Natesa gave a helpless shrug. “This is all out of my hands, I’m afraid. I’m not the military.”
“I hope you don’t expect me to write him a report about Scarabaeus.”
“Is that what he told you to do? You don’t have time for that. You work for me.”
“He said I was under arrest.”
“He exaggerated. No formal charges have been laid against either you or Finn. Not yet.” The way Natesa leaned very slightly on the last word only magnified the threat. “However, your behavior when we caught up with you a year ago, when you refused to return with me, not to mention the curious events surrounding your so-called kidnapping—all this has put you in a precarious position. Here’s the problem—I have no idea how far I can trust you. But I do value your expertise. Project Ardra needs you. We need to come to some arrangement.”
Edie could see where this was going. “So, I behave myself and you lay off the criminal charges?”
Natesa bobbed her head in acknowledgment. “That goes for Finn, too.”
“Finn should never have been incarcerated in the first place. When he was arrested five years ago, the treaties were already signed.”
“That’s hardly my concern.”
“Well, it is my concern. I want you to put things right. Get
Achaiah to cut the leash.” Achaiah was the infojack who created the leash in the first place. Natesa’s people had picked him up near Scarabaeus a year ago. “Where is he, anyway?”
“To my knowledge, he’s in a prison camp somewhere in the Rutger System. Not far from here, actually. But I thought he said he couldn’t cut it.”
“It’s a place to start. Even if he can’t, he might know someone who can.” Infojacks maintained wide-reaching networks. “And I want freedom papers for Finn. I don’t want you throwing him back on that labor gang as soon as he leaves the ship.”
“Again, that’s nothing to do with me.”
“But you can petition for it.”
Natesa shifted uncomfortably, like she was annoyed at being dragged into all this. “Very well. I’ll see what I can arrange.”
“And there’s one more thing. I want to talk to Lukas Pirgot.”
“Your old bodyguard? Whatever for? I told you some time ago, he’s a traitor who—”
“I don’t believe that story. In any case, you promised me contact with him if I came back to work for you.”
“You broke that deal when you assaulted me, threw me off your damn pirate ship, and disappeared for a year.” Natesa kept her voice level, but her tone was deadly nonetheless. “It serves no purpose to bring him back into your life. He’s yet another irrelevant distraction and a bad influence.”
“When has Lukas ever been a bad influence on anyone?”
“He was convicted of treason. I’ve no doubt he’d tell you all kinds of things to make you doubt me and CCU. You need to see him for what he really is—a sick old man with a grudge.”
“Wait…Lukas is sick?”
Natesa faltered, as if she realized she was only telling Edie things that would make her even more determined to contact him. “Don’t concern yourself with Lukas Pirgot.”
“Why are you putting up barricades? If you let me talk to Lukas, if you free Finn, it’ll go a long way toward making me more interested in Project Ardra.”
Natesa drew a tight breath. “If you
dare
do a thing to compromise the secrecy or success of Project Ardra—”
“Believe me, if I was going to compromise the Crib in any way, I’d set my sights higher than Ardra.” Such as saving the Fringe worlds from Crib oppression. Edie felt her face warming and cursed herself for saying too much. She couldn’t let Natesa rile her.
But Natesa was too worked up over Edie’s many requests to notice. “There will be no contact with Lukas. As for Finn, I’m watching him closely. It seems you’re unduly influenced by such men. And an ex-Saeth, of all things!”
Edie gritted her teeth but kept her mouth shut. On the rare occasions when Natesa worked herself up like this, speaking only made things worse.
“I’ll allow him to remain here only because I’m forced into it by that wretched leash. As a civilian and an ex-convict, he can’t be allowed access to any sensitive material. We have restricted areas on the ship, and other…considerations. I will allow him relative freedom to pursue his own interests while on board. There is plenty of supervised work available, if he would like to earn some creds.”
Edie liked the sound of
pursue his own interests
. He might be able to find Cat, even plan an escape so they could get to the Fringe. But Natesa wasn’t done.
“Even if I find this infojack and the leash is cut, I can’t say I’m comfortable with him roaming about the Reach knowing so much about Project Ardra. We could never trust him.”
Edie felt a shiver of fear down her spine. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t be naïve, Edie. Ardra is far too important to trust to a Fringer lag.”
“If he does leave, and mysteriously vanishes, I’ll know what you’ve done. And you’ll have lost me forever.” Adrenaline pumped through Edie’s veins as she recognized the pre
carious position Finn was in. Natesa wanted Edie’s willing cooperation. But at some point, perhaps her desire to control Edie would override that consideration. Perhaps she’d just hire an assassin.
Something in Natesa’s expression changed—so subtly that Edie almost missed it. Her eyes widened slightly as if she’d just realized what Edie was thinking. Then her face softened. “You have nothing to fear. Good heavens, I’m not a monster and I don’t appreciate the insinuation. All I’ve ever asked of you is that you do your job.”
“Listen to me, Natesa. Finn has no interest in spilling your precious secrets about Ardra. As far as I know, all he wants is to go home.”
“Let’s hope that’s true. As for your role here, you’ve joined us at a critical moment in Ardra’s implementation phase. After your recent…
excursions
over the past year, I’m in two minds about giving you full access to the project. You will have no unsupervised access to the lab. You’ll begin with routine testing under the chief cypherteck, Caleb Chessell, until you prove yourself to me.”
Edie knew the name. Chessell was an award-winning Crib cypherteck with three decades of experience, renowned for his innovative approach and a terraforming record that was probably second only to hers. He was also a notorious control freak and egomaniac. Edie had never met him, but she’d heard a few stories.
“You have so much to offer CCU, and in particular this project,” Natesa continued with a bland smile. “More than anything, I want my faith in you restored. Now, rest today. Report to Chief Chessell in the labs, tomorrow morning at the start of the shift. He’ll explain your work.” She stood up and walked behind her desk, her attention on her holoviz, effectively dismissing Edie.
“I don’t know why you think Ardra stands a chance,” Edie said. “Terraforming advanced ecosystems won’t work.”
Natesa tilted her head, her eyes sly. “That’s not an attitude I appreciate, Edie. Chessell has developed some
groundbreaking code that’s helping us on Prisca. And we have an elite cypherteck team on board. Our new training program has been extremely successful—these tecks are the best in the Crib.”
“Including the one in the coma?”
Natesa’s expression stiffened. “She is a member of the team, yes.”
“How is she?”
“Her condition is unchanged.”
Edie swallowed another unwelcome pang of guilt.
It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault.
She repeated the words to herself, but the mantra wasn’t working very well.
From the moment Edie stepped into her quarters, she had the feeling Natesa was trying to win her over. A VIP state-room, better even than the officers got. A spacious, comfortable sitting area led to a tastefully furnished bedroom, the two rooms linked by a small hallway that led to a bathroom. After spending her life on ships where everything was built for functionality first, it might take some time to get used to the fine fixtures and decorative touches.
Despite the accommodations, Edie would rather have spent the time with Finn, but her guard had made it quite clear she was to stay in her quarters for now. More than anything she wanted to explain to him what had happened. She could only hope he understood that she’d never have done it deliberately, that she’d never break the promise she’d made—what seemed like a lifetime ago—after that first terrible time when Haller had forced her to jolt him.
Edie showered and changed and returned to the sitting room to open the shutters covering the viewport. Her eyes were drawn immediately to the planet floating below the ship, a white-and-blue beach ball on a sea of black velvet. The
Learo Dochais
was in high orbit.
She lay on the backless couch and studied the streaked surface of the planet. Her brain was crowded with too many thoughts to really consider where she was or what would
happen next. Helpless frustration rose to the surface. She had felt this way before, after learning that the rovers had jacked Finn’s chip to force him to be her bodyguard. The Crib was no better than the rovers, just as willing to punish an innocent man in order to get what they really wanted.
Her
.
Sleepy from the residual effects of cryosleep, Edie dozed.
When her door chime woke her, it was hours later. She stumbled to the hatch and snapped it open, eager to see Finn again. And he was there, standing behind two milits. So was Natesa.
“I’ve brought your friend for a visit,” Natesa said, walking uninvited into the room. “To reassure you of his good health.”
Edie wouldn’t have described Finn as looking particularly healthy. As he entered the room, glancing at her only briefly, his expression betrayed no emotion. He looked tired and gaunt. The blood in his eyes had mostly subsided, and he’d been given a change of clothes. He sat on the couch she’d just vacated, leaning forward to rest elbows on knees. She wondered what he’d been told, whether he’d been threatened.
She wanted Natesa to leave so she could talk to him alone.
Natesa was conferring with the milits. Edie overheard enough to realize Natesa was asking them to organize quarters for Finn on a lower deck.
“Finn is staying here,” Edie said, interrupting their conversation.
Natesa turned. “Here? Is he your lover?”
Edie felt her face warming at the bold question. Without meaning to, she looked quickly at Finn. He raised his gaze to meet hers but didn’t seem perturbed. And he left it up to her to answer.
“The leash…we have to stick together,” Edie said evasively.
“We’ve been over this. This ship is much smaller than the leash’s range. You’re in no danger of separation, and his services as a bodyguard are not required. We’ll find a job
for him and he’ll reside on the workers’ deck.” Before Edie could object, Natesa added, “No arguing, Edie. It’s not possible for him to remain in VIP quarters. However, I’ll allow him to stay here for a day or two until something else can be arranged.”
As Finn didn’t seem interested in joining the conversation, Edie spoke for him. “You said Finn could pursue his own interests. He has friends in the Reach. He’ll want to find out what happened to them.”
Natesa arched a dubious brow. “You want me to give him access to communications?”
“Why not?”
“Well.” Natesa’s lips thinned. “We’d have to keep an eye on that, of course.” Hopefully Finn had a few tricks up his sleeve to get around Natesa’s monitoring. “Now, please remember our arrangement, both of you. Consider yourselves on probation.” Natesa extracted two crew keys from her pocket and dropped them on a console near the hatch. “One for each of you, with individualized access parameters. If your key doesn’t open a door, you’re not allowed to be there. The mess is on Deck E, or you may call the galley for food—I wouldn’t make a habit of that, though. The staff has quite enough to do without running around the ship answering room service calls.”
Finally, Natesa and the milits left. Edie locked the hatch, leaning against it for a moment to get her thoughts in order. When she looked at Finn, he was watching her. He looked immeasurably calmer than she felt.
“Are they listening in?” he asked.
Edie hadn’t considered that. “I don’t know. It’s a possibility. But generally, the Crib is too arrogant to be paranoid.” She swallowed nervously, still unsure of what Finn thought of all this. “Are you okay?”
Instead of answering, he said, “What’s going on?”
She walked over to the viewport, feeling his eyes on her, and looked at Prisca. She could explain what the Crib was doing here and what her role would be, but she knew
that wasn’t what he was asking. As she thought about what Theron had done to him, her anger resurfaced. Glancing at Finn, she saw him rub the back of his neck slowly, a gesture she knew meant her emotions were firing up the chip in his skull.
“I’m sorry about this, about everything. You felt my…panic when they were jolting you. I should’ve tried to stay calm but I couldn’t.”
“No, I’m glad I could sense you. Made it easier.”
“Easier?”
“It felt like you were with me, in a way.” His dark eyes hid the horror he’d suffered. “Did they hurt you?”
“No, they wouldn’t do that. They only hurt the things I care about.”
He held her gaze a moment longer. Edie chewed her lip and wished she had the nerve to go to him. They’d shared one brief moment of intimacy on the
Hoi
’s skiff before she’d pushed him away. And later, one kiss. Did that count for anything now? He’d been given a choice between freedom from the leash, or retaining the cryptoglyph so they could help the Fringers. He’d chosen the latter. Now those plans were in ruins. Did he blame her? Edie didn’t want to find out.
Finn straightened, drew a deep breath, and changed the subject. “Natesa said something about food?”
Grateful for something else to think about, Edie called the galley. By the time someone arrived with a tray, Finn had figured out the entertainment caps and turned on some loud music. Just in case a bug was already in place.
“Does everyone usually eat in the mess?” Edie asked the kitchenhand, a skinny lad with lank blond hair.
“Yes’m. Deck E. Supper starts at eighteen-hundred hours, breakfast at oh-six-hundred. Tomorrow’s pancakes.”