He remained silent.
“Will you please believe me?” When he didn’t answer, she pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of him. She grasped both of his hands in hers. The sudden electric connection took his breath away. He felt her gaze, and her presence…
And then, as suddenly, the connection ebbed away. Tracy-Ace drew back, her augments winking. “What are you doing? Are you blocking me?” she whispered. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”
Legroeder stared down at her hand grasping his. He felt no sensation except the physical pressure, and that seemed a million miles away. He searched inward. The implants had been there for an instant, allowing the connection; but now they were gone. Without the implants there could be no link with Tracy-Ace. And he had a distinct feeling—perhaps they had left him a subtle message—that they had shut themselves down for the duration. Meaning, until they were in a place of safety. A Narseil place of safety. Oh, Jesus.
Tracy-Ace was squeezing his hand harder, as if she could force the connection. “What’s wrong, Legroeder? What’s wrong with your implants?”
He shook his head. “They’ve closed down. It’s not me. I don’t know why.”
Tracy-Ace rocked back in consternation, still holding his hand. “Are they damaged?”
“I don’t think so. No.”
She looked at him for a long moment, disheartened. Then she drew a breath. “Legroeder—can I tell you this? I missed you. I’m very glad to have you back. And not just for Impris.”
He couldn’t react; his thoughts were too tangled.
Tracy-Ace pursed her lips together; finally she nodded and drew herself erect. “As soon as you’re ready, we’re going to have a very interesting talk with YZ/I. We’ll be joining a few people there.”
“A few people?”
“You know them.”
“Legroeder, I’m so glad to see you’re… unharmed! Come in,” YZ/I said, breathing sincerity from every pore. Before Legroeder could reply, YZ/I extended a hand past him. “And Commander Fre’geel—thank you for coming! And Riggers.” Legroeder turned to see that Fre’geel, the Narseil riggers, and Deutsch had come in right behind him. “And… Tracy-Ace/Alfa! How good of you to join our meeting.” YZ/I’s gaze at Tracy-Ace suggested he was less than happy to see her.
“I wouldn’t miss a chance to help out with the debriefing,” Tracy-Ace said coldly. She turned to greet the others. Then she gave a brief nod to the man Legroeder just now noticed standing to one side and little behind YZ/I’s chair. Lanyard/GC. What was he doing here?
“And,” Tracy-Ace continued, “I thought perhaps I should be here to help make sure nothing else went wrong.” She stared hard at YZ/I.
Legroeder glanced at his fellow riggers, wishing he could convey with his eyes what had happened.
YZ/I sighed heavily. “Rigger Legroeder, please allow me to apologize. I did not intend for you to be treated roughly by my analysts. My instructions were to try to release the information—but to treat you only with courtesy and respect. I regret… that you had such a difficult time of it.”
Legroeder considered being diplomatic—then thought, the hell with it. “You lying asshole sonofabitch. What were you trying to do—make sure nobody could get the information from my implants?”
YZ/I raised his hands in the air. “Heavens no. I merely told my people to try to set up an interface with your implants.” He shook his head sorrowfully. “I have since learned that they were neither as gentle nor as successful as I’d hoped.”
Legroeder glared. “Not as gentle or successful as you’d hoped? Is this the way you always treat people who go out and do the impossible for you?”
YZ/I winced, gesturing apologetically. He seemed to be groping for appropriate words, and failing. YZ/I glanced back at Lanyard, whose face was creased by a dark frown. “Do you folks all know my associate?” he barked suddenly, gesturing at Lanyard. “This is Group Coordinator Lanyard—a member of Outpost Ivan’s Ruling Cabinet. He’s here to observe, and to learn what he can do to help out.” YZ/I’s expression became unreadable for a moment, as Lanyard nodded stiffly to the assembled group.
Fre’geel spoke up, not letting YZ/I change the subject. “I take it you tried, and failed, to force information from Legroeder’s implants.”
YZ/I flickered a shade of pink. “Not force, Commander. We did try to encourage a sharing with his implants.”
“And in so doing, you risked grave harm to him,” Fre’geel replied, his voice light, yet hard as steel.
“Not intentionally, I assure you. Legroeder, my people didn’t do serious harm to you, did they?”
Legroeder gathered himself for another angry statement, but was interrupted by Fre’geel saying in a dry, flinty voice, “I must say, it would be a great shame if you lost all of this information that has been gathered, at such risk—because you tried to extract it, rather than cooperate with us.” The Narseil commander stood with his two hands clasped at his breast. Only a slight twitching of his gill slits, and a widening of his vertical eyes betrayed his anger.
YZ/I waved a hand in agitated reassurance. “That’s not at all the case, Commander Fre’geel. Look—your people did an outstanding job in rescuing Impris. Outstanding. I’m deeply grateful, and I intend to cooperate with you in every way we can. But—” YZ/I gestured, as though struggling with an inescapable fact “—here’s the ship, right in our docks, available for study by our techs. And here’s Legroeder, carrying some very important data in his head. Possibly—I think I heard you saying—a map of this network of quantum flaws. Right?”
Legroeder nodded slowly, silently.
“Except,” Fre’geel said dryly, “that it’s locked away in Rigger Legroeder’s implants.”
“Exactly. And you surely can understand our position. Once he leaves here, a lot can happen between his departure and our receipt of the analyzed data.”
“I do understand that. But do you understand that his implants were designed by the Narseil security forces?” Fre’geel said pointedly. “You can’t get the data, and neither can Legroeder. For that matter, neither can I. Only Narseil Security—or the Narseil Rigging Institute—can extract the information! Any effort on your part not only risks harm to Legroeder—but also jeopardizes the integrity of the data itself. Do you realize that, Yankee-Zulu/Ivan?”
YZ/I’s eyes shone abruptly with surprise and fury.
Behind him, there was a sharp intake of breath. Lanyard’s eyes were narrowed, and his lips appeared to be moving subvocally. YZ/I snapped a look back at him; his gaze darkened further.
“Double cross…” Lanyard whispered.
YZ/I face flickered several shades of crimson and orange. “Let’s not make hasty judgments,” he muttered to Lanyard. To Legroeder and the others, he said sternly, “Have you known this all along?”
Legroeder was dumbstruck. He should have known it, or guessed it. How could he have been so naive? But none of the Narseil had ever intimated, and even the implants themselves had been tightlipped. (You bastards, why didn’t you tell me?)
There was no answer.