"Negative. Send extra security to the protected apartments. The two people I brought in last night-"
"We've already dispatched extra personnel there. I am to advise you-"
She broke the link and ran out the door. The scene she found when she stepped onto that floor shocked her. At least five guards lay broken along the corridor. Both apartment doors stood open.
Tresha was missing. No real surprise there, Ariel thought angrily.
She found Wenithal in his bathroom. He was dead-eyes staring blindly, head tilted at an awkward angle.
"Damn!" she shouted.
Behind her, more security officers rushed by in the corridor. She knew, though, that Tresha was long gone. The security recordings of the corridor showed the guards entering the hallway. They joined the two already on station. Minutes later, something caught their attention from the direction of the elevator. Their hands, almost as one, went to their sidearms, but they began falling, one by one, twisting around, writhing in pain, thrown to the floor. Two of the guards managed to fire shots, but they, too, were suddenly seized by some spectral force and crushed.
After they had all been subdued, Tresha's door opened, and she emerged. She rushed up the corridor to Wenithal's room and entered.
The view showed no one emerging.
"Masked," Coren said.
"But before or after the attack?" Ariel asked.
"After," Coren said. "We never saw her leave the room before the attack, so that means she had help."
They watched the recording on Ariel's subetheric. Coren lay propped up in her bed, his left shoulder covered by a thick pad. He had slept nearly six hours. Ariel knew he was angry that she had let him sleep while her people had scoured the embassy for the woman who had pretended to be Jeta Fromm, but he had said nothing in rebuke.
"No one saw her leave the embassy," Ariel said, "but we can assume she's gone. The question is: where did she-or they-go?"
"Petrabor maybe, " Coren said glumly. "Tell me about Nova Levis."
"I had a long talk with Ambassador Setaris last night. I hate it when I'm treated like a child who can't be told the truth." Ariel let herself experience the anger and irritation-she had felt during and after her meeting with Setaris. Just for a few moments, while she composed her thoughts.
"We've known that Solaria has a compound on the ground on Nova Levis for several years, but until now we had no idea what it was or what they were doing. Just an enclave on an island, away from the Settler towns and cities. A lot of traffic in and out. Nothing we could do anything about. It was a Solarian holding originally, and they then let it to a Settler colony, so we had no legal grounds to go in there to investigate. Several years ago, though, when the first talks began between Earth and Aurora to try to reconcile our differences, we were able to share data on black market trade. Nova Levis was interesting because it seemed to be acting as a haven for several of the ships suspected to be regular contraband runners. Aurora made a few tentative inquiries with Solaria, Solaria offered to look into it, and what followed was a series of reports telling us that nothing illegal was happening on Nova Levis. Then the Tiberius incident happened."
"That's what precipitated last year's conference?" Coren asked.
Ariel nodded. "One of the things. A Terran smuggler challenged by an Auroran police cruiser. For whatever reason, it had drifted into our space and we insisted on inspection rights. They refused and were fired upon. The Tiberius was on its way to Nova Levis. Among the facts that did not become public was that several Solarian nationals were on board-primarily positronics specialists, but also a few geneticists. We decided then to push for more cooperation with Earth as a first step toward forcing Solaria to open up."
"Which blew up in everyone's face."
"Solaria will not allow ground inspections of Nova Levis. "
"I thought Nova Levis was refusing."
"Same thing, as far as we're concerned."
"So why hasn't Solaria's involvement been made public?"
"Games. Aurora can't risk war with Solaria until we know who our allies are. Or how much of the Solarian government is involved. We have to pretend to accept everything at face value until we have the proof necessary to convene a general council of the Fifty Worlds."
"And the Theians?"
"We're using them as a potential cause for convening that council on other grounds if we can't get it any other way. If Solaria moves to interdict a Theian ship, we have the excuse. If Nova Levis fires on a Theian ship, we have the excuse."
"And if Earth actually gets permission to do the ground inspections?" Coren asked.
"What we find will give us the excuse," Ariel replied.
"In the meantime, the dance goes on until someone steps wrong."
"The wonderful world of diplomacy. "
"I suppose that's preferable to arbitrarily getting several hundred thousand people killed. "
"Is it any different in the corporate world?"
"Worse. You can't ever declare open war on each other. At the end of all the games, you still have to sleep with the enemy."
She smiled. "I suppose even that could have its pleasant moments."
Coren shot her a look. "I'm sorry, Ambassador, but I don't find any of this particularly amusing."
Ariel jerked as if she had been struck. "I didn't mean-"
"Someone very special to me is dead because you people are playing games. I understand them, but that doesn't make it any more acceptable. "
Ariel's expression hardened. "Don't bleed too much, Mr. Lanra. You might pass out when I need you. "
Coren looked away, reddening. He visibly controlled himself, then cleared his throat. "So what does Aurora think Solaria is doing on Nova Levis?"'
"Until this, we had no idea. Black market trade is too vague to really attack them with-to one extent or another, we all participate, or at least our citizens do." She spoke evenly, the same tone of voice as before, as if their disagreement had not occurred.
"Until now. You mean the cyborgs?"
"Settlers couldn't build them. Solaria has to be behind it. " She took a deep breath. "Which means that, if part of the research and development was done here, there had to be a Solarian contact on Earth to funnel materials and technologies and manage the program."
Coren blinked. "Gale Chassik was one of the original shareholders in Nova Levis."
"But he divested before assuming head of the Solarian mission. "
"Which would make sense…But-why?"
"That's a very good question. I-"
Coren's comm chirped. He snatched it up from the table at his right and stabbed at it. "Lanra." He listened for a time. Gradually, his face lost its composure. He looked momentarily confused, then shocked. "I'll talk to him. Where is he now? Good. No, don't tell him I'm coming. Thanks."
"What is it?"
"Come with me. We have to see someone."
"You need more-"
"Now, Ariel. Please." They took an embassy limo to the DyNan compound, where Coren easily passed them through security. He led the way to the elevator, and tapped in the destination; a minute later, they stepped into a spacious, comfortably furnished suite.
Someone was sitting in a chair, watching the subetheric. Coren held a hand up and felt Ariel bump into it.
The subetheric showed Rega Looms at a press conference. "
– decision has not been taken lightly or capriciously. For personal reasons I choose not to go into at this time, I must announce my withdrawal from this campaign. I apologize to all those who have shown me their support through the last several months. I know all our hopes have been compromised, but I trust they have not been destroyed. There are others, more qualified than myself, to step into office and carry on the work to which I have pledged myself my entire life. I do not-"
The screen went blank. The man who had been watching now stood and turned.