That by itself had been interesting enough, but that interview had also revealed information linking, if distantly, to more urgent issues. The "living dead," as a few upper-ups in the Concord had called them, had surfaced in the Thalaassa system now in greater numbers than anyone had seen before-well, no one had seen more than two examples in any one system, certainly not from two species. But the one specimen that Connor had first found, the man who had been Oleg Darsall-that one had raised a terrible question to which no one had answers. Silver Bell, Kharls thought. How long have I been looking for an answer to that? I thought that any answer would have been good enough. Now this comes, and it terrifies me. Have we truly been looking in the wrong direction these past three years? I could almost wish not to have found it at all.
There had been rumors for a long time of strange forms and forces walking the outer reaches of various star systems. Never coming close to the light, never showing themselves except obscurely, shadows trailing across space, here and gone again into the cold and dark. Now the rumors were coming true, finally betraying the concrete nature of their terrors. But there were no further indications of exactly what it was that had been done to these men and sesheyans and fraal who were taken, and no indications at all of who had done it to them or why.
What might their designs be for the Verge and the inner worlds beyond? Designs there were. Whatever else Kharls knew about this business, it was that there was nothing random about it. The "changed" bodies had appeared in concert with attacks by the strange little ships they piloted, all along a curvature of space that more or less defined the outer reaches of the Verge. Idly he sketched that curve on the pad, marking the star systems on it: Algemron, Hammer's Star, Tychus, Oberon, and now Corrivale. The first two had been bad enough, but Corrivale, deep in the midst of the Verge, was increasingly becoming a crossroads for trade in this part of the Verge, despite its tensions. In the vibrancy of the place over the last few years, the rumors of dark things moving out at the edges of the system had mostly been swallowed up, drowned out. When word about this started to get out, though, that would not last. The peace of these parts, won with such difficulty, would once again start to erode, and this time more dangerously. Although people might hate and fear the enemies they knew-VoidCorp, the corsairs-they hated and feared the unknown far more.
His duty was maintaining peace. For the time being this information would have to be kept out of the public eye. Soon enough something would happen that would make that impossible. In the meantime, they would use what little time they were granted for frantic analysis. Meanwhile, he would not throw away useful assets while they remained so.
Kharls looked up from the pad and found Captain Dareyev looking in the door at him. "Lorand," she said, "is there a problem?" He considered her for a long moment. "No, Captain," he said, "nothing-nothing at all."
She looked at him a little curiously for a moment then walked away. Lorand Kharls looked after her, then folded that page of his pad over and looked at the next one, the clean one. He knew better than most that the image of a Concord Administrator who ran around meddling in people's affairs, doing things busily, was an illusion. The most effective Administrators knew when to sit still and let matters take their course. The information that had just come to him would be very, very useful indeed-in time. But just now there was no need to release it and make changes in the ongoing situation. Besides-he thought of young Connor as he had been when he left, rebellious, furious-and filled with an energy that would take him far. Why suddenly remove the cause of that energy, the force that drove him? There were more important causes than those of one mere man. By leaving him as he was, great good might yet be done in the Verge, and justice delayed was not always justice denied. It depended on how fast justice moved in your neighborhood, and how wise it was for it to move any faster.
No, Kharls thought. Let him wait. Kharls turned over another sheet of the pad's writing plastic and began wondering where to turn this resource next.
It was night on Sunshine. Enda was in her bed. Gabriel sat late in the pilot's seat, looking out at the stars that burned beyond Corrivale. They would be making starfall in the morning.
They were victualled, fueled, and re-armed. All farewells, all blessings and curses, were said. One thing only remained to do before they left.
Gabriel touched his combination into the safe-box set in the wall of the pilots' compartment, waited for the click, then opened the door. He reached in and came out with Sunshine's registry papers. He held them in his lap for nearly an hour, looking at the seals. Finally he glanced around him, looking for something heavy.
There was nothing suitable in the cockpit. He got up, wandered back to the sitting room and glanced around, trying to be quiet. After a moment his eye fell on the hardstone pot in which Enda's bulb lived. Gabriel reached out to it, glancing at the surface of the fold-down table, a good enough spot. He stopped then. He looked at the pot and the seals on the registry document again, and then he looked at the door to Enda's quarters.
He glanced again at the document in his hand, then walked back to the cockpit, put the registry document in the safe again, locked it, and took one last look at the stars. Then Gabriel Connor went to bed.
Glossary
Aegis - A G2 yellow star. The Metropolitan Center of the Verge.
Ahhrihei - A fraal euphemism that literally means "a shift of wind," but infers a wind of the mind, i.e., a person's decision to make a change.
AI - Artificial Intelligence. Sentient computer programming whose sophistication varies from model to model.
Aimara - A lake on Ino.
Aleerin - see mechalus.
Algemran - A G5 yellow star in the Verge. Also the name of the system.
Altid - A model of driveship.
Arends, Lieutenant Colonel - The marine senior commanding officer on board Falada.
AU - Astronomical Unit. 150 million km.
Austrin-Ontis Unlimited - A corporate stellar nation that is best known as the strongest arms dealer of the Stellar Ring, but whose citizens view themselves as strong individualists with a deep sense of altruism.
Battle of Kendai (2375) - A battle of the Second Galactic War that effectively cut communications between the stellar nations and the Verge for 121 years.
Baynes, Julius - The chief Concord Administrator for the Verge, bebe - A bird native to Grith.
Bluefall - Capital planet of the Aegis system. Ruled by the Regency government.
Bluff Heights - The cliff face at the edge of Diamond Point that protects it from the tides.
Boreal Sea - The sea of the north pole on Grith.
Bricht - A model of stardrive engine.
Builder - That section of fraal society that believes in integration with other species and cultures.
Callirhoe - A Concord Star Force Heavy Cruiser cerametal - An extremely strong alloy made from laminated ceramics and lightweight metals chai - tea charge pistol - A small firearm in which an electric firing pin ignites a chemical explosive into a white- hot plasma propellant, thus expelling a cerametallic slug at extremely high velocity clearfoam - A synthetic, transparent foam used to contain instruments in a sterile environment.