Jase had his moments. On the planet—he’d had a lot of them, once he’d gotten his land-legs and understood the situation; but they hadn’t seen Jase at full stretch since he came aboard and under ship’s authority.
And he had no trouble accepting Jase on a slightly opposed side of the issue.
“I’ll put that proposition to the dowager,” Bren said. “But she’ll know. What’s your advice? Do we let you go out of here, when we suspect a remote possibility that security’s been recording us, and that with half an hour’s concentrated work on the part of people your ship could have been training for a decade—assuming they’re about as fluent as the run of the University—they might translate enough to know what you’re up to?”
“Letting me leave is a real good idea, Bren. As to asking me to stay and talk to the dowager—I assume you’re going to offer—I’ve got a meeting I’m supposed to be back to, up there, that’s going to ring alarms if I’m not back. Sabin’s already suspicious.”
“Why are you afraid of her?”
Jase looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“No,” Bren said. “I’m dead serious. Whyare you afraid of her, under the rules that are supposed to apply?”
Now Jase heard him. Thoughts raced.
“Where can you access the log?” Bren asked. “Jase-ji.”
“It’s only two places. It’s a read-write on the bridge and it’s a read-only in the nav office. It receives and logs automatically from the sensors and the cameras, on a loop—automatically stores alarms and alerts, queries the officer store or no-store on the outside camera input on an interval the officer sets.” Jase’s eyes had a slightly glazed look. “I’ve been memorizing this stuff.”
“It’s not wasted. So Ramirez-aiji had to order a store on that camera info.”
“It’s possible he erased it. Possible.”
“In his situation, at the time, considering there could be something to prove to colleagues or successors to the situation—would you?”
“I’d keep it. I’d definitely keep it. But there’s one other source. There’s the men that saw it. Let me talk to Jenrette, under the guise of an apology—he has one coming—and see what he knows.”
“Let you give mea call every hour on the hour to tell me you aren’t languishing under arrest. Or better yet—suppose you take meon a tour of the operational areas and we both get hold of him.”
“You want to know what I’m afraid of,” Jase said. “She can do it. She canorder security and I can’t—she’s the only legitimate authority, legitimate in that she knows what she’s doing. And I can’t replace her. Ogun can’t replace her. If she says jump, people jump.”
“One may have an answer, nandiin-ji.”
Not Jago’s voice. Banichi’s, from the doorway.
And not just Banichi—Cenedi. And the aiji-dowager, drifting slightly sideways and attached by her cane to the ubiquitous ladders.
“We will see this ship-aiji at our table,” Ilisidi said.
“Aiji-ma, I don’t think she’ll regard an invitation.”
“ At our table!” Ilisidi said.
“In these conditions?”
“The crew is boarding, is it not?” Cenedi asked. “And will gravity not exist once they turn the engines on?”
“In essence, Cenedi-ji,” Jase said. “But at that point the ship will undock, which will necessitate securing all personnel to safety positions, where movement about the ship will be impossible.”
“And then, ship-aiji?” Ilisidi asked sharply. “And then? Do we shoot off like a rocket? Or glide away like a yacht? And are we not expected to eat and sleep, or do we starve and languish for the duration of this voyage?”
“Rather well like a yacht, aiji-ma, if things go well, as they ought, but for safety’s sake, one shouldn’t be about, or setting tables.”
“And when will there be supper?” Ilisidi asked.
“The schedule, aiji-ma,” Jase said on a deep breath, “calls for crew to board and settle into quarters, then check equipment and turn on the engines, as you say. And then for about an hour, a little less, as we release we will be like the shuttle during station undocking—possible for us to move about, but strongly discouraged, for the same safety concerns. By the end of that period we will have set our bow toward our destination, aiji-ma, and then there will be two hours in which it will not be safe to move about. That will cease, crew will move about and assure that everything is working as it should, and persons in charge of navigation will be taking finer measurements and assuring that we are on course. There will be another two hours during which we must be secure in our places, and then it will be possible to move about again, for about six hours—by then we will be quite far out from the station.”
“Pish. Infelicitous two, two, and untrustworthy six, chancy ten. Clearly we are not at that point beyond return.”
“No, aiji-ma.”
“And one might demandto be taken back to the safety of the station.”
“Aiji-ma, if one has any doubts—” Jase was clearly appalled., “It’s no small thing to turn this ship around.”
“If we say this ship must turn around, it must.”
“It’s possible… theoretically possible. But I’m not sure Sabin would agree to it.”
Ilisidi waggled thin, elegant fingers. “This is a major point, is it not, Bren-ji, whether we can deal with Sabin-aiji, and whether reasonable requests will be heard. We have no desire to travel with unreliable persons. We will see this ship-aiji. We will estimate the reliability and good will of this person and invite her to our table. Or this agreement is abrogated. Do we agree, paidhiin-ji?”
Dared one say no? Dared one ever say no? And what was this agreement is abrogated?
Whatagreement? Bren wanted to ask.
“We shall see her in person,” Ilisidi declared. “Now.”
“Aiji-ma, crew will be boarding,” Jase said. “Sabin will be busy.”
“Busy?” Ilisidi snapped, and a whack of the cane at the ladders sent echoes through nerve and bone. “We will see her, I say. If she is busy, as you say, we shall do her the honor of visiting her. This very moment!”
“Bren,” Jase said, turning an appalled appeal in his direction.
“The dowager will see the captain,” Bren said in ship-speak.
“And if she gets up there and Sabin won’t see her—”
Where had the whole situation mutated so thoroughly—from missing records to a confrontation over precedences and authority? One thing was a given: that Ilisidi didn’ttake well to no, in any language.
“We’re diplomats, aren’t we?” Bren said, with great misgivings. Jase might be a dozen things, but he was one of a few paidhiin that had ever existed, and some things there wasn’t any resigning. Ever. “That part’s ourjob.”
Chapter 16
The lift had room enough, Banichi having to bend his head a little; but there they were: Ilisidi, Cenedi and three of his men, with Banichi and Jago—and attendant hardware—two humans and seven atevi, fortunate nine, in fleeting contact with the floor of the lift.
Bren hadn’t even been to his cabin yet. He hadn’t changed his coat. He’d passed a message to Narani to advise him of a supper invitation, for his household’s sake.
The lift stopped: instantly, they floated. So did stomachs. But the door opened smoothly, with a hiss of hydraulic seals. Jase had passed a message to his staff, too; and Kaplan, Polano and Pressman were right there to meet them, on what the lift buttons indicated as A deck, in a short corridor.
“Sir,” Kaplan said. “Ma’am. Mr. Cameron.” That was a damned rapid sort through the protocols: the eyes were near frantic, trying to take in this upheaval of natural order in the universe, but Kaplan asked no questions.