“Not in a million years. I was pretty shocked to see you show up with an Iteeche in tow. That was nothing compared to Juliet Travis coming off the shuttle hand in hand with a DuVale.”
“Grampa, I didn’t bring an Iteeche home. I just . . . well . . . brought an Iteeche home. You know. It’s not like I want him to meet my family.”
Grampa Ray lifted an eyebrow.
“The rest of my family.”
Her brother raised another eyebrow.
“The two of you are horrible. Just for that, I ought to . . .”
“What?” both said.
“Never mind. I just ought to.”
“If you three will kindly stop your dramatics,” Grampa Trouble said, “there’s a world here that needs saving.”
“I still don’t see the problem,” Penny said.
“I’m with you,” Jack agreed.
Grampa Ray leaned forward. “To join United Sentients, or whatever we call this thing, you have to have a single government on your world. There are a few other things, and the list seems to grow every month, but one united government is something we have all agreed on.”
“And,” Kris, Penny, and Jack said.
“The industrial dukedoms are threatening to withdraw from Texarkana’s central government and start their own.”
“And how is that any skin off your nose, Grampa?” Kris said. “If they want to mess around, let them mess to their hearts’ content. When they get it straightened out, they can join then.”
“John Austin Travis is Texarkana’s representative to the Constitutional Convention at Pitts Hope. He’s also the leader of the party that supports my position in the congress. If he gets tossed out of the convention, my faction could dissolve in a leadership fight, and the pending constitution I support may get amended into something I’d never support.”
“Hold it,” Kris said, coming half out of her seat. “I thought you weren’t taking a position on the constitution. What happened to letting the founding fathers give the people they represent the government they want?”
“He saw what some of the founding fathers and mothers wanted,” Honovi growled.
Kris sat back down. “Is it that bad?”
“It’s real bad,” Honovi said.
“I let them yammer on too long with no leadership.”
“He could have had exactly what he wanted a year ago if he’d just said the word,” Kris’s brother said. “But no, he had to do his ‘sit on the porch on Wardhaven and let them find their own way.’ You give some people enough time, and they’ll find all kinds of new ways to stab you in the back and get someone else’s fingerprints on the knife.”
“You weren’t this cynical the last time I saw you,” Kris told her brother.
“I hadn’t spent a year representing Wardhaven on Pitts Hope,” he answered.
Honovi had always been the big brother, ahead of her, confident, able to do just about anything. There had been times when Kris just about worshipped him. He’d even tried to keep her from climbing into a bottle after Eddy died. Now, for the first time, the idealistic optimist wasn’t there when she looked at him. And Grampa Ray had excluded him from the Iteeche plea for help. Maybe the king would bring him in later, but the ground was moving under Kris’s feet, and she wasn’t sure it would ever be quite the same again.
Kris considered asking Honovi for a full report on what was coming down on Pitts Hope, then decided she’d be hap pier not knowing. “What do you plan to do?” she asked.
“I’m going to Pitts Hope,” King Raymond said.
“Thank God,” Honovi said. Apparently, he left a lot unsaid, as the king frowned at him.
“I’m glad you’re going, Ray,” Trouble said. So her brother had an ally.
“But it won’t do me a damn bit of good if Texarkana blows up,” the king said, eyeing Kris.
“If I tackle Texarkana, will you see about the Iteeche problem while you’re at Pitts Hope?” Kris said, nodding toward the lounge.
“I’ll put out feelers on the matter,” King Raymond said.
Which left Kris wondering what that meant.
“If the king is going to Pitts Hope,” Colonel Cortez said, “who will take care of the Iteeche? Have I missed something? I thought we’d leave them here on Wardhaven under the king’s protection.”
“That was what I assumed,” Kris said, “but it doesn’t look like that’s an option.”
“No, it’s not,” the king said, leaving no doubt about that.
“Are we going to keep them with us?” Penny asked.
“It looks that way,” Kris said.
“Your crew knows about them,” Trouble said. “I think it best that you take the Wasp, crew, Iteeche, and all with you to Texarkana. You’ve got to keep them out of the media.”
“I’ll do my best,” Kris said. “Your Highness, is there anything else I need to know about Texarkana?”
“Just don’t start a war. Don’t let the word about the Iteeche leak out, and don’t lose me the leader of my coalition,” the king said. “That ought to just about do it.”
“Right,” Grampa Trouble said. “You’re a Longknife. It should be a piece of cake.”
22
Twelve hours later, the Wasp boosted for Jump Point Alpha. The short port stay had given them just enough time to take on supplies and refill stores of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat . . . and beer. Kris suggested that the quick turnaround might go down easier with the crew if the Wasp took on an extra order of beer, wine, and spirits.
It would be a long trip.
Kris started it at a meeting with Professor mFumbo and his scientists. They were none too happy to have missed their shore leave and be hijacked, their word, to Texarkana.
“Who wants to write a scientific paper about cow turds?”
Kris didn’t do that good a job of mollifying them. Her mind was half-absorbed by the brief conversation she’d managed with her brother on the quick walk to the pier.
“Are things as bad as Grampa Ray makes out?” she’d asked.
“Worse, if you ask me. I don’t know what went on in your private meeting, but keep those Iteeche out of sight, will you?”
“Why?”
“There’s a lot at stake when you pull 180 planets together,” Honovi said, his face falling into a deep frown. “A lot to be had if you can grab control of them all. You have to understand, some people will do just about anything to get what they want. Some nut wants a full-fledged king, divine right and all that.”
“For Grampa Ray?”
“No! He wants a new election. Fancies he’ll win it. The Iteeche and Peterwalds aren’t the only ones wanting to run an empire. Trust me. But there’s also a faction that’s waving the bloody shirt, saying we need to finish off the Iteeche. As if we could. Let word get out that King Ray is talking to the Empire . . .” He shook his head. “I don’t know what’d happen, but it wouldn’t be pretty.”
“I’ll keep them out of sight,” Kris assured him, wondering all the time how she’d manage.
“You do that. Listen, sis, I know you’re not into politics, but how could you have missed all this?”
“I’ve been out beyond the Rim, brother. We don’t exactly get your news twenty-four/seven.”
“Well, you’re here now. You need to catch up.”
“I’ll try.”
“I’ll have my computer go through the archived news stories and shoot you a couple of digests before you get out of range. You better have your Nelly keep you up-to-date.”
Which raised the question of just where Nelly was.
“I left her on the table,” Admiral Crossenshield said in answer to Kris’s question.