Ferus took a breath, considering. He was getting nowhere here. He had to find a way. He had to trust someone.
The caretaker stood, dusting off his trousers. “We were a unique world. We resisted to every last man, woman, and child. They couldn’t find their spies here, their betrayers. We protected you and all of the Eleven, even as they grew to number hundreds. Every family had someone working for the resistance. Maybe …” The caretaker looked steadily at his flowers, never at Ferus, and shook his head “… maybe you were only the first to fall. But that doesn’t mean I have to be civil to you.”
“I don’t expect politeness,” Ferus said. “Just honesty. And maybe… help.”
“I have no help to give you.”
Ferus bent down and carefully placed his hand near a small lizard that was sitting on a leaf. It crawled onto his palm. Bright green, it blinked at the two of them. Ferus brought the lizard over to a bright orange blossom and placed it there. The lizard’s skin began to blush. Its pigment changed until it blazed in the same bright color as the blossom. The transformation was so complete that it was impossible to pick out the lizard now. He’d disappeared against the flower.
Ferus looked steadily at the caretaker. “It looks like a blossom,” he said. “But the lizard is still a lizard.”
He saw that the caretaker knew what he was trying to tell him without words. The lizard could change his skin, could blend in, in order to survive. So could Ferus. But that didn’t make him part of the Empire.
“Don’t you wish,” Ferus said, “you knew what they were doing here?”
The caretaker didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then he bent down to pull up a weed. “I know there are droids who do this work,” he said. “But I don’t trust them to do the job right. Droids can malfunction.”
Ferus nodded. “Happens all the time.”
“Even security droids. They can go off-line for no reason, for fifteen minutes at a time. Takes me that long to reset the system.” He tossed a weed into his basket. “They have me in charge of security here, mostly because there’s nothing to steal, so far, I’m at the east end of the factory. It’s quiet down there. I just monitor the security system. Round about three in the morning, I get too tired to even make my rounds.”
He picked up his tools. “Got to take work where you can get it, these days. I just keep my head down and don’t make a fuss. About anything.”
“Good policy.” Ferus glanced over at the loading dock as a transport began to land. “Well, I’d better get going.”
“My name’s Russell,” the caretaker said. He looked at him for the first time. “I’m glad to meet you, Ferus Olin.”
Flame was meeting with Wil, Amie, Trever, Dona, and several members of the Eleven when Roan and Dona returned to the safe house.
“This is remarkable,” Amie told him when he came in. “Flame has enormous resources at her disposal. Her ideas about networking planetary resistance are quite detailed.”
“I can go over what you missed, if you’d like,” Flame told Roan.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have time. I need to ask you to leave for a few minutes.”
Roan’s authority was absolute, and no one questioned him. Flame stood and walked toward the door, but hesitated. “I can help,” she said. “Whatever it is, I can help.”
“This is Bellassan business,” Roan said.
“But my point is that it’s not just Bellassan business,” Flame said. She linked her hands together and held them up. “Every planet’s resistance should be part of the next one, and so on.”
“She’s right, Roan,” Amie said.
“I appreciate your philosophy,” Roan said. “It’s a subject for discussion. But right now I need a closed meeting.”
Flame nodded her head and slipped out the door.
“Why’d you have to do that, Roan?” Trever burst out. “She could help!”
Roan gave him a look that silenced him. “This is too important to risk, Trever. Ferus has contacted me.”
“Maybe Ferus shouldn’t be the one that you’re trusting,” Trever said heatedly.
“He had to send you away, Trever,” Roan said.
“That isn’t what this is about.”
“He thought he was protecting you. You were the first thing he asked about when he saw me.” Roan’s voice was gentle. “If trust were easy, it wouldn’t be so valuable. Think of the man you know, and ask yourself if he could betray us.”
Trever couldn’t hold Roan’s gaze. He ducked his head. He felt ashamed. There was so much trust in this room that he was able to connect with it again.