Crystal Heat

3

The screens were engaged and the windows open, the evening breeze blowing along the living room. Lilai was in her room working with the Tutor Circuit. Shadith and Aleytys sat drinking tea and watching the setting sun color the shrunken snow pack on the mountain peaks.

Aleytys set down her cup with a sharp click. “All right, Shadow, stop wallowing in guilt and tell me what this is about.”

“Have you ever heard of a world called Bol Mutiar?”

“No. That’s in the Callidara? I’ve never been there.”

“It gets a bit iffy here. If you were anyone else, I don’t think… well, you’re not, so here it is.” She sketched her line of investigation and what she’d discovered, the mistakes she’d made, the talk she had with the Drummer, the final conversation with Lylunda.

“She’s desperate.” Shadith ran the heels of her hands back and forth along the leather chair arms, needing a way to vent the pressure that had built up in her. “I got to know her rather well while I was tracking her, Lee. She was smart, tenacious, independent. It hurt seeing what’d happened to her. As if the Lylunda she’d been was being eaten away and someone else was being poured into empty places.” She slapped her hands on the leather. “She’s watching it happen, Lee, fighting it

– and losing and losing and losing. Gods! Whatever else happens, I want to break her free of that world.”

“And you want me to purge her of that tung akar and whatever else that’s got its claws in her.”

“That’s it, Lee.” Shadith passed her hand over her hair, then looked at the palm. “I suspect there’s something in the air. A virus maybe, an organism of some kind. And the tung akar keeps it benign as long as there’s some kind of balance. The longer you stay, the more delicate the balance. And sometimes the organism hits a reproductive high that’s triggered by who knows what, and it consumes the person. A collective intelligence? There was something there, I could feel it pressing at me, not liking me much. I was very glad to get away. And I spent a good while in the ottodoc, trying to make sure I wasn’t bringing any of it with me. It reads me as clean, but with the story the Drummer told me…” She shrugged, grimaced.

“How do you feel?”

“Ready to wallow in the glooms, otherwise healthy enough.”

“Hm. I’m not picking up anything peculiar, but in a moment I want you to let me check you over. What’s the other thing that’s worrying you?” Aleytys clicked her tongue when Shadith raised her brows. “A rather obvious deduction, Shadow. You didn’t need to tell me all that just to persuade me to help get the woman off Bol Mutiar.”

“It’s the Taalav array. My job is to find out where they are and give the location to Digby to pass on, but if I do, they’ll be destroyed. I can’t let that happen, Lee.”

“Him It’s possible they’ve already died, you know. Intelligent or not, transferring a complex species to a new environment is apt to be chancy. You have to think about that.”

– “I hope not. It’d make things a lot easier for me, but I really don’t want them to be dead. I’ve quit this job, Lee; I just haven’t told Digby yet.”

“Talking with him wouldn’t work? Maybe you could come to an arrangement.”

“Would you really expect Digby to kiss his fee good-bye just because one of his shovels has a qualm or two?”

“Shovel? Hmp. I’d get bored with that the second time I heard it.” Aleytys inspected her cup, refilled it from the samovar. “Right. I know that. Must have been sheltered here too long,-growing illusions like weeds. The sooner we see about Lylunda, the better, so we’ll take my ship. You can leave the company ship in the tie-down upstairs. Harskari called last week; she and Loguisse have been ambling about…” she chuckled, “looking for trouble, if you ask me. She’s coming by here next week. If you don’t mind, once we’ve left, I’ll call her back and tell her to meet us at Bol Mutiar.” She got to her feet. “I’d better go tell Lilai she can’t come with me this time. I don’t want her anywhere near that virus or whatever it is.” She smiled, shook her head. “I won’t get an argument this time. Mothers are way down on the list of important beings. Vassil has the place of honor.”

She left, trailing an aura of jealousy and pain. And amusement turned on herself. And interest.

Shadith stretched out in her chair, put her feet up on the hassock. Harskari. That’s good. She’ll know if Storsten would work for the Taalav. I still have to talk to them first, find out what they want.

Storsten, the next world out from Vrithian-a heavyworld, in the same range as Pillory; its largest life forms were wormlike grazers with chitinous armor to protect them from smaller and faster predators like dog-sized scorpions. Since Vrithian had never been located by outsiders in all the centuries of Vryhh existence, the Taalav would be safe there. She was pleased with herself for coming up with that idea.

Hm. It’d be a hoot if the Kliu swooped down on the smuggler’s planet with death and destruction in mind and ran into a pair of Vryhh ships standing guard. She giggled at the thought of the Kliu pulling up in consternation when Harskari snapped a beam across their bow and told them to get out or get ashed. A tridda comic, that. Of course, it wouldn’t happen. Too boring for Harskari. She dipped a finger in her cup. The tea was cold. She looked at the samovar, sighed, and set the cup down; she didn’t really want more tea.

Outside, the sun had vanished, taking most of the color with it except for a last fugitive gleam lighting the needle peaks. For a moment she envied Aleytys this’house, but, only for a moment. Lee had paid a price for it and was still paying. I’m not willing to do that, not yet anyway. I wish I knew what was wrong here. I wish I knew if I should do something about Digby. 1 wish 1 could do something about the Taalav, get all of them someplace where they’d be safe…

“Shadow, I called Grey, he’ll be home in a bit. Um, I’d like to talk to him here. Neutral territory as it were. Would you mind…?”

“No problem. If you’re doing the transport, I should probably get back to the ship, make sure I’ve got everything I need.”,

“He’ll want to say hello. You don’t have to leave yet.”

“All right.” I doubt that, Lee, I truly do. Last time I was here you’d need a q-scan to measure the amount of welcome he was putting out. She knew Aleytys could read her skepticism. She was sorry for that, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“Let me take a look at you now, hm? See what you brought away from your visit to that world. If anything. Stretch out on the couch. You know the routine.”

As Lee’s fingers moved lightly over her, Shadith was aware of heat and an uneasiness so faint she could barely feel it-an uneasiness that was not part of her but something else. There was a sudden flare of intense pain which vanished almost as soon as it began, then only the familiar lassitude from the deep relaxation Lee’s touch induced.

When she was finished, Aleytys got to her feet, worked her shoulders. “You had some visitors in a few cells. Cysted and dormant. Didn’t like it when I poked at them, but you’re clean now.”

“Akh, horrid thought.” Shadith sat up. “Two years since your last Hunt?”

“Canyli took Grey on as her Second around then. Funny how it happens.” A quick unhappy twist of her mouth, then Aleytys walked to the window and stood looking out at the developing stars. “Suddenly there were no suitable assignments. Don’t make a fuss, he says. I’ve seen what’s been available, he says. You wouldn’t want any of them, he says. Maybe so. Two years. It’s nothing, a snap of the fingers. We’ve had problems before, but we’ve worked them out. Now.

he looks at me now, he looks in the mirror… and he sees an aging man, while I don’t change… when he can’t handle it any longer, he stays in town or at his own place. I’ve tried, Shadow. He won’t talk to me or let me… I can’t… I don’t want to let this fall apart… I think something broke in him that time on Avosing… you were there… sometimes I hate you for that, Shadow… that you were there and I wasn’t… I think more than anything that’s why I had Lilai. And of course there is Lilai. And I remember what it felt like when I knew my own mother had run away and left me. And you were there, Shadow, still in the Diadem, that time on Cazarit, you remember, when I begged Stavver to let me talk to Shari. My son. You remember. Shari wouldn’t talk to me; my son wouldn’t even let me look at him. I can’t let that happen with Lilai. Happily ever after the old stories say. Well, when it’s really ever after, happily goes out the door.”

Shadith hadn’t turned the-lights on after the sunset watch, so Aleytys was a shadow against the faint flicker of the bug screen. She lifted an arm and Shadith thought she rubbed at her eyes, but she couldn’t be sure.

“Grey’s coming. He’ll be landing in a few minutes. Shadow, would you do me a favor and clear away the tea things? I’ve got to wash my face and get myself set for this.”

When Grey walked into the room, Shadith was shocked. Sometime in the years since she’d last seen him, he’d turned into a pinched old man-not old in the body exactly, his hair was still mostly dark, his muscles were-firm, his hands steady; when he walked, there was no shortening of his stride. The sense of age lay in the stiffness with which he held himself, the expression on his face and the fragility she felt inside him. The joy’s gone out of him, she thought. “‘Lo, Grey,” she said and managed a smile to go with the greeting.

“Shadith.” He was polite, controlled. “You’re looking well.”

“And it’s good to see you, Grey. Lee tells me you’re possibly in line for the job as Head. Best of luck.”

“Will you be staying long? There’s a shooting party next week; we could arrange an invitation.”

“Thanks, but this is just a drop-by. I’ll be leaving tomorrow. And I’d best go get ready to do that.” She smiled and went out, knowing he was looking after her with barely repressed anger.