Fortune's Light - Michael Jan Friedman [35]
“You’re right,” said Norayan. “That’s why I believe Teller chose to find a buyer on his own. Not among offworld collectors but among the madraggi themselves.”
“The madraggi?” echoed Riker.
“Just one, really. Madraga Rhurig.”
It was starting to make sense. Rhurig, a powerful rival of Criathis, had never taken kindly to the trade agreement with the Federation, possibly because the Federation wasn’t interested in any of the resources Rhurig controlled.
“By making a shambles of the merger,” Norayan explained, “Rhurig stood to prevent its two most influential political adversaries—Criathis and Terrin—from joining forces. What’s more, after they had arranged safe passage for Teller off Imprima, and after his involvement in the theft became known, Rhurig would have been rid of the Federation as well.”
“A neat package,” said the human.
And his friend was even more of a traitor than he’d thought—that is, if Norayan’s speculations jibed with reality.
“And of course,” she continued, “Teller would reap the additional benefit of seeing me suffer. He would make me regret my rejection of him.”
That didn’t sound like the Teller Conlon that Riker knew. He said so.
“Does any of this sound like Teller?” asked Norayan. “I tell you, he has changed.” She looked at Riker. “We must find him.”
“We’ve been trying,” he told her. “Though it seems we’ve hit a dead end. My partner had one lead, and it didn’t pan out.”
“I think I know where he might be hiding,” Norayan said. “In the Maze of Zondrolla.”
“The maze?” Riker asked. “What would he be doing there?”
“Well …” Norayan began. Was that a faint blush in her cheeks? “It was the place where Teller and I used to … to meet.”
“Of course,” said Riker, sparing her the indignity of further explanation. He didn’t have to be bludgeoned with a blaster butt to figure out why they met there.
“My story,” she said, “was that I liked to go there to contemplate the affairs of my madraga. To seek wisdom from the ancient stones.”
He nodded. If Teller knew the maze, he might have chosen it as his hiding place, or at least hidden the seal there. “Say no more. We’ll search the maze.”
She put her hand on his. “But you musn’t tell anyone how you came to look there. Not even Lyneea. If it becomes known that it was I who pointed you to the maze, people will start to ask questions. How did I know Teller would be there? How often did I visit Zondrolla to meditate? And I will be ousted from my office as surely as if I’d been discovered in Teller’s arms.”
He smiled as reassuringly as he could. “Put your mind at ease,” he told her.
“Thank you, Will.” She got up, put the veil in place, and drew the cowl back over her head. “I will see you again. Sooner rather than later, I hope.”
He escorted her to the door. “That depends on what I find in the maze, I guess.”
She looked at him. “Yes. Of course.” Then she departed.
Riker watched her go. Then he went back inside, shut the door, and sat down on the couch. He stared into the tiny molten caverns created by the burning logs.
The memories started to come again—one in particular. It ate away at him as the fire ate at the logs.
Nor did he do anything to distract himself, to stop it. If it hurt to remember, maybe that was just the price he had to pay… .
“Teller?”
“Um? Oh—Will. About time you showed up.”
“They wouldn’t let me in until the surgery was over. Can you imagine that?”
“Hard to figure out these medical types.”
Teller didn’t look as bad as Riker had expected. Then again, the lighting here in sickbay was designed to make people look a little better than they felt—at least, that had always been his personal theory.
“How do you feel?”
“Not bad, considering. I guess the ceiling caved in, huh?”
“The whole damned power station caved in. If you hadn’t found me by that time, Ito would have been forced to beam you up alone. And I would have been a historical