“We can leave within the hour,” Haplif said, brushing the boy’s head again. Some of the unhappiness lingered, but it was rapidly fading into a guarded eagerness at this sudden and unexpected opportunity to finally take the first step toward his future glory.
Never mind that Haplif’s story was gossamer-thin. Yoponek wanted to believe it, and so he did. “And of course, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can complete our business on Celwis and reunite the two of you.”
“That makes sense,” Yoponek said. “Well. I need to get cleaned up before dinner.”
“I’ll meet you in the salon at seven,” Haplif said. “Oh—one more thing. She left this for you.” He held out the brooch he’d given the girl.
“She left it?” Yoponek asked, frowning as he picked it up off Haplif’s palm.
“She said it was her promise you’d be together again,” Haplif said. “She said to keep it until you can pin it back on her.” He smiled. “Perhaps at your wedding?”
“Absolutely at our wedding,” the boy said. He gazed at the brooch another moment, then slipped it carefully into his pocket. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Haplif said. “Now go clean up. By the time dinner is served, we’ll be on our way.” He smiled. “To Celwis and your future.”
Six hours later, when Haplif was sure Yoponek was fast asleep in his room, he had the ship leave hyperspace just long enough to release Yomie’s body into the vast emptiness of the universe.
He made damn sure that all the pretty pictures of her cloud journal, the fancy oh-so-clever drawings where she’d been secretly recording everything she knew about him and the Agbui, went with her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“So it really is there,” Councilor Lakuviv said, feeling a strange sense of unreality as he gently stroked the three metal wires.
“It really is,” Lakjiip confirmed from the chair across his office desk. “And the fools have no idea what they’re sitting on.”
“So it would seem,” Lakuviv agreed. “They just gave these to you?”
“Voluntarily and unhesitatingly,” Lakjiip said. “They said the metal has no particular value of its own. It’s the skill with which the artists turn it into jewelry that’s important.”
Lakuviv shook his head. “Idiots.”
Lakjiip shrugged. “In general, I suppose that’s mostly true of art. Give an artist a hundred Univers to spend on paint and a presentation board, and out pops a picture someone else will spend thousands for. It’s just that in this specific case the whole thing is reversed.”
“If you ask me, everything about the art world is just barely controlled anarchy,” Lakuviv said. “But that’s not our problem. When is Haplif due in?”
“Anytime now,” Lakjiip said. “I talked to the pilot a few minutes ago, and he said he was on schedule.” Her lip twisted. “Oh, and he’s bringing Yoponek with him.”
“Who?”
“Yoponek,” Lakjiip repeated. “That Coduyo midager on his wandering year. He was the one who first brought Haplif in to meet you.”
“Right,” Lakuviv said, frowning as he tried to remember the boy’s face. “He’s still here?”
“He’s still on Celwis, if that’s what you mean,” Lakjiip said, eyeing him curiously. “He’s also been at Redhill Hall five or six times since they all arrived last month. You hadn’t noticed him?”
“I’ve had more important things on my mind,” Lakuviv reminded her. Though now that she mentioned it, he did remember seeing a strange midager chatting with some of the aides and lower officials in the building’s corridors. “What did he want?”
“Here at the hall?” Lakjiip shrugged. “I really don’t know. I think he mostly wants to make as many connections with the Xodlak family as he can. Probably just playing politics and pretending he’s someone who matters. Most of the aides he’s been pestering have been willing enough to humor him.”
“Or else he has some grand notion of scoring a position as a Coduyo-Xodlak liaison someday,” Lakuviv said. “Well, when he and Haplif arrive he’s welcome to wait somewhere else.”
“Understood,” Lakjiip said. “Do you have a plan for how to proceed?”
“First, we need more details on this mining area,” Lakuviv said, looking back at the wires. “That’s why I want Haplif. Just because you only saw Agbui there doesn’t mean there aren’t other alien groups involved.”
“We did a half orbit on the way out, with full sensors running,” Lakjiip said. “There was nothing anywhere but pristine, unoccupied wilderness.”
“I’m not doubting you,” Lakuviv said. “But just because there’s no one there now doesn’t mean someone else might not drop by on occasion. There could be aliens working offworld in the supply or distribution chains. There could be several species sharing the mines, each one having control of them and the refineries for a couple of months at a time before the next group moves in and takes over. Like a sublet on a home or business.”
“I doubt that’s the case,” Lakjiip said, her eyes distant in thought. “I can’t see anyone except the Agbui failing to recognize the significance of a nyix mine that rich. And if anyone else knew, the word would have gotten out long ago.”
“Probably, but not necessarily,” Lakuviv said. “You can build commercial freighters and transports perfectly well without nyix—in fact, both we and the Agbui do exactly that with our civilian craft. It’s only when you upgrade to warships that you need something stronger.”
“Any culture that doesn’t have warships doesn’t last very long out there,” Lakjiip countered. “But I suppose you could be right,” she added, holding up a hand to forestall further argument. “And the Agbui seem to be mostly nomadic. Aliens who can always just pick up and run wouldn’t need to know how to fight.”
“Exactly,” Lakuviv said. “So. As I said, we first confirm the Agbui are the only ones involved. After that …” He paused. After that, protocol would require him to contact Patriel Lakooni and lay everything in front of her. She would then decide how or even whether to send the information further up the family hierarchy.
And that could be a sticking point. Lakuviv and Lakooni had had their disagreements over the years, and he wasn’t at all sure he could trust her to believe him on this, at least not without doing extensive investigations of her own. Even if she was willing to move more quickly, it would be far too easy for her to work herself into getting all the credit while he got nothing but a side note. For that matter, she could even paint over him and Redhill completely, and there would be little or nothing he could do about it.
“After that, we’ll see,” he told Lakjiip. “This might be important enough to take directly to the Patriarch.”
“Patriel Lakooni won’t be happy if you bypass her,” Lakjiip warned.
“Lakooni’s pride isn’t the issue here,” Lakuviv said stiffly. “Getting hold of this planet for the Xodlak family is. Depending on what Haplif says, we may not have time to go through local channels.”
Lakjiip started to speak, stopped and looked at her comm. “They’re here,” she said. “Where do you want them?”
“I’ll see Haplif at the Judgment Seat,” Lakuviv said. “From here on, we might as well keep everything strictly official. You can leave the Coduyo boy in the reception area.”
Haplif was waiting in front of the white chair when Lakuviv and Lakjiip arrived. “I greet you, Councilor Lakuviv,” Haplif said cheerfully as they walked toward him. “May I express our appreciation for your generosity in escorting our freighter to and from our mining world. Pathfinder Qilori reported that the freighter captain was most effusive in his praise.”