The High Ground (39 page)

He was looking stricken. “Oh, shit. Pardon me.”

“No, I think that pretty much sums it up.”

“So, we’re looking for somebody who wasn’t willing to go so far as to kill the Emperor’s eldest daughter, but wanted her endangered,” Boho mused.

“But why and to what end?” Mercedes said. Boho was muttering, running a hand across his face. “What are you thinking?” Mercedes demanded.

“Forcing you onto the throne has damaged your father’s popularity—”

“People are really that upset about me? I know the press were huffing but—”

“Oh yeah. My dad hears it all the time.”

“I haven’t heard anything.”

“That’s because you’re not in our clubs.”

“And that’s the problem, isn’t it? We
aren’t
in your clubs.” She had stopped kicking off and now hung aimlessly twisting in the air. “What are they saying?”

“That this social experiment endangers the League. That the troops won’t follow you. That the aliens will get uppity and come for their money and their wives, and do unnatural experiments on their kids.”

“That’s just stupid.”

“Yeah, but that’s how fear works. If you’d all gotten captured there would have been holos of you tearfully asking for help. Your dad sends in the
fusileros
. Terrorists flee—”

“I get sent home. Cousin Musa is once again heir.”

“But if they killed you all the sympathy would swing back to your father.”

Her rage had curdled into exhaustion and sadness. “Dani,” she said thickly. “How could she?”

Boho shrugged. “They must have made her a very attractive offer.”

Mercedes grasped at a hopeful straw. “Or maybe they threatened her. Or her family. She might have been forced to be part of this.”

Boho caught her by the hand and pulled her close. “Come on, Mer, don’t be naive. We’ve known Dani since we were little kids. If somebody had threatened her she’d have been a watering pot.”

What he’d said was true though she hated to acknowledge it. She gave a reluctant nod. “So what do we know so far? Dani was involved which means her father was too.”

“Zeng. He set up the meeting so you’d be outside the walls of The High Ground. And he has to have issued the order to shelter in place.”

“And of course Musa.” Mercedes gripped Boho’s shoulder and fought the tears. “Do you think Arturo and Mihalis and Jose knew?”

“God, I hope not.” Boho once again ran a hand across his face. “There’s never been a crisis of rule like this.”

“Because no other emperor only had daughters,” Mercedes said sadly.

“God what a spectacle. Trials, executions. You need to tell your father all of this. Get SEGU on it.”

“First I’m going to find out just how much Dani knows.”

She tried to pull away, but Boho didn’t release her hand. “Wait. You should never have been in that fighter. It should have been me… keeping you safe.”

She opened her mouth to object, but before she could speak he kissed her. It was very practiced, proving Boho’s horndog reputation wasn’t just brag and boast. Confusion filled her. She should pull away, but it was only her third kiss and Boho was very handsome and she was curious. She was also beginning to regret the incautious words that had been spoken. As the full measure of Dani’s treachery had become clear the world of the FFH and the League came crashing back. Her father had told her to find a consort. Would he accept Tracy? Tracy was undoubtedly brilliant and she would make it clear it had been Tracy’s tactics that had saved them all, and they had two more years to make the point, but… but… but… No, that was an analysis for another day.

Boho seemed to sense her distraction. His right hand moved to a more intimate location. As his fingers stroked across her left breast a tingle leaped from her nipple to her groin. She was horrified at the reaction and felt disloyal. Her confusion deepened. Did this mean she didn’t love Tracy?

“I’ve never made love in freefall,” he whispered into her ear, pressing his advantage. “It’s always been an ambition of mine.”

“I can’t. I don’t have… protection.” It wasn’t true, but things were moving too fast and she was too confused.

“Don’t worry. I
always
have protection.”

That reminder of his tomcat ways put an end to her confusion. She put a hand in the center of his chest as the public address system crackled to life.

“Prepare for gravity spin in three minutes. Please seek a secure location, gravity spin will initiate in two minutes forty-three seconds.”

Mercedes pushed herself away from Boho. “I guess you’re going to have to keep waiting to try that particular experiment.”

“Damn. Terrible timing. To whom do I complain?”

His grin was bright against his tan skin and Mercedes found herself smiling back despite her annoyance. She inched her way down the curving sides of the observation lounge as weight began to tug at her joints. Eventually enough gravity had returned for there to again be a sense of up and down, and once her feet could stay connected to the floor she held out her hand to Boho. He kissed it and then rubbed her hand against his cheek. The contrast of soft skin and prickly stubble was rather pleasant. He released her and Mercedes walked carefully to the door.

She glanced back. “And by the way, Tracy’s decision made perfect sense. I
am
the best in the class in the
Infierno
.”

“Only because they destroyed those last two missiles,” he snapped and she wondered if it was from wounded vanity or the mention of Tracy’s name.

“You realize you just insulted me, right?”

For an instant he looked like a dog caught stealing from the table, then he said smoothly, “I apologize. I’m just upset because you could have been killed.”

“No, it’s good I had to face that. For me to fulfill my father’s dream I have to be a soldier… and soldiers die.”

The reduced gravity allowed him to reach her side in two long steps. He lifted her hand and kissed it again. “I won’t let that happen.”

* * *

His breaths and the slow beep of the heart monitor in his suit were a grating wound on the profound silence of the galaxy. The stars seemed cold and remote, like an infinite number of hostile eyes gazing down on him and judging him. Tracy had prayed that the boots would have failed and what remained of Hugo’s body had already been lost to the void, but that prayer was not answered.

The lower body was like some grotesque broken piece of ancient statuary silhouetted against the stars. Tracy fought nausea and forced himself to walk down the length of the strut. He kept a wary eye out for the broken cable but with the tension gone and the
cosmódromo
once more stabilized it spun at the same speed as the station, a silver sweep hand marking time on the face of the universe.

He reached the body, clamped his own boots firmly to the skin of the strut, grabbed the utility belt and yanked. The boots released and he was holding the corpse. He wanted to just thrust it violently away from him, but he wasn’t sure he could generate enough momentum that it would be lost forever.

After the beating it had taken Tracy didn’t trust the emergency suit so he had returned to the academy for battle armor. Now he released his boots, fired his jet pack and boosted away from the station. This far out he didn’t need to worry about the body being caught in the gravity-well of Ouranos and being spotted and recovered by a missile platform or some passing ship. Still he wanted the evidence to be lost forever, so he calculated a trajectory that would ultimately carry the body into the sun. The ultimate funeral pyre.

The moment was approaching. Catechism lessons ensured that Tracy had a selection of prayers committed to memory. He had been sure to shut down all radio transmissions, and as he released Hugo’s body he murmured:

“May God remember forever Hugo Devris who has gone to his eternal rest. May he be at one with the One who is life eternal. May the beauty of his life shine forevermore, and may my life always bring honor to his memory. Amen.”

He pushed the body away from him, and fired his jets to halt his momentum. He hung in space watching until he could no longer see the corpse. Then he boosted back to the
cosmódromo
.

He was confident his space walk had not been observed. Everyone was still taken up with the cleanup and aftermath of the attack. He would carry this secret to his grave.

* * *

Danica wasn’t in their quarters, and it was clear the girl had left in a very big hurry. Clothes were strewn on the floor. A few outfits were missing and the jeweled hairpins were also gone. Mercedes wanted to stalk down every hall and every building on the station until she found her but knew that was stupid. She considered informing
cosmódromo
security and sending them out hunting, but the more people she involved the less discreet this became and she didn’t want to do that until she’d had a chance to talk to her father.

Which left her with Cipriana rolling a desperate eye toward her and then giving a significant nod toward Sumiko, who sat on the edge of her bed with crumpled tissues like fallen camellias all around her feet. She was crying but her face was twisted with rage as well as grief.

“I’ll… I’ll just leave you… two,” Cipriana said and she ducked out the door.

Mercedes opened her mouth to object but it was too late. She steeled herself and turned to face Sumiko. “Sumi, I’m so sorry. Umm… are you… all right?”

The face that was revealed when she looked up was wet, blotched, red and ravaged. “Of course I’m not all right! What a stupid thing to ask me! My love is gone. I’ll never find anyone ever again. And I don’t want to. My Hugo is dead.” The final word was a cry of anguish.

Mercedes settled on the bed and put her arm around Sumiko. “I’m sorry. He was… he seemed… I mean I didn’t know him all that well, but I know how much he meant to you and you wouldn’t love anybody who wasn’t wonderful.”
I’m a babbling fool
, Mercedes thought.

“It cut him in half, Mer. I watched it happen. His intestines were trailing. The blood was like red snowflakes. He just floated away. I saw his face in the helmet spinning, spinning until I couldn’t see it any longer.”

No, no, no. Don’t tell me this. I don’t want to hear.
Horror held her silent for a moment. “I didn’t… know. Tracy just said he’d been killed.”
Oh God, it could have been Tracy. Thank God it wasn’t Tracy.
She immediately felt horrible for thinking about herself and the man who was dominating her thoughts.

“I know there’s nothing I can say or do—” Mercedes began only to be interrupted.

“Yes, actually there is.” The tears were gone and Sumiko looked fierce. “I want out of here. I
never
want to come back. Get me out of this.”

“Sumi, I’m not sure I can—”

“Well you better or otherwise I’ll tell!”

“Tell what?”

“About you and Belmanor.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” but she knew her blush betrayed her.

“I know you were snogging him in the observation lounge. If you thought Danica’s father would be upset, well, just think about how
your
father will react. Let me leave and I’ll keep your secret.”

“You’re threatening the crown.”

“No, I’m threatening him. You’ll be protected like you always are, but he’ll be destroyed when it comes out. And it will. The closer you get to graduation the more you’ll be scrutinized.”

The truth of the statement quelled the bubble of anger she had felt rising. “All right. I agree.” She then added, “What will you do?”

“Try to find somebody. It won’t be the same, my true love is gone, but I’ll try to be good to him, whoever he might be, and at least I’ll have children. That will help.” She sighed. “It’s the best I can hope for.”

And the best I can hope for too
, Mercedes thought. For she now knew what she must do to protect Tracy. Would it make it easier knowing it was also her duty?

Tracy was once again at the imperial palace. This time in a formal garden. Fortunately the weather was obliging for this outdoor event. A grandstand had been erected and draped with Solar League banners. There were chairs for the dignitaries on the grandstand and a very impressive throne for the Emperor. Tracy and his companions were standing behind that elaborate piece of furniture. Neither the Emperor nor Mercedes had yet arrived. Overhead a flock of camera drones bobbed and weaved, beaming pictures to ScoopRings across Ouranos and into the Foldstream so citizens from all around the League worlds could watch.

On the grass in front of the stage were more chairs for attending dignitaries and family members, and in the final row, last chair on the left, sat his father. He was too far away for Tracy to discern his expression. One thing Tracy knew for certain: his father’s grey morning suit would be as beautifully tailored as any worn by the FFH. Hugo’s family was also in the last row, but on the other side from Alexander. Clearly proximity to the stage was an indicator of rank.

Behind the attendees’ chairs reporters churned and jockeyed for better positions and technicians were setting up lights. Deeper in the garden, tents and tables were being set up for the reception that would follow this presentation of medals. Hajin and Isanjo servants slipped in and out of the palace carrying tablecloths, utensils, glasses, and trays of food.

It had been a chaotic nine days. The imperial yacht and yachts belonging to the Cullen, Tsukuda and Pulkkinen families had arrived a few hours after the
cosmódromo
was returned to stable orbit to whisk away their children. Ernesto’s family had chartered a shuttle. Danica had found some way off the station, and her family was several days’ travel away from Ouranos. Which left Wilson and Tracy as the only students at the academy.

They had carefully avoided each other, which was blindingly obvious in the mess hall since they were the only students at The High Ground. The fact they picked tables well away from each other and ate alone did not go unremarked by the master chiefs and the few professors who had remained aboard. Zeng never put in an appearance and Tracy wondered what had happened to him.