you.” Isrid made sure his hand signals were precise.
“Even Pri’mom?” he asked, referring to his primary mother.
Of course, Sabina was probably behind this in some way. Her main hobby
was being a master manipulator, while Garnet, his other co-wife, was almost boring in her lack
of layers. With Garnet, what you saw was what you got. With Sabina, one never knew her true
motives, which added to her spice. However, Isrid was tired and he wasn’t willing to speculate
on Sabina’s motives, particularly with his young son.
“Pri’mom hasn’t said you need oversight, but I’m sure she can’t resist
critiques. Am I correct?” Isrid smiled as Chander ducked his head again. “And as long as she
isn’t correcting you in front of others, perhaps you should note her advice.”
“I can handle that, Dad.”
Isrid waited.
“Maria’s out there, you know.” Chander chewed his lip and shifted his
weight from foot to foot.
The shipwide announcement telling passengers to web in for the eventual
N-space drop blared again and while it repeated, Isrid observed his son. How much should he
tell the boy? Chander was old enough to know that marriage wasn’t for love; its purposes were
for breeding approval, raising children, and, of course, serving as a political tool. If his
son knew about Sabina’s obsession with Maria Guillotte, then he probably knew both his primary
parents were Maria’s regular lovers. However, Maria could never enter a Terran marriage due to
genetic damage she’d received near Tantor’s Sun. For Sabina, that made Maria an enticing
morsel, especially because she could never fully own and control her.
Isrid wondered if Sabina had thought he was jealous when he’d sent Maria
away two months ago. But he’d assigned Maria to oversee the contractors in G-145 because of the
sensitivity of the situation. Maria handled people and personality problems deftly, in addition
to being his best analyst with a military intelligence background. Those Terran contractors had
only a tenuous right to work on that moon—none of them knew he’d gotten the leases by
kidnapping, torturing, and coercing Major Ariane Kedros.
Kedros had seemed immune to their standard drug-induced torture and he’d
had to threaten to expose her and her former crew as the destroyers of Ura-Guinn, at which
point she’d signed the Aether Exploration leases over. Maria understood the double-blackmail
scheme hanging over the leases, and how everything depended upon Kedros staying quiet.
“Maria’s not the real reason she’s going,
you know,” Chander said cannily, breaking Isrid’s train of thought.
“And what is?” Isrid asked.
“I don’t know, but I can sense revenge . I
wanted to warn you.” Such adult words from a boy of eleven.
Isrid looked for signs that Chander was lying or exaggerating. He
wasn’t, which led Isrid to consider the idea that Sabina had underestimated her own son and let
her guard down, something she would never do around Isrid.
“Thank you, Chander.” Isrid inclined his head as if he were talking to
an adult and added the signal, I am grateful .
His response delighted the boy. Isrid sent him to his quarters. He
called and placated the ship’s crew, who were worried about missing the departure window from
Mars Orbital Two. Then he took his D-tranny and quickly webbed himself into the bunk in his
private quarters.
As he dozed, Isrid’s mind skipped to Major Kedros. His first action,
when he woke, would be to order an intelligence report on her recent activities. Although the
Feeds ecstatically proclaimed the Ura-Guinn sun had survived, his classified government sources
didn’t project a good prognosis for the habitats in the system. Instead of going out quickly in
a nova, his brother and family might have suffered a slow, agonizing death from cosmic
radiation caused by flares or coronal mass emissions, which didn’t engender any sympathy in him
for Kedros. He
“Even Pri’mom?” he asked, referring to his primary mother.
Of course, Sabina was probably behind this in some way. Her main hobby
was being a master manipulator, while Garnet, his other co-wife, was almost boring in her lack
of layers. With Garnet, what you saw was what you got. With Sabina, one never knew her true
motives, which added to her spice. However, Isrid was tired and he wasn’t willing to speculate
on Sabina’s motives, particularly with his young son.
“Pri’mom hasn’t said you need oversight, but I’m sure she can’t resist
critiques. Am I correct?” Isrid smiled as Chander ducked his head again. “And as long as she
isn’t correcting you in front of others, perhaps you should note her advice.”
“I can handle that, Dad.”
Isrid waited.
“Maria’s out there, you know.” Chander chewed his lip and shifted his
weight from foot to foot.
The shipwide announcement telling passengers to web in for the eventual
N-space drop blared again and while it repeated, Isrid observed his son. How much should he
tell the boy? Chander was old enough to know that marriage wasn’t for love; its purposes were
for breeding approval, raising children, and, of course, serving as a political tool. If his
son knew about Sabina’s obsession with Maria Guillotte, then he probably knew both his primary
parents were Maria’s regular lovers. However, Maria could never enter a Terran marriage due to
genetic damage she’d received near Tantor’s Sun. For Sabina, that made Maria an enticing
morsel, especially because she could never fully own and control her.
Isrid wondered if Sabina had thought he was jealous when he’d sent Maria
away two months ago. But he’d assigned Maria to oversee the contractors in G-145 because of the
sensitivity of the situation. Maria handled people and personality problems deftly, in addition
to being his best analyst with a military intelligence background. Those Terran contractors had
only a tenuous right to work on that moon—none of them knew he’d gotten the leases by
kidnapping, torturing, and coercing Major Ariane Kedros.
Kedros had seemed immune to their standard drug-induced torture and he’d
had to threaten to expose her and her former crew as the destroyers of Ura-Guinn, at which
point she’d signed the Aether Exploration leases over. Maria understood the double-blackmail
scheme hanging over the leases, and how everything depended upon Kedros staying quiet.
“Maria’s not the real reason she’s going,
you know,” Chander said cannily, breaking Isrid’s train of thought.
“And what is?” Isrid asked.
“I don’t know, but I can sense revenge . I
wanted to warn you.” Such adult words from a boy of eleven.
Isrid looked for signs that Chander was lying or exaggerating. He
wasn’t, which led Isrid to consider the idea that Sabina had underestimated her own son and let
her guard down, something she would never do around Isrid.
“Thank you, Chander.” Isrid inclined his head as if he were talking to
an adult and added the signal, I am grateful .
His response delighted the boy. Isrid sent him to his quarters. He
called and placated the ship’s crew, who were worried about missing the departure window from
Mars Orbital Two. Then he took his D-tranny and quickly webbed himself into the bunk in his
private quarters.
As he dozed, Isrid’s mind skipped to Major Kedros. His first action,
when he woke, would be to order an intelligence report on her recent activities. Although the
Feeds ecstatically proclaimed the Ura-Guinn sun had survived, his classified government sources
didn’t project a good prognosis for the habitats in the system. Instead of going out quickly in
a nova, his brother and family might have suffered a slow, agonizing death from cosmic
radiation caused by flares or coronal mass emissions, which didn’t engender any sympathy in him
for Kedros. He
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