Kingdom of Cages(149)
“Yes.” Her heart pounded so hard that her ears rang. After all this time, after all this trying, she would find him. She would send him a message, and he would come get her out of this. “My… my mother tried to find him….”
“Your mother may have been working with old data. The comm lags for interstellar communication are incredible. There are so many leaks on the stations that most shippers prefer to carry hard data to each other by hand.” Her mouth twitched, as if she were trying to decide whether to smile or frown. “We’ve recently had an update here, however.”
Commander Poulos’s hands moved again. Fresh trees flitted across the screen as the station’s comptroller searched its files and Commander Poulos discarded them before Teal could even properly read them. Then the screen stilled.
“You found him?” Teal gripped the back of Commander Poulos’s chair, but she couldn’t make her eyes read the words in front of her.
Commander Poulos scanned the display. “It’s him,” she said softly, swiveling the chair so it would be easier for Teal to see past her.
Teal leaned forward, resting her hand against the edge of the board. At the top of the screen she read:
Varish Trust
Ship’s mechanic aboard the Imperial. Blood son of Jask Trust and Teal Aramant. No official ship family. Jumped ship in orbital port of First Home (coordinates listed). Citizenship and all voting privileges revoked for dereliction and desertion. Last reported residence Athena Station of Pandora (coordinates listed), reap-plied for citizenship renewal upon joining Tuskay ship caravan at age 43. Found dead of alcoholic overdose and brawling injuries in orbital port 4 of Cayman’s Stop at age 44.
No. No. No. Teal swallowed hard, reading the words over, hoping they’d change and knowing they never would.
Found dead of alcoholic overdose and brawling injuries.
Found dead…
“I’m sorry,” said Commander Poulos.
Teal’s knees began to shake. “He left us,” she murmured.
“Here, sit.” Commander Poulos pushed on her shoulders, and she found the chair under her.
“He left us to go get drunk and die.” Hot red anger flooded her heart and head. “Bastard!” she screamed, slamming both fists against the screen. “You bastard! You left us to get drunk and die! You left us down there! You killed Mom, you pissing, drunk bastard!”
She fell back, tears turning the world to a blur of colors and her own sobs drowning out all other noises. Commander Poulos tried to put her arms around Teal, but Teal shoved her away. She bowed her head into her hands and sobbed and screamed until her throat burned and she had no more tears inside her.
The sound of Teal Trust’s sobs followed Beleraja as she returned to Shontio’s main office.
“Sounds like someone else got bad news,” he said softly, gesturing toward the door as it closed.
Beleraja dropped into one of the office chairs. A chill ran through her. What more could be happening? “What do you mean?”
In answer, Shontio reached out and touched a command key on his desktop. A section of wall screen lit up to show a thunderous Father Mihran. “Since you do not choose to acknowledge my call, Director…” He dragged out the title. Surprise sped up Beleraja’s heart. She had never heard Father Mihran talk like this. “I will leave you this message. A fugitive named Teal Trust has either lately arrived or will shortly arrive on Athena Station. You will institute a search for her at once, and when you find her you will return her immediately. If I do not hear from you on this matter within one week, we will have to assume that she is being harbored aboard Athena in violation of the treaty your ancestors signed with mine.”
The message cut off and the screen faded to black.
“What did she do?” Beleraja croaked. Her mouth seemed to have gone dry.
Shontio touched his swollen knuckles gently, as if trying to gauge whether the arthritis had gotten worse in the last few minutes. “Does it matter?” he said softly. “They want her back. Badly. At the very least she got up here under a set of false passes and a fake ID, a practice which is illegal on both ends of the pipe. Something Father Mihran was quick to remind me of.”
Beleraja gazed straight to the closed inner door. “Are you going to give her up?”
“When is our first wave getting here?”
Beleraja bowed her head. “It could be tomorrow. It could be in as long as two weeks. Calculating relative times when making hyperspace jumps is”—she waved her hands—“difficult.”
“Then I’m going to give her up.”
Distress tightened Beleraja’s face. She had gotten used to thinking of people in groups. A few thousand needed to be in this place, at this time, to perform this set of tasks. At that same time, another thousand would be needed over here to perform this other task. She’d forgotten to think of those thousands in terms of the individuals that comprised them, single human beings being displaced, hurt, or ruined by all these schemes—her invasion, the Pandorans’ cure, the Authority’s desperate attempt to maintain the status quo. Beleraja had forgotten them all, until she’d seen Teal Trust’s own plans fall to ashes in front of her eyes.