As they approached the old Nuu mansion, Harvey regaled Tommy with the tale of its growth. ''Old Ernie Nuu started with that two-story block over there. That's where I and the Mrs. live. He added that long three-story wing when the grandkids started coming. Then, with the General bringing in all kinds of people, not just the likes of me, he added a new kitchen and dining room, a ballroom, and a couple of dozen parlors and studies with the fancy columned portico. The great library was, I think, his wife's idea. Then with great-grandkids, he built another wing. They say old Ernie was building until the day he died. Folks still swear sometimes they can hear him walking the halls at night.''
''I never heard him.'' Kris frowned at her deprived state.
''You were never quiet long enough,'' Harvey shot back.
Gary smiled.
Now, there was someone quiet enough to hear a ghost. Kris started to ask him. Before she got a word out, the main gate came into view. It was staffed by a dozen marines in battle armor and rifles.
''I thought you said Father was at the formal residency.''
''He is; this is for the visiting firemen. The General himself is back from Santa Maria. Your Great-grandpa Trouble is due in today.''
''What's going on?'' Tom asked.
The driver and security guard exchanged glances. ''Need-to-know basis, son,'' Harvey answered. Kris and Tommy had to produce IDs and retina scans to prove they were who they were. As the car came to a final rest before the front portico, Kris realized that between college and the Navy, it had been a while since she crossed that door. It opened automatically as she approached; Nelly had done her job of answering the door's challenge. The foyer was in shadows, but it was the floor Kris eyed.
Great-great-grandpa Nuu had been in his spiritual phase when he built this section. The floor tiles were a spiral of black and white, starting along the wall and closing into a tight coil in the center. The design was from an ancient Earth cathedral; as a child Kris had walked it as a kind of game, her on the blacks, Eddy on the whites. Always they met in the middle. It had been a long time since she'd walked it.
The ensign who saved Edith Swanson wondered what it would feel like to walk it now.
The great library, off to the right, had more marine guards, these in dress red and blue. They eyed Kris as she crossed the cold marble floor, came to attention. It was clear that if she came an inch closer, they'd very likely shoot. She and Tommy headed directly for the thickly carpeted stairs. Kris got her old third-floor room back. Harvey apologized for putting Tom so far down the hall. ''All the rooms in between are taken.''
''Who's in them? Could they be moved?'' Kris asked.
''General, general, admiral, colonel,'' Harvey said, pointing at each door.
''I guess we don't move them,'' Kris agreed.
''Would you have a small corner, maybe up in the attic, where I could lay a sleeping bag?'' Tom asked, voice cracking.
''Tom, what's to be afraid of?''
''You're a girl. You don't have to worry about meeting one of them when you're halfway through a shower or sitting on the can. I'll be standing there at attention, myself hanging in the wind. Kris, this is not what I bargained for.''
Harvey turned to rest a hand on the young ensign's shoulder. ''I know how you feel, boy. Fresh out of the Army with private stripes still on my soul, being around the General and those that ended up around him, it was a shock to the old system. But, son, they get up just like you and me, every morning. And it seems to me that the higher up they go, the more they know that. Not all, but trust me, any around the General and Trouble are good ones. If they weren't, they wouldn't have had the smarts to come here to ask the General how to get out of this mess.''
''What mess?'' Kris asked.
''Not for the likes of me to know, girl, but if I was a betting man, I wouldn't bet an Earth dollar that the Society flag is flying over Government House next Landing Day.''
''Devolution,'' both Kris and Tom whispered the word. ''Is it that close?'' Kris finished.
''Ask the prime minister. Better yet, ask your grampas.''
Kris wasn't so sure she wanted to meet folks studied in her history books. Besides, she had things to figure out about her last mission and with the whole of human space on the line, this was no time to meet a bunch of family strangers and dump her problems on them. ''Harvey, could I borrow a car? I'd like to go see Aunt Tru about some computer stuff.''
''Tru will love that,'' Harvey agreed, ''but why borrow a car? Isn't my driving good enough for you?''
''Yes, Uncle Harvey, but aren't you busy?''
''Hang around this place too long, and they'll have me taking care of the cook's wee ones or even my own great-grandkids. Nice little tots, but if I don't keep moving, the women will have me changing diapers. I'd rather be driving.''
Fifteen minutes later, Kris and Tom were in the backseat of a much smaller car. Of course she had time, honorary Aunt Tru assured Kris. She'd just been working on a way to jimmy the new local lottery, but their network was down just now, so there was no rush. Tom gave Kris a questioning look and confessed to no longer being sure when the people around Kris were exaggerating. Kris laughed and told Tommy how Tru had helped her through elementary algebra in first grade and even given Kris her first computer. Then they got to Tru's penthouse apartment; it hadn't changed a bit, though a shiny new complex was going up next door.
''I thought you said she was a retired government worker?'' Tommy said.
''She is. She bought this place when she won the lottery fifteen years back.''
Tom gave Kris a sidewise glance but didn't say a word.
Kris missed a step, rerunning what she'd just said. ''Aunt Tru would never cheat. If she could win the lottery every time, why doesn't she?'' Kris asked no one in particular.
''Smart woman knows not to push a good thing too far.'' Harvey winked.
And Kris found herself wondering just how much of what she accepted without question as a kid was in dire need of a second look now that she was a woman.
Then Tru opened the door, and Kris got lost in a hug of mega-huge proportions. Mother never touched, and Father never even came close to Kris, but Aunt Tru hugged. Kris let the breath go out of her as she had so many times before. With it went the tightness in her stomach and the iron-fisted grip at her throat.
It was Tru who broke the hug and ushered them into her living room with its spectacular view of Wardhaven. With Papa Nuu's industrial plants off planet, the capital city was a lovely place of trees, boulevards, and towering buildings watered by the Old Miss's meanderings. Tru had heard of Kris's experience on Sequim…it seemed most of the Rim had. There were even pictures of her LAC ride, so that was not something Kris could avoid when she met Mother, though, with luck, the woman would have no idea what she was looking at. Tru briefly swapped stories with Kris about the one or two times she had ended up with the booties, dodging bullets while she tried to find the right algorithm to close down all that noise. Now Kris caught the tightness around her aunt's eyes, the catch in her voice.
Tru dismissed herself to get herbal tea or fresh-squeezed lemonade for her guests. That was one of Tru's rules; no talk before some good, healthy refreshments. Even in Kris's bottle days, a dose of Auntie Tru's lemonade had been better than bourbon. Kris rummaged up the computer she had removed from the crime scene on Sequim. When Tru returned with a tray, it was sitting as innocent as it could on the coffee table.