Voices of Chaos (41 page)

It helped even more than the warm drink had. "Apologies, Khyriz.

Everything's been stuck in my throat so many days, since the ball, what I...

what I said ..."

He stroked her hair, and handed her another damp cloth. "No ... here, this for your arms and feet. My apologies, Magdalena. For... being foolish enough to ask for you to my world. You could have been killed."

"That wasn't your fault, Khyriz. That was Zhenu, and those like him.

Whatever I said to you, after the ball, I didn't mean it. And then tonight, I was afraid, you went away, just left me," She gulped, fought tears again. "I... I thought you were still angry. That you ... hated me."

"No. I was afraid at first, when the flyer went down, if you had been injured.

And then to see my cousin, dead like that. To know that... that male would have killed you next. Even so, what I did to him..." His ears twitched. "I had to go quickly, behind his flyers, and be sick. And after that, to send the orders about his holding and the records."

"I... should have realized. I didn't think."

"Where you stood, I could not have thought, either. My Magdalena, your eyes are so tired and your mouth still trembles." He drew her close again, his voice low and throaty. "I

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wish we could stay like this, but I must go soon. And so must you."

She leaned back to look at him. "Khyriz ... the things you said to Zhenu. The words I overheard between you and Fahara, that first day. What
are
you?"

she whispered.

He shrugged, human-like. "When I returned from Star-Bridge, I saw so much with new eyes, but there seemed to be nothing one foolish young Prince could do. And then I remembered: Do you recall Dr. Rob's movie, the truly ancient no-colors one about the noble who formed a band of friends to rescue those sentenced to death? That was the beginning." She gazed at him, astonished, then began to laugh. "What?"

"When--I went to see Rob, when he named me temporary translator, guess what holo-poster he had up?"

"Not--"

"Yes. 'That demned elusive Pimpernel'!" She wiped her eyes again, but this time the hand was steady. "I needed that. But, Khyriz,
you
aren't going with the fighters, are you?"

He nodded, face again solemn. "I must. Just as you and An-Lieye must go at once with Bhelan--no, listen, please, Magdalena, I have thought of little else since you were taken. And things have happened since then that may ruin any chances we have to join the CLS.

"You are not safe anywhere in Arekkhi space until all Zhenu's supposed rebels are taken. Before, you and Alexis were a symbol of the outside. Now, thanks to my foolish mouth, his allies know I could be stopped if
you
were taken again."

"Khyriz, I can't--!"

"No, listen. Bhelan will take you to a rendezvous with Dana Marshall. She will get you to CLS headquarters at Shassiszss, you and Alexis, and An-Lieye. I learned from my father earlier today that the Prelate and Zhenu have found a way to send vid-messages--their words have possibly already reached Shassiszss. My father received copies this morning."

She studied his face. "You look--is it that bad?"

"It is bad. They justify treatment of the Asha, each in his own way. Both claim control of Arekkhi space between them, and they issue orders to the CLS to destroy the contract

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between us. If this is done, the outsiders are guaranteed the opportunity to recover the Heeyoon traders, the outsiders working on the new jump station--and the interrelator and translator. Provided they move quickly."

"Dios mío,"
Magdalena murmured and crossed herself, something she hadn't done in years. "But Khyriz, Alexis is hurt! She fell, hit her head when we escaped Zhenu's guards. The trip off-planet might kill her!" He stared at her, ears quivering. "Apologies, there wasn't time to tell you."

"There is even more reason you must go, then--" he began, but she shook her head so hard that tangled, matted hair flew around her face.

"Khyriz, you know I can't! Me, stand before the Planetary Council? Me, argue against the evidence they've already received?"

"It is not evidence, Magdalena! You know they lie! But you can do what you must, just as Mahree did! Remember your pre-StarBridge history?"

"Khyriz, Mahree Burroughs was born to do just that. Look what she is now!

The Council won't listen to me!"

"You know better about Mahree, Magdalena. The Council will listen, you can persuade them to listen. Think, please, over your short time on Arekkhi, how well you now speak persuasively."

"To the clerks in the old palace, and to your mother, who is gracious and kind," the translator protested.

"Dr. Rob will counsel you, and so will Mahree. And--if you will permit the entry into your suite in the old palace, and use of your codes for the CLS

com-center, my father will be able to send his own messages to CLS; that will surely aid you." He hesitated. "Magdalena,
please.
An-Lieye will help you prove the truth. You can do this. For all our sakes, you must try."

She managed a weak smile at that. "Khyriz, Alexis would say you're trying to charm me, and it won't work. Except..." she sighed, somber again. "Except it will. Because there
isn't
anyone else, is there?"

"There is not. But more importantly, you care for us, my Magdalena. Alexis will be safe here, Unya has the physician

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training-vids on humans that I obtained when it was certain you would both come. And surely the CLS will allow a patch to my com-center here, once they hear of her injuries, so Unya can ask any necessary questions for her care."

"Surely they wouldn't risk harm to Alexis. And, of course, your father can use our equipment to send a message! Maybe he'll be able to prove to them that the other two lie. And then I won't need to ..." She sighed. "I won't rest on that hope, Khyriz. I'll do my best to persuade the Council not to quarantine you, I swear." She thought hard. "All right. My hard copy of the sign-on protocol, and my password, are in the back pocket of my spare jeans, in my clothes storage."

"I will let no one else see the hard copy, Magdalena. I will guard it personally, and serve as my father's tech, when he sends the message." He stroked hair back from her forehead. "An-Lieye is distraught, but I think she is persuaded she can best serve my cousin by going with you."

"Oh, God. Poor An-Lieye." Magdalena's throat tightened and she had to blink tears away. Her fingers tightened on his jumpsuit. "Khyriz, come with us!
You
can persuade them!"

But he was already shaking his head. "No, Magdalena. I am wealthy, a member of the royal family--I could have as many reasons to lie and promote my own cause as Zhenu. And I am needed here. I've ... become good at what I do, Magdalena. I can't let more Asha die. And there are still Asha, and Arekkhi who tried to help them, locked away in Zhenu's hidden camps." She turned away with a shudder and bit the side of her hand; Khyriz held her closely, his cheek against her hair. "Apologies. Everything I say upsets you."

"No." Magdalena eased herself around so she could wrap strong dancer's arms around his slender body. "You don't upset me. Words don't harm. It's the things Zhenu and his kind have done." She laid a hand, palm down, against his face. "Swear to me you will be careful, Khyriz! Swear you won't..." She couldn't finish.

His hands cupped her face in turn. "I will be very careful, I swear.

Remember, I am needed here. Dead, I am no use to anyone."

***

There was no time for anything else. Bhelan came moments later, and Khyriz had already gone back to his com-center. The pilot got her settled in a shuttle much larger and plainer than the one that brought her and Alexis down to the planet.
What--a few mere nine-days ago?
An-Lieye was already netted into a long, curved bench, curled in on herself, ears flat, and eyes closed. Magdalena took the bench nearest, automatically fastening the webbing. Bhelan had the machine moving before she finished.

Once the shuttle escaped the planet, the pilot came back into the main cabin. "The Prince said to warn you, we don't dare use the station for the transfer. Apologies, but that means suits and a portable tube."

"Oh, God." One of her own worst nightmares--but An-Lieye had surely never been off-planet before, she'd be terrified by the open-space procedure.

Doubly terrified if her space-traveling companion showed panic. "Al right,"

Magdalena managed to sound calm. "How soon? And... apologies, but I doubt I can fit in an Arekkhi suit, Bhelan."

"Dana has two adjustable suits. Once the tube is fixed to our airlock, I will fetch them for you."

To her surprise, the transfer went well. An-Lieye seemed half in shock and did not seem to care about the suit, or hard vacuum, or anything else. Once Magdalena was sealed in and checked, except for the helmet, she helped Bhelan run the suit check on her listless companion. The smallest human suit Dana had was a loose fit, but not so baggy it might catch on anything--

and, of course, the wire tube was supposedly snag-proof.
I hope.
Magdalena touched the pilot's shoulder with the back of one gloved hand and said,

"Keep him safe, Bhelan." He nodded, human-style, which was oddly assuring; he set her helmet in place and efficiently ran the clips down.

Magdalena drew a deep breath, remembered the order of the buttons on her left glove, and pressed the top two: seals intact, air supply full and clean.

She clipped the Asha's suit to hers with the short tether, stepped into the lock, and waited for Bhelan to unseal the outer side so she could clip the line from Dana's ship to her own suit.

The trip across was probably safer than half the places she'd

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been on-planet recently, but disorienting. The lack of gravity made her stomach flip-flop, and she was glad she hadn't eaten much in days.

Magdalena kept both hands on the Asha's arm, assurance as much as safety, and tried to focus on the slender wire mesh of the tube or the line hauling them in, not the eternity of starlit blackness all around her.

Concentrating on that, and her breathing, helped. It still seemed to take forever for the line to reel them into the other ship's air lock.
Dana has to
keep it slow. You don't want to hit anything and rip ...
She closed her eyes, swallowed hard.

Once she and An-Lieye were safely inside the lock, gravity restored, Magdalena turned and sat, feet wrapped around the ceiling-to-floor grip-pole, both arms clutching her companion.

The tube didn't look as long from this end. The view just beyond her feet made her dizzy, though; she focused on Bhelan's ship, now moving away from them. Then on the tube slowly collapsing in on itself, returning to the engineer's ship. The flattened circle of tube stopped just inside the air lock, then slid into its belowdeck storage compartment, which snapped shut as the outer hatch closed. Air hissed into the narrow space.

Bare moments later, the inner door moved sideways, revealing the storage chambers beyond and a suited and helmeted shape in a familiar chair.

Magdalena unhooked from the safety, drew An-Lieye with her, and

unsnapped the tether. The door snicked to behind them, but the translator waited until the engineer removed her own helmet before unclipping hers.

The dark-haired woman smiled up at her. "Hey, you made it, great! Khyriz had me pretty scared. Let's get..." Her voice faded as Magdalena tugged the other helmet off, and An-Lieye, ears and whiskers plastered to her skull, stared wildly all around. ''Ahhh ... I thought it was you and Alexis I was transporting?"

"Alexis is hurt.... I think she'll be all right, Dana, but she hit her head."

"Ouch," Dana replied feelingly. "No, don't think she'd have liked that trip off-planet. Not the angle Bhelan said he took."

"This is An-Lieye." Rude of her to introduce the other, but 288

the Asha seemed incapable of anything at the moment.

Dana began peeling out of her spacesuit, standing awkwardly to brace one-handed against the chair. "An-Lieye. She's Asha, isn't she?"

"Here, let me help." Magdalena pulled the suit off and bundled it and the helmet into an empty niche, then turned to help An-Lieye out of hers. "Yes, Asha. They aren't what the Arekkhi said, exactly."

"Oh? And what's Khyriz's part in all this?" Dana slid back into her chair, waited--barely--until Magdalena had her own suit hung, then gestured for the two to follow her out of the storage.

"He's trying to help them--the Asha--to keep them alive. The Prelate--" She didn't know where to start.

"Wait. Bet you two could use a meal and the cleaning booth before anything else." Dana got them into the elevator, up one level to the flight deck, and held up a hand for silence while she keyed in coordinates, then clicked everything over to auto.

"Okay," she said crisply as she swung the chair around. "Sorry I couldn't help you two through the tube, I know you don't like them, Mags, but the tube is worse for me than trying to walk in a dark room. In a dark room, I just lose all sense of up and down and I fall. I tried the tube just once, and I lost everything. Including lunch." She grinned suddenly. "You don't want to lose lunch in a space suit." She gestured a greeting as between equals to An-Lieye, who blinked and returned the gesture. Dana smiled, lips only. "Not what they said, huh? Okay, I think I get it." The smile faded as her quick, dark eyes studied the two. "You both look ready to fall down, yourselves. The cleaning booth is ready, it's straight across from the doorway in here. I left out a few of my clothes in the cabin just beyond that--it's for you two, by the way. About the clothes: You're taller than I am, Mags, but I'm more solidly built, so it ought to come out even."

Her eyes strayed to An-Lieye. "I suppose she--apologies, An-Lieye," she corrected herself with a warm, lips-only smile. "There is a washing similar to Arekkhi, clean clothing that will cover you, and a chamber where you can rest. Magdalena, one of my loose shirts is maybe the same length as her robe."

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She shook her head. "Your brown thing doesn't look that bad, but that blue really needs to be washed--"