Alien Chronicles 2 - The Crimson Claw (11 page)

“You
know
Okal can be trusted,” she said quickly.

“Maybe. Yeah. He’s no squealer,” Elrabin admitted. “But who can tell with a Phivean? You know how weird they are.”

“Okal believes in the Eye,” Ampris said, touching the pendant around her neck. “That’s why I trust him.”

Elrabin backed his ears. “Don’t go asking me to judge folk that way! What kind of stupid idea is that?”

“Call it foolish if you want,” she said wearily. “I can’t explain it to you.” She sighed, feeling herself sag. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have expected you to get involved. But I have to try, and I will try until someone stops me.”

“Then you’re doomed,” he said with pity.

Disappointment spread through her, but she accepted his decision. She couldn’t expect him to take risks with her if he didn’t want to. “Can I ask you one last favor before you go?” she asked.

He rubbed his muzzle, whining in the back of his throat again. “What?” he asked reluctantly.

“I still intend to access the data archives, if I can,” she said. “Will you tell me how to do it? Then that’s all. I won’t get you involved beyond that.”

Elrabin stared at her a long moment, then finally tipped back his head and laughed. “You just don’t give up, do you, Goldie?”

She didn’t like being laughed at, but she smiled anyway. “Why should I give up? I haven’t started yet.”

He sighed. “Maybe you can link into the central library—”

“Not
that,”
she said in quick scorn. “It’s laced with Viis lies.”

“That’s the best—”

“No,” she said. “I want to get into the data archives beneath the old Imperial Palace, the ones the Kaa ordered restored. Can I link to them?”

Elrabin drew back from her and paced a small circuit around the bathing chamber. “Don’t ask for much, do you, Goldie?” he said softly. “Just the impossible.”

Her hopes crashed down again. “Is it? Really? I was hoping—”

“What? You think a place like that’s going to be available to just everybody?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to access it.”

“Even if you get into the data files, you won’t be able to read them.”

“I can read Viis,” she said. “I told you I’m fluent.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “You’re lying.”

She backed her ears. “I
can.
Israi insisted I learn.”

“Everybody knows how to speak a few words of Viis,” he said, his ears twitching back and forth. “Can’t help but pick it up. But no one can read it.”

Ampris met his skeptical gaze steadily, proudly.

“It’s forbidden,” he said.

Ampris shrugged. “The law doesn’t apply to the sri-Kaa. Listen, no one knows this except you. I’ve trusted you with my secret. If I’m ever caught committing treason, you can condemn me further to the master in exchange for clemency for yourself. Fair enough?”

He said nothing.

“Okay,” she said, accepting defeat where he was concerned. “It was just an idea. I’ll figure out another way.”

“Not here, you won’t,” he said. “You got to keep your mind on fighting, remember? If you don’t, you’ll be cut off at the knees in the first competition.”

She rolled her eyes at him impatiently. “I know how to fight.”

“Yeah, in practice maybe. I’m talking about the pros.”

Ampris turned away from him. “All right. Forget it.”

He gripped her shoulder to keep her from walking away. “Wait. Maybe I can mess around with the signal. But no promises, see? I got to make sure no one in security catches the signal divergence and gets nervous.” He rubbed his muzzle worriedly. “The master is paranoid about someone stealing one of you, or breaking in to get at his strategy secrets so the betting odds can be rigged. That’s why security is so tight.”

Ampris grinned at him. “Then you’ll do it? For me? Oh, Elrabin!”

“I said I’ll try,” he said gruffly, tugging at his coat while looking stern and disapproving. “I don’t like it, but if that’s what you want—”

“Oh, yes! I want it very much.” She tugged at one of his ears affectionately. “Thank you.”

“Slow down. Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “We’re making a deal here.”

She blinked, slightly taken aback. “Yes, of course. What kind of deal do you want?”

“If you’re set on starting some kind of rebellion, you got to be careful. You follow me?”

“Yes. But you’ve already stressed that.”

“So I’m saying it again. Being careful means you don’t make friends,” he said, his voice fierce and cold.

“But I must if I’m to form a network.”

Elrabin choked.
“What?”

“I thought you understood. The Viis civilization is crumbling. We can—”

“No.” He stepped back from her, shaking his head. “No. You’re crazy. It can’t happen. The Viis are too strong.”

“They are weak,” she insisted. “I know. They can’t do anything for themselves. Won’t do anything for themselves. They’re lazy, conceited, and arrogant. It’s the abiru folk who do the real work. We run businesses and households. We do the manual labor. We work in the space stations. We operate the jump gates—most of which don’t work anymore. Almost nothing works the way it should. You know that.”

“If they’d shell out credits to maintain their equipment—”

“But no one knows how to do the maintenance,” Ampris said. “No one . . . except abiru workers. If we could ever unite, join forces, and trust each other, we could overthrow the Viis yoke. I know we could.”

For a moment the possibilities radiated like stars in his eyes, then that light dimmed, and Elrabin shook his head. “Pretty dreams you got, Goldie. But it ain’t happening.”

“It could, if we—”

“We’re slaves,” he said harshly. “Born slaves. We’ll die slaves. They
own
us. We got no say, got no chance to get together.”

“Why can’t we try?” she shot back at him. “Because it looks impossible, we’re just supposed to give up? How do we know what we can or can’t accomplish until we try?”

He shifted under her scornful gaze, refusing to meet her eyes.

“I’d rather be called crazy,” she said softly, not quite able to mask her scorn, “than a coward.”

His head snapped up, and he bared his teeth. “Yeah, Elrabin the Coward, that’s me. But it keeps me alive.”

“Do you love your Viis masters so much?” she asked him. “When the master whips you, don’t you long to do something to get back at him?”

Hatred gleamed in Elrabin’s eyes, but he shook his head. “You’re into major treason, Goldie.”

“What have I got to lose?” she asked, exasperated. “My head?”

“Yeah.”

“But I’m already condemned to the arena, Elrabin,” she said softly. “Don’t you see? I can’t be safe, no matter what.”

He swung away from her, whining low in his throat.

She could see his fear, his worry. “I guess it’s no deal after all,” she said after a moment. “If you’ll tell me how to adjust the link signal feed, I’ll do it myself. Then they can’t blame you if I get caught.”

“Can’t they?” he echoed.

“All right, then. I’ll—”

“Besides, you’re no good at this,” he went on as though she hadn’t spoken. “Everything you think is right out on your face. You learn not to trust everyone at first sight. You keep your secrets. Yeah, and don’t say everything you know. Hold back some, Goldie.”

She nodded. “That’s the way things were at Bizsi Mo’ad. Spies and tattles, everyone wanting to betray everyone else in hopes of currying favor. I hoped it would be different here.”

Elrabin laughed. “Here, everything is
exactly
the same as Bizsi Mo’ad. Don’t let these fancy quarters and all the toys fool you. No matter how it looks, the purpose is the same. You remember that, Goldie. Have you noticed that little plaque outside your door? It’s to display your number of victories this season. They keep you up in style so you can kill in the competitions that Lord Galard bets on. That’s all you’re good for. You haven’t faced it yet, the horror, but you will. And that’s when you’re going to need to be strong, inside yourself. No one can help you face that. You’ll face it alone.”

She shivered, refusing to deal with what he was talking about. Why did he feel he had to prepare her for what lay ahead? She dreaded it too much already. “Are you with me, then?” she asked.

He met her eyes, and his own were clear and steady. “Me? I’ll watch your back, Goldie. I’ll warn you when I can if Ylea is planning to get at you in the ring. I’ll guard your quarters and your gear. I’ll help you survive and live a long time with the Blues, so we can both prosper.”

Tears came to her, stinging the backs of her eyes while she struggled to hold them in. “That’s a long answer,” she whispered. “But it says nothing.”

“It says all I can say,” he told her.

“Elrabin—”

“You think you got nothing to lose, Goldie, but I got plenty,” he said. “This is a pretty good place, see? If you win enough, you stay here, get the good treatment. If you win big, you can become team leader. Then we get the biggest quarters, and I have a room for myself. You can stockpile a fortune, if you let me place your bets for you. Maybe, one day, you can escape with your winnings and lose yourself in a backwater where the bounty hunters won’t find you.”

She stared at him in dismay, beginning finally to comprehend.

“It’s that chance you were talking about,” he said eagerly. “Making your own opportunity. See, I don’t know yet how you are in the arena, but the Blues paid top credits for you. A lot more than they paid for Ylea years ago. Why do you think she’s so mad at you?”

Ampris’s head was spinning at his change of subject. “No,” she said. “You don’t understand—”

“I do,” he said, gripping her hand hard. “Believe me, Goldie, I do. They paid so much for you that Halehl didn’t punish you for that stunt you pulled today. You could have killed him, and old Ruar’s getting drunk on sour beer tonight wishing it had happened. So the Blues think you’re great. But that won’t last long if you spoil everything you got going for you now. You got to reach for what you have a real chance of getting, see?”

Weariness washed over her. Whatever he might promise, she realized he didn’t really believe anything she’d said tonight. “I want that link, Elrabin,” she said with determination.

He sighed and tilted his head to one side. “I don’t know, Goldie. It still don’t seem worth it. Why don’t you go to bed and think it over another day?”

“Don’t you care?” she whispered. “Don’t you care at all?”

“I care,” he replied, his voice flat and unsympathetic. “I care about saving my hide. If we can strike a deal where we help each other . . . then I guess I care about saving your hide too. I can’t get more honest than that.”

She could no longer hold back her disappointment. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes.

Elrabin glared at her, then flattened his ears. “Hush now,” he said. “Don’t do that. Don’t cry.”

Angrily she wiped her face. “I don’t want to. I’m not doing it to get your sympathy.”

A slow cynical grin parted his jaws. “Yeah? Okay. Come on, then. You go to bed and rest. You’re too tired, and we got no business plotting this stuff tonight.”

“Plotting?” she said, a little hysterically, wanting to laugh but finding herself crying instead. “Is that what we’re doing? Talking to you is like trying to catch windblown sand.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of bred in me,” he said with pride. “Never mind, Goldie. You forget about half of what I said, see?”

“Which half?”

He yipped, his eyes gleaming. “You let me check folks out first, see? Then if I think it’s okay, you can talk treason to them. Fair enough?”

She caught her breath and wiped her eyes, hoping again. She tried to read his eyes for sincerity. “Is that a promise?”

“Here’s the rest of the deal,” he said, squirming a bit before he squared his shoulders and finally looked her in the eye. “I’ll help you like you want, within reason, see? And in exchange you make something of yourself in the arena.”

Ampris backed her ears. “What?”

“Don’t just get by. You become the star, take the team leader spot. Yeah, you do that.”

She stared at him in astonishment. “Just like that,” she said sarcastically.

“Come on. You’re a big, healthy Aaroun. You’re supposed to be good. Halehl don’t blunder when it comes to picking out fighters. And you had him on the rails today.”

“But that was just catching him by surprise—”

Elrabin pointed his finger at her and said fiercely, “No, Goldie. No buts. You take top spot away from Ylea, and you hold it. No slacking. No just getting by. No bottom spot on the team, or our deal’s off.”

Her astonishment was spreading, along with irritation. “You’re serious about making money, betting on me.”

“Sure,” he said with a shrug. “You’ve told me your dream tonight. So now I’m telling you mine. You want to save the universe. I want to afford a bolt hole where no bounty hunter can get me. See, I got it all planned. All I needed was the right fighter to come along. You’re the one. You help me, and I’ll help you.”

“But—”

“That’s the way it works,” he said flatly. “Or it don’t work at all. You decide.”

“But, Elrabin, can’t we—”

“Sleep on it,” he said, shutting off the running water. “You let me know when you’re ready.”

She wanted to protest further, but with the water shut off there was nothing to mask their conversation from the surveillance devices. Elrabin left the bathing chamber to put away the vids in the sitting room. By the time she got there, he was at the door.

“Get your rest,” he said. “If there’s nothing else, I’m gone.”

His eyes met hers, sharp and merciless. Ampris opened her mouth, then closed it again. This wasn’t how she’d planned things. But somehow Elrabin had managed to out-maneuver her.

The door clicked, and she heard the locks engage. Glancing up, she realized he was gone—as elusive and hard to pin down as smoke.

Ampris sighed to herself, her heart heavy with disillusionment. Yes, she saw how the abiru races could eventually free themselves, but how did she carry her ideal to others when no one—not even her one friend, Elrabin—wanted to believe in it?

One step at a time, she told herself. Back when she still lived in the palace and asked Bish to teach her the true history of her people, he had told her she must learn patience. It seemed she had many other lessons to learn as well.