Double Helix 03_ Red Sector - Diane Carey [29]
Something in the Romulan’s voice, something in his beating and the set of his shoulders caught Stiles with an unexpected wave of empathy. Zevon’s arms were still folded, as if to protect himself, and he gazed not at Stiles but at a nearby pile of russet files that no longer resembled a floor. He seemed resigned to the facts, but troubled by heating them so clinically reviewed in his own voice.
Again, with a different tone, Stiles raised the question that his clearing mind insisted needed asking. “How do you know so much about this?”
In a clear silence that now fell, moisture dripped from an unseen pipe, draping its solemn percussion on Stiles’ question and Zevon’s answer. “I caused it.”
“Nobody told me the Romulan Empire was at war with these people!”
At such a declaration, the walls crackled and vibrated, pebbles shivered down the tilted slabs into the sinkhole that had trapped the two unfortunate prisoners. Across the well, the young Romulan’s brows rose at Eric Stiles’ abrupt statement. “War? Oh… no, no, there is no war. This was… utterly unintentional.”
Curbing a lifetime of parochialism for the moment, Stiles reined in his assumptions. “Well… what happened, then?”
“This sector is run by the Bal Quonnot, on another planet in this system. They allowed us to conduct quantum-warp experiments here.” “Us? The… Romulan Empire?” “Yes.” “You?”
“Yes. The Pojjana have been struggling for identity amid the Bal Quonnot administration. The Pojjana did not want to deal with the Empire.”
“I don’t think I’d deal with you either,” Stiles said. “If you caused this thing.”
Zevon actually nodded, perhaps in agreement, but certainly in understanding. “The Pojjana let the Federation court them for membership, to see if an alien science could retract what another alien science had done to them. The Federation went so far as to establish a planetary outpost.” “How many of these things have happened?”
“Six, now. In nine years. Not in predictable intervals. The Pojjana led the Federation along, but avoided committing to membership, hoping you would help. They wanted the benefits but not the obligations.”
“It’s happened before” Stiles confirmed. “I’ve heard of planetary governments trying to get the best of both worlds, refusing to make the decision but still accepting Federation protection and help.”
“The Federation is disappointed,” Zevon went on. “To your credit, you practice what you preach. The sector is red now.”
Stiles paused to fill his lungs with a full breath. His shoulders squeezed in a muscle spasm, and he closed his eyes briefly. “That’s what Spock said… red sector. I don’t know what it means …. “
“It means many things. Many banishments, many edicts, many restrictions.” Stiles cleared his throat, and the effort made his ribs ache. “How do you know so much about… stuff I’m supposed to know?”
“All Imperial royal family members are well-schooled in astral politics.” Raising his head sharply, Stiles blurted, “Royal family!” “Yes.”
He stared, but Zevon did not meet his eyes. “How close… how high…”
“The Emperor is my mother’s brother. I am fourteenth in line for the throne.” “Is that… close?”
“In a population of two hundred billion inhabiting ninety planets, it is considered very close. However, it’s unlikely that I shall ever actually take the throne. Certainly I have no desire to take it.”
A cold rock formed in Stiles’s chest as he digested the fact that he was involved in something with far more depth than he had first imagined. What moments ago had been two minor players in somebody else’s huge drama now became something entirely different.
“How did they capture you?” he asked. “If you’re so… royal”
“I made the error of accompanying a landing party to take measurements of-not that it matters. I forgot I’d been declared a public enemy. There were bounty hunters. They turned me over to the government. That riot out