Omniphage Invasion
Page 11
Chapter 11: Kamura
"Would it be too much to ask that you two to stay on task?" Kamura demanded.
She really wanted to shake them both until their teeth rattled. Her face hurt. Her arm hurt more. She was filthy and dressed in nothing but a thin shift and ruined sandals. But she would take control of this situation. It was what her grandmother would have done.
"I have important business in Tekena, and I’m willing to pay a large sum to this man to take me there."
She smoothed the cheap white cotton of her dress over her knees and looked with distaste at her dirty feet. Her green silk evening sandals were ruined, the fabric torn and filthy with dust from the street. And she stank; she could smell her own sweat and the rotten scent of dried blood in her hair. She wanted her own clothes and, above all, she wanted a shower, a long, hot, shower where she could wash away the grime of Shadriss. The meager liter of water Jak had given her to wash with hadn’t been nearly enough. She could almost hear her grandmother’s dry voice telling her that while she was at it, she might as well wish for a luxury aircar to whisk her to Tekena.
Still, she was sure she’d feel less awkward if she were clean. Was that so much to ask? Part of her discomfort, she knew, was because the woman who’d opened the door was the most stunningly beautiful person that Kamura had ever encountered. Veloran, she had to be Veloran. Human beauty was determined not only by the size and shape of facial features, but by the symmetry of their alignment. The Veloran woman’s face was the most perfect that she’d ever seen, as was every other part of her. She was like a work of art come to life. She’d heard of Veloran culture. Who hadn’t? People were fascinated by the odd colony that had spent the last fifty generations in search of an ideal of physical perfection. But the reality sitting in front of her far outstripped the tales.
"Oh, forgive me if I fail to attend to your every word," the woman said, her sweet voice heavy with mock courtesy.
The many gold bracelets on her left arm glittered from wrist nearly to her elbow. Tessa, Jak had called her Tessa. Kamura ignored Tessa’s sarcastic tone and set aside her own discomfort. It didn’t matter how dirty she was, she told herself; she was here on Family business.
"He said you could help, but so far all I see is a woman who seems unable to focus on the topic at hand. We’re here only to use your com. I just need to upload the transaction to Family Mobutu’s database."
Then she remembered the meaning of those bracelets on Shadriss. A hired companion! The Veloran was a hired companion, and Jak had brought her here. What was he thinking? No doubt, this Tessa was well trained and very well paid, judging by the number of bracelets. But no matter how beautiful she was, Kamura had expected Jak to take her to someone who ran some sort of transport business. Yet, here they were in the small apartment of this unreal looking woman who seemed anything but pleased to see them.
Kamura shifted uncomfortably on the carved wooden chair. Tessa, draped over an upholstered sofa, aimed a sapphire blue glare her way. Jak sat cross-legged on the floor at the Veloran’s feet, as if that were his usual place. Through open doorways, Kamura could see a small bathroom, a bedroom, and a shady balcony. Shelves on one side of the main room held a few dishes and some baskets that Kamura assumed contained food. In truth, it was a simple place, yet luxurious when compared to the bare room where Jak lived. Or had lived, she thought with a guilty flush, remembering the mess the mobbies had made of his few possessions.
Kamura felt lost. It was as Jak had said. All her training in languages, diplomacy, and trading law had left her unprepared for the reality of being stranded on Shadriss. She’d been so proud when Grandmother Mobutu had selected her to make the journey on her own. Normally, a new graduate like herself would have made twenty or more trips under the supervision of an experienced Recorder before being assigned a solo mission. But everything had always been so easy for Kamura; she’d thought the assignment was a mark of her Grandmother Mobutu’s high regard. Now, she had to wonder if the decision indicated that her grandmother was losing her judgment.
It didn’t help that next to the Veloran she felt too tall, too heavy . . . too plain. She took a deep breath.
"May I remind you that I am a fully-trained Recorder? I’ve survived testing that a mere courtesan couldn’t even imagine—"
"You’re trained to survive in pretty places with pretty people," Jak interrupted. "You don’t have a clue how to get on here."
Abruptly, she realized that he was angry and afraid. Angry with her for daring to criticize the Veloran, afraid that he’d be unable to protect Tessa. Meanwhile, the Veloran stretched out her legs and pushed her toes against Jak’s shoulder in an intimate gesture.
"What is the matter with you?" Tessa demanded of her. "There’s only room for one idea in that tiny little brain of yours?"
"Do you always speak to your clients with such diplomacy?" Kamura responded. She had never in her life been insulted as often and as freely as she had been while on Shadriss. But no matter the damage to her pride, she had to make them understand the importance of getting to Tekena. Yet, how could she do that without revealing the secrets of her Family? Maybe a part of the truth would be enough to satisfy them.
"I must reach Tekena before the Twins are full again," Kamura said once again. She tried without success to keep frustration and impatience out of her voice. "The Prime is almost fifteen years standard, and the Regency is about to end."
"We know that, girl," Tessa said, annoyance plain in her voice.
"It’s about to end, all right," Jak told her, "but not the way you think. The touts are giving odds that the Prime will be dead before he’s crowned. And rumor is that Tain, the younger brother, is dead already."
Kamura scowled at the big, scar-faced man in frustration. Grass green eyes stared back at her. One side of his mouth lifted in a sneer that she was beginning to realize was only a twist of the ugly scar that ran diagonally across his face. Why couldn’t he just keep quiet and do what she’d hired him to do?
"What does Family Mobutu care about Shadriss?" Tessa demanded, as if she had a right to know. "This planet is backward and poor. We exist on the remnants of Confederacy technology and subsistence farming. There’s nothing here for you."
"My reasons are Family business." She took a deep breath and prepared to give them part of the story. Her grandmother wouldn’t approve, but she had to tell them something if she wanted their help. "My mother’s cousin was the mother of the Prime. She died with her husband when their aircar crashed, but the relationship still stands."
They stared at her in disbelief, as if a Mobutu of Terra claiming kinship with the Prime of Shadriss were too outrageous to be true.
"The Family Mobutu still has an interest in seeing that the Luan n’Chall becomes the new Overlord of Shadriss," Kamura lied. She shrugged, doing her best to keep her increasing feeling of desperation off her face and out of her voice. Her head and her arm throbbed with every beat of her pulse. "As you say, it’s a poor world, but it holds important trade goods. At least," she added, "items that my Family is convinced are important."
"What?" Jak asked. "What trade goods? There’s nothing on this dump that anybody wants."
Once again, she decided to give them part of the truth. "There are the alien artifacts."
"The black stuff?" Jak asked. He shrugged. "It’s worm crap. Even I know that. Some kind of sentient worms here that crapped out that shiny, black stuff and then used it to make tools and even whole buildings. Your Family wants that?"
"Yes, Family Mobutu wants the ‘worm crap,’" she snapped. "And they were called Selok omniphages, not worms."
Still sounding skeptical, Jak said, "They’re worms to me. That stuff’s old, it’s ugly, and it’s useless. Definitely not worth dying for."
"In the correct market, those artifacts are quite valuable," Kamura replied, and that was true enough. Not that her grandmother wo
uld ever let any of them leave Family Mobutu hands. They were omniphage artifacts, made by beings who’d been controlled by the colony minds of intelligent bacteria. True, they would have been mere curiosities were it not for the information gathered at such cost to her Family. But now they were much more than that. They were keys to understanding the danger that threatened them all.
"I must be in Tekena before the Prime joins with the God Core. It’s the only way to ensure that Family Mobutu maintains our trading rights with Shadriss."
"You mean, it’s the only way to make sure that no one else gets their hands on the artifacts," Tessa said.
"Correct," Kamura agreed.
She would agree to anything if only they would get her to Tekena before the Joining. Her grandmother was convinced that the God Core was the key to the power of the omniphage. Family Mobutu had spent years of research learning to read the writing the Selok had left on nearly every centimeter of their constructions. They’d found that on its own a omniphage might control from three to six bodies. But through the God Core device, a primary omniphage might control an entire planet.
Or more.
The omniphage had lived in hosts, the beings Jak described as worms, but they could use other bodies when those were available. The hereditary rulers of Shadriss carried omniphage bacteria in their bloodstream. Tests, done in secret, confirmed that the bacteria were only present in the Overlord and in the Prime. They suspected that the priests of Nish somehow introduced the bacteria into the Prime, who later became Overlord, possibly in one of their many ceremonies. But the phage seemed dormant, unable to organize itself, unable to take complete control of its human host and, most important, unable to make full use of the power of the ancient artifact. But there was a chance that it wouldn’t remain dormant forever. That, however, was not information to be shared with these two.
Her mission was to learn all that she could about the God Core. Since the death of the last Overlord, the device had remained hidden deep in the main temple of the priests of Nish. Grandmother Mobutu had sent agents to retrieve it, but none had returned. But the God Core would be brought out on the day the Prime became the new Overlord. She would record what she could of the artifact, and of what happened to the boy who carried the omniphage.
If necessary, she would destroy them both.