Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 (33 page)

The visitor glowed and seemed to give a pulse of light. “—Although,” he admitted, “you seem to be progressing.”

“About time you gave us our due,” said Six.

“Not as high as me, of course,” scintillated the visitor. “I am nearly a category 1 entity now, you know!”

Six took a step in the visitor’s direction. But the small being flashed, and then vanished, winking out of existence as Six neared its position. Six could have sworn he heard a laugh as the bimorph left.

WHEN THEY REACHED the skyrise, the small group were taken aback to find rather more people than they had expected waiting to greet them on the 21
^st
floor. Standing a few feet behind Cimma were Petra, Tallen and Bennel. But Mandalon was standing beside Cimma too, waiting to wish them well, and Grace opened her eyes wide as she saw who was standing next to him.

“Xenon! Genna!” Amanita’s children were standing stiffly beside the head of Sell, looking self-conscious, but both were trying to smile at her. Grace ran forwards.

“Thank you!” She looked around at Ledin, and went pink. “You don’t know how much this means to me!”

“We came to wish you well, Aunt Grace,” said Xenon. His eyes slid across to Mandalon, who seemed to be watching them closely.

Ledin wondered whether the head of Sell had exerted himself to convince Grace’s niece and nephew to forgive her. When he intercepted a small nod of approval from Mandalon, he realized he was right. Ledin smiled at Mandalon. It was the best wedding present he could have given Grace. Then he realized that Xenon 50 was still speaking.

“We wanted you to know, Aunt Grace, that … that …” the boy looked at his sister, and then went on, “… that we don’t feel the same way our mother did. We do know that you didn’t have any intention of bringing ruin on the family; that you were just trying to help your friends.”

Grace felt a load lift off her shoulders, and a shiver of relief ran all the way down her spine. “Thank you! I know you can never forgive me, but I do want you to know that I am sorry that my actions should have ruined your lives.”

Xenon shook his head. “Genna and I will build our own lives back up now, Aunt Grace. You don’t need to worry about us.”

“Could … Could I see you … from … from time to time?”

Xenon’s eyes slipped to those of Genna. They both shook their heads. “We have decided not to put that burden on our mother. She has been under sedation, you know, on Cesis, since Arcan transported her there, and it would only bring her paranoia back if she found out that we were speaking to you.”

Grace nodded, tears filling her eyes again, this time of sadness. “I understand,” she said, biting her lip. “How is your mother doing?”

It was Genna’s turn to speak now. “She is actually smiling again, and seems to be quite content where she is on Cesis. But the doctors there say that we must never ever refer to you, or to anybody she associates with you. They think that she can live a fairly acceptable life if we avoid making her remember again. The medication and the therapy will allow her to forget, and let her sleep at night. She is better off where she is now.”

“I am glad.”

“You need to know that neither of us wishes Arcan, or any of you, any harm,” finished Xenon 50. “And we are going to change the house name. Mandalon has suggested that we create an interplanetary house, studying how Sellites can begin to integrate with the other planets. It will be discussed at the Votation next year.”

“That sounds wonderful! But … where will you live?”

“We shall stay where we are. We don’t really need the first 48 floors …. we can continue building up, above that level. And when the agreement finalizes the skyrise will revert to us.”

“I … appreciate your coming. I wish you both great success.”

“Thank you. Mandalon 50 has even assigned one of his own tutors to us, and three of his personal bodyguards have agreed to let their wives act as house companions, until we are old enough to look after ourselves. He says that, since Aracely is working for Arcan, any women on Sell who want to may work.”

Grace had already spotted Aracely, standing modestly behind Genna, so she waved at her. “You have started quite a trend on Valhai, then?”

Aracely nodded with a wry smile. “So it seems. Some of the women on Sell must have been really bored with their existence, because quite a lot of them volunteered to help Xenon and Genna. You don’t need to worry about them anymore.”

“No. I won’t.” Grace smiled at the young Sellite girl, who was now almost single-handedly running Arcan’s foundation, and then realized that she had not come alone. Her brother, Vion, was standing beside her, together with his own life partner. Mercy was very obviously pregnant now and was clutching rather uncomfortably at her husband’s arm for support. Ledin came up to Grace’s side, and began to chat to Vion’s wife, asking her about her experiences on Coriolis, as Grace received Vion’s congratulations.

“I’m glad you found the right person, Grace,” he told her.

Grace found herself staring slightly at the doctor. There was no trace inside her of the feelings she used to have for Vion, and she wondered where that emotion had gone, and why it had disappeared so completely. It was another time, another life, and it might just as well have happened to a different person. She stared up into Vion’s eyes without a trace of embarrassment.

“Thank you. I am too.”

He shook her hand, and then moved off casually to chat to Xenon 50 and Genna. That was kind of him, thought Grace. But then, Vion had always been kind. It was part of who he was.

Aracely was still beside her, and so she turned to grin at her. “Having fun?” she asked.

“Have to thank you for livening up my life quite considerably,” said Aracely. “Even my father can find nothing wrong with my working for the foundation, now! Who would have thought?” She leant forward, and dropped her voice. “By the way, I have heard that Mandalon is proposing to abolish genetic engineering. They are to take a vote on it at the Second Valhai Votation.”

Grace’s eyes widened. “Really? That is a huge step for Mandalon to take.”

“I know. There is a lot of opposition from the older generation, but they say that the 50
^th
may approve it. All Sellites would be like you, if that law were passed.”

Grace gave a thoughtful nod, and looked over at Mandalon 50, still only a boy of eleven. He caught her glance and smiled, then turned back to Tallen and Petra, who appeared to be having some sort of discussion with him.

Mandalon was looking with some interest at the two Coriolans. “So you admit to being thieves?”

Tallen stiffened. “And what is wrong with being a thief?” he questioned. “It is an honourable way of life.”

Mandalon looked doubtful, so Tallen took it upon himself to elaborate. “On Coriolis, the meritocrats are the only people who may own property, who may have a bank account, who may buy or who may sell. The rest of the populace must survive as best it can. Most work for the meritocrats or barter with them, scraping out a living where the rulers will let them. We do not. We are Namuri.”

The Sellite ruler’s eyebrows were nearly meeting his hairline. “So the Namuri steal.”

“We reposition wealth. It is a political statement.”

“Do the Coriolan meritocrats look at it like that?”

A fierce frown covered Tallen’s face. “They do not. But until the political system is changed on Coriolis, everything will continue as it is. As Namuri, we are prepared to wait. We do not believe in violence to attain our ends.”

Diva had overheard the last couple of sentences, and chose to interrupt. “Six and I are trying to change things.”

“This is a private conversation,
Meritocrat
. Go back to your friends,” snapped Tallen.

“Considering we are the only people trying to change things on your home planet you might talk to us with a bit more respect!” said Diva, her eyebrows curving ominously in towards each other in the centre of her forehead.

Petra tugged at her brother’s arm. “We are not thieves at this particular moment,” she explained to Mandalon. “We have undertaken other tasks, which occupy all our time.” She put emphasis on the word ‘all’, and pressed her brother’s arm to remind him of their current circumstances. He looked at her sideways, and then acquiesced.

“We are currently acting as bodyguards,” he told Mandalon loftily. “So this is not relevant. When the Namuri are under a blood pledge of loyalty they temporarily abandon all civil disobedience of a political nature.”

“Big of you!” Diva sounded disgruntled. She was a bit tired of being criticized by these two young Coriolans.

“So I don’t need to worry about your stealing anything from me?” asked Mandalon.

Petra looked horrified. “Of course not! We only steal from Coriolan meritocrats! We are honourable members of our clan.” She held herself up proudly.

Diva gave something very like a snort.

Mandalon grinned to himself. “Then no doubt you make good bodyguards.”

Both brother and sister now straightened up to their full height. “Namuri make the best bodyguards in the system,” they said together.

“And out of it,” added Tallen, which earned him a displeased glance from Diva, and a warning touch on the arm from his sister, afraid he might say too much. “I mean, we would be the best bodyguards in the whole Ammonite Galaxy!” he hastened to add.

“I wish all my bodyguards were as loyal as you!” said Mandalon, whose mind had gone back to Gorgamon, the guard who had very nearly managed to kill him only a few months earlier.

Tallen nodded. You couldn’t expect a Sellite to compare to a Namuri, he felt.

Diva looked across the room, to where Six was talking to Ledin easily about the Kwaide Orbital Space Station. The two of them looked comfortable with who they were, somehow at ease with themselves and each other. She had a moment’s vertigo, as if the floor of the skyrise had tilted, and she actually clutched out at a nearby pillar to try to steady herself. Then she looked back at Tallen and Petra, still aware of the scathing disdain of two people who regarded her as one of the enemy.

Suddenly a door in her mind snapped shut. She could almost feel the thud as it closed. A final acceptance flowed inexorably over her. The world she had grown up accepting as normal on her own planet was fatally flawed, and she would never be able to look at it again without seeing that. Although she had recognized the contradictions in Coriolan society before, especially after she had been forced to see it through Six’s eyes, she had never really seen the parallels with the Kwaidian Elders, or the Sellites.
We, the meritocrats, are the tyrants
. Her ancestors seemed to gasp in horror as that realization hit her, and she shuddered; in some profound way she knew that she would never be quite the same person again. She frowned, and began to twitch at a lock of her hair, turning it over and over in her fingers. She felt absolute fury at somebody, probably herself, possibly Six.

Then a couple of mangled hands went around her, and Grace gave her a hug. “Do you remember when you first came here with me,” she whispered, “when Arcan managed to get you to the shore, and I brought you here?”

Diva managed to give a passable nod, and struggled to get her wayward feelings under control.

“A lot has happened since then, hasn’t it?” Grace gave her another hug. “By the way, Ledin and I will be going to go back to Kwaide with you two when you go. We are going to spend our journey of colour there.”

“You are? Where?”

It didn’t take long for Diva to get their proposed destination out of Grace. When she heard just what it was that they were going to look for she gave a definite nod.

“We will be coming with you,” she said.