Prolocutor Dicat sighed, whether from fatigue or impatience Ingray couldn’t tell. “Finally. I was beginning to think neither of you had any brains to speak of.”
Needled, Ingray opened her mouth to say something unflattering about the prolocutor. But then she closed her mouth. Prolocutor Dicat was likely in pain, on top of being held captive and now forced to walk a considerable distance without eir normal assistance—e usually used a cane, and the commander had probably taken it from em, or it had been lost somehow. So instead of saying anything, Ingray shot a glance at Nicale, who grimaced in response, but said nothing herself.
A few meters farther on they reached the entrance to yet another room in the lareum. Another tall gray mech waited there, and as they came even with it, it walked up to Prolocutor Dicat and lifted em up with two of its three arms.
“Are you comfortable, Prolocutor?” asked Excellency Chenns as the mech strode forward with the prolocutor in its grip.
“Excellency Aughskold, Excellency Tai,” Commander Hatqueban said, not turning around, “please walk faster.” The two armed mechs behind them sped up. So did Ingray and Nicale.
As they exited the lareum into the broad corridor that led to the Assembly Chambers, Ingray was struck, as she always was coming this way, with a sudden sense of dislocation. The floor was the same brown-and-gold tile that could be found all over the station, but the walls showed images of the space outside, making it seem like they were walking on a bridge through the endless vacuum. It was a recording, not a live feed, and the sun was always underneath or behind something. Hwae wasn’t visible just now, but it would swing in and out of view over time, she knew.
The memory of standing outside the elevator flashed into her mind, and she hesitated, but the thought of Commander Hatqueban ahead with a gun in her hand, and the armed mechs behind them, kept her moving. She couldn’t stop herself from glancing up, though. And saw the broad, white ceiling. That was better. That was safe.
But safe didn’t mean anything right now. Tic wasn’t here. At least it hadn’t actually been Tic they’d shot, just his mech. Though thinking of the dying mech, that blood—Ingray was sure somehow it was blood—made more tears well. She swallowed, and tried to blink them away.
Up ahead, Commander Hatqueban stopped abruptly. Turned to face Ingray and Nicale and the prolocutor. The back of Ingray’s neck prickled. The commander’s face was still hidden behind her helmet, blank dark gray like the rest of her armor. Her gun still raised, pointing off to the side now, at least. Chenns stopped when she did, turned to look at the commander with a puzzled expression.
“Stop,” Commander Hatqueban commanded, in Yiir, “and be silent.”
Ingray, Nicale, the mech carrying the prolocutor, all came to a halt. “We weren’t …” Nicale began.
“Silent!” insisted Commander Hatqueban.
They waited in silence for what seemed like several minutes. Even though the commander was clearly in a hurry. Was she unnerved by the corridor, as Ingray had momentarily been? But no, the Omkem would have traveled it more than once by now, it would be familiar to them. What was she waiting for?
A click sounded, and Commander Hatqueban and her mechs turned suddenly to a doorway-shaped crack of light along the left wall. After a few seconds the door opened all the way, and Ambassador Tibanvori stepped through, hands at her shoulders, palm out.
Followed by Garal. Eir hands hanging at eir sides, like e was just coming into an ordinary room at an ordinary time.
Fear shot through Ingray—e was putting emself in danger! And then hope. Was e here to help her? But no, e couldn’t be. Not in danger, and not here to help her. E was Geck, and Ingray wasn’t.
“Commander Hatqueban, is it?” asked Tibanvori in Radchaai-accented Yiir. “You can put the guns down, or point them away at any rate. I’m here on your behalf, Amaat preserve us all. I have no idea why you would have done such a dreadful thing.”
“We’re not putting the guns down, Ambassador,” said Commander Hatqueban. “We won’t be in any trouble for shooting you. In fact, I gather some would thank me for it.”
“But you can’t shoot me,” said Garal. Eir voice amazingly calm and steady, almost casual. “Not without getting yourself in even more trouble than you already are.” Commander Hatqueban didn’t answer, and Garal continued. “We’re here for …” E gestured. “You know.”
Silence. Then Chenns asked, “Was it the ambassador?”
Tibanvori rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to answer, but Garal said, before she could speak, “Who else would it be?”
Tibanvori blinked, as though surprised, but said nothing.
“Why was she here?” asked Commander Hatqueban. “Why was she even here?”
“Apparently she’d taken an interest in Ingray,” replied Garal. “But it hardly matters. We need to get the body and bring it back to our ship. We can’t leave it here.”
“It’s still in the lareum,” said Commander Hatqueban. “You can get it when we’re gone.”
“No,” said Garal. “We’ll get it now. You needn’t fear I’ll be any threat to you—the treaty protects you from me, just as it protects me from you. And Ambassador Tibanvori is here as an observer to ensure your safety, so you don’t need to worry about her, either.”
“Our safety,” said the commander, flat and skeptical.
“It will be bad for all of us if the treaty is broken,” said Tibanvori. “Though I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t gotten myself into this particular situation.”
“The Geck are very secretive,” said Garal. “As you may already know, Commander. We can’t wait till you’re gone to do this.” And suddenly Ingray understood what was happening. That mech had been Tic’s—but it had been Geck to begin with. Clearly the Geck didn’t want it falling into anyone else’s hands. So they had sent Garal and Tibanvori to fetch it—Garal because the other Geck were so uncomfortable leaving the ship, but Ingray wasn’t sure why Tibanvori would have come, or played along with the suggestion that it was actually the Geck ambassador herself who’d been involved. Unless Tibanvori hadn’t realized that until now. Ingray thought Tibanvori likely would have refused to come if she’d known—there was no treaty violation if the Omkem shot Tic’s mech, and she wasn’t inclined to be helpful to the Geck generally.
Garal continued. “We don’t trust the Hwaeans with what you’ve left back in the lareum any more than we trust you with it. It’s essential that we do this as soon as possible.”
“And in a way that doesn’t break the treaty,” said Ambassador Tibanvori emphatically, with a sidelong glance at Garal.
“We won’t break the treaty,” Garal replied, serious and even. “And you’re here, Ambassador, to be sure that we don’t.”
Tibanvori rolled her eyes. “All of you,” she said, her voice disgusted. “I’ve had it with all of you.”
“I’ll go with them,” said Chenns into the silence that followed.