I know the code, I know the code. But it would not come to the front of her mind where she needed it.
Oh, blast. Her hand dug into her pouch and closed around the smooth skin of the stone.
The boundaries of her memory burst with a rush of sensation that left her knees weak. She knew the code in an instant. She clung to the stone, savoring the freedom, and it was only with a wrenching effort that she made herself let go.
It felt like a massive hand pressed against her mind, squashing all her thoughts flat. She blinked stupidly at her fingers and wondered what they were for. The pillar squeaked against her skin as she slid closer to the ground. The hand pressed harder. Exhaustion helped it. Her fingers flexed idly, and she remembered. Slowly, one key at a time, she typed the code in.
The black screen brightened and showed a man with clear eyes and an angled jaw. "This is a special notice for all voting members of the First Families. Report to your section hall immediately for a special vote."
What does it mean? She wondered. The hand was reluctantly lifting away, sparing her room to think, and just enough strength to straighten up again.
The man's face faded away, leaving Aria staring at a black screen again. She hadn't done enough. Her hand dropped to her pouch and her head started to swim.
No. She gritted her teeth. Not again. I won't have any strength left. Hunger began to gnaw at her. She struggled with her unaided memory. Her fingers clutched the leather pouch and squeezed until her fingernails began to bend. With her free hand she touched the keys. Nothing happened. She tried a new sequence.
This time the screen lit up with the stylized lines and patterns that made up the city map. A crooked red line worked its way from where she stood to Perivar's home. She found a key marked PRINT. A paper copy of the map slid out from the slot above the board.
For the briefest moment, Aria wished she was in Narroways. No one could have followed her there, never mind found her. She knew the alleys and the catwalks better than the rats. The Notouch would have sheltered her without question and given her any help she needed, knowing she would do the same for them one day. She would have had no fear of spies or betrayal, and if the night was cold and unpredictable, at least she could breathe the air and keep her balance as she ran through the streets. She could have told her direction by the placement of the walls and wouldn't have needed to hunt around for street markers and struggle over their meanings.
Iyal had been wrong about that much. She couldn't read very well. She just looked and saw and let the stones sort it out for her later. Except now there was no time for that.
With the map gripped in her fingers, Aria staggered forward.
Back home, the children swarmed all over Kiv, demanding the news. He deposited Ere in their midst to let her relay it.
"Perivar?" he tapped his translator. "I need to open the housing."
"Sure, fine, go ahead." The tone of the live voice under the translation was furious.
Kiv slid the housing back. On the other side, Perivar paced back and forth, kicking his chair when it rolled in his path.
Kiv retracted his neck at the sight. "What's happened?"
"The Vitae have gone gods-high crazy, that's what's happened!" Perivar kicked the chair. It ricocheted off the map table and toppled over, its wheels trying helplessly to get purchase on thin air. "They've kidnapped Eric Born!"
"What?" Kiv all but pressed his snout against the membrane.
"I just got a message from Dorias…from an AI Dorias created…" He stopped and knotted his fingers in his hair. "They didn't even arrest him; they just took him. And now I got word from Iyal they want Aria Stone, too…what is with them?"
"I don't know," said Kiv. "They just tried to bribe me to deliver Aria Stone to them if she ends up back here."
Perivar froze. "What did you tell them?" he croaked at last.
"There was not much I could say." Kiv related what had happened at the Embassy. At his knees, he could hear Ere giving the same story to her siblings, almost syllable for syllable. Kiv dropped a hand onto the back of Ere's neck. "Into the other room, all of you. I'll be in in a moment."
Ere whistled quizzically, but Kiv shook her neck. Ri and Sha wrapped their arms around her, dragging her with them in a complex knot. Dene and Ka bounded along behind them and made a great show of shutting the door.
Kiv wrinkled his snout and turned his attention back to his partner. Carefully, Kiv told how he had suggested that Perivar might come work for the Shessel, leaving out Gov's origin and his smell.
"What do you say, my partner? There's good money to be had from the Shessel."
For a moment the tension in Perivar eased. "That sounds good, Kiv. Let the Vitae and the Unifiers and the Diet fight this out on their own." He picked the chair up and set it back on its wheels. "But I can't just leave Eric…" He leaned heavily on the chair back. "I don't owe him anything, but I do," he said to the floor. "He could have used me a thousand times over, but he didn't. We agreed to keep quiet and we did until the Vitae decided they could start playing games." Perivar looked at Kiv from under his fringe of disheveled hair. "I've got to at least find out if there's something I can do. It's my responsibility. The U-Kenai's coming into port and I've got to meet it. Can you open the channel yourself?"
Kiv extended his arms all the way. "I can. Then I think you had better meet us at the Embassy." Uneasiness crept over him. "Humans do war over ground, don't they?"
"Frequently," muttered Perivar. "I was caught in one of those wars back home."
"Is it possible the Vitae are readying for war?"
"It's possible," he said. "I've never heard of them doing it, but I've never heard of them acting like this, either."
And I may have just denied them what they want, Kiv glanced back at his children. Yes. We need to get to the Embassy. All of us.
Perivar hit the CALL key for a bus and slid into his outdoor jacket. "Just let them know I'm coming. I'll be as quick as I can, but a lot depends on what this Adu's got to say."
Perivar left and Kiv closed the membrane housing.
"Ererishakadene," he called as he ambled into the living rooms. The children swarmed out of their sleeping holes and twined around and over him. "We've got to get ready for a trip to the Embassy. We may be staying for several days. So we have to pack what we'll need. Ereri, unhook the capsules. Shakadene, come show me what you'll want to take."
And after that, I'll need to get a download of…
The lights went out.
"Father Kiv?" called Ere. Sha, then Dene echoed her. "Father Kiv?"
Kiv dropped his secondary hands to hold the two of them. "Hold still, now. It's a power failure. I'll set it right." He whistled calmly, but his skin felt dry and loose from reasonless fear.
With all four hands feeling his way along the walls, Kiv stepped into the workroom and tried to remember where the emergency power switches were.
The membrane housing slid back. White light dazzled his eyes. His open eyes recoiled and his closed set pushed forward. Kiv made out two human silhouettes illuminated by the bare light from the hall. One of them raised a box and there was a hiss. Kiv felt all his eyes try to retract.
The membrane began to shrivel.
Kiv lunged toward the doorway and slammed the housing closed. He hit the emergency seal. Nothing happened. The power was gone and there was no light and already he could feel the burn in his veins as too much oxygen shoved through his pores. The housing slid back. The light fell across him. A round Vitae and a tall Vitae stepped across the empty threshold.