The air within the dome was even more humid, filled with wide-leaved palms and trees that pushed against the curved transparent ceiling of the dome. The floor was hidden beneath lush grasses and ferns. Tiny, lemur-like primates with feathery blue fur and broad, fleshy flaps joining their arms to their bodies soared through the warm, soupy air, scattering brightly coloured insects that sported wide translucent wings.
Luc spotted Ambassador Sachs waiting for him at a point where several pathways, nearly hidden beneath the dense flora, converged close to the dome’s centre.
‘You are Master Archivist Gabion?’ asked the Ambassador as Luc came to a halt before him. His face was still hidden behind a mirror mask, and it was more than a little strange for Luc to find himself staring into that mirror, given his dream-memories of Antonov’s face reflected in it.
The Ambassador’s voice proved to be soft, almost contralto. He wore the same long coat as at Vasili’s service, while dark gloves concealed his hands. Luc felt a slight prickling on the back of his neck as he wondered if the Ambassador might in fact be some kind of machine, but then noticed pale flesh hidden in the shadows within the Ambassador’s hood, where the edge of the mask came into contact with all too human skin.
‘Ambassador,’ said Luc with a slight bow. ‘Councillor de Almeida said you might be able to help in the investigation into Sevgeny Vasili’s death.’
The Ambassador dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. ‘Mr Gabion. We are familiar with your recent exploits at Aeschere. We’re more than happy to provide whatever assistance we can.’
‘I hope you don’t mind me asking,’ said Luc, ‘but why meet here?’
‘It’s peaceful,’ the Ambassador replied. ‘And it feels like home, given that many of our lives back in the Coalition are spent far from planetary surfaces. We . . . must confess to some confusion over Miss de Almeida’s request. We were under the impression the investigation into Councillor Vasili’s murder had recently been closed?’
We? ‘Yes, but we’re far from clear on how the killer managed to circumvent security and reach Vanaheim,’ said Luc, thinking again of the ease with which de Almeida had just done precisely that to bring him here. ‘Naturally, we want to reduce the chances of something like this happening ever again.’
The Ambassador nodded. ‘We can understand why the Council would want to carry out a review of its own security measures, but don’t see how we could possibly be of any help. Surely it’s an internal matter for the Council?’
‘Miss de Almeida wants to carry out interviews with anyone who met with or spoke with Vasili in the last few days before he died. You did say you were willing to help?’
For a second he thought the Ambassador might object. Even with the mask hiding his face, Luc could clearly sense his reluctance.
‘Very well, then,’ said the Ambassador, with a touch of weariness. ‘We wouldn’t want to be seen as uncooperative.’
‘If I may ask, Ambassador Sachs – why do you wear that mask?’
The Ambassador let out an audible sigh. ‘Must we really go over this again?’
Luc hesitated, guessing he’d be far from the first person to have asked that very question. ‘Consider it a necessary formality, Ambassador, with my apologies.’
‘Very well, then.’ Sachs replied, with the tone of one repeating a familiar litany. ‘In the Coalition, we believe faces born of nature have little reflection on an individual’s true spirit. We don’t place limits on ourselves in the way that your own civilization does, and we prefer to be judged by what we do, rather than how we appear. Besides, there are those amongst us who engage in forms of mind and body modification that some within the Tian Di might find . . . intimidating.’
‘So do you keep the mask on to avoid frightening people?’
The Ambassador hesitated a moment. ‘To avoid confusing them would be the more accurate statement. Is this relevant to your investigation?’
No, but it’s relevant to me. ‘You met with Vasili just shortly before he died?’
‘That is a matter of record.’
‘Where were you at the time he died?’
‘At a function, held in my honour, and attended by Councillors who had participated in the preparations for Reunification. Vasili’s absence, it should be said, was noted by all present.’
‘And when you last spoke with Vasili, what did you talk about?’
‘Nothing out of the ordinary. We had regular meetings to go over whatever details or issues might come about on the run-up to Reunification. He seemed alert but tired that last time.’
‘He didn’t seem anxious, or worried about anything?’
‘If he had,’ the Ambassador replied, ‘we would have been sure to mention it upon hearing of his death.’
Luc could see he wasn’t getting anywhere. ‘Vasili was central to Reunification, but would you agree that the Temur Council is far from unified in their support for it?’
‘Perhaps not,’ the Ambassador replied, with just a hint of evasiveness.
‘The fact is,’ Luc continued, ‘Reunification remains a deeply contentious issue, even now. You’ve spent a lot of time dealing with members of the Council yourself, so you must have some idea who might have the necessary motivation to want to kill the one man seen as the architect of that entire process.’
‘We are far from being experts regarding divisions within the Council,’ the Ambassador replied. ‘And besides, there are limits to what we can discuss with a non-Council member.’
‘I speak for Zelia de Almeida. You can assume that when you’re speaking to me, you’re also speaking to her.’
‘Mr Gabion, we were at Vasili’s funeral service – and saw you there, as a virtual presence. You had conspired to hide yourself from the eyes of everyone else present, but not from us. You heard Councillor Borges as well as we did: he openly accused her of orchestrating Councillor Vasili’s murder. Are you sure it’s not her your questions should be directed at?’
Luc couldn’t hide his shock. ‘You saw me there?’
‘Indeed we did. It’s also our understanding,’ the Ambassador continued, ‘that Borges is not alone in believing your employer is guilty of perpetrating a murder.’
‘That’s still to be proven,’ Luc countered, wondering how he had so quickly gone from interrogator to the interrogated.
‘Then doesn’t it seem strange that the person regarded as a primary suspect would herself carry out an investigation into Vasili’s death?’
‘You knew this when she asked you to meet me here.’ He realized he was fast losing control of the situation. ‘Why did you agree to this meeting, if you had nothing to say on the matter?’
‘On the contrary,’ said the Ambassador. ‘We agreed to this meeting because we wanted to meet you.’
Luc’s own astonished face stared back at him from the Ambassador’s mask.
‘Why?’
‘Perhaps, Mr Gabion, you have something to hide. When we saw you there at Vasili’s service, we knew immediately that you possessed a lattice unlike any other in the worlds of the Tian Di except, perhaps, our own.’
Luc felt as if time had slowed to a standstill. The sound of his own heart beating seemed to fill the arboretum, like a pulse reverberating through the dense moist air.
‘At first,’ the Ambassador continued, ‘we thought it was Winchell Antonov himself standing there, but when we looked more closely we saw that we were mistaken – at least in part. We later made cautious enquiries and discovered your identity, as well as your involvement in Antonov’s downfall.’