Eternity Row (50 page)

My daughter buried her face in my tunic. “Mama, Daddy’s mad.”

“I know, honey.”

“I doan wike id when Daddy mad.”

I rubbed her back. “Me either.”

More Bartermen came back into the compartment, doubtless to see what all the racket was about.

When more weapons appeared, I got up and held Marel close. “That’s enough, Lady Cestes.”

Startled into silence, the female Omorr let her sojourn pack sag. “What-”

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but this isn’t the time.” I looked straight into my husband’s eyes. “Or the way.” To our escort, I said, “We will cooperate as long as you allow me to transmit a signal to the
Sunlace
first.”

“You belong to Bartermen now,” I was told.

“Whatever.” I mentally crossed my fingers. “If I don’t send them a signal, they will fire on this vessel as soon as you enter the upper atmosphere.”

Our escort and the other Bartermen formed a huddle and discussed my warning in their native tongue. Reever came over and took Marel from me, to show her he wasn’t mad anymore. She held on to him with tight hands and, incredibly, fell asleep in his arms.

He stroked the back of her head. “They will try to separate us.”

“We’re not going to let that happen. I have a plan, but I need you to promise you won’t interfere.”

Before he could say anything, one of the Bartermen came forward and spoke to me. “Bartermen will permit a brief signal. Bartermen will punish deception harshly.”

I wasn’t going to risk them taking out their ire on Marel, so I stuck with my story as I raised Xonea on the Bartermen’s transmitter.

“We’ve decided to take a little trip with some friends,” I said. “You might want to stop by this planet. There are all kinds of cats down here. Big ones who talk, as a matter of fact.”

His expression changed. “Cherijo-”

“The Taercal and the Oenrallians will be here in a day, right?” I spoke quickly, to keep him from blurting out anything that might provoke the Bartermen further. “Make sure the Jado get them to call a truce before they decide to blast Oenrall to smithereens. Duncan and I will take care of our friends as well. Talk to you soon.”

As the Bartermen’s vessel made the jaunt back to Oenrall, we were herded into a confined, empty compartment and locked in. Reever immediately began looking for weapons and a way out, while I held my sleeping daughter and spoke quietly with Garphawayn.

“They will do whatever they want to secure a trade agreement. In our case, we’ve already been sold to a slaver on Oenrall. In their eyes, we really are nothing more than misplaced property.”

“
I
was not sold to anyone.” The female Omorr stared with great indignation at the locked door. “But still, surely I can pay these little creatures enough credits to release us. My family is quite wealthy.”

“You can offer, but I don’t think they’ll accept anything but hard currency.” I thought of the impending war. “Also, no one will jaunt into this system until the Jado get this peace treaty hammered out.”

More unpleasant news arrived when our escort came back to inspect us.

“You.” He pointed a skeletal finger in my direction. “Bartermen remember you. Bartermen never forget one who corrupts the flow of trade.”

They’d sworn never to forget the way I’d shut down their brisk trade business during the Core plague on K-2. Just my luck, they’d stuck to their promise. “I’m touched.”

“Bartermen will substitute the Omorr female for you to the Akkabarran slaver on Oenrall. You will bring much greater trade from the Allied League. The Hskt-skt also wish to make trade for you.”

“So which one are you guys going to sell me to? Whoever makes the best offer?” I shook my head sadly. “The minute you offer me to one of them, the other side is going to attack you.”

“Bartermen have trade agreements with both sides. Bartermen will be protected by them. You eat, drink. Bartermen will transport you to the surface shortly.”

He dropped some ration packs on the deck, then departed, securing the door behind him.

“I hope the Hsktskt really slam these guys.”

Garphawayn looked thoughtfully at the door panel. “I suspect what he claims is true.”

I rubbed circles into my throbbing temples. “If they try to play the League off the Hsktskt, or vice-versa, someone is going to blow up Oenrall in the process.”

“They do not appear to be concerned with anything but trade,” the female Omorr said. “It does not matter to them what happens to any of us.”

“They have nearly drained Oenrall of all its assets,” my husband said as he joined us. “They must be planning to abandon the planet as soon as they finish this transaction for Cherijo. She is the most valuable item they possess.”

“I can give them something even more valuable.” I looked up at Duncan. “The ability to trade forever.”

When the Bartermen escort came the next day to check on us again, I made my radical offer. “You release my husband, my daughter, and the Omorr female. In return, I will give you the

C.H.E.R.I.J.O. experimental data.” The Barterman folded his hands in his sleeves. “Bartermen do not know of this experimental data. Give Bartermen details.” I told him exactly why the League and Hsktskt were after me, skipping several key facts, but

leaving enough of the truth in to make the offer irresistible.

After I finished, he nodded and held out a hand. “Give Bartermen experimental data to examine.”

I shook my head. “That’s not how it works. I don’t have it on me. I have it in me.” When he came forward as if to search my body cavities, I held out my hands. “I memorized it before I left Terra. Everything”-I tapped the side of my head-“is up here.”

He left the compartment, only to return a few minutes later with some of his buddies. “Bartermen wish to see a sample of the experimental data. You come with Bartermen.”

I was taken to a terminal, where I entered the beginning sequences of a number of genetically engineered alterations, and identified what they altered. I didn’t give them enough data to use for anything but verification of my claim, then returned to the compartment.

“Cherijo, you must not do this,” Garphawayn said, as soon as we were left alone. “If you are as you say, they shall auction you off to the highest bidder. Someone will take you to a laboratory and experiment on you, or lock you up in it until you produce a clone like yourself.”

I fought a grin. “They’ve already done that, twice. Reever and I are pretty good at escapes, aren’t we, handsome?”

My husband was equally unenthusiastic. “I will not be able to help you if you do this,
Waenara
.”

“I know.” I pretended not to see the ice crystals forming in his eyes. “I know you trust me, and you won’t give me a hard time about it, and you’ll take our kid back to the
Sunlace
, where she’ll be safe.”

“Please reconsider,” the female Omorr said. “These creatures may not adhere to the terms of your trade agreement.”

“Oh, if it’s one thing I know about the Bartermen, it’s that they stick to their deals.”

The Bartermen checked out the data with someone, then came to the compartment en masse. “Bartermen accept your terms. Cherijo Torin will provide the experimental data, in return for the release of husband, daughter, and Omorr female.”

I nodded. “Agreed.”

“There is a Jorenian vessel in orbit above Oenrall. The male and females will be released to this

vessel.” Which was exactly what I wanted. “Nice doing business with you.”

Duncan couldn’t let it go at that.

“I am not leaving you,” he said as the Bartermen docked with the
CloudWalk
. “Garphawayn can take Marel over. I will stay with you.”

“I need you to protect our daughter first and worry about me later.”
Please, Duncan. Don’t make this more difficult than it already is. Trust me
.

He kissed me. “I trust you. I would do anything for you.”

“Great. When this is over, put me down for a long vacation.” I lifted my daughter and held her between us before handing her over to Duncan. “Just you, me, and the kid.”

From the one viewport in my compartment, I watched the transfer take place, then was taken to a terminal to receive confirmation from the Jado ClanLeader, Teulon.

“Your kin have arrived, and we will keep them safe, Council representative.” He looked ready to use claws on someone. “Allow my kin the honor of being of further assistance to you.”

I took it that
further assistance
would arrive in the form of enraged warriors to take the shuttle by force and eviscerate every Barterman in sight. Also, Teulon had to get moving if he wanted to negotiate peace between the Taercal and Oenrall, who would soon be arriving on Jxinok.

“Thank you for the offer, ClanLeader, but I will take it from here. Please continue on your assignment, and may the Mother watch over you all.”

Since the Bartermen didn’t have the kind of medical database on board their vessel I would need to handle all of the C.H.E.R.I.J.O. experimental data, they took me down to the planet, where they had plenty.

Their headquarters had been established on, fittingly enough, Bankers Row, where most of the goods they had bilked out of the natives were being prepped for final shipment. I was taken to a huge room of medical diagnostic and database equipment, and shown to one of the largest and most sophisticated computer consoles on the planet.

“Bartermen want the experimental data now.”

I pulled up a chair. “I’ll get right to work.”

Figuring they’d be monitoring me closely at first, I began to enter formulas from the experiment that Joseph had used to create me.

“Oh, Joe.” Stringing together fragments of alteration procedures and formulas which would never actually work was boring, and I yawned frequently. “If you could see me now.”

It would take weeks to finish entering the bogus data-if I went slowly enough-and even more time for whoever bought the data to find out it wouldn’t do anything but mess up a lot of lab equipment.

The Bartermen brought me food twice, and I was allowed a short rest period of several hours. I didn’t sleep, though-thoughts of what had happened on Jxinok, and Maggie’s improbable revelations kept me staring at the ceiling.

How much of it was true?

I sensed a lot of truth in what she’d told me. Truth that had been ripped apart and strung back together, like the phony formulas I was creating for the Bartermen.

The Jxin-certainly a superior life-form, but if Maggie exemplified them, they weren’t exactly perfect. I didn’t believe for a moment they’d lived on Jxinok in crystal cities, or had invited raiders to enslave them, but I suspected some elements of both had happened. Perhaps they’d stopped there, and had been captured.

Why would they need humanoids to do anything for them?

Maggie’s epic tale of galactic genesis might have worked, if the Jxin had stayed around to play God to the mortals they’d messed with. But why create their “special children” and then wink out of our dimension, never to return? No man or woman would have a child, knowing they would have to abandon it before it grew to adulthood.

What was it she said? There must be something… cohesion… order…

That scared me more than anything else. A species who could cross dimensions wanting to create order wherever they went would go to great lengths to get rid of anything that threatened that goal.

Had Maggie created me not to be a guardian, but an enforcer? And how many other “special kids” like me had she created, and where were they now?

I fell into a light doze, and dreamed of watching my homeworld swirl into being.

CHAPTER TWENTY Last Rounds

Hands shaking me woke me up abruptly, and I opened my eyes to see Dhreen, Hawk, and Ilona hovering over me. I blinked a couple of times, but they didn’t go away.