The beta beside her did not attempt friendliness, did not speak, did not acknowledge her: stark fear. She had seen the reaction elsewhere. She remembered the port, the salon of the ship…reckoned what her coming might mean to Istra, which had not seen Kontrin onworld in centuries, many beta lifespans; the veil jerked rudely aside, a whole world subjected to what she had done to the folk of Andra’s Jewel.
In her present mood, her band clenched and sweating on the grip of the gun, with the reaction of the ambush finally overtaking her, she little cared.
iii
The car disengaged from the tube-system and nosed up the ramp into a residential circle. It was an area of lighted paving, with space for greenery—or something similar—in the centre. A high wall encircled them, gates 41, 42, 43…the rain-spattered windshield showed the glare of more lights, vehicles clustered at the area of 47. A guard let them through the open gate; they eased up the curved drive. Floodlights from the cars had the grounds in garish clarity: twisted tree-forms, dappled trunks and tufts of tiny leaves. The garden was all rocks and spiky plantings, and the house was a white, tiered structure, contiguous with the neighbouring houses, so that the whole would form a cantilevered ring, like one vast apartment, each groundlevel with its own walled garden. The driver wove past two obstructing vehicles and stopped the car before a well-lit entry, a portico with uniformed officers aswarm about the door.
Raen opened the door and stepped out, spattered by raindrops, whipped in under the portico, and waited while the driver and another officer opened the rear doors. They retreated in haste, and Warrior one and Warrior two climbed out, grooming themselves in evident distaste. Jim followed, and the two guard azi…unharmed, Raen was glad to see.
“Jim,” she said. “You two. Get the luggage out and put it inside the house.” She looked then to the officers on the porch and those with her. “Are there occupants?”
“The house has been shut for half a year, Kontrin.” A man in civilian clothes edged forward among the others…dark-haired, overweight, balding. There was a woman with him, likewise civilian, matched in age, and in corpulence. “Hela Dain,” she said. “My husband Elan Prosserty, vice. presidents on the board.”
“ITAK is vastly sorry,” the man said, “for this reception. Our profound apologies. If we had known you were without sufficient guard… You’re not injured, Kontrin.”
“No.” She recalled the gun and slipped it back into its place beneath the cloak. “I’m a guest of the Eln-Kests. Posthumously. I regret the circumstances, but I’ll take the hospitality nonetheless. if one of your security people will lodge himself at the front gate…outside, if you will…to discourage the most obvious intruders, I’ll take care of the rest. Kindly come inside. I requested another presence here; have they arrived?”
The Dain-Prossertys made shift to follow her in the wake she cut through the crowd of police and armoured guards, into the house, with its stale air and mustiness. Agents were inside likewise, and another group, conspicuous for their white faces and their bizarre dress, four of them.
Outsiders, indeed.
“Kontrin,” Hela Dain said with careful deference. “The senior of the trade organisation, ser Ab Tallen, and his escort.”
Armed. She did not miss that. Tallen was gray-haired, thin, aging. There was one of his young men of strange type, a physiognomy exotic in the Reach. She put out her hand, and Tallen took it without flinching—smiling, his eyes unreadable, cold…real. No Kontrin had devised the psych-set behind that face.
“Kont’ Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren,” she said. “ TheMeth-maren. A social courtesy, ser Tallen. How kind of you to come.”
Tallen did not flinch, though she reckoned the summons as delivered by the police had had no option in it. “An opportunity,” he said, “which we were not about to refuse. The fabled Kontrin company.”
“The Family, ser. The company has set its mark on things, but those days are past.” The Outsider’s ignorance dazed her; she was pricked by curiosity, but it was not the time or place not with betas at her elbow. She turned away, made a nod of courtesy toward the ITAK executives, “How kind of you all to come. I trust the little difficulty has settled itself and that it will stay settled. Would you kindly rid me of this commotion of police, seri? Extend them my thanks. I trust my communication lines are free of devices and such. I trust they have been making sure of that. I shall trust that this is the case. I don’t have to tell you how distressed I would be to discover something had slipped their notice. Then I would have to carry on some very highinquiries, seri. But I am sure that no one would let such a thing happen.”
Fear was stark in their faces. “No,” Dain assured her at once. “No,” her husband echoed.
“Of course not;” she said very softly, put a hand on each of their arms as she turned them for the hall, dismissing them. “I thank you very much… very muchfor disarranging yourselves to come out here on such a night. Convey to the board my thanks for their concern, my sorrow for the Eln-Kests and for the damage at the port. And if one of you will contact me tomorrow, I will be very pleased to make that gratitude more substantial; you’ve done very kindly by me tonight. Such attention to duty should be rewarded. You personally, seri. Would you be very sure of the guards you set at the gate, of their dependability? I always like to know who is accountable. I shall be through with these folk in very short order. Merely a courtesy. I do thank you.”
They let themselves be put into the hall; Raen turned back then, hearing them quietly ordering police out. There was a sudden disturbance; she looked back: the majat were in, stalking back through the house, on their own security check.
She regarded the man Ab Tallen, gave a deprecating shrug. “I shall be staying, ser. I wanted to be sure your mission was informed of that fact. And I shall welcome the chance to talk with you at leisure, as soon as matters are stable here.”
“You’re of the government, Kont’ Raen—”
“Kont’ Raen is sufficient address, ser. Kontrin arethe government, and the population. And is your mission permanent here?”
“We understood that our presence onworld had official—”
“Of course it does. ITAK is competent to extend such an invitation. I have no plans to interfere with that. In fact, I’m quite pleased by it.” It was truth, and she let a bright smile to the surface, a conscious weapon. “If I had not asked to see you, you would have had to wonder whether I knew of your presence and how I regarded it. I’ve told you both beyond possibility of misunderstanding. Now we can both rest tranquil tonight. I’m extremely tired. It’s been a very long flight. Will you favour me with a call tomorrow?”
This man was not so easily confused as the Dain-Prossertys. He gave a self-possessed and slight nod of the head, smiled his official smile. “Gladly, Kont’ Raen”
She offered her hand “How many Outsiders are on Istra?”
His hand had grasped hers. There was a very alight reaction at that question. “A varying number.” He withdrew the hand in smooth courtesy. “About twenty-two today. Four went up to station at the first of the week. We do come and go with some frequency: our usefulness as trade liaison depends on that freedom.”
“I would expect that, ser Tallen. I assure you I’ve no plans to interfere. Do make the call tomorrow.”
“Without fail.”
“Ser.” She gave a nod of courtesy, dismissal. Tallen read it, returned it with the same thoughtfulness, gathered his small company, and left; the others not without paying their courtesy likewise…not guard-types, then. She stared after them with some curiosity as to precisely how authority was ordered among Outsiders, and what strange worlds had sent them, and how much they truly understood.