And she wasn’t too surprised about Gloria, who had been a brat, and who was still probably a petulant brat. And Julia–Julia was the one who’d had real reason to hate her, for displacing her and her baby and getting them both exiled to Fargone. That Julia had hated her and talked against her was no surprise, and not even unfair, in the balance of things. Ollie was just worried about her, was all, because he still loved her. It wasn’t as if Julia Strassen was going to launch some interstellar conspiracy against Reseune.
But the business about Valery’s mother, and Valery growing up with Gloria, of all people–that was just upsetting. She’d never heard that Valery’s mother had died. And he’d become an artist, of all things. She’d never guessed that, either. She’d never searched him up on the web, not wanting to go down that path and go longing after someone she couldn’t get back, and she’d never imagined he was halfway famous. It was the first she’d ever heard of who he’d become…and you needed clearance and funds to do a Universal Search, which Florian and Catlin hadn’t had when she’d sent those letters. She hadn’t asked Yanni, who could have done it–Valery was Yanni’s nephew, sort of, but so far as she knew, Yanni hadn’t ever bothered searching his niece up. Yanni had never said, for that matter, how he felt about having his relatives sent off to Fargone, all to bring Ariane Emory up in a bubble free of Valery Schwartz.
Had Yanni resented it?
Had he–God!–even suggestedtheir exile, the way he probably had suggested sending Jordan to PlanysLabs?
That was a disturbing thought. She had no window into the time when Denys and Giraud had run Reseune along with Yanni Schwartz, and critical decisions had been made–first to put her with Jane Strassen, and then to take her Maman away; and to let her play with Valery; and then to send Valery away…
Had Yanni consented? Been participant? Instigator?
Yanni’d never said. Never, ever said. And he’d known she’d written to Valery.
Hadn’t he? She thought he’d known. She hadn’t taken any measures for secrecy from him.
It could have been a mistake, her visiting the past and sending for people who’d had separate lives for decades.
It could really have been a bad, bad mistake–that cold, clammy thought crept through her.
She’d intended to open Gloria’s letter next, saving the good news, from Valery, for last. Ollie’s return hadn’t worked out. But she stuck to the plan. She clicked Gloria’s letter.
Dear Ariane,it began, on a first name basis, when to her memory, Gloria had been a screaming, red‑faced hellion, three years younger than she was. That made Gloria around–fifteen, now. Which was too young for Valery. So there. Maman says if I want to visit I can. So I will. Maman has decided she’s coming with me to keep me out of trouble. I don’t remember Reseune, so this should be interesting, and Maman says…
Hellif Julia was Maman. That was Jane Strassens name. Herword. But that was the way Gloria put it.
…Maman says if we come it’s only because it’s round trip and we can get home again. So we hope you don’t mind if we just stay a few months.
Gloria was uncommonly direct. Ari‑like in her bluntness, not too diplomatic, but then she’d never been convinced either Julia or Gloria had anything like Jane Strassens intellect. Tact or graciousness just were not in her expectations of Gloria.
There was a thought…the first time it had ever dawned on her, though she’d had the notion that Julia just wasn’t that smart. And Jane had been. And Gloria had been a little squalling lump.
Maman hadn’t started out wanting her. Maman had had Julia, counted that enough. But they’d handed Jane Strassen a kid who wason her level, plus some, namely her…and Jane Strassen had accepted her for one reason, and been hooked into the most important study project in her long career. She’d taken her in, taken to her, shoved her own biological offspring and her own grandchild off–partly because she’d had to, because Julia kept being a fool and pushing the issue, and insisting on pushing it…which was how Julia had gotten a not‑roundtrip ticket for herself and Gloria to Fargone.
So it was true. Maman had loved her. Not Julia.
Then Maman–Jane Strassen–had gone out to Fargone to live, to spend her last days with Ollie, and Julia and Gloria. Maman had been very old, and knew she didn’t have that long: Julia was the child of her last good decades, tank‑born; and Maman had gone out there to live, and spent those few final years–how?
Had Maman ever warmed at all to Julia and Gloria?
How had Ollie fit in, and had Ollie protected Maman, the way he’d always protected Maman, from untoward incidents? Ollie would have done that; Ollie would have stood them off at the door.
And Ollie had ended up Director of ReseuneSpace, with all the power to handle anything Julia Strassen could ever think up, that was what. That was justice.
Oh, there were questions she should have asked.
Oh, there were questions she definitely should have.
So I suppose we owe you thank you for the tickets and we’ll see you as soon as we tie up a few things here. I’ve never been on a ship before. Maman said it’s nothing much, but I’m excited.
Best thing she’d ever heard about Gloria.
Deep breath. She punched the button on Valery’s letter.
It exploded on the screen; became white light, a black blot that ran everywhere and left an impression on the eyes, a red, lingering glow. It hurt.
The glow had the shape of a face when she shut her eyes. She thought it looked male, but she wasn’t sure. It was a furious, murderous face.
God, how had Base One let thatthrough?
On her damned e‑trail, that was how, her blanket permission for any letter answering her letter. Therewas a warning, a cold, chilling warning. Her sig had power to crack the electronic gates of Base One, on which the security of all Reseune, hell, all Unionrested. And she had to be more careful, hereafter.
A letter had turned up in the wake of the image, an ordinary letter. Dear Ari, it said. With that hellish face still blinking faintly red in her vision.
Dear Ari, hell! If that damned thing had brought anything pernicious in with it…
Base security search,she told Base One. Focus: Candide packet in Base One, all activity, all files.
Base One set about its business. The letter remained.
I wondered if you remembered. Clearly you do. Thanks for the offer. It presents me a mild dilemma. I have a reputation here in the art world, and your offer would both bring new opportunities and take me out of an area where I have considerable commercial value. I do have to consider, however, that your patronage is no small matter, and if I could be assured of creative freedom and your patronage during my establishment at Reseune, or in Novgorod, your support of my work would be invaluable.
Not a shred of soft sentiment. Creative freedom. Patronageduring his establishment…
She let a slow breath go. Temper had gotten up, since the fright. Adrenaline helped nothing.
So I will be arriving for an exploratory visit and hope to renew old acquaintances.