Diamond Star (55 page)

Del tried to stand, then sank back into his chair.

"You have to stop," Jud said. "You want to be Prime-Nova's next meltdown? Tackman got hit bad, Del. It'll be a long time before Lantham works with him again. If ever." He shook his head. "The whole band got hit. Now we're the headliner on July Fourth. You could lose it just as easily as Mind Mix did."

"The virt
helps
me perform." But Del was no longer sure of anything. Bliss was supposed to untangle his mind after a concert. When had pre-concert trips become his routine? In everything he did, he was always planning his next session. It interfered with his music. How was that any different from Tackman needing his next neuro-amp fix? Del had thought of Raker and Delilah as the virtisos, but he wondered just how much--or little--separated him from them. He had promised to quit, yet he had just done his longest session ever, and it had been a journey into his nightmares.

"Staver Aunchild isn't home," Claude suddenly said. "His house EI says neither he nor his bodyguard have been in since last night."

Del climbed to his feet. "Why would it tell you that?"

"Staver left a message," Claude said. "He wanted you to comm him. He was supposed to stay home. But he left. His EI doesn't know when; Staver erased part of its memory, and it can't reach either Staver or his bodyguard. His AI posted an orange code."

Del tensed. Orange meant it suspected a risk to Staver. "Why did he erase its memory?"

"It doesn't know. Probably to keep his actions secret."

Del turned to Jud. "We have to find him."

Jud regarded him uneasily. "You think this is about that Aristo?"

"I don't know." Del took a step and stumbled as vertigo swept over him. With a groan, he grabbed the console.

"You've been in some weird neural state all night," Jud said. "You can't just go running around."

Hanging onto the console, Del regarded Jud bleakly. "If Staver needed help, and I didn't because I was in the bliss--"

"Maybe he wanted to talk business."

"Yeah, sure. That's why you thought he was frightened."

Jud grabbed his net-sweater off a chair and pulled it on. Del would have normally razzed him for wearing clothes that turned him into a walking console, but today he was glad. If intelligent clothes could help, he was all for them. He went to his room, moving with care, and changed into leather pants with a mesh that was neither ripped nor damaged. He looped a chain belt on his pants and tugged on a black T-shirt with the arms cut out. His head was swimming. Usually after a virt session, he felt relaxed, but last night had been miserable. Bliss it wasn't.

Cameron was waiting in the hall outside. No surprise there. Although he and Tyra didn't eavesdrop on Del in his home, they monitored him so well, he felt as if ghosts haunted the apartment.

"Where are you going?" Cameron asked.

"To see Staver." Del said. "Where's Tyra?"

"Asleep," Cameron said. "You should be, too."

"I can't!" Del told him about Staver. "We have to check on him."

"Not without Tyra," Cameron said.

Del knew arguing would do no good. "Let's get her, then."

They went inside Cameron's apartment, a neater version of Del and Jud's place. Light sculptures glowed on columns, holo-panels on the walls showed forest views, and big furniture stood on blue rugs. As they entered, Anne ambled into the living room, rubbing her eyes, her long hair tousled over her shoulders and arms. She had on nothing except Cameron's pullover, which came halfway down her thighs. She froze when she saw them, and her cheeks turned red.

Jud grinned. "I thought I heard drums last night."

Cameron scowled at him. "No one was playing any drums."

"Hey, Anne," Del said, delighted. "Good to see you."

Anne cleared her throat. "Uh--hi."

Cameron went over and spoke to her in a low voice. "I have to take these meatheads out. You can stay here." He hesitated. "If you want."

Anne gave him a luminous smile. "I'll be here."

Cameron's face did the most amazing thing, something Del had never witnessed. It softened and warmed. "Make yourself at home," the Marine told her. "For as long as you want."

She touched his cheek. "Sure, handsome."

"Could you go wake up Tyra?" Cameron motioned to another door. "She sleeps in there."

Anne's soft look turned into a glare. It was hard for her to look tough, though, given her sleepy, tousled appearance. "I really don't understand why you
live
with Tyra, Sergeant Cameron."

"I don't. I mean, I do, but I don't."

"Hmmm," Anne said.

"It's our job." Cameron hooked a thumb toward Del. "Guarding his skinny butt."

Anne looked at Del. "How come you need two babysitters?"

"My brother sent Tyra," Del said. "If I don't go along with it, he'll make me go home."

Anne snorted. "Who does your brother think he is, the King of Skyfall?"

Del gulped and Jud made a choking sound.

"Uh, no, he doesn't, I'm sure," Del stuttered.

Anne bestowed him with an unimpressed stare. She turned the same look on Cameron, but her face immediately softened. Rising on her toes, she kissed his cheek. "Don't be gone long, big guy."

Incredibly, the looming, tough Marine blushed. Then she walked off, swaying in his pullover.

"Wow." Jud smiled at Cameron. "You like 'em dangerous."

"Don't get her mad," Del warned. "She wields a wicked drum stick."

Cameron ignored them and went to a silver column in one corner. Del had thought it was decorative, but when Cameron tapped the surface, a panel slid open, and he took out a gun. A pulser-pistol. It shot serrated bullets under high pressure, and it emitted an electromagnetic pulse that scrambled mesh signals.

"That's some heavy duty artillery," Jud said.

"It's nothing," Tyra said.

Del turned to see her walking toward them, sleek and dangerous in black jeans and a black pullover. Anne was with her.

"Where are you all going?" Anne asked.

"Staver Aunchild wanted my help last night," Del said. "Now we can't find him, and his AI went orange."

"Orange what?" Tyra asked, annoyingly alert for someone who had just woken up. Del could barely function before noon.

"It's the North American warning system for house meshes," Anne said. "An AI posts orange if it thinks the house owner is in trouble. On code red, the AI contacts the authorities."

Tyra's posture changed subtly, as if she were tensing to fight. "Lord Tarex is still on Earth. He's staying at the Star Tower as a guest of Prime-Nova."

Del took a breath. "Let's get going, before that changes." He didn't say what he knew Tyra was thinking; if Tarex had Staver and took him offworld, the Skolian would never see home again.

With Tarex as a guest of Prime-Nova, someone the conglomerate hoped to do millions of business with, even billions, Del didn't feel he could contact them about Staver or his suspicions. He had absolutely no intention of telling Ricki. He didn't want her anywhere near Tarex, like not even in the same galaxy.

Staver had rented a house in an area that had once been a city called Laurel and now was all countryside. To get there, Del linked his racer into the traffic grid for Interstate 95, and it whisked them south of Baltimore.

"I don't know why they call this a racer," Del grumbled as trees flashed past. "The grid won't allow anything faster than two hundred kilometers an hour." Although he was sitting in the driver's seat, the car was doing all the driving. Jud was in the passenger's seat up front, and Tyra and Cameron were in the back.

"Oh, come on," Tyra said. "Most untrained, unaugmented humans don't have good enough reflexes to drive at that speed, at least not safely."

"Race drivers do," Jud said.

Tyra waved at the stream of chromed beauties whizzing along with them. "They look like they're on a race track to you?"

Del grinned at her. "Oh, yeah."

"Remind me never to drive with you off the grid," Cameron muttered.

Looking back, Del regarded him innocently. "I would never do that. It's illegal to take a car off the grid." Cameron just snorted.

"Going off-grid isn't much harder than cracking vids," Jud said.

"Which of course you would never do," Cameron said.

"Uh, yeah." Jud cleared his throat. "Of course."

Del slanted Jud a look. Right. At least Jud was more discreet about it than some artists. Everyone wanted an inside look at the competition. Although many people illegally analyzed the creations of other artists, Del rarely felt the urge. Contrary to what his family believed, he intended to honor the laws of his host world. He didn't really want to take apart someone else's work, anyway; he liked to listen to it the way they meant it to be heard.

"You know, we could buy an estate out here," Jud said. "We're making enough money. Why stay in that little apartment?"

"It's a good apartment," Del said. "Besides, just because we had one good royalty check, that doesn't mean we're rich."

"Are you shitting me?" Jud said, laughing. "Wait until you see the next one. That last hardly included anything for 'Diamond Star,' and that was before
Starlight.
"

"I suppose." Del was happy in the apartment. If he wanted opulence, he could live in the Sunrise Palace on the world Parthonia or the Ruby Palace on Raylicon. His best memories, though, came from the house on Lyshriol, which had been in his father's family for centuries. Although pretty, it was nothing compared to the palaces the Ruby Dynasty maintained elsewhere. But it was a
home:
warm, comfortable, filled with the life of a large, energetic family. He had especially fond memories from his childhood, before his arguments with his family had soured everything.

Del peered at the trees along the road, trying to see past them, but the leaves were too dense. The foliage on Earth confused him. Lyshriol plants consisted of tubules, from tiny rods to columns taller than a man, all in stained-glass colors. Green was one of the colors, but it was more like emerald glass. The beautifully strange plants here soothed him at a deep level, a reminder that his ancestors had come from this teeming world.

"I wish we could fly." Del touched a roof panel and the top of the car went transparent, letting him gaze at the cloud-puffed sky. Flyers soared, following air lanes over the Interstate. "Hovering takes so long."

"Once we get into the country, it'll be better," Cameron said.

Del looked around at him. "Isn't that backward, that it used to be a city out there and now it's not?"

"There are fewer people now," Cameron said. "Some industries moved offworld. And population centers change around."

Del turned restlessly to face front. "Claude, are you here?"

His EI's voice came out of the dashboard. "Right here."

"Try reaching Staver again."

"Connecting," Claude said.

"Staver probably just partied too hard and passed out," Jud said. He sounded as if he were trying to convince himself.

"Have you
ever
seen him drink that much?" Del asked.

Jud regarded him uneasily. "He really wanted to talk to you."

Claude spoke. "Mister Aunchild's AI says he's still missing. It wants to know if we think it should go to code red."

"If it goes red," Del asked, "who will it contact?"

"The police and the Skolian embassy," Claude said. "And it would file a missing person report."

Cameron leaned forward between the front seats. "He's only been gone overnight. He could be with a woman, on a binge, anything. The police won't act until he's gone twenty-four hours."

"Staver is a prime-rated telepath," Del said. "Do you know how rare that is? Tarex is an Aristo. The police would be fools not to act."

"How would you justify accusing Tarex?" Cameron asked. "We have no evidence."

"He's an Aristo," Tyra said flatly.

"That's not evidence," Cameron told her. "Axil Tarex is a powerful man. Regardless of what you think, regardless of what may be true, we
have
to be careful."

"We should let the police know Staver is missing," Tyra said. "That's not accusing anyone of anything."

Del spoke. "Claude, tell Staver's AI to go to red."

"Done," Claude said.

Jud regarded Del. "If Staver shows up, hung over and with some girl, we're going to look really stupid."

"Better stupid," Del said, "than sorry."

* * *

The mansion was still empty when they arrived.

Del stood with Jud and Cameron on the porch and gazed out at the hills of central Maryland, which were dotted with glades of trees. In the distance, the sleek towers of the Laurel-Columbia metropolitan center gleamed against the sky.

"Why would an exec rent a house out here?" Jud asked. "You'd think he'd prefer D.C. where everything is happening."

Del could guess why. Staver needed a secluded base for his covert work. He said only, "Most empaths don't like the city."

Tyra walked out of the house, studying the mesh on her gauntlet. She looked up at Del. "Looks like he left you another message. I'll let you know as soon as I get into his account."

Cameron raised an eyebrow. "You think you can break Allied security codes?"

Tyra smiled dangerously. "Hell, yeah." She went back to her gauntlet, and a moment later, she said, "Okay. Here it is."

Staver's voice rose into the air. "Del, we've found out Tarex is investigating you. He's searching out your Kyle rating. Stay with your guards. Be careful. Comm me."

"Huh," Jud said. "He wasn't afraid for himself. He was worried for you."

"So why did he go out?" Cameron said.

Del had a sinking feeling he knew exactly why. Staver had gone with his people to free the provider. "Tarex has him. We have to help."

Tyra spoke firmly. "You're staying away from Tarex."

"We have to do something!" Del felt as if he were clenching up inside. "If you won't help, call in people who can."

"I'll contact ISC and ASC," she said. "But I doubt we can get a team in here before tonight."

"You're a Jagernaut Secondary," Del said. "One assigned to guard a Ruby prince. I know what that means, Tyra. You're high up in my brother's forces. You can get it done faster."