“Zabb will not permit it. He has already refused to allow Mr. Ackroyd to leave the House. I think he fears that Mr. Ackroyd might find a way to kidnap Blaise. He will use every means to neutralize our powers.”

“Go to Taj. He has sworn allegiance to Zabb, but this in no way compromises that oath. He cares for me. He will help,” Tis said.

“My brother is correct,” Roxalana said. “And use my son Rowan to send us word when you are coming. We’ll see that your arrival causes as little comment as possible.”

“Moonchild, thank you.”

“We will be back soon.” The ace slipped through the door, into the shadows, and vanished.

Mark had set the telepathic damper on the table in Tisianne’s old quarters. Ackroyd’s hand shot out and caught his wrist before he could turn it on.

“Hey, doesn’t that thing, like, cause headaches, and give hemorrhoids, and cause telepaths to pick up mariachi stations on their fillings for a hundred-mile radius? In short, isn’t this really going to piss off the Takisians if we fire it up, and aren’t they going to come and pound us into the ground like tent pegs?”

Mark folded his lips in a tight line. Parted them just enough to say, “I’m in the mood to piss off Takisians. One Takisian in particular.”

Mark then outlined Tisianne’s plan. He should have predicted Ackroyd’s reaction. “You are crazy! Fucking crazy!” Jay ran agitated hands through his hair and took a sharp turn around himself.

“The issue is that you can’t be a fertile male -” Mark argued.

“I thought you were crazy when you offered to marry the bitch. Now you’re offering to have your dick chopped off?”

“These aren’t, like, primitives, man. This is a really medically sophisticated society. Hell, vasectomies are reversible on Earth. The Doc says it’s a cinch to fix here.”

“They have harems so you won’t fuck their women.”

“No. They have harems to prevent assassination and unplanned pregnancies. Sex is fine. The Doc told me they have toys – both the men and the women – beautiful neutered sex partners. A snip, and we’ll be no threat, we can stay with the Doc.”

“What’s this we, white man? I am not going to become a eunuch for Tachyon. That was not part of the deal!”

He was arrested at the door by Mark saying, If we don’t keep the Doc alive, there’s no return ticket.”

That almost got him. Almost. “Uh-uh. No. No way. This is a nice little planet. Maybe I’ll put down roots, open an office, get back into divorce work – if Takisians get divorces. Take a wife. Raise some kids.”

All the while he was talking, he was edging for the door. Hand on the knob, out the door, into the hall. Unfortunately sound carries. And you can’t not listen. Can’t not understand.

“I don’t know why you’re so upset.” Mark’s voice pursued him like a restless spirit. “You’re dickless already, Jay.”

ican’t/iwon’t/i’lldie/i’llkill!/novirus!

The slap took both of them by surprise. Roxalana for administering it, Tisianne for receiving it. They stood staring at each other, then Tis slowly lifted a hand to her cheek.

“All the years of my childhood you never hit me.”

“I left that to Melant. She was my designated hitter.” Roxalana turned away and straightened a vase that didn’t need straightening. Tis couldn’t help it. Outraged dignity, hurt feelings were forgotten. She laughed. “What?” demanded her sister with some truculence.

“It has a very different meaning on Earth.”

Roxalana lifted the meaning and the ludicrous image from Tisianne’s mind. Melant in a Yankees uniform, arranging her bat with that butt wiggle that is unique to baseball players.

“Seems like a silly game.”

“It’s a lovely game. If I ever get out of here, I’m going to introduce it on Takis.” Tis walked to the window and looked out. “But as hopeless as things seem now, I may have to settle for a ladies’ softball league.”

“Is that necessarily so inferior?”

“It’s not the future I envisioned for myself.” Standing was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Tis retired to a lounging sedan and arranged her bulky body. “I don’t think I can survive in here. The boredom and paranoia are going to kill me.”

“I seem to recall the beginning of this little squabble was an offer of employment from Segath. You have more firsthand experience with the virus than any member of the research team living or dead. Get back in the laboratory and share that experience.”

“I will not work on the virus – nonnegotiable, don’t raise it again.” Tis eyed the ceiling where guards patrolled on the hidden catwalk, watched the two women through monitors. Softly Tis continued. “For half my life I’ve been free from this scrutiny. I came as I pleased and went as I pleased. I asked permission of no one. Do you know how wonderful aloneness can be? We think we ignore them.” She jerked her head toward the unseen guards. “But we don’t. We’re always aware of them. The worst for me was when I was sick. I didn’t mind fucking, snoring, crapping, eating, farting, belching in front of them, but puking… you’re at your most vulnerable and unattractive in that moment.”

“Try birthing,” was the unsympathetic reply.

It was a topic Tisianne wished to avoid. She turned onto her side, away from that disapproving presence.

“I can’t tolerate self-pity and tantrums, Tis. You got to go on a decades-long lark while the rest of us did our duty – and almighty irksome were those duties, let me assure you. So don’t expect me to regret your lack of freedom. It was purchased at great cost by the rest of us.

Their father’s death lay between them.

“And finally I’m sick of you denigrating the accomplishments of this segment of the House. Why is an action by a woman less valued in your eyes? You’re bored because you don’t feel the work we are doing here is worthy of your attention, much less your participation. Shi’tha’s research in ghost-gate theory may enable us to fold space and so cross the galaxy in the time it currently takes us to reach Ship Home. I have a class of very promising youngsters about to exit Rarrana and begin their higher education. I taught them… and I taught them well. The girls I send out today will return in thirty years ready to be mothers, and teachers, and researchers, and painters, and composers.

“You’re a doctor – well, stop pouting in this room and get out and doctor. Or if that’s not to your taste, volunteer for cradle duty. You value freedom so much – free up some busy mother for her work. Ideal knows you could use the experience. A little primer before you birth your daughter. That’s where your focus should be – on your child. Not on politics, not on the breakdown of Takisian society. We build society here – one child at a time. You’re part of the process now.”

Tisianne laid a hand on her belly. Felt the joyous leap of Illyana’s mind as she greeted her parent. That parent realized with some guilt that she had been virtually ignoring the baby by blocking Illyana’s questing thought tendrils.

Swinging her legs off the lounge, Tis moved to her sister, hugged Roxalana close. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid your little brother, despite his skin change, hasn’t learned very much. He’s still an idiotic male.” Roxalana’s hand was soft on her hair, stroking, pulling apart the slight tangles with her fingers. “All right, let me doctor. I have two good hands. I should be grateful for that.”

All briskness again, Roxalana held her at arm’s length. “Let me make amends for hitting you.” Moving swiftly to the door, she called back over her shoulder. “Here is the bodyguard you’ve been missing.”

The door opened, and Mark Meadows grinned sheepishly down at her.