"But, if there issomething, Galen, I have to find it."

"This is madness, Victor. You don't need to torture yourself."

"I will have the tapes for you when we reach Tharkad," Curaitis said.

Galen turned on him. "You can't."

"Do you have a reason for not wanting the Prince to see them, Kommandant?"

Victor saw Galen stiffen and for a half-second wondered what Galen had to hide. Why is Curaitis suspicious of Galen ? Why did he want him out of the room? Does Curaitis have evidence to link Galen to my mother's murder?

Victor's aide straightened up and shook his head. "You're very good, Agent Curaitis. You see me as a risk and work to eliminate me. I applaud this principle, but not its application. The Prince is my friend as well as my lord and it is that which makes me think that perhaps, just perhaps, he is better off remembering his mother the way she always was, notafter a bomb blew her to bits."

Galen turned to Victor. "I know you, Victor. I know you think nothing gets done unless you do it yourself. That works in a military command, but not in government. Your responsibilities are greater now and will go unfulfilled if you mire yourself in the details of your mother's death."

Victor looked up at his friend and heard the caution in his words. "You're right, Galen, but you also know I have no choice. I am who I am, and I cannot let her death go unavenged."

"Vengeance will come when men like Curaitis finish their investigations, Victor."

Victor nodded and shifted his gaze to the intelligence agent. "Do you know the assassin's identity?"

"We know who he became while on Tharkad. We know where he worked and what he did for the last six months of his life. His records beyond that seem complete, but are false. We are dealing with a professional who has been working on this mission for a long time, and appeared to be prepared to work on it yet longer, had the situation demanded." Curaitis' Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "We do not yet have him, but yes, we know he was a man."

Victor's eyes narrowed. "What has the public been told?"

"Deranged, disgruntled bomber. His record showed a mother who is in a home for the care of the senile. She knows nothing and lives in a world of dementia. A state subsidy pays for her care and the facility is not the best one could hope for. This has been used to explain what motivated the assassin. We believe he is already off Tharkad, but the public believes he committed suicide."

"If you think he's gone, then why the travel restrictions?" Victor saw Curaitis's head turn slightly. "I mean, I assume trying to limit the speed of my ship is a general regulation to help you find the assassin by screening all outbound passengers."

The security man shook his head. "The public is very angry with you. Your mother lay in state for two days, as compared to your father's thirty-one day vigil."

"But the bomb ..." Victor shook his head. "She could not have been viewed as my father was."

"You missed the funeral."

"Not because I wanted to." The Prince looked at Galen. "We left immediately and commandeered every JumpShip heading in this direction, and a few that were not. I am here as fast as I could be."

Curaitis gave no sign of having heard Victor. "It is said your sister cut the viewing short and had the funeral conducted quickly on your orders."

"I told her to use her best judgment in the matter."

"Word is you told her to 'burn the witch.' "

"I never!"

"Peter, Arthur, and Yvonne made it to the funeral from New Avalon. They traveled five hundred and forty light years and made it faster than you made the two hundred-ten light-year run from Port Moseby."

"Katherine thought it best that they be there," Victor snapped.

"Some people even believe you plotted your mother's death because she did not have the good sense to abdicate in your favor. It is said she refused to abdicate because you were secretly married to Omi Kurita on Outreach." The security man looked over at Galen. "You must remember that one, for you are rumored to have been the best man."

"That is outrageous!"

"It may be, gentlemen, but it is exactly what is being whispered in taverns and bars, laundries and stores, at social gatherings and over the visiphone." Curaitis' face remained dead. "There is more. Did you know that you, Highness, actually tried to murder Kai Allard-Liao on Alyina because he advised you against pursuing your romance with Omi? It is becoming accepted as fact that he could have been taken off Alyina when you abandoned the planet but that you refused to wait for him. Men have sworn they heard his radio call but that you ordered the ships away."

Victor slammed both his fists down on his desk. "No! That is preposterous!" He opened his mouth and tried to find words to express the extent of his disbelief and anger, but he could not. Everything is perverted! Lies are being manufactured out of the truth."How, who, why?"

Curaitis shrugged, for the first time the set of his shoulders easing a bit. "I do not know, nor do I care. You have enemies, and you have allies. Kai Allard regularly dedicates victories to you on Solaris. Your older sister is your best defender. Peter, while very earnest, does not have the temperament to help your case at all. The first thing Morgan Kell wanted to know when he came out of surgery was if you had also been attacked. When the orders to the Hounds went out over your signature, he put off his wife's funeral so the bandits could be destroyed. You are not alone, but you areexposed and it is my job to make certain no one does to you what they did to your mother."

Victor swallowed hard and stared at the picture of his family on one side of his desk. My mother and father, gone. I feel so isolated. Is it too late to break through?He looked up and narrowed his eyes. "Agent Curaitis, you've mentioned my sister twice, but never called her by name."

Curaitis looked at him but said nothing..

"What is her name?"

The security man's face remained unchanged. "Katherine."

"Good." Victor nodded. "I am pleased to have you working for me. And I want to see those tapes."

"I'll get them for you, but I want to correct one misconception."

"Yes?"

"I don't work for you, I work to protect you." Curaitis smiled, but it was not pleasant. "As we spend time together, you'll see the difference."

"And if I don't?"

"You'll be dead and you won't much care."

25

DropShip Lugh

Nadir Recharge Station, Great X

Federated Commonwealth

10 July 3055

 

Christian Kell pulled himself through the hatchway on the Lugh."Came as soon as I could, Colonel. What's up?"

Daniel Allard waved Chris over to the communications console. "It's about time for Conal Ward to find something else to bitch about. I thought having a witness here to offer some input would be useful. You're drafted because Colonel Brahe has already threatened to kill him if they ever meet."

Chris laughed lightly, but he knew the Clansman must have been working hard if he succeeded in getting a rise out of the unflappable Akira Brahe, commanding officer of the First Regiment.