“Oh.” Dobbs shook herself. “Right. Of course. That makes sense. Sure.” She grabbed the top of one boot and stuffed her foot into it.
“If you need to send a message to someone, I can have Lipinski open up a line for you,” Al Shei suggested.
Dobbs glanced up. Her expression was closed off. “Thank you, again,” she seemed to mean it. “I’ll probably do that.”
“But get some rest first.” Al Shei knew she sounded far too much like a worried mother, but without her Fool’s buoyancy Dobbs looked as fragile as a china doll. Besides, wasn’t she more or less orphaned now? A small shock ran through Al Shei. Did Dobbs have a family? She’d never mentioned brothers or sisters, or parents for that matter. Had she lost them all on Kerensk?
She wanted to ask all that, but this was not the time. Al Shei let herself out the hatchway and climbed the stairs back to the berthing deck. She wanted to shut herself away in her cabin for awhile and play the daybook recording. She needed Asil’s warm voice right now, and some time to imagine his arms around her. As soon as she had herself together, she’d send a fast-time to him with the latest news. He’d add it to his researches. They’d talk. They’d figure out what they could both do to work this through. It’d be all right. Even if they had to call on Uncle Ahmet for help and hear about it for the next ten years. They’d make this come out all right somehow.
The hatch to her cabin was open. Al Shei pulled up short at the threshold. Resit was inside, sitting in the desk chair. The lawyer looked at her with blank, still eyes.
“Zubedye, what…” Al Shei crossed the threshold and let the hatch cycle shut.
“Katmer, sit down,” said Resit, softly.
Al Shei felt her back go rigid. “Anything you have to say I will hear on my feet.”
“You would.” Resit smoothed down her trousers. She only looked away for a moment. When she spoke again, she had her gaze focused straight on Al Shei’s eyes. “I got a fast-time from Uncle Ahmet. Asil’s been arrested.”
Resit’s words took a strange, slow time sinking in. Al Shei had to repeat them in her mind several times before she could understand them. Arrested. Asil’s been arrested. Asil.
“It’s a list of fraud charges,” Resit was saying. “For what happened on the Farther Kingdom. The filer is, apparently, not buying our rather hurried explanation of what happened.” Resit paused again. Al Shei didn’t say anything. What was she going to say. She could feel the fire starting down in her heart. Asil had been arrested.
“The name on the charges is Evelyn Dobbs.”
Al Shei’s balance faltered a little as she turned around. “It’s a lie,” she announced. “It’s a lie.”
“Of course it’s a lie.” She heard Resit say behind her.
Trembling, Al Shei activated her desk before she even sat down. “Intercom to Lipinski. I need a fast-time to Bala house. Immediately.”
She felt the pressure of Resit’s hand on her shoulder. She had just enough presence of mind left not to shrug it off. Asil was arrested. Her husband, the father of her children, her anchor and best friend, was arrested for fraud. He was being blamed for what she had done, and failed to do, twenty light years away. Blamed through a lie. Al Shei felt the heat in her cheeks as anger flushed her face.
The view screen lit up to show Uncle Ahmet seated in the communication’s room. Uncle Ahmet was an impressive figure, Al Shei had to admit. He was a slender man, but he had a long face, a full beard and eyes that seemed to take in everything at a glance. He sat on his side of the screen immaculately dressed and completely composed, as ever. Before he spoke, Al Shei had just enough time to wonder if that was why she was always annoyed by him.
“Salam, Katmer,” he said solemnly. “We are gravely troubled here by what has happened.” Al Shei bit down the caustic reply that leapt to mind. “What has happened, Uncle Ahmet? This charge is false. I can’t believe you’re letting…”
Uncle Ahmet’s face darkened. “I am not letting anyone do anything, Niece. You are distraught and you forget that our family is bound by law like all other families. Two investigators from the financial exchange branch of the security forces arrived this morning with a warrant for Asil to accompany them to their station to give a statement. In an hour or so, I expect him to have heard the full complaint and sent for our lawyers. Everything that can be done at that time, will be done.”
Resit squeezed her shoulder. “Of course, Uncle Ahmet. My cousin is just upset, you can understand that.”
“We are all upset,” he said gently. “I know you must conclude your commitments, daughters-of-my-heart. But you must come home as quickly as you can.”
“Yes.” Al Shei straightened up. “You can be sure we will do what we can to expedite matters, Uncle. Salam.” She cut the line and stood up. She did not look at Resit as she marched out of the cabin. She was sure her cousin knew what she was thinking though. Dobbs’ name was on the complaint. Dobbs’ Guild was behind this. Dobbs was responsible. She was.
The light on Dobbs’s cabin hatch was green. Al Shei didn’t even knock. She cycled the hatch back. Dobbs jumped up from her desk chair. In her habitual cobalt blue, the only source of color in the bare cabin. Her cheeks grew pale as she stared at Al Shei.
What am I doing here? What do I expect her to do? She didn’t do it, did she? Is this what the Guild was holding her for? Is this what her friends were trying to get her away from? No. No. She couldn’t have done it. This is the other one. This is Curran. He tapped my last call to Asil. He wants me to turn against her. That’s what this is. It must be.
“Curran has framed you.” Al Shei’s voice sounded harsh in her own ears. “And he’s framed Asil. There have been fraud charges levelled against my husband, in your name. You stay here, you understand me? You don’t go into that network. I don’t want him getting to you. You’re all I’ve got to prove that none of this is true, so you don’t move.”
Dobbs nodded slowly. “Yes, Boss.”
Al Shei nodded back. What am I doing? What am I doing? This is insane. Stop this, Katmer. Get out of here. Get back to your cabin. Think. You need time to think. Her voice wouldn’t work to explain to Dobbs what was going on inside her. Al Shei just strode back to the hatch.
“Boss?” The word stopped Al Shei. “You’d better get Lipinski to move the watchdogs so that the comm paths in and out of the Pasadena are covered. There’s no telling what other records Curran will try to disrupt.”
“Good idea.” Al Shei took a deep breath. “A very good idea.”
She couldn’t say anything else. She just left Dobbs standing there and hurried out into the corridor. She had to think. She had to work out what to do. There had to be something to do. It would be all right. Asil wasn’t alone. The family would not let this go unchallenged. There was no evidence of fraud anywhere in their records.
At least, there hadn’t been. This Curran had access to the networks that almost defied belief. He had a live AI in his possession and apparently under his control. What was left that he couldn’t do?
No. They had to get home. They were on their way home. Five days. That was all. That was nothing. Five days to Port Oberon, and five more to Earth. Asil would be fine until then. Uncle Ahmet would not let anything happen to him. Asil was not alone. Ten days more, then, with Dobbs’ help, they would expose the whole disaster; the Fool’s Guild, Tully, Dane, Curran, all of it. And that would be the end of it.
It had to be.
Chapter Eleven — Desertion