Abysm (12 page)

Mia sat at the conference table in her office meeting with two other people, but her face lit up when she saw him in the doorway. She leapt up mid-sentence and hurried over to embrace him.

He returned the hug warmly. Knowing she was alive and well was different from feeling her heartbeat against his chest. And right now it was a rare bright light in his world.

She drew back and eyed him briefly before turning to the two men at the table. “I believe we’ve covered everything for now. Send me any updates, and we’ll meet again in the morning.”

They gathered their things and scurried out. She closed the door behind them.

He poured all his discipline into forcing a light, easy smirk. “Look at you—walking and talking and changing the world.”

“I can’t tell you how glad I am you made it home in one piece. Thank you for your message. It meant a lot to me…what’s wrong? You seem troubled.”

So much for the act. He offered a shrug in answer.

“Ah, damn, you’ve found out already, haven’t you?”

He chuckled darkly. “At this point I’m loath to consider all the things I
haven’t
found out yet. What do you mean?”

She blinked. “No. Alex knows. You’ve found out. What can I do?”

He shook his head and wandered to the windows. She had a great view; the skyline glittered and sparkled across the night sky. It was almost enough to make him glad to be back amid real civilization, despite the pitfalls. Not quite, though.

“Nothing. I don’t know. I don’t even know why I came here—other than to see you, obviously. That was definitely high on the priority list. But I suppose I just…I needed something…safe. Something—someone—I could count on. I’m sorry, I realize I’m putting an unfair burden of expectations on you straight off.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s not a burden, and you can absolutely count on me. But…” he sensed her draw closer, coming to stand beside and a little behind him “…I know Alex is having a few issues right now—”

He stared at her sharply, in surprise and…not accusation, but at least puzzlement. As Prevos she and Alex had shared a seminal experience during the final battles against the Metigen armada, but Mia had spent the intervening months in a coma. They weren’t friends.

“We sort of…the way our connection works, it’s difficult to block out especially strong, wayward thoughts and emotions. Alex is nevertheless trying very hard to do so, but impressions still leak through.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be with her?”

He huffed a breath that came out entirely too ragged. “Alex is either going to hate me for my father’s misdeeds or not notice I’m there. Not certain which, or even which is worse….” He trailed off, regarding her in puzzlement yet again. “Why are your eyes green?”

“What? Oh, it’s only…I like the color. It’s not important. Listen, I ought not to pry, but whatever your father did, it’s long in the past. You can’t let him define you—”

“Don’t you think I know that!” He spun on her, but the anger vacated as quickly as it had arisen. “Shit, I’m sorry…again. None of this is your fault.”

He straightened his shoulders. “I interrupted you when you were doing important work. You have a hell of a lot of responsibility here. I am so damn proud of you. But I need to let you concentrate on your duties. I’ll head—”

She stepped closer and brought a hand to his cheek. “I will always have time for you.”

His jaw clenched as memories rose unbidden. He brought his own hand up to wrap around hers.

“Mia,
don’t
.” He slowly pulled it away from his face.

She blinked and stepped back, tugging her hand out of his grasp and letting it drop to her side. “I wasn’t—I didn’t mean—” Her brow furrowed. “No, I didn’t. Really. I care about you so much, but not like that. Not now. And I would never….”

Her features settled into an expression of resolve, one he’d seen before. “You should see about Alex.”

He looked away. “I told you, Alex—”

“Needs you.”

She did have a habit of being unduly optimistic about people. “I don’t think so.”

“All the same, you should check and make sure.”

I’m afraid
, he screamed out in his head.
I’m bloody terrified, and I haven’t felt this alone in a long, long time. I’m drowning here, but…you’re not the one to save me. Why should you be? Why should anyone be? I shouldn’t need saving.

He could say none of it aloud, so instead he forced a weak smile. “Thank you for listening. I imagine tomorrow we’ll want to try to get involved in this mess. Give some thought to how we can help, okay?”

She nodded. “I will. Caleb?”

He stopped in the doorway but didn’t turn around.

“I’m glad you’re back.”

“Funny. I’m not.”

10

SENECA

C
AVARE
S
ENECAN
F
EDERATION
M
ILITARY
H
EADQUARTERS

F
IELD
M
ARSHAL
G
IANNO HAD
the good manners to act a little taken aback when Morgan sauntered into the Senecan Federation Military Headquarters Command Center unannounced.

“Ms. Lekkas. I was under the impression I had revoked your security authorizations when you stole my Artificial and deserted your post.”

Morgan shrugged and propped herself against the conference table. “Authorizations, permissions—they’re all such fluid concepts. As is ownership. He wasn’t yours. Not any longer.”

“Those who paid for a lot of expensive hardware and programming would beg to differ.”

“You sold him to me in return for me winning your war for you. An easy price to pay to my mind, and one you should have realized you were paying.”

The pause signifying acceptance was brief. “And how is Stanley these days?”

Morgan smiled blithely. “Happy to be free.” And she thought he really had been.

Gianno bestowed a steely gaze on her, signifying an end to the pleasantries, such as they were. “What can I do for you, Morgan?”

Ooh, the first name treatment. Was it intended to be demeaning, or conciliatory? Her official title was again ‘Commander,’ but she recognized that meant nothing to Gianno.

“I’m here on behalf of the IDCC to explore the Senecan Federation’s amenability to granting Prevos legal rights as well as expressing public support for the IDCC as a legitimate inter-planetary authority.”

“The Prevo matter is under debate in the Parliament. It’s a complicated issue which—”

Morgan groaned. While she was arguably the best person for this particular, specific job, she was also possibly the worst diplomat ever. “Oh, just do it already. You know what we are, and what we’re not. You know what we can do. Well, some of the things we can do. But most importantly, you know we’re not evil. Simply tell the chairman we’re not evil and be done with it.”

“Chairman Vranas doesn’t take orders from me.”

“Maybe not, but word is you two have been best buds for
decades
. I’d wager he listens very carefully to your advice.”

“Morgan, if this is about Colpetto, I don’t—”

“It’s not. Whatever. Believe it or not, Marshal, I actually do respect you. I can’t speculate about the rest of the people involved, but I’m sure you thought you were doing the right thing back then—the necessary thing, but also the right thing. I’m a bit annoyed you got my mother mixed up in it without her knowledge, but hey, that’s the military for you.

“All I’m saying now is, quit playing games. Quit hedging bets and trying to position yourself for all possible outcomes. I know you know this is also the right thing to do. So just
do it already
.”

Gianno stared at her wearing an inscrutable expression for several seconds. Morgan could read her pulse, her body temperature, the fluctuations in her pupils and a dozen other tell-tale signs of relative stress, but the woman remained a cipher. Cold as ice.

Finally Gianno’s lips curled into the tiniest of smiles. “I think your mother would be both delighted by and quite proud of you, Morgan Lekkas. You are most infuriating, but you are, on occasion, correct.”

Harper stood on the street corner one block down, scanning the passing pedestrians like she had hard intel one of them carried a bomb.

Morgan briefly entertained the possibility she had cause to believe exactly that, so intense was the woman’s demeanor…but then she remembered who she was talking about.

Don’t even try to sneak up on me. I knew you were there the instant you exited the building.

Morgan made a face at the evening sky and whipped around to lean against a building façade in front of Harper. “Take anyone down while I was gone?”

Harper buried a chuckle, but Morgan caught the flare of defiance. “Sadly, no. There was this one shifty-looking kid, but I let him off with a warning. How did it go?”

“Better than expected.” Morgan came perilously close to grinning. Seneca had never felt much like home to her, but it
was
home—and for possibly the first time ever, she found she wanted to share it.

She grabbed Harper by the hand. “We’ve got a few hours before we’re required to head back to Romane. Come on. Let me show you the city.”

S
ENECAN
F
EDERATION
H
EADQUARTERS

Eleni Gianno found Chairman Vranas in his office despite the hour, and meeting with three senators, no less. There was without question much to meet on these days. Nevertheless, it was heartening to see him reengaged.

She waited until they finished, though it meant she was going to be late for a promised dinner with Idan. But her husband had become accustomed to unexpected delays decades ago. He would understand.

She acknowledged the gentlemen as she passed them on her way into the office, then sat opposite Vranas. “Good meeting?”

“If by ‘good’ you mean them begging me to tell them what to do, then yes. Very good.”

“And did you? Tell them what to do, I mean.”

He sank deeper into his chair. “I told them to vote their conscience, assuming they still had one. By the vaguely panicked stammering which followed, I’m not certain it was the answer they were hoping for. What’s on your mind?”

“You might say I’m here to tell you what to do, if you’re in the market for advice.”

“From you? Always.”

It was the same thing Morgan had said. The young woman was too perceptive by half. “I had a visit from Morgan Lekkas this afternoon.”

“Here? In Cavare?”

Gianno nodded. “At Military Headquarters, no less. She doesn’t lack for gumption.”

“What happened?”

“She wanted to check in and say hello. She conveyed her and the IDCC’s hope that we would ease up on our Artificial restrictions and protect the rights of Prevos as individuals. Then she bid me a good day and left.”

He frowned. “We’re aware they hope we’ll follow their lead, so what was the point of the visit?”

“The point was to demonstrate she doesn’t mean us harm or harbor any ill will, and to remind me Prevos are not the devil. They’re flesh-and-blood humans, even if it’s not all they are. Also, I expect she took perverse pleasure in walking in my front door unmolested, but I can’t fault her for it.

“Note, I did consider having her arrested for sheer impudence—and illegally accessing the security system—but we don’t need to provoke a war with the IDCC this week.”

“Probably shouldn’t next week, either. So about that advice?”

“Come out in full support of the H+ bill. Much as it pains me to admit it, Lekkas is correct. I wish we still controlled the Noetica technology, but wishes are not reality. It’s out in the wild for good, so now our best course of action is to be proactive. By embracing it early we can institute reasonable, fair restrictions to keep people safe, while continuing to support fundamental liberties.”