“What you would expect them to have said. Rogue elements. Now under control. Blah, blah, blah.” Dimitara's wry smile showed the row of sharp teeth in her mouth.
Sometimes Dray forgot about those teeth. The Bukari looked delicate and unimposing. Until they smiled.
“So now they want Bane to do them a favor? After some of their people were planning to shoot him?” Yolandi was outraged.
Dimitara funneled her fingers through her dark copper hair in frustration. “Yes. And I think that's what the covert action by those military officers was supposed to prevent. Even if they didn't get off a shot, they knew it would make asking Bane to hang back almost impossible.”
“Does this make sense to you? Was the military trying to manipulate us all so that I wouldn't agree to hang back?” The quiet whisper in Dray's ear made him go completely still, and then he forced himself to relax.
“Someone in the military whose role in the Class 5 project might be exposed by our doing our jobs when we get down to Tecra, and who knew what the Tecran government envoy was going to ask of Bane, would probably think they couldn't lose, either way, with their plan to shoot at him. Whether they actually damaged him, or just tried to, the Tecran politicians would find it difficult to ask a favor of him afterward.” Dray looked at Dimitara as he spoke, answering Bane's question while agreeing with her.
“It would certainly help people like that go undetected if our jobs are made harder because of resentment and lack of cooperation with the general Tecran population.” Yolandi gave a decisive nod.
“So, will you speak to Bane?” Dimitara asked, and Dray could see she already looked exhausted, and they were still a day's journey from even reaching Tecra.
“I won't hang back, but I'll pretend to. There are two moons that circle Tecra. I'll land on Gyre, the larger one, and cloak myself.” Bane's voice was calm. “I'll stay there unless I think I have to move, for whatever reason.”
Dray wondered if Bane had spoken into all their earpieces, but no one reacted. His lips twisted, because this favoritism was going to ostracize him if it became well known.
“Bane says he'll make sure no one can see him.” He didn't know why he didn't give Bane's exact location, but he was from Battle Center, and he never gave out information unnecessarily.
Dimitara gasped. “He's listening? Will he talk to me?”
Dray shrugged. “Ask him. I don't have any control over him. I thought he might have given his reply to everyone, but clearly not.”
Dimitara grimaced. “Thank you for agreeing to this, Bane. It will help the team's objectives greatly. We appreciate it.”
Dray could see Dimitara was hoping for an answer, but none came and she slumped down in her chair.
“I'm grateful he's so willing to be accommodating.” She blew out a breath. “That is a huge concession, and it'll give us quite a bit of leverage with the Tecran government.”
“You going to tell them right away?” Zutobi asked.
Dimitara shook her head. “I'm going to have a bath, have some dinner in my rooms, and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, before we reach the Tecran solar system, is soon enough.”
Dray grunted in approval, and Yolandi gave an elegant nod of her head.
“Keep them guessing for a bit. It'll make them even more grateful,” Zutobi agreed cheerfully. “And given the work ahead of us from tomorrow, I think I'll follow your example, Ambassador.”
She stood, and Yolandi stood with her.
“I just have a few technical issues to discuss with the ambassador,” Dray said, and they nodded and left, although he knew they were curious.
“If it's bad news, I don't think I want to hear it.” Dimitara rubbed at her temples.
“It's not bad news. I want to know how much resentment there'll be if the rest of the leadership team learn Bane has chosen me as his liaison.”
“Oh.” Dimitara sat up a little straighter. “Quite a lot of resentment, I'd guess, although it's not as if they weren't expecting him to favor the Grih. He's been living within your space boundaries up 'til now, his three surviving . . . friends are all aligned with the Grih, and the woman who freed him, my friend Rose, is very much part of Grihan life.” She lifted her hands and shoulders in a 'what are you going to do' gesture.
“True. But I'd prefer to keep it as quiet as possible, please. It could impact on my role within the team, and I'd rather that not happen.”
She nodded. “I won't say anything. If you're happy for me to pretend Bane spoke to me personally, I could do that.”
Dray nodded. “That works.”
He got up.
“Why do you think he has chosen you as his liaison?” Dimitara asked him as he reached the door.
He turned back. “I'm from Battle Center, so maybe he's just more comfortable with me,” he said with a shrug. “After all, Bane was created as a weapon of war.”
Chapter 7
Lucy stared out at the glittering ocean and huddled deeper into her cloak, grateful for the warmth of it, and for the scarf that had the dual benefit of hiding her mouth and nose and keeping her face warm.
The zipu had proved to be a system of fast, individual carriages that ran on a single, humming strip of metal. Each carriage held a maximum of four people and she'd had one to herself most of the way in to the city. She'd gotten out at the first station that had a crowd waiting on its platform, keeping her head down as she wove through what looked like early morning commuters.
The city center didn't look to be far, and she found a path that ran parallel to the cliff edge. The wind was to her back, and she let it push her along.
To her left, buildings rose up as if they were extensions of the cliffs, their lower floors out of sight, below the clifftops. The closer she got to the city center, the more buildings rose up on her right as well, as tall or taller than the buildings that blocked most of their view of the sea, although there were some gaps between the buildings at the front, concessions to those behind them, so that they at least got a glimpse of the ocean beyond.
A third line of buildings and then a fourth appeared, and she guessed from the air the city must look like a long snake that had swallowed something large that was sitting in its middle.
The buildings were tall but they were all different, and each one she passed seemed taller than the next, in a sort of height progression that might have told her when she'd reached the city center--because they got lower again on the other side--if it wasn't for the statue.
It stood dead center, flanked on both sides by buildings that came to its shoulders. Nothing stood directly in front of it, which created an open square surrounded on three sides by the statue and buildings, and the cliff edge as the fourth.
What struck Lucy was the variety in the buildings that rose around her. All were tall and relatively narrow, but none looked the same. Some were made of stone, others of a kind of glass or polished enamel, the designs and patterns worked into them stark and compelling.
She had seen some of the same patterns in the walls and pictures in the facility, and guessed they were intrinsic to Tecran culture.
The closer she got to the statue, the more populated with commuters the path became, and she eventually stepped off it and found a parallel road behind the second row of buildings.