Sirus’s eyes looked briefly into the past. He nodded once, and with another glance their way beckoned Moon into the other room. She went after him, looking back.
Gundhalinu’s eyes followed her, as though to lose sight of her now would be more than he could endure; but his face was hopeless.
“BZ… Inspector Gundhalinu.” Jerusha demanded his attention with a sharpened voice.
“Ma’am.” His head swung back obediently, but his attention did not come with it.
Jerusha hesitated, suddenly unsure of what she was about to do. “BZ… you aren’t really in love with that girl, are you?”
His throat worked. “And what if I am, Commander?” too evenly. “It may be a scandal, but it’s not a crime.”
“BZ, don’t you realize who she is?”
He glanced up, and she read his guilt. He didn’t answer.
“She’s the girl we lost to the tech runners five years ago,” telling him what he already knew, hoping that would be enough. “She’s proscribed, an illegal returnee. She’ll have to be deported.”
“Commander, I can’t—” His good hand tightened on the padded tabletop.
“If you’re really in love with her, BZ, then it doesn’t have to be a problem.” She smiled encouragingly. “Marry her. Take her off as your wife.”
“I can’t.” He picked up a spine-sharp probe from the tray at the end of the table, tested it against his palm.
She said hastily, “You’re not going to let those hypocritical snobs—”
“It’s not that.” He stiffened. “And you will not speak of the Hegemony’s leaders in such a manner. They had every right to criticize me.”
Jerusha opened her mouth, closed it again.
“Moon wouldn’t marry me.” He put the probe down again. “She’s — uh, pledged,” as though that unofficial bond was still improper in some part of his mind. “To her cousin… First Secretary Sirus’s son.” He looked toward the doorway again, incredulously. “She’s in love with him. She’s been trying all this time to get to Carbuncle to look for him.” He spoke the facts flatly, like someone reading a report. “His name is Sparks Dawntreader.”
“Sparks?”
“You know him?”
“Yes. And so do you. We saved him from slavers once, the day of your last visit to the palace. After that Arienrhod picked him up; he’s been one of her favorites at court ever since. And it’s turned him rotten.”
Gundhalinu frowned. “Then it’s possible…”
“What is?”
“Moon thinks he’s become Starbuck.”
“Starbuck!” Jerusha put a hand to her forehead. “Yes — yes, it does fit. Thank you, gods! And thank you.” She turned back to him grimly. “I’ve been trying to learn who Starbuck is, so I can nail him for murder, and illegally killing mers.”
“Murder?” Gundhalinu started.
She nodded. “He murdered a dillyp, or let his Hounds do it. And I thought he’d murdered Moon too… but it’s still enough. This time I’ll sting Arienrhod where it hurts!” So yorfve gone rottener than I ever dreamed, Dawntreader. She saw in her mind a battered boy with a smashed flute, a killer in black against the image of a corpse-strewn shore. Never in my wildest nightmares did I imagine you’d fall so high.
“I — promised Moon that we’d find him… help him, if we could. The Change will get him anyway, if we can’t.”
“Don’t be so sure of that. So Moon still wants him back, even after what she must have seen him do on that beach?” Jerusha was struck by the sudden disconcerting realization that Sparks had belonged to both Arienrhod and Moon… and still did. Arienrhod’s clone.
“How did you know about that?” Gundhalinu said.
“Never mind.” Jerusha reached out, touched a conical metal device attached to sensor pads.
“She says she still loves him. You don’t simply stop, after years… She only wants to know whether he feels the same way about her.” A glimmer of lost hope surfaced.
Is that really all she wants? “I can’t let her loose in the city, BZ.” Jerusha shook her head, fingering brass on her collar. “I’m sorry. But I can’t risk it.”
“I don’t understand. She’s not going to contaminate anyone. I’ll stay with her until we find him.”
“And then what?”
He lifted his hands, dropped them again. “I don’t know… Commander, the Change is almost here, and when it happens it’s not going to matter whether she’s been off world or not. The Summers hate the whole idea. She was only on Kharemough a few weeks. What harm can she do?”
“You’re asking me what harm a sibyl can do here, when she knows the reason for her existence?” almost angrily. “If we manage to pick up Starbuck, she can share a cell with him. But otherwise, believe me, it’s better for all concerned if she never sees him again, and he never sees her.”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing that from you.” The words were heavy with sullen accusation.
“And I can’t believe I’m hearing you say she’s no threat, Gundhalinu! What the hell’s gotten into you?” Don’t push me, BZ. Be a good Blue, and accept it; don’t make me hurt you now.
“I care about her. It seems to me that ought to mean something.” He began to cough, pressing his chest.
“More than your duty to the law?”
“She’s just one innocent Summer girl! Why the hell can’t we leave it alone?” It had the sound of a man in torment; Jerusha realized that he was his own most unforgiving inquisitor.
“She’s not just another Summer, BZ,” she said with heavy reluctance. “Haven’t you ever noticed how much she resembles Arienrhod?” His expression said that she was out of her mind.
“I’m serious, Gundhalinu! I have every reason to believe the Queen got herself cloned somehow. And the only reason she could possibly have for that would be that she doesn’t want Winter to end.” She told him everything, every detail of the circumstantial evidence. “So you see — Moon is a sibyl. I can’t risk letting Arienrhod get her hands on — on herself, carrying a deadly weapon like that. She’s doing all she can to hold on to her power.” And go on corrupting everything she touches on this world. “But I’m doing anything I can to make sure she doesn’t get away with it. And that includes keeping Moon out of her hands.”
“I can’t believe that.” Gundhalinu shook his head, and she realized that he couldn’t. “Moon — Moon is like no one I ever met. She’s nothing like Arienrhod! She cares about everyone, everything — and they feel it in her. If there’s a spark of decency in a man or woman she makes it catch fire. They fall in love with her… they can’t help it.” An inane smile turned up the corners of his mouth.
Jerusha grimaced. “For gods’ sakes, BZ, nobody’s that wonderful.”
“She is. Just talk to her.”
“I’d better not even look at her, if she’s all you claim. No wonder they say ‘love is blind,”“ gently. She felt her own apologetic smile grow as healthy resentment turned his mouth into a line. “Your perspective is out of synch, BZ, that’s all. You need a good meal and a lot of sleep, and time to believe you’re back in the world you belong to.”
“Don’t patronize me!” He hit the instrument tray, things leaped and glittered. Jerusha winced. “I know where I am, and I don’t belong here any more! I’m not fit to be a police inspector, I’m not fit to belong to the human race. All I want is to keep the one promise I’m still capable of keeping, to the one person who doesn’t give a damn what I’ve become. And now you’re trying to tell me she’s a monster; and that I have to keep her from the one thing she wants when it’s almost in her hands!”
“I’m telling you it’s your duty as a police officer to protect the Hegemony! That has to come first. You can’t start bending the law to fit your personal tastes. It doesn’t work that way.” I should know.
“Then I resign.”
“I don’t accept your resignation. You’re in no state to offer it — and you’re too valuable to me. I need every man I’ve got until that final ship goes up.” She knew as she spoke that there was infinitely more at stake: a career, a man’s self-respect, maybe even his life. “Listen to me; please, BZ. You know I wouldn’t have told you all this unless I believed it. Arienrhod is a threat!” And a monster and a disease. “She’s a danger to the Hegemony, and that makes Moon a danger,” whatever she is. “And Starbuck is a vicious murderer, who’s killed whatever Sparks Dawntreader once was as surely as he’s killed a thousand mers. Think, Gundhalinu, think about it! You’re still a good officer — you can’t deny that you’re neglecting your duty. And you’re not doing Moon a favor to turn her over to them.” Reason began to seep back into Gundhalinu’s eyes, and a dark resolve. Stay with me, BZ.