Horizons

FOURTEEN

AHNI SAT UPRIGHT IN BED. WAKING FROM A NIGHTMARE about Tania.

Are you all right?The room voice queried her in a feminine, motherly tone. Would you like me to call someone? Would you care for a calming tea? I have several in stock.

“Green tea.” Tania had kissed her, then bitten her throat with vampire fangs. “Has Li Zhen replied to my message?”

No.

Ahni swung her legs over the side of the bed. The mug of tea already steamed on the refreshment bar.

She crossed the room naked to get it, caught a trace of Dane’s scent on her skin as she lifted the cup to her lip. How was Tania involved in this? Ahni reemembered her sense of triumph after Ahni had left her father’s banquet room. Perhaps she should have stayed another day, connfronted them both. She had let her emotions drive her up here. With a jerk of her shoulders, Ahni stalked over to the built-in wardrobe, pulling open a drawer for clean clothes. A glint of gold caught her eye. Xai’s medallion. She had kept it with her, tossed it into the drawer with her underwear. She pulled it out now, inspectting it. Why had Tania taken it? And how had she gotten access to Xai’s private rooms? She and Xai had always competed, teased each other with barbed words.

A tiny imperfection caught her eye… a dark speck revealed by the angle of the light above the wardrobe, it gleamed with an odd matte sheen. Ahni peered at it. A data dot. Someone had glued it to the back of the medallion. Probably a homily recited by some famous poet or scholar urging the young recipient to greater honors. She started to drop the medallion into the drawer, hesitated. She had been at that ceremony and had no memory of anyone saying anything about a holo as part of the award.

Frowning, she dressed quickly. Dane would have equipment to read it. Secure equipment.

You have visitors, the Room announced.

“Who?”

Security. Apologetically. I have to let them in.

Which meant they had a warrant. Ahni slipped the medallion into her pocket as the door opened and two uniformed young women with narrow, wary eyes slid into the room, looking everywhere all at once.

The first one in the door carried a small stun pistol openly in her hand. It didn’t quite point at Ahni.

“Ahni Huang?” The smaller of the two women, with a native’s lithe build took a half step forward.

“Yes.” She drew herself up. “You waked me.”

“We have a warrant for your arrest.”

“For what?” Ahni didn’t move.

“Questioning.” The other security guard spoke up. “That’s all.”

And she stepped back, urging Ahni toward the door with a twist of her shoulders.

Ahni decided to play this game out. “Fine, whatever. I hope you have a good reason for this.” She didn’t make it too much of a threat because the woman with the stun gun looked hopeful.

A small cart waited outside, emblazoned with the NYUp logo and painted the same blue as the Security uniforms. Her doorman was on duty and he pointedly did not look as she marched past him, flanked by her escort. Ahni climbed in beside the taller woman, wondering just how often they took guests in for questioning with weapons.

They navigated the tourist corridors and it struck Ahni that they seemed quite empty for this time of morning. “Where is everybody?”

The woman did the one-shoulder shrug.

“What’s it like to be so rich you don’t have to wear a chip?” asked the one with the stun gun.

Ahni shrugged and settled herself to wait. They passed through a plaza lined with expensive shops. The small tables set amidst the garden boxes planted to real flowers and blooming trees were deserted. They turned suddenly into a narrow side corridor, then into another. A door slid open at their approach and the cart whipped inside. If this was town hall, she thought, it wasn’t too impressive. The cramped space barely gave them room to exit the vehicle. The driver had relaxed, but the other one still waited for an excuse. Ahni didn’t give her one as she followed the driver to a small door that opened for them, closed behind them. The guards ushered her down a corridor with the right-angle corners of the tourist level and into a small, featureless room less than two meters square. It was cold inside, not quite refrigerator cold, but chilly, containing no furniture at all, just walls colored an off green that made her feel slightly queasy.

The door slid closed behind her, leaving her alone.

A cell? Ahni looked around, her breath fogging in the cold air. A small ventilation grill near the ceiling hissed with a rising and falling sibilance that Ahni found annoying. She had never heard a whisper from any ventilation system anywhere on the platform. Combine it with the temperature that had already raised goose bumps on her arms, the ugly color that definitely affected her stomach, and you had a deliberately unpleasant environment. And she smelled vomit. Nice touch, she thought and sat down with her back against the wall opposite the ventilation grill, as far from its trickle of cold air as she could get. She was obviously not here as an honored guest. The floor was cold, too, as was the wall. She shifted to a squat, arms clasped around her knees, grateful now to the hours spent in her granddmother’s garden, squatting beside the raised beds with her, weeding. Grandmother did not tolerate a sloppy western sit.

No one had searched her for weapons. Ahni looked around the room. That meant they had scanned her thoroughly at some point in her journey. Probably here, she decided. They’d know by now what she was made of right down to the bone marrow. She was starting to shiver. Ahni blinked into Pause, electing to constrict external blood vessels, reducing heat loss, conserving her core temperrature. She shut down the shivering response, too. That would cost her some warmth, but would make whatever confrontation was about to happen a bit more even. It was hard to negotiate well when your teeth were chattering. Finally, she shut down her pain response, felt the creeping chill fade, and dropped into waking sleep, slowing her heart rate, reducing metabolic function to minimum.

The door whispered open and two people burst into the room.

Ahni blinked out of Pause as a man with a medical insignia on his sleeve caught her by her chin. “I’m fine.” She brushed his hand aside… forcefully… and stood up. “Hands off.”

He didn’t answer, had whipped out a handheld bio-scanner was staring fixedly at the readout. “Damn.”

His eyebrows rose. “I’ve read about people like you, but it’s impressive to see it in the flesh.” He looked up from the display, his mixed-latino face crinkling into a smile. “How far can you shut down?”

“Pretty far.” She returned his smile, noticing the platform’s Addministrator behind him. He was angry and getting angrier, so she smiled even more sweetly at the medic. “I can make someone believe I’m dead if they don’t happen to have a scanner or a high E rating.”

“Wow.” The man was shaking his head. “That’s really cool. I’ve only seen that in the teaching vids. I’d love to see you do that sometime.”

“Out, Seguro!” The Administrator glared from her to the medic.”Nice trick,” he said as the man left regretfully. “I should have read up on your kind more.”

“Yes, you should have.” She kept her voice and manner sweet because it was irritating him enormously.

“Before I contact my fammily’s legal staff, would you care to explain this illegal detention? And the physical conditions?”

“This isn’t an upscale hotel. Sorry about that, but the rest of us live a little differently.”

Oh, so it was going to be like that. She tilted her head, taking her time, studying the Administrator’s dark face, lightfiber tattoo, and earring, smiling at his building fury.”Not many people with a 32°C body temperature are comfortable in a 10°C environment,” she said at last.

He shrugged and clearly came to some decision. “I don’t have time for games and I’m already in a corner so threats about lawyers and lawsuits aren’t going to get you anywhere. I want your brother and I want him right now, and I’m going to do anything it takes to get him.”

“And when you find him, you can tell me where he is,” Ahni said. He was very stressed, and it occurred to her that she had played the wrong tile, here. “I don’t know what my brother is up to, or why he’s causing trouble up here. I am looking for him for personal reasons.” She met the Administrator’s eyes.

The sharp edge of his desperation chilled her more than the temperature.

“You can help me find your brother and I am going to do whatever it takes to get your cooperation.” He bared his teeth at her. “The stakes are a lot bigger than you know. And don’t think your Elite physical games are going to help you out here. 1 can shoot you full of enough drugs to override anything you can do with your expensive nanoware. Think about it. I’ll give you fifteen minutes. That’s all the time I have.”

He turned on his heel and left.

His back was to the wall. He meant his threats. Ahni looked after him, cold bothering her again. The temperature was dropping. A little more coercion. For the first time, a bleak fear began to seep in around the edges of her calm. What had happened?

Ahni squatted, conserving heat, dropping into a low metabolic state, her awareness focused on the door.

In spite of her physical addjustments she was shivering continuously by the time it opened again.

“Damn!”

She didn’t need the sound of his voice to recognize Dane, and the flare of his anger was almost enough to warm her. As she blinked to full awareness, he dropped to his knees beside her on the floor, his hands hot as fire on her throat and face, which only made the shivering intensify.

“Sometimes Laif has the brains of a lizard. Maybe less.” Dane pulled her against him. “Ahni, are you all right?”

“I-I am. Actually.” Her teeth were chattering now and she struggled to control the shudders that racked her. “I can stand up. I’m just cold is all.” The temperature in the room was increasing rapidly. Felt like Taiwan. She drew a deep breath of humid, bloodwarm air, but had to drop into Pause again to finally get the spasm under control. He had his arms around her, steadying her, and she luxuriated in the heat of his flesh.

“Damn, it’s my fault. I should have realized he wasn’t going to believe me. I know Laif. He just forges ahead when he thinks he’s on the right path. And then I had a couple of fires to put out, and I couldn’t get up here. I’m sorry, Ahni.”

“I’m okay.” She looked up at him, steady on her feet now, so glad for the warmth. “Dane, what happened?”

“Council intervention. CSF are on their way up here.”

Ahni bit her lip, thinking of all that meant. “How soon do they arrive? And… what’s going to happen when they do?”

“A lot, I’m afraid,” Dane said heavily.

“How much time?” She closed her eyes, still holding the shivering at bay, trying to think.

“About eighteen hours.” Dane’s arm tightened around her. “They’re coming up at emergency speed. Let’s get you out of here.”

“Laif’s going to let me go?”

“Oh, yeah. He damn well is.” This last he addressed to the video eye overhead. The door opened silently and she exited gratefully, still leaning on Dane.

The Administrator stood there and he didn’t look pleased at all. “So since we’re all on the same side now, want to tell us where your brother is?”

“Same answer as last time.” Ahni gave him a level stare.

“Knock it off, Laif.” Dane’s temper was simmering again. “Now we have less time to find him.” He turned his back on the Administrator. “Ahni, any word from Li Zhen?”

“Not at the time Security picked me up.” She stared at Laif, acccessed her link. “Nothing there now. I’ll have to try and drop in on him. Wait.” She groped in her pocket, a bit surprised at its metallic warmth when she still felt so cold. “This belongs to my brother. There’s a data dot on it–probably a copy of the award, but I didn’t have time to look at it—” She gave the Administrator a brief, cold stare. “Before I ended up here.”

“Where’s the reader, Laif?” Dane held out his hand and Ahni dropped the medallion into it.

Dane pried the dot up with a fingernail, dropped it onto a scandisk and sealed it down.

Without a word, the Administrator took it and dropped it into a scanner. Almost immediately, the machine emitted a silvery chime. Encrypted data, a silvery voice murmured. I’m afraid you do not have access. If you are an authorized reader, please enter your perrsonal bio-ID.

“So much for an award,” Ahni murmured, her pulse quickening. Ah, older brother, she thought. Did you make a mistake here? At last?

“Who do you have who’s good with encryption?” The Administrator glared at Dane.

“Noah.” Dane nodded. “I’ll send him up here. While Noah’s working on that, Laif, we’re going to go visit Li Zhen.”

“I need you here.” The Administrator’s face darkened.

“That’s our only option right now.”

He stayed close beside here when they left and took her hand in the alley, his grip tight. “I thought you were on opposite sides,” she said as they reached the end of the alley way and turned right, toward the main tourist promenade.

“Officially.” He gave her a sideways look, a crooked smile. “We share the same goals.”

They reached the tourist promenade, turned toward her hotel. The wide corridor was fairly crowded.

Dinner time, Ahni realized, and her stomach immediately cramped with hunger. She hadn’t eaten since the evening before. Caught the wafting fragrance of grilling fish and managed not to drool. “Dane, I have to eat someething or I’m going to fall down.”

“Sorry.” He looked startled, then concerned. “What else am I missing? Do you need anything else? I’m not thinking very well right now.”

“Food will do.” The vendor offered an assortment of vegetables and fresh tofu, which she was stir-frying quickly in a small pan and serving in rounds of thin bread, topped with spicy sauce. When the woman handed it to her, Ahni could barely restrain herself from wolfing it.

As she ate, she began paying attention to the people around them. She had become accustomed to the level of hostility in the platform corridors, and here, on the main promenade, where most of the people were downsiders and the rest were the vendors and service staff who catered to them, that hostility wasn’t extreme. Hadn’t been.

It was now. She blinked, scanning the wide promenade, realizing that it had risen to an intensity like that of the upper levels. Dane’s hand closed on her arm and she swallowed the last bite of vegetables and tofu, following him as he wove through the crowd deftly avoiding contact with the tourists.

Worry-anxiety-spread down the corridor like ripples in a pond. Someone had dropped a stone into this one, all right. Ahni thought of the restaurant an hurried to catch up to Dane.

The tension and anger grew, and Dane’s face was grim. Up ahead a knot of bodies swirled in the corridor and tourists an vendors were hustling away in both directions, their anxiety a bright metallic overlay to the dusky eddies of anger and aggresssion filling the corridor. Dane slid through the packed bodies effortlessly. She followed much more cautiously, afraid of provoking someone, making the situation worse. Natives, she thought, as she searched for space, squeezed through. Most of these people were natives, young, second generation, with the skinny, supple bodies of the scrum players. The bodies around her parted unexpectedly and Ahni found herself on the inner edge of the crowd.

She took in the situation in an instant. Three downside tourists and a handful of natives had squared off, trading insults. The tourists, three gym-muscled men in expensive singlesuits, had clearly been doing something recreational, either alcohol, Ahni thought, or chemicals. Testosterone-agression edged with flight/fight tension clogged the air. Dane was speaking to the native onlookers, a quick word here and there, a chin-jerk, radiating authority. And the natives were listening. One by one they stepped back, some of them reluctantly, blending into the crowd. The spectators were also thinning Ahni noticed, slipping away, leaving the braver tourists behind. But these people were beginning to simmer now, too.

One of the intoxicated tourists, a small, compact man with the muscles of a dancer, farted. Loudly.

A growl swept the crowd and the ring around the men tightened. One of the natives facing off with them said something sharp. The offender laughed. “You monkeys are all pussies,” he said, loudlyc enough for every spectator to hear. “You’d never make it in the real world.” And with one fluid and totally unexpectedmove, he punched one of the natives in the gut.

It caught Ahni totally by surprise, not even the faintest whisper of intent had leaked out. The native doubled over with a choked cry, dropped to his knees, and vomited. The stench drifted across the crowd, and the wave of shock and surprise that gripped the onlookers erupted.

Bodies surged forward, sweeping Ahni with them. Someone clawed at her shoulder, twisting back and down as if to pull her off her feet. She twisted, ducked with the pressure, stabbed with stiffened fingers, and heard a grunt as she connected, caught a flash of an euro face, eyes round with shock.

“No!” Dane’s yell filled the corridor, and the whip-crack of auuthority halted the crowd briefly. Ahni whirled just in time to see him grab the offending tourist.

Drunk or stoned as he might be, the downsider clearly knew how to fight, and Dane’s slight, upsider muscles weren’t going to be much of a match. Ahni started forward, shoving intervening bodies aside, but there was no need. As the man swung, Dane ducked it in a fluid motion that seemed more dance than combat, sidestepped and grabbed the man’s arm and the top of his singlesuit, adding to the momentum of his swing so that the tourist staggered forward, too fast in the less than normal gravity to catch himself.

Dane gave him a little extra help so that he slammed chest first onto the corridor flooring, knocking the wind out of himself.

His buddies surged forward, but from all sides, nearly a dozen natives leaped on them, pinning arms, restraining the men as they swore and threatened, spittle spraying as they raged. The two-toned chime of Security sounded and Ahni realized that the crowd had nearly evaporated, that the natives were leaving fast, some of them even breaking into a run. But Security cars, a bit larger and more powerful than the shuttles she had seen in the corridors, converge from all directions, cutting off escape. Panic flared and the crow swayed and surged.

Dane pushed forward, no longer bothering to be deft, shoving people out of his way as he headed for the Security-clad people spreading out with stun-sticks across the corridor. The woman clearly in charge spun to face him as he approached, her stick up and ready, then halted as he spoke rapidly, shaking her head, their argument rising. Finally she turned to the car she’d climbed off of, spoke over some kind of link.

“Hold!” Dane’s voice rose over the babble of voices, ringing with authority. “I got a promise from Security. Only the people who did the fighting are in trouble. The rest of you can leave in a minute or two.”

The small group of natives, men and women in equal numbers, Ahni noted, hustled their snarling captives through the crowd, their faces grim. The Security chief turned away from the car, her expresssion just as grim and clearly dissatisfied with whatever instructions she had received. She raised her wrist to her lips, her words sudddenly loud above the crowd murmur, clearly amplified.

Remain where you are until an officer takes your bio-ID. Then you can leave. We will not charge anyone who was not actively involved with the disturbance. Remain where you are. Those of you involved in the brawl, we got a positive vid-ID on everyone of you, so you remain here.

That raised a growl of protest. “Hey, they started it!” A small, squat Latino-faced native stepped forward. “They started the whole damn thing. Weren’t you watching?”

Cries of agreement rose from the mob and it closed ranks once more. But a slight, Asian-mix native with an intricate network of braids decorating his scalp, touched Latino-face on the shoulder, shrugging and speaking rapidly to the men and women around him. Ahni had seen Dane talking to him before the fight.

In fact… she reviewed her memory of that moment… she had noticed him talking to a couple of the others in the group, too. The sudden tightening of the crowd relaxed. People moved apart, the razor edge of violence blunted now, replaced by worry, fear, concern in a rainbow of shades. Ahni scanned the faces. Yeah, the two others she had noticed in conversation with Dane were talking to clustered naatives, and clearly urging calm. Dane had faded into the crowd and she noticed him get one or two people past Security although reinforcements were arriving and in another minute, no one would be able to slip away down the corridor. He veered toward her. “Do you have a guest pass for your room?” he asked urgently.

Without a word she slipped it from her pocket, thumbprinted it to activate it, and handed it over. Dane vanished.

The cordon was complete now. The tourists were being loaded into a cart, two of them threatening legal action, but sobered and subdued now. The third man, the one who had started the brawl with his punch, stood patiently, never once saying a word. Curious, Ahni edged closer. He wasn’t afraid or upset at all.

Or drunk. Dane appeared just then at her side.

“Ready to go?” He nodded toward a forming stream of bodies at one point in the cordon, where Security was reading and recordding ID.

“He’s a pro.” She twitched her chin in the direction of the third tourist. “Hired to do this.”

“I caught that.” Dane nodded. “I know Carrie–the woman in charge. She’s going to see what she can trip him into.”

”You and Laif run this platform, quite well, you know,” she murmured.

He smiled.

They had turned onto the main cross corridor where her hotel was located. The doorman was a woman today, with the look of a native, and she lifted her chin to Ahni as she approached.”You have a visitor.”

Her skeptical expression said a lot.

“It’s all right.” Ahni nodded. “I gave him the pass.”

“Okay.” She disapproved.

“Question,” Ahni said. “Clearly bumping is rude or even a challlenge up here?”

Dane nodded.

”When that tourist passed gas… that is taboo, too?”

“Oh yes.” Dane shook his head, sighed. “We can’t get the tourist PR people to include that in their intro vids for visitors, but I wish they would. It’s not just rude, it’s sort of like spitting on everyone around you.

Made a nice trigger didn’t it?” He gave her a crooked smile. “He must have biological control like yours.”

“Maybe.” Ahni thought back. “Pause would explain his timing and his reflexes.”

“Does it bother you to have machines in your head?” He was looking at her curiously.

“Does it bother you that you couldn’t go down to Earth today and walk around comfortably?”

“That’s just muscle.” They had stopped beneath one of the flowering trees in the courtyard. “I can fix that by spending more time in the gym. If I want to. It doesn’t change who I am.”

“Nanoware doesn’t either.” She smiled. “It’s not like some sort of AI mind. It doesn’t affect who I am or how I think. It’s just having a really fast computer is all. Don’t people use it up here?”

“Not much. Tourists bring it up. How do you know that it doesn’t affect how you think?”

She shrugged. “‘Well, I guess I don’t really know if it affects me. since it was installed before I was born.” She smiled again. “I’m just me. The nanos are just data access hardware, switches, instant connection to the net no matter if I have a link or not. It’s not like I hear voices in my head.”

Dane shook his head. “If you say so.”

“What’s going to happen to the people in the brawl?” she asked. “I saw you talking to the natives who were part of it.” She raised an eyebrow. “Did you get them off?”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “They got set up. I had Laif tell Carrie to bring the tourists in by a different route, and as soon as they were out of sight, let the natives go. That’ll cool off the Con. There’s’ convenient stretch of corridor with a faulty cam in it, so there won’t be any permanent vid record.”

As they approached the room door the room voice murmured You have a visitor waiting. He had a pass.

“Thank you,” Ahni said, and the door slid open.

The man, scruffy in a grubby overall that had once carried an insignia on the front zip pocket and showed the scar where it had been effaced, sprawled in a recliner, a glass of beer in his hand from the refreshment wall. His face had a leathery, weathered look, although how you could get “weathered” up here, Ahni had no idea. As he grinned and lifted the beer in a toast, she noticed that his teeth were all synthetic implants and that he only had a thumb and forefinger on the hand that held the beer. The deformities repelled her. Why, when it was so easy and cheap to get reconstructive surrgery using cloned tissue?

“Nice company you keep, Dane.” He grinned up at them. “Thanks for the nice soft place to hide. I hate having to come down here looking for you. Heard some rumors that say maybe mining looks good again.”

Ahni eyed the man, wondering what his age was in years. His bones were about as diminished as Koi’s and the heave of his chest suggested that too much time in fullG would kill him for sure.

“Kyros, Ahni. She’s okay, Kyros.” Dane amiled. “Ahni, meet Kyros. He’s a miner… asteroid miner… so he doesn’t have any manners to speak of, but he’s harmless.”

Lot of affection there. Longtime friends, Ahni guessed.

“What were you doing down here?” Dane dropped wearily onto the end of the bed. “Not even I can save your butt if Laif gets hold of you.” He sighed.”You’re lucky Ahni was there with her pass.”

“Dane, you asked me to keep an eye out.” Kyros sat forward. “I seen something. Somebody’s tooling around out there where they don’t belong.”

“Not just some new competition?” Dane’s eyes narrowed.

“Nah.” Kyros shook his head. “It’s Swat-Prala’s old ship… that bucket of bolts that’ll get any fool killed who trusts it too long. And whoever is using it is a crappy pilot. Damn lucky one of the rock jocks hasn’t holed him, just to get him out of the way beefore he hits someone. Or one of Darkside’s catchers.

Jazmin’s just about hot enough to do it. He nearly clipped her, bringing in a load of ice.”

”You ID the pilot?” Dane asked softly.

“Nope. I don’t run around with a chip reader. Somebody told Jazmin he’s a wildcard. I think that’s why she didn’t scuttle him, but why would a wildcard buy a crap heap like that ship of Swat-Prala’s? They’re all filthy rich.”

Ahni met Dane’s eyes. “What’s he’ doing out there?” she asked the miner.

“Nothin’.” Kyros shrugged. “That’s what’s funny. He’s just kind of scootin’ around. Driver’s ed?”

“You hear any other rumors about him?” Dane asked.

Kyros shook his head. “Nobody really knows anythin’ much about him. Or cares. Rocky’s selling him ice for the ship and she gave the guy a few pointers. Wants to keep him alive to keep buying, I guess.

Heard another bit that might or might not have someethin’ to do with this.” His eyes, dark and sly as a dragon’s moved between them. “But I’m doin’ all the givin’ here, Dane. I’ll tell you what else I hear when you tell me what’s going on. You know me.” He chuckled. “Just gotta know everything.”

“It’s blowing up, Kyros,” Dane said slowly. “CSF is on the way. I need the guy who’s in Swat-Prala’s ship. He’s the only bone Laif can throw this dog.” He smiled mirthlessly. “And if he doesn’t throw it something, it’s going to eat us both.”

Kyros leaned forward, his manner suddenly, deadly serious. “Dane, you don’t need to end up the bone.

This is Laif’s game, not oyours.” He glanced fleetingly at Ahni.

“She knows, Kyros.”

“Okay then. This is what’s gonna come down, Dane.” Kyros tilted his glass, drained the last of his beer.

“CFS pops on up to the hub and all hell breaks loose. You’re smack in the middle. ‘Bout time you headed back out to the Belt before you get busted for those pets of yours.”

Ahni winced at Dane’s reaction. Watched Kyros’s eyes darken. “Damn,” the old man said, and drew a deep, labored breath. “What you see in them, I don’t know. But then I don’t, do I?” He levered himself to his feet with difficulty. “I’ll go catch up with Jazmin. She’s picking up a load and it’s slow coming in. She’s got time on her hands to go lookin’. You want him alive?”

“If possible,” Dane said evenly. “It would be better to have him talking, but I don’t want people dead who don’t need to be.” He didn’t look at Ahni.

“Will do.” Kyros shuffled toward the door, paused to look into Ahni’s face. “Too bad you got mixed up in this. Dane’s good at watching your back for you.”

”Yeah.” She gave him a faint smile. “I bet he is.”

Kyros gave a cackling laugh and left the room.

Dane got Noah out of bed between shifts. Not sleeping, Ahni guessed from his tone of voice. But he agreed quickly to head down to the admin offices and work on the medallion’s data dot. “Should be a piece of cake,” he said.

“Tell him that Taiwanese will be the base for the encryption,” Ahni said.”Not modern, but classical.”

Noah sounded stressed.

Dane passed on the information, closed the link, and stood, more gracefully than Kyros, although it clearly cost him an effort, too. For a moment he looked down into her upturned face, then leaned down and kissed her gently on the mouth. “Now we need to visit Li Zhen” he said. “We’ll use my ship and see if you can get us in.”

You have a message,the room broke in. From Li Zhen, Chairman of Dragon Home.

“Speak of the devil,” Dane murmured.

It was prerecorded. Li Zhen would be happy to speak with her and would send a Courier.”You can’t come,” she told Dane. “A bonded courier won’t take you without an invitation. And Laif needs you here,” she answered his frown. “I’ll convince him to meet with you.”

He agreed, reluctantly, because she was right, took the guest pass she gave him and left. “Be very careful,” he said from the doorway. “Please.”

When the door closed behind him. Ahni dropped into Pause. Time to lay all her puzzle pieces out and see how Kyros’s new piece fit.