Wintshikan sighed, took the Shawl and snapped it round her shoulders. “We’ll go north to Linojin. Peddlers say there’s peace there still. Not even the unGodly touch the quiet of the Holy City. Patal, I won’t force another’s truth to match my own. God keep you safe and well.”
3. Back with the goods
Cerex slid his ship into the shadow of the moon and settled to wait for night to slide across the landing site he’d chosen for putting Yseyl onto her homeground.
He swung his chair around and contemplated her. “You’re clear about how to use that?”
She nodded, laid the disruptor into its case and closed the lid.
“Mind a little advice?”
“From an expert slider? Why not.”
“They watch you, the Ptaks. And they’ve got paid agents working both sides. They’re going to notice you when you start siphoning people out through the Fence, so you haven’t got long. Maybe a couple months. And you’re not going to be able to sneak a few through at a time, the Ptaks will just pick them up and toss them back. Hm. How’re you going to get people to listen to you?”
“I’ve… done some thinking about that.”
“Why go back into that mess? One person, it’s like spitting in that sea down there, sea won’t even notice yoti. Come along with me. Once I buy my contract, there’s a thousand and a thousand stars to visit and each of them with something worth stealing. A ghost like you and me with my ship and contacts, we’d have a real good thing.”
Yseyl shook her head. “I can’t. You kept your word, brought me back. I appreciate that. But I couldn’t just go away. Not and live with myself.”
Cerex shrugged. “It’s easier than you think, dreamer. But I won’t argue with you.”
Yseyl managed a wavery smile. “Maybe after I finish this job. I…” she paused, shivered. “I did enjoy very much playing the game back there. Walking the edge with nothing on line but me. No! I can’t forget… No. Just set me down where we planned. The mountains north of Linojin.”
20
Fortune, enlightenment, joy Such is the promise of the Sun Danger and excess Such is the threat of the Sun.
Chapter 4
The dancer on the highwire spun and leaped, feet light as feelers, flying the taut burn of the wire…
Shadith looked at what she’d written, wrinkled her nose. The image still wasn’t right. Apt enough but overused. She struck out the word dancer, held the stylo above the sheet of paper and stared at the words, trying to force a new form out of the black lines…
“Shadow, drone’s just in from Digby, come on up.”
She made a face at the speaker, snapped the stylo into its slot, slid the paper into the drawer of the foldout desk, and shoved the desk into the wall. “On my way, Rose.”
Shadith put out a hand to steady herself as the ship seemed to hiccup, then steadied. “Course shift?”
Autumn Rose swung her chair round. “Right. As per Digby’s instructions, I’ve switched the ship’s internal ID to one of his Face Companies and we’re now heading for a world the locals call Ambela. He’s identified your little oddity. And agrees with your conclusions. A medkit came with the flakes, tailored to the ghost’s species. First you catch her-and it is a her-then you tickle her lifestory out of her.” She swung back as Shadith crossed the small bridge to the Co chair, tapped on the feed to the screen. “He’s now set to lecture us on his conclusions.”
Digby’s simulacrum was in full professor mode, the tassel to the fez bobbing with every move of the image’s head. He folded his legs in his favorite sit-in-the-middleof-the-air stance, rested his virtual hands on his virtual knees, and smiled at them.
“Splendid work, my children.” He lifted his hands, set fingertip to fingertip. “As a treat I’m going to tell you exactly what the gadget is our little ghost has lifted.”
Autumn Rose sighed. “Dear Digby, if you didn’t pay so well…”
Shadith snorted.
“I see that your curiosity has been tormenting you.” He paused, stroked the pointed beard he’d assumed for the occasion, and dropped his hands to his knees again.
“It is an opener of ways,” he said. “A thief’s wet-dream. An instrument for merging with a forcefield and insinuating a hole into it without informing the incorporated sensors that something drastic is happening. Among themselves our friends at Sunflower call it a disruptor, though that is an entirely inappropriate name. Inappropriate or not, disruptor we shall call it.” He coughed and tilted his head to get the tassel out of his eyes. “Your supposition was quite correct, Shadow. Sunflower bought themselves some tempting loot of dubious ownership. And you will be interested in the source. Omphalos Institute.”
“Tsah!”
Having paused for the expected reaction, Digby went on, “Yes, indeed. Our old friends, the Omphalites. Which brings up a point. I think none of us are happy with. the thought of an Omphalos op walking through walls wherever he feels an urge to roam. We are contracted to return the disruptor to Sunflower, but I wouldn’t be too disturbed if it were… mmrn… damaged in the process. My source tells me the being who led the team that developed the gadget poisoned his aides, wiped the test data and specs from the lab kephalos, and went off with the only prototype. Before he sold it to Sunflower, he was careful to let nothing out of his head. Which is the major source of their agitation since he was killed very shortly after turning over the prototype and before he could dictate the specs. Probably Omphalos, but not necessarily. Which is why we were hired to get their toy back to them. Me, I’m seriously pissed because they didn’t bother tell ing me Omphalos was involved. Maybe they didn’t know, but I wouldn’t bet on it.” He tapped his nose, nodded, and paused to let them comment if they had a mind to.
Shadith chuckled, met Autumn Rose’s eyes, and said, “You’re a gambler, Rose. How much would you wager that even if we do retrieve the gadget intact, it has an accident on the way to Sunflower?’
“There’s little pleasure betting on sure things.”
Digby’s image cleared its throat, the small sound meant to reclaim their attention. “The inclusion of the disruptor in the theft gives strong support to your first choice of thieves, Shadow. Which I will explain in a moment, after I’ve dealt with the other two possibilities.
“The Matriarch’s crew person is most unlikely. They’re too paranoid to buy stolen drugs and would be most upset by the presence of the disruptor on their world. Something that could bore silent holes in the shielding of all those little interlocking enclaves? No way, children. And no one they took off planet will have anything like free will.
“As for the mouse who calls himself a jeweler, he has more blotches on his record than freckles on a lass from Vallon and no evidence of any unusual abilities beyond a fast mouth and faster fingers. He steals things immediately salable, mostly gems, and wouldn’t go within light-years of anything touching on Omphalos.
“Shadow, I knew about Sabato, of course, and have a list of his Face Companies which I thought was complete, but Mavet-Shi wasn’t on it. When you get back, I’d like to know your source for this. Hm. And a long chat about other bits of your life.
“I talked to Xuyalix about the Caan Cerex. He was somewhat reluctant to chat on the topic. Turns out Cerex is some sort of relative who had a patch of bad luck. Got caught with smuggled goods on a world with a low opinion of smugglers. Pulled a term in contract labor and was sold offworld. His kin put together a fund and tried to redeem him, but the Labor Service wouldn’t cooperate. I’d say the ananiles are meant to buy his contract with enough left over to get him home to Acaanal.