“And why should I believe any of that preposterous story?”
“Wait a few days. Vryhh ships are fast; it won’t take long for Lee to get here. Two weeks at most. The others might need more time, but they’ll come, too.”
“My defenses are considerable. What if I simply deny you’re here and let them do their worst?”
“That’s your decision. By that time you’ll have done your probing and your wipe, so I’ll be dead even if this body lives and I won’t care what happens to you.”
“Seyirshi, was right, you’re a mutagen, transforming everything you touch. I should have taken his warning and kept clear of you.”
“I survive,” she said. “One way or another. A bargain, Digby. You leave me and mine alone, I’ll go my way and not interfere with you.”
“I want to talk to Aleytys. Give me her call-sign.”
“If you’re thinking of infesting Tigatri’s kephalos, I warn you she’s self aware and apt to react murderously to intruders.” She saw the smug glint in the simulacnim’s eyes and sighed. “Send me out to Backhoe and I’ll make the contact for you. I don’t want to be under all this rock when you make an idiot of yourself and get your plug pulled. You’ve got control of Backhoe’s kephalos, so I won’t be going anywhere.”
The white non-corpse in the Sustain lay stony and immobile and for several minutes the gaze its spokesimage turned on her was as unyielding.
The body was still held in Digby’s grip, so Shadith could do nothing but sit and wait. She’d considered using the mindmove to attack the Sustain since Digby had unwittingly brought her close enough, but that might mean all systems would go out and the thought of being sealed into this hole in the ground nearly sent her reasoning paths into overload. She put that aside to save for a last and desperate stunt, taken in the hope that Aleytys would arrive before air and food were gone.
The body coughed, coughed again as the remnants of the disinfectant gas irritated its lungs.
The noise woke the simulacrum from its stasis. “The ship’s corn has been tied to the skipcom here. You can watch, but you won’t be permitted to speak once the connection is made.” A gesture and the last of the mindlock dissolved. “The car will
2
Aleytys’ blue-green eyes burned through the screen. “I don’t know if I want to listen to you, kak. Who threatens Shadow, threatens me. You’d better believe that.”
“I seem to have made an error in judgment.” Digby’s voice dripped penitence; he’d chosen a sad puppy look and was doing his best to project rueful contrition. “Is there some way we can resolve this difficulty without mutual destruction?”
“For one thing, you can stop trying to worm through Tigatri’s defenses. If you get her annoyed enough, she’ll seize your trace and do to you what you’re trying to do to her.”
“Ah. I must apologize to Shadith. I thought she was exaggerating for effect.”
“Hm. I think more than apologies are called for.”
In the Backhoe, watching this exchange on the forescreen, Shadith smiled. Squeeze the bort good, Lee, squeeze him till he squeals.
She blinked as the screen suddenly added a third cell as Harskari appeared and joined the conversation.
“Yes. Considerably more. Shadow is my sister, my daughter, Digby. Lee is not alone in this. Look to your health, you thing of painted light. We’ll pull your house down and melt your flakes to slag.” She was smiling as she spoke and her voice was soft, her dignity pulled like a robe about her.
Shadith was bouncing in her chair and grinning widely enough to threaten her ears. “Go get ’im, Mama Harskari.” She drew a deep breath, chortled as she watched Digby’s face go stiff and his eyes empty as he contemplated the nearly identical faces of the two women. The load was off her shoulders now, she could sit back and watch her soul-kin operate. For a little while she could revel in being a child again.
Digby seemed to sigh. “It was an extravagant tale… that your daughter, you say? Mm… that Shadith spun for me, but it seems she underspoke the truth. What do you require?”
“She is indeed the daughter of my heart and of our long companioning. In addition to her immediate return to us, WE,” Harskari laid stress on that word, “require indemnity deposited on Helvetia equal to one year’s gross income of Excavations Ltd; Aleytys will give you the details in a moment. As to what Shadith requires, you’ll have to ask her.”
The screen blanked and Shadith found herself in darkness; around her the faint, subliminal soughing of the ship’s life support was hushed. Digby’s voice was silky in her ears. “I can do more than stop the fans. I can evacuate the air from the ship and you’ll die gasping.”
A moment later the lights were back and a faint current of air tickled at the tiny hairs that curled about her face.
“That’s to remind you what happens if you drive me too far,” he said.
Shadith laughed and enjoyed the look on his face when he heard the freedom of the sound. “I’ve died twice already, why should I fear a third death?”
“Then why bother with your friends out there?”
“If I had to go, I wanted company. You’re wasting time, you know. My offer is still open. Leave me and mine alone and we’ll leave you your secrets and your life.”
“So I have to run every job past you to make sure I’m not violating your precious ambiance?”
“Leave legalisms to lawyers, Digby. You’re trotting out problems that don’t exist. Go about your ordinary business and there won’t be a pattern. If by chance you and I meet as adversaries, we can work out an accommodation or declare all-out war and see who emerges at the end. If you go after us again, you’ll make a pattern and we’ll know it. You haven’t any notion of the capacity of a Vryhh-designed kephalos; I suggest you don’t try to test it. If you do, we’ll come after you, the ones you know and the ones you don’t.”
“I could still fight this out. My Sanctuary is land-based and the atmosphere will limit the weapons your friends can bring to bear on me. Plus the fact that you’re sitting here, more vulnerable to them than I am.”
“Don’t count on that, Digby. There’s a lot you can’t know about Aleytys. Or Vryhh tech.”
“Threats about what I don’t know get thin very fast. I do not like the thought that I exist on your sufferance, Shadith. In fact it’s so unappealing, that I find myself just about ready to call you back in here and take my chances with your champions.”
“You can try.” Shadith sighed. “I’m not going to argue with you, Digby, or let you distract me. Agree or fight. Make up your mind.”
There was a long silence.
Shadith stretched out her legs, shut her eyes, and waited with what patience she could scrape together.
4
An hour later, the screen lit, split into cells with Digby’s simulacrum in one, Harskari and Aleytys in the other two.
The simulacrum put on a wry ruefulness and spoke.
“Let it be, then. A year’s gross profit into a specified account on Helvetia. And I give my word that I will not search out you or yours with hostile intent. Is that sufficient, Shadith?”
“It is sufficient.”
Worm