“The more the Omkem have to deal with a lot of tired, terrified children.”
“And the longer System Defense has to come up with some way to free those children that doesn’t involve any kind of negotiations.” Ingray took a careful breath. “The longer it takes, the more danger they’ll be in. The Omkem are going to want something important in exchange for them, but I don’t think System Defense will trade anything really important. They might not even be talking to the Omkem about it at all.”
“They probably aren’t,” agreed Garal. “It’s not a good idea to let your enemies know that they can just take some hostages and get whatever they want from you.”
“Right,” agreed Ingray, with a shiver. “But I could offer it myself. Last I knew the Omkem ambassador was still complaining about Hevom.” And about Garal being sent to the Geck, but e already knew that. “I was there when Zat died. I can tell them what I know. I’ll tell them they can have me, if they let the children go, and Mama. She hasn’t named her heir yet; if anything happens to her …”
“This isn’t actually about Hevom,” Garal said. “Zat’s death is just a convenient excuse, a justification. It’s the First Assembly they were aiming at. The First Assembly represents Hwae Station. And the six Hwaean outstations. And what residents there are on Zenith Platform. So whoever controls the First Assembly controls access to the gates.” And access to the planet’s resources from space. “It’s probably not a coincidence that they’ve done this during one of the times the Assembly is meeting in person. Excellency Zat’s only been dead a few days. The freighters the Omkem troops came in docked a week ago, and freighters aren’t exactly fast. They’ll have left Enthen weeks before that. Having you won’t make any difference. And once they have you …”
“I have to try.” Ingray didn’t know how else to explain. “All those children.”
“You’re not responsible for their safety,” Garal pointed out. “If they’re even still alive.”
They very possibly weren’t. “And Netano is my mother.”
“She is,” agreed Garal. “I know. You and I are both out of a public crèche. Any little bit our parents gave us, it’s everything we have. Our families expect us to be grateful for it, and so does everyone else. And we do feel it. I felt it for so much longer than I probably should have, and Netano never did anything to you even remotely like what Ethiat Budrakim did to me. From the moment you joined her household you knew what you owed Netano. And she hasn’t given her name to Danach yet, so if something happens to her now, that’s the end of Netano. But if something happens to you, that’s the end of you. Ethiat Budrakim aside, I’m under the impression that quite a lot of parents would actually prefer to risk themselves to protect their children, rather than the other way around.”
“Yes,” agreed Ingray, her stomach heaving with an anxiety she’d been trying to ignore since she’d waked. “But that’s exactly why …”
“And you were thinking about leaving,” Garal cut in. “You’ve been thinking about leaving the Aughskolds. I know you have. You didn’t do all this”—e gestured toward emself—“thinking it would get you into Danach’s place. Or, I imagine you sort of hoped it would but you’d never have seriously thought it would happen.”
“No.” Ingray’s face heated with embarrassment. She had barely even admitted that to herself; it was humiliating to hear Garal say it straight out. But also a relief, in a strange way she couldn’t quite explain.
“No one expects you to do anything like this,” continued Garal. “Least of all Netano. And if she does, well …” E waved away any concern for Netano’s opinion in that case.
“I couldn’t really afford it,” Ingray said. “It turns out no amount of money is enough to get any Tyr broker to break someone out of Compassionate Removal. I didn’t know that at the time but I should have realized it.”
Garal went suddenly still for the briefest moment, then finished lowering eir cup of poick to the table. Ingray might not have even noticed, if she hadn’t gotten to know em as well as she had.
“Are you working for Tyr? Or, were you? I guess you can’t be now, if you’re Geck.” No reply. “I’ve been thinking about it. I imagine they thought I’d thaw you out when we got to Hwae and then you’d do …
something that would benefit them? But Tic wouldn’t let you on board that way, and you didn’t want anything to do with whatever it was I was planning. You didn’t even want to talk to me when I found you at the Incomers Office. And there was nowhere there to sleep and nothing for you to eat, but you could have at least cadged a meal out of me or Tic, or tried to.” And if there was one thing Garal had been obsessive about—still was—it was access to food. “So why did you wait until next morning?”
“I’m not working for Tyr,” e said. “I told them I wouldn’t work for them. I told them I wasn’t going back to Hwae no matter what they did. And they told me that since I didn’t technically exist and there was no one who knew or cared that I was on Tyr Siilas except you—and I’d cut that avenue off myself—they would be happy to toss me out an airlock if I didn’t agree to whatever it was they wanted. And I thought maybe once I got that identity in my hands I might have at least something to work with.” E gave the tiniest of smiles. “Well, you know how that worked out. I couldn’t leave when the Executory put Tic’s ship under interdict. And by the time I might have been able to, I decided it would be better to stay with you.”
“What did they want?” asked Ingray. “No, I know what it was. They wanted you to embarrass Prolocutor Budrakim.”
“Among other things,” agreed Garal. “That much at least I didn’t mind doing. But I told them I wouldn’t work for them, and I haven’t been. And even if I were—and if I weren’t Geck now—it wouldn’t do any good. They won’t come charging in to help me, or offer any kind of assistance at all. Even when they were trying to convince me to work for them they wouldn’t make any promises to help me out if I landed in trouble here. Not even as a lie to get me to do what they wanted, right?” No, of course not. Among the few serious crimes the Tyr recognized, breaking a contract—even an implied one—was among the worst. “They knew they didn’t have to offer me anything. The Tyr will act if they think it’s in the best interest of the Executory, and not before, or for any other reason. If it helps, I’m sure they’ve tried other things than just sending me. I’m sure there are Tyr agents on this station right now. The question is who they are, and what good they’ll do you.”
“And the answer to that last,” agreed Ingray, “is not much unless it suits their own goals.”