Nigel Findley - House of the Sun

"Of course," he said simply.

Oh, drek… That had to be what bug-boy was talking about, didn't it?

The horrible realization must have shown on my face, because Ho asked, "What's the matter, Dirk?"

"We've got to stop Project Sunfire, e ku'u lani," I told him. "We've got to stop it right fragging now."

Gordon Ho blinked. Behind him, I saw Pohaku glaring at me.

"Stop it?" Ho echoed. "Stop Project Sunfire? Why? I admit, I did consider it dangerous. But there's danger and then there's danger, if you take my meaning." He gestured out the window toward the corp gunships hanging against the sky.

I sighed. "Maybe I should have told you about this earlier," I said, then summarized, as succinctly as I could, what bug-boy had told me.

Ho held his peace throughout my spiel, not even asking any questions. He understood what I was telling him, though, I could see that in the way his eyes narrowed and his face hardened. Finally, after maybe five minutes of talking, I concluded, "The way I scan it, your Project Sunfire kahunas are going to get a frag of a lot more than they bargained for."

The erstwhile King Kamehameha V nodded thoughtfully. "If you believe an Insect shaman is telling you the truth," he said slowly.

I shrugged uncomfortably. That was the fragging point, wasn't it? Did I believe bug-boy? "It's not like I've really got much choice."

Ho glanced away, as if not wanting to meet my gaze. I knew what was coming. "I understand. Dirk," he said qui¬etly. "I do. But…"

"She's not your sister," I said, my voice cold and bleak in my own ears.

The ex-king shrugged. "I understand your concern," he went on, still not meeting my gaze. "But I have to consider more than just one person. The entire nation-"

"Will get drek-kicked by these 'entities'," I broke in sharply. "If bug-boy's telling the truth. Hell, maybe he's lying through his fragging teeth. But I don't know, and neither do you." I leaned forward intently. "You're right, you've got to think about your people-all your people. Are you willing to put them at this kind of risk?"

Ho fixed me with his gaze then, and again I felt the immense force of will, of personality, I'd experienced when I'd first met him in me Iolani Palace throne room. "You make a good case, Dirk," he said calmly. "But am I willing to put them at risk from the corporations? I know that risk exists. What you're talking about-"

"It's not immediate, that's true," I said. "Frag, it might not even be real. But there's a big fragging difference, e ku'u lani. You can negotiate with megacorporations…"

Ho had to smile. "… And not with malignant 'entities.' Granted." He sighed. "If anyone ever tells you they'd like to be a head of state…"

"I'll tell them they don't know what the frag they're talking about," I finished. I paused. "So what's it going to be, e ku'u laniV My chest was tight, as if a cold fist were reaching down my throat and trying to turn my lungs inside out. I was afraid I knew which way he was going to jump. Frag, it was the way I'd probably decide if I were in his position. Which threat would any reasonable person consider the most important? One that anyone with a pair of eyes could recognize? Or one based entirely on the testimony of a soul-sucking Insect shaman?

Yes, I thought I knew how Gordon Ho would have to decide. And then what the frag would I do?

I jumped fragging near out of my chair as another voice broke into my thoughts. "The Insect kahuna was telling the truth."

Like two puppets on the same strings. Ho and I pivoted our heads to stare at Akaku'akanene. The bird-boned woman was still sitting in full lotus, staring off into space. For all the reaction she'd shown-or showed now, for that matter-I'd have sworn she was so wrapped up in speaking to geese that she hadn't heard a word we said.

Gordon Ho leaned forward, his gaze drilling into her. "Say that again," he instructed. His voice was soft, but it was an order nonetheless.

Finally, Akaku'akanene focused her eyes and turned to look at her sovereign. "The Insect kahuna was telling the truth," she repeated calmly. 'To me best of his understanding."

"'To the best of his understanding'?" Ho echoed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The Nene shaman shrugged her scrawny shoulders. "He spoke the truth as he believed it to be," she elaborated, almost casually. "There was no prevarication in what he said. He spoke the truth to the best of his understanding. Nene tells me so."

"But he could be wrong," Ho pressed.

"Of course," Akaku'akanene agreed easily. "But he didn't think so."

The ex-king fell silent, and I could almost hear his brain working. Unbidden, my memory brought back an image of Theresa-of her glassy, unblinking eyes. It was all I could do not to speak out, not to throw every argument I could think of behind Akaku'akanene's take on things. But I knew that was the worst thing I could do at the moment. Ho had to come to his own conclusion. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but somehow I managed to keep my yap shut

"What do you think, makuahine?" he asked after what seemed like forever.

"You know what I think, e ku'u lani" the old shaman said with another shrug. "What I always thought, what I always told you. Forgotten, have you?"

Gordon Ho smiled wryly. "No, makuahine, I haven't forgotten." He turned to me. "What do you want to do about this, Dirk?"

I wanted to slump back into my chair and just enjoy the relief that washed over me. But I'd have time for that later. "Shut down Project Sunfire," I said flatly.

To my right I heard an exclamation, quickly muffled, from Pohaku. Ho turned to the bodyguard, one eyebrow raised in query. "You have something to say, Pohaku?" he asked dryly.

The hard-man swallowed visibly. "No e ku'u lani," he said firmly. "I… No. Kala mai ia 'u, forgive my rudeness."

I shot me bodyguard a sharp look. Like frag you've got nothing to say, I thought.

The ex-Ali'i was speaking again, and I turned away from Pohaku. "Shut down Project Sunfire," Ho echoed with a crooked smile. "It sounds so simple. But how, Dirk? I'm no longer Ali'i, remember. And the faction of the government with direct control over Project Sunfire is the same faction mat arranged to pry me out. Somehow I don't think they're going to listen to a decree to close down the project, do you?"

"Don't just tell them. Do it"

"And how do you propose I manage that?"

I swallowed hard. We all knew it was going to come down to this, didn't we? "Send me," I told him. "By all the fragging spirits, I'll shut it down."

He fixed me with those sharp, dark eyes. "How, Dirk?"

"It doesn't matter, does it?" I shot back gruffly. (Translation-I haven 'I got a fragging clue…) "Just give me some assets and some gear, and get me there. I'll do the rest."

Ho's gaze didn't shift, and I felt as though his eyes were burning their way deep into my brain. "You have your reasons for this…" he said slowly.

"So do you, e ku'u lani," Akaku'akanene put in. The moment stretched out until I was fragging near ready to scream. But then the ex-Ali'i nodded once. He seemed to shrink in on himself, as though-just for an instant-he was just plain Gordon Ho instead of King Kamehameha V. "You know, Dirk," he said quietly, "apart from Akaku'akanene, you're the only one I know who treats me as a person, not as a king. You tell me what you think, and you don't care if I agree with you or not. Do you have any idea how refreshing that is?"

He sighed, and his face changed. King Kamehameha V replaced Gordon Ho once more. "What do you need?" he asked me.

If Ho's capabilities were limited by being booted off his throne, I'm not sure I wanted to know how all-encompassing they'd been beforehand. With the sole exception of Jacques Barnard, I'd never dealt with anyone who could whistle up a military transport, personal gear, and personnel with a single phone call. (It was funny-Ho was fragging apologetic that he could supply only one military transport, and that the personnel he could offer were limited to Louis Pohaku, Alana Kono, Akaku'akanene… and a SWAT-style Quick Response fireteam. Only! Cut me loose, here.)