FLEDGLING-ARC
Liaden Universe 10
By
Sharon Lee And Steve Miller
FLEDGLING-ARC
Sharon Lee &
Steve Miller
Advance Reader Copy
Unproofed
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
"The Liaden Universe®" is a registered trademark.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471 www.baen.com
ISBN 10: 1-4391-3287-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-3287-6
Cover art by Alan Pollock
First printing, September 2009
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Pages by Joy Freeman:
www.pagesbyjoy.com
Printed in the USA
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Afterword
The authors would like to extend special thanks to the following people, all of whom made Fledgling richer, and without whom you might be reading some other book
Mike Barker, for his unflappable good nature, and deft touch with a wiki
Sam Chupp, the voice and the will behind the Fledgling podcast
Shaennon K. Garrity, who was kind enough to lend us the Antonio Smith Method
Donna Gaudet, for naming Melchiza
Robert Parks, for taking it to the street
Shawna Camara and Angela Gradillas, for their promotion work in Second Life
Toni Weisskopf of Baen Books, our patient editor
Jennifer Jackson of the Maass Agency, our marvelous agent
The many, many supporters of the Fledgling on-line project, and especially the denizens of the Theo_Waitley Live Journal Community, who made it all happen, and happen well
Chapter One
Number Twelve Leafydale Place
Greensward-by-Efraim
Delgado
"Why do I have to go with her?" Theo demanded, and winced at the quaver in her voice. She'd meant to sound cool and remote and adult. Instead, she just sounded like a kid on the edge of a tantrum.
Housefather Kiladi looked up from his work screen and regarded her just a shade too seriously. Theo bit her lip.
"Because," he said in his deep, calm voice, "in the culture predominant upon Delgado, children – by which I mean those persons who have not attained what that same culture deems as their majority – are understood to be submissive to, and the responsibility of, their biological mother." He raised a strong eyebrow. "Surely you are aware of these things, Theo."
Well, she was. But that didn't mean she had to like them. Or live with them.
"You're the one who taught me that accepting cultural mores is a choice," she said, pleased that her voice was steady now, if still more heated than she would have liked. "I don't choose to accept these particular conditions."
"Ah." He leaned back in his chair, hands folded on the edge of his desk, considering her out of thoughtful black eyes. "But a decision to rebel against predominant standards is only half a decision. What will you do instead?"
"I'll stay here. With you." There. She'd said it.
Both eyebrows rose, and he tipped his head to one side, consideringly. Theo felt a brush against her knee, and a moment later black-and-white Mandrin leapt to the top of the desk and sat down primly next to the keyboard.
"A bold and straightforward plan," Father said eventually. "My congratulations." He reached out to scratch Mandrin's ears. "I must ask, however, if you have considered all the ramifications of this choice."
Theo eyed him. "What do you mean?"
"Decisions have consequences," he murmured, his attention seemingly centered on the cat, though she knew better. Jen Sar Kiladi had been her mother's onagrata for as long as Theo could remember. She knew him every bit as well as she knew her mother – and I like him better, too, she thought rebelliously.
"For instance," he told Mandrin. "Your mother will certainly be both shocked and saddened by this decision. She may exert her influence. Ethics and law are, as you know, on her side. How will you respond? To what extent are you willing to fund this choice? How much sorrow are you willing to cause? How much disdain are you willing to bear? Surely, your friends must recoil as you step beyond that which they feel and know to be proper. Your mentor may consider it incumbent upon her to alert the Safety Office, and the Safeties deem it their duty to intervene."
Mandrin shook her head vigorously, as if these possibilities were too awful to contemplate. Professor Kiladi smiled slightly and refolded his hands, gaze settling on the untidy stack of hard copy on the desk-side table.
"In fact," he told the papers gravely, "such deviance from the norm might come to the attention of the Chapelia, who would perhaps feel Moved to send a Simple to you, to ascertain if your rebellion might Teach."
He glanced up and pinned her in a sharp glance.
"If you were to ask me – which I note that you have not – I would say the price seems excessive for what may be at most a few months' inconvenience." He inclined his head. "You must, of course, please yourself."
Theo swallowed. "You don't know that it's only for a few months," she said, her voice unsteady again.
"Do I not?" he murmured in that over-polite voice he used when he thought you were being especially stupid. "How inept of me."
Theo looked down at the floor and the blaze of galaxies dancing there. Father's study floor usually projected the star fields; he said they helped to put his work into perspective. Theo's mother said they made her dizzy.
"Do you," she said, raising her head and meeting his eyes. "Do you know for certain that it's only going to be a couple months?"
"Child... " He came out of his chair in one of his boneless, catlike moves, flowing toward her across the pirouetting stars, silent in his soft, embroidered slippers. "Nothing in life is certain. Your mother tells me that she requires a few months to concentrate on her own affairs. She is, I believe, at a delicate point with regard to her career, and wishes to do all that she may to advance herself."
He paused, head cocked to one side. "Who am I to argue with such excellent reasons? Kamele is scrupulous in these matters, and I, at least, admire her determination. For I don't hide from you, Theo, that I am a lazy fellow. Indeed, if I did not already enjoy tenure and a position I would surely be too indolent to seek them."