Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [110]
Mira nodded, encouraging him to continue. She felt his eyes fix on the movement of her hands as she moisturised them.
‘The gentleman and I exchanged stories, and he offered Bethany and me quick passage back to Edo. I accepted. It was a rash decision, but I was panicked by the things he told me. I wanted to get back to Edo as quickly as possible. And, truthfully, I was eager to be free of Rast Randall and her confidants.’
‘I understand that desire,’ Mira agreed. ‘They are not the finest company to keep.’
‘Please understand, Baronessa, that I was sorry for your disappearance, as was Beth. But I didn’t think myself able to contribute in any way to finding you. Lasper Farr had injected me with a virus that would break down the barrier substance administered by Gutnee Paraburd. Returning to Edo to receive the antidote was uppermost in my mind.’ He seemed embarrassed but not acutely so. His life had been under constant threat since before he left Scolar and she couldn’t blame him for his decisions. Hers might have been the same.
‘I know,’ she said. ‘I saw you in the infirmary. Insignia told me the results of your blood analysis.’
He nodded. ‘I wondered if the ship was aware of such things.’
Mira pursed her lips. ‘Insignia is aware of everything but chooses to only tell part of it.’
Thales gave another nod, though his thoughts were clearly moving forward. ‘As it was,’ he said, ‘I became acutely ill on the return ship. Lasper Farr’s virus eroded the barrier substance sooner than it should have because my own HealthWatch had been compromised - tampered with - and my immunity was low. It is how I got this.’ He touched the ugly, blackened scarring on his face. ‘Necrosis set in. Fortunately, we arrived at Edo in time for me to receive the antidote.’
Mira damped her face with a disposable cloth. Applying a tiny amount of the soap to her cheeks, she began the same gentle pattern of rubbing. It helped her stay calm as she listened and absorbed. ‘Who, do you think, tampered with your HealthWatch?’
Thales’s expression became bitter. ‘I believe that my father-in-law did so. Sophos Mianos. He wished me out of his daughter’s life once I began to question their ways. You met him, Baronessa. Do you think him capable of murder?’
Mira leaned her face into the basin and let the spray rinse it. Then she smoothed the drops from her face with her fingers. She turned to look at him calmly. ‘Si, I do. So let us hope that he was flung into space when Insignia tore away from her docking connection. Let us hope that his insides boiled and burst from within him.’
Thales’s eyes widened and his mouth opened in surprise.
‘I am beyond wishing well to cruel and greedy humanesques, Thales. Now please continue,’ she said, not giving him time to dwell on the callousness of her comment.
Thales swallowed several times and picked up the thread of his story. From there he told her of his decision to leave Bethany, the subsequent attempt on his life by Farr’s man, and Fariss’s timely rescue.
‘But why should Commander Farr attempt to harm you later on, when he could simply have let you die from the infection?’ Mira interrupted.
‘Bethany spoke as if I was under her protection while I was still in her company. I d-didn’t believe her. Nor did I believe it when she told me that some members of Consilience wish her to replace Lasper. I mean ...” - he stumbled to find a way to express himself - ‘she is n-neither charismatic n-nor dominating like her brother.’ A strange emotion crossed his face as he spoke. ‘She is . . .’
‘A woman?’
Thales jerked his head up. ‘No, Baronessa. I am not like your Latino males. But I did not see qualities of leadership in Bethany. She seemed frightened of her brother, and plagued by her own weaknesses.’
‘Like all of us,’ added Mira. ‘Perhaps those things would make her a better leader.’
Silence fell between them and Thales gazed at the floor.
Mira supposed that his preoccupation was with the other things that had transpired between him and