Playing God (26 page)

Resaime looked at her mutely. All the words she did not want to say clogged her throat.

Her aunt shifted her grip and pulled Resaime into a real embrace. “It will be well, my own,” Aunt Senejess whispered in her ear. “You and your sister will be safe. I swear it by our Ancestors.”

Resaime closed her eyes and hugged her back with all her strength.

I am doing this for Mother. I am doing this for Theia. I am doing this for our sisters and for the Great Family. She’ll see that the Confederation is the right thing to do, if we can just keep it from falling apart too fast. That’s what’s important. That’s what I have to do.

She pulled back a little. “Thank you, Aunt Senejess. I’m ready to go ahead now.”

Her aunt nodded with approval, stood up, shouldered her bundle, and took Resaime’s hand. Together, they walked into the port.

Trace glanced at the infoview on the back of her right hand. Nothing. No calls, no mail. Nothing. She drummed the windowsill and stared out over the bustling spaceport outside their borrowed offices.

She should have been busy. A thousand details were passing through her station this second. They all needed approval, review, or forwarding. She had teams to coordinate, information to spread, progress reports to write. But all she could do was stand there and think about how Lynn wasn’t sitting in the next room.

The office door opened with its weird swinging motion and R.J. stepped inside. He looked at her for a long moment and shrugged.

“I haven’t heard anything either.”

She glanced at her infoview again. Still nothing. “We have got to call Keale and the Marines, R.J. This is worse than a snapped thread somewhere.”

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. I just wanted to hold off because, well I don’t think we should…encourage them, you know?”

She nodded. “I know. And happens, I agree, but she’s
missing
, R.J.”

“I noticed.” He dropped into one of the chairs surrounding the table that had been covered with a patchwork of screen tiles. “Tell you what, I’ll get Keale, if you’ll get Brador.”

“Deal.” She dragged out one of the chairs and sat. She pressed the activation studs on two of the tiles in front of her. A directory lit up and she selected the comm display. As soon as the monitor and icon spread appeared she picked Veep Brador’s emergency shortcut.

Across the table, R.J. argued softly with somebody. “Yes, this really is an emergency.” Pause. “Lynn Nussbaumer is missing in Getesaph territory.” Pause. “You want me to tell Vice President Brador the entire relocation is going to fall apart because you don’t consider one person an emergency? Check your personnel roster and you’ll
see
who she is.”

Trace sighed and concentrated on slaving her monitor display to his. Even in Bioverse, a corp legendary for its efficiency, there was always somebody.

BRADOR LOCATED
flashed the monitor. In the next breath, a full-face image of the veep appeared and jerked into life.

“What’s happened, Trace?”

“We’ve lost Lynn Nussbaumer.”
Bad choice of words, Trace.
“She’s been out of contact for the whole day. We haven’t been able to trace her, or a comm fault.”

Brador’s fleshy cheeks sagged. “Have you gotten through to Keale yet?”

Trace glanced at R.J. who gave her the thumbs-up. “Just now.” She touched the Split icon to divide the screen between the display of the veep and the commander of Corporate Security.

Keale did not look happy. “Why’d you wait so long?”

“We thought we’d find a comm fault,” said R.J. defensively. “We didn’t want to start a search unnecessarily.”

Keale ground his teeth. “We are here to
help,
not start a police action. Why won’t any of you understand that?”

“It’s a problem, I agree, Commander,” cut in Brador. “But now that the call is in, what can we do?”

Keale took a deep breath. “I’ll spread the word down to our people at the port. Dr. Nussbaumer’s been good about recording her contacts and appointments. We’ll start a quiet search with those. Nobody just vanishes. Not even here.”

Brador nodded. “Very good, Commander. Thank you. In the meantime, Trace, R.J., you get your team leaders tied in, and I’ll alert the other veeps. We’ll have to coordinate this closely, but we don’t interrupt the schedule, understood?”

“Yes,” said Trace softly.

“Yes,” said R.J. without any feeling at all.

“Good.” Brador paused. “Find her, Keale, I don’t want any of my people lost to local politics.”

“Neither do I, sir.” Keale touched the screen and blanked himself out.

“Okay, get hooked up, you two,” said Brador briskly. “This is one of those emergencies we’ve been trying to get ready for.”

Brador blanked out his own screen. Trace looked up at R.J. and saw acceptance and worry in his expression. “I know,” she said. “Right now, I’m not sure about what we think we’re doing either.”

The comm station’s chime echoed off the dormitory’s bare walls. Resaime picked herself up off the sleeping mat.

“Aunt Senejess, there’s a caller on the line,” she called to her aunt, who was rummaging in the foodstore.

“Thank you, Niece.” Aunt Senejess crossed the room and settled herself into the comm-station chair. “If you could just tell this machine someone authorized is here.”

Res laid her hand on the keyboard to tell the station to deliver the message. The grey screen turned into a blur of colors that resolved swiftly into a
woman’s
head and shoulders.

“Praeis Shin?” said the Human, a little uncertainly.

“Yes?” replied Aunt Senejess.

Resaime stepped back out of the line of vision for both the comm station and her aunt.

“I’m Iola Trace. I’m assisting Lynn Nussbaumer with relocation management.” Her t’Therian was thickly accented and her words uncertain.
She’s probably getting help from an implant,
Res thought, lowering herself back onto the sleeping mat. “Dr. Nussbaumer’s been out of touch with the team all day, and I was wondering if you’d spoken with her?”

Aunt Senejess shook her head. “I have heard nothing from her. Is she at the port? Would you like us to see if we can locate her?”

Iola Trace hesitated. “Thank you. There are some matters back here that require her attention.”

Senejess laughed. It was a strange, hollow sound. “I am sure there are. My daughter and I will try to find her.”

“Thank you,” said Iola Trace, still hesitantly. Her eyes shifted back and forth restlessly, and Resaime felt her skin twitch. Did Aunt Senejess realize the woman was uneasy? Her speech’s hesitancy might not be ignorance after all. It might be worry. Where was Lynn? Had the Getesaph done something to her?

“I will call you later if we learn anything,” Aunt Senejess was saying. The
woman
thanked her and cut the connection. Iola Trace’s image faded away.

Aunt Senejess swiveled the chair around. “Well, Niece, what do you think of that?”

“I think it’s really strange,” Resaime answered honestly. “Lynn doesn’t leave things undone.”
What if the Getesaph did do something to her? They do things like that, don’t they? They kidnap people, things like that.

“No, she does not.” Aunt Senejess stood up and tugged at Res’s ear thoughtfully. “I think perhaps we really should go out and have a look for her.”

And what if the Getesaph kidnap us? Who’ll come look for us?
If anything happened to her, Aunt Senejess was supposed to do something about it. But Aunt Senejess was not Theia, or Mother.

“Well, Niece?”

Resaime started. Aunt Senejess cocked her ears forward. “I, uh, I’d rather wait here, Aunt.”

Her aunt crossed the room and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Why, Resaime?”

Resaime searched frantically for a reason Aunt Senejess would believe. “The Getesaph make me nervous,” she said. “I’m tired of it right now. I keep being afraid I’ll make a mistake.”

Aunt Senejess stroked Resaime’s upper arm silently for a moment. Resaime couldn’t read her face, but her ears waved restlessly.

“What we are doing is a hard thing,” Aunt Senejess said quietly. “But it is necessary. The Getesaph do much more than make me nervous. They frighten me to death. But we cannot let our feelings come in the way of the safety of the Great Family, can we?”

Resaime swallowed. “No, we can’t, Aunt Senejess.”
Please don’t make me go. Please don’t.

“No.” Aunt Senejess patted her shoulder. “I will let you rest while I go find our contacts and tell them what has happened. We will need help to find out what is going on. When I come back, you will be ready to go out?”

“Yes, Aunt Senejess.” Resaime squeezed her hand and worked to keep her ears and skin still.

“Good.” Aunt Senejess slung her wallet over her shoulder and headed out the door, which closed noiselessly behind her.

Resaime waited, doing nothing but listening to her own breathing. When she was sure Aunt Senejess was well on her way, she jumped to her feet and raced to the comm station.

She touched the screen to light up the
CALLING?
prompt. She paused. She couldn’t call Mother directly, because Mother was supposed to be here in Getesaph. She couldn’t just call the house because Aunt Armetrethe or one of the cousins might answer.

“Theiareth Shin t’Theria.” Mother must have threaded Theia into the Human directory by now. She must have.

LOCATING
…read the screen. Resaime waited. Her skin rippled and strained as if her muscles were trying to break free. Her ears kept flicking back toward the door, trying to hear something, anything at all.

The screen lit up. Theia sat on the other side. From the background of cluttered furniture and frescoed walls, it looked like they were somewhere in the Home of Queens. Resaime almost melted with relief.

“Res! What—”

“Get Mother, quick. Lynn’s gone missing.” Resaime realized she was panting. “Hurry!”

Theia launched herself out of her chair and vanished. Resaime swallowed and tried to control her panting.

Her mother’s form dived into view. Resaime had to sit on her hands to keep from reaching out. “Mother, Lynn’s gone missing. Her people called. They can’t find her. She was the one I was supposed to call if there’s an emergency. Now I’m alone. What do I do?”

Mother leaned closer to the screen. “You do not panic, Daughter of mine. That’s first. You let me contact Lynn’s people and make sure they know where you are. Lynn has a friend in the Hundred Isles. I will find out where. Call your sister back tomorrow. I will have more to say to you. You will be brave, Resaime?”

Which was what Aunt Senejess said, but Resaime did not say that. “I will, Mother.” Her throat tightened, and her ears twisted involuntarily. “May I speak to Theia again?”

“Quickly, yes.”

Her mother vanished. A hand descended and touched the screen. The connection cut out. Resaime screeched and jerked backwards. Aunt Senejess stood beside her chair and looked down at her with wide eyes.

“Oh, Resaime,” she breathed. “What have you done?”

Resaime opened her mouth and tried to speak, but could not force any words out. Aunt Senejess’s ears drooped even farther. “Don’t. Just tell me what other communications will have passed between your mother and this place?”

“I don’t know…She sent a message to Lynn to tell her you and I were here. Lynn probably answered her.”

“When?” Aunt Senejess’s face began to tighten.

Res felt the anger rolling out of Senejess in waves. She wanted to throw herself into her aunt’s arms and beg forgiveness, but she held still. “When we arrived.”

Aunt Senejess’s ears flattened against her scalp. “Get to your feet, Niece. We need to get out of here.”

Resaime stood. Aunt Senejess snatched Resaime’s wallet off the clothespress, caught up Resaime’s hand, and pulled her out the door. Resaime didn’t even try to protest. She just stumbled in Aunt Senejess’s wake, trying to find her stride.

What have I done? I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t want to be alone…

They emerged into the port. Aunt Senejess pulled Resaime close to her side and put her arm around her shoulder. “Relax,” she whispered into Resaime’s ears. “Act as if we were out for a stroll.” She steered Resaime toward a crowd of Getesaph carrying bags and baskets. They were probably heading for the Human-sponsored transit lines to go to the market. The Humans provided food and shelter, but many of the Getesaph felt both were quite spartan and wanted some fresh treats or small luxuries before they left their home.

Resaime finally found her voice. “Aun—Mother…”

“Shhh,” hissed Aunt Senejess. “We will talk when we are on the way home. Right now, stay close.”

You’re not giving me any choice.
Resaime tried not to squirm. There was more wrong here than Aunt Senejess finding out she had called Mother. It was like she was worried about them both getting caught…Oh.

“They couldn’t have overheard,” she whispered in Aunt Senejess’s ear. “Whatever the Getesaph have got, it’s not going to be compatible with the Humans’ hardware.”

All at once, a pair of Getesaph in defenders’ blue uniforms with black rank bands on their cuffs blocked the path. Aunt Senejess pulled up short and tried to turn. Another pair pressed up behind them.

“You will come with us,” said one of those in front. “Now.”

Resaime’s heart pounded hard and fast against her ribs. Aunt Senejess looked at her sadly and squeezed her arm. “Let this teach you, my own. Do not underestimate your enemies.”

The speaker was silent.

Armetrethe paced the great room of her home. She circled the serving tables, the stove, and the chopping block. The stump of her severed arm beat the air as if it were trying to fly away. She paused in front of one of the slit windows and watched the daughters out in the yard. They played chase, or sat in clusters with books, learning from one another. Ceian and her oldest cousins stood in the shadow of the wall, smiling indulgently at the younger daughters between their conversations.

Armetrethe wanted to run out to them and sweep as many as she could into her one arm. She wanted to track down Praeis, wherever she had gone, and shake her until her sick separateness left her and she was a true sister again. She wanted to scream and bring the entire Great Family running to her. She wanted to do anything that would end this awful, silent loneliness.