Mark Tiedemann - Chimera

His passport had been confiscated.

Later, Ariel had let him know that she had interceded in his arrest. His Auroran citizenship was reinstated and he received a new passport, but his position became tenuous in the course of action taken by ITE to challenge the new document, and an injunction resulted barring him from leaving Earth.

"Legally," Ariel had explained, "this is absurd. It's a gesture. They can't keep you from leaving unless they arrest you. They can't arrest you on Auroran soil. If you do leave, your Auroran passport won't be questioned anywhere else and without criminal charges being filed, there are no grounds for extradition. They're trying to keep you here because they don't know what they want to do with you. You frighten them. We all do."

I have news for you, Ariel, he now thought as he placed his one small bag on the customs desk, they frighten me…

Hofton set his burdens on the desk beside Derec's and extracted a disk from his jacket. He handed it to the attendant.

"I didn't even have a chance to find out anything about the director of the lab," Derec said. "Rotij Polifos. Never heard of him. "

"I had a chance," Hofton said. "And?"

"I think later…?"

Derec looked at the customs attendant, who seemed totally absorbed by their documents. "Sure," he said.

In retrospect, Derec realized that he saw the attendant push the button. She closed out one screen, turned smoothly, and her hand brushed across a depression on the desk to the right of her keypad. A second later, she handed Hofton a disk.

"Derec Avery?"

Derec turned to the voice and found himself confronted by three men in uniform and a fourth in a dark suit. One of the uniforms stood closest.

"Yes?" Derec replied, his pulse picking up.

"Port Authority," the uniform said. "Would you come with us, please?"

"Um…I…"

"Excuse me, officer," Hofton said, stepping forward. "Is there a problem?"

"We have some questions for Mr. Avery."

"You may ask them here. We have a shuttle to catch."

The uniform frowned. "Who are you?"

Hofton extended his ill. The officer slipped the disk into a palm reader, then showed it to the man in the suit.

"We are on Auroran embassy business, " Hofton said. "Unless you have specific issues that you are willing to state publicly, you have no legal grounds to detain us. Our passage is to Kopernik Station and we will be staying at the embassy annex there. I can cite you the relevant part of the diplomatic accommodations code if you like, but I believe you already know it. "

"There's no need to-" the man in the suit said.

"Identify yourself, sir," Hofton said. "Are you also Port Authority? If not, please produce a valid warrant."

"Warrant…?"

"If you wish to detain Mr. Avery, I believe a warrant is required-you may not do so on spec. If there is such a warrant, we are permitted to return to the Auroran embassy here for consultation with our law department. Mr. Avery is currently working under a brief from Ambassador Burgess. You may check that. The brief extends her diplomatic immunity to her agents. You may check that in the code as well. But you may not detain us while you do so unless you have a valid warrant."

"What is the nature of your visit to Kopernik?" the man in the suit asked.

"You have not yet identified yourself," Hofton said. "Mr. Avery is not obligated to answer that."

"Are you a lawyer?"

"No, sir. If I were I would have settled this matter by now. I'm giving you the benefit of a less predatory disposition. "

The man in the suit stepped forward, his face reddening. "That man," he said, jabbing a finger at Derec, "does not leave this planet. "

"I repeat," Hofton said calmly, "do you have a valid warrant?"

Derec watched, stunned, as if time had stopped. Hofton did not flinch, did not smile, did not do anything that might have looked like an actionable gesture. The man in the suit reddened further.

"You have no authority to prevent him, " Hofton said finally. "If you attempt to do so, the Auroran embassy will file a formal complaint. If you do not have that warrant, I can also promise that you will no longer hold the position you currently do. Now, there's an easy solution. Kopernik is technically Earth. A satellite, true, and not on the ground, but if you check you will see that it qualifies as Earth. Mr. Avery is not leaving Earth."

"That's facile," the man in the suit said.

"Yes. But legal."

One of the uniforms was smiling. The man in the suit stepped back.

"I'll be contacting my people on Kopernik," he said. "We'll have this conversation sooner or later."

"You'll have plenty of time then to enjoin Mr. Avery from further travel outsystem," Hofton said. "Now, if you don't mind, we have a shuttle to catch. " Hofton turned to the custom attendant. "Please return my original disk now."

The attendant paled visibly and handed over another disk.

"Thank you," Hofton said and grabbed the container and the bag. "Mr. Avery?"

Shaken, Derec managed to walk toward the debarkation concourse.

Halfway to the shuttle, he glanced at Hofton. "How true was all that?"

"Mostly," Hofton said. "I was guessing that they had no warrant, which is the only reason I could think that might prevent them from detaining us. As for what the Auroran embassy would do if he had insisted-which he could have… well, I rather doubt they'd risk an incident over you. "

"You bluffed," Derec said in amazement.

Hofton nodded. "Successfully, I think." Derec took his briefcase from the Kopernik customs inspector, nodded curtly, and walked forward, into the debarkation lounge. From space, Kopernik Station resembled a child's construction from struts and blocks and spheres, additions over time added to the original dumbbell configuration giving the impression of an abstract modelbuilder's idea of a tree. Symmetry could be sensed but not directly observed.

The interior looked no different from any brightly-lit warren on Earth. The debarkation lounge resembled the foyer of a hostel. Derec had dozed during the last half-hour of the flight and felt slightly muddled. He searched for signs directing him to the Spacer section, which should be nearby. He noticed a pair of women off to his right who seemed to be waiting for someone.

Then he saw a station security officer to the left, also watching for someone. Anxious, he increased his pace.

"Mr. Avery?" a man called from behind him.

A sickly warm sensation erupted within him, spreading out from his stomach.

"Sir," Hofton called.

"Mr. Avery-" the man repeated.

"Derec, wait," a woman said.

Derec hesitated at the familiar voice, almost turned to look, and stumbled a few steps. A passerby caught his arm, steadying him. Derec jerked away. "Sorry," he muttered. "Thank you. "

"Derec, " Hofton said, coming around to block his path.

"Derec," came the familiar-sounding voice again. Female. Where?

One of the two women he had noticed grinned at him. Thick mahogany hair haloed her rounded face. She wore a loose-fitting shift and pants, Auroran-style. Derec stared at her, sure he should know her and unable to name her.

Standing beside her was the second woman-taller, dark-skinned, athletic, dressed in a suit that suggested a uniform. She radiated authority and he wondered what trick or bluff Hofton could do now to get them to the Spacer embassy. He swallowed hard and made himself stay put.

"Sir," Hofton said. "I believe our contact is here."

"Hi, boss, " the familiar woman said.

Derec stared, recognizing her now. "Rana…? Rana Duvan…?"

Her grin widened.

"Mr. Avery?" the dark woman asked quietly, stopping within arm's length.

"Y-yes?"

"I'm Sipha Palen," she said, extending a hand. "Coren told me to expect you. I apologize for being late."