The guards left him alone in a holding room with a human Kyber female. She was standing at a one-way glass staring into the prison cell. Fre’geel allowed her a slight nod—and suddenly saw Rigger Legroeder standing on the other side of her. For a moment, he was caught speechless—overjoyed to see Legroeder alive, and apparently healthy. Then, with a mental jerk, he remembered his role. He turned toward Legroeder and hissed: “You. Traitor. Human.”
Legroeder’s eyes widened, and for an instant he too seemed nonplused. “Fre’geel,” he said, his voice cracking slightly. “I’m glad to see you. Are you all right? What about the others?”
“They haven’t killed us yet, if that’s what you mean.” Fre’geel flexed a long finger threateningly. “You lying—murderous—”
“Are you the commander of these forces?” interrupted the Kyber woman.
Fre’geel bit off his words and made a head-inclining gesture of acknowledgment. “I am. And I should address you as—?”
“Tracy-Ace/Alfa.” The female, dressed in gold and black, with considerable cyber augmentation on her face, appeared to be examining Fre’geel from head to toe. He wondered if she found him satisfactorily alien. “Commander Fre’geel, we are here on a courtesy call, to inquire as to your condition. I must tell you that there are others who will wish to speak to you soon. In spite of the destruction you have caused, I believe it is possible that we might find ways to work together.”
Fre’geel let his breath out in a slow hiss. “We did not come here to collaborate with you. Ma’am.” He flicked his eyes over to Rigger Legroeder, wishing fervently that he could read the human’s mind, or speak privately with him.
“No?” she responded. “Well, then, perhaps you’ll be able to explain why you did come here. In the meantime—” she crossed her arms over her chest and furrowed her brow “—tell me—is sufficient care being extended to your people?” Her gaze seemed both to invite complaint and to challenge it.
Fre’geel refused to rise to the bait. Complain? That he would not do. Despite his determination to address the question of—
“You look all dried out,” Legroeder said, interrupting his thought.
“What do you mean?” the female asked, turning to Legroeder.
Legroeder gestured toward Fre’geel. “They need a pool they can soak in, for their skin. They’re amphibians, you know.”
“A pool? You think we keep pools in the detention area?”
“If not a pool, then bathing areas. Showers. Something. They’ll get sick and be of no use to you, otherwise.”
“Is this true?” Tracy-Ace/Alfa asked Fre’geel.
The Narseil nodded.
Tracy-Ace/Alfa looked thoughtful. Rings only knew what was going on in her augmented mind. But whatever it was, she astonished Fre’geel by saying, “All right, then—it will be done.” She cocked her head. “Is there anything else you need, to maintain your health?”
Fre’geel overcame his surprise enough to decide he might as well take advantage of the opportunity. “A bit of room to exercise in would be helpful,” he allowed. With a twitch of his eye, he glanced at Rigger Legroeder. The human was wearing a stony expression. But was that an approving twinkle in his eye?
“Exercise.” Tracy-Ace/Alfa peered through the one-way pane at the crowded detention cell. It was just one of three that the Narseil were crammed into. “Very well.” She turned back to Fre’geel. “You may return to your cell, Commander. You will be called when the time comes.” With that, she gave a nod that was not quite dismissive, and the guards reappeared immediately.
As Fre’geel turned away, Legroeder murmured a farewell, and Tracy-Ace/Alfa said, “Think constructively, Commander. Think constructively.”
Fre’geel said nothing, but was thoughtful as he walked back to rejoin his crew.
“I wanted you to know,” Tracy-Ace said, biting her words as they made their way back to the flicker-tube, “that we do have some ability to take care of people here. Even our prisoners.”
Legroeder had no immediate answer; he was stunned by her assertion. Is that why you were in such a rush to take me to see the Narseil? Because you were afraid of what I thought, after the maintainers?
“Thank you,” he said finally. He was pleased by her concessions to the needs of the Narseil, but a little worried, too. Had he betrayed too much interest in their well being?
Tracy-Ace said nothing more about it, as they got into the tubes. She didn’t speak during the ride, and Legroeder, his head already spinning, used the stop command to turn off the flicker-feed. The silence was restful.
Stepping out at the end, he rejoined a troubled-looking Tracy-Ace. “What is it?” he asked, falling in beside her as she strode away. He realized that he’d felt a sudden impulseto reach out to her. What was he going to do, take her by the hand? Put an arm around her shoulder? Jesus. He clasped his hands behind his back, to keep them out of trouble.
Keeping pace with her wasn’t easy. She kept turning abruptly, and hurrying him along. Her temples were flickering madly; her mouth was pursed in concentration.
“Can I ask where we’re going?” he said finally.
She stopped at an intersection, frowning. It must have been time for a shift change, because the corridors were bustling with people. “We need to talk,” she said. Eyeing the crowds around them, she added, “In private.”
Legroeder remained silent, wondering at the sudden urgency. Was this still about his remarks about the maintainers, or was something else going on? You can still blow this, you know.
She seemed to take his silence for assent, not that it mattered. Peering at him with sudden intense concentration, she rubbed at the corner of her mouth with a knuckle, as though to stop a tic. “Let’s show you where the law lives.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him along again. There was something dark in her tone that reminded him that he was a prisoner.
En route to wherever they were going, they passed a heavily guarded sector. Section 29, said a sign over the entrance. A tall, red-skinned man had walked into the area just a few seconds before, and Legroeder could feel Tracy-Ace tense up beside him. The man hadn’t seen her, but she waited until he was out of sight before hurrying Legroeder along. “The command center,” she muttered as they passed the entrance. “We’ll get to that later.”
“Who was that guy?”
Her breath hissed out. “Someone you won’t need to worry about, I hope. This way.”
Legroeder followed, uneasily. Some distance further on, she stopped at a food-plaza, which she picked up a carton of Asian noodles and broc, plus something to drink. A few minutes later, they were in a sector that looked more like living quarters. Tracy-Ace’s hand found its way to his arm again; this time he felt the slight twinge of a data-connection, though nothing came through the connection to tell him why she was tense.
He suddenly knew where they were going, though.
The corridor outside Tracy-Ace’s apartment was more decorative than the one outside his; it was rose colored and obviously more recently refinished. This was the abode of the Law? Her hand touched the door. Unlike his, it opened with a click and swung inward: a solid door. Legroeder followed her in. The room was three times the size of his, finished in a russet two-tone. The basic appointments were similar: bunk in one corner, desk in another, counter with cupboards, doorway to the bath. The bunk was larger, but more striking was the modified com-console over the head of the bed, with linkup arms folded like a spider’s legs against the wall. “Do you sleep hooked up to that thing?” he asked, with perhaps more distaste in his voice than he’d intended.