Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [123]
‘Wait!’ ordered Farr.
The Sec sergeant hesitated, not sure whom to obey.
‘Commander?’ Landhurst’s face reddened with fury.
The tension between the two charged the room. Mira saw glances and subvocalisations fly between the other participants. Eges danced close to the ceiling, recording and relaying to the common-casts. This was Landhurst’s station, but Farr was a hero. Billions of people would be watching.
Landhurst swallowed down a lump of pride and said in more emollient tones, ‘What is it that you’d like to hear, Commander Farr, before I detain this woman?’
‘First, what’s her supposed crime?’
‘The woman incited decommed assailant ships to act in an aggressive manner towards my station, inside shift-space.’
‘Which decommed warships?’
‘Captain Dren from Audacity.’ Mira found her own lips and tongue forming and speaking the words. ‘I did not incite him - he chose to protect me when Stationmaster Landhurst tried to appropriate my bonded biozoon.’
Farr’s head whipped in her direction. ‘Dren you say? Can’t imagine veteran Dren getting involved in something for no good cause.’ He glanced around the rest of the room. ‘Dren was one of my forward scouts in the war.’
‘It’s the war that brings me here, Command—’ began Mira.
‘She’s not a reliable source,’ interrupted Landhurst. He had not sat down and now he leaned across his comm-sole with undisguised threat.
‘Landhurst.’ Farr again. Not loudly, but with clear intent. ‘Let the woman speak.’
‘This is the woman who evaded my investigation and nearly cost me my life,’ Mianos hissed. ‘She is from Araldis. Or so she says. I believe that she killed the royal family and stole their biozoon.’
The soft murmuring around the room increased to a loud discussion. All the participants, it seemed, had heard at least one of the stories.
Mira caught snatches of their comments, some enraged, and others curious. Lutinous’s dialect was incomprehensible, but the Balol Butnik was openly admiring. ‘The woman is a warrior,’ he bellowed above all of them. ‘Let her speak.’
His declaration quieted the room long enough for Thales to find his voice. He’d stood behind Mira as they’d entered the room. Now he stepped in front of her. The summit participants seemed to hold their breaths. This young man looked so worn and damaged, yet he bore himself with quiet dignity.
‘I am Thales Berniere, from Scolar. Sophos Mianos tried to imprison the Baronessa unlawfully, as he did me back on Scolar. I was married to his daughter, a fact that he could not accept. When I questioned his staid and reactionary philosophies he incarcerated me with the prophet Villon.’
Villon. It was as though Mira could hear the billions of sentients watching the proceedings repeat the great philosopher’s name in one accord.
But Thales had not finished. ‘Sophos Mianos had Villon killed and used his death to silence me. I believe that he also interfered with my HealthWatch, compromising my immune system. This’ - he gestured dramatically to his scarred face - ‘was the result. I also have evidence that my planet has been infected with a virus that affects the orbitofrontal cortex of the humanesque brain. The virus impairs decision-making and enervates cognitive function. Sophos Mianos is no longer capable of making informed, useful decisions for the good of OLOSS. I would not trust him.’
‘Preposterous,’ spluttered Mianos. ‘The fellow is a lunatic, in the company of a felon. Both should be in containment. Landhurst, I insist—’
Landhurst waved to the Sec sergeant, but as he moved closer to Mira and Thales the OLOSS captain stepped between them. From one side of the room, Mira heard a ripple of objection. The skieran and uuli ambassadors were signalling their disagreement. One of the uulis, a large semi-opaque alien, began to flare crimson, and its voice blared out through the translator.
‘These accusations are most serious. We wish the humanesque woman to speak,’ it said.
An altogether different voice cut in immediately afterward and an image of the biozoon ambassador Ley-al appeared on the screen above the translator