Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

“Ah,” YZ/I said. “There, you are right. There is Carlotta to be considered.” He turned back to Legroeder. “You met our friends from KM/C.”

“Yes. We met them. Including a couple of old colleagues of mine,” Legroeder replied grimly.

YZ/I nodded. “I did not know that you would actually meet your old shipmates. I am sorry. But you found our response satisfactory?”

Legroeder shrugged. “The escort squadron saved our lives. But it seems you took a big risk, provoking one of your allies.”

YZ/I glanced in amusement at Lanyard, who seemed startled to find himself in agreement with Legroeder. “You mean, why didn’t we negotiate with them beforehand?”

“Well, yeah.”

“They would not have agreed. Sometimes they just can’t seem to see what’s in their own best interest. They really didn’t want to see Impris rescued. Or revealed. You, Legroeder, may be the only person ever to have escaped from one of the KM/C outposts, much less to have taken word of Impris back to the Centrist Worlds.”

Legroeder shook his head. “But I wasn’t captured by KM/C. I escaped from—”

“DeNoble—a KM/C satellite.”

Legroeder blinked. “Oh.”

“So, KM/C had great visions of using Impris for the last four years of her term of exclusive use.” YZ/I shrugged. “They were going to be annoyed, no matter how we cut it. I probably would have been, too, in her place.”

“So now what?”

“So now I persuade Carlotta that she needs this map even more badly than she needed Impris . And you know what?” YZ/I glanced back at Lanyard. “I think she’s going to see the wisdom.” When his gaze came back to the others, it was full of fire. “Especially if this information of yours is as valuable as you’ve been claiming. Eh?”

“It is,” Legroeder said. He looked inward, in vain, for reassurance on that score. “I’m sure of it,” he said.

YZ/I ignored Lanyard’s obvious doubt, behind him. His face split into a mirthless grin. The room darkened, and around him and through him, images blazed up of the Kyber colony fleet, making ready for the pilgrimage. YZ/I’s voice reverberated. “Oh, it had better be. Because we’ll know where to find you. And, I might add, so will Carlotta.”

“I’m sending Freem’n Deutsch with you, as my personal representative,” YZ/I said, three days later. “He will be authorized to carry back the data, as it becomes available. And he will be capable, I think, of conveying my needs.”

The half-metal man nodded, his glass eyes glowing momentarily. “I look forward to the opportunity.”

Legroeder remembered Deutsch’s previous ambition to escape from Ivan altogether. Was this a happy compromise? He tried to imagine how the average citizen of Faber Eridani would react to the half-metal man.

“You will admit Rigger Deutsch into your Narseil Institute?” YZ/I asked Fre’geel, with only a hint of an edge to his voice.

Fre’geel assured him that Deutsch would be welcomed. All three interests—Narseil, Centrist, and Kyber—would be entitled to representation in the study of the data.

Over the last three days, they’d met several times to discuss such matters as future espionage and piracy. The Narseil promised not to attempt to lead ships back to Ivan as long as its location remained secret. In return, YZ/I would end piracy as far as Outpost Ivan was concerned. In fact, the time was coming, he said, when the Free Kyber might be interested in trying to normalize relations with the outer worlds. That time was not yet here, perhaps, but equal participation in the Impris data was a step in the right direction.

Legroeder finally had a chance to bring up the subject of Harriet’s grandson. “Remember the matter I asked you to look into? The boy—Bobby Mahoney?”

“What boy?”

Damn . “Have you forgotten? The boy who was captured at the same time I was, on the Ciudad de los Angeles .”

YZ/I focused inward for a moment. “Oh yes—six or seven years old, wasn’t he?”

“At the time. He’d be about… fourteen now, I guess.” Legroeder leaned forward. “This is important , YZ/I. He’s the only grandson of someone I owe a lot to. Can you find him? Find out if he’s still alive? Get him released, if possible?”

YZ/I raised an eyebrow. “Tracy-Ace?”

Tracy-Ace was already working at the console. “I began a search when you asked before. There was nothing in our system about him.” She looked up at Legroeder. “But you were captured by DeNoble. YZ/I?”

The Boss rubbed his chin. “We have some connections on DeNoble. It’ll be awkward, what with your having escaped from there and all—but sure, we’ll make some discreet inquiries for you. If we can help the boy, we will. Fair enough?”

Legroeder felt the knot in his chest ease. “Fair enough. And thank you.”

“Anytime,” said YZ/I.

While Impris was studied by Kyber techs, her passengers and crew were treated as guests of Outpost Ivan. For many of the passengers, it was almost irrelevant where they were; the mere fact of emerging a century and a quarter in their future was clearly disorienting. Quite a number opted to remain on the ship, venturing out only for short exploratory trips into the outpost. Captain Friedman was among those who spent more time aboard the ship than not.

Freem’n Deutsch, during the voyage back, had developed a friendship with the Impris riggers, and also with Pen Lee, the one-time assistant to Inspector Gloris Fandrang. Lee, having been trapped years ago in his vain effort to understand what was happening to Impris and her crew, now seemed trapped in another kind of incomprehensible world, inside his own mind. Deutsch had somehow made an empathic connection where others had failed. If anyone was going to be able to help Pen Lee find his way back out of that interior world, Deutsch was a good candidate, Legroeder thought.

Legroeder himself was growing increasingly anxious, waiting for departure. He had no trouble imagining all the things that might go wrong and interfere with his return to Faber Eridani. Every passing hour seemed an invitation to trouble. Tracy-Ace was extremely busy overseeing much of the activity around Impris , and in her absence Legroeder spent most of his time with the Narseil, or Freem’n Deutsch, or the Impris crew. His H’zzarrelik shipmates now had a certain degree of freedom to move about the outpost. An elaborate story was going around the outpost, a web of lies and truths and near-truths, about how the Narseil had come here under cover to collaborate with the Kyber in going after Impris , and only a terrible misunderstanding had resulted in the battle with Flechette . The story made Legroeder uneasy, but he wasn’t about to contradict it.

As for Tracy-Ace, he was at a loss as to what to think. She remained his primary helper and guide; she was still his friend, but he wasn’t sure if she was still his lover. His implants remained silent, and without the implant connection, it seemed impossible to know her mind or her desires. They hadn’t made love since his return, and he felt awkward and frustrated, and even more disconnected. Half the time Legroeder felt helplessly in love with her, and half the time he feared that he had fallen into a hopeless infatuation. Could he hope to share a life, really, with a pirate? It seemed unlikely.

Over dinner in her quarters, one evening, Tracy-Ace seemed to be reading his thoughts, as she produced a bottle of wine— real wine, apparently—and began to open it. “Legroeder, you’re tense. You’ve been tense.”