Home>>read Quiet Invasion free online

Quiet Invasion(87)

By:Sarah Zettel


“Engineer Br’sei.” T’sha glided to his perch and settled there, her wings touching his, her crest brushing his back. “What has D’seun told your team?”

Br’sei did not look fully at her, but neither did he deflate. He just spread his crest, as if seeking his balance in a difficult wind. “That you are greedy and dangerous. That you are rich and young and do not see beyond your own ambitions. That we must not say what we know of the New People because too many in the High Law Meet would be frightened and advocate finding another world so as not to be too near this potential insanity. That the People are dying and if we do not succeed with this world, we are all of us dead.” Br’sei cocked his head. “He was most convincing too.”

“Yes,” murmured T’sha even as anger swelled her body. “I imagine he was. Even Tr’es believed him.” Stop, stop. Now is not the time. Swallow it, save it, breathe it out later. Lose control and you’ll kill what you’re growing with Br’sei.

Her patience though was raw and withered. Her worries, her suspicions swam around inside her body, threatening her internal vision. She could not trust her subtlety now. She was too rocked by what Br’sei had said. She needed to ask her questions right now. There was no alternative.

“Engineer Br’sei.” She let go of the perch and swelled herself out as far as her skin allowed. “Was there life in the New Person when Tr’es took it apart?”

“No,” he said, simply and immediately.

“Was there life in the New Person when you took it apart?” She spread wings and crest to their fullest extent, towering, dominating with her size as she could not with her years. “Or was it D’seun’s doing?”

“You have promised me nothing that could make me answer that question,” said Br’sei coldly. She opened her mouth, but he thrust his muzzle forward. “And before you try, you should review how deeply I and mine are promised to D’seun. He brought us here. He ensured futures for us and our children and all our families—not just free futures, either, but glorious ones. The least of us will head our own households with our pick of spouses. I cannot set all that aside for nothing.” The touch of his words was as weak as the words themselves were strong. He was pleading with her, she realized, almost sick with what he could not say, could not do.

One bone at a time, T’sha made herself subside. “I see you are torn. I understand it I will find what I can do to make this as easy as possible for you.”

“He is not insane, Ambassador,” murmured Br’sei, as if he were trying out an uncertain idea.

T’sha stiffened against the engineer’s words. “If he killed a New Person for their raw materials, he is.”

“I don’t know that’s what he did,” said Br’sei, more to the city beyond them than to T’sha herself. “It could be nothing but my fear talking.”

“Maybe, Engineer.” T’sha was not eager to allow that possibility, but she had to. She had nothing tangible to wrap her hands around. She had nothing but holes—holes in the records, holes in Br’sei’s knowledge. Holes were not proof. Holes were suspicion only. “But you must allow that Ambassador D’seun is flying high and that the air around him is very, very thin.”

Br’sei clacked his teeth bitterly. “Is that not how we all fly right now?”

T’sha dipped her muzzle. “You are right, Engineer. I wish you weren’t.”

“So do I, Ambassador,” said Br’sei, deflating until he was only the size of a child. “Life of my mother, so do I.”

Helen stood as Grace Meyer entered her office. “Thanks for coming, Grace.” She pulled a cup of steaming black coffee from the wall dispenser and handed it across to the chemist.

“Thanks.” Grace inhaled the aroma appreciatively. Helen had called for fresh coffee specifically for this interview. Grace looked tired, but alert as ever. Grace Meyer pushed herself harder than anyone on Venera, with the possible exception of Helen herself.

But then again, Grace felt she had more to prove, and more to gain, than anyone.

So, how far would that take her?

“Has Isaac Walters pronounced an opinion on your absorbers yet?” asked Helen, drawing a cup for herself.

“We’re designing some new experiments,” said Grace non-committally as she sat in one of the guest chairs and crossed her legs. “I’m in contact with him.” Walters was down at the Discovery with the rest of the U.N. team.

“Now,” Grace said as Helen sat back down behind her desk, “any particular reason why I’m the one being summoned to court?”