The Mandala Maneuver (21 page)

Not that she had to worry about the logical aftermath of such activities, since she’d had her contraceptive shot just three standard months ago, and wouldn’t need another booster until three months from now. If humans and Zhore could procreate at all, that is. Yes, Eridanis and humans had been interbreeding for decades now, but the Eridanis were far more similar to Gaians than the Zhore. Either way, it wasn’t something that even had to be an issue.

“But…”

“But I’m away from my quarters in the middle of the night. What if there’s an emergency and someone tries to contact me? And with me sneaking around like a teenager seeing the boyfriend her parents don’t approve of — ” She broke off, and lifted her shoulders. “It wouldn’t look good. So I think it’s better if I go back to my apartment now.”

His expression shifted from worried to resigned, and he sat up, then bent down and retrieved that wrapper of a pair of underwear from the floor. Alexa wasn’t sure exactly how it worked, except that one moment he was naked, and the next he wasn’t.

Her own discarded clothing shimmered against the close-weave beige carpet, and she picked up her panties and bra and drew them on, followed by her tunic and pants. For the first time she noticed it was slightly chilly in the room, as if the Zhore preferred a lower ambient temperature than most Gaians. She supposed it made sense, what with the heavy robes they wore all the time.

In an attempt to take away the sting of her hasty departure, she went to Lirzhan and kissed him — no quick peck on the cheek, but a lingering touch of mouth against mouth as she tried to show that she was leaving because she had to, not because she wanted to.

“I understand,” he said simply, once she drew away.

Because he was a Zhore, she knew he did. She reached up with one hand to touch his cheek, marveling again at the silky brush of the scales against her skin, and then hurried out. If she stayed any longer, she knew she’d lose her current battle with her conscience.

Luckily, at this hour in the station’s standard rotation, she didn’t have to worry about dodging too many people. Of course there were security personnel always on duty, but long ago the Gaians and every other space-faring race had learned that people functioned better on a daily cycle similar to that of their home worlds, and so on Targus Station there was day and night — even if you couldn’t tell the difference by looking out the many view panels.

Alexa slipped out of the service elevator and made her way back to her apartment. All was quiet and still, and she let out a sigh of relief as she slipped her key card through the reader and let herself inside.

That relief proved to be short-lived, however, for as she flipped on the lights, she saw Chima Amadi sitting on the couch, watching her with a smile that was far from friendly.

“So, Alexa,” she said in her singsong accent. “You want to be telling me where you’ve been this evening?”

A
lthough he missed her already
, Lirzhan understood Alexa’s reasons for leaving. Openly admitting to their relationship now was probably not wise. It was enough that she had come to him, had finally realized what he had known all along, that they were meant to be together. He could still taste her, feel her, hear her voice. The day would come when she would stay with him, once they had decided how to make such a thing possible.

In the meantime, he had slept well, and awakened with a light heart, despite the threat of the Mandala project hanging over all of them. Somehow it was difficult to be worried about the future when he had held Alexa in his arms, had felt their bodies come together in the perfect joining of
sayara
. Surely a universe that contained such beauty could not allow anything truly bad to happen.

Ah, well…even the afterglow of that magical hour with Alexa wasn’t quite enough to convince him of that. But he would admit he was in an extraordinarily good mood that morning.

Until he entered the Zhore delegation’s office suite, and sensed the waves of dark energy coming from Ambassador Trazhar’s office. Lirzhan paused at Arizhal’s desk. That young man was pretending transcribe a dictated report left behind by Lirzhan’s predecessor, but he could tell Arizhal was distracted, as his hooded head kept turning toward the ambassador’s office, as if he thought he could hear something of what was going on behind the closed door.

“What is it?” Lirzhan asked.

Arizhal pulled the audio bud from his ear and nodded toward Trazhar’s office. “Two members of the Assembly showed up early this morning.”

“They did?” Lirzhan inquired. Prickles of unease began to run down his spine. He thought he had a fairly good idea as to why they were here. They’d received his report, and processed it…and now they were here to follow up in person.

“Yes. We had no official notice of their arrival, until station operations contacted the ambassador and said their ship would be here in fifteen standard minutes. There was quite the scramble, as you might imagine.”

Lirzhan could imagine quite a thing all too well. For a second or two he wondered why he had not been summoned, and then realized that they would wish to meet with the ambassador herself, and that Arizhal had been called in because, as her assistant, it was his duty to be on hand for such meetings. No doubt they would request Lirzhan’s presence when they were good and ready, and not before.

He sat down at his desk and pulled up the notes on the latest back-and-forth between Zhoraan and Gaia over the settlements on Lathvin IV. Whether that particular matter would ever be handled to either party’s satisfaction, he had no idea, but the Gaians’ inability to admit that the Zhore had first rights to the obscure little planet was beginning to wear a little thin.

The door to Ambassador Trazhar’s office opened, and she looked out. “Lirzhan. A word, if you please.”

He waved a hand, and the heads-up display disappeared into the ether. Although he willed himself to be calm, nevertheless his heart began to beat a little faster. He had known there would be some reaction to the Gaian duplicity from his home world…he just hadn’t thought it would come as swiftly as this.

Even so, he made himself be calm, his head up as he entered the ambassador’s chambers. Seated in front of her desk were two Zhore, the only sign of their office a thin cord of green draped over their shoulders. As he entered, they rose and bowed, and he did the same. This was simple courtesy. It bore no indication as to what might follow.

“You may sit, Ambassador Lirzhan,” Trazhar told him, and so he did, in the only seat left.

The office should have been soothing, with the ubiquitous Zhoraani complement of plants and fountains, and the hangings on the walls in shades of green and blue. But Lirzhan found himself sitting on the edge of his seat, dreading what the two assemblypeople were about to say.

“We have read Ambassador Trazhar’s report,” said the slighter of the two, female, her voice soft and low, and with the barest huskiness that bespoke some age. “It is troubling. Do you assert that what she has told us is what you experienced on this world called Mandala?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Lirzhan said.

“The Gaians are not aware that you know of their experiments?” asked the other assemblyperson, a man this time, his voice deep and warm, belying the tension which underlaid his words.

Lirzhan lifted his shoulders. “I have no way of knowing for certain.”

The female assemblyperson spoke. “And so they are no doubt remaining silent for now because they think that the worst they will suffer is some sort of slap on the wrist for setting up an unlicensed mining facility on a world that was supposed to be unimprovable.”

That seemed the most likely explanation for the continuing lack of any sort of reaction from Melinda Ono and her cohorts. “It would seem so, Your Honor.”

Ambassador Trazhar folded her gloved hands on her desktop. “What are your wishes, Your Honors?”

“The situation cannot be allowed to stand. We wish to bring a formal complaint to the Galactic Council,” said the second assemblyperson, and Lirzhan forced himself not to flinch.

A formal complaint meant that every representative on the Council, whether Gaian, Eridani, Stacian, or Zhore, would know exactly what the Gaians had been attempting to keep concealed on Mandala. And once the representatives knew, their planetary governments would know as well, and the ripples would continue to move out from the splash. What that meant for all of them, Lirzhan didn’t know, but he knew it wouldn’t be good.

When she spoke, Ambassador Trazhar’s voice was serene enough, although Lirzhan could feel the waves of dismay coming from her. They were too strong for her robes to completely muffle. “Because of the gravity of the matter, I will move to bring it to the full Council at our earliest convenience, which I hope will be this afternoon. The talks with the Bathshevans and the representatives from Miris Prime went more quickly than expected, and so we should have time today.”

“I thank you for your promptness,” the female assemblyperson said. “This is not a matter that we feel can be delayed.”

“It won’t be.” Ambassador Trazhar glanced over at Lirzhan. “You may go, Ambassador, but be ready to give a full report at fourteen hundred.”

“I will,” he replied, and bowed toward both the assemblypeople before leaving the office. He supposed a human would have reached up at this point and run a hand through his hair or performed some other gesture of relief, but he had no such outlet. Instead, he returned to his desk and brought up the Lathvin IV report again, although his eyes could not focus on the words on the screen.

He wondered what Alexa was doing at this moment, and whether he would have time to speak to her before the two members of the Zhoraani Assembly dropped their bombshell on the Galactic Council.

“
I
should have known
,” Ambassador Castillo said in conversational tones, although the scowl he wore was anything but pleasant. “I should have known when I heard about your relationship with that Eridani that you were an alien-lover and couldn’t be trusted.”

Alexa clenched her icy hands in her lap. Forcing herself to meet Castillo’s disdainful stare, she replied coolly, “My loyalty is and always has been to the Consortium. Sir.”

He waved a hand. “You have a funny way of showing it, then, Ms. Craig.”

At least Chima had allowed her to take a shower and change, do something with her mussed hair. If anything, the Ambassador’s assistant had looked almost amused as Alexa reappeared wearing her plainest suit, long locks twisted into a severe bun at the back of her neck.

Assistant
, Alexa thought then, and barely repressed a bitter chuckle.
Spy, more like.
Oh, she’d known all the hallways were under surveillance, and had been aware that she was taking her chances sneaking off in such a way. What she hadn’t known was that every time she went in and out of her apartment, a text alert popped up on Chima’s handheld, letting her know where the new junior ambassador was every hour of the day. Chima had been almost gleeful when divulging this tidbit, as if being Castillo’s spy added a little spice to her everyday routine.

It had been stupid and careless to go to Lirzhan’s apartment.

But oh, it had felt so good….

Voice still calm, she replied, “There is nothing in the terms of my employment that restricts who I can see in my private life, Ambassador.”

The heavy brows drew together. “Not specifically. However, one might say that a personal relationship with a member of an alien species whose affairs do not align with those of the Consortium signals a serious conflict of interest. Or do you not see it that way, Ms. Craig?”

“There was no conflict. I did not discuss politics with Trin Elsen when I was posted to the embassy on Eridani, nor did I do so with Ambassador Lirzhan. Frankly, sir, the ambassador and I were more concerned with staying alive.”

“It seems that wasn’t the only thing that you were concerned with.”

Heat flared along her cheekbones — curse of her fair skin, the one thing she’d never been able to control — but she only said, “It appears, sir, that you are determined to think the worst of me no matter what I might say in my defense. Therefore, I must ask whether I am being formally charged with anything. I will admit that I’m curious what I’d even be charged with, considering that I am technically a civilian and so am not subject to the same fraternization rules as someone in the military or even the GEC.”

Castillo glanced over at Chima, and she gave him the barest of nods. “Yes, Ms. Craig, you do have a point there. But I can still write you up for questionable behavior, and that will go in your permanent record. In the meantime, I’d advise you to rethink your relationship with Ambassador Lirzhan.” An expression of disgust passed over his aristocratic features. “A Zhore. I never thought I’d see the day.”

And you have no idea what you’re talking about
, she thought, but she didn’t bother to correct him, to let him know that under their hoods the Zhore were very beautiful in their own way, certainly not the repulsive monsters that rumor and innuendo had made them out to be. She wouldn’t betray Lirzhan’s confidence. The Zhore preferred to keep their appearance hidden, and she would respect that.

“Is there anything else, sir?” she asked coldly.

“No. Go back to your office and get to work on the Minari paperwork. Their delegation is coming in first thing tomorrow.”

Alexa got up from her seat and exited Ambassador Castillo’s chambers, then went to her own office. The cup of coffee she’d poured nearly half an hour ago was almost cold, but she drank it anyway. Chima had not allowed her to sleep, but had instead brought her down her to wait on the ambassador’s convenience. He hadn’t come in until past 0800, at which time Alexa was already on her third cup of coffee. She knew it was the only thing that would keep her going, since she had had no sleep — and it didn’t look as if they were going to allow her to get any today. A subtle form of punishment, but a very real one.

The words on the display in front of her seemed to blur into one another. Maybe another cup of coffee was in order. On the other hand, since she hadn’t eaten anything, that might not be such a good idea. Surely they couldn’t keep her from running down to the commissary and fetching some toast or a turnover to soak up the stomach acid.

She’d just begun to rise from her seat when she saw Chima come and lean against the door frame, her dark eyes alight with curiosity.

“What is it, Ms. Amadi?”

The other woman’s eyes narrowed at the switch back to her surname, but then she shrugged. “A Zhore, hey? And what must that be like? What have they got hiding under those robes?”

If Chima thought Alexa was going to tell her anything about Lirzhan, after the way she’d ratted her out to the ambassador, she must be crazy. Besides, even if they’d been the best of friends instead of the next thing to enemies, Alexa wouldn’t have given away any details of Lirzhan’s appearance. Not without his express permission, anyway.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied, tones chilly enough to give the other woman frostbite.

“Oh, come on, now — I was only doing my job. The ambassador, he wants to know what his staff are up to. Needs to be able to trust them. We’re in a sensitive position here, you know.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

The half-smile Chima had been wearing abruptly disappeared. “Ah, fine. Be that way if you want, but remember, you’re the one who screwed up here, not me.” And she turned and stalked off back to her desk in the reception area.

Maybe she shouldn’t have been so openly antagonistic toward Chima, but it couldn’t be helped now. She was just so damn tired. No, this wouldn’t be the first time she’d pulled an all-nighter, but she’d had days of inadequate sleep before this, and it all seemed to be piling up on her.

The day before she’d discovered a discarded protein bar in one of her desk drawers, probably left there by Ms. Nguyen. Since going down to the commissary before the lunch hour probably wasn’t going to happen, Alexa figured it was the only thing that could help to prevent the unending cups of coffee from eating a hole in her stomach lining.