“Just get me in. I’ll take it from there.” Adam sounded already focused on the task at hand.
In the room she shared with Mikka, Eleanor stripped away the paints, rubbed the tan uniform between her fingers and winced. Coarse, but anything would be after months in Tamkeri silks. Face bare, wearing the tunic and loose trousers, head covered by a short-billed cap, she met her eyes in the mirror for only a moment then looked away, the knot in her stomach tight.
Eleanor followed Jake thorough the corridors, walls now painted with stripes of grey and blue; each shade headed off into unknown directions only to come back and intertwine as they continued. Jake held a small white device, and at each intersection he paused, consulted it, and then turned or continued straight. She echoed his silence, worried about the recordings they knew would be taking place, and stared at her moving feet in case they saw anyone. But they passed no one, and even the noises of activity faded quickly.
Jake paused before a door, held the device to the frame. A series of high tones, then the door slid open and they entered.
The room was empty.
“We can talk now.”
“Jake, I didn’t want to ask before, but who are we talking to.”
“Old friends, girl. Old friends.”
The air shifted. The light tickle on her skin grew to a buzz, the pressure on her ears grew, then dropped. All around the cavernous room holoscreens popped into existence. No faces, no images, just a wash of color and static. In a moment they had settled, each a different shade.
A dark green screen shifted to the foreground. “Cole, couldn’t believe it was you when the stand-by signal went out. You’re taking a risk calling us here.”
“It’s important. This is what we’ve waited for, all these years. A chance to bring her down.”
“Do you have the girl?”
Eleanor stepped forward. “I’m here. And I can speak for myself.”
Laughter from another screen, crimson. “You seem to be speaking for other people lately.”
“I speak for the Tamkeri because no one would listen to them. They’ve been trying to talk to you for years.”
Silence. “How long?” A voice behind her says. “When did the first message from them go out?”
Eleanor shrugged. “We’re still matching up timelines, their dates aren’t quite the same as ours. But I know it was near the end of the civil war. And they tried again when we settled Travbon, their moon.”
The room erupted into shouting. She understood nothing, snatches of sentences. She retreated next to Jake, and could feel his hand shake as he placed it on her shoulder.
“For years, decades we’ve wondered what happened to end our war,” Jake whispered. “And you just handed the reason to us on a platter. To be united in case the Tamkeri attacked. It’s a bit of a shock.”
She crinkled her forehead. “But why all the secrecy? Shouldn’t they have told you about another species? And shouldn’t this have come out before, that we have neighbors? It’s not like humans have never seen aliens before. I mean, not us, but in the records, right?”
Jake shook his head. “No idea. Not enough information yet.”
The room quieted down, until Eleanor could be heard. “Will you help us?”
A sky blue screen shifted. “Help you what?”
“Help the Tamkeri have official relations with Claro. They don’t want a war.”
The voice behind the screen mocked her. “Sounds like you’ve got one. Sounds like you started it.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Besides, we’re not the ones that decided to throw your entire fleet away.”
Another round of murmurs, the tone had an ugly edge this time.
“She’s right.” Jake nodded. “A friend brought us a recording of Olympia talking. She knew from the beginning this attack was a fool’s errand. Didn’t matter to her. It kept the council busy.”
Eleanor took advantage of the silence. “I can’t tell you what the next step should be. We don’t know what she’s planning, so we can’t decide on a counter attack. All I can ask is that you be willing to work with us.” Eleanor turned to face each of the screens in turn. “We’re not the enemy. The Tamkeri soldiers are out there, the same as yours. I don’t want to lose anyone else. I don’t believe you do either.”
Jake squeezed her shoulder.
The screens flickered, began to wink out. The room emptied of their glowing presence. Only the yellow screen remained. “Cole. Your position on this seems clear.”
“Yup.”
“We’ll keep that in mind.”
The plain paneled walls were dingy after the sparkle of light.
Jake headed for the door, and Eleanor could do nothing but follow. On the way back to the room Jake kept silent, but Eleanor barely noticed and wondered what help the voices behind screens offered, how much worse her position might be without the possible alliance. Wrapped in her thoughts, the trip back through the twisted halls took less time than she expected.
Eleanor pulled the scratchy cap off as they entered the room. “Mikka, we might have…” and then she remembered.
Shivuk rose from the chair. “She has not returned.”
Jake turned to her, expression bleak. “I’m sorry. I know she’s like family to you.”
“I know you’re worried, we all are. But while you were gone I found something interesting,” Adam said.
Eleanor stared at Jake. “Like family. Family. Adam, I want to know what you found. Really I do. But right now I need to get a message to Rebecca.”
Adam pressed his lips together. “How are you going to do that? They’ll trace anything you do.”
“I don’t know how to do it, but I figure you can.” She looked at him, eyes wide. “She gave you access to the system, right? I trust you to find a way, patch through the shuttle, bounce the message off the sun for all I care.”
It took ten minutes before Adam called her over. “We’re not set up to receive, but she’ll get the message. Send away.”
Message delivered, Eleanor looked up at Adam’s face, pale now. “I’m not abandoning you. But we need all the help we can get, right?”
He nodded, jawline still tight.
Eleanor rested a hand on his arm. “It probably won’t do a thing. So you better tell us what you found.”
Adam nodded then moved over to where Jake and Shivuk waited for them. “I’ve been looking at patterns centering around Travbon,” he said. “Supporting that colony is insanely expensive. The only real benefit is the thorium.”
“We know that,” Eleanor argued, “everyone knows that’s the reason for the colony.”
“But did you know that Travbon has been the only source of thorium in the system for the past fifty years?” Adam continued. “The rest of the mines were depleted during the civil war. Surveys are still sent out, but no other source has been found. Without Travbon, our ships won’t fly. And, guess who was a member of the original survey of Travbon? Olympia. She’s known about the Tamkeri from the beginning. But if that’s the only source of thorium -”
Jake broke in. “She’d never let it go.”
“If we acknowledged the Tamkeri-” Eleanor said.
“Then they’d have the right to the thorium, it’s their moon.” Adam answered her.
They stared at each other, until Shivuk broke the silence. “I still don’t understand what the bother is about. You may need the rock; we don’t.”
Adam stared at him. “You don’t need the thorium at all?”
“The rock is worthless to us.” Shivuk dismissed it. “If that’s all you needed, someone should have said something years ago.”
“So, all of this… has been for nothing?” Jake whispered.
Eleanor sat heavily. “If we could tell enough
people, we can stop the craziness.”
“And Olympia wouldn’t have a secret to hide anymore.” Adam finished. “But where do we even start?”
A soft rap startled them all from their thoughts.
Eleanor ran towards the door. “Mikka!” She rushed to open it, chest loose for the first time since the meeting with Olympia. She flung it open to reveal Rebecca standing with a strange man at her side.
“I got your message.” Rebecca said. “At least, I assume it was you, and this is what you meant.”
Eleanor fell back, scrutinized the man. Heavier than she’d expected, but something about his nose and jaw looked right. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry… I wasn’t sure if I was right, or if she’d find you, or if you’d find us.”
The man stepped into the room, stared at Shivuk, then dragged his eyes back to Eleanor. “She found me, easier than you might think. I’m Jonathon Tepper, and I want to know what happened to my brother.”
Jake moved near Adam, while Eleanor gestured towards a chair. “Please, I’ll try to explain.” She willed her hands to stillness. “Frank mentioned that he had a brother, said enough that I guessed you were still here. And that you might be an ally.”
She looked at Tepper’s face, searching for more resemblances to Frank. The half-moon glasses he wore washed his eyes out, hiding the humor and kindness she’d more than half expected. “I’m hoping that he was right, and that you’re the same sort of person your brother was. And I’m hoping that you’ve got the contacts here we’re going to need.”
“Why should I listen to you?” Tepper glared at Adam. “I’ve watched the video of the inquiry.”
Eleanor took a breath, crossed her fingers. “Whatever they said, Olympia Norris is the reason your brother died. We can stop her, and we can stop the war. Do you want to hear the rest?”
“The Deputy Minister of everything… Well.” Tepper sank into the chair and closed his eyes. “My brother was a good man.”
“He saved my life twice,” Eleanor answered.
Tepper looked at Rebecca, nodded. “My aide here says I should trust you. She’s already filled me in on some of your information, but it sounds like she didn’t know everything to ask.”
“Your what?”
“You didn’t think a junior officer was acting on her own, coming down here, bringing you information, did you?”
“No, but…”
“Frank did what he thought was right. I wanted to find the power. And that meant knowing who controls the information.”
Tepper looked around at the companions. “Let’s start at the beginning.”
Eleanor hadn’t gotten far when Tepper raised a hand to stop her. “Hold on, there’s a message coming through.” His glasses flickered, and his jaw tightened. “Change in plans. Looks like Olympia has been a step ahead of us again.”
No one spoke as they hurried through the halls. The door to Olympia’s office was open this time, a pair of soldiers flanking the door. The one to the left spoke to Tepper. “Sir, a team has been sent to her quarters, but there’s something strange on her desk.”
Rebecca pushed into the room with Tepper, Jake and Adam close behind. Eleanor hung back. Shivuk touched her arm. “What is wrong?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m afraid, but I don’t know why.”
“You have stepped through doors before this, gateways to whole other worlds. This time, your friends are at your side.”
Eleanor tilted her head towards him and signed her appreciation. “You are right, my friend.”
The room seemed empty, despite the crowd of people. Tepper stood by the desk, holding a datacrystal. He started to speak, but Adam cut him off. His voice was soft, gentler than she’d ever heard from him. “Eleanor, she left something. I’m sorry.”
He handed a neatly folded scrap of silk towards her. Eleanor reached for it, but her arms refused to move. Adam held it out until Shivuk took it.
“This is…” Shivuk trailed off.
Eleanor ran a finger along the trim, heedless now of unintended meanings. “Mikka’s.” She closed her eyes, waited for the tears, but they froze into a lump in her throat.
Tepper shook his head. “This was with the fabric. I’m sorry, I can’t imagine this is going to be good.”
Eleanor shook her head. “Play it. We have to know everything.”
Tepper slid the datascrystal into the slot, and Eleanor gasped as the screen slid open.
Mikka.
Mikka alone, in a room. Her posture so rigid, so formal. She spoke only once, discarding Standard. “Hatchling. Send Lord Bunyir my regards. I am proud of you.” Her fingers flew. Love...strength...pride.
Small panels opened high in the walls, nothing more than slits. Gas flooded the chamber, and, despite Eleanor’s screams, descended upon Mikka’s calm form and lay heavy as a blanket on her as her posture slumped. She fell to one side and her jeweled eyes dimmed. The spasms of her fingers were only nonsense, and then they stopped. And the recording ended.
Eleanor heard Jake curse, Rebecca’s shocked cry, Tepper shouting at the guards to find Olympia, but it all blurred together. She wanted to retreat, go somewhere safe. Let this all be over, a dream.
Be safe and hide.
“But sir,” the soldier facing Tepper ran his hands through his hair, apparently too distraught to remember formalities. “The logs are clear – Deputy Norris came in here, and we have no records of her leaving. She’s just vanished.”
“Be safe and hide.” Eleanor repeated the words in her head aloud. “Hide.”
The others looked at her. Rebecca frowned. “We can have someone take you back to quarters. You don’t have to be here for this. It’s been… horrible.”
Eleanor shook her head. “This is where she was most secure. This is where she spun her plans, ran the Council, pulled the strings of the worlds.” She clutched the scrap of Mikka’s silk to her chest. “She’d never have left this if she didn’t know we were on to her. Where but here would she feel safe?”
Shivuk bent over her. “But she is not here, my Lady.”
Adam turned to look at the warm red panels that lined the room. “Don’t be so sure.” Jake shot Adam a sharp look, and the two of them began to examine the walls.
The two of the shouted, directed the two soldiers in their search, Tepper and Rebecca joined in, but it was Adam who finally found the trigger.
A soft whoosh, and a section of wall fell back then slid behind the panel to the left.
Steel grey, barren, less of a room than a nook. And in the far corner, Olympia lay on a cot.
“Even for her, it had to be a small room,” Adam muttered to Jake.
Tepper looked at her still form and yelled. “Medic! Get a medic in here now!” He ran into the room. “She’s not going to cheat us now.”
Olympia’s eyes flickered open, clouded now. “You haven’t won, you know. The missiles were launched the day your vessel landed on Claro. I’d hate for you to think you had rushed my hand.” She coughed heavily into a blood-splattered cloth, and Adam jerked away. “My own mortality was the only thing that controlled me, certainly not your little games.”
Jake shook his head. “The original survey expedition…”
Olympia grimaced. “We didn’t know as much then about the dust. I sponsored the research that saved your grandson’s life, but by the time we’d developed a treatment, I was too far along for it to do me any good. So be it.”
Olympia turned to Shivuk. “Yes, I knew about the Tamkeri. I was willing to ignore you. But you’re a threat to our government and our economy.” She coughed again, weaker now. “I spent far too much time trying to quarantine that viewing device. Time I didn’t have. Decided you may as well be useful. A common cause to return the colonies to Claro’s wing. I do wish
Sullivan had been available when that prospector reported the device, but I needed him to work on the larger design.”
Eleanor stepped towards the cot. “Who were you to decide? What gave you the right to control people’s lives? To throw us into a war?”
Olympia turned her head towards Eleanor. “I knew I was right. What else did I need? You’ve given me a bit of trouble, young lady. But only a bit.” She lay back against the cot, eyes closed. “I have spent my life working for the good of Claro. And things will continue to go as I have planned.”
Olympia’s breathing shuddered then stopped as the pounding of feet in the room outside announced the arrival of the medic.
Eleanor shook, but latched on to Olympia’s first words. “What missiles? What did she mean?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Back in their quarters, Adam glanced at Eleanor. The crack in her still face had iced over, but he wondered how long it would last. Tepper had led a desperate search of Olympia’s files, and the results had chilled them all.
Adam shook his head. “How could she do it? Thirty unmanned ships have been heading towards Ladril since we landed. In another day they will reach Ladril airspace. Once they do, they will each launch twelve rockets into the Ladril atmosphere. The rockets each carry a payload of the poison gas that was...”
“Used to kill Mikka.” Eleanor finished.
“If our fleet releases the human ships to deal with the threat, your captains will resume fighting us. We do not want that,” Shivuk said.
“You didn’t send everything you had against our fleet, did you?” asked Jake.
Eleanor shook her head. “No, of course not. But the few that were left aren’t enough for this sort of attack. But how did she develop the gas?”
Rebecca flushed. “We’ve been able to unlock the rest of her records. As you suspected, she met with the messengers you sent before. She sent them to her people for experimentation. She knew she might need a better weapon someday. To her it made sense.”
Mirror of Stone Page 20
