I catch Sirna’s eyes and nod, signaling her to stand and speak. She squints defiantly at me, and, with an obvious display of reluctance, she rises and says, “Excellencies, I agree with Ambassador Frey. Let us reconvene tomorrow.”
Another ambassador raises a willowy white hand, signaling for attention. It’s the delegate from House Aquarius. He stands to speak, though he doesn’t take the speaking staff.
Ambassador Morscerta, his nameplate reads. I didn’t notice him before. His alabaster-white features are narrow and elongated, and his long hair falls in a cloud of silvery waves, yet he doesn’t strike me as an old man.
Actually, I can’t tell his age. He has a smooth high forehead, a protruding lower lip, and small gray eyes that burn like nuclear fission. There’s even a shade around him, a barely noticeable aura that shifts in and out of sight as he moves. Can he be a hologram?
When he speaks, I have to reassess everything. His silky soprano sounds way too feminine to be a man’s voice. Not effeminate, not female, just different from any voice I’ve ever heard.
“I wish to hear more of this unusual story,” purrs Morscerta. “Mother Rhoma, will you agree to meet us here tomorrow for a continuation?”
“I can be here at daybreak.”
? ? ?
By the time I reunite with Mathias and his parents, Hysan has disappeared. Sirna agrees to meet us at the embassy later.
It’s been a long day, but I’m glad to be with the Thaises, heading back to their quarters. I miss being near family.
As we walk through the city streets toward the village, the high-tension fabric sky glows lead gray in the early dusk. The neighborhood around the Plenum lies quiet, thanks to new security blockades. The scene feels almost peaceful, despite the soldiers patrolling in armored cars.
Amanta wears a handsome blue cloak draped around her shoulders, and her shorter husband wears an ordinary business suit and skullcap. On the surface, Amanta and Egon seem like a mismatched couple; but the more they talk, I realize they share the same calm sensitivity and responsiveness to each other that all Cancrians value.
“Mathias tells me you’re helping with the resettlement,” I say. “Are you working with Admiral Crius?”
Amanta looks at me and frowns. “Crius died in the quake. We’re working with Agatha and the Matriarchs now.”
I stumble. “But . . . Admiral Crius ordered me home just this morning. He sent Dr. Eusta by hologram to tell me.”
“You must be mistaken,” she says, shaking her head. “Crius died many days ago. I’m sorry, Rho.”
I almost run into a streetlamp. Was somebody masquerading as Dr. Eusta?
If so, who? Mathias looks at me questioningly, but I shake my head, not now.
As we walk, Mathias occasionally scans nearby roofs and alleys through his field glasses, while Egon speaks in cool, measured phrases about the Cancrian exodus. “Most survivors have emigrated to Gemini’s mining planet, Hydragyr, our nearest neighbor.”
At least they’ve found shelter, but the image of my water-loving people entombed in the hot, dry beryllium mines of House Gemini turns my stomach. I’m about to ask how they’re faring there, when Mathias shoves me to the pavement.
My hand and knee scrape the ground hard, and all I feel is Mathias’s weight on me, shielding my body with his own. Through a sliver of space, I spy a particle beam cutting a bright sizzling line across the wall above us.
“The alley!” he shouts to his parents. “Take cover!”
He helps me up, and the four of us sprint into the dark narrow gap between two buildings. My heart is hammering my chest as more beams hiss around us. Mathias draws his weapon.
“What’s happening?” asks Egon. “Why are they shooting?”
Amanta flares a laser torch into the depths of the alley, and we see it’s a dead end. “Keep low,” she says, and I notice she’s also clutching a weapon in her hand.
Hot lesions slice across the walls, and shards of granite fly up. These fiery beams are meant for me. . . . Ochus must have seen my Plenum speech, and now he’s fulfilling his threat.
Mathias scans the nearby roofs. We’re trapped. Without thinking, I start edging toward the street. All I know is if I show myself, Mathias and his parents can get away.
I never should have dragged Mathias into this. I shouldn’t have let him come on what was always a suicide mission. I won’t let him—or his family—die for me.
“Keep still!” Mathias slings me around and crushes me against the wall. “I see the sniper.”
Particle beams fizz into our alley, etching the pavement with flames, so we retreat farther back. Mathias keeps scanning the building across the street, and Amanta, who’s also wearing field glasses, does the same. “Looks like two men, at least,” she says.
She and Mathias take aim at an upper window, although the only thing I see is a dark pane of glass. Can Ochus be hiding behind that glass, looking back at me this very minute?
I could end this now. It feels like an easy solution, if only Mathias would let go of me.