Bitter Angels (18 page)

“Our hosts are waiting.” Ambassador Bern gestured toward the far side of the chamber at a second pair of huge, gilded doors. The panels were embossed with more branching trees. Crowds of men and women stood among the foliage. Before I had a chance to look closely at them, the doors were pushed open by another team of servingmen, letting us know we were expected, and that somebody else controlled our movements.

I saw Siri flex her right hand once, a small motion like the raking of claws.

The rooms in front of us were built on a more human scale. The ceiling had a skylight dome to show the textured-ice sky and the occasional ocean denizen that glided over, casting a shadow like a cloud across the patterned floor. But the walls were opaque, decorated with framed screens, most of which displayed static art. Some of this was in the form of hieroglyphs or ancient Chinese watercolors, but much more was portraiture, with the forest theme repeated and reworked into every surface.

Reminders of empires and dynasty and the long history of power held by an individual family. Not subtle.

Two people sat on the curving sofa at the very center of the room. They were a matched pair: Esteban Donnelly Erasmus and Mai Godsil Erasmus. Their dress was elaborate, as was the style here, but the most striking feature of it was the collars of rank each wore. These were broad Byzantine creations that covered breasts and shoulders.
Saeo
Mai’s
had been made in all shades of blue and green trimmed by white above and black below, all sweeping and shining like the currents in the water outside.
Saeo
Esteban’s was a match, only it was all done in shades of red, orange, and gold made to mimic the skin of the gas giant we orbited.

Because of Jasper and Felice Erasmus, it was decided by their heirs that the rulers, the
“Saeos,”
of the system’s governing board would always be husband and wife. The solidification of families through political and corporate marriage was an ancient idea that had never quite died. It certainly made for a very potent symbol, but only as long as the people in the primary relationship agreed to hold steady.

Esteban and Mai must have been fairly steady, because underneath her beautiful robes,
Saeo
Mai’s belly showed her to be profoundly pregnant.

I folded my hands and bowed, dipping my gaze from
Saeo
Mai’s bright smile, and
Saeo
Esteban’s suspicious demeanor. Siri stood behind me, the good subordinate, silent, respectful, and watchful.

“Welcome to Erasmus, Field Commander Drajeske.”
Saeo
Esteban Donnelly Erasmus’s voice was deep, authoritative, practiced.

“Please believe that we are truly sorry for the circumstances necessitating your presence.”
Saeo
Mai also had a deep voice, but with an edge. This was a woman who knew exactly who she was. She was less certain who I was, and that bothered her. Which was only fair, because something about this entire scene was bothering me.

“We are ready to assist you in whatever way possible,”
Saeo
Mai went on.

Ambassador Bern bowed again. “You will understand, I hope, that the Field Commander is still determining the scope of her investigations, and may need to spend at least her first few days on Moonfour, talking to the aid mission to which Bianca Fayette was attached. We need a more complete picture of her circumstances. I’m certain, after that, we’ll find this was a tragic accident and nothing more.”

Now I knew what was nagging at me.

Seats of government are busy places. This one was practically a museum. We were seeing servants. We were seeing figureheads. We were not anywhere near the real power.

“I sincerely hope you are correct,” said
Saeo
Esteban, and I know I did not imagine the brittleness in his tone. He did not like Ambassador Bern’s diplomatic response. Probably he was the sort that preferred to be the only liar in the room.
“It is extremely regrettable that anyone here to help the people of Erasmus should meet with such a pointless end.”

“Field Coordinator Fayette was also presented to you?” I asked, with the air of checking things off my list.

“She was not,” replied
Saeo
Mai.

“We generally meet only with the heads of the Solaris missions,” said
Saeo
Esteban. “Is there a reason we should have been given her credentials?”

“Yes.” I frowned at Ambassador Bern. “As a representative of the United World Government for Earth, she should have been formally presented, or at least her credentials should have.”

Bern picked up on my tactic and actually managed a squirm, which was made highly noticeable by the lines of his formal coat. “I was unable to formally present her credentials, because they were not presented to me.”

“I beg your pardon,
Saeo
Mai,
Saeo
Esteban.” I made sure I sounded angry, like I was surprised I’d been left out of this particular loop. “Clearly, I need to spend more time assessing the situation. I hope to be able to meet with your representatives in a few days to give you a full update.”

“Of course, Field Commander,” replied
Saeo
Mai smoothly. I saw the subtle signs of smugness in her courteous manner. Now it appeared as if I had no idea what was going on. Hopefully, they’d believe I possessed an honesty born of naïveté and that I would spend more time investigating my people than theirs.

The problem was that Esteban was still watching me, and he was nowhere near as sure.

We made our bows and murmured our pleasantries and were ushered out. The doors were closed behind us.

“Ambassador, we clearly need to talk about this,” I said aloud. Aloud and with a serious overtone of annoyance. “Maybe your office?”

“Of course. This way.”

Bern pushed open the door and once more we found ourselves in the middle of an escort of Clerks and servants. We marched forward with Siri three paces behind, not saying a word.

By the time we reached the plush—and much more private—offices on the other side of the Solaran embassy doors, the sound of human voices was a sweet music. The door shut and sealed behind us. I turned a little to Siri, but she spoke up before I could.

“Ambassador, I’d like to spend a little time with your staff,” Siri said. “To get up to speed on the security and some of the interaction questions.”

“Of course, of course.” I could have sworn Bern actually looked relieved at that. He beckoned over our heads and a brisk young man with straight black hair and half-moon
eyes stepped up to us. “This is Marin Shun. Marin, this is Field Coordinator Baijahn of the Solaris Guardians. See she has access to what she needs.”

Seeing Siri effectively paired off, I followed the ambassador to his private office.

Ambassador Bern’s private office was rigidly traditional. Faux-wood paneling and shelves filled with books made the room look like an antique office from Earth’s European empires. The chairs were solid, deep, comfortable, and probably locally made—such weighty furnishings would have cost a fortune to import.

Ambassador Bern motioned me to a chair as he moved behind his desk and selected a book from the shelf. It fell open at once in his hands and I seriously doubted it was anything so archaic as the paper volume it appeared to be.

“We’ve been running a most interesting race with the Erasmus Clerks.” He moved his finger down the page as if checking some reference. Which he probably was, most likely an up-to-the-heartbeat reference on security conditions. “Sometimes they are ahead, but at the moment”—he snapped the book shut and replaced it—“we have the upper hand. This room is as secure as I can make it.”

He came back around the desk. I had a whole list of questions, mostly about how we would get into the real halls of power once we were forced to move operations to Fortress, but I never got to ask them.

Slowly, with joints that creaked with unaccustomed effort, Ambassador Bern lowered himself onto his knees.

“I am here to tell you,” he said hoarsely, “I am the one responsible for the death of Bianca Fayette.”

I stared at him. He was
not
doing this.

It happens, sometimes, that a Guardian kills someone. No
matter how hard we try, we make mistakes, or we misjudge. Sometimes, we lose control. When it happens, we must find the family of the victim, and we must kneel, and say just what Philippe Bern had said. Then we must wait, and we must take whatever comes, whether words, blows, forgiveness. If a family member wants to beat one of us to death, it will not be stopped because it’s the only way to end the chain of killing before it begins. Any death,
any
death can be the fuse that explodes the war. All deaths must be claimed, and we must take the punishment for them so the innocent will not have to.

But none of us has to accept responsibility that is not ours.

“How?” I croaked. I had to stop and try again. “How could that be possible?”

He lifted his face, and I saw the genuine anguish there. “Because I knew what she was doing, and I did not stop her.”

“Please, stand up. Tell me what happened.”

He stood as slowly as he had knelt. I saw his hands shake.

“What happened?” He wiped his palms on the sides of his long coat. “What happened was I was tired and she was revolted.” He looked at me, his gaze direct for the first time since I had entered this room. “You have absolutely no idea how bad it is here.”

“I’m starting to get the picture.”

“If you can say it so calmly, then you haven’t,” Bern said, half-pitying, half-disgusted.

“It’s vile,” I agreed, trying to keep the tremor out of my own voice. “Slavery is always vile. But how does it make you responsible for Bianca’s death?”

“She came to me…she came to me and told me she was going to take the Erasmus System apart.”

There are moments when reality shifts so abruptly that you cannot understand it, let alone accept it.

Ambassador Bern’s face had gone slack, weighed down with pure regret. “It wasn’t a mission, at least, it wasn’t an official mission. It was
her
mission.”

Words and strength ran away from me like water down a drain. This was not possible. This was not happening.

We all join up because we want to help, we want to save lives, save humanity, to share the peace and prosperity we’ve known all our lives. Then we find out that’s not our job. Our job is not to spread peace but to watch it. We must apply its principles in such a way that it creates a shield around our worlds. We do not, we
cannot
go out and save the worlds that will not agree with us.

Especially if we might get caught doing it.

Bianca had lived this reality for five centuries. She had taught it to me. She had given me the strength to hold on even during the Redeemer crisis, until the orders and the backup came.

“Bianca had tried to tell the Guardians that Erasmus was a highly active hot spot, that a takedown needed to be initiated, but they wouldn’t listen. They said she didn’t have enough proof.”

I knew this much. Misao had told me in that last meeting. Had he suspected…no. He couldn’t possibly have. Not even Misao could have suspected this.

“She came to me for help,” Bern was saying. “I thought
she was just going to ask me to help with the spying, get the data for her, help build a case…” He turned away, looking at the books on his shelves. He shrank into himself, hunching around his own center.