Shadowplay

WATCHER 10

Jotting angry impatient notes on his scratch pad, Makwahkik listened to the tiny insect voices, his face growing grimmer and grimmer.

… a play. A drama. All you Kiskaids

… turn and twist for the amusement of an audience you'll never see…

… Asteplikota told me about the plague

… he did it, him sitting up there now

… it was him planted plague on you…

… Ginny's stuck his thumb in your rebellion and he's still beavering away on both sides…

… Ginny's afraid of them… I'm afraid

… because of us… as soon as he gets the pictures he wants.. boom!.. Good-bye Kiskal

Makwahkik stopped the playback, slapped down the intercom toggle.

"Nahwac, get Cipapll here, then I want to see Kinanipli, I don't care what the bastard's doing."

Grim as Makwahkik, Ginbiryol Seyrishi watched the scene play out, then he dumped the contents of Cells 1 and 4 in the throwaway, making sure no hint of those events were left in the showstock. It was as well both Puk and Ajeri were still resting after the Praisesong, though they would have to know something about this debacle soon enough. That girl, that cursed girl, she was a bomb that kept exploding. The Makh Hen was going rabid; he was beyond their control now. There comes a point when bribes can't buy. And Kinanipli was apt to spend the scant remainder of his life on a kana interrogation table. Fortunately they didn't need him any longer; still, he was one of Puk's lot, his key agent in Aina'iril, and when the Lute found out about his loss, the situation onboard was going to be very shaky indeed.

Ginbiryol settled back in his chair and sat stroking his jaw. After a short spell of brooding, he freed up a section of screen, keyed in the closeEYE sensied to Pukanuk Pousli. The Lute was curled into a fetal knot, sweating and snoring, his face puffed from his exertions in the Praisesong; otherwise he was more or less intact, thanks to the ministrations of the O:doc. "Yes." Ginbiryol tapped a code into the pad and watched with satisfaction as a tranx web coiled about the sleeper. "Better he sleeps for the next several weeks."