Playing God(141)

The hands pulled her, and she went with them.


Arron answered the summons to Keale's office primarily because he didn't know what else to do. There was only one reason the security chief could have for calling him in; Cabal must have gotten caught.

Keale waved him to a seat at the conference table, and Arron took it Keale sat at his comm station. Arron had to work to keep his hands from rubbing his forearms, or thighs, or scratching his scalp.

Keale steepled his fingers. “Has Dr. Nussbaumer told you what happened?”

Arron shook his head. “I haven't spoken to Lynn for a couple of days.” Or she hasn't spoken to me, I'm not sure which.

“The Ur is moving. We've got them plotted. They're going to drive the ship straight into the t’ Aori peninsula.”

Arron felt the blood drain out of his cheeks. “No.”

Keale just looked at him.

Lareet? Umat? What are you doing? “Can you stop them?”

One muscle in Keale's cheek tightened. “Yes. If we leave in time, we can intercept them with another city-ship.”

Arron's hands felt cold. He wanted to jump up and pace the room so badly, his legs ached with the effort of keeping still. “Then what?”

The muscle in Keale's cheek twitched again. “The ships will collide and, if we've timed it right, the debris will fly off harmlessly into space.”

“You're talking about making a suicide run.”

“Yes,” said Keale again. He lowered his hands and laid them on his chair arms. “And I'd like to talk to you about a way out of it.”

A way out of it? For whom? “I'm not sure what you're getting at.”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I am hoping you can talk to your friends the Dayisen Rual and convince them to take the Ur off its present course.”

Arron said nothing, he just sat there. Keale had just offered him what he'd been aching for since he'd heard about the takeover. Here was a chance to talk to Lareet and Umat and talk them out of… whatever it was they thought they were doing.

Why aren't I jumping at it? Asked part of his brain. Because, answered another part, you have other things you want to do.

He couldn't look at Keale anymore. He got to his feet and paced around the conference table. An idea took hold in the back of his mind, and it grew stronger with every step.

Finally, he faced Keale again. He took a deep breath. “There's only one way it'll work.”

“What?” Keale looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“I need to be on the ship.” Surprise froze Keale in place. Arron kept going. “If I'm there, and they don't veer off, they'll kill a sister. Umat might not consider me a true sister, but I think Lareet might. It'll create a division between them.” He swallowed. “Divisions between sisters can remove resolve.”

Keale nodded. “It makes sense. All right, you'll have the dubious honor of coming along.” For the first time, his face softened. “You do realize that if you can't talk them out of it, you're going to be just as dead as the rest of us?”

“Oh, yes.” Arron stiffened his shoulders. Now or never. “That's why I'm going to ask a high price for going along.”

“You're what?” Keale jerked himself halfway out of his chair.

“I want access to the contingency plans for when the Dedelphi break their contract with Bioverse.”

Keale fell back into the chair, and, to Arron's surprise, he started chuckling. “I've already got six counts of system breaking and entering against your friend Cabal. He says you paid for it. Do you have any idea what I could do to you for that?”

Arron shrugged. “Do you have any idea how little I care? My whole life is gone.” His palm brushed the table as if he were sweeping something onto the floor. “You want my help, all right, but you need me to do this voluntarily. What are you going to do? Tie me up and haul me onboard and put me in front of the screen with a stunner to my head?”

Keale's face remained impassive. “I'm already doing you a favor by not having you arrested.”

“I know.” Arron straightened up slowly. “Now, I'm asking for another one.”

He's going to call my bluff, thought Arron, looking into Keale's calculating brown eyes. It's not going to work. He's going to see I won't let Lareet and Umat die if I can help it.

But Keale didn't say anything. He just swung the chair around and laid his thumb over a key chip on the comm station. After a moment, the station beeped and a drawer slid open. Keale lifted out a piece of paper.

He hesitated. “I just want you to know,” he said without turning around, “that if it was just me, this would not work. I am only doing this because there are other people I do not want to see dead.”