“Close enough.” Sparks’s hand closed over the metal and jewels, feeling their coldness bite his flesh. “They’re behind everything that’s happening here, I’m sure of it. And only somebody with the same kind of resources and power has even a hope of getting Ariele back from him. Gundhalinu’s got that kind of power. That must be why the Source took her off world.” He rubbed his head, his fingers tangled in his hair. “That means he’s not completely confident, at least.”
“If she’s in the Source’s citadel, nobody can get her out alive,” Niburu said flatly.
Sparks looked up at him. “Did you say TerFauw ordered you back to Ondinee?”
Niburu nodded, looking uneasy.
“You’re being sent back to join Reede, at the citadel?”
“That’s what he said.”
“Take me with you.”
Niburu shook his head. “No way. That’s impossible. We can’t smuggle you in.” “If I have this, it’s possible.” Sparks held up the pendant, let it dangle in the air before them.
“You don’t have this.” Niburu held his hand up, palm out, showing Sparks the same brand that Kullervo wore. “Even that pendant won’t protect you. It didn’t protect Reede. Nobody much looks at brands, as long as they’ve got the Source’s mark on them. But you haven’t got it.”
Sparks studied the eye-shaped scar, imprinting it on his memory. “I can take care of that,” he said.
Niburu grimaced, and was silent for a long moment. “No,” he said finally. The fingers of his hand closed over the eye in his palm. “I’m sorry. I can’t. The rule I live by is ‘Keep your head down, and hope the Dark Ones overlook you.’”
“The Dark Ones have already noticed you,” Sparks said. He gestured at Niburu’s battered face. “Do you like being the Source’s property?”
Niburu frowned, glancing at his partner. “No,” he muttered. “But I like it better than being a corpse. I think I speak for both of us.” Ananke nodded, unsmiling.
“What about Reede?”
“What about him?”
“I’ve seen how the Source treats him. Do you care anything about what happens to him?” Sparks asked, remembering what he’d seen pass between them, when he showed them what the water of death could do.
The moment stretched like an impossibly sustained note, before Niburu said roughly, “Yeah. I guess we do,” and Ananke nodded again. “I guess it matters a lot. …” Niburu looked surprised.
Sparks took a deep breath. “When the Source gets what he wants—or even if he doesn’t—he’ll probably kill them both.”
“He won’t kill Reede,” Niburu protested. “Reede’s too valuable.”
“Maybe,” Sparks said, with relentless logic. “Maybe you’ll all live to a ripe old age, and you’ll spend the rest of your lives in slavery, watching the Source break your friend’s spirit and destroy his soul. Or maybe not— If the Source decides to kill Reede, what do you think he’ll want to do with both of you?”
They looked at him.
“Reede wants out of there, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah. Oh, yeah.…” Niburu nodded. “We all do. But it’s like you said: the Source is too powerful.”
“They’ll be expecting Gundhalinu to try something. They won’t be expecting this. If Reede loves my daughter the way you say he does, I think he’ll help us once we’re in, even if he wouldn’t try it on his own.”
Niburu rubbed his face. “By the Holy Hands,” he said. “You know you’d be committing suicide—? And you’re asking me to do it too.”
“It’s my daughter,” he said. “And it’s your choice.”
Niburu and Ananke put their heads together, muttering, while Tor stroked the Ondmean’s pet, staring at the tabletop. Life went on, entirely meaningless, in the room beyond her half-frowning profile. “Sparks,” Tor said, glancing at him suddenly, “even if you get them out and survive, what’ll you do then?”
“Bring them back here.”
“But they weren’t safe here, in the first place—” She broke off.
“They will be if Gundhalinu has enough warning. Will you go to him—go to Moon? Give them the message Kirard Set gave me … tell them everything you know about him, while you’re at it,” Sparks said sourly. “Then tell them the rest of it: where I’ve gone. Tell him they have to be ready to protect us all, when we get back. Gundhalinu will understand what he has to do. Give him this—” He handed her Reede’s pendant.
“And the tape?” she murmured, taking the pendant.
He looked down. “Use your judgment,” he said finally. “She’s their daughter too.”
“What?” She stared at him; he watched her disbelief fade. “Oh,” she said.
He looked back at Niburu and Ananke.
“What about the water of death?” Niburu said. “What about when it runs out?”
“We’ll get a sample. We’ll make more. There must be a way to keep them alive until we can; we’ll find it. If we can get in and get them out, we’ll have all the backup we need to stay free, and stay alive. Are you willing to try it?”
They glanced at each other again. At last Niburu nodded, and then Ananke did. “We’ll take you to Ondinee,” Niburu said. “After that …”He shrugged. “We’ll see. We leave tomorrow.” He glanced at Tor, with sudden melancholy coming into his eyes. He sighed.
Sparks nodded. “I’ll be waiting, wherever and whenever you say.”
“Tor?” Ananke said hesitantly. Tor looked away from Niburu, facing him. “Keep the quoll for me, will you … until we come back,” he added, selfconsciously. “You know what they like….” He began to take off the sling he wore over his shoulder.
Tor studied him. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Sure. I’ll take good care of it for you… until you get back. Until you all get back.” She looked at Niburu again, with a smile that held nothing but sorrow. She gathered the quoll up in her arms, the pendant still clutched in her fist. She slipped out of the booth and left them, without another word.
TIAMAT: Carbuncle
“Father of all my grandfathers! You cannot do this, BZ. You cannot continue this new ban on hunting mers. It’s political suicide!”
Gundhalinu looked at the time, got up from his seat, leaving the security of his desk/terminal behind as he started toward the door. He stopped, midway across the office, face to face with his Commander of Police. “I have no choice, Vhanu.”
“The Judiciate is livid. The Central Committee is demanding—”
“I know what they are demanding,” he said evenly.
“We’ll be replaced. The entire government, just as I warned you—” Vhanu’s hands jerked with frustration.
“Then so be it.”
“Why are you doing this?” Vhanu demanded. “I don’t understand it!”
“As I told the Judiciate—the mers are migrating toward the city. It makes them completely vulnerable to us. Until I know why they are doing that, the hunts must stop.” He started for the door.
“I mean why, BZ?” Vhanu said, lapsing from Tiamatan into Sandhi. “Why? Thou’re not the same person I came to this world with. What has this place done to three? Thou’re acting like a madman—” Vhanu caught his arm.
“I have no choice,” he repeated, not making eye contact. “Use Tiamatan when you speak, please, NR. I’ve asked you before to remember that.” He removed his arm from the other’s man’s grasp, and went on across the office.
“Where are you going?” Vhanu asked, as Gundhalinu opened the door.
“I have some personal business to attend to.” He heard the coldness in his own voice, unable to feel anything as he said it, as if all the heat of anger and frustration and hope had finally died inside him, and let him freeze to death. He left the office without even regret.