Read The Ruby Dice for Free Online

EI sounded genuinely puzzled, as opposed to an AI, which only simulated the emotion. "You aren't the deserted spouse."

    "I was unprotected, in a volatile situation." Painful memories rose within him. "I left my children on Coba so they would be safe and taken care of in case anything happened to me. If I died, I wanted to make sure they and Ixpar inherited."

    "Yet nothing happened to you."

    He grimaced. "I was kidnapped and sold as a slave."

    "Oh." Another pause. "Are you saying you became a Trader slave after you signed this document?"

    "That's right."

    "But the document is only ten years old. Less, in fact."

    "Yes."

    "It was my understanding the Traders captured you twenty-eight years ago. Not ten."

    Kelric didn't answer.

    "When you die," Dirac added, "this document becomes public."

    "My heirs could hardly inherit otherwise." He had wrestled with that decision, knowing it would draw attention to Coba. As long as he could shield both Coba and his family, he would do so. But if he ever had to choose, his wife and children came first. While he lived, the Closure document would remain secret even if it defined him as officially dead. When he actually died and could no longer look after Coba, the will within the document would become public, ensuring his heirs had his name and the multitude of protections that came with it.

    And yet . . . he could protect Coba now in ways he couldn't have imagined ten years ago when, as a desperate refugee, he had written that will.

    Dirac suddenly said, "This Closure document gives a new twist to the Hinterland defenses."

    Kelric stiffened. "I have no idea what you mean."

    "The Hinterland Deployment. One of your first acts as Imperator ten years ago. The military presence you established in sector twenty- seven of the Imperialate hinterlands."

    "It was vital," Kelric said. "We needed to stop Traders from using that region of space."

    "No indications existed that they were using it," Dirac said.

    Kelric's advisors had told him the same. He gave Dirac the same answer he had given them. "That was the problem. No one paid attention to that sector. Had ESComm set up covert operations there, we might never have known."

    "This is true." Dirac waited a beat. "How interesting that the Coban star system is the most heavily guarded region of that deployment."

    Damn. It was how he protected Ixpar, and his children without revealing his attention to their world. "Delete that from your memory."

    "Are you sure?"

    "Yes."

    "Deleted. You have sixty seconds to undo the deletion before it becomes permanent."

    Kelric knew erasing parts of an EI's memory was ill-advised. It always lost associated data as well. Such deletions could have unexpected results. But erasing one small fact wouldn't cause trouble. Still . . . perhaps he should reconsider.

    "If I don't cancel this Closure," Dirac added, "you are going to be destitute in one hundred and eleven days."

    A voice called from another room. "Kellie?"

    "For flaming sakes," Kelric muttered. "Dirac, end session." He got up and stalked out of his office.

    A woman was standing in his living room. Roca. Gold hair cascaded down her body and curled around her face. She had the same metallic gold skin and eyes as Kelric, but it looked much better on her. In her youth, men had written odes to her beauty and songs lauding her grace. Hell, so had women.

    He scowled at her. "My name is Kelric, Mother."

    "My apologies, honey. I forget sometimes."

    Honey was almost as bad. He wondered when she would notice that her "baby" had grown into a hulking monster who commanded one of the most deadly war machines ever created.

    "Don't glare at me so," she added, smiling.

    "I thought you were going to Selei City for the Assembly."

    Her good mood faded. "That's what I came to see you about." She walked to his console and stood facing it, her palm resting on the surface, though he didn't think she was looking at anything.

    He went over to her. "What's