Chaos Space - Marianne de Pierres [54]
The only reply was the biozoon’s whispering rhythm.
Mira dressed and hurried to the buccal.
Rast was there, lounging in Autonomy, dressed in a strange combination of amber Latino brocade robe and grey mercenary garb.
‘What are you doing?’ Mira demanded.
Rast’s eyes focused on her slowly as she came out of virtual sight. ‘Baronessa. We tried to wake you up but short of breaking into your cabin .. .’ She shrugged. ‘Figured maybe you’d died in there and I should start working out how to fly this thing.’
Mira stared at the mercenary. Was Rast joking?
‘I found the shift phase extremely ... exhausting. Now I have had contact from the OLOSS delegate on Scolar. I will meet with him in twelve hours.’
‘Then you’ll be taking us where we want to go?’
‘I...’ Mira dropped her head. She had given her word to return Rast to their planet of choice yet she wanted to go with OLOSS to Araldis. She had to go back. ‘I will do what I can.’
‘We had a deal, Fedor. You don’t ever want to break a deal with someone like me,’ Rast added softly.
‘But I must go back there with OLOSS—quickly.’
Rast lifted her hands from the conductivity pads and leaned forward. ‘I thought you aristos cut your teeth on politics.’
Mira sat on the edge of Primo. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Do you really think OLOSS will go running off to Araldis to save a bunch of Latino idiots from their self-inflicted fate?’
‘The Saqr are not self-inflicted,’ said Mira stiffly.
‘What makes you so sure about that? You’re smart, Fedor. Think it over. You know that the Principe hired me for added protection.’
‘You have alluded to that, but you haven’t been specific’
‘He wanted us to protect a woman and her property—a mine.’
Mira suddenly remembered the data sponge that Trin had pressed upon her. She had slipped it into the inner pockets of her fellalo and forgotten about it. ‘Do you mean the mine where Cass Mulravey lost her husband?’
Rast nodded. ‘I lost two of my crew in there.’
‘What was the woman’s name?’
‘Lancia or something.’
‘Silvio?’
‘No . . . wait.. . Luna something.’
‘Luna Il Longa?’
‘Yes. What do you know about her?’
That name. Trinder had spoken of her in their last conversation. ‘She is…was the Principe’s concubine. The name II Longa is an Eccentric name.’
‘Eccentric?’
‘Not full-blooded Latino. Like me.’
‘Eccentric, eh?’ Rast ran the word over her tongue, exaggerating the last ‘c’. ‘That fits you well. Eccentric and erratic’
Mira did not want to continue the conversation. ‘I will return to my cabin for a while. Do not touch the Autonomy controls. Insignia is well enough now to manage herself.’
Once out of the buccal she grasped the folds of her robe and ran her fingers along them. Her fellala was badly worn now but she could not bring herself to wear another; she wanted the reminder of what she had left. There were many luxurious royal robes stored in Insignia’s cabins but they belonged to the Pellegrini familia. Although the child she carried made her part of their clan, she would not wear their colours. Not ever.
The data sponge had worked its way into a side seam. She felt the unevenness as she squeezed along the hem.
‘Problem, lady?’
Mira glanced up, dropping the end of her robe. Latourn was leaning against the stratum wall. He was taller than Rast and dark: dark eyes, dark hair, but a different swarthiness to the Latino kind. Thickset enough, too, though his frame had thinned with fatigue and injury, as if his health had not properly recovered. She had not spoken to him really, and his closeness made her nervous.
‘No.’ She moved to pass him but he stopped her with a hand on her sleeve.
‘Jus’ wanta say ... that... you getting us on board here . . . saved me. I was gone fo’ sure. I’m wantin’ you to know that I’ll keep that with me. Knowin’ you did that. Capo was right about loyalty.’
‘It was your... captain who saved you. And your friend Catchut.’
Latourn blinked. ‘But you got us through shift. Never met one woman who could do that before. Maybe ‘cos you’re one those ...’
‘Innate,’ said Mira. She