But he had, and everyone on ship knew it, including the Confluence, and the ship didn’t like it. Or was reflecting someone else’s dislike of it, rather. Ean guessed it was Sale, and was warmed by her unspoken defense.
“I’m used to it,” Ean told Sale though Glenn had been the one to speak.
“We’re not. And we don’t appreciate the insult to our linesman.”
“Not here. Wrong place. Wrong time.”
Something must have got through, for Sale straightened and looked at Abram. “Sorry, sir.”
Yes. The Confluence was listening too much to Sale, and she was listening back.
“We should move on,” Abram said with a slight smile. “We’ve a trip ahead of us.”
And Abram would have shut down the conversation long ago if he hadn’t wanted to hear it.
Sale looked at Bhaksir. “Leave someone to guard Linesman Glenn.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Bhaksir chose Ru Li and Gossamer, and she stayed as well.
Ean listened to Glenn talk to them as the tour made the long trek up to the bridge.
“It’s hard, not wearing the uniform when you’re from a cartel house. You feel as if you’ve suddenly become invisible.”
Ru Li danced around the shuttle bay, seemingly unable to keep still. “I hope they paid you a lot of money to do it, then. I wouldn’t become invisible for anyone.”
The dance took him around the whole bay. It was a Ru Li-style sentry march.
“They’re not paying money.” Glenn rubbed his hands together. “I get to take part in an experimental program House of Sandhurst is supplying linesmen for.”
Captain Jakob let go of the center rail momentarily, grabbed it again as Craik turned into another corridor. Ean leaned over. “Are you all right?”
Jakob didn’t pay any attention to Ean.
“I get to work with people like Dr. Quinn, who’s done so much to open line theory recently,” Glenn said.
“How do you open line theory?” Ru Li asked. “Make it available to the public?”
Jakob twitched.
He couldn’t be listening to Glenn. Could he? How?
“Of course not.” Glenn looked at Ru Li as if wondering if he was a little simple. Which was exactly what Ru Li would have been aiming for, knowing Ru Li. “Information like this is so classified even the linesmen don’t know about it.”
Ru Li and Gossamer would find out what they could from Glenn. Ean’s job was to stop the snooping. He sang under his breath, searching for unknown line fives on the ship. Yes. There.
And there. And there.
Someone was leaving listening devices along the way. He was tempted to send a high-pitched noise through line five, to see what Jakob would do. No, it was better if he didn’t know they had been discovered. Not yet, anyway.
They stopped and stepped off the cart to look at the immense image on the wall of the crew room. Another listening device joined the others.
“Impressive, isn’t it,” Governor Jade said. “I predict a new art movement will sweep the galaxy over the next few years.”
One of the Factor’s bodyguards stepped close. The ship seemed to consider him while he considered the image.
“No, not that one,” line one said, and the other lines agreed.
That was strange. The whole ship was a little strange today. Ean would be glad when the Factor and his people were off the ship.
“Or that one,” as they moved on and another of the party stopped to inspect a door.
“Not that one, either,” the other lines agreed.
If Ean had been alone, he would have asked what the ship was doing. But he wasn’t alone, and he didn’t trust the Factor or his so-called bodyguard.
Back at the shuttle bay, Ru Li was saying, “According to Jordan Rossi, the only good line scientist is a dead one.”
“You’ve met Jordan Rossi.” The lines were full of Glenn’s awe.
“A couple of times. Haven’t you?”
“Not Jordan Rossi. Or Rebekah Grimes, either. What’s she like?” He asked the question as if he thought she was still alive, working for the New Alliance.
Ru Li looked at Bhaksir and Hana.
“I don’t think we met her,” Bhaksir said.
Beside Ean, Jakob relaxed.
The group moved on, Sale, Abram, and Orsaya answering questions.
Another five joined the chorus of strange line fives. Should Ean do something about it? Like ask Jakob to empty his pockets? Not yet. Wait until their visitors were gone. Otherwise, they’d plant something else, something harder to detect.
They reached the bridge. Sale and Abram started explaining the setup to the visitors. Only one person really saw anything. The woman who’d stepped out of the shuttle in front of Glenn. Ean was certain she could hear the panels.
The Worlds of the Lesser Gods had come well prepared. A multilevel and a single-level linesman.
Should Ean say anything? Or pretend he hadn’t noticed?
Orsaya came over to stand beside him. “Is everything all right?”
Ean looked at the single-level linesman.
“I hear you.” Then, as the Factor came over to join them, “How are you finding it so far, Factor? Somewhat of a letdown when you cannot even read the boards.”
“It’s impressive just in the size,” the Factor said. “I have warships whose whole crew would fit onto this bridge. And everyone on board would be deaf and blind to it. As am I. Tell me, Linesman,” to Ean. “What do you see?”
The correct question was, “What do you hear?” but Ean chose to interpret it literally. He knew what Sale couldn’t see. “Flickering lights. A starfield.”
“And only linesmen can see this?”
Most people didn’t yet know about single-level linesmen. “Certified linesmen, and those who failed certification,” and Ean looked deliberately at the single level the Factor had brought with him.
The Factor followed his gaze. “I see.”
“We all see,” Orsaya said. “Let’s ensure it doesn’t happen again. You won’t get off so lightly another time.” She smiled, all teeth. “You have used up some goodwill already.”
Governor Jade was talking to Sale. “I’m not sure,” Sale said. “Ean?”
He moved across to them.
Behind him, the Factor turned to Orsaya. “I believe you made a study of linesmen, Admiral.”
“I have, yes.”
“Particularly the higher-level linesmen. Did you study Lambert at all?”
“Of course.”
“He came out of nowhere to become the leading linesman for the New Alliance.”
If the Factor had been a linesman—which he wasn’t—he would have felt the chill sweep the ship though Orsaya’s voice retained its normal crusty tone. “Out of nowhere, Factor? He was the only linesman working with high-level lines for six months.”
Had the Factor timed his question so that only Orsaya and some of the guards were close?
Abram moved to join Orsaya and the Factor. Jakob intercepted him, asking about something on the wall. Abram stopped to answer him.
Deliberate? Or coincidental.
If it was deliberate, then the Factor hadn’t heard Ean could listen through the lines, for otherwise he’d know that no matter how he kept his voice down, or how many people Jakob kept away, Ean would hear him.
“So Lambert was lucky. In the right place, at the right time. The rumors of his abilities…” The Factor let the words trail off.
Yes, he had been in the right place, and no one could deny that. Ean couldn’t help his smile.