His lip twitched. "You were also specifically mentioned in the order, Jordan.
Along with Ixil and two or three others of your crew for whom they havenames."
"This is nonsense," I said, my voice sounding unreal through the noise of mysuddenly pounding heart. Uncle Arthur had been my absolute last chance. "Theycan't do that. The stakes here—"
"The stakes are precisely what they're thinking about," he said with agrimace.
"I didn't tell you the other part. Approximately ten minutes before Genevaissued their order the Patth issued one of their own. The entire Kalixiri populace has been declared anathema."
I stared at him, Nask's parting-shot curse against Ixil and his people echoingthrough my mind. "That was fast," I said. "It wasn't even an hour ago that thePatth ambassador made that threat."
"Yes," Uncle Arthur said. "Whatever you did to irritate them, it would seemthe Patth have suddenly decided to stop playing games."
I exhaled loudly. "I liked it better when they were skulking around nottellinganyone who or what they really wanted. Has Geneva forgotten that ArnoCameron's involved here?"
He shrugged. "I presume not. If Cameron himself were there I'm sure he'd bepulling strings and cashing out favors all over the city. But as far as I knowhe's still missing, and those kinds of strings don't pull themselves." Hiseyesnarrowed slightly. "Unless you know where he is."
"If I did, I certainly wouldn't tell you," I countered sourly. "At least notin the hearing of whoever the high-nosed flacks are back there who are listeningin."
He glanced down at his clothing. "I suppose this outfit is something of a giveaway; isn't it?" he conceded. "Yes, Geneva was thoughtful enough to send apair of representatives to deliver to me a personal copy of their edict.
However, they are not, in fact, listening in on us."
"I suppose I should be thankful for small favors," I grumbled. "So much forour private little arrangement."
"So much for it, indeed," he agreed. "I'm somewhat surprised the authoritieshadn't forgotten about me after all this time."
"A pity they hadn't," I said, probing carefully at the lump on the back of myhead. It felt about the size of a prize-winning grapefruit. "All right, soyou've been ordered not to deal with me, along with everyone else in theSpiralwith ten toes and red blood. What exactly does that mean?"
He sighed. "I'm afraid it means exactly what it says. I can't have anythingwhatsoever to do with you."
I snorted. "Oh, come on. Since when have you worried about what anyone saysyoucan or can't do? Especially anyone in Geneva?"
He shook his head. "You still don't understand, Jordan. This isn't somestrategic or political decision on the part of reasoned statesmen. This is thepanic reaction of people who are terrified of what the Patth might do to us ifany human in the Spiral—any human—is seen to be assisting you."
"That's ridiculous," I insisted. "The Patth are bluffing—they have to be.
Human-owned and -associated shipping must make up four to six percent of Patthcargoes. They can't afford to lose all that with the stroke of a pen."
"They did it with the Kalixiri," he reminded me. "And yes, I know the Kalixiritotal is minuscule compared to ours. But no one in Geneva is ready to callthat bluff." He hesitated. "And to be quite honest, I'm not convinced it is abluff.
Not when you consider that the Patth economic future could hinge on what theIcarus contains."
For perhaps half a minute neither of us spoke. Uncle Arthur broke the silencefirst. "What about Ryland or Antoniewicz?" he asked. "I doubt Geneva has beenable to deliver to them a personal copy of the edict."
"They didn't have to," I said, frowning as a sudden thought struck me. "ThePatth ambassador told me Brother John had already disavowed any connectionbetween us."
"Too bad," he murmured. "No matter what you think of Antoniewicz, his groupmight have had the resources to help you out."
"Oddly enough, Tera made a similar suggestion," I said, thinking furiously asyet another layer of the Jones murder peeled away, onion-like, in my mind.
"Though unlike you, she didn't care for the idea of turning the Icarus over tocriminals."
"I can't say I care for it myself," Uncle Arthur admitted. "But if it comes toa choice of Antoniewicz or the Patth having the Icarus..." He shook his head.
I took a deep breath. This was it. All the pieces were finally in place, andit was time to make my pitch. "What if you could have it all?" I asked. "TheIcarus, and everything else? Everything you've always wanted. How far wouldyougo to get it?"
For a long moment he didn't speak, his pale blue eyes gazing at me in that waythat always made me feel like he was trying to drill his way down through thevarious layers of my psyche to my soul. "You're serious," he said at last. Itwasn't a question.
"Deadly serious," I agreed. "I can do it. Bear in mind, too, that if we don'tdo something, we will lose the Icarus. Either to the Patth or—"
"All right, you've sold me," he cut me off. "What do you need?" And for thenext ten minutes, in great detail, I told him.
THERE WERE, PREDICTABLY, none of the little runabout cars available as I leftthe StarrComm building, which meant another long walk. Mindful of the hour'sgrace time I'd given Ixil before he was to try his hand at piloting theIcarus, I hurried as quickly as my throbbing head and the need to remain reasonablyinconspicuous would permit.
None of the others was visible outside the ship as I finally dragged myselfinto view of it. But then, I wasn't really expecting to see anyone, not with Ixiland Nicabar in charge of arranging guard duty. It wasn't until I was nearly to thefoot of the ladder that I spotted Pix crouched in the shadow of one of theship's landing skids, staying clear of the press of spacers wandering aroundeven at this hour. I whistled, and he bounded away from his spot and scamperedover to me. I managed to catch him before he could try his tree-climbing actwith my shin and scritched him briefly behind his ears. "Ixil?" I calledquietly.
"Here," a voice answered from above and to my left. I looked up, just as Ixilappeared from behind the festively glowing lights that had been set up as permyorders in the gaps of our camouflaging cowling. "Any trouble?"
"None," I said, watching as he eased his way through one of the larger gapsand dropped to the ground. "You?"
He shook his head. "It's been very quiet," he said, waving somewhere behindme.
I turned to look, saw Chort detach himself from a parked fueler and headtoward us. "You like the job Chort and Tera did with the lights?"
"Very nice," I agreed, looking up at the lights again. "Nice little sniper'sposition you found up there, too."
"Chort's idea, actually," Ixil said as he took Pix back from me and set him onhis shoulder. "He was up there on guard when Nicabar and Everett and I gotback.
Since Kalixiri are slightly more conspicuous than Crooea, I took it over andset him up in the more visible spot over at that fueler."
"Sounds reasonable," I said. "How's Shawn doing?"
"Bad, but not critical. At least this time he didn't get loose. Tera made surehe was securely strapped down before she set up her own guard position justinside the hatchway." He peered up. "She should still be there, in fact—
neither Everett nor Nicabar was in any shape to take over from her. Be sure toannounce yourself before you step inside the wraparound; I get the feeling she's stilla little nervous."
"I know exactly how she feels," I said dryly as Chort came up beside us. "Youall right, Chort?"