"Now he is hysterical, thanks to you," Harenn said. "Think of this as your reward." She pressed the dermospray to his arm and thumbed the release.
"What the hell was that?" Isaac gasped, arms crossed over his abdomen from the kick he had received.
"If you are referring to Bedj-ka's attack, I should think that was self-explanatory," Harenn replied. "And I shall definitely have to enroll him in a martial arts class. He has talent. If you are referring to the dermospray-have you ever had gelpox?"
"No."
"Good. I will take you back to your room and there you will stay. By this time tomorrow, if everything goes well, we will be far away from this horrible place."
"What about me?"
"I imagine you will have a long conversation with the Guardians back on Bellerophon, and then you will have more conversations with police forces on other worlds. Enjoy what freedom you have, Isaac. You will have even less of it very soon."
Kendi flopped down onto Harenn's sofa with a sigh. Dealing with hysterical nine-year-old boys wasn't in his job description, unless they had snuck it in when he wasn't looking. On the other hand, he supposed, it was good practice for becoming a father-small "f." Assuming he and Ben got through this whole thing in one piece, anyway.
The door slid open and Harenn entered. "Where is he?" she asked without preamble.
"In his room. He calmed down and said he wanted to be alone, though I'm sure you'll want to talk to him anyway. I can recommend a good counselor when we get back to Bellerophon."
Harenn lowered her voice. " If we get back."
She was echoing his earlier thought, but he forced a smile anyway. "Pessimist."
"Realist," she corrected.
"If you want, Harenn, we can put you and Bedj-ka on the Emporium's ship. You'll both be safe there, and if you injected Todd-"
"I did."
"— then you don't need to stick around for the end. I'll let you know how it works out, I promise."
Harenn opened her mouth, then clamped it shut. Now that she no longer wore her veil, Kendi found it easy to read her expression. He knew she felt it was her duty to stay, help Kendi free his family the way he had helped Harenn free hers. But now she had to think of Bedj-ka's safety instead of just her own. Kendi had been counting on that.
At last she said, "Very well. I must check on Isaac in an hour to make sure the injection took, and then I will take Bedj-ka over to the Emporium. He will probably enjoy that very much, come to think of it." She stood up. "I should go talk to him."
Kendi gave a small sigh of relief that she had agreed so readily and rose as well. "I have a few other things to finish up, too. And then we're going to have a briefing. The last one."
"Only for this mission. There will be others."
"That sounded suspiciously like optimism, Madame Realist."
"Yes." Harenn took Kendi's hand and squeezed it. "Kendi, I hope you know I did not mean what I said about your plan being selfish. I am very grateful to you."
"I know."
"If we do not meet again, I want you to know that I am glad to have served with you-and under you." She looked up at him, brown eyes meeting brown eyes. "You have made history once, Father Kendi Weaver, and I think you are going to make it again."
"By rescuing a handful of Silent from SA? Hardly."
"No. I mean later. Great people rarely touch the universe only once." She stood on tiptoe, kissed him lightly on the cheek, and hurried into Bedj-ka's room.
"They're going to do it tonight, sir, or perhaps early tomorrow morning."
"How do you know, Mr. Todd?"
"Harenn told me that by this time tomorrow, they would be far away from SA Station."
"Have you learned the Father's name yet? We have extensive files on the Children of Irfan, and it would be easier to keep a lookout if we knew what he looked like."
"I still haven't caught his name, sir. He has dark skin, curly black hair, and dark eyes."
"That describes half the humans who live on this station, Mr. Todd."
"Tall, on the thin side."
"Your powers of description leave much to be desired."
"Sorry, sir. They're still planning to infect the Father's family with gelpox and tamper with the computer diagnostics to make you think they have something more serious and sell them away cheap." He grimaced. "Harenn injected me with gelpox to test the viability of the virus. In a couple days, I won't be feeling very good."
"Gelpox is a child's disease, Mr. Todd-a mere inconvenience. You shouldn't worry yourself."
"Yes, sir."
"If they want to tamper with the diagnostic equipment, they'll have to break into the research and medical labs."
"Yes, sir. If you put extra security in the medical bay, you'll probably get a whole lot more Silent for the Collection."
"You may count on that, Mr. Todd."
"And then you'll come and get me, sir?"
"I won't need to, Mr. Todd. I've already spoken with Rafille Mallory. She was able to give me a computer virus that will override your shackles and another one that will open your door. I am uploading them into your communicator now. You land on your feet more easily than a cat, Mr. Todd, and I am eager to see you do it again. If you can find your way back to the Collection in time to see everything through, I will reward your resourcefulness. If you can't, you will want to practice your vanishing skills."
"A test, sir?"
"An assignment. Good luck, Mr. Todd."
Martina forced herself not to pace. This was it. She was getting out now. Tonight. Or today, or whatever the hell it was. Pacing, however, might attract the attention of the cameras, and that she didn't want. Yet. First, she needed to run a bath.
In the bathroom, Martina ran hot water into the tub. Moist steam billowed up. Bathing was one luxury the Deltas, with their emphasis on physical purity, did not restrict. Martina was, however, at the beginning of a sleep cycle, and she knew from experience that if she didn't go to bed soon, Delta Maura would come to check on her.
Martina glanced around the tiled room. Several moments' thought and a bit of experimentation had proven to Martina's satisfaction that the bathroom had two cameras in it. One of them observed the shower. Martina had figured this out with a bit of logic. The shower stall had an opaque door on it, but during Confessional, the Deltas always knew what any given Alpha did in the shower. That meant there had to be a camera that spied on just the shower stall from either inside or above.
The bathroom itself was tiled in green squares, and the layout was such that only one place granted a clear view of the entire room-the mirror over the sink. Martina was willing to bet that a second camera lay behind the mirror. Granted, spy devices could be tiny, but mounting-and hiding-such devices on tile was harder than installing them behind a mirror, and why take the hard route when the easy one would work just as well? Further proof of her idea lay in the fact that no matter how steamy the room got, the mirror always stayed clear.
Unfortunately, Martina had no way to test this particular theory until she actually put her plan into motion. Her heart climbed into her throat as she casually undressed down to her underwear and then, as if bored while waiting for the tub to fill, she picked up a bar of soap from the sink and toyed with it. Whimsically, she drew a smiley face on the mirror and made faces at herself. Then, with a light laugh, she scribbled over the mirror with soap until the whole thing was completely blocked out. Just playing around. No harm here. She set the soap down, crossed to the half-full tub, and opened the drain without turning off the water. With a hard swallow, she picked up a can of depilatory cream, propped one foot on the side of the tub, and spread some of it on her leg.
Then she waited.
Her mouth was dry and her hands shook. If this didn't work, if she got caught, she had no idea what would happen to her. Martina doubted it would be pleasant. They wouldn't kill her-she was too valuable for that-but a lot of brainwashing methods were less… genial than those which the Deltas currently used. There was also the very real possibility that even if she got out, she would find herself with nowhere to run. As Keith had pointed out, this could be an asteroid or a station or an installation in the middle of a desert. And what about her shackles? They might shock her into insensibility the moment she crossed the threshold. Still, she had to try, had to find out.