Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

Harriet’s heart sank as she thought of the attempt on her life and Legroeder’s. And yet, Morgan was right. They just might have a chance to save Maris, after all.

“All right,” she muttered at last. “You win. Go with Georgio—but you by God be careful! ”

Adaria kept her wings close about her as she scurried from the Elmira Public Library, satchel held tightly in her arms. She blinked a trace of a tear from her eyes. She was going to miss the library, and her work. She would miss the friends she had made here. She would miss living in the company of interesting humans.

She would not miss the intimidation and fear, however.

She would not miss the insidious presence of Centrist Strength, and government officials who meddled in the business of truth preservation, which was a proper business of libraries.

It is not good, that people should be driven from such a calling—that the preservation of truth should be interfered with. But what can I do? One Fabri?

It seemed hopeless, and that was troublesome in itself. Adaria had never been one to give up hope. Her mentor would be sorry to hear that it had come to this. Perhaps there was some way to maintain hope. Some way.

As she stepped off the transit platform near her apartment, the chill of memory set in. The memory of the night, ten days ago, when the agents of Centrist Strength had come calling. Terrorist agents, as far as she was concerned. Come to her home. Why hers?

The knock was not loud, but sharp. It was foolish of her to open the door, but somehow the knock seemed commanding. The two men who stood there spoke softly at first, and then with veiled threat in their voices: “…know that there are people you care for, back in the forest… it would be sad if evil came to them. But what you are doing, information you are giving to people who have no right to it, trying to make political gold out of a foolish legend—it has cost one man his life, already. How unfortunate if it cost more lives…”

Even that might not have been enough to cause her to leave her job. No, it was the change at work, her own boss acting as though Adaria had somehow done wrong to provide information to a patron, to Mrs. Mahoney. The chill had set in, not long after Mrs. Mahoney had come to the library asking about Impris ; and it had grown steadily deeper, until Adaria simply could stand it no longer.

She let herself into the apartment with a whuffing sigh. Letting down her satchel, she turned and relocked the door with great deliberation. For a moment, she could not move, but just stood back from the door, arms and wings wrapped around herself, shivering. Then she went to the kitchen and put tea water on to heat. While she waited for the water to boil, she went to the com.

“Vegas…”

“Ffff—Adaria. Hello.” Mrs. Mahoney’s housekeeper sounded subdued, but pleased to hear from her. They were more kefling —acquaintances—than truefriends; and yet, in a city with so few Fabri natives, the distinction seemed less important.

Adaria fluttered her wings, trying to think what to say. She’d simply had the impulse to call, without knowing what she would say. “I’ve left my job at the library. It’s just become too… uncomfortable.” Dangerous .

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Vegas, who’d lived with her own share of danger in recent weeks. “Are you going to move back home?”

Back with our own people? “Perhaps later,” Adaria admitted, trying not to feel it as a defeat. Driven from human society by racist elements. Was it racism? Or a simpler evil? “Have you heard anything from your employer?”

“Ffff—Mrs. Mahoney and Morgan have returned, and taken refuge in the Narseil embassy.”

“The Narseil?” Adaria asked in surprise. “That’s… most unusual, isn’t it? I was not aware that the Narseil were prone to such hospitality.”

“Unusual, indeed. But there are strange things happening at the Spacing Authority, apparently, and they cannot come home. Plus, there’s the missing woman I told you about before. Mrs. Mahoney just called me, in fact. They think this woman might have been taken to a place up in the home province. They’d like us to put the word out… they don’t know who’s behind it…” The concern, edged with fear, was audible in Vegas’s voice.

Adaria’s own fear was rising again. Centrist Strength… meddling in our land again? “Are you all right, Vegas?”

“Yes—yes, I think I’m safe enough here. Mrs. Mahoney’s people are looking out for me.”

“Good.” Adaria was silent a moment, thinking. “You know, maybe I should think about returning home sooner, rather than later…”

“Will you take word about the woman? Mrs. Mahoney is very worried.”

“Of course. Yes. Send me all the details.”

“I will. And Adaria? Ffff—take care.”

Major Jenkins Talbott read the intelligence reports with a curled lip. He still hadn’t gotten over the way someone had snatched this woman Maris O’Hare out of the hospital before his people could get to her. And he still didn’t know who the hell they were, or why they had done it. Someone trying to muscle in on Strength? But who else would care, or want to put the squeeze on Rigger Legroeder? Not that that mattered now, since Legroeder had fled the planet. But Command—and especially, it seemed, the Kyber affiliates—were even more upset than he was. They wanted her found. It seemed the affiliates didn’t take well to people getting away from their outposts, even podunk backwater outposts.

But at last he had some good news. His people—well, okay, Colonel Paroti’s people, but they were all part of the same division—had tracked her down. It seemed her abductors had gotten a little careless in their driving, and run someone off the road, way up north of here. They’d fled the scene, but a tracker on the other car had made the ID. So now Talbott knew where they were: basically in the middle of nowhere. Which was fine with him. All the easier to get in, make a snatch, and get out—without any hassle from the police or need to involve North and the planetary authorities.

Talbott looked up with a frown as the agent who’d brought him the report entered his cubicle. “Good work, Corporal,” Talbott said, slapping the report down. “Give yourself a pat on the ass for it.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Corporal Sladdak, with a crisp nod.

Talbott chuckled. A loyal Strength soldier, this one. Might make good officer material, some day—if he ever, for chrissake, learned to loosen up a little. So goddamn earnest. Talbott squinted at the wall above Sladdak’s left shoulder, then blinked and picked up a document wafer. “Corporal, I need a message taken over to field ops. We’re asking them to lend us a field action agent. I don’t figure we need the extra body, but Command’s got a bee in their bonnet about it.” He paused, then yanked his gaze back to his man. “Corporal, how’d you like to join me on a little mission? We need to liberate this woman from captivity and take care of her ourselves.”

“I sure would, sir,” the corporal said, without blinking.

“Good. Damn straight. Well, after you deliver this message for me, you go home and get yourself ready for a little field operation. It’s an important one, you hear?”

“Yes, sir …”

The Flux felt different to Legroeder this time, as they flew down the light-years, far from the outer boundaries of Outpost Ivan. A part of him that had grown intensely attached to Tracy-Ace/Alfa was struggling to find a way to fill the emptiness where, against all odds, he had found something to treasure. Or at least want to treasure. Was it real, the thing that had happened to him with Tracy-Ace? He wasn’t quite sure anymore. The Flux—perhaps acting in concert with his heart—felt more tenuous than usual, with a less clearly defined feeling of movement. He couldn’t quite tell if the difference was in him or in the Flux itself—or maybe in the peculiarities of the Kyber ship Phoenix . Despite the lack of feeling of movement, they were speeding along briskly, as though in a planetary jetstream—thin, high-altitude winds.