Undercity (3 page)

Paolo was seated behind his large desk. A clutter of data spheres, holosheets, and light styluses lay strewn across its surface, which consisted of a glossy black holoscreen. He leaned back as I sat across from him in a wing chair with smart cushions.

“My greetings, Major,” he said.

“My greetings, Your Highness,” I answered.

He studied me with dark eyes. Of course he was handsome, even including the streaks of gray in his hair and fine lines around his eyes. All the Majda men I had seen were unusually good-looking, every one of them dark, well-proportioned, and undoubtedly fertile. The Matriarch might consider Dayj shallow, but maybe she ought to look at her own values. Majda women hardly seemed to choose their princes for depth. Then again, maybe there was more to it. Paolo Rajindia Majda was no fool. Before his marriage, he had earned a doctorate at the Architecture Institute associated with Imperial College on the world Metropoli, one of the most elite academic institutions in the Imperialate.

“You’ve come to ask about Dayj,” he said.

“That’s right.” I had intended to talk with Dayj’s parents first, but they were both at the starport with the police, trying to find out if he had gone offworld.

Paolo rested his elbow on the arm of his chair. “Do you think he left Raylicon?”

“I’ve no idea.” I tried a probe. “It depends how much help he had from inside the palace.”

Paolo didn’t twitch. “What help?”

“To escape, he needed the aid of someone inside.”

His voice cooled. “Why? You don’t think he could figure it out himself?”

Interesting. Paolo didn’t like hearing his nephew’s intellect talked down. “I’ve no doubt about his intelligence,” I said. “However, he has no experience outside the limitations of his life here.”

He spoke dryly. “If you have no doubt about his intellect, Major, you’re in a minority here.”

“Maybe he didn’t appreciate that.”

“Maybe not,” Paolo picked up a light stylus and tapped it against his desk. “Dayj could be vain and self-absorbed, but no one ever gave him a chance to be anything else. If anyone took the time to look, they might find a very different young man under his outward veneer.”

I wondered who he meant by “anyone.” Dayj’s parents? The Matriarch? Her siblings? Paolo probably had a different take on Majda princes than family members who grew up at the palace.

“You’ve an interesting background yourself,” I said.

“That was tactful.” He spoke wryly. “Shall I answer the question you really wanted to ask?”

“What question is that?”

“Why am I willing to live in seclusion when I had job offers from some good companies?”

According to my research, those “good companies” were all elite architectural firms. I asked. “Did you want a job like that?”

“I have my own small business.” He motioned at the holosheets on his desk. “I’ve designed buildings in a few places, including Cries. Also in your corner of space, Selei City.”

Ho! Those were two of the most prestigious markets in the Imperialate. “You have your own firm? How?”

Paolo was watching me closely. “That I can’t leave this place, Major, doesn’t mean I can’t work. I have a staff. They take care of anything that requires interaction with the outside world. It leaves me free to be creative.”

“Nice setup,” I said. “Except you can never touch your creations.” He could walk through virtual simulations of his buildings, but he could never set foot in them.

He shrugged. “We all pay a price for our dreams.”

“And Dayj?”

“Ah, well. Dayj.” His exhaled. “He has more than the rest of us. And less.”

“Meaning?”

“You’ve seen holos of him?” When I nodded, he said, “Then you know. He’s one of the best-looking men in the Imperialate.”

What was it with them and this beauty thing? Even as a child, I had resented it when vendors in Cries gave me food because they thought I was pretty but let my friends go hungry.

I crossed my arms. “Life has more to it than appearance.”

“Yes, well, no one ever bothered to tell my nephew that.” He shook his head. “From a certain point of view, Dayj is perfect. The epitome of the Majda prince.”

Even knowing they were recording this interview, I couldn’t hide my anger. “A prize, right? The ultimate trophy, bred from birth to marry a Ruby heir.”

His voice cooled. “Take care, Major.”

Yes, antagonizing the House of Majda was dangerous. But if I was going to find Dayj when none of their own people had managed, I needed to look where they didn’t want to go even if my process of getting there offended them.

I said only, “How did he respond when the betrothal fell through?”

Paolo remained silent as he studied my face. Finally he said, “He seemed numb. It wasn’t that he mourned her loss. He hardly knew her. But what did he have left? Nothing.”

For flaming sakes. “Did you people actually tell him that?”

Paolo spoke with an edge. “Make no mistake, Major. This family loves Dayj and will do anything to bring him back. You may not like what you hear, but that won’t change the truth.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.” I met his gaze. “Dayj’s truth might be different than what everyone here believes.”

His face took on an aristocratic chill. “Whereas you claim to know it?”

“No,” I said. “But I mean to find out.”

* * *

Dayj’s parents were Corejida and Ahktar. Corejida was the middle Majda sister, younger than the Matriarch but older than Lavinda. She resembled General Majda, but with a less imposing presence. Her clothes had a softer look, light blue trousers and a tunic that molded to her body. Right now, she was pacing across the circular alcove. The room had polished walls tiled in pale blue and silver mosaics, as if we were inside a jeweled box. Its arched windows stretched from floor to ceiling and showed a lofty view of the mountains outside, peaks with a desolate beauty. General Majda stood by one of the windows facing us, her gaze intent on her sister.

Chief Takkar, the head of the Majda police force, was leaning against the wall with her brawny arms crossed. She had only a cold stare for me. Her black uniform matched the one worn by the pilot who had picked me up in the flycar. Like everyone else here, Takkar was physically fit, with black hair and dark eyes. Hell, I was physically fit, with black hair and dark eyes. Did the Majdas subconsciously choose their employees to resemble themselves? Who knew, maybe it wasn’t subconscious.

Four guards stood by the arched exit across the room, making sure that, gods forbid, I didn’t sneak deeper into the palace and trespass on the men’s quarters. At least Krestone, their captain, didn’t show any of Chief Takkar’s hostility toward me. Krestone remained by the doorway, alert and focused, the solid sort who spoke rarely and saw a great deal.

“We have to find him,” Corejida was saying as she paced through a panel of sunlight that slanted through a window and across the floor. “Gods only know what has happened out there. He could be hurt, lost, starving.” She looked as if she hadn’t slept for the last three days.

“Has he talked about anything outside the palace?” I asked. “Any place, in any context?”

“We’ve already been through this,” Takkar told me. “He never spoke of other places.”

“I’d like to hear Lady Corejida’s thoughts.” I wasn’t sure why Corejida went by the honorific Lady; it seemed rather modest for such a highly placed House. She was hard to read. Although Majda women seemed to prefer military titles to noble address, she had never joined the military. Finance was her specialty. Someone had to run the Majda empire.

“Does Prince Dayjarind have any special interests?” I asked. “Subjects he likes to read about? Hobbies? Favorite pursuits?”

“He’s been talking about landscapes lately.” Corejida rubbed the back of her neck as she paced, working at the muscles. “He looks at holo-images in the library.”

“Did he mention any holo in particular?” I asked.

She paused in front of a window and stood facing me, backlit by the streaming sunlight. “He likes imaginary scenes, impossible images created by mesh systems.”

Vaj spoke in her husky voice. “Dayj has always been that way. Dreaming whatever boys dream.”

I hardly thought a twenty-three-year-old man qualified as a boy. “Did he want to make landscapes?”

They stared at me blankly. Corejida said, “Make them?”

I thought of Paolo with his architectural firm. “Yes, design them.”

His mother squinted at me. “You mean, create his own art?”

“Maybe that was why he enjoyed looking at those scenes,” I said. “He wants to be an artist.”

“I don’t think so,” Corejida said.

“Did you check his mesh account?” I asked.

Chief Takkar spoke tightly. “We’ve checked every account he’s ever used.” Then she added, “Major” as if it were an afterthought, making my title sound like an insult.

I considered the police chief. “I’d like to take a look.”

Corejida spoke quickly, before Takkar could respond. “It can be arranged.” Lines of strain showed around her eyes. “Anything you need. Just find my son.”

Takkar pressed her lips together. If I found a clue that she had missed, it wouldn’t reflect well on her. Well, tough. I wasn’t sure what to make of her. Territorial, yes, and defensive. That her people had failed to locate the prince put her in a tight spot. Anything I found that she had missed could make her look bad. As much as she might resent my presence, however, it would benefit her to work with me. The sooner we located Dayj, the better for everyone.

Whether or not Takkar saw it that way remained to be seen.

* * *

“I’m not sure what you think I would know,” Krestone told me. “I’m assigned to Lavinda Majda’s guard, and her husband Prince Paolo. I don’t interact much with Prince Dayjarind.”

We were in the living room of my palace suite, relaxing on large pillows on the floor. The black lacquered table between us reflected the crystal goblets of wine a servant had poured and the matching decanter he left on the table, half full of a red liquid. It was all gorgeous, but really, how could anyone enjoy a drink packaged like that? You couldn’t swig ale from a crystal goblet.

“I’m talking to all the palace guards,” I said. Which was true, though that was partly so it didn’t look as if I had singled out Krestone. Of all the people I’d dealt with here, she struck me as the one most likely to offer useful information. I doubted the Majdas were deliberately making matters difficult; they wanted me to succeed. But they rarely if ever had strangers prying into their private lives, and they raised barriers without realizing they were hindering my work.

“I wondered when you last saw Prince Dayjarind,” I said. “I’m trying to get a sense of his actions before he disappeared.”

“Three days ago,” Krestone said. “It was a few hours before he disappeared.” She picked up her goblet, which startled me. Then again, she was no longer on duty. During her free time, she could drink whatever she pleased. Well, what the hell. Even if it looked too perfect to consume, the wine was still just wine. I picked up my goblet, too.

“I saw him that morning.” Krestone took a swallow of her drink, then blinked at the glass. “You know, this is actually good.” With a rueful smile, she added, “When it comes to liquor, I’m more of a shoot-’em-first-and-ask-questions-later type.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yah.” I took a swallow of wine. Ho! Good hardly described that blissful moment. I said only, “It’s not bad.”

Krestone grinned, and we both drank some more. Then she said, “Dayj came by Paolo’s office that morning. He wanted to return a book Paolo had lent him.”

“Did Dayj seem upset?”

“Maybe a little distant. He’s often that way, though.” She shook her head. “It’s hard to say. I was outside. Only his guards went inside Paolo’s office with him.”

“Did they talk long?”

“A few minutes.”

I nodded, disappointed. Dayj’s guards had told me the same. “Had you seen him with anyone unusual recently?”

“Never. Just his family, and of course Captain Ebersole, Hazi, Oxil, or Nazina.”

That was quite a list. “Who are Hazi, Oxil, and Nazina?”

“Bodyguards attached to the palace,” Krestone said.

Oh. No surprise there. I’d have to check my notes, but I’d already talked to Duane Ebersole, and I was pretty sure Hazi, Oxil, and Nazina were also on my list. No wonder Dayj was going stir crazy, with so many people constraining his life.

“Do you remember anything else?” I asked.

“Nothing, sorry.” As the captain put down her drink, the comm on her gauntlet pinged. She tapped the receive panel. “Krestone here.”

Takkar’s voice rose out of the comm. “Heya, Kres. You busy?”

“I’m off right now,” Krestone said. “What do you need?”

“We could use your help. We’re doing shift assignments.”

“Be right there,” Krestone said. “I was just talking with Major Bhaajan.”

Takkar’s tone cooled markedly. “Well, fuck. She causing you any trouble?”

Krestone glanced at me with a look of apology. Into the comm, she said, “None at all.”

I spoke, raising my voice enough so Takkar could hear. “Got a problem with me, Chief?”

A silence followed my question. Then Takkar said, “Krestone, we’re at the station. Come when you can. Out here.” The comm fell silent.

Krestone gave me a rueful look. “Sorry about that.”

“No problem.” I shouldn’t push Takkar, but you could find out a lot about people from the way they reacted when they were irritated.

Unfortunately, so far I hadn’t found out squat.

* * *

“Lumos down to five percent,” I said.

The lights in my suite dimmed until I could barely see the console that curved around my chair. I leaned back, my hands clasped behind my head, and put my feet on the console. “Jan, show me the landscapes that Prince Dayjarind collected.”

“Accessed.” Jan’s androgynous voice came from the Evolving Intelligence brain, or EI, that ran the console. A holo appeared above the console, a startling scene in three dimensions. Waves rose impossibly high over a sapphire beach and crashed down on the glittering blue sand, spraying phosphorescent foam. The physics made no sense. Unless it was an unusually low-gravity world, those waves went up far too high and came down far too slowly. When they built to their highest point, they looked like tidal waves. The ocean should have receded far back from the beach as each wave pulled up all the water, but it didn’t. None of that mattered, though. Artistically, the scene was breathtaking.