His face went sober, thoughtful as he picked up the stick. He gave her a look, like he wanted to ask a question, and maybe thought it wasn’t wise to ask it at all.
“I trust you,” she said. It wouldn’t make him easier in his mind. She read him that well. He’d been through too much with Denys. He’d just had the row with his father and he knew Admin was upset. He was in a state of disturbance and flux, unable to settle, either physically or mentally, and he probably wasn’t getting a lot of work done. “I need it really soon.”
He nodded somberly and laid the data stick atop the books on his desk. “I’ll put it at the top of my list.”
“I know about the card,” she said, and saw his face suddenly go cold and wary. He wasn’t looking at her. Wasn’t looking at anything in particular. “I’m sorry you got into it,” she said, and he still didn’t look at her. “What do youthink your father’s up to?”
“I haven’t a clue.” He did look her way, and the hard face gave way to the old Justin, the very worried Justin, who had stood off Uncle Denys–confronting her, now, as the prevailing threat in his life, andhis hope of tranquility. “I really haven’t.”
“You know he’s under surveillance. He knows he is. He’s mad about it. I’m really sorry, Justin. I’m sorry he did that.”
He was upset. And the look was a little less protected, a little more the real Justin, worried, and on his guard. “Do you know what it’s about?” he asked her flat out…maybe a little ashamed to be asking. She read that. Ashamed of the situation with his father. Ashamed of havingto ask an outsider to the relationship.
“My staff is trying to find out,” she said quietly. “I don’t really know what it’s about. He’s not that easy to read. But I’d say he didn’t expect you to keep that card a secret.”
“I’m sure of that much,” he said.
She wanted to ask–what do youwant me to do with Jordan? But that wouldn’t be fair to ask, and the hurt would outlast the good it would do. Justin would never forgive himself, not inside, if he asked her to send Jordan away. In a technical way, neither of them had had real parents. In an emotional way, they’d both lost the single parent they’d been most attached to. They were alike, on that one emotional sore point. Something had happened, when Jordan handed Justin that card, and they had to patch it up, and try to bring back the even tenor of the lessons, the conferences, the work together. It wasn’t going to happen automatically. Jordan had already had that effect–Jordan, and the twitch of security, proving it was still alive.
“I’m trying to protect him from himself,” she said. “He’s certainly not making it easy.”
Score. She saw it in his expression, just the little dilation of the iris. “I appreciate that.”
“This Dr. Patil,” she said. “I can tell you something about that. We’re going to send her to Fargone. She’s the authority in her field–she’s certainly got the credentials. But we’re digging into her associations, all the way back. Just so you know what that was about.”
“I’m not sure I want to know more than that.”
“Justin, I’m not in charge of Reseune. I won’t be, for awhile. But you know I direct some decisions. Yanni listens to me.”
“I’m sure he does.”
“ Don’tbe like that. I’m not your enemy.”
“I don’t want you to be,” he said plainly. “I hope you won’t be.”
“ Jordanwants me to be your enemy.”
And his eyes averted, his whole body posture changing, as if he had to re‑balance his thinking.
“Doesn’t he?” she asked flatly. “Or what do youthink his motive is?”
Justin didn’t say anything for a moment. His hand found the datastick atop the books, picked it up, turned it over. And over. And set it down, not looking at her. “I don’t know why you ask my opinion on this,” he said, and let a long breath go. “I don’t know why you need it.”
“I need it,” she said. “I do need it.”
“No, you don’t. You’re good. The hell you’re working routine theta sets, you’re good.”
“So are you,” she said. “You’re toogood to go along with something even he didn’t plan to have work. You know what he’s really up to.”
“Then I wish you’dtell mewhat that is!”
“I just did.”
“God.” He did turn his face toward her, upset. “Dammit, Ari.”
“I’m being honest. Iwant you to be all right. I really do. I don’t mind you getting along with Jordan. But he certainly minds your getting along with me. That’s what it’s about, isn’t it? Am I wrong? His battles are all old history. The Centrists lost a lot of their power when we passed the anti‑terraforming bills and saved Cyteen’s native life. They lost this world to develop. So some not‑very‑bright people in that party thought they were going to get their way when Ari died. But Giraud didn’t let them repeal those laws. Giraud was friendly with Defense and that blocked them. And now there’s Yanni, telling them they’ve got just a little time to make deals before I come in. Eversnow is a poor second choice, but it’s what the pro‑terraformers have got.”
“Eversnow.”
“It’s a planet out beyond Fargone–”
“I know that.”
“Well, Patil’s in charge of terraforming it, and that’s a secret, so don’t tell it. If certain people think they can bring that snowball to life without wrecking it, well, they might, mightn’t they, but then, that’s not a very Centrist position for Corain’s people to be stuck in, a dozen light years from anything civilized, and no longer in the center of anything. It’s not their kind of territory. They want cities. They want Earth remade in a temperate world that’s central to everything, with all of Union clustered around it, and they want it fast. Well, fast won’t happen there. It’s going to take a long time, and we’ll be changing the Centrists, right along with Eversnow. People that go out there will belong there. Or their children will. That’s the way things work.”
“You’re losing me. Eversnow. Not Fargone.”
“Fargone’s just a cover.”
“I’m not sure I want to know these things. I’m not sure Yanni would be happy with my knowing these things.”
“Oh, pretty soon more people inside Reseune are going to know it. We’re just not putting it on the news until it launches. That’s why security’s all stirred up about this card.”
“You think Jordan could have had any contact with a secret some professor in Novgorod is up to? I thought you monitored his phone calls.”
“Not any current contact, no, he doesn’t have. But then he never cared whether it was Centrists or Expansionists he was supporting, so long as it gave his Ari grief, do you think? She was all his focus. Whatever she wanted, he was against, once that partnership split up. And the fight between them wasn’t ever really about Cyteen, or Eversnow, or Alpha or Beta or Fargone or terraforming or any station in the whole universe, for that matter. Reseune was everything. He wanted to leave it, but he didn’t, not in his head. And now he’s back, but Reseune after Denys isn’t the place he remembers. So it’s not a happy situation, and he’s not dealing well with the changes he finds here. That’s what I think.”
“That, I’ll entirely agree with.”
“I can’t make him happy. You can’t.”