The Agent Gambit

by Sharon Lee

  "No doubt," Edger responded calmly. "Honor me, brother, with your further thoughts upon this subject, when you have considered more widely."

  "Certainly, brother."

  "Your pardons, Most Wise." Captain Chen-Jacobs bowed deeply, and Sheather, seeing as his new sister might see, understood that the man was distressed.

  His eldest brother, with what resources must be available to the one who was both T'carais and Edger for the Clan, had achieved the same understanding. "My pardon you do not need, for you have done us no harm," he assured the man in a booming voice. "But I perceive that you are uneasy and hope that ill news has not found you."

  "Ill news?" The captain spread his hands, palms up, in a variation of the gesture favored by Val Con yos'Phelium Scout. "Who can tell? But you spoke of a pressing need to raise Shaltren when you boarded my ship, and I said that I would try to make arrangements for a connection from Kago."

  Edger bent luminous eyes upon the man's face. "And have you not done so?"

  "Wisdom, I have. But you spoke of haste, and I'm afraid the arrangements I've made are insufficient to your need."

  Edger waited, eyes glowing.

  "Understand, Wisdoms, that respectable ships do not ordinarily go to Shaltren. I have, in fact, located one. Its name is Skeedaddle, and the captain has said she will add you both to her passenger list."

  "Thus far there is only amiable news, Robert Chen-Jacobs. Acquaint us with your trouble."

  The man sighed heavily and shook his head, though what he denied was more than Sheather could find, even with the assistance of his sister's sight.

  "My trouble is for you, Wisdoms. Skeedaddle and Captain Rolanni are willing to take you to Shaltren. But they do not leave for thirty days."

  There was a silence, short for Clutch, long for a human. "It may be possible," Edger said, "to hire a ship and a pilot for the purpose of taking us to Shaltren. We shall investigate this possibility. For I confess to you, Robert Chen-Jacobs, that I am not entirely easy with human speediness and the rate at which events may sometimes take place. It is perhaps true that thirty days is too many to wait, in this instance." He turned his head. "What think you, young brother?"

  Startled, Sheather blinked. "I?" He was aware of a conviction that thirty days was far, far too long and offered that information to his T'carais, adding diffidently, "It is what I perceive, brother, with the understanding I have of our sister's perception. The T'carais . . ."

  But the T'carais, in a most unClutch-like manner, had turned back to Captain Chen-Jacobs. "My kinsman and I are grateful for your efforts, but I, too, feel that thirty days are too many to simply wait upon transportation, no matter how respectable. We shall find another way." He extended a three-fingered hand and inclined his head. "You have done well for us, Robert Chen-Jacobs. We are grateful."

  The man hesitated fractionally before putting his hand into Edger's. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. If there's anything else I can do . . ."

  "You have done what was asked of you, and it may be yet that we shall utilize what you have wrought. But we must explore this other possibility. In the affairs of men, days are most often of the essence."

  LIAD:

  Envolima City

  Tyl Von sig'Alda sat in an office overlooking Envolima Spaceport, frowning at the screen before him. The bowl at his right hand had long since ceased to steam; the spicy scent cloyed, irritated for an instant, then was whisked away by the air-cleaning system.

  Thirteen.

  No other clan owned as many ships; indeed, Korval might be said to hoard the things. Tradeships, yachts, retired Scout ships, miners, intrasystem garbage scows-if it was a ship and came into Korval hands, there it remained until the care of men could no longer keep it spaceworthy. Never in the memory of the longest Rememberer had any of Korval loosed a vessel of their own will, excepting, perhaps, the very ship of the Migration.

  Thirteen was a mote from such a fleet, yet even Korval could not afford to scatter ships like handfuls of seed throughout the galaxy.

  That an exodus of thirteen ships occurred mere days after Korval-in-Trust's inquiry for Val Con yos'Phelium was-disturbing.

  Of the five major tradeships, only Dutiful Passage remained about Liad; so it seemed half-breed yos'Galan was immune to whatever orders had sent lesser captains scrambling to file Change of Departures and ring their crews back from abruptly shortened leaves.

  Well, and Korval ever moved to the necessities of its own madness, to Liad's gain, mostwise. Though of course that was never its primary object. Korval served the interests of Korval; it merely happened that its interest ranged widely. So widely that one Terran encyclopedia had labeled Korval "Liad's ruling House," likening its Delm to a king. And to individuals of mere Terran understanding that must seem to be the way of it.

  Tyl Von sig'Alda touched the keypad, banishing the tale of ships. The next file was even less satisfactory, and frequent viewing had failed to sweeten the contents. Oh, it started well enough, with verification of Val Con yos'Phelium's most recent mission successfully completed: The Second Quadrant leader of the Terran Party, one Kelmont Jaeger, was dead, according to plan; precisely as ordered.

  Well done, sig'Alda allowed, and sighed as the file scrolled on.

  He was viewing now his own efforts at tracking the missing agent, looking, as he had countless times before, for that flaw in his reasoning; that glaring error in his conclusion that had led the commander to assign him this thrice-hopeless task. Even the verification of the Loop and the report he had given while under the drug had left the commander unmoved. Agent Tyl Von sig'Alda was assigned the project of ascertaining without doubt the whereabouts and condition of Val Con yos'Phelium.

  Agents, as sig'Alda knew, were expendable. Yet the commander insisted on being certain that any unaccounted for had indeed been expended and neither captured nor subverted, though surely Loop and Option guarded against either . . .

  sig'Alda sighed in sharp irritation. He had reached the point where it was a matter of retracing Val Con yos'Phelium's steps, thoughts, and conclusions. His office was cluttered with records of yos'Phelium's past missions-for his search, he had been granted ultimate clearance. He had requisitioned and attained yos'Phelium's Scout files; had listened to them over and over, until the man's quiet voice and precise phrasing seemed likely to haunt the few hours of sleep he allowed himself.

  And still there was no clue.

  Certain matters were obvious: both sanctioned escape routes had remained unused at mission end, and a ship lay empty at Lufkit Prime Station, doing nothing more than collecting berthing fees. Past missions illustrated yos'Phelium's resourcefulness: as had been the case in previous missions, alternatives to prepared and rehearsed situations had existed. This time the alternatives appeared to have failed, yet the data in hand were certainly too few to marshal as incontestable.

  Further, he found that he was perforce made to study Korval itself. As much as the Department taught-and had demonstrated!-that the agent might safely be removed from the Clan to more ardently pursue Liad's own needs, it seemed clear from the records that an unquantified but significant portion of yos'Phelium's success was from the genes and mad genius of Clan Korval-which suddenly included the Department of the Interior among its ranging interests.

  Thirteen ships sent forth from Korval. What did they know? He scrolled through the list again. As he watched, the screen shivered; then the list re-formed with yet another name appended: Dutiful Passage.

  VANDAR:

  Springbreeze Farm and Environs

  Val Con awoke chilly and discontented. Not only was Miri's head not on his shoulder, but body-sense told him that she was not even in bed, though he did detect some faint rustlings from across the room, which could just as easily be mice as his wife.

  Irritably, he opened his eyes.

  She was standing before the mirror across the room, fully clothed except for her belt, totally absorbed in arranging her hair. As he watched, she finished moorin
g the elaborate knot on the right side of her head and took her hands gingerly away. Satisfied that her hair was firmly anchored, she rummaged among the objects on the table below and came up with a slender, polished stick-the knife he had given her in Econsey, little more than a month earlier. The blade they had been wed by.

  Miri flicked the knife open, closed, then thrust it through the center of the knot. She shook her head several times, hard, but hair and blade remained steadfast.

  "Very nice," Val Con remarked. "Shall we be festive when we go to town, then?"

  She grinned at him in the mirror. "Morning," she said, coming over to sit on the side of the bed. "I don't know 'bout festive, but I did notice Zhena Trelu don't wear a belt or a pouch. Which probably means we're not gonna be able to wear ours after we get these new clothes she's so hot for. An' I just wouldn't feel right without some kind of weapon-been a soldier too long, I guess." She shrugged.

  He lifted an eyebrow. "Not too bad, for someone who is stupid."

  "Bastard." But she was grinning, "Thought you told me Liadens were polite."

  "Formality," he said, pausing to stretch, "must never be confused with courtesy." He rolled to his side, closer to her. "How are you this morning, cha'trez?"

  "Really fine," she said seriously, and he read the truth of that in the clearness of her eyes and the looseness of the muscles in her face and body. "Rainbow's good to know," she added, and bent her head in self-conscious formality. "Thank you."

  "You're welcome. I am only sorry that I did not realize sooner-I was not watching well . . ." You could not have been watching at all, he told himself bitterly, to allow her to come to such a pass.

  But Miri had tipped her head, the line of a frown deepening between her brows. "You got other things to do, doncha? Can't always be watching me. An' I could've told you, couldn't I? Wasn't that I thought you wouldn't help; just didn't think there was anything you could do." She smiled apologetically. "Never been married before. Hard to get the hang of asking for help."

  He put his hand over hers where it lay upon the bed. "We will learn together. I've never been married before, either."

  "Yeah, you said that." She was still frowning. "Why not?"

  "Scouts rarely take lifemates," he murmured. "One should enter into at least one contract-marriage-however, I did not choose to do so."

  "But why not?" she persisted, watching him closely.

  He rounded his eyes at her. "I was waiting for you, Miri." She laughed and squeezed his fingers. "Okay, you win . . ." she began, then her eyes fell on the sun-lit window and she leapt up. "Holy Panth, look at the time! I gotta feed those damn birds or Zhena Trelu'll fuse. Boss, start breakfast, okay? Istarved . . ." And then she was at the door, hand on the knob.

  "I am owed!" Val Con cried, surprising himself at least as much as her.

  Miri spun. "Huh?"

  He threw back the covers, slid out of bed, and began pulling on his clothes. "I am owed," he repeated. "I awaken and my wife is not at my side; I confess feelings of astonishing magnitude-and am disbelieved. I am ordered about. All this," he concluded, dragging his shirt over his head and glaring at her, "without so much as a kiss. I am deeply wronged."

  "Oh." She came back across the room and stopped before him, studying his face. He was clowning-she had seen the glint of mischief in the green eyes-yet there seemed an undercurrent of serious intent in his attitude.

  "So, how do I pay up?"

  He gave it consideration. "I believe," he said, after a time, "that a kiss would do much toward balance."

  "Right. Just so happens I've got a kiss on me. Is Terran currency okay?" She came closer, and his hands settled about her waist as she ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders and looked up into his bright eyes.

  He smiled. "Terran currency is perfectly acceptable." He bent his head to collect.

  Zhena Trelu followed the unaccustomed odor from the door of her bedroom to the kitchen and stopped, staring.

  The biggest iron skillet was on the burner over a low flame, a generous handful of pungent bulbroot already starting to brown in the center. Cory was at the counter, grating cheese right from the block; several scuppin eggs, two sprigs of parslee, the milk pitcher, and a mixing bowl sat to hand, along with a knife and the remains of the bulbroot. The teapot was already steaming.

  Meri, egg basket in hand, was on her way to the door; she turned, placed the basket on the floor, went to the stove, and poured out a cup of tea, which she took to the table, smiling.

  "Good morning, Zhena Trelu," she said clearly. Then she was gone, the door banging behind her.

  Cory looked up front his grating and grinned. "Good morning, Zhena Trelu."

  "Good morning, yourself," she muttered, more than a little put out by all the activity. They were fixing a meal at this hour? Normally, they each had a cup of tea to start the day and then went about the chores until dinner. She sipped tea and frowned at the man's narrow back. "Cory?"

  He turned, cheese in hand. "Yes, Zhena Trelu?"

  "Why's Meri got her hair all done up like that? Looks-" It looked outlandish, is what it looked. Barbaric. "Different."

  Cory moved his shoulders, smiling a little. "For town."

  "For town? She doesn't have to fix her hair different for town. The braid will be fine."

  One brow slid up. "It is for town, Zhena Trelu," he repeated. "Miri works hard."

  And that, the old woman thought, taking another sip as he turned back to his cooking, would appear to be that. Well, and what business was it of hers if the two of them chose to go into town looking as if they had just escaped from the circus?

  "It's just that," she told Cory's back, "this hairstyle doesn't make her look very pretty." And when one was as plain as Meri was in the first place, poor child . . .

  Cory had turned around again, both eyebrows up. "Zhena Trelu? Pretty is?"

  "Eh?" She set her cup down and pointed at the vase of sweelims on the table. "The flowers are pretty, Cory."

  "Ah." He reached to the sink and showed her a pink-and-cream cup Granic's wife had made, a lovely thing, airy and smooth. "Pretty, this?"

  "Yes," she agreed. "The cup's pretty. Very pretty."

  He contemplated it for a moment before returning it with great care to the sink. Thoughtfully, he cracked eggs into the bowl, added milk, parslee, and grated cheese, then whipped it all together with a fork. After pouring the stuff into the skillet and adjusting the heat, he set the bowl in the sink and ran water into it.

  "Borril," he asked over the water's noise, "is pretty?"

  Zhena Trelu gave a crow of surprised laughter. "No. Cory, Borril is not pretty. Borril is-" But just then the outside door was pushed open and Meri marched in, carrying a basket containing three large eggs, the unlovely Borril at her heels.

  "Pretty," Cory said, grinning at her.

  Meri blinked incomprehension. "Pretty?"

  He took the basket and put it on the counter, conducted her with ceremony to the table, and gestured to the flowers with a flourish. "Flowers are pretty," he said solemnly.

  Meri bowed slightly to the sweelims. "Pretty flowers."

  Hand under her elbow, Cory guided her back to the sink, where he held up the pink-and-cream cup. "The cup is very pretty."

  She lifted a slender finger and ran it lightly down the glazed surface. "Very pretty."

  Setting the cup down, he slid his arm around her waist and turned her to face the dog, which was curled up and yawning on the rug.

  "Borril," he said, affecting to speak into her ear but talking loudly enough for Zhena Trelu to hear, "is not pretty."

  Meri laughed.

  Cory hugged her, then looked over her head at Zhena Trelu, who thought she knew what was coming.

  "Miri is pretty."

  Meri returned the hug and stepped back, raising a hand to his scarred cheek. "Very pretty, you," she said, and then she was at the pantry, tucking eggs away as Cory drifted back to the stove and poured tea.

  Meri brought the cu
ps to the table, but paused at the cupboard and glanced over her shoulder. "Zhena Trelu? You eat? Good eggs."

  Zhena Trelu stopped on the edge of refusal. They might have a point, at that. Shopping was pretty tiring; it might be best to start off with a little something in the stomach.

  "I'll have just a bit," she said, managing a sour smile. "Thank you very much."

  Three plates were delivered to Cory at the stove. Meri pulled bread, jam, and butter from various keepsafes, brought them to the table, and returned flicker-quick-or so it seemed to the woman watching-with silverware and napkins. Pulling the bread to her, she cut off three quick, even slices and handed one to Zhena Trelu.

  Cory and the plates arrived. He gave Zhena Trelu hers, put Meri's down at her place, and slid into his own seat. Accepting a piece of bread, he began to eat.

  In a moment Meri had joined him, eating with every evidence of enjoyment.

  Zhena Trelu picked up her fork and considered her plate. The eggs did not look like proper eggs at all-all scrambled up and smelling of cheese and spices. Gingerly, she took a smidgen and tasted it.

  Odd, but not awful. She had another smidgen, and then a larger one-and suddenly discovered that her plate was empty.

  A deep sigh brought her attention to Meri, who was sitting back in her chair, grinning, teacup cradled in her hands.

  "Thank you," she said to Cory. "Very good eggs."

  Zhena Trelu added her approval. "Yes, thank you, Cory. You're a good cook." A thought struck her. "Is that what you used to do to make money at home?"