love?” Irena Dabrowski asked, coming up behind Aleksy as he seemed to realize which Oku she was and stepped back to bow.

  He almost bumped his wife out of the way. A fit woman of about sixty, she dropped a hand on his back and frowned curiously at Oku. He swatted at her and whispered, “Princess Oku. Bow.”

  “Women curtsy, love.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Oku said, though Irena had been scrutinizing her in that same puzzle-solving manner before committing to such an action. Oku repeated her offer.

  “I don’t understand. Does someone have need of a physical therapist?” Irena touched her chest. “Or, uhm.” She looked at her husband. “Math?”

  “The world always has a need for math.” Aleksy straightened. “But it rarely knows it. Unfortunately.”

  “I like math,” Oku said, “but I came because of Casmir.”

  “Oh.” Their eyes brightened.

  “Is he home?” Aleksy asked.

  “Is he safe?” Irena reached toward Oku but kept herself from grabbing her.

  The naked display of concern touched Oku, and it was a moment before she could answer, as she tried to remember if her parents had ever been so worried about her. Her mother cared for her, she knew, but she was a reserved woman who seemed more at ease doing charity work for people from other parts of the planet than loving her own daughter, and her father… Though he was occasionally indulgent and smiled fondly at Oku, he always seemed like he would have preferred more male heirs. The fact that he’d had Jorg and Finn gene-cleaned and hadn’t bothered to fix her issues h
ad never ceased to distress her after she’d learned about it. When she had asked why, he’d said that it didn’t matter to the public if girls were perfect, and he’d pointed out that gene-cleaning was illegal in the Kingdom, so she mustn’t ever mention that Jorg and Finn had been granted it.

  “The last I heard from him, he was fine.” Oku didn’t know how much Casmir had messaged back to his parents, but she wouldn’t mention the Plague in case he hadn’t shared that with them.

  “Fine? Did you hear from him recently?” Irena frowned. “With the blockade… and those messages we’ve gotten from Dr. Rothberger about the alerts he’s gotten. Do you know Casmir has had several seizures while he’s been out in space?” Irena looked like she would grip Oku’s arm but grabbed her husband’s instead.

  Seizures? Casmir hadn’t mentioned those to Oku. In fact, he hadn’t mentioned the Plague either. She’d gotten that information from her mother.

  Maybe he hadn’t wanted to worry her—or his family. She thought about offering to show them the last video Casmir had sent, but it was a couple of weeks old now, and might not alleviate their concerns. Besides, what would they think if they saw it? She’d have to explain the bees and maybe more that she wasn’t prepared to explain.

  Aleksy patted Irena’s hand. “Now, now, of course she wouldn’t know. And is not to blame for anything that’s going on out there. Your Highness, do you want to come in? I—are there just two of you?” He peered into the dark hallway.

  Chasca wagged her tail and butted her head against his hand.

  “Three,” Oku said. “I don’t want to disturb your cat.”

  “She’ll survive a visitor. She can’t be any more disturbed than she already is.” Aleksy glanced toward the ceiling.

  “If you want to pack up, I can escort you to the Citadel tonight. Just in case there’s more trouble before dawn.”

  The wail of alarms was muffled but still audible through the old walls and real glass windows.

  “The Citadel is the safe place for the nobility.” Irena’s brow creased. “I don’t understand why we…”

  “Because Casmir asked me to check on you and see that you were safe.”

  Aleksy mouthed a silent, “Oh.”

  “I didn’t realize he knew you, er, you knew him that well,” Irena said.

  “We’ve met a couple of times and exchanged messages. He’s working on a project for me, or was. And now he’s in danger because of the work my father assigned him, so it’s the least I can do to come offer you this.”

  “Oh, that’s very kind,” Irena said. “But we have to go to work in the morning, and we can’t leave when none of our neighbors get to go.”

  “It might be worth considering.” Aleksy eyed her, turning his concern toward his wife. He would want her to be safe, surely. “Did you see the news? The Meadows Building was completely destroyed. It’s only a few blocks away. The center of the old city must be an appealing target.”

  “I don’t think anybody will have work for a few days,” Oku offered.

  “But the Abelmans are sick, and the Vidals have a new baby.” Irena frowned. “It wouldn’t be right for us to receive special treatment. Rabbi Tzadak can’t even see anymore. I’ve been checking on him in the evenings when his children can’t come visit.”

  Oku stared at her, though Aleksy was also nodding. It hadn’t occurred to her that Casmir’s parents might not come.

  She looked at Maddie, wondering how she was supposed to rectify this. It wasn’t as if she could invite the whole building to the Citadel. She was reasonably sure she could get the Dabrowskis in, but how many hundreds of people lived here?

  “Why don’t you go, Aleksy?” Irena asked. “There won’t be school for several days, so you won’t be missed. I can stay here and—”

  “Absolutely not,” Aleksy said.

  “Do you want me to pick them up and carry them?” Maddie asked.

  Oku knew she wasn’t serious, but she asked, “Could you?”

  Maddie eyed them. “Only one, I think.”

  “Too bad Casmir’s crusher isn’t here,” Oku said.

  “His what?” Aleksy asked.

  “He hasn’t told you about that project? I suppose it was top secret until recently. I mean, it still must be, but now that he’s wandering around with one…”

  “Oh, the black robot?” Aleksy asked. “Is that what they’re called? He introduced it as Zee when it came to dinner. The cat was terrified of it and wouldn’t come out from the back of the closet until the next day.”

  Oku glanced at Chasca, wondering how the dog would feel about Casmir’s loyal companion. She’d been around androids and automated cleaners all her life, and other than occasionally barking at the floor-mopping robot that cruised through Oku’s rooms in the morning…

  “Is there any chance more than the two of us can come?” Irena asked.

  “Sh.” Aleksy gripped her hand in warning. “We can’t presume.”

  “Rabbi Tzadak, at least,” Irena said, having less trouble with presuming.

  Oku took a deep breath, hoping her parents would allow this. Her mother would understand, she thought, but if she wasn’t around, and Father was the one gaping at her when she showed up at the Citadel with the residents of an entire building…

  “Go ahead and invite your close acquaintances,” Oku said. “But there are limited resources in the Citadel, so we can’t take everybody in the building. As it is, we’ll probably have to punt out a few nobles.”

  She expected a snide comment about what a negligible loss that would be, but if either of them thought it, they were too circumspect to voice the words.

  “Thank you,” Irena said, hustling back into the apartment. “I’ll get on the comm. Aleksy, pack some clothes, please. And the cat. I’ll get her food.”

  Aleksy waved for Oku and Maddie to come in and then hustled off.

  Oku resisted the urge to poke around, though her heart pinged with a strange mixture of longing and interest when she saw family photographs, some of Aleksy, Irena, and Casmir, and some of them with what had to be their extended family. There were a couple of young Casmir holding up robot-shaped trophies and grinning with teeth that had been crooked at the time.

  She bit her lip, amused, able to see the man in the boy, his eyes gleaming as if with some scheme. She had to remind herself that Casmir had been adopted—her mother’s doing—and these weren’t his blood parents. They seemed such a good fit that it was easy to imagine that his real parents—his three-hundred-and-thirty-odd-year-old parents—would have been similar.

  She thought of the Lichtenbergs and David, who’d had access to everything growing up in a well-to-do noble family, but the times she’d visited, she’d had the impression of the baron and baroness being somewhat distant figures, even though they’d expected much from David. Jager had expected much. They’d always seemed to treat David more like a ward than a son. Maybe that explained the aloofness he’d developed. She’d thought it arrogance when she was younger. Now, she wasn’t so certain.

  Oku shook her head, not sure why she was thinking of David, since he’d been gone for ten years. Maybe if he’d had the opportunity, he would have grown out of some of his haughtiness, though maybe not. David and Jorg had seemed cut from similar patterns, and it wasn’t as if age had improved Jorg.

  “Ah.” Aleksy paused on his way past with a valise to look at the photograph. “He was very proud of that trophy. I believe he slept with it for most of the summer. We had his teeth straightened the following year. He wasn’t willing to do it until someone told him he’d have a better shot with girls if his smile wasn’t crooked. He has an aversion to doctors and dentists and all things medical, really.”

  “I understand.” And she did. She might not have to deal with seizures—was that a chronic issue for him?—but she well remembered her own fears, somewhat assuaged these days, and her father sternly telling her that princesses did not cry and hide under the bed to avoid blood draws. He’d always been stern whe
n explaining that her behaviors or achievements were substandard. “Did it work?”

  “Hm?”

  “The teeth straightening. Did it work on the girls?”

  “Mm, perhaps not as well as hoped. Maybe if the trophies had featured a disc hurler or a footballer, but we were always afraid to let him play, and when he did play, he didn’t have much natural aptitude.” Aleksy smirked wryly. “It was as if we shared blood after all. Did you know he was adopted?”

  Oku realized she knew more about Casmir’s origins than his parents did. Why, she wondered, had her mother kept it a secret from them for all those years? And even from Casmir? It hadn’t been until those terrorists had appeared and started hunting him down that she’d felt compelled to warn him, however belatedly. Maybe she’d never intended for Casmir to find out where he’d come from. Had she worried he would try to wriggle his way into the nobility? Or that he would believe he was owed something? Oku had a hard time imagining either scenario from Casmir.

  “You’re supposed to talk him up to girls, love,” Irena said from the kitchen, where she’d finished her comm calls and was packing a cooler with frozen casseroles and who knew what else.

  Should Oku tell Irena that the Citadel would have provisions? Though depending on how many friends of the family showed up, maybe packing some food wasn’t a bad idea.

  “Ah?” Aleksy asked. “In that case, Your Highness, he was lovely at hurling discs and balls and winning the admiration of girls.”

  “I said talk him up, not lie,” Irena said. “He had several girlfriends. Remember that sweet little Anya who became a space-habitat architect? Too bad she was transferred to the lunar base. Oh, and Kagami in school. She became an animal cyberneticist and moved to the southern continent, I believe. And Hannah became a xeno-seismologist and left the system completely.”

  “So what you’re saying is he attracted intellectual girls with substance,” Oku suggested, though she supposed careers in the sciences didn’t automatically convey substance to a person. She identified with that type and was inclined to think favorable thoughts toward them.