So Vile a Sin (28 page)

‘I’m pleased to meet you,’ he said. ‘I wish I could fit into one of these planes.’

‘I’m Gugwani,’ the eldest girl said. She walked up to him, a slender figure in a cotton dress and red shoes. ‘That’s Somezi –’

the boy ‘– that’s Mantsebo, and the little one is Thandiwe.’

‘I’m not little,’ said Thandiwe. ‘I’m six.’

Something bumped the back of Chris’s leg. He turned, to see the red biplane. ‘You got security clearance?’

‘Check the guest list,’ said Chris.

209

The plane thought about it for a moment. ‘Yep, you’re cleared.

Just remember I’ve got my scanner on you. Right?’

Chris smiled at Gugwani, who beamed mightily in return.

Typical low-level AI, desperate to show it wasn’t anybody’s servant. ‘I’ll bet these planes never let you get up to anything,’ he said.

‘You’d be surprised,’ she said. ‘Do you like our house?’

Chris looked around. ‘Yes,’ he said, eventually. Prompting more fits of giggles from the kids.

It suddenly struck him what they were laughing about. Stupid hick from the lower levels, gawping at the palace.

‘Don’t take it personally,’ the biplane told him. ‘They do this to everyone.’

‘But guys, I was going to walk all the way around the building.’

‘You can finish later.’

‘Are you sure we can all fit in this tube train?’

‘I’ll sit next to you.’

‘Can I sit on your lap, Mantsebo?’

‘Of course, child – up you go!’

‘Hey, Chris, look out the window as we go.’

‘Which section is your room in?’

‘Let me check the map… blue section, third level, corridor twenty-one, suite eighteen.’

‘See, you just type that into the controls, and it takes you to the nearest station.’

‘Stop wriggling, Thandiwe!’

‘Makes you dizzzzzeeeeee!’

‘I bet you kids spend all your time going round and round in this thing.’

‘No, the planes are better.’

‘Was it OK to just leave them there?’

‘They’ll put themselves away.’

‘Here we are!’

Chris and the four children piled out of the tube. They led him along through wide, carpeted hallways until they came to a door with a liquid crystal label: SUITE 18, MR CHRISTOPHER CWEJ.

210

The door slid back and they went inside. It was a huge, carpeted space like a hotel lobby, with a fountain set into the floor. There were doors at intervals around the walls. ‘OK,’ said Chris, ‘which one’s mine?’

The kids all grinned. A servant stepped up, a tall woman with white hair. ‘Welcome to your suite, Mr Cwej,’ she said. ‘Your map contains details of the services and facilities, but if you have any questions or requests, please ask a member of staff.’

‘Thanks,’ said Chris. ‘This whole thing is my room, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, sir,’ said the servant. ‘I hope everything is to your satisfaction.’

She was like something from a sim. It was all like something from a sim, or a video game.
Too Much Money! Live out your
fantasies of wealth in this hi-rez VR environment.

‘I’m going to have a shower,’ he said to no one in particular.

‘And then I’m going to go and see what Aunty Roz is up to.’

‘Yes, sir. Will you require assistance with the bathroom?’

He looked at her. ‘No, ma’am,’ he said, sending the kids off into fits of giggles.

‘Are you going to talk to me, or are we just going to lob balls at one another?’

Leabie caught the tennis ball she’d been bouncing up and down in her hand. Roz walked up to the net.

Leabie looked at her from the baseline. Her sister looked quite a bit like her, just not so worn around the edges. With all the time travel, Roz was now younger than her younger sister, but she looked and felt older.

Some of it was health treatments, but most of it was the lack of stress. Leabie was taller and her hair wasn’t turning grey. Go and chase round after the Doctor for a few years, thought Roz, and see how you come out.

Leabie walked up to the net. ‘Just because you’re losing,’ she said, with one of her small smiles.

‘You’re mad with me,’ said Roz.

‘Of course not! I’m delighted to see you.’

‘Come on,
usisi
.’

211

‘You ought to have come to me for help, darling,’ said Leabie.

‘I know you wanted to set out on your own. We’re all very proud of your work as an Adjudicator, of course. But when things became difficult, you ought to have asked for help.’

It might have been a bit difficult, thought Roz. I was up to my arse in Sloathes at the time. ‘I’ve been travelling.’

‘And that’s another thing,’ said Leabie. ‘We looked all over for you, but you’d just –’ she gestured, the ball flying out of her hand

‘– vanished! And now you suddenly pop up from nowhere. I asked Mr Llewellyn to keep an eye on you, because I wasn’t sure how you’d react to an offer of help.’

Once you started her talking, thought Roz, it was hard to get her to stop. ‘That’s why you put me under surveillance?’ she said.

‘Of course,’ said Leabie. ‘I just wanted to make sure you’d be all right. You’ve been busy, Roz. What are you up to?’

‘Oh, you know. Following up a few leads.’

‘Now, you’re the one who wanted to talk…’ Leabie smiled.

‘Let’s go and cool off.’

Leabie caught up with her in the rain garden, after changing out of her tennis gear. Roz was standing on one of the side paths, still in her white shorts and T-shirt, watching the rain fall among the slick leaves of the jungle plants. An artificial sun shower, tiny droplets of cool rain falling down.

It reminded her, perversely, not of the legendary forests of West Africa as it was supposed to, but of Little Chalfont, England.

The TARDIS stood among the plants, just one of the sculptures among the trees. ‘What is that thing, anyway?’ Leabie asked, walking up to her.

‘Equipment,’ said Roz. ‘It’s not art. Why’d you put it down here?’

‘Well, if I put it in a vault, everyone will know it’s valuable.

This way, it’s disguised, whatever it is,’ said Leabie. ‘It was a tremendous surprise when it arrived with your note,
usisi
. We were all in a terrible flap.’

212

‘I checked my records,’ said Roz. ‘I was legally declared dead a year after I left. I didn’t know whether that was your doing, or the Doctor’s, or the Adjudicators’.’

‘Your Centcomp records were almost entirely destroyed.

Thandiwe believed you were dead, but I know the older children weren’t certain. I didn’t know what to think, and now, out of the blue, here you are back again… Why don’t you tell me what it is you’re trying to do?’ insisted Leabie. ‘I can help you. You know I’ve always wanted what’s best for this family.’

‘What now? What’s the future, Leabie?’ said Roz. ‘What’s going to happen to the Empire?’

‘I wish I knew,’ said her sister. She found a bench among the trees, and sat down. The artificial sun shower surrounded them, tiny droplets of cool water floating down. ‘It’s all up in the air. I can’t believe fighting broke out in the Imperial Palace itself!

There hasn’t been news for hours, almost a whole
day
.’ She sighed. ‘We live in interesting times. Did you know there are still security alerts out for yourself and young Mr Cwej? He was your partner, wasn’t he?’

‘Still is, really. He was Squired to me just before the riots started, and the Adjudication service blew up in our faces. We’re friends, now.’

‘Have you slept with him?’

‘No, I haven’t!’ said Roz. ‘Leabie, he’s half my age.’

‘Well, whatever difference does that make?’ Leabie poked Roz’s shoulder with her fingertips. ‘Go on, don’t tell me you’ve never thought about it.’

‘Leabie,’ insisted Roz, ‘I’m no closer to getting married now than when we last spoke.’

Leabie gave a girlish laugh. ‘Don’t be silly, I’m not asking if you’re going to
marry
him!’

‘Yeah,’ said Roz, ‘well, you wouldn’t, would you?’ She relaxed an angry fist, feeling the engagement ring pushing into her palm.

‘Do you remember the time I broke Twolumps?’

‘Twolumps?’ Roz thought about it for a moment, and suddenly burst out laughing. ‘That teddy bear bot of yours! The one with the misshapen ears.’

213

‘I was just trying to fix them, and I pulled off half his head. I thought I’d wrecked him. So I brought him down here.’

‘That’s right. You hid him in the jungle.’

‘And you said it wasn’t fair. He was still moving around, calling my name.’

‘Well, it wasn’t fair. He was terrified to be without you.’

‘So you told Mama.’

‘I told Mama,’ said Roz. ‘And Twolumps was found and fixed.’

‘And I didn’t get to go on any trips for a month.’

‘Well,’ said Roz, ‘it wasn’t fair on poor old Twolumps.’

‘No,’ said Leabie. ‘You never used to let me get away with anything.’

‘True.’ Roz smiled. ‘How are your kids?’

‘The kids are just fine, they’re beautiful. You’ll meet them later. They’re terribly excited you’re here. I think they all raced off to track down your Mr Cwej. You know, to ask all about you.’

‘Oh, no,’ said Roz. She wiped her face, pushing the moisture back through her hair. ‘Thandiwe was a bit of an afterthought, wasn’t she? She can’t be seven.’

‘She’s six. Roslyn… there’s something you ought to know about her.’

Roz looked at Leabie. Her older sister didn’t say anything, playing the old game they were both familiar with.
Guess what
I’m thinking.

‘You didn’t,’ said Roz.

‘Thandiwe is more than your niece. She’s your clone.’

‘Don’t you need my permission to do that?’ said Roz.

‘Well,’ said Leabie, ‘it’s a bit late to worry about that now.

You’ll like her, Roz. She’s as bright as a button.’

‘And they say the aristos are inbred,’ said Roz. ‘You must have started right after I… disappeared. Decided to whip up a replacement, did you?’

‘We couldn’t replace you,’ said Leabie.

‘Thanks.’

‘No memory record.’

‘Oh, thanks.’

214

‘All we could do was try to plug the gap left in the family tree.

I worry, Roz. You don’t have my responsibilities. I wonder if you can understand. I imagine a time when there are no Forresters, when everything we’ve built up is washed away in some catastrophe. Or worse, just trickles away to nothing. The line must continue, as it has continued for a millennium.’

‘And you’ve found the ultimate way of keeping it going.’

Leabie looked at Roz. ‘We could have lost you. Again. Why didn’t you come to me for help?’

There was a discreet cough from a little distance. They looked up. A dark man in a servant’s uniform was waiting with a message. ‘What is it, Genneadiy?’ said Leabie.

He walked up. ‘Madam, madam,’ he said, nodding to each of them, and handed her the message.

Leabie read it at a glance. ‘Oh my goodness! Duke Walid is coming here! Worse than that, he’s on his way!’

‘He’s coming here?’ said Roz.

‘Genneadiy, we must get to work at once!’ Leabie jumped up.

‘I want a banquet ready at nineteen hundred hours, and guest quarters ready for the Duke’s entourage. And I want our security stepped up.’ The servant was entering it all into a palmtop. ‘And no tomatoes. The Duke hates tomatoes. And check the guest database to find out what kind of music he likes – I can’t recall whether it was modern makossa or ancient dreamhouse. One of those is Duke Armand and we do
not
want to get it wrong. And another thing…’

Roz closed her eyes, feeling the droplets landing on her skin.

She was well out of this. Had been well out of this.

Leabie lined them all up for the Duke’s arrival, her sister and her children and an assortment of aunts and uncles and cousins.

Chris was there, standing off to one side, looking humble and terrified. Roz waved him over. She didn’t care if they all assumed he was her bloody consort.

Leabie had wanted him to wear a full Adjudicator dress uniform, until he’d pointed out that he didn’t represent the Adjudicators. She’d insisted on having a suit made for him, 215

though, a soft blue thing that fitted perfectly. He stood next to Roz, hands clasped in front of him, staring at the airlock door.

The kids were neatly lined up – even Thandiwe, who had far too good an idea of etiquette for a six-year-old. Bringing her up right, thought Roz, prim and proper. Gugwani was smiling, trying to catch Chris’s eye. ‘Everywhere we go…’ Roz muttered.

‘What?’ he whispered.

‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘Look, the shuttle’s finished docking.’

Leabie was hovering, nervous. ‘We’re all sorted out, then, Genneadiy? Of course we are, and it would be a bit late now if we weren’t. Deep breaths, everyone.’

The grand airlock door irised open with a hiss. The Duke’s personal attendants were first through. One of them took out a little trumpet and blew on it. Roz heard a stifled giggle from one of the kids. She glanced at Thandiwe, who was glaring straight ahead, the model of seriousness.

‘His Excellency, Duke Abu ibn Walid of Callisto.’ The Duke stepped through, and his entourage followed, looking around and smiling. ‘Her Excellency Lady Kirsten. The Lady Genevieve ap Gwalchmai.’ There were a dozen more, walking in through the airlock as Walid shook Leabie’s hand.

‘I don’t believe it,’ said Chris.

‘I do,’ said Roz.

The Duke was making introductions on behalf of his staff.

‘This is my chief personal secretary, this is my accountant and this is –’

‘Hello, Doctor,’ said Roz.

‘Roz, Chris,’ said the Doctor. ‘I seem to have fallen on my feet again.’

Gugwani had somehow managed to arrange it so that Chris sat opposite her at the banquet. The two of them were chatting away, sitting on cushions at the low wooden table. Roz could swear the thing was half a kilometre long, seating the family members, the Duke’s entire entourage and every minor noble, corporate and bureau chief who could get there fast enough.

Chris looked relaxed at last. Roz wondered if her niece had been ordered to flirt with him. Chris had enough sense not to tell 216