A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [116]
Because Bram Tamblyn had still grumpily refused to speak to his son, Denn Peroni performed the formal honors, taking a long strip of white cloth on which the Roamer Chain had been embroidered. Cesca and Ross laid their hands together as Denn Peroni draped the cloth over their wrists and tied it, cinching it into a complex knot that was impossible to untangle.
“Let this symbolize how your lives are joined,” Denn had said. He slipped Cesca’s hand out of the loose loop, then pulled the ribbon over Ross’s larger hand. Her father held up the still-knotted ring of cloth. “Let no one untie this knot. Let no one untie these lives.”
But then Ross had been killed on Golgen. A widow or an unmarried woman whose fiancé was dead usually burned the fabric and dissolved the knot, leaving her free to love again. But Cesca had kept the tied ribbon, although her heart had been bound to Jess’s even before Ross had been killed. Now she didn’t know what to do with the symbol…
Outside and around Rendezvous, numerous ships came and went. With minimal ekti, Roamer commerce was only a fraction of what it had been in the halcyon days of skymining. Still, the clans could make do with what they had. It was more than they had anticipated when they’d originally set off from Earth in the Kanaka, well over three centuries ago.
Now she heard footsteps in the hall outside her office chamber, the jingle of clips and zippers from a traditional many-pocketed suit. A young man with almond-shaped eyes and a shock of straight dark hair guided a small-statured compy, who walked briskly on mechanical legs through the rock tunnels.
“Speaker Peroni, on my recent supply run to the Palace District on Earth, this compy was surreptitiously smuggled aboard my ship. At first, I thought it was an Eddie spy, programmed to gather information, but her owner is a Roamer.”
Cesca was glad to be distracted from the imminent betrothal plans. “Why would anyone send a compy to me?”
“She says she bears an urgent message for you.”
The small robot spoke in a synthesized female voice. “Compy designation EA. My master is Tasia Tamblyn of clan Tamblyn on Plumas.”
Jess’s sister! Suddenly Cesca recognized the Listener robot. She had heard nothing from Tasia since the young woman had run off to join the Eddies. “Yes, EA, I remember you. I was there…when Bram Tamblyn died. I am a close friend of the clan.”
And Jess had been gone for so long.
“Tell her how you got here,” the young man urged the little robot.
EA said, “My master dispatched me from the Mars base, reassigning me to the lunar EDF facility. Then I quietly placed myself aboard a cargo ship sent down to the Palace District. From there, I located a Roamer vessel in order to come to Rendezvous. The journey required a month.”
Cesca frowned. “Quite a convoluted path. To what purpose?”
“My master has sent me to deliver a secret warning.”
Now Cesca was fully alert. “What kind of warning? Is Tasia all right?”
The young Roamer man stayed in the doorway, eavesdropping. She thought about shooing him away, but decided to let him stay in case she needed an immediate runner.
The Listener compy reported in a flat voice: “After the attack on Boone’s Crossing, the Earth Defense Forces tracked the hydrogues to the gas giant Osquivel. Now the Earth military is gathering their largest warships into a massive battlegroup, which they will send to Osquivel. My master Tasia Tamblyn is concerned that the EDF will discover the clan Kellum shipyards in the planetary rings. She respectfully requests that you initiate proceedings to evacuate or at least camouflage the shipyards.”
Cesca suppressed her alarm. That wasn’t at all what she had expected. No wonder Tasia had considered the situation urgent enough to send her compy as a messenger. “Do you know when the Eddie ships will launch? How much time does Del Kellum have?”
“My master Tasia Tamblyn estimates it will be approximately one month.”
The young Roamer standing at the doorway snorted. “Shizz, the Eddies can’t get their butts in gear any faster