Spear of Light (47 page)

“But she learns fast.”

“But why would she even consider it? She loves the shadows. She likes to produce hits, not be one.”

He simply shrugged. “We'll know what she chooses eventually. You do talk to her, don't you?”

“Of course. In fact, I've got to call her soon.”

“Why don't you do that?” he suggested. “I've got some research I'm trying to finish up, and we could go to dinner after that. You can tell me everything I need to know about Lym.”

“I doubt I know that. But I do need to call.” She excused herself and stepped out onto the balcony. It was a small place, smaller than the one she'd just been on in the Spacer's Rest, and warmer. The hotel nestled right up to the Wall. The Wall towered in front of her, so tall that looking up gave her vertigo. The patterns of lights that had been so pretty on it as she rode in looked less interesting up close, merely like slightly curved lines.

Hopefully Satyana would answer the phone and she'd be able to tell her Charlie's rumors. Maybe she should have told Neil as well, but what would he do with the information?

There was no way to tell who was safe where.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

SATYANA

Satyana sat inside of Gunnar. At least that's what it felt like when they shared his oversized chair. They had used it to sleep on, to make love on, and sometimes, like now, to simply cuddle. They both held rich, fragrant glasses of wine Gunnar had imported at some insane cost—even more insane now that shipments of almost everything had become less reliable. Her staff had reported just this morning that the vast exchanges of the Diamond Deep were half-empty and oddly stocked, and that her meals would be less varied than usual.

The council was taking steps to ration staples. She had to detail a team to manage that for her restaurants.

Nona's ping drew Satyana to shift her weight and reach a hand across Gunnar's thighs to retrieve her slate from the table. Since she had just talked with Nona the day before about the strange debacle out of Entare, she hadn't been expecting a call. Nona looked tired and windblown, with dark circles under her eyes. “Hi. Are you okay?”

Nona's voice sounded high and fast. “I just saw Neil. He's here.”

A slight relief warred with the sharp emptiness of Neil's absence. She would almost certainly never see him again. “He hasn't decided to change his mind?”

“I don't think he's going to. That's not why I called.”

Gunnar could hear the call. His hand tightened around Satyana's shoulder, making her feel ever so slightly trapped. “Go on,” she told Nona.

“We heard there's going to be an attack. In two days. They're going to take over Manna Springs.”

“They?”

“The real Shining Revolution.”

Satyana struggled to cover a laugh, since it actually wasn't funny at all. “Anyone who calls themselves Shining Revolution is real enough to worry about.”

Gunnar squeezed her even harder: a signal. She understood. “Gunnar has something to say.”

“Okay.”

Satyana shifted the slate so Nona would be able to see Gunnar's features, as he said, “I suspect you're right. We know Nayli disappeared, and I have more than one report that she and Vadim have been planning to attack Nexity. I can't verify the timing.”

“You have ships here. What are you doing with them?”

Unusually blunt for Nona. Satyana approved.

“Think of us as a safety measure. We would have stopped anyone from attacking the new Next city from space.”

“Would have? So you didn't? I'd wondered about that.”

“We didn't. My commander down there had heard about the attack. He looked for ships heading to that side of Lym. He was going to shoot at them if he had to. But no ships showed up.”

“Charlie's theory is that it was a dumb idea, and now that the real Shining Revolution is on the way, they stopped it.”

Satyana felt cold. “That makes more sense than that the planned air cover just failed to show.”

“I think so, too. Charlie and Manny are figuring out how to get a lot of people away from Manna Springs. They're also trying to defend it. I can't imagine they could.”

Satyana couldn't either.

Gunnar said, “We'll start watching for Nayli.”

Satyana added, “Things might happen fast. You should leave. Bring Neil if you can.” She heard the command in her voice, tried to rein herself in a little bit. Nona had finally grown up. “Do you need any help? Gunnar might be able to come in and take people off of the surface.”

A long sigh escaped Nona's lips. “Most of these people would die before they'd leave Lym.”

“Would you?” Satyana asked.

The hesitation on Nona's face made Satyana wince.

Nona kept pressing Gunnar. “Do you still have ships here? Can they stop the Shining Revolution?”

Satyana stared up at Gunnar's cheek and chin. “You've nowhere near the power of Nayli or the Next.”

“But we might make a difference.”

Gunnar slid a finger over Satyana's mouth and released it, a suggestion that she let him talk. “Look Nona, I'm there. As good as there. I'll send commands for my people to listen for a distress call in case you change your mind. I'd get free of Manna Springs, though. Maybe go back to the farms. The town isn't safe, not if Nayli really intends to take it.”

“I can't run. I'm the ambassador.”

Satyana shook her head. “Laudable, dear. But you're also my niece, and I want you alive.”

“I'll go if it gets really bad. I'll take Neil with me if I can, but he really wants to become a Next. Really.”

Satyana felt the words sink into her, heavy and sad.

“Look, I have to go now. Neil's knocking on the window. He wants something.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Nona hadn't said that to her for quite a while. After she was sure the connection had closed, Satyana twisted in Gunnar's lap so that she could see his face clearly. “Why do you have so many ships there? Waiting to pick up the pieces?”

“If it goes that badly. The Next need humans to fight for them. That's my job.”

She must have looked confused, since he explained.

“If they fight, they have to kill everyone involved, do what they did to Brea and Darnal. That's what they sent me for—to give them a way to stop the fighting on Entare without them having to be direct about it. For example, the wanna-be revolutionaries thought they'd hired me to shoot the Next out on Entare, but I'm better at contracts than they are by a factor of ten. I built in three ways to get paid without doing a thing.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “And you're proud of yourself for that?”

“I saved Nona, didn't I?”

“That's not what you told her!”

He grinned. “I wouldn't want her thinking I was duplicitous, would I?”

“You're really infuriating.”

He kissed her. “But I'm pretty sure I don't have enough ships to stop Nayli.”

“I already knew you weren't there just for the altruism of it all.”

He ran his fingers along the line of her jaw, across her closed lips, and along her hairline. Warm. “They're trading me technologies for success.”

“Have you gotten any yet?”

He merely smiled.

Four hours later, Satyana tucked the end of a knot on Gunnar's brilliant blue silk sash under another part of it. “There, that looks better. You were dangling.”

“Thanks.” He stepped a little away from her, and they both looked in the mirror. She had dressed in a simple golden dress that set off her dark hair and bright blue eyes. Her assistant had braided her hair up from the nape of her neck and piled it in a bun, dropping tiny blue and golden jewels in the edges. Gunnar wore a black suit and a flowing, glittering white shirt accented with the blue sash. “We'll do,” he said.

The pride in his voice warmed her.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived a fashionable ten minutes late at the Economist's party for Satyana. Leesha had rented an old agribubble that had been turned into a vast bar, with carpets thrown on the floor and colored lights that appeared to float in midair. The huge room was half full.

Immediately, a prominent ship's captain came and drew Gunnar away.

Leesha noticed Satyana and started over. She stood almost as tall as Gunnar and was even thinner than Satyana. She had carefully managed her own outfit to fall just under Satyana's in flamboyance—a flowing white gown with a gold belt, and tall gold shoes with tiny gravity assists in them so she walked as if she floated. Her jewelry was an unusually simple collection of colored ropes that fell artfully down her front and matched her dangling earrings. When she leaned in to hug Satyana, she smelled of cinnamon and a musky spice Satyana wasn't familiar with. “Everything is ready. All of the other Council members have arrived.”

Satyana looked around the room. She spotted the councilmembers, and also three of four ambassadors from other stations as well as a few key ships' captains. A good crowd, fitting for an event thrown by a member of the High Council. “All right. I'll head into my greetings. Give me half an hour before you start anything formal.”

Leesha put a hand on Satyana's arm and leaned down so she wouldn't be overheard. “How's Nona?”

“There's rumors of an attack soon. I talked to her a few hours ago.”

“How can you stand it?”

“I can't think about it.”

Leesha broke into a sympathetic smile. “Go on, then.”

Satyana attracted a small crowd, which stuck to her and slowed her down. Rather than circulating through the room, people came to her, joined in the circle, and then did or didn't drift away.

Pint Ashram asked her, “What about General Ling?”

“He's going to be a serious opponent. He's very popular on the socwebs. People see him as representing safety.” She knew he was no such thing; the military had kidnapped most of the High Council in an attempt to waylay everything democratic about the Deep. “He's tricky as an opponent. If I alienate him, there could be real trouble later.”

“Couldn't he be trouble later anyway?” someone asked from behind her.

“Of course he could.”

Another voice sounded supportive. “You're more popular than he is.”

Satyana laughed. “I hope so.”

She lost track of all of the speakers as they ebbed and flowed around her.

“I love your dress.”

“What about Lenia? Isn't she more competition than the general?”

“No one likes Lenia.”

“My neighbor likes her. Says she's got the right idea to just hunker down.”

“Does anyone know what's happening on Lym?”

“Where did the silk for your dress come from?”

“Who's your favorite new performer?”

“The general is the one to worry about.”

“Just be yourself.”

She managed not to let the pellets of advice dizzy her and instead smiled and responded, all the time rehearsing her speech and making tiny modifications to account for what she was learning. Still, she felt grateful when Leesha came and tugged on her arm to extract her gently. “Sorry,” Leesha muttered.

“For what? It was delightful to talk to them all.”

“You might have the patience to win this after all.”

Satyana merely grunted and allowed Leesha to lead.

A stage in a corner had been decorated it with purple and red flowers and tall sprays of golden grasses. The flowers looked real, even though the grasses were simply art. “Thank you for coming.”

A few people glanced toward her, but most conversations continued.

Leesha amplified her voice. “Thank you for coming.”

The crowd quieted.

“Thank you.” Leesha paused, like a mother checking to be sure that all of her children were quiet. “It's lovely to see so many of you believe that Satyana Adams should become our next Headmistress. Satyana has worked tirelessly to forge alliances to keep the Glittering out of all-out war with the Next. She has helped bridge the gaps in thought between us and the Next and driven all of humanity to think more expansively. This is a time to think about value, about openness, about ideas that result in a stronger station. I've been impressed with the direction she has been taking the Independent Strength. It would not succeed without her.”

Satyana managed not to wince. Leesha had done as much work as she had, maybe more. But she stood still in the crowd and watched, assessing her chances of having enough support. The idea of being responsible for all of it, for every face in the crowd, every ship attached to the Deep, for the structure of every Council vote . . . it all seemed so overwhelming a small part of her wanted to run away from the party and put on old clothes and drink tea.

Instead, she stood and listened to one endorsement after another. If she were truly all of these things, she would be the greatest and most efficient human who had ever lived.